The room was supposed to be safe.It was the only place in the fortress where the wards ran so deep they bled into the stone. Not even a shadow should've been able to slip past them.
And yet…
Kaelen froze.That sound.
Not the wind. Not the usual groan of old wood.It was breathing.Slow. Measured. Inhale. Exhale.
Across the room, Liora's eyes found his in the dim torchlight. She heard it too.
Neither of them moved. Neither dared to.
The wards etched along the walls shimmered faintly, like ink bleeding through paper but not in the steady rhythm they knew. The runes were pulsing, distorting. As if something was pressing against them from the other side.
Then came the scrape.A whisper of stone against stone.Low. Deliberate. Closer than it should be.
Kaelen's hand found the hilt of his blade, but the metal felt heavier than usual, almost reluctant to leave its sheath.
Liora mouthed a word he couldn't quite read.The torch guttered. Shadows surged across the walls, writhing like living ink.
From somewhere inside the wall itself… came a knock.
One.Two.Three.
And then, a voice.Not loud. Not even a whisper. Just… there.
"You shouldn't be here."
The torch died.