You approach the gem.

Up close, it’s even more unsettling than from a distance. The crystal surface writhes with shapes—faces, hands, moments frozen in time. You see glimpses of the founders: Seraphine bent over a book, Aldric weighing something invisible, Thornwen reaching toward the sky. And behind them, darker shapes. Shadows within shadows.

“The barrier’s down, but the gem won’t let just anyone in,” Mira says. “That’s why he went ahead. He’s daring us to follow.”

“No.” Wren touches the crystal, and her fingers pass through like water. “He’s daring them to follow.” She nods at you. “The light-bearer. You can enter. I don’t know about the rest of us.”

You press your hand against the gem. The surface parts around you, warm and yielding.

“I’ll go alone if I have to.”

“No.” Theron’s voice is firm. “We’ve come too far. Whatever’s in there, we face it together.”

“The relics might help.” You pull them out—Quill, Scales, Seed. They pulse in harmony, their light mixing into something greater than its parts. “Hold on to me. Maybe I can bring you through.”

Your allies link hands. A chain of light, anchored by you.

You step forward.

The gem swallows you whole.

For a moment, there is nothing. Just warmth, and light, and a sense of being suspended between one breath and the next.

Then you’re through.

The inside of the gem is a world unto itself. A crystalline landscape stretches in every direction, lit by sourceless purple light. Paths wind between towering spires of crystal. And in the distance, at the center of everything, you see three figures bound in chains of shadow.

The founders.

“We’re in,” Theron breathes beside you. The relics worked—all four of you made it through.

“Now we find them,” you say. “And we set them free.”