The tunnel swallowed them whole.
Silver runes pulsed along the walls in rhythm, each one flaring as Serena passed and dimming after the last person cleared it. The passage was too narrow for two people to walk side by side comfortably, so they moved in single file, the silver glow their only light source.
Then it ended.
They stepped out of the tunnel, and the world changed.
Gone was the blizzard and frigid air. A warm breeze swept past them instead, carrying the scent of earth and green life so vivid it felt impossible.
They were standing on a cliff. Before them stretched a vast hidden valley, impossibly lush. Towering trees draped in emerald vines. Ancient stone pathways half-swallowed by moss. Waterfalls cascaded down cliffs of shimmering ice-crystal and granite, their mist catching sunlight that had no business existing inside a frozen continent.
