The Following Morning.
The room smelled faintly of herbs and clean bandages. Morning light filtered through the curtains.
Noah woke first, groaning, his body sore like he had been trampled by beasts. When he opened his eyes, he saw Luna asleep in the bed beside his, her chest rising and falling slowly.
Their mother was there, sitting between them, a bowl of water and cloth in her lap. She smiled weakly. "Good morning, troublemaker."
Noah grunted. "…Did we… survive?"
Celeste chuckled softly. "Barely. You scared me half to death. Both of you. I thought like sol...." She brushed his damp hair off his forehead. "But you're here. That's enough."
The door creaked, and Leonard stepped in. His expression was as stern as ever, but his shoulders seemed heavier than usual. He looked at his son first." You overextended. If that had gone on even a minute longer, you'd be dead. Both of you."
Noah swallowed, unable to argue.
Luna stirred awake at the sound of their father's voice, her eyes fluttering open. She whispered, "Papa…?"
For the first time in a long while, Leonard's expression softened. Just barely. His hand rested gently on her head. "…You made it back."
There was a long pause — quiet except for the morning birds outside.
Then Celeste spoke, her voice careful. "The way your Threads manifested… it wasn't like others. The wings…"
Leonard's eyes flicked to her, then back to the twins. "Don't speak of it outside this house. Not yet. No one will understand it."
Noah frowned. "…Why not? People saw us."
"They saw power," Leonard said flatly. "But power draws envy, fear, suspicion. Until you understand what you carry, you keep it close. Do you hear me?"
Both twins nodded, silent.
When their parents left to prepare food, Noah rolled onto his side, facing Luna. She still looked pale, but there was a faint smile on her lips.
"You almost died," he muttered.
"You almost died first," she teased weakly.
Both of them cracked into laughter.
***
Present
Yesterday we had to take a day off, all this time of just traveling had a toll on us.
For just a day everything felt quite peaceful.
Today we decided to start exploring our own corridor.
The crypt smelled like damp stone and dust, the kind of air that clung to your throat and made every breath feel older than it should. We walked single file, our torches casting shaky halos of light across cracked murals and toppled statues.
Lex sniffed, wrinkling his nose. "Gods… smells like my uncle's wine cellar down here."
Lily gave him a flat look. "What, full of rats and regret?"
He smirked. "No, mostly regret. The rats were cleaner."
That earned a small chuckle from Nolan's mom, who until now had been quietly watching the path ahead. Even Veyra's mouth twitched, though she kept her eyes forward.
Vivi, hugging her short sword to her chest, muttered, "I don't know how you all can joke. Place feels like it's swallowing us whole."
"Exactly," Lex said. "If it's swallowing us, might as well go down laughing."
Phoebe rolled her eyes but couldn't hide the corner of her mouth curling.
We passed a cracked relief carved into the wall: robed figures kneeling before a chained sun. The artistry was faded but still detailed enough to be unsettling.
Nolan tilted his head. "Looks like they worshipped something that needed… binding?"
"Like my father's temper," Lex muttered.
That broke the tension. Even Veyra snorted softly, shaking her head. "You're all hopeless," she said, her voice finally lighter. "A crypt full of corpses and you make it sound like family dinner."
I grinned. "To be fair, family dinners can be worse."
Phoebe glanced sideways at me, arching an eyebrow. "What, your siblings stab you with forks too?"
"No," I said, mock-serious. "They use words. More painful."
Lex was most likely mentally exhausted, I mean we all were but, It felt like he got drunk on exhaustion or something.
With that aside we moved forward