The faint drip of water echoed through the dim cavern as Helios and Skuld pressed onward, their breaths steady but cautious. The path ahead was shrouded in faint mist, and the distant glow of crystals provided just enough light to see.

  As they walked, the tunnel widened inter chamber, where three pathways stretched out before them. Each path looked identical, with ns or disible differences. Helios stopped, his eyes narrowing as he took in their options.

  “Great,” he muttered. “A cssic three-path puzzle. Because, of course, this couldn’t just be a straight shot.”

  Skuld frowned, stepping up beside him. “Whie do we take?”

  Helios didn’t answer immediately. He took a step forward, eyeing the left path. “Let’s test it. Left first.”

  Skuld followed as they ventured down the leftmost corridor. The pathway was narrow and twisting, the air growing colder as they walked. But after several mihey emerged ba the same chamber where they had started.

  Skuld blinked in fusion. “Wait… how are we back here? Didn’t we just go left?”

  Helios crossed his arms, a thoughtful frown on his face. “Yeah, we did.” He turoward the wall and summoned his Keybde, eling his magito a Blizzaga spell. A massive block of ice erupted against the stohe frost spreading across the wall in jagged patterns.

  Skuld stared at him, her eyebrows raised. “What are you doing?”

  “Marking our spot,” Helios said simply, gesturing for her to follow.

  They walked down the left path again, and once more, they ended up ba the chamber. The block of ice was still there, shimmering faintly in the low light.

  Skuld looked between the id the path, her fusion mounting. “Okay, what is going on?”

  Helios smirked faintly. “It’s a space-bending loop. The cave is messing with the paths to fuse us. We’ll have to figure out the right order to move forward.”

  With the left path ruled out, they tried the middle one. Again, they found themselves ba the starting chamber. Helios rubbed his temples, muttering under his breath.

  “This is starting to get annoying.”

  Finally, they took the right path, and this time, the sery ged. The tunnel opened into a long, narrow corridor lined with faintly glowing crystals. Helios let out a sigh of relief.

  “Looks like right was the correct choice,” he said.

  Skuld rolled her eyes. “Finally. Let’s just hope we don’t have to do that again.”

  As they walked through the corridor, Helios g Skuld. “You still have that raven neckce, right?”

  Skuld blinked, reag into her pocket and pulling out the neckce. The small raven pendant gleamed faintly in the dim light. “Yeah, I stopped wearing it whe here. Didn’t o hide anymore.”

  Helios held out his hand. “Let me see it.”

  Skuld hesitated, her brow furrowing. “Why?”

  “I didn’t know it mattered so much to you. Just hand it over and I’ll show you,” Helios said.

  Relutly, Skuld handed him the neckce. Helios removed the raven pendant from the and hahe back to her. As they tinued walking, he held up the raven, studying it closely.

  “The Keybde is an iing on,” Helios began, his tohoughtful. “It doesn’t have a solid form. It’s made from our hearts, which is why we summon it baatter the distas appearand abilities also ge based on the user and what’s important to them.”

  Skuld tilted her head, curiosity piqued. “What do you mean?”

  Helios gestured to the raven pendant. “Tokens that hold meaning to us are said to be able to be used as special keys. They allow the Keybde’s appearand performao be altered. This raven? It’s important to yht?”

  Skuld nodded slowly, realization dawning in her eyes. She summoned her Keybde, Starlight, which gleamed faintly in her hand. The on was elegant in its simplicity—a silver bde with a regur blue guard and a gold star-shaped key.

  Bringing the raven pendant close to the gold star key, she watched in awe as the raven was absorbed into the key. The on began to glow, its form shifting as the light intensified.

  When the light died down, the Keybde transformed into a masterpiece of dark elegand untamed energy. The bde now had a feather-like shape but boasted a jet-bck base streaked with electric blue veins that shimmered with a sense of fluid motion, as though eling the very essence of the power. The silver edges of the bde gleamed faintly, atuating its sharpness and lending a sleek, refined beauty to its lethal design.

  The hilt, shaped like outstretched raven wings, extended with bck feathers tipped in luminous blue that faintly glowed in the shadows. Silver highlights traced the edges of the wings, adding a yer of elegao its fierce silhouette. The grip, ed in soft bck leather, bore intricate glowihers etched into its surface, pulsily.

  Suspended from the Keybde’s end, the raven-shaped pe had now bee the bde’s new key. It shimmered like polished onyx, its pierg blue eyes glowing with quiet iy. The eg it appeared ethereal, a silvery trail of light dissolving into translut wind currents that seemed alive. This might have beeo the effects of the spell Helios had previously cast on the raven-shaped pe.

  The teeth of the bde, formed by a raven’s cw, pulsed with a vibrant blue core, encircled by faint swirling winds that left behind shimmering streaks of blue and silver in their wake, making the on appear almost otherworldly.

  Skuld stared at the Keybde in amazement. “This… this is incredible. It feels… different. It feels more me.”

  Helios smirked, crossing his arms. “Told you. The Keybde evolves with its wielder. That raven’s been a keepsake for you so I figure it might be important enough to ge it. Now it’s a part of your on and will never leave your side.”

  Skuld swung the Keybde experimentally, watg as faint trails of wind followed its movements. She smiled, her fidence renewed. “Thanks, Helios. I think this will make me stronger.”

  Helios chuckled. “Just don’t let it go to your head. We’ve still got a long way to go.”

  All the while Helios heard Kurai’s voice, “If only the foolish girl khat you just used her to experiment with how keys worked in this universe. To be thanked from the bottom of her heart for being used as a guinea pig how ughable.”

  The corridor stretched on, the faint glow of torches illuminating their path. With her newly enhanced Keybde in hand, Skuld felt more at ease. Helios walked beside her, his own Keybde resting on his shoulder.

  As they ventured deeper into the cavern, the air grew colder, and the glow of the torches dimmed. The path ahead was once again shrouded in shadows, barring the way forward.

  Soon the cavern shook, and a deep, guttural roar echoed from the shadows ahead. The air grew heavy, and the crystals lining the walls dimmed, their glow repced by an ominous purple light.

  Helios froze, the sound somewhat familiar. “I really hope it’s not what I think it is.”

  Before Skuld could respond, a massive creature emerged from the darkness. Its long, serpentine neck extended outward, and its dark purple scales gleamed uhe faint light. Its e eyes burned with a predatory hunger, and its jagged fangs glistened as it let out another deafening roar.

  The Hydra crawled into full view, its bulky body supported by two massive hands with sharp, white cws. Spikes lihe length of its neck, and its tail shed violently behind it, sending shards of rock flying.

  Skuld took a step back, her eyes wide. “Helios… what do we do?”

  Helios swallowed hard, his grip tightening on his Keybde. “Of course, it’s exactly as I thought the story of my life. Calm down, whatever you do don’t cut off its head.”

  The Hydra lunged forward, its massive maing as it struck. Helios and Skuld dove to the side, barely avoiding the attack as the ground where they stood shattered beh the creature’s weight.

  The battle had begun.