The crowd's murmurs faded behind them as Lucien and the Verdant Veil stepped back into the branching corridors of the Stillness Ruin.
The Scarlet Sect and the Sskavyrn duo chose to remain in the garden to rest.
The black-robed faction did not follow either.
But the moment Lucien's group crossed the threshold into the halls—
—they froze.
Because the place they returned to…
Was not the same anymore.
A heavy clang… clang… clang… echoed through the vast corridors, a sound like an ancient heartbeat carved from stone.
Marie stiffened, whispering...
"…Luc. These paths… were never this dark."
Lucien nodded, eyes narrowing.
The air was different. It was denser, pressing down on them like a gaze from something that no longer slept.
Then they saw it.
Bodies.
Dozens of them.
They littered the marble floor like discarded offerings. Broken talismans glimmered faintly beside snapped spears. Boot marks dragged across the ground ended abruptly in smears of red.
