The spiral stairs ended in a low arch; beyond it yawned the palace crypt, a vast chamber carved from black granite. Torches sputtered along its walls, revealing niches where mouldering sarcophagi bore the names of ancient monarchs long since dust. The air was thick with the promise of ruin.
Franklin led the group forward, each footstep echoing on the smooth floor. Rebecca lingered at his side, her face pale beneath the torchlight, Solorth's mark crawling with restless energy. Banji and Brenda brought up the rear, the two freed children clinging to Brenda's cloak.
At the centre of the chamber stood the second seal: a crimson-stained dais carved into the stone, its surface inset with six oblong gems that pulsed like trapped hearts. Around it, a ring of etched runes glowed faintly, their light ebbing and flowing as though bound by the crypt's blood.
Franklin stopped before the dais, swallowing against the cold. "This seal binds Solorth's essence to the palace foundations," he said. "To break it, we must shatter the gems and shunt their power into the earth."
Banji stepped closer, eyes drawn to the gems' inner glow. "Then let me lead. My magic can fracture them without spilling blood."
Franklin shook his head. "No. This ward rejects pure necrotic energy. "We need a living channel, someone who understands sacrifice."
Rebecca's gaze snapped to the gems. She untucked her cloak, revealing the serpent mark on her forearm. It throbbed in time with the seal's pulse. "I can do it," she whispered. "My bond to Solorth resonates with these stones."
Brenda stared at her. "Would you bind yourself deeper? That could cost you everything."
Rebecca's lips curved. "Already lost. Better to face oblivion than to cower in exile."
Franklin's chest tightened. He remembered the sister he had abandoned, the anger and solitude that drove her into Solorth's arms. "Rebecca stand back."
She shook her head. "You taught me never to surrender. This is how we fight."
Before Franklin could protest, Rebecca knelt at the dais. She placed a hand over one gem. The rune beneath flared white-hot. She pressed harder, ivory knuckles whitening. The gem cracked under her palm, sending a shockwave that rattled the sarcophagi.
Brenda rushed forward. "Careful!"
But Rebecca did not relent. She moved from gem to gem, shattering each in turn. With every fracture, the dais trembled, and the runes along the crypt floor dimmed.
A thunderous groan shook the chamber. A hidden door in the far wall slid open, revealing a coffin carved with Solorth's serpent, the final repository of the seal's blood magic.
Banji stepped forward, blade drawn. "That coffin holds the heartstone. It's the core of the ward."
Franklin nodded. "Once it's broken, the seal collapses. But someone must face what lies within."
Rebecca rose, her shoulders trembling. She turned to Franklin, eyes gleaming with grim resolve. "I will."
Banji protested. "Rebecca, no"
Rebecca cut him off. "This is my atonement." She strode to the coffin and lifted its lid. Inside lay a blood-soaked crystal, pulsing with black light. The air around it felt alive an oppressive weight that pinned Franklin in place.
Rebecca reached in. The crystal's heat seared her fingers. Her mark flared, entwining with the crystal's tendrils. She gritted her teeth and squeezed.
The heartstone protested with a scream that rattled Franklin's bones. He and Banji exchanged a horrified glance as Rebecca's body trembled, arcane energy spiraling outward.
Brenda moved beside Franklin. "We have to protect her!" she cried.
Franklin raised his sword, steel humming with residual magic. He carved a protective circle around Rebecca, cutting through shards of broken gems and shards of stone.
From the coffin's maw leaped a torrent of darkness, a living shadow that lashed at the group. Banji met it with a blast of arcane flame; Brenda deflected it with her blade. Franklin drove it back, each strike sending sparks of white light into the gloom.
Amid the chaos, Rebecca's voice rang out. "Now shatter it!"
Franklin's heart pounded. He charged forward, blade raised high. With a single thrust, he smashed the heartstone into fragments. The crystal exploded into a pillar of soundless light.
The blast threw Franklin back into Rebecca's arms. He caught her, and together they tumbled to the floor as the crypt's walls shuddered.
Silence flooded the chamber. Dust settled on shattered gems and splintered crystal. The runes around the dais, once fierce and menacing, blinked out.
Rebecca sat up, trembling. The serpent tattoo on her arm had faded to a pale ghost of its former self. She stared at her hand, incredulous.
"Is… is it done?" Brenda asked, voice hushed.
Franklin rose, helping Rebecca to her feet. He placed a hand on the dais's broken edge. "The second seal is broken. But the ward's power still flows. We must seal the fractures before they leak into the palace."
Banji knelt, gathering the largest shards of crystal. "I'll reinforce the seal with new wards. Light magic fused with mortal will."
Franklin nodded. "Use what we have, the blood of the free children, the power of the family."
Brenda guided the children forward. They looked at the broken dais in awe. Franklin drew a dagger and sliced his palm, letting a drop of immortal blood fall onto a shard. Banji murmured an incantation, and the fragment glowed with golden light before embedding itself into a carved glyph.
Brenda did the same with each child: a drop of their blood, a whisper of oath to protect the kingdom. The shards fit into the rune like puzzle pieces, sealing the fractures with living will.
Rebecca watched, tears in her eyes. "I… I can feel it."
Franklin placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're free."
She looked up, voice raw. "Free?"
He smiled tiredly. "Free to choose."
Above them, the palace trembled once more, but this time it healed. Cracks in the ceiling sealed themselves, and torchlight brightened.
Banji stood, brushing dust from his armor. "The words held. The seal endures."
Franklin surveyed the crypt, its oppressive weight lifted. "Then we have done well. Two seals down, one to go."
Brenda sheathed her sword. "Where is the final seal?"
Franklin's gaze darkened. The heart of Solorth's temple, beyond the Black Marsh. There the original pact was made. There we must go."
Rebecca nodded, resolve flickering in her eyes. "Then we begin the final journey."
Banji exhaled, shoulders squared. "Evergrave may fall, but we will rise again."
Franklin looked at his sister, his brother, and the woman who stood by his side. The crypt's shadows had tested them and bound them anew. Their pact, forged in blood and regret, would carry them into the war for Evergrave's soul.
With hearts heavy but unbroken, they walked from the crypt's depths, stepping back into the keep's silent corridors.