Dawn should not have had that sound. Normally, a city wakes with footsteps, voices, doors opening, merchants competing for space. But there… what was awakening was the city itself. Buildings creaked as if stretching their muscles, and entire streets produced a light, repetitive tremor, almost lazy. It was a sound that mixed stone scraping, metal vibrating, and something alive trying to wake after a very deep sleep.
I tried to understand what I was hearing, but it was impossible. It felt familiar and completely wrong at the same time.
Rai'kanna was already in a state of alert, wings half open, ready to react to the slightest sign. "The city is changing faster than it did in the last few nights. This isn't normal."
"Normal here stopped existing the moment we set foot on these streets," Vespera muttered, dodging a piece of sidewalk that lifted on its own, as if it were breathing.
Lyannis grabbed my arm, her eyes following the distant tower that slowly tilted, like someone stretching. "Takumi… it's really moving."
"Yes," I replied, watching everything around us. "And it seems to be enjoying it."
Liriel examined one of the runes glowing on the ground. Part of it faded, part of it reignited in sequence. "These patterns… they're the same as yesterday, but accelerated. As if the city were adjusting to our path."
"Elara, any sign of the cult?" I asked.
She shook her head without taking her eyes off the windows that had turned toward us like curious eyes. "None. Either they're hiding, or… the city swallowed them before we did."
"I'd prefer the first option," Vespera muttered.
We took only a few steps and, behind us, the street we had just crossed rearranged itself. Houses changed positions. Staircases sprouted from walls. One of the doors slammed shut, spun, and was reborn as a window. The city adjusted like moving water.
There was no logic. Only intention.
"It really is alive…" Lyannis whispered.
"And awake," I added.
Rai'kanna stepped closer, looking upward. "And I think it wants to tell us something."
A gigantic shadow moved high above us. An entire tower, immense, slid a few meters to the side like an animal repositioning its body. It stopped, tilted slightly and… turned its upper section as if trying to look directly at the group.
"That can't be," Vespera said. "This definitely can't be happening."
The tower let out a low rumble.
And began to walk.
Not with legs — but with its base sliding over the ground itself, like a flexible colossus, driven by deep roots no one could see. The ground vibrated with each advance.
The tower didn't seem aggressive, but its proximity was enough to make us feel the weight of the entire city pressing down on us.
Liriel opened her grimoire. "It's trying to guide us."
"Guide us?" I repeated. "To where?"
"To the second alignment of the artifact," she said without hesitation. "The city changes when it wants to show us something. We just don't know whether this is help… or a trap."
"Probably both," Elara murmured.
We followed the tower's slow direction, dodging streets that formed and vanished. Small houses opened their doors spontaneously, revealing interiors that hadn't existed seconds earlier. Staircases rose into nothingness and then unraveled like dust. Trees changed color as we passed — red, blue, silver — until returning to their normal shade once we moved on.
Lyannis held my hand as we crossed an alley that narrowed behind us, as if it were breathing.
"Takumi… this is scary."
"I know."
But the flame inside me burned more calmly than before. As if it were analyzing the city, recognizing something within it.
Rai'kanna noticed. "Did your flame react?"
"Yes. But not like it did with the fragments. Here… it's observing."
"Which is far more concerning," Vespera commented.
The path suddenly opened and led us to a completely different plaza. It was circular, enormous, with moving walls that slid from side to side like pieces of a giant puzzle. Each block changed position with the sound of metal blades scraping against one another.
At the center of the plaza, something pulsed.
A platform rose slowly, bringing into the light an oval stone, covered in spiral inscriptions that moved on their own.
"What is that?" I asked.
"The Heart of the Incomplete Ruin," Liriel answered in a whisper. "The first part of the city's mechanism."
Vespera crossed her arms. "Is that good or bad?"
"That depends," Liriel replied. "If we touch it, the city will advance to the next cycle. If we ignore it, it will try to force us."
"So it's in a hurry," Rai'kanna said.
Elara stepped closer to the edge of the platform. "Does anyone feel this?"
"Feel what?" I asked.
"The ground."
I placed my hand on the floor. The vibration was rhythmic — like a heartbeat.
The city was breathing.
And now… it had a pulse.
Lyannis approached carefully. "Do you think the city wants to fully awaken?"
Rai'kanna answered without hesitation: "If it does, we can't allow it. Not before understanding what it truly is."
The platform rose a little higher. The surrounding walls began to accelerate back and forth. It was a living labyrinth in full motion, preparing to trap or test anyone who dared approach.
"This entire structure is going to move," Liriel analyzed. "It will close and reorganize. We'll have to enter this labyrinth to reach the artifact."
"A labyrinth that changes while we're inside it. Great," Vespera grumbled.
Rai'kanna spread her wings. "Then we can't waste time."
The first wall slid to the left, then to the right, as if choosing which configuration to use. The sound echoed across the plaza.
Takumi… — the flame whispered inside me. — Do not resist the paths.
I tightened my grip on the sword.
"Everyone ready?"
They nodded — some with more courage than others.
The wall opened a passage before us, revealing a narrow corridor that had not existed seconds earlier.
The city had decided the beginning of our path.
Rai'kanna was the first to enter. Liriel right behind. Vespera huffing, but going. Elara with her hand on her bow. Lyannis still holding my hand as she took a deep breath.
I was the last to cross.
And the city closed the corridor behind us with a heavy crash — as if locking the door of a room where we were about to be tested.
The living labyrinth had fully awakened.
And it was eager to receive us.