Page 6 of Shadows of the Lost Relic (Vanguard of the Ancients #1)

Chapter 6

Lyra

W hen I woke up the next morning, the events of the previous day felt like a distant dream. One of those surreal experiences that left you questioning what was real and what wasn’t. But the sight of Pandora’s Box sitting on the nightstand beside my bed was a solid reminder that this was no dream. I had agreed to stay with the Vanguard, and now there was no turning back. Then I tried to move, and the pain was a stark reminder that everything was real.

I did not want to move out of this bed. Knowing that the boys would be banging on my door much sooner than I wanted them to, I dragged myself out of the warmth of the covers and into the shower. The hot water was both a blessing and a curse, helping my muscles relax, but they were screaming in pain as they did.

Once I was done, I dressed quickly, a mix of nervous energy and anticipation buzzing in my veins. Not quite enough to drown out the ache that still clung to my muscles, but it helped. I had no idea what was going to happen today. Hopefully, there would be a little downtime, though. I’d barely had time to process everything that had happened in the last few days. It had been a cascade of meetings and tests and information. All of it had been whirling around in my mind. The triplets were right there at the forefront.

And I couldn’t forget Caspian. He was the latest complication in a life that was suddenly full of them. It was almost enough to have me craving the simplicity of my life before all of this. Before the Vanguard, before crime even. When the only things I had to worry about were where I was going to sleep, and what I was going to eat next.

I had to admit, Caspian intrigued me. He was nothing like the triplets. Where Kane was playful and Theo intense, Caspian was quiet and reserved, almost shy. But there was a depth to him, a kind of intensity that simmered just below the surface, hidden behind layers of calm. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would take to break through those layers, to see what really made him tick. I was still working Evan out. He seemed intense, like Theo, but it was different. It wasn’t the burden of leadership; I didn’t know what it was.

I didn’t have time to dwell on that, not when there was work to be done.

When I arrived in the main hall on my way to get some breakfast, the brothers were already waiting for me, standing around a large table that held a holographic map of the city. Caspian was there too, his attention focused on a small device in his hands. He barely looked up when I entered, but I felt his presence like a steady current grounding me.

“Morning, Lyra.” Kane greeted me with his usual grin, though there was an edge to his voice that told me today was going to be different. Given the testing I had gone through the day before, I could already feel my stomach sinking.

“Morning,” I replied, moving closer to the table. “What’s going on? I haven’t even eaten anything yet. Surely you aren’t going to drag me into nonsense before breakfast, are you?”

“We’ve been assigned our first mission with you as a member of the team,” Theo said, his tone serious, completely ignoring that I hadn’t eaten yet.

Luckily, Evan handed me a protein bar. Any food was better than no food, and I tucked straight into it.

Theo cleared his throat before he gestured to the map, where a red dot pulsed in the middle of a rundown part of the city. “There’s a cursed object that’s been reported in this area. We believe it’s in the hands of a dangerous cult that’s been causing trouble for a while now.”

“A cult?” I echoed, raising an eyebrow. “What kind of trouble?”

Cults could mean all kinds of problems. Sometimes it was weapons, others it was magic. I did my best to steer clear. They were rarely worth the effort of breaking in and stealing things from them.

“The kind that gets people killed. They’ve been linked to several disappearances over the past few months, all centered around acquiring and using dangerous artifacts. This object is a relic from the early Middle Ages, known as the Mirror of Shadows. It’s said to have the power to show someone their darkest fears, twisting their mind until they can’t tell reality from illusion,” Evan said quietly, his green eyes meeting mine with an intensity that made my skin prickle.

I frowned, trying to process the gravity of what he was saying. That sounded terrible. It wasn’t the first time I was left wondering who would make an object like that, and why. It seemed like more trouble than it was worth, really. But that wasn’t going to help with the mission, so I kept it to myself, instead trying to focus on the important information. “What do they want with it?”

“Power,” Theo answered simply. “Control. The usual reasons. They think they can use the Mirror to break people, to bend them to their will.”

“And we’re supposed to just walk in and take it from them? If it’s so easy, what do you need me for?” I asked, a hint of skepticism in my voice. I hated having to draw information out. Theo was acting like this was some sort of production. Why couldn’t he just hand me a file with all the information I needed?

Kane’s grin faded as he leaned over the map. “It won’t be. These guys are serious, and they won’t give up the Mirror without a fight. But that’s where we come in. We’re going to hit them hard and fast while you take the Mirror, then we all get out before they know what hit them.”

I glanced around the table, taking in the determined expressions of the triplets. They were confident, sure of themselves in a way that only came from years of working together. But I wasn’t so sure. I’d been in enough tight spots to know things rarely went according to plan, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that this mission was going to be more complicated than they were letting on.

Theo cleared his throat and shot his brother a look. Was Theo the only one who got to talk during briefings? This was why I worked alone. People always let their egos get in the way.

“The cult’s hideout is heavily guarded, but there’s a back entrance that should give us a way in without getting caught. Lyra, you will disable the security systems and get us inside,” said Theo.

I nodded, the weight of the task settling on my shoulders. It was a lot of responsibility, especially for my first mission with the Vanguard, but it was within my skill set. Besides, they surely had a backup plan. No one would leave an entire mission hanging on the skills of a new, untested member.

Caspian finally looked up from his device, his gray eyes meeting mine for the first time since I was in his workshop yesterday. “I’ve equipped everyone with comms. We’ll be able to stay in contact during the mission, but be careful. The area around the hideout has some interference. We might lose signal at certain points. I’ve done my best to negate it, but things always go wrong in the field.”

I nodded and took the small earpiece he handed me. Our fingers brushed as I did, and a spark tingled across my skin. It was a feeling I wasn’t ready to examine too closely. Caspian’s expression didn’t change, but there was a flicker in his eyes that told me he had felt it too. “Thanks,” I said quietly, not sure what else to say. He seemed to be on the same page as me, at least. Things went wrong in the field, whether or not the others wanted to admit it.

He just nodded, his attention already shifting back to the task at hand. “We leave in ten minutes.”

The tension in the room was palpable as we prepared for the mission.

The weight of their expectations pressed down on me, the pressure to prove myself as part of the team. I had worked with teams a couple of times before, often enough to know I didn’t like it. But things felt different with this team.

As we made our way to the transport vehicle, I found myself walking beside Caspian. The triplets were ahead, talking in low voices, their camaraderie clear even in their seriousness. Caspian, on the other hand, was silent, his focus inward, as if he were already thinking ten steps ahead. It was similar to the way I got before a mission. Eyes on the prize.

“You’ve done this a lot, haven’t you?” I asked, needing to break the silence between us. I wasn’t sure what the draw I was feeling toward him was, but I wanted to know if he felt it, too.

He glanced at me, his expression as unreadable as it always was. “Yeah. Although I don’t go into the field as often as the triplets.”

His words raised more questions than answers. “What is it like? Working for the Vanguard? Going into a situation like this, not knowing what’s going to happen, just because someone else told you to?”

He was quiet for a moment, as if considering how much to reveal. “It’s dangerous and complicated, but it’s necessary. We do what we have to because if we don’t, the consequences are worse.”

I nodded, letting his words sink in. There was a gravity to them that resonated with me, a recognition that this wasn’t just about fighting bad guys or retrieving artifacts. It was about preventing darker things from happening, things that could tip the balance in ways I wasn’t sure I fully understood yet. That was the sort of thing that would keep me going if I decided to stick around.

By the time we reached the cult’s hideout, the sun was high in the sky. The area was desolate; a forgotten corner of the city, left to the truly desperate. It was the perfect place for a group like this to operate. It was hidden, isolated, and far from prying eyes. No one came out here if they had any other choice. Breaking into somewhere in the middle of the day like this made me uncomfortable, but I had no choice but to trust the boys’ intel.

We parked a few blocks away, far enough to avoid detection, but close enough to make a quick escape if needed. The triplets went over the plan one last time, their voices low and serious. I listened carefully, committing every detail to memory. There was no room for mistakes.

When we were ready, we moved out, staying low and keeping to the shadows as we approached a crumbling old warehouse. With the windows boarded up and the doors reinforced with whatever durable looking scrap metal the cult had been able to find, the hideout was ominous. It looked both crumbling and impenetrable in an odd blend that had me worried. Every fortress had its weak spots, though, and it was my job to find them.

We reached the back entrance without incident, and I quickly went to work, scanning the area for any hidden sensors or traps. There were a few basic tripwires that were easy enough for me to disable without setting them off. Within minutes, I had the door unlocked and the security systems disabled.

“Nice work,” Evan murmured as we slipped inside, his voice barely a whisper.

I didn’t respond, too focused on the task ahead. Unlocking the door was only the first part of my job. I still needed to grab the artifact we were here for.

The interior of the warehouse was as grim as the outside—dimly lit, with stacks of crates and debris piled haphazardly around the space. The air was thick with the smell of mold and decay, and the walls were covered in strange symbols that made my skin crawl. I didn’t recognize any of them, but I wasn’t well-versed in magical languages. I had picked up some things over the years, but these felt different, wrong. Like someone had twisted good, wholesome words into symbols that were truly awful. I didn’t want to know what they meant.

We moved silently, navigating the labyrinth of corridors and rooms as we searched for the Mirror of Shadows. According to the intel Theo had gone over, it was likely kept in the central chamber, heavily guarded and surrounded by wards to prevent anyone from taking it.

That was why Caspian was on the mission with us in person. He had brought along a device that could disrupt the wards long enough for me to grab the Mirror and get out while the triplets covered me and caused distractions.

Theo led the way, even though I was the one who was supposed to be looking for traps. Maybe he didn’t trust me to remember the way. Either way, he was the one who walked face first into a cultist when we rounded the corner. The man had barely let out a scream before Theo’s hand clapped over his mouth.

I hit the wall as Evan pushed me aside, a blade in his hand that I hadn’t even known he was carrying.

I was glad I didn’t see him stab the cultist. I heard it though, the gurgling sound, and the smell of blood filling the air was unmistakable. Theo pulled the dying man back around the corner and lowered him to the floor. His ragged clothes hung from his slender frame, his hair unbrushed. Even with the smell of death clinging to him, it smelled like he hadn’t washed in days.

“These are the guys you think are such a threat? He looks like he was just looking for his next fix.” I focused on Theo, trying not to look at the dead man’s face.

“Something is going on here. He shouldn’t have been here. This corridor is supposed to be clear. Everyone, keep your eyes open.” Theo wasn’t answering me so much as he was barking orders. I didn’t take it personally, but he was going to answer my questions later.

As we neared the central chamber, the tension in the air grew thicker. The weight of the place pressed down on me with a sense of foreboding that I couldn’t shake. My instincts screamed at me to turn back, to get out while I still could. I had never wanted to leave a place more than I wanted to now. But with a quick look at Caspian and his calm determination, I did my best to push it aside, putting my head down slightly and forcing myself to move forward.

When we reached the chamber, we found it exactly as described. A large altar at the center of the dimly lit room demanded my attention, as if my eyes were drawn to the way the light seemed to suck into the mirror sitting on top of the carved surface. The Mirror of Shadows, with its black, polished surface, was smaller than I had expected, about the size of a hand mirror, but that didn’t stop it from radiating menace. The darkness before the mirror was impenetrable, like a black hole.

There weren’t any guards around, but it quickly became apparent what had happened to them. Their bodies were slumped against walls or sprawled on the floor. One was even pinned to a wall with knives. Splashes of dried blood marked the floor and the walls, and with the pits of shattered wood and glass littered around, it looked like chaos had happened here.

“Evan, keep watch at the entrance,” Theo ordered in a low voice. “Lyra, Caspian, Kane, with me. Let’s get this done quickly. Whatever happened to these people, we don’t want to be involved in it.”

Evan nodded and positioned himself by the door, his eyes scanning the shadows for any signs of movement.

Kane, Caspian, and I followed Theo towards the altar, our movements cautious and deliberate.

Kane stopped halfway to the altar, scanning the room. His hands were in the air, like a kid doing karate moves in their backyard after watching a movie. Now wasn’t the time to laugh at him, but if I got a chance to tease him about it later, I was going to take it.

Caspian was the first to reach the altar, stopping a couple of steps back from it. He carefully took out the device he had brought and activated it, a low hum filling the air as it began to disrupt the wards surrounding the Mirror.

I held my breath, waiting for alarms to blare, for the cultists to swarm us, but nothing happened.

“The wards are down. We’ve got a few minutes before they re-establish themselves,” Caspian murmured, his focus on the device, and not on the creepy room of horrors we were standing in.

Theo nodded and reached for the Mirror. Just as his fingers brushed against it, the air in the room seemed to shift. A sudden chill swept through the chamber, and the shadows around us deepened, growing thicker and more oppressive.

“What the—” Kane began, but he didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence.

The darkness exploded all around us.

It was as if the shadows themselves came to life, surging toward us like a living entity. I barely had time to react before the darkness engulfed me, the cold seeping into my bones and stealing the breath from my lungs. I couldn’t see, couldn’t think. My entire existence had narrowed down to the overwhelming sense of being swallowed whole by an ancient and malevolent presence.

Theo shouted, his voice so muffled by the darkness I couldn’t make out the words. Then Caspian’s hand was on mine, pulling me back from the brink. His touch was warm, grounding me, and I clung to it, using it as an anchor amid the chaos, and clinging desperately to the growing bond between us.

Caspian’s voice cut through the haze, sharp and commanding. With his other hand, he pushed something into my palm, making me grip it. It was cold, and my first instinct was to drop it, but he closed his fist around mine, forcing me to hold on to it. “Lyra, focus! We need to get out of here. Now!”

I forced myself to move, to push back against the darkness that threatened to consume me. Caspian’s hand was still on mine, guiding me toward the entrance, where I could see a sliver of light—Evan, holding the door open, his eyes wide with alarm.

“Come on!” he shouted, his voice urgent.

We stumbled out of the chamber, the shadows clawing at us even as we fought to escape. My heart pounded in my chest, adrenaline surging through my veins as we made a mad dash for the exit. The triplets were shouting orders, but it was all a blur—just the overwhelming need to get out, to survive.

The moment we burst through the door and into the cool night air, the darkness retreated, dissolving back into the shadows from which it had come. I gasped for breath, my lungs burning, my body trembling with the aftershocks of whatever had just happened.

Kane was the first to speak, his voice shaky but laced with relief. “Is everyone okay?”

“Barely,” Evan muttered, his eyes still darting around as if waiting for the shadows to come after us.

I looked down at my hands, one still holding onto Caspian’s while the other had a death grip on the mirror. I didn’t know why he had handed it to me in there, but he had never let go of my hand. I relished the heat of his skin against mine, the strength in his hold, and for a moment, I couldn’t bring myself to let go. It was the only thing holding back the icy darkness coming from the mirror.

Theo’s voice cut through the fog in my mind as he held out a case for the mirror. I was all too eager to place it inside, glad to be rid of it. “That could have gone much worse.”

I nodded, still trying to catch my breath. “What the hell was that?”

“The Mirror’s influence,” Caspian explained, finally releasing my hand as he took a step back. “It’s more powerful than we anticipated. The darkness was drawn to it, amplified by its presence. It was trying to devour us. It might be what happened to the cultists.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Kane muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “Let’s get the hell out of here before those cultists realize we’re gone.”

“Everyone back in the truck.” Theo’s voice cut through the conversation. We didn’t need to be told twice.

The drive back to the Vanguard’s headquarters was tense, the silence between us heavy with unspoken thoughts. I kept replaying the mission in my mind, trying to make sense of what had happened. The darkness I’d felt in that chamber, the way it had wrapped around me, suffocating and cold… it was a reminder that the Vanguard’s work was far more dangerous and complex than I had initially thought. And it was still in my chest. When Caspian had let go of my hand, I felt it again. Small, insidious, but heavy.

When we finally reached the Vanguard, Theo turned to me, his expression serious. “Good work today, Lyra. You handled yourself well.”

“Thanks,” I said, though the words felt hollow. I was still trying to process everything, still trying to find my footing in this new world I had been thrust into.

Caspian lingered near the door with his eyes on me, and for a moment, I thought he was going to speak. He didn’t. Instead, he just nodded in silent acknowledgment before turning and heading down the hall.

As I watched him go, I felt a strange mix of emotions—relief, curiosity, and a frustration that was directly tied to the man who had just walked away from me.