Falling.
That was the first thing I felt.
Not fear.
Not pain.
Just the sickening sensation of having absolutely nothing beneath my feet.
Wind tore past my face as I dropped through darkness.
“Ethan!”
“I’m here!”
His voice came from somewhere above me.
Then—
“CARLOS!”
“Still alive!”
A pause.
“Probably!”
Sarah’s voice cut through the darkness.
“That’s not reassuring!”
“I wasn’t trying to reassure you!”
Something grabbed my ankle.
I screamed.
A hand wrapped around my leg.
Cold fingers.
I kicked violently.
The grip tightened.
“Emma!”
Ethan’s voice was closer now.
A blue light flashed through the darkness.
His shield.
The sudden illumination revealed hundreds of pale hands emerging from the walls around us.
They reached toward us.
Grabbing.
Pulling.
Dragging us deeper.
“Keep moving!”
Ethan thrust his shield downward.
A wave of blue energy exploded beneath us.
The hands recoiled.
For one brief moment, our fall slowed.
Then Carlos appeared beside me.
“Okay.”
He looked down.
“Definitely not stairs.”
I grabbed his arm.
“Do something!”
“I am!”
He reached for my shoulder.
“I can teleport us.”
“Then do it!”
“I would love to.”
His expression changed.
“I can’t.”
“What?”
“My power isn’t working.”
Sarah shouted from below.
“Mine isn’t either!”
Ethan looked at his shield.
The blue glow flickered.
Then disappeared.
His face hardened.
“We’re powerless.”
The realization hit me harder than the fall.
The mountain had taken our abilities.
We kept falling.
Until—
We landed.
Hard.
I hit stone and rolled.
Pain shot through my shoulder.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Carlos groaned.
“I would like to formally complain about the transportation system.”
Sarah sat up.
“You’re alive.”
“Unfortunately.”
Ethan pushed himself upright.
“Everyone okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Sarah checked her arms.
“Fine.”
Carlos raised one hand.
“I’ve experienced better landings.”
I looked around.
We were standing in a massive underground chamber.
There were no walls.
At least, none that I could see.
Only darkness stretching endlessly in every direction.
The ground beneath us was smooth black stone.
Above us…
Nothing.
No ceiling.
No sky.
Just darkness.
Zahra slowly stood.
“We shouldn’t be here.”
Carlos glanced at her.
“That’s becoming your favorite sentence.”
She ignored him.
“This isn’t part of the mountain.”
“What do you mean?”
“The stories say the Veiled Mountains contain pathways between realities.”
Ethan looked around.
“So where are we?”
Zahra’s face had gone pale.
“I don’t know.”
A whisper echoed through the chamber.
Emma.
I froze.
The voice sounded exactly like Grandma.
“Emma…”
My heart stopped.
“Did you hear that?”
Ethan looked at me.
“Hear what?”
The voice came again.
“Emma…”
I turned toward the darkness.
“Grandma?”
Sarah grabbed my arm.
“Don’t.”
“But—”
“Don’t answer it.”
The whisper became louder.
“Emma.”
Then another voice joined it.
Ethan’s.
“Emma, come here.”
He was standing beside me.
His face went pale.
“That’s not me.”
Carlos looked around.
“Okay.”
His voice was quieter now.
“I officially don’t like this place.”
The darkness shifted.
A doorway appeared.
White light spilled through it.
And standing inside…
Was Grandma.
Exactly as I remembered her.
Same silver hair.
Same gentle smile.
Same blue dress.
My chest tightened.
“Emma.”
She opened her arms.
“Come home.”
I took one step forward.
Ethan grabbed my wrist.
“Don’t.”
Tears burned my eyes.
“That’s her.”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Trust me, it’s not her”
The words hit me like a slap.
The woman in the doorway smiled.
Then her face changed.
Her eyes became completely black.
Her smile stretched impossibly wide.
“You always were stubborn.”
The doorway vanished.
Darkness returned.
Carlos exhaled.
“Yep.”
He rubbed his face.
“Nightmare mountain.”
Sarah looked at him.
“That’s what you’re calling it?”
“What do you want me to call it?”
“The psychological death trap?”
Carlos considered it.
“Nightmare mountain has better branding.”
I almost laughed.
Almost.
Then the chamber changed.
The floor beneath Sarah’s feet cracked.
She disappeared.
“Sarah!”
I lunged toward her.
Ethan caught my arm.
“Wait!”
Too late.
The darkness swallowed her.
“Sarah!”
No answer.
Then—
Carlos vanished too.
Ethan and I were alone.
“Ethan…”
“I’m here.”
His hand tightened around mine.
“We’re not losing them.”
The chamber suddenly filled with voices.
Carlos.
Sarah.
Zahra.
All of them screaming.
“Emma!”
“Help me!”
“Please!”
I turned toward one voice.
“Sarah!”
Ethan pulled me back. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
“Which one?”
I looked around.
The voices were everywhere.
“Sarah!”
“Emma!”
“Over here!”
“No, here!”
The chamber began filling with doors.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Every door looked different.
Wooden doors.
Stone doors.
Crystal doors.
Iron doors.
Each one carried a name.
CARLOS.
SARAH.
ZAHRA.
ETHAN.
EMMA.
Then one final door appeared.
It was covered in ancient silver markings.
There was no name.
Only a symbol.
The same Eye of the First Watcher.
The Book of Origins suddenly appeared in my hands.
Its pages turned violently.
Golden words formed.
THE MOUNTAIN DOES NOT CREATE FEAR.
Another line appeared.
IT REVEALS WHAT IS ALREADY THERE.
Ethan stared at the page.
“So this place is showing us our fears.”
“No.”
I looked toward the endless doors.
“Something worse.”
“What?”
I swallowed.
“It’s showing us what we don’t trust.”
A door behind us creaked open.
Carlos’s voice came from inside.
“Emma?”
I turned.
He stood in the doorway.
Blood covered his shirt.
His eyes were wide.
“Help me.”
Ethan stepped forward.
Then stopped.
His expression changed.
“That’s not Carlos.”
The figure smiled.
Its face began to change.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Until it became me.
Then Ethan.
Then Sarah.
Then Zahra.
Then something with no face at all.
The Book slammed shut.
The mountain spoke.
Not in words.
Inside our minds.
CHOOSE.
The doors began opening.
One after another.
And behind every door…
Was someone we loved.
The doors opened wider.
Behind each one stood someone we knew.
Someone we trusted.
Someone we had lost.
Someone we feared losing.
I couldn’t breathe.
One doorway showed Grandma.
Another showed my mom
A third showed Ethan lying motionless on the ground.
I looked away immediately.
“Don’t look at them,” Ethan said.
His voice was strained.
“Why?”
“Because they’re not real.”
A scream echoed through the chamber.
Sarah.
“Sarah!”
I ran toward her voice.
Ethan followed.
We passed through the doorway.
And suddenly—
I was somewhere else.
A forest.
Dark.
Rain falling through enormous black trees.
Sarah stood in the clearing.
She was alone.
Her hands were covered in blood.
Carlos was lying several feet away.
His eyes were closed.
“Sarah!”
She turned.
Her face was streaked with tears.
“I killed him.”
“What?”
“I killed Carlos.”
She pointed toward him.
“I couldn’t save him.”
I stepped closer.
“You didn’t.”
She shook her head.
“I did.”
Her voice broke.
“I always knew I would.”
The forest whispered around us.
Monster.
Traitor.
Weak.
Sarah covered her ears.
“Stop.”
The whispers grew louder.
“You’ll betray them.”
“You always do.”
“You’re just waiting for the right moment.”
I looked at Ethan.
He was staring at the scene with confusion.
“This isn’t her memory.”
Sarah looked directly at me.
“Emma…”
“Don’t listen.”
The forest twisted.
Carlos’s body suddenly disappeared.
Sarah’s face changed.
She was younger.
Much younger.
A little girl standing in a dark room.
Someone stood behind her.
I couldn’t see their face.
“You’ll never be enough.”
The little Sarah clenched her fists.
“I will.”
“You’ll fail them.”
“I won’t.”
“You’ll hurt everyone who trusts you.”
The child looked toward us.
Her eyes were full of tears.
“Maybe.”
She whispered.
“But I’ll still try.”
The forest disappeared.
We were back in the chamber.
Sarah was standing beside us.
She was breathing heavily.
Her eyes were wet.
Ethan looked at her.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“I’m fine.”
Carlos suddenly appeared behind her.
“That’s my line.”
Sarah turned.
For the first time since entering the mountain, her expression softened.
“You’re alive.”
Carlos looked down at himself.
“Last I checked.”
She punched his shoulder.
He winced.
“Ow.”
“You’re real.”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Emma stared at them.
“How did you get out?”
Carlos pointed toward the darkness.
“Apparently, my personal nightmare is being trapped in a room where nobody appreciates my jokes.”
Sarah folded her arms.
“That isn’t a nightmare.”
“It absolutely is.”
Then the mountain spoke again.
THREE HAVE CHOSEN.
Ethan looked around.
“Three?”
I frowned.
“Who’s missing?”
Zahra.
We searched the chamber.
Nothing.
Then we heard her scream.
“ZAHRA!”
We ran.
A single doorway stood at the end of the chamber.
Inside was Zahra.
She was surrounded by people wearing desert robes.
Her people.
The Soloran council.
Her father stood among them.
He looked at her with disappointment.
“You betrayed us.”
Zahra stood frozen.
“I saved innocent people.”
“You abandoned your home.”
“They were going to kill them.”
“You chose strangers.”
“They were children.”
Her father’s expression hardened.
“And now you have nowhere to return.”
Zahra’s eyes filled with tears.
Emma stepped forward.
“Zahra…”
She shook her head.
“No.”
The doorway began closing.
“I need to finish this.”
She turned toward her father.
“I don’t belong to you anymore.”
The illusion smiled.
“Then where do you belong?”
Zahra looked back at us.
Her answer was quiet.
“With the people who chose me.”
The door slammed shut.
The chamber went completely dark.
Then—
Light exploded across the ceiling.
Four symbols appeared.
The Trident.
The Sun.
The Compass.
And a shadowed cloak.
The mountain trembled.
The Book of Origins opened by itself.
A final message appeared.
TRUST IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF FEAR.
IT IS CHOOSING ONE ANOTHER DESPITE IT.
The words dissolved.
Our powers returned.
The Tidecaller’s Trident appeared in my hand, glowing with blue light.
Ethan’s shield ignited.
Sarah’s eyes flashed with psychic energy.
Carlos disappeared—
Then immediately reappeared.
He looked at his hands.
“Ah.”
He grinned.
“Miss me?”
Sarah rolled her eyes.
“Unfortunately.”
Carlos placed a hand over his heart.
“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said.”
The ground beneath us shifted.
A staircase rose from the darkness.
It spiraled upward.
Higher.
Higher.
Until it disappeared into the clouds above.
Zahra stared at it.
“The upper passage.”
Ethan looked toward me.
“Think we’re ready?”
I looked at the others.
Sarah.
Carlos.
Zahra.
Then Ethan.
I nodded.
“We have to be.”
We began climbing.
The stairs seemed endless.
For every hundred steps we climbed, another hundred appeared.
The air grew colder.
The darkness thinned.
Then—
We emerged onto a mountain peak.
The world stretched beneath us.
The desert looked tiny.
The forests beyond it looked like patches of green.
And above us…
The sky was wrong.
There were stars.
Thousands of them.
Even though the sun was still setting below the horizon.
A massive circular structure floated among the clouds.
Ancient.
Silver.
Covered in glowing symbols.
Carlos stared.
“Please tell me that’s where we’re going.”
Zahra looked at the structure.
Her eyes widened.
“The Sky Temple.”
Emma’s Book opened.
Golden letters appeared.
THE PATH HAS BEGUN.
Then another line.
BUT THE COMPASS HAS ALREADY BEEN FOUND.
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
The final sentence appeared.
AND SOMEONE ELSE IS HOLDING IT.
The Book slammed shut.
Far above us…
A figure stood at the entrance of the floating temple.
Something glinted in their hand.
A golden compass.
They looked down at us and smiled.
For several seconds, none of us spoke.
The figure above remained completely still, the golden compass glowing faintly in their hand.
Carlos finally broke the silence.
“So…”
He pointed toward the floating temple.
“We have a problem.”
Sarah crossed her arms.
“We’ve had several.”
“No, this one is different.”
He looked at Emma.
“I thought the Book said the artifacts could only be wielded by the chosen.”
“It did.”
Carlos looked back at the figure.
“Then who the hell is that?”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Maybe they’re not wielding it.”
“They’re holding it.”
“That’s still wielding it.”
Zahra stepped closer to the edge of the mountain.
“Unless…”
Everyone looked at her.
“Unless the Compass hasn’t chosen anyone yet.”
I frowned.
“But it shouldn’t be able to respond to anyone else.”
“Exactly.”
Carlos stared upward.
“Wonderful.”
He sighed.
“Another magical object with commitment issues.”
Sarah gave him an irritated look.
“Can you be serious?”
“I am serious.”
His eyes remained fixed on the temple.
“Someone has the artifact we’re looking for.”
“And they knew we’d come.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“Which means they may have been waiting for us.”
A cold wind swept across the mountain peak.
I tightened my grip around the Tidecaller’s Trident.
“We don’t know who they are.”
“No,” Sarah said.
“But we’re going to find out.”
Above us, the stranger turned away.
The golden Compass flashed once.
Then the figure disappeared into the floating temple.
Carlos stared at the empty entrance.
“Well…”
He cracked his knuckles.
“I guess we’re climbing.”
I looked toward the impossible structure hanging among the stars.
Whatever waited inside…
It wasn’t going to make finding the Celestial Compass easy.