Chapter 17

After months of crossing scorching deserts and storm-lashed seas, Jason and Daphne reached fabled Acadia, a realm isolated from the rest of Phantasma by impassable boundary mountains. The brush-choked landscape showed no signs of human habitation, but the legends insisted a great kingdom awaited discovery somewhere within.

On the fifth day, Daphne used a scrying orb and spotted ruins buried beneath vines in a nearby valley. They trekked to the site and found crumbling structures almost swallowed by the jungle after ages of neglect. Following clues and Daphne's divining magicks, they descended into a hidden complex beneath the ruins.

In the depths, they entered a massive chamber with a shimmering mirror-like gate sealing off the far end. Strange energies pulsed from the gate, hinting at a portal to someplace or somewhen else entirely. Was this the legendary kingdom's location?

Daphne deciphered the runes along the gate's frame. "It's locked...but these glyphs indicate four relics ar