"Beneath the earth where light is slain,
Old echoes stir in rusted chain.
Steps divide, and minds do fray—
The ancient calls, and none may stay."
---
The tunnel entrance yawned before them — a gaping wound carved into the earth, its stone edges cracked by time and fire. Moss clung like old scars, and the air that spilled from within was cold and metallic. A single warning was etched above the archway in an ancient dialect, half-consumed by rot:
"He who walks beneath… must pay the silence its due."
Ashix felt a chill crawl up his spine as he stepped inside, torch in hand. Behind him, Elira and Marini followed — eyes sharp, weapons ready. The passage quickly swallowed them in shadow.
The stone walls were damp, carved with old reliefs that seemed to shift when you weren't looking directly at them. Some showed warriors kneeling before a blazing sun; others depicted eyes — too many eyes — watching from deep caverns, mouths sewn shut.
"I don't like this," Elira muttered, hand never leaving the hilt of her blade.
"No one does," Marini replied coolly. "This tunnel predates every kingdom we know. Even the Archives don't speak its full story."
Jake glanced at her. "You studied this place?"
Marini nodded. "Some things never made it into books. My father taught me to read the signs others ignore."
Elira gave her a sideways glance. "Your father trained you too?"
Marini hesitated, then gave a soft nod.
That single moment of silence between them stretched long. Elira seemed to soften, just a little. She removed her gloves and revealed a symbol scorched into her palm — a faded crescent tied by flame.
"He marked me," she said. "Told me I'd walk where others wouldn't."
Marini stared. Then, slowly, she lifted the edge of her tunic and revealed a mirrored mark, etched along her side. The same crescent. The same fire.
They both paused.
Jake saw it. That brief connection. Not trust, not yet — but recognition. A shared past shaped by men who pushed daughters toward dangerous futures.
Maybe, just maybe, it planted a seed.
---
The tunnel bent downward. The walls grew tighter, the air heavier. Soon, all they heard were their own footsteps and the slow drip of unseen water.
Then — the sound of stone cracking.
"Did you hear that?" Jake froze, flame flickering.
Suddenly the floor shifted beneath him. A grinding roar echoed through the tunnel like thunder. The path buckled — and in one terrifying instant — the earth gave way.
"JAKE!" Elira screamed.
He fell — fast and hard — torch flying from his hand. A rough slope sent him sliding deeper into darkness, scraping against jagged rock before he finally crashed into a lower corridor with a thud.
Silence.
Everything was pitch black.
Ashix hit the ground hard, breath knocked from his lungs, his vision swimming. The tunnel above was gone — replaced by a low-ceilinged cavern, pulsing with a dull violet glow. Dust filled his mouth, and his limbs trembled from the fall, but the markings on his wrist pulsed steadily… like they recognized something down here.
He coughed, sat up slowly, and froze.
The cavern wasn't just stone — it was carved. Ancient murals covered the walls, depicting beasts and wars and… people with marks just like his. His heart pounded. A buried chamber? Or a tomb?
He ran his fingers over one of the carvings — a man holding out his marked hand to a serpent coiled in flame.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in his head, deep and layered like it had spoken for centuries:
"You carry the burden. You carry the blade. And yet… you do not know what sleeps beneath."
Jake stepped back. "Who… who's there?!"
No reply. Just the sound of slow, heavy breathing coming from deeper in the shadows.
His instincts screamed to flee. But something in the markings tugged him forward.
---
Meanwhile...
Elira pressed her back against the wall, dagger drawn, breathing hard. "Dammit! I told you not to take that side path."
Marini, equally armed but calm, narrowed her eyes. "And I told you we had to move. Sitting still would've gotten us crushed. He's still alive, Elira."
"We don't know that." Her voice cracked. "He fell deep. There was no sound after—"
A roar tore through the tunnel.
Both girls spun toward the sound.
Emerging from the gloom was a creature made of dust and bone, its skeletal limbs wrapped in rotting bandages. Its eyes glowed with ancient hunger.
Elira whispered, "A tombbound…"
"Stay low," Marini said, drawing her crescent blades. "These things feed on soul-heat."
The tombbound lunged.
Elira ducked and rolled, slashing its leg. The blade scraped against ancient bone but didn't pierce.
Marini leapt in from behind, her blades crossing in a quick arc, shearing through part of its torso — but it barely flinched. It turned, roaring, and struck with one of its bony arms. The blow sent Elira skidding across the floor.
Marini snarled, "Its sigil's in its chest. Help me expose it."
Elira wiped blood from her lip and nodded. "On three?"
They moved as one — Elira went high, Marini low. The coordination was flawless. As Elira's dagger flicked against the beast's shoulder, Marini's blade dug deep beneath its ribs and tore upward.
A crimson rune was carved into the creature's chest — still pulsing faintly.
Marini didn't hesitate. She plunged both blades into the mark. The tombbound let out a shriek that shook the tunnel walls before crumbling into dust.
Panting, Elira fell to her knees. "You… you fight like you've been trained by royals."
Marini wiped her blade clean. "Something like that."
A pause lingered between them. Elira looked at her, eyes narrowing slightly.
"You said you came from the Outlands. But Outlanders don't use twin blades. Not like that."
Marini didn't meet her gaze. "I didn't say everything. Doesn't mean I lied."
"Right."
Marini looked away. "Why did you really join him? Jake?"
Elira blinked, surprised by the question. "…Same reason you did, I guess. I lost something. I want it back. Or maybe… I want to fight so no one else loses the same."
Marini stared at her, then gave a slow nod. "My sister died. She had eyes like yours. Same fire. Same recklessness."
"…I had a sister too," Elira said quietly. "She vanished in a raid. I still hear her voice sometimes."
They stood in silence. For a moment, their shared loss drew them together.
A flicker of guilt crossed Marini's face — but she buried it just as fast.
"We keep moving," she said.
---
Below the surface…
Jake pressed deeper into the chamber. The breathing grew louder — yet he saw nothing.
Then, at the end of the cavern, he found it.
A circular dais. At its center lay a mask — obsidian black, with ancient script carved along its surface. The script shimmered faintly.
He reached for it.
The moment his fingers brushed the edge, his wrist markings blazed. Visions flooded his mind — battles, screaming stars, a dark tower rising over oceans of ash. And behind it all… a voice.
"Find the others. Or the fire will die, and the void will feast."
Jake gasped, falling backward. The mask remained untouched, but his wrist continued to glow — now with a symbol that hadn't been there before. A serpent encircling a sun.
"What is happening to me?" he whispered.
He turned sharply as a distant rumble echoed behind him. The walls of the cavern began to shift.
Something ancient… was waking.