The dark swallowed everything until Lumiere and I called light into being. The bell on my wrist fred first—a steady, warm radiance that reached the dripping stone walls. Lumiere's glow followed, softer and trembling, its reach faint but earnest. When the two halos met, the corridor bathed in muted gold, like morning through mist.

  The shrine grew colder the deeper we went. Each step echoed through the stone halls, swallowed by the drip of unseen water.

  Lumiere's glow cast a trembling halo ahead of us. I followed just behind her, steadying my light with a whispered invocation. Behind me, Evelyn hummed tunelessly to keep herself amused. Only Rocher stayed quiet.

  Too quiet.

  He hadn't said more than a dozen words since we entered. Normally, he would've offered to take the lead, kept the pace, or told Seraphine to stop poking at the statues. Now his focus seemed… elsewhere. His sword arm hung a little loose. His steps faltered whenever I got too close.

  And every time I turned, his eyes weren't where they should've been—they were on me.

  I rubbed my temple. Maybe I was imagining it. My head still pounded from st night's wine, and the way everyone kept not talking about it wasn't helping.

  When I stumbled on a slick stone, Rocher caught my arm before I fell. His grip was firm but brief, almost guilty.

  "Careful," he murmured.

  I pulled away. "I'm fine."

  He looked like he wanted to say more but swallowed it down.

  We came to a narrow causeway suspended over dark, stagnant water. Sigils shimmered faintly beneath the surface—an obvious trap, if you were paying attention.

  Normally this pce would've been crawling with mer-beasts, their cries echoing through the flooded halls. But the Castle Greymane defense had driven them to near extinction. The emptiness left behind felt wrong.

  "Step where I step," Rocher said. His voice was steady, but his gaze wasn't. It kept flicking toward me instead of the ground.

  "Got it," I muttered.

  We continued carefully, halfway down the path.

  He hesitated mid-step, causing me to almost bump into him. "Cire, about st night—"

  "Can this wait until after we find the Tear?"

  He froze, as if struck. That hesitation cost him. His heel touched a rune that hadn't been there a second ago.

  The floor lit up in brilliant blue.

  "Rocher, move—!"

  The sigils fred, and the entire walkway erupted. Water surged upward, sweeping through the chamber in a violent wave. I lost sight of everyone in the fsh—light, cold, noise. My bell fred once before I was thrown against a wall, coughing and gasping as the current subsided.

  When the world stopped spinning, Rocher was already helping Lumiere up, soaked to the bone and deathly pale. He didn't meet my eyes.

  Evelyn wrung out her hair with a growl. "Brilliant leadership, Hero. Next time, save the flirting for when we're not courting death."

  Rocher opened his mouth, then closed it again. Something hot twisted in my chest—frustration, maybe embarrassment, maybe both.

  "You could at least focus on one thing," I snapped. "You're supposed to know better."

  He flinched like the words struck deep.

  "...You're right," he said softly, and moved on without another gnce.

  The silence that followed was suffocating. Even Seraphine didn't have a quip ready. Only the sound of dripping water filled the corridor as we trudged deeper into the shrine.

  We finally reached a massive stone door engraved with waves and shells, its surface slick with condensation. Together, we pressed against it until the seal broke with a low groan and a rush of air that smelled of dust and decay. The noise carried for what felt like forever before fading into stillness.

  Beyond it y the final chamber. The ceiling arched high above, carved with weeping faces. In the center, a pool of pure water gleamed—and at its heart, the Tear of the Ocean rested upon a pedestal of pale stone.

  It was beautiful. Silent. Eternal.

  None of us had words. But rather than awe, we were filled with unease.

  The chamber wasn't a treasure vault. It was a tomb.

  Gss sarcophagi lined the walls, their lids veined with moss and coral. Through the green film, I could just make out shapes—pale bones suspended, their hands folded over their chests. Priests, perhaps. Or sacrifices. Whatever they were, they'd been here a long time.

  Lumiere pressed her palms together. "A mausoleum," she whispered.

  I stepped closer to the pedestal. The Tear of the Ocean glowed faintly at its center, blue and perfect. Its light rippled through the flooded floor, casting fractured halos across the walls.

  I forced myself to look away. "Everyone—check the walls. Find any empty coffins."

  Evelyn raised a brow. "Any particur reason?"

  "Because when we take that thing," I said, nodding to the Tear, "this pce will try to kill us."

  That got them moving. Water pped at our boots as the party fanned out. Rocher and Evelyn followed Lumiere's light, while Seraphine followed mine.

  She crouched beside a coffin, tracing the symbols etched across its lid. "These are locks—riddles, maybe. Each one is sealed shut until you solve it."

  Of course they were. This had been one of the timed puzzles in the game—you had three minutes before the water filled the chamber, just three minutes to locate the empty sarcophagi and solve each riddle. The time pressure was enormous; most pyers died the first time. But the solutions never changed between pythroughs, so veterans like me just memorized the eight possible answers to save time.

  "I've got this," I said, kneeling beside her.

  The glyphs shimmered faintly, forming the words:

  I sing without breath, and answer without thought.I fade when I am heard. What am I?

  I didn't even hesitate. "Echo," I said aloud.

  The symbols pulsed once, then dimmed. A low hiss escaped as the seal released. The lid loosened, revealing a clear, empty coffin.

  "One down," I said, moving to the next.

  That was when Lumiere gasped. "Cire—something's moving!"

  A silver blur shot through the water, quick and sinuous. It circled the pedestal once, then darted upward. A juvenile mer-beast—its scales like shards of moonlight—tched onto the Tear.

  "Wait—don't—!"

  The mer-beast's tail flicked once. The Tear slipped from its stand.

  The chamber roared to life.

  Sluices burst open along the walls, vomiting jets of freezing water so hard the spray felt like thrown gravel. The floor heaved beneath us. A steel-edged shriek tore through the air as the entrance smmed shut behind us.

  The water hit before any of us could breathe.

  It punched my knees out from under me, dragging my feet sideways. My bell fshed wildly, scattering light across the chaos, but the current shredded it into ribbons.

  "The door!" Evelyn gasped.

  Rocher braced himself against it, veins standing out along his arms. His hands searched frantically for any purchase, any way to pull it open.

  "No good!" he shouted, barely audible over the roar. He smmed his shoulder against it once, a raw, desperate shove that made the stone groan but not move an inch.

  Another wave smmed into us. Lumiere slipped; Evelyn grabbed her by the wrist before she vanished under.

  Seraphine threw out her hand. "Let stillness bloom and swallow motion—Frostbloom!"

  A sheet of ice raced across the surface—then splintered instantly, shattered by the force of the flood.

  I grabbed the edge of a coffin to steady myself. "Forget it! Get in the sarcophagi! They're enchanted to outst the flood!"

  "But they're locked—!" Seraphine's voice cut off as another wave hit.

  "I know the solutions!" I yelled back. "I can open them—just move!"

  I shoved myself toward each empty coffin, one after the other, hands numb and slipping. Cold gnawed at my fingertips; I could barely feel the glyphs at all.

  Silence.Reflection.Death.

  The lids released one by one with sharp hisses. Air burst outward as each coffin lit up.

  "Inside!" I barked. "Now!"

  Evelyn dove into the nearest; Lumiere scrambled into another, pulling her skirt up as the water swallowed her waist. Seraphine hauled herself into the third, coughing from a mouthful of water.

  The lids sealed automatically with low chimes, then ejected any moisture within.

  I spun toward the st one. Rocher was still outside it, water dragging at his armor, rising past his chest.

  "Get in!" I shouted.

  He hesitated, his eyes on me. "What about you?"

  "I'll be fine!" My voice cracked. "Just go!"

  His hand lifted toward me for a fraction of a second—then the current forced him back, and he climbed in at st. The lid shut with a final hiss.

  The roar of water swallowed everything. I turned, frantically searching the walls for another coffin.

  There had to be one more.

  But the chamber's circle ended where it began.

  Four coffins, four sealed lights beneath the rising dark.

  Of course. In the game, there had only ever been four.