The wind died the moment I stepped over the edge.
No dramatic gust. No push. Just an eerie, suffocating stillness that seemed to swallow everything
Like the world had hit mute.
Like the canyon had inhaled its last breath centuries ago and was still holding it in.
My eyes went on a series of natural staircase carved by the canyon itself. Smooth red stone shaped by centuries of wind and rain, like the ribs of a fallen giant calling for me.
Hesitation was a luxury.
A lie the weak told themselves before they fell.
I started stepping down.
A shard of loose rock hit my leg as I walked forward and skated down the edge. I expected a clatter, a crash. But the sound never came.
It never hit the bottom.
Just vanished into the red mist below.
"Too deep." The words slid through my mouth, cold and quiet.
I swallowed the cold lump in my throat and pressed onward.
Each step was a test.
The descent wasn't vertical, not entirely. The path was spiraled, cracked, and uneven.
Each footfall echoed sharply and lonely, like I was walking through some nightmare.
The air tasted of rust and old wounds.
Once, I pressed my palm to the wall to steady myself.
Blood, thick and rust-colored, like the canyon remembered every wound ever carved into it and refused to forget.
I didn't wipe it off and continued to march forward.
By the time I reached the halfway point, the forest above was a thin green rim.
The light was dimmer now, warped by the red mist, as if I were sinking into the hell of this world.
Shapes moved behind me. Silent and Watching.
I summoned Nyx briefly, just long enough to make sure I wasn't hallucinating the path.
He hissed at the air, fur bristling, then vanished back into the card form without a word.
Eventually, the path ended.
A broken stone bridge supported by hundreds of chains stretched across the gap in between the canyon, barely wide enough for a single person.
Some as thick as my torso, while others as thin as hair. They twisted in the air, clinking softly like wind chimes made of regrets.
I stepped onto the bridge.
It shifted beneath my weight.
One of the chains supporting the bridge snapped and fell. It didn't land.
Like it had never existed.
I walked slower after that, and soon, in front of me, stood the entrance of the forgotten temple.
When I reached the door, it opened without sound, without hesitation, like it had been expecting me.
I walked in, and the darkness swallowed me whole.
Inside, the Temple was colder than the canyon. Colder than it had any right to be.
And the air... wasn't air.
Breathing it made me slower.
My heartbeat echoed loudly in my ears, each beat a hammer driving doubt and fear deeper in my mind.
The corridor stretched ahead, framed by walls etched with symbols I didn't recognize. Some were still glowing faintly. Others pulsed as I passed.
Then I heard the whisper.
I felt it not in my ears, not in my head, but in my bones.
It wasn't a command. It was... an invitation.
Eventually, I reached a circular chamber. The walls inside were smooth and seamless.
Just an altar at the center and a figure.
My eyes finally landed on the figure at the center of the chamber.
The figure looked like a statue but felt like a man.
It sat cross-legged on the stone throne, completely grey.
It had no face. Just a mask of weathered obsidian, cracked down the middle. It wore a robe that shifted color from black to grey to white, in endless motion.
This was the Guardian.
The keeper of the Vow.
And this... was my trial.
"You seek the Vow Card," it spoke.
The voice was neither male nor female. It echoed like a memory.
"To claim it, you must offer truth. Five truths. Five answers. Five vows."
It spoke once again with its hand lifted, fingers bone-thin, pointing towards me.
"Answer, and leave whole. Lie, and be shattered like the rest."
And just like that, the descent had only begun.