The air grew colder the deeper they descended beneath Skylance City, as if they were leaving the world of the living behind and stepping into a place where time stood still. Alastor led the way, his scarab pulsing steadily beneath his sleeve, illuminating ancient glyphs carved into the crumbling stone walls. The tombs stretched endlessly beneath the city, far older than the foundations of the modern world above.

Every step took them further into the unknown—down where the original founders of the Pyramid had been laid to rest. This was no longer about fighting assassins or battling agents of the organization. This was about cutting out the heart of the Pyramid’s power. Somewhere beneath the layers of dust and decay lay the key to severing the immortality that bound the Pyramid’s leaders to the loop.

Alastor glanced back at Selene and Aurora, both moving silently behind him, their expressions set and focused. The walls were lined with cryptic hieroglyphs—symbols of death and rebirth, twisted spirals that hinted at ancient rituals. It felt as though the tomb itself was alive, watching their every move, waiting to see whether they would uncover its secrets—or become part of its endless cycle of loss.

Aurora stopped at an inscription etched into the wall, her augmented eyes glowing faintly as her neural interface worked to decipher the symbols. She ran her fingers lightly across the glyphs, her brow furrowed. "These hieroglyphs are different from the others we’ve seen."

"How?" Alastor asked, pausing beside her.

Aurora tilted her head, her fingers still tracing the symbols. "They’re... warnings. It looks like someone tried to seal these tombs off—on purpose. There are mentions of souls being trapped forever, rituals that went wrong, and..." She hesitated, her eyes narrowing as more of the symbols rearranged in her interface. "...something about an attempt to end the loop."

Alastor’s heart quickened. "Someone tried this before?"

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Aurora gave a small nod, her voice low. "Yeah. But they didn’t succeed."

Selene stepped closer, her blade resting lightly in her hand. "And now we’re walking right into the same place that swallowed them whole. Brilliant." Despite the sarcasm in her tone, her grip on the blade tightened—she knew this wasn’t just a routine mission. This was a descent into the heart of the Pyramid’s origins, where ancient forces still lingered, waiting to be unleashed.

"The only way to end the loop is to find the source," Alastor said, more to himself than to them. "If the original founders are buried down here, they’ll have what we need to sever the loop for good."

Aurora’s neural interface hummed softly, the hieroglyphs shifting as new fragments of the puzzle revealed themselves. "The founders weren’t just priests. They called themselves the Architects of Eternity—they didn’t just want to live forever. They wanted to reshape the flow of time itself." She glanced at Alastor, her expression dark. "And it looks like they killed anyone who tried to stop them."

Alastor gave a grim nod, the weight of their task settling deeper into his chest. They were walking a path lined with the bones of those who had come before, those who had tried—and failed—to end the Pyramid’s reign over time. But this time was different. They had to be different.

"Let’s keep moving," Alastor muttered, adjusting the cloak draped over his shoulders. "We’re not leaving here until we find their resting place."

They pressed deeper into the tombs, the stone tunnels winding endlessly through the dark, twisting like a maze designed to disorient even the most determined explorers. The air was heavy with the scent of dust, decay, and old magic, thick with the weight of rituals performed long ago.

Everywhere they looked, there were signs of struggle—broken pillars, splintered bones, and rusted blades scattered across the floor, as if battles had been fought here in forgotten centuries. Alastor knelt beside a shattered sarcophagus, brushing away the dust to reveal claw marks gouged into the stone, as though the dead had tried to escape their own tombs.

"Looks like we’re not the first to try this," Selene muttered, glancing around at the ancient wreckage.

"No," Aurora murmured, her voice soft as her glowing interface scanned deeper into the chambers. "We’re not the first to seek the end of the Pyramid."

The sound of her voice echoed through the dark corridors, as if the tomb itself was listening, waiting for the next chapter of its endless story to unfold.