Meanwhile,
Few people knew these passages existed. Fewer still had reason to venture into them.
But they had been coming here for seventeen years.
The group called themselves the Seekers, though that name existed only in their private documentation. To the outside world, they were independent researchers, academic consultants, geological surveyors—professions that justified travel to remote locations and long absences from civilization.
In truth, they were witches. But not Council witches. Not Coven operatives bound by official hierarchy and political obligation.
They were something else entirely.
Elara Morgenthal led them through the darkness with a handheld origin crystal that cast pale blue light across the rough stone walls. She was fifty-three, with iron-gray hair pulled back severely and hands marked by decades of origin energy manipulation. Behind her walked six others, each carrying equipment that had been carefully prepared for this monthly pilgrimage.
