There's something about standing at the base of an ancient wonder under a blood-red moon that makes your heart forget how to beat properly.
We stood in the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Giza, its sharp edges glowing under the eerie crimson light. It didn't look real. It looked like a dream pulled from someone else's memory. But this was happening—tonight was the night.
The night the Crown of Eyes would open the door.
Alice was still as a statue beside me, her gaze fixed on the glowing peak above. Arisa clutched her backpack tighter, eyes darting from guard to guard at the base perimeter. James bounced slightly on his heels, cracking his knuckles like we were about to break into a vault. Technically, we were.
"Okay," I whispered. "There are only two guards making rounds on this side. When they walk to the east face, we move."
"Fast and quiet," Alice added, her voice low and calm. "We don't need attention right now."
We crouched behind a crumbling pillar, shadows swallowing us whole. The air was dry, but cold. I could feel the weight of the crown through my backpack—its power humming against my spine.
The guards passed.
We ran.
The sand shifted under our shoes as we darted toward the pyramid, staying low and silent. When we reached the base, we didn't speak. We just started climbing.
The blocks were massive and worn, but climbable. My hands stung with every rough edge, but adrenaline kept me going. The moon's glow seemed to sharpen with each step, like it was focusing directly on us.
About fifteen minutes in, Arisa stumbled.
She let out a sharp gasp and clutched her ankle. "Ow—wait—"
I turned, catching her before she slid off the block. "You okay?"
"I twisted it," she muttered, trying to stand. She winced. "I can't walk. Crap."
James dropped beside her. "Should we go back?"
"No," Alice said suddenly. "Wait here."
I opened my mouth to ask what she meant, but Alice raised her hand.
Then I said, instinctively, "Wait. I have an idea."
Alice looked at me with a small smile. "That's all I needed."
Boom.
It wasn't a sound—it was a sensation. Like the world folded in on itself for half a second.
In the blink of an eye, we were no longer halfway up the pyramid.
We were at the summit.
Just like that.
"What the hell—" James gasped.
I stumbled back a step, dizzy. "Alice—why didn't you do that earlier?"
She gave a small shrug, that same unreadable smile tugging at her lips. "You didn't ask."
Arisa, still holding her ankle, burst into laughter. "Oh my god. I love her."
James shook his head in disbelief. "You're insane."
I wasn't laughing. My heart was racing. The air was thinner here, colder. The view was impossible—miles of desert stretching in every direction, bathed in red moonlight. We stood on a summit carved by time itself.
And now it was time.
I pulled the Crown of Eyes from my backpack. The moment it touched open air, it began to glow—each of its three stones pulsing with eerie light.
Aurumglass shimmered gold, warm and ethereal.
Mimicite bent its surface, flickering with glimpses of faces and landscapes that didn't belong here.
Noctite… was silent. Dark. Cold as death. But it throbbed like a heartbeat, steady and patient.
I held the crown in shaking hands.
Alice stepped beside me. "Place them in the triangle," she instructed softly. "The moon will do the rest."
I knelt at the center of the summit and arranged the three stones in a perfect triangle. As soon as the points aligned, the moonlight found them—piercing through the sky like a laser.
They began to glow.
The stones fused.
The glow expanded, building into a blinding pulse of light. I shielded my eyes as something rose from the center—a shape twisting out of the air itself.
A crown.
No longer fragments or broken pieces. This was whole. Terrifying. Beautiful.
The Crown of Eyes.
"Don't just stare at it," Alice said. "Hold it."
I reached out and grasped it.
Power surged through my fingertips. Visions danced behind my eyes—forests of glass, oceans that whispered secrets, a god with a stitched mouth watching from behind a thousand mirrors.
I didn't scream. I just held on.
Then the beam shifted, shooting down the pyramid's face, carving a glowing line across the sand.
At the end of it, the desert trembled.
Something began to rise.
A sunken temple emerged from the earth, covered in shadow, its stones marked with runes that glowed faintly under the moonlight. A door shaped like a vertical eye formed at its center. Inside that eye… was a mirror.
Alice stepped back, breathing softly. "It's open."
We climbed down—not by hand this time, but on a glowing staircase formed by the crown's energy. Each step pulsed with light, guiding us forward.
When we reached the temple, the air grew colder.
We passed through the eye-shaped entrance and stepped into a corridor lined with mirrors. Each reflection flickered oddly—showing glimpses of ourselves in places we'd never been. Real and not real.
At the very end of the hall stood a single, untouched mirror—taller than the rest. Its surface rippled like ink. It didn't just reflect us—it reflected something behind us.
Alice turned to us. "This is it."
"Through here?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
She nodded. "Once you enter, you won't come back the same. This world fades. The Shadow Valley begins."
She placed a hand on my shoulder. "Alex. Take the crown. Walk through. I'll guide the others."
I hesitated. "What if I get lost?"
She handed me a necklace—hers. A thin silver chain with a small black gem.
"Call my name," she said. "I'll find you."
I stepped into the darkness.