They traveled north for eleven days, following a path that Cael navigated by reading the currents of magical energy that flowed through the earth like underground rivers. Seren could feel them too, faintly, a tingling warmth beneath her feet that intensified as they climbed higher into the Ashfall Mountains. Other descendants joined them along the route. Brynn carried the blood of Elowen, Goddess of Forests, and could hear the thoughts of trees, which she reported were mostly concerned with water and sunlight but occasionally offered cryptic warnings. Varen was descended from Kael, God of Fire, and his skin radiated heat that intensified with his emotions. Together, the four of them represented elements that the old gods considered fundamental to creation: storm, sea, forest, and flame. The shrine waited at the summit of Mount Vethren, built into the peak itself so that it appeared to grow from the stone like a natural formation. Its entrance was an arch of interlocking granite blocks carved with symbols that predated human writing. The air here tasted of ozone and copper, and the magical currents were so strong that Seren's hair floated around her head as if she were submerged in water. Inside, the shrine was a single circular chamber open to the sky. An altar of white stone stood at the center, surrounded by seven pillars that corresponded to the seven old gods. Three of the pillars were dark, their surfaces cracked and lifeless. Torvaan's pillar still radiated faint warmth. The other two had gone cold entirely. 'Druuth, God of Stone, died first,' Cael explained. 'Then Aethis, Goddess of Wind. Then your grandfather. The pattern is deliberate. Something is consuming them in an order that weakens creation systematically.' 'What could kill a god?' Brynn asked. Cael placed his hand on the altar. 'Another god,' he said quietly. 'Or something the gods created and forgot about.'