The bell beneath the mountain

For three hundred years, nobody in the kingdom of Avelon had seen the sun.People had forgotten what sunlight felt like.They called it the Long Night.
The kingdom survived beneath an enormous enchanted sky that glowed faintly purple during the day and turned completely black at night.
Crops grew under crystal lamps, rivers were guided by magical stones, and every child was taught the same story:The sun had disappeared because the ancient Moon King had stolen it.
Nobody questioned the story.Except sixteen-year-old Elara Vale.She had always believed the story was incomplete.
Her father had disappeared when she was seven, leaving behind only a silver compass that never pointed north. It always pointed toward the mountains.
On the night of Elara’s sixteenth birthday, the compass finally moved.Its needle spun violently before pointing straight toward Mount Veyra.
Then it began to glow.Elara stared at it.“What are you trying to show me?”The compass clicked open.Inside was a message she had never seen before.
WHEN THE BELL RINGS, DO NOT LET THEM OPEN THE GATE.Before Elara could understand it, a sound travelled through the village.
A bell.Deep.Slow.Ancient.Everyone froze.It rang again.The ground trembled.Elara ran outside.
Across the village, people were coming out of their houses. The elders stared toward the mountains with terrified expressions.Her neighbour, Rowan, grabbed her arm.
“Where are you going?”“To the mountain.”He laughed nervously.“You’ve finally lost your mind.”Elara held up the glowing compass.
His smile disappeared.“My grandfather had one of those,” Rowan whispered.“What happened to him?”“He followed it.”“And?”“He never came back.”
Another bell rang.This time, something answered from beneath the ground.A massive crack appeared across the village square.People screamed and ran.From the crack came a cold blue light.
Elara stepped closer.A stone staircase was slowly rising from beneath the earth.At its entrance stood a symbol carved into the stone.A crown surrounded by seven stars.
Rowan stared at it.“My grandfather used to draw that.”Elara looked at him.“What did he call it?”Rowan swallowed.“The Door of Dawn.”
The compass suddenly pulled itself from Elara’s hand and floated toward the staircase.Then a voice came from below.“Two heirs have returned.”Elara and Rowan looked at each other.
“Two?” Rowan whispered.Neither of them had any idea what it meant.Then footsteps echoed from the darkness beneath the village.Someone was climbing toward them.Elara reached for Rowan’s hand.
“Run?”Rowan shook his head.“No.”He stared into the darkness.“For once, let’s find out what everyone has been hiding from us.”Together, they descended the stairs.Behind them, the entrance sealed shut.
And somewhere beyond the mountains, for the first time in three hundred years, something that had once been called the sun began to wake.