The tunnel stretched ahead, rough-hewn and uneven, as if carved by something that didn't care for precision. The walls pulsed with a faint, bluish glow emanating from veins of some unknown mineral embedded in the rock. Their footsteps were muffled, the air thick with humidity.

  Kael flexed his fingers around his pistol. His shoulder still ached where the creature had grazed him. "We need to figure out where we’re going."

  Elysia trailed a hand along the wall, eyes narrowing. "This mineral… it’s not natural. It feels like it’s storing energy."

  Phantom took point, rifle at the ready. "If it’s storing energy, someone—or something—put it here."

  Lyria glanced over her shoulder. "The real question is, are they still here?"

  The group pressed on. The tunnel twisted and dipped, opening into another chamber. This one was smaller than the last, its walls lined with broken stone tablets, shattered remnants of something ancient. Symbols, eerily similar to those they had seen earlier, were etched into them.

  Aldric knelt by a fractured piece, running his fingers across the carvings. "This isn’t just some forgotten ruin. This was a stronghold."

  Kael’s gut twisted. "A stronghold against what?"

  Elysia exhaled sharply. "Look at these markings. This was a warning."

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  Lyria crouched beside another tablet, brushing away layers of dust. "A warning about what?"

  Before Elysia could answer, Kael’s vision swam. A pressure clamped around his skull, an icy grip tightening like unseen fingers. Then—

  A flash.

  He was standing in the same chamber, but it was whole. Torches lined the walls, casting flickering light on the stone. Figures in flowing robes stood in a circle, chanting in a rhythmic cadence. Their voices wove together, forming something between a prayer and a plea.

  At the center of the ritual stood a figure cloaked in shadows, their face obscured. The air around them warped, as if reality itself was bending to their will.

  Then, the lake from before—the black abyss—raged in his mind. Something was trying to rise.

  The vision fractured.

  Kael staggered back, gasping. The chamber returned to its ruined state, the figures gone.

  "Kael!" Elysia grabbed his arm, her eyes sharp with concern.

  He blinked rapidly, steadying himself. "I saw them. The people who lived here. They were trying to stop something."

  Aldric studied him, frowning. "What did they fail to stop?"

  Kael didn’t have an answer.

  The tunnel continued downward, leading to something massive. A door.

  It loomed before them, ancient and covered in thick, rusted chains that pulsed faintly, as if alive. Symbols lined its surface, glowing softly with a deep crimson light. The weight of the air around it was suffocating.

  Lyria ran a finger over one of the chains and flinched. "It’s warm."

  Phantom examined the lock mechanism. "This wasn’t meant to keep people out. It was meant to keep something in."

  Kael took a slow breath. "And we’re standing right in front of it."

  The moment he spoke, the glow in the chains flickered. The whispers returned.

  Not from behind.

  From the other side of the door.