Silas took a step forward, adjusting his bowler hat. But the physical world was never meant to hold such concentrated, ancient darkness. The moment his leather shoe touched the obsidian floor, a shockwave of raw, chaotic energy exploded outward.
The massive timber supports of the excavation tunnel groaned, then snapped like dry twigs. Huge chunks of rock began to plummet from the ceiling. The cavern was tearing itself apart.
"It seems my arrival was a bit too grand for this fragile era," Silas mused, his violet eyes flashing with amusement as a boulder the size of a carriage crashed down mere inches from him. He didn't even flinch. His tailored form dissolved seamlessly into a wisp of thick, black smoke, spiraling upward through the cracks in the falling debris. "Survive this, little surveyor, and perhaps we shall meet again."
"Wait!" Arthur coughed, blinding dust filling his lungs. But Silas was gone.
A deafening roar echoed as the main tunnel roof caved in, sending a tidal wave of earth and stone straight toward Arthur. Driven by pure survival instinct, Arthur raised his bleeding hand, clutching the jagged silver shard.
Please, he prayed to whatever ancient power resided in the metal.
The shard responded. A blinding dome of sapphire light erupted around him just as the cavern collapsed. The crushing weight of tons of rock slammed into the barrier, screeching against the magic. Arthur fell to his knees, holding the glowing metal high in the suffocating darkness, buried alive but untouched, alone with the terrifying knowledge of what he had just unleashed upon the world.