The water was black, freezing, and tasted of centuries-old decay. It tossed them around like ragdolls, slamming them against slick stone walls and submerged rusted pipes.
"Grab the ledge!" Aarav sputtered, choking on the foul water.
He reached out, his fingers scraping against rough stone. He found a grip on a mossy embankment and hauled himself up, gasping for air. The darkness was absolute until the faint, dying glow of the Blade Sigil in his palm flickered, casting a sickly pale light.
He turned back to the water. "Liora! Mara!"
Liora surfaced, coughing violently, dragging a limp figure with her. It was Kael.
"I've... got him," Liora wheezed.
Aarav and Mara (who had pulled herself up further down the bank) scrambled to help. They dragged the swordsman onto the cold stone floor.
Kael was conscious, but his face was grey. His right leg was bent at a sickening angle below the knee. Bone pressed white against the skin, threatening to break through.
"Don't... look at it," Kael gritted out through clenched teeth, his voice strained with agony.
"We have to set it," Mara said, her voice shaking slightly. "If we move him like this, the bone will shear the artery. He'll bleed out in minutes."
Liora knelt beside him, her hands trembling. "I have no Aether left. I can't numb the pain."
"I don't need magic," Kael growled, gripping a rusted metal ring embedded in the floor. "Just do it. Quickly."
Aarav moved behind Kael, holding his shoulders down. "Hold him steady."
Mara took a deep breath. She gripped Kael's ankle and his calf. "On three. One... Two..."
CRACK.
She pulled hard on "two".
Kael didn't scream. He made a guttural, animalistic sound in his throat, his back arching off the floor, muscles seizing. Sweat instantly drenched his face. Then he slumped back, panting raggedly, on the verge of passing out.
"It's aligned," Mara exhaled, wiping her hands on her wet pants. "We need a splint."
Aarav looked around. They were in a circular tunnel made of ancient, crumbling brick. This wasn't the pristine white marble of Antima above. This was the corpse the city was built upon.
He found some rotted wooden planks near a drainage grate. He ripped strips from his own tunic to bind the wood to Kael's leg.
"We can't stay here," Aarav said, tying the last knot. "The water is rising. And she is still out there."
"Where do we go?" Liora asked, shivering. Her wet clothes clung to her shivering frame, her lips blue from the cold.
"Downstream," Aarav said. "Water flows out. It has to lead to the sea."
They moved. It was a slow, torturous march. Aarav and Mara supported Kael between them, his arm draped over their shoulders. Liora walked ahead, using a faint spark of light to guide them.
The under-city was a labyrinth of misery. The air was thick and humid. Every shadow looked like a monster.
After an hour, Kael's weight became unbearable. They found a dry alcove—an old maintenance room with a heavy iron door that was rusted open.
"Rest," Aarav ordered. "Five minutes. We need to warm up."
They collapsed onto the dusty floor. It was dry, at least.
Liora huddled in the corner, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. The cold was seeping into her bones.
Aarav went to her. He didn't say a word. He sat down and pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her, trying to share whatever body heat he had left.
"You're freezing," he whispered, rubbing her arms briskly.
"I'm scared, Aarav," she confessed, burying her face in his neck. "Not of dying. But of... becoming that. Did you see her? She wasn't human."
"She's a glitch," Aarav said firmly. "And glitches can be fixed. Or deleted."
He held her tighter. The intimacy of the moment wasn't sexual; it was survival. But as the warmth began to return to their bodies, the adrenaline faded, leaving behind a raw, aching need for comfort.
Liora shifted, turning in his arms to face him. Her hand slid under his torn shirt, resting on his bare chest. "Your heart... it's beating so fast."
"It beats for you," Aarav murmured.
Liora looked up, her eyes searching his in the dim light. She leaned in, kissing him softly. It started tender, a reassurance, but quickly deepened. Her tongue traced his lower lip, seeking entry. Aarav groaned low in his throat, tasting the salt and desperation on her.
For a moment, in that dark, filthy sewer, they forgot the pain. Aarav's hand slid down to her waist, squeezing the soft flesh through her damp tunic. Liora pressed closer, the friction of their bodies generating a heat that chased away the sewer's chill.
"Hey, lovebirds," Mara's voice cut through the haze, tired but sharp. "Save the honeymoon. We found something."
Aarav broke the kiss, resting his forehead against Liora's for a second before standing up. He walked over to where Mara was inspecting the back wall of the room.
It wasn't a wall. It was a mural.
It was covered in grime and moss, but under the dirt, there were carvings. Ancient carvings.
"Shine the light here," Mara told Liora.
Liora brought her small orb of light closer.
The carving depicted a tall tower—the Spire. But beneath the Spire, deep underground, was something else. A massive, spherical chamber. Inside the sphere was a swirling vortex.
And connecting the Spire to the Sphere were thousands of lines.
"This isn't a city," Kael whispered from his spot on the floor. "It's a funnel."
"What does it mean?" Liora asked.
"Antima," Aarav traced the lines with his finger. "It collects Aether from the atmosphere. It funnels it down... to this." He pointed to the sphere underground. "The Core."
"And look here," Mara pointed to a figure carved next to the Core. It wasn't Elara. It was a figure in chains. "Someone is trapped inside the Core."
"Or something," Aarav corrected. "Elara said she wanted to 'consume everything'. Maybe she isn't the source of this power. Maybe she's just the leech feeding off something much bigger."
"The Heart of the World," Liora breathed. "The legends say Antima was built over the prison of an Ancient One. A being of pure Aether."
Aarav looked at the mural, then at the dark tunnel leading deeper.
"If Elara survived the fall," Aarav said grimly, "she won't go back to the surface. She's broken. She needs energy to rebuild her form."
"She's going to the Core," Kael realized, his eyes widening.
"If she reaches that Core and consumes an Ancient One..." Mara trailed off.
"...she becomes a God," Aarav finished. "An unstoppable one."
They stood in silence. They were battered, broken, and weaponless. And now they knew their enemy was heading towards the ultimate power source.
"We can't go to the sea," Aarav said, turning away from the mural.
"You want us to go deeper?" Mara looked at him like he was insane. "Aarav, look at us! Kael can't walk! We have no weapons!"
"We have this," Aarav raised his hand. The Blade Sigil pulsed. "And we have the truth."
He walked over to Kael and crouched down. "Can you fight?"
Kael looked at his broken leg, then at the mural, then at Aarav. He reached into his boot and pulled out a small, hidden dagger—his last resort.
"Carry me there," Kael said, his eyes cold as steel. "And I will cut the throat of god."
Aarav nodded. He stood up and looked at the dark tunnel that led down, not out.
"We're not escaping," Aarav declared. "We're hunting."
As they prepared to move, a low rumble shook the ground. Dust fell from the ceiling. Far below them, deep in the earth, a scream echoed. It wasn't human. It was the sound of something ancient waking up in pain.
Elara had arrived at the Core. The clock was ticking.