Zane pov.
The sky didn’t matter much once we stepped inside. The air felt heavy, almost alive. I could taste the metallic tang of dark energy the second I breathed in.
Tyson moved ahead, scanning the ground. “It reeks,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Rogues were here recently.”
He gave a stiff nod. The others stayed close, weapons drawn. The cave walls were marked with strange runes, half-burned symbols that pulsed faintly like veins. The deeper we went, the worse the smell got, blood, rot, and something else I couldn’t place.
“What the hell are those?” one of the guards asked, pointing to a cluster of black metal devices wedged into the stone.
Tyson crouched beside one, frowning. “Dark energy devices. Old type. Someone’s using forbidden stuff.”
“Why here?”
“Probably because
