After passing through the last oak grove deep within the Forbidden Forest, tangled with glowing vines, the damp scent of decaying leaves suddenly faded, replaced by an aroma like dried lavender.
The ground beneath their feet changed from soft humus to hard bluish-gray rock. Rather than the rough texture of naturally formed stone, its surface possessed the smooth warmth of something long washed by flowing water.
The entrance to the Ancient Magic ruins the goblins sought was hidden behind a protruding cliff face. Dark green lichen covered the cliff, and only when the wind blew from a particular direction would the lichen lift slightly, revealing the circular stone door embedded in the rock beneath.
The stone door was roughly twice a person's height in diameter. A ring of fine starburst patterns was carved around its edge, each groove filled with a thin layer of grayish-white powder.
When they pushed open the door, it was not as heavy as they had imagined. Instead, it felt like pushing through a layer of water-soaked silk.
The passage beyond was narrower than expected, allowing only one person to pass through sideways.
At the end of the passage stood a large, ruined stone chamber.
The goblins' shadows stretched long in the faint glow of the magical lamps they held. The tap-tap of their boots striking the stone floor sounded especially clear in the empty chamber.
The elderly goblin leading them, Grek, crouched down. His fingertips traced the worn marks along the edge of a stone platform, his rough nails scraping against the dust gathered in the grooves of a star chart. His voice carried the goblins' distinctive rasp.
"Is this the place? The source of the magical fluctuations we detected outside the Forbidden Forest last week was this crumbling ruin?"
"There's no mistake." Lina, the