Auri stirred to the sensation of wind—dry, heavy with dust, and something unspoken. It wasn't the kind that belonged to any living place, but something old, passing through ruins that had long forgotten what they once were.
A groan escaped him, then his eyes fluttered open to a world of shattered stones and crumbling corridors. His head ached, and each breath tasted of dust. Auri pushed himself to his feet, legs shaky, and glanced up at the corridor ahead.
Broken columns leaned at odd angles and cracked tiles crunched under his boots. Faint motes of light drifted through holes in the ceiling, illuminating the swirling dust in the air. Water dripped somewhere off to the left, echoing softly in the silence.
"Where am I?" Auri whispered, his voice thin.
This wasn't the same ruin where they fought the mother worm. It was different—yet it felt oddly familiar.
"[Repository]," Auri called.
Nothing.
