Eli followed Aura's guiding light across the vast expanse of the Hall of Memories, their footsteps echoing in the ancient silence. The domed ceiling's star-like points pulsed in subtle patterns, as though responding to their presence. Despite the urgency of their mission, he couldn't help but marvel at the chamber's enduring majesty—a testament to Aethel craftsmanship that had withstood millennia of neglect.

  "There," Aura called, her voice carrying an unusual clarity within the Hall's perfect acoustics. She hovered before a Memory Gate that appeared subtly different from its neighbors—its frame more elegant, its dormant surface bearing intricate geometric patterns that seemed to shimmer just at the edge of visibility.

  Eli approached, Starling held firmly in his grip. "This is it? The Gate of Foundational Forms?"

  Aura nodded, her tiny face serious as she gestured toward the glyphs above the gate. "These symbols represent the fundamental principles of Aethel physical and energetic cultivation. This is where all Hero's Lineage training began."

  The glyphs were complex arrangements of curved lines and sharp angles, somehow both mathematical and organic in appearance. Though Eli couldn't read them directly, the binding spell around his neck warmed slightly, providing an intuitive sense of their meaning—Beginning, Foundation, Meridian, Flow.

  "What do I need to do?" he asked, conscious of the seconds ticking away.

  "Touch Starling to the base of the gate," Aura instructed, pointing to a shallow depression at the gate's threshold. "But don't channel any Flux yet—just establish the connection so we can read the requirements."

  Eli nodded and stepped forward, extending Starling until its dark core hovered just above the depression. Immediately, lines of silver light spread outward from the contact point, tracing the gate's dormant patterns. The binding spell around his neck responded with a gentle pulse, the silver threads warming against his skin.

  Information flowed through the connection—not words exactly, but concepts and requirements that translated themselves in his mind with surprising clarity.

  "Gate of Foundational Forms," he murmured, eyes half-closed as he processed the data. "Primary Echo Chamber: Meridian Awareness. Secondary Chambers include: Breath Control, Energy Circulation, Physical Foundation Postures, and Aethel Meditation Sequences."

  Aura hovered closer to the glyphs, her light brightening with excitement. "This is exactly what we need. The most basic training, designed specifically for those who carry the Hero's Lineage. What's the activation cost?"

  Eli concentrated, focusing on the energy signature pulsing through the connection. "I'm seeing... 120 motes for full gate activation," he said. "After that, individual training modules require between 5 and 15 motes each, depending on complexity."

  He quickly did the mental calculation. "With our current reserve of 840 motes, we could activate this gate and still have 720 motes remaining for accessing training modules."

  "More than enough to begin," Aura confirmed. "And each module completed will increase your efficiency in future Flux harvesting, creating a positive progression cycle."

  Eli withdrew Starling, breaking the connection. The silver tracery faded slowly from the gate's surface, returning it to dormancy. "120 motes. Foundational Forms. Got it. That's what we came for."

  Aura pulsed urgently, her light flickering in a pattern that somehow conveyed haste without words. "Time! We must leave now. We've been here almost four minutes."

  Eli nodded and turned towards the path leading back to the Grotto. But as he pivoted, something caught his attention—a strange sensation emanating from the binding spell, like a gentle tug on his awareness.

  His gaze was drawn involuntarily down the curved wall of the Hall, to a distant section where the Memory Gates took on a more ornate appearance. One gate in particular seemed to call to him—its frame adorned with intricate silver filigree that glimmered despite the distance, its glyphs radiating a subtle luminescence unlike the others.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The binding spell reacted immediately, the silver threads at his neck pulsing with a distinct, warm resonance that spread throughout his body. It wasn't a warning, but rather a gentle pull, a feeling of profound significance associated with that specific gate.

  "Eli?" Aura questioned, noticing his distraction. "We need to go."

  "Just... one moment," he murmured, already taking a step toward the ornate gate. "I want to see what this is."

  "Eli, no!" Aura darted in front of his face. "We don't have time for detours! Marco was clear—"

  But Eli was already moving, drawn by a compulsion he couldn't explain. Something about that gate felt... familiar. Important. Like it had been waiting for him specifically.

  "I'll just take a quick look," he said, his pace quickening. "Thirty seconds, no more."

  Aura followed reluctantly, her light pulsing with agitation. "This isn't part of the plan. We need to stick to—"

  "Look at these glyphs," Eli interrupted as they reached the ornate gate. The silver filigree frame gleamed as if freshly polished, despite the centuries of abandonment. The glyphs above it were unlike any he'd seen—more fluid, more ancient somehow. The binding spell thrummed with increasing warmth, almost eagerly.

  "These symbols..." he said, leaning closer. "They're different from the others."

  Aura hovered anxiously near the glyphs, her expression shifting from frustration to curiosity. "They're... ancestral script. Older than standard Aethel glyphs. I think it says 'Lineage' and 'Memory' and... 'Custodian'?"

  Eli lifted Starling, intending only to hold it near the gate's base to check its Flux cost, as he'd done before. "Let me just see what this would take to—"

  The moment Starling's dark core came within proximity of the gate, everything changed. The silver filigree frame suddenly flared with blinding brilliance. The glyphs above the gate shifted and realigned themselves, pulsing with increasing intensity.

  "Eli!" Aura cried out in alarm. "Something's wrong! Pull back!"

  But Eli couldn't move. The binding spell around his neck had ignited with silver fire that didn't burn but held him firmly in place. Starling vibrated in his hands, its dark core pulsing violently as lines of energy—not silver like before, but a deep, royal purple—spread from the gate and wrapped around the staff like vines.

  "It's drawing the Flux!" Aura shouted, desperately tugging at Eli's sleeve. "Eli, you need to break the connection! Now!"

  He struggled, trying to pull Starling away, but the staff seemed fused to the air itself, locked in place by the purple energy strands. The binding spell's silver threads extended outward, merging with the gate's filigree pattern.

  "I can't—" Eli gasped, feeling a powerful suction as Flux poured from Starling's core into the awakening gate. The meter in his mind plummeted—800 motes, 700, 600, still dropping rapidly.

  The ornate gate, dormant for millennia, began to shimmer and part like a curtain of liquid silver, revealing not darkness but a swirling vortex of light and memory beyond.

  "Eli!" Aura's voice was frantic now, her tiny form darting between him and the gate. "Fight it! This isn't the right gate! We're not prepared for whatever this is!"

  Eli strained against the pull, but his feet were sliding forward inch by inch across the stone floor, drawn inexorably toward the activated portal. Starling's core was almost completely drained, its violet glow dimming as the last of the Flux was consumed.

  "Marco—" he managed, looking desperately at Aura. "Tell Marco—"

  With a final surge of energy, the gate flared to full activation. The binding spell gave one massive pulse that seemed to resonate through Eli's entire being, and the pull became irresistible. In one swift motion, he was yanked forward into the swirling vortex, Starling still clutched in his hands.

  The last thing he saw was Aura's horrified expression as the gate sealed shut behind him with a sound like a distant bell.

  Aura hovered in shocked silence before the now-dormant gate, its silver filigree dulled once more, the glyphs above it returned to their ancient, illegible state. No trace remained of the portal that had swallowed Eli whole.

  "No, no, no," she whispered, darting frantically around the gate's perimeter, searching for any way to reactivate it. But without Flux, without Eli, without the binding spell's resonance, the gate was just a frame of carved stone once more.

  She had to get help. She had to tell Marco.

  With one last despairing look at the gate that had claimed Eli, Aura turned and sped through the Hall of Memories, past the murals, through the Grotto, and toward the exit portal. Her tiny form blazed with desperate speed, determination overriding fear.

  Whatever had just happened, wherever Eli had been taken, one thing was clear—the recon mission had gone catastrophically wrong. The Pattern Alpha wave was still coming, and now their champion was gone, pulled into some ancient Aethel system they'd never even intended to access.

  As she burst through the exit portal back into normal time, the relentless ticking sound met her like a physical blow.

  Tick. Tick. Tick.

  The countdown continued, uncaring that everything had just changed.