The fires burned low.
The group had set up camp within a collapsed chamber just beyond the sigil door. Cracked stone columns leaned like broken teeth, and patches of moss clung to the corners, despite the absence of light or life.
Kael hadn't stirred in hours.
Elira sat at his side, arms folded across her knees. His breathing was steady, but faint trails of shadow still curled from his fingertips residual essence leaking from the whispered storm he had endured.
"He's not waking," Ryall muttered, pacing. "And whatever's down here is getting closer."
Tessan tightened his grip on his blade. "You feel it too, right? That pull in the spine? Like gravity turned sideways?"
Elira nodded. "Something old is watching."
Drev stood at the far wall, one hand pressed against stone. His voice, when it came, was barely a whisper.
"It moves like hunger."
They took shifts watching Kael, but no one slept. Time passed like oil slow, heavy, and stifling.
Then the walls breathed.
It was slight. Subtle. But the air recoiled.
From the eastern passage, where light didn't reach, a shape emerged.
Not walking. Not floating. Just appearing, between one blink and the next.
It stood ten feet tall, cloaked in threads of void. Its form shifted endlessly, like it was sculpted from forgotten memories and compressed shadow. A halo of broken glyphs spun above its featureless head.
No face. No voice.
Only presence.
Elira stepped forward, hand raised, magic primed. "What—"
It moved.
No warning. No sound. Just motion blinding, impossible motion.
Tessan's barrier shattered in a flash of unlight. He flew back, skidding across stone, armor sparking.
Ryall roared and charged, aura coating his fists in burning gold but the being met him with a gesture. Ryall's momentum stopped mid-air. His body hovered, spasming.
Elira shouted a command word and hurled a storm of Ethereal lances dozens at once.
They passed through the being. Not absorbed. Not deflected.
Ignored.
Drev vanished into mist, reappearing behind it, blades drawn but he froze.
He didn't move.
The others saw why:
The shadows were holding him. Not attached to the creature but part of the world around them, now bent to its will.
Elira's voice cracked as she raised her hands again. "Kael woke up!"
The being raised a single limb. Darkness curled inward, forming a spear not of energy, but of absence. An unmaking weapon.
It pointed it at Elira.
And just as it struck
Kael's eyes snapped open.
There was no glow. No scream. No dramatic burst.
He just moved.
One hand raised, and the spear of unmaking stopped inches from Elira's chest.
The creature tilted its head, as if recognizing him.
Kael stood, shadows pouring off his back, black flames flickering at his fingertips.
The scythe floated to him not called, not summoned just drawn, like a memory returning home.
He caught it, and the blade pulsed once.
Kael stepped between the creature and the others. His voice was low. Cold.
"I've seen you."
The being's glyph halo shifted, warping into something more jagged.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"I'm not ready yet. But if you touch them…"
He raised the scythe.
"…I'll erase the part of you that remembers how to exist."
The room cracked.
Reality wavered.
The creature paused.
Then, without sound, it retreated, folding back into the void beyond the eastern hall.
Gone.
Got it! Here's the revised ending of Chapter 15, toned down to keep the mystery grounded and fitting your current power scale and pacing:
Kael staggered.
Elira caught him before he fell, eyes wide.
"You're awake."
He nodded weakly. "For now."
Tessan groaned from the corner, wiping blood from his lip. "What was that thing…?"
No one answered for a moment. The silence was thick with disbelief.
Ryall muttered, "It didn't fight like a monster… it didn't even look at us like we were threats."
Drev, still tense, spoke quietly. "It didn't attack to win. It was… testing. Watching."
He looked at Kael.
"And when you stood up, it left."
Kael said nothing. The scythe in his hand was still pulsing, faint and cold.
Elira glanced down the now-empty passage. "Whatever that thing was... it knew you."
Kael's grip tightened.
"Yeah," he said.
Then he collapsed.