Dr. Alex Nolan's Arc

Chapter 8 of 14

Nolan's boots scraped against stone as the brand dragged him forward. He twisted, grabbed the basin's edge with both hands, and slammed his palms down to brace himself. The purple light flared brighter. His reflection should have stared back from the water's surface, but the face looking up wasn't his. A skull floated beneath the ripples, eye sockets hollow and black, jaw stretched wide in a silent scream. The water didn't distort it. The bone looked solid, real, inches below the surface where Nolan's own face should have been. He jerked his hands back, but the brand burned white-hot and something in the water moved. An ornate key materialized in the skeleton's teeth—brass and jeweled, too elaborate for this place. The skull's jaw clicked shut around it. Nolan looked up. Chains hung from iron rings embedded in the stone wall behind the basin, dozens of shackles dangling at different heights. Some were open. Some still held fragments of bone. This wasn't a place of worship. It was a trap that had been sprung before. The chained man in the corner pressed himself flat against the cavern wall, his mouth forming the same silent word over and over: run. The brand's pull stopped. Nolan stumbled backward, free for the first time since entering the cavern. The purple symbol on the wall dimmed to nothing. He stared at the basin, at the impossible skull still visible beneath the surface, at the key caught in its teeth. The mark on his arm cooled to a dull ache. He understood now—the brand didn't just guide. It showed what waited at the end. He grabbed his pack and ran for the steps, leaving the chained man and the basin behind. The temple could keep its proof. Some things weren't worth proving.