At first, it was only shapes. Broken lines against the horizon, jagged silhouettes rising from the basin below, half-swallowed by mist that pooled thickly like a sea of ghosts.
"This is it," Cho Yanshi said, gazing down at the map. "The ruins of Camelot."
The group stood at the edge of a high pass, looking down into what had once been the heart of a kingdom. Now, it was nothing but a grave.
Camelot's ruins stretched across the valley floor like the bones of something vast and long-dead.
Collapsed towers leaned at unnatural angles, their spines broken but not entirely fallen, as though frozen mid-collapse. Crumbling walls traced the outlines of streets that no longer existed, their paths choked by ash-grey vegetation that grew in unnatural patterns- too symmetrical in some places, too barren in others.
At the center of it all stood the remains of a great citadel. Or what had once been its remnants.
Its outer walls were shattered, massive stones scattered like discarded relics. Even so, the inner structure still clung stubbornly to existence, its blackened spires piercing the sky, surfaces etched with markings so worn by time that they resembled scars more than carvings.
"This was a capital?" Qin Shuyue whispered.
Hei Shisan whistled. "If it was… it has been dead for a very long time."
"Not dead," Shen Wuyou said quietly, his fingers idly rolling his dice. He paused and looked down at them, suddenly curious, and found they had both stopped on a corner. Undecided.
"Waiting," he finished.
Han Jianyu eyed him intently, a flash of interest in his eyes.
They all descended in silence, the air growing heavier with each step.
Every footfall echoed just a fraction too long. Every movement seemed to ripple outward, as though disturbing something unseen.
Lin walked closer to Qin Shuyue, his usual curiosity subdued by something engraved even deeper within. "Do you know how significant this place is to Albion?"
"Why don't you tell me?" she smiled.
"This is the birthplace of the Last King, and was largely considered the Capital of Albion. The Seat of Power. The Last King and his Knights lived here, trained here, returned here after every battle." Lin looked around, the look in his eyes suggesting that what he saw wasn't ruins, but Camelot in all its glory.
"This is the birthplace of the Once and Future Sword."
Jin Huang exhaled slowly. "I keep hearing about this sword. What's so great about it, anyway?"
Lin shot him a look, "It's only the greatest sword ever! Unbreakable, eternally sharp, infinitely powerful! There's nothing the sword can't cut!"
Han Jianyu turned, "Is that so?"
"Mm!" Lin nodded furiously.
"We'll see for ourselves soon enough, won't we?" Cho Yanshi cut in.
Han Jianyu said nothing more, but he brought his sword up and gazed at the handle, appearing thoughtful.
Soon, they passed beneath a long and fractured archway- the remnants of what might once have been a grand entrance. The stone above them was cracked clean through, yet it had not fallen.
It persisted, as if the idea of collapse had been interrupted.
Inside, the silence deepened. No wind. No insects. No sound at all, save for their own presence.
And even that felt unwelcome.
"Strange," Hei Shisan muttered, crouching beside a fragment of carved stone. "No signs of decay in the usual sense."
Lu Chen nodded. "It wants to die, but the laws themselves seem to be preventing that."
Jin Huang glanced at him. "Is that supposed to be comforting?"
"Not even a bit."
At the end of the archway, they found something interesting overhead.
They did not notice it at first. The ruins had a way of swallowing attention, as though each fragment insisted it had once mattered more than the others.
It was Lin who saw it.
"Wait," he said, stopping mid-step.
His voice echoed upward. Jin Huang followed his gaze and paused.
Above them, set into the underside of a fractured stone arch, was something worn and ancient beyond reckoning.
However, it was unmistakable. A sigil, and at its center, a dragon.
Not the coiled, snarling beasts of common folklore, nor the grotesque, exaggerated monsters carved into tavern signs and merchant banners.
This one was… different.
It was long and serpentine, its body flowing in a near-perfect circle, as though chasing its own tail but not quite touching it. Its wings were half-furled, not in aggression, but in restraint. Its head was angled downward, jaws slightly parted in something closer to a breath withheld.
It watched, guarded, and endured despite how time had eaten at it.
Edges had softened. Details had been lost to centuries of wind and silence. Cracks ran through the stone like veins, splitting the dragon's form.
Regardless, it remained.
Jin Huang stepped forward slowly. "This was important, Lin?"
"That much is obvious," Cho Yanshi replied, but her voice lacked its usual bite. Even she was looking up now.
Han Jianyu's eyes narrowed. "It looks like... a True Dragon."
Lin hugged his arms slightly. "It must be connected to that dragon."
Kilgharrah.
No one said the name, but it came to them.
Qin Shuyue tilted her head, studying the carving more carefully. "Didn't the old guy say that Kilgharrah was kept prisoner? Could he have been kept in Camelot?"
Jin Huang glanced at her as Hei Shisan nodded and said, "It's not impossible."
The stone groaned softly, barely audible, and everyone tensed.
Han Jianyu's hand snapped to his sword, Hei Shisan and Lu Chen turned sharply; Jin Huang's eyes emitted golden light and Cho Yanshi moved in front of Qin Shuyue and Lin. Shen Wuyou took a breath, and spun his dice.
They rolled three's, and nothing happened.
"Let's just keep moving," Jin Huang said.
No one disagreed, and they continued out of the archway and back out into the open, heading into the lesser ruins of Camelot's surrounding area.
"Oi."
Han Jianyu's voice cut through the silence like a blade.
"I noticed," Hei Shisan yawned as Lu Chen grined. Jin Huang did not turn, but he, too, had felt those presences.
From the moment they left the archway behind, they felt them.
Seven figures emerged from the sparsely scattered ruins surrounding Camelot. Their presence felt odd- not immediately hostile, and out of place in a way that made the air tighten.
At their head stood a tall man clad in dark, layered armor, his hair bound high and his expression calm. A longsword rested at his back, its sheath black as charred wood.
The others converged behind him- each distinct, carrying themselves with the quiet confidence of people who had crossed great distances and expected to go further still.
One of them- a similarly armored woman with pale eyes and a thin smile- tilted her head.
"Well," she said, her voice light, almost amused, "Someone owes me ten pieces of silver."
"Tch!" the man at the front tossed her a coin purse without looking.
"Why the fuck would anyone walk through those ruins? Have you no respect? Puh!" He finished by spitting some saliva onto the ground.
His gaze swept over Jin Huang's group.
Lu Chen stepped forward slightly. "You guys headed to the Valley of Kings?"
The man sucked his teeth, "Nah. Here for the fuckin' weather, dimwit."
Qin Shuyue crossed her arms. "What's his problem?"
"Don't mind Mars," the pale-eyed woman stepped forward after counting out ten silver pieces, her smile widening just a fraction as she shoved the coin purse at him. "He came out of his mother's asshole, you see, so he's spent his entire life trying to be one."
Jin Huang snickered, evoking a glare from Mars, who then glared harder at the woman and snatched his money. "Fuck off, Gwen!
Jin Huang didn't look at him. Instead, he focused on the woman- Gwen. "We're headed that way, too."
"Mm." Han Jianyu stepped forward, eyes locked on Gwen. For the first time since joining them, his presence sharpened- like a blade finally unsheathed.
"The trial," he said. "I know you felt it too. You're one with that sword on your hip, aren't you?"
Gwen nodded. "The Once and Future Sword calls to all who can hear it. Of course, that doesn't mean you'll ever be chosen, but it can't hurt to try."
Her gaze flicked briefly to Jin Huang's eyes before she gave a small smile to Han Jianyu. Mars scoffed, folded his arms and glanced at the other five with them.
Lin shifted uneasily as Lu Chen asked, "What happens to those who fail?"
The pale-eyed woman laughed softly, and some of her companions joined in.
"What do you think? If we're still alive- and aren't chosen- then we have no choice but to walk away. Anything else would be dishonorable."
Lu Chen's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't happen to be knights, would you?"
"Hmph!" Mars puffed out his chest somewhat, making them take him even less seriously. "Damn right we are!"
Gwen rolled her eyes but nodded, "Sworn to the Dragon Knight Order- its most elite captains. My name is Gwen Leodegan, and I lead this outfit."
"Ahem," Mars interjected, "She thinks she leads us."
Gwen moved and her elbow connected with Mars' abdomen, causing him to double over, groaning.
"Pleased to meet you, Gwen. I'm called Jin Huang, and these are..." Jin Huang quickly introduced the others, and they exchanged pleasantries.
"Well... shall we?" Gwen gestured, and together they all left in the direction of the Valley of Kings. It was closer now than it had ever been. The White Mountains were within view.
At their feet, the Once and Future Sword's trial awaited the chosen one's arrival.