The darkness around us gradually faded, revealing each other in the dim light at the same moment. It wasn’t a typical kind of darkness… more like a thick veil had settled over us, dense and unnatural. The walls surrounding us were streaked with veins of reddish light, a sluggish life force seeping through the stone as if it were part of some ancient, dormant creature. There was an appetite in those veins, a deep, monstrous energy that seemed to pulse faintly, as though awakening after a long slumber.

“This is… weird,” Alex said, her voice low, unnerved. “I’ve never been unable to see like that before. Not in this life…” she referred to her time as a vampire.

“Yeah, I couldn’t see anything either,” I replied, my voice edged with surprise. “That’s a first for me too.” It wasn’t just darkness… it was something else.

Alex took a slow, steady breath, her gaze distant as she focused on the air around us. “It feels… heavy… like the air is thicker. There’s a presence here,” she spoke out what she was feeling. “Something that just sits in the back of your mind.”

I mirrored her, taking in the atmosphere. The air had a taste… metallic, sharp, almost bloody. The flavor settled uneasily at the back of my throat as I glanced around. That’s when I noticed the passageway to our left. It narrowed and sloped down, squeezing into a tiny point, too small for either of us to fit through. On our right, though, the path widened and stretched forward, turning from a cramped hall into a cavernous space, more like a subway tunnel than anything man-made. The rough, jagged stone had an odd kind of symmetry to it; organic yet hostile. It looked like it had grown this way, stretching out in some twisted resemblance of life itself. It echoed what Charles had warned us about… that we were walking inside a body.

The rough stone walls glistened faintly with streaks of dark, congealed crimson, as though something had bled and hardened along its jagged veins ages ago. The light itself wasn’t quite natural; it seemed to pulse and shift in sync with the chilling atmosphere, casting everything in an ominous, blood-tinged hue.

“Well,” I said, glancing at Alex as I stepped forward, “guess we go this way.” The widening tunnel yawned before us, bathed in that sickly red glow.

We moved ahead in silence, the air thickening as we went, like something tangible pressed down on us. The red lines in the stone gave the place a nightmarish feel, like something out of Nightmare on Elm Street. It was like we were wandering through Freddy’s boiler room. The deeper we went, the more intense that sensation became, until it felt like the walls themselves were watching us. Alex and I kept our eyes peeled, alert to every sound, every shadow that flickered in the dim, pulsing light. I could see her tension; knew she was on edge at the thought of more shapeshifters. She hated them… at least it seemed so. I wasn’t particularly worried, though… I had faced worse, and my perspective was darker than hers, hardened by the even darker shadows that lingered closely to me. Even if it was just me here, with only my inner monster as backup, I wasn’t about to flinch. I had a job to do… and I was about to fuck this place up.

The tunnel stretched on and on, every step carrying us deeper into the dim, red glow that lined the stone walls like veins under skin. The air grew colder, heavier, pressing down on us with each passing minute. We trudged down the sloping path, our footsteps echoing in the silence. The ground beneath shifted from rough, craggy rock to uneven patches of jagged stone that were flecked with streaks of crimson. The color hinted at something long dormant, something that hadn’t moved in ages but was waiting… still alive.

Time seemed to warp as we descended; minutes bled into what felt like hours, and still, the tunnel stretched onward, swallowing us whole. Our breaths came slower, the metallic taste of the air growing stronger, and thicker with every step. My senses dulled slightly from the monotony, lulled by the hypnotic repetition of steps, the sound of loose rocks crunching underfoot, and the pulse of the red light, like a faint, distant heartbeat echoing from within the walls around us.

After what could have been miles… or maybe just hundreds of yards, it was impossible to tell in this place, the silence became more oppressive than the walls. It was almost as though the tunnel itself was watching, listening, waiting for us to let down our guard. But the slope didn’t let up, guiding us deeper, always deeper, the way ahead widening just slightly with every few yards, teasing us with the hope of a destination that never came.

Finally, Alex broke the silence, her voice low and cautious, as though afraid of waking something that had long since fallen asleep. “What’s the plan, anyway?”

I glanced at her, keeping my voice even as we continued forward. “Plan?”

Alex’s steps slowed beside me, a subtle unease radiating from her. She gave me some side-eye, her mouth set in a thin line, and muttered, “Yeah… plan,” as if saying the word might make one miraculously appear. “Most people would have a plan before they go on some crazy suicide mission.” Her voice dripped with annoyance as she rolled her eyes, clearly not thrilled by my relaxed approach.

I shrugged, the faintest smirk tugging at my lips. “I don’t really need an intricate plan,” I replied easily. “Just going down to the Elders… transform, and kill them. Simple,” I said with a shrug, like it was just another day on the job.

She stopped abruptly, her eyes narrowing as she turned to block my path. “Hold on. We need to figure out how this is going down before we go any further.” Her voice was sharper, with an edge of exasperation as she stared me down.

I paused, not particularly eager to argue, but before I could respond, something flickered at the edge of my vision. My words died on my tongue as I looked past her, my attention caught by a strange, faint glow on the petrified wall behind her. It was a swirling, circular pattern of red embedded deep within the stone, like a vortex of light. It pulsed, hypnotic and steady, luring me in with a silent, dangerous promise. I couldn’t tell if the light was within the stone or if something was glowing behind it, hidden, as if waiting to break through.

Without a word, I drifted away from her, barely aware of my own movement. My feet carried me toward the wall, drawn like a moth to a flame, my mind blank to anything else around me. I felt the monster's hand at the wheel… moving me… guiding my steps.

Alex’s voice broke through my trance, laced with confusion. “What is it?” She turned, looking back at the wall, searching for whatever had seized my attention. Her brows furrowed in frustration when her gaze met nothing out of the ordinary. She glanced back at me, her irritation replaced with bewilderment. “What? What are you seeing?”

Somehow, she couldn’t see it. Only I could. I barely registered her confusion as I stepped closer, the glow washing over me in deeper, darker shades. An ominous thrum of force vibrating in my ears… my body. My hand reached out on its own, pressing against the cool surface of the stone. The instant my palm touched it, everything vanished in a blinding flash, swallowed up by an all-consuming white light.

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I skittered thunderously across the barren, raw terrain, moving with purpose. No time to pause, no chance to look back. Beneath my focused intent, a gnawing feeling of dread clawed at the edges of my mind, a primal sense that even I could not ignore. I was the embodiment of hunger itself, yet I could feel it, like a storm on the horizon… the end. The sense of looming demise, an unstoppable force creeping closer with each passing second. Something even more powerful than the greatest of us.

My brothers and sisters had known it too. We’d felt it in our very bones, that ancient calling set deep within us from the beginning of time, a reckoning that couldn’t be avoided. But when the moment came, we rebelled, refused to submit to our fate. We, the Primevals, wouldn’t lay down our power, wouldn’t fade as mere echoes of what we once were. This world was ours, and we would rule it, come whatever may. There was no need to question or justify our defiance; we knew what we were. What I was.

Yet here I was, driven across the Earth, fleeing from something… what it was… I was unsure. Myoordrakien, the eldest and embodiment of destruction had torn through the land at our rebellion. He’d hunt us down, one by one. Our youngest brother, Carrossisarx, the Primeval of Flesh and Bone, had fallen first, his form torn asunder. Myoordrakien was relentless… doom that left nothing in his wake but silence and void. I knew my only chance lay beneath the surface, in depths untouched by time. If I could burrow deep enough, nestle within the Earth’s bedrock, perhaps I could slip from his grasp, survive this purge.

Some of my siblings had abilities that allowed them to escape entirely, shifting into hidden realms of their own making, slipping through dimensions, like shadows cast from the real world. But I lacked such refuge. My only escape was down, into the Earth, into silence and slumber. There, my presence could blend with the land, hiding me from our eldest’s merciless wrath. If I buried myself deep enough, I might sleep through this extinction, allowing my children, those born to carry my hunger, to roam the world. Waiting for the right time to surface, reclaiming the land once I rose.

When I reached the remotest part of the world, where no eyes could spy me, I began to dig. My eight legs, massive and gnarled, struck the ground with force, ripping apart the earth with each swipe, tearing through forests, sending mountains crumbling. Ancient trees shattered, beasts scurried, their lives snuffed out as I carved out my sanctuary. Those that survived the devastation were soon pulled into my maw; I needed their essence to sustain my slumber. I breathed deeply, pulling in the life force around me. It drifted to me from every direction, red streams of energy drawn from the earth, the trees, the plains themselves. The vibrant, potent life seeped into me, filling my hunger for now, a mere taste of what I would need to survive this long sleep.

As my legs dug down, churning soil and rock, I shifted my needs, feeling the sharp, sweet call of blood. It tainted the air, metallic and ripe, filling my senses. I opened my maw, inhaling deeply, and watched as streams of crimson mist, each drop drawn from every creature, every corpse, surged toward me in a torrent of blood. They fed my hunger in waves, the liquid vitality filling my belly as I readied myself for what lay ahead.

But hunger wasn’t satisfied with mere blood; I needed flesh as well. My fangs, long and serrated, extended further, ready to consume all that the land would offer. I breathed deeply again, and the lifeless remains of all I had felled began to shift, breaking apart in ribbons of sinew and bone, thick rivers of flesh and gristle pouring into my gaping jaws. It filled me again and again, a gruesome feast for my empty belly, an offering for the long wait ahead. It wasn’t what I craved in full, but it would have to suffice.

I lowered myself slowly, my enormous form sinking inch by inch into the hollow I had carved. With my body nestled in the pit, I turned onto my back, limbs folding in as I settled deeper. The world above me would soon forget I was ever here. I reached out, pulling the rubble and soil over myself, the last scraps of earth closing around me like a shroud. Only the tips of my legs still poked out above the ground, dark and still like tall trees lending in the forest. I bent them inward, sinking further until I was completely hidden, my massive body locked within the earth's crust, masked from the eyes of any that might seek me.

If something had killed Myoordrakien… Annihilation itself… then I had no choice. Even my boundless hunger was no match for the force that prowled, hunting each of us. Slowly, I let my lids droop, the darkness closing in as I withdrew my senses, quieting the gnawing hunger that always lived within me.

Then, finally, my eyes closed, and I fell into the deep, eternal slumber of the earth, waiting for a day that I might rise again.

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Eons had passed since I last moved, since the dust of ages settled over me and silence claimed my form. Time’s endless passage felt foreign to me, though my presence persisted in a slumber haunted by vague awareness. My essence clung to a single relic of life… a core untouched by time or treachery, a heart that never ceased; encased within layers of bone and armored chitin. It beat with relentless hunger, trapped within a vast tomb of my own making, and pulsed with an endless, unmet craving. I was bound within myself, unable to stir, yet too aware to truly rest. The only place I existed… was within my core.

I reached out with what remained of my mind, hoping to breathe, to move, to feel. But there was only emptiness. A void where my powers once roared. Over the unyielding ages, my children had come upon my petrified body, weaving structures, and creating worlds around me as they grew. Their whispers filled the night, voices that called to me through eons of solitude. And though my form lay still, I could see through them, perceive the new world that flourished beyond the Primevals, beyond the old, merciless order we had once held.

Once, we ruled every aspect of existence. The earth, skies, and oceans… all wore our imprint. But now, what we embodied had spread, fractured, and diminished. My children had thrived without me. The first of them bore my form, eight-legged shadows cast in my image, yet unlike me in crucial ways. Their hunger was not whole, each bound to a single craving… blood, flesh, spirit. They were fractured facets of my ancient appetite, specialized creatures who stalked the world with singular desires: hearts, brains, sinew, blood. Each branch more diverse, and more numerous than I could have imagined. A twisted pride welled up within me as I watched them, weak… yet legion. Thriving in a world where I could not.

Then I felt it. My children ventured too close, their hands scratching, scraping, burrowing deeper into my flesh. My petrified shell became their focus, but it was not enough. They broke within me… invading me from within and breached my inner sanctum. They invaded what little life remained in me. I lay frozen, helpless as they devoured me from within, drinking my blood, tearing my body apart, and carving out their domains within my hollowed form. They stole the stones from my mind chamber… nine in total… each a part of me torn away, devoured by those who claimed them. I felt them, my own bloodlines, grow powerful, monstrous. They stopped their midnight whispers, no longer heeding my call, treating me as a lifeless husk. My children, the fruits of my own hunger, had consumed me and left me empty. A prisoner in my own body, I lay there, alone in a silence that stretched into eternity.

In that silence, my mind drifted to darker memories. I remembered the days when our kind ruled without question. Some among us defied the natural order, whispering of a future where we would never surrender our power. We met in shadows, knowing even our thoughts of rebellion could summon our eldest brother, our doom. Myoordrakien, the Annihilator, the Ender of All Things. His very name was an omen, and the earth he claimed was a place scorched, blackened beyond life. I had seen him only once, passing overhead like a living eclipse, darkening the world in his wake. That day, he’d slain our youngest, Carrossisarx, the Primeval of Flesh and Bone, his body left broken and ruined. And as he flew above me, he saw me. Beneath that obliterated sky, his gaze fell upon me like the weight of a thousand deaths, and I knew then that he would one day claim me too.

When the rebellion came, I held no hope against him. Yet there was talk, rumors that he had been destroyed, obliterated in an instant by a force none of us could comprehend. Our greatest terror was gone, wiped from existence as though he’d never been. But with his death came something worse, an annihilation colder and sharper, a void we couldn’t name. It was then I ran, fearing this unknown end that had felled even the mightiest among us. If he, the scourge of our kind, had been erased without a trace, what hope did I have?

Now I am but a heart, buried, my essence shriveled within a prison of flesh and bone, driven only by hunger… a hunger my children could never take from me, though they left me little else. They had not found the heart chamber, nor sensed the echo of my endless appetite coiled within. It beat on, relentless, its pulse a constant reminder of all I had lost. Alone in the dark, I felt the weight of endless time with no escape. An eternity stretched before me, a prison where even my voice was silenced, and all that remained was a hunger that could never be sated. I tried to sleep, yet knew it would be no peace, only a hollow slumber, cursed to dream of a feast that would never come.

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Suddenly, awareness hit me like a lightning strike. An electric jolt that dragged me, disoriented and raw, back to my own mind. The weight of the monster inside me was there, dormant but restless at what we had both seen. I felt the world shift around me, though I had no control over it like I was a passenger in my own head… or body. I was somewhere else now… complete void… complete blackness. Dark, suffocating silence swallowed the space around me, but in that silence, a faint, red light pulsed just ahead. A rhythmic and eerie thudding boomed weakly… desiccated… barely alive.

Looming tendrils of shadow twisted and coiled through the darkness like vast, serpentine limbs reaching endlessly into the void. They wove and stretched with an otherworldly grace, each one inky black and thick as smoke, yet somehow solid in their ghostly, writhing forms. They cradled the faintly pulsing heart, lifting it high as though upon some sinister, dark throne… a twisted shrine born of shadows themselves. The tendrils looped around it in elegant arcs, clasping the heart with reverence and menace, forming an almost regal display that radiated a corrupted majesty. It was as though these shadows served a grim purpose, honoring the heart as the ancient relic it had become, suspended in the midnight abyss like a cursed crown waiting for its heir.

The glow was sickly, dull, and struggling. Each beat labored… and strained. This heart was not the mighty, ravenous core of destruction I had come to expect after seeing Myoordrakiens beating heart in the fields. This one looked hollowed-out, shrunken… like a withered, dying thing. And yet, it pulsed. Its glow, frail but steady, filled the dark with a twisted, bruised light.

Then a voice, a deep, resonant timbre vibrated through the shadows, rumbling straight to the marrow of my bones.

"Brother," it echoed, each syllable a weight pressing down on me. "Finally, you have come for me."

I swallowed hard, every instinct screaming to pull back. The presence of this being… this Primeval was dominating… terrifying to me… even though I was tied to another. My human side quivered in the presence of this Primeval… even in its weakened form. I could feel its hunger… the never-ending, ever-hungry light that pulsed from the heart. If it could… it would consume me here and now. But… I forced the question out, my voice was almost hollow against the vast darkness. “Who...who are you?”

The monster within me stirred, another flicker of recognition slipping from its cage. Myoordrakiens presence surged, filling me like an ancient tidal force awakening to an old memory. It reminded me of the time it took over, and put me in the cage, although I was still at the wheel. He just stood up, and gathered his attention in this moment.

“You’ve seen my memories,” the voice continued, filling the air like a tangible force. “I showed you what has happened… why I rebelled. I didn’t want it, but I still did it. I ran from you, hid from you... That was my mistake.” It sounded defeated, a being reduced to something less than itself, less than Primeval. “Look at what I’ve become, Brother.”

Then another voice thundered into the void, and this one I knew. Cold and resounding, the voice of Myoordrakien, the one inside me… the Primeval of annihilation. His words slowly spoke through me with biting finality. Vibrations rocked my body and mind as his voice echoed around me, deep and shuddering. “Sister!”

Her pulsing heart seemed to flicker with renewed strength at his voice, a tremble of defiance or perhaps longing. “I am ready to go,” her voice was softer now, though her heart continued its weak rhythm, casting pale, strained light. “But you cannot take me yet.”

“Why?” Myoordrakien demanded, his tone almost suspicious, vibrating within the hollow cavern of my mind. I could tell it suspected more lies, more schemes.

Her heartbeat slowed, its light dimming like a fire on the brink of extinguishing. “My children… those who took pieces of me, they still retain them. If you take my heart, they’ll remain. If I die now, they’ll become Primevals of their own making.” She paused, her words dragging painfully through the stillness. “You must take them first, retrieve the stolen relics of my mind. Only then… will I truly die. And I will take all of my power with me. As it should have been… long ago.”

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For a moment, silence stretched around me like an endless chasm. Finally, I broke it. “How do we know you're ready?” I asked, my voice a jagged edge in the quiet. “How do we know you won’t just turn on us once we get your powers back?” The question felt strange to ask, challenging an entity as ancient and beaten as she was, but Myoordrakien’s presence in my mind pulsed with approval.

“I have been a prisoner for too long,” she answered, her tone almost broken. “Death hasn’t been an option for me in eons. I would rather meet my end than continue as a prisoner to my own blood. And…” Her voice grew colder, tinged with something almost vengeful. “I want revenge. My children knew what they did to me, and I want them to pay. The more you kill, the more it will please me.”

Her heartbeat picked up, brighter, her hatred rekindling the dying light. “When you reclaim my power and end my life, the most ancient of my bloodline will fall with me… twisted lines that have leeched from my power for far too long. You won’t just kill me, but you’ll unravel whole legacies. The face of the world will change.”

I felt a sharp, rising excitement. The chance to end monsters, not only with my own hands but to wipe out entire threats that loomed just beyond my reach. The idea that I could weaken, maybe even destroy, the powerful ones lurking in the shadows… made my pulse quicken. Myoordrakien’s presence within me pulsed with dark satisfaction.

“Hunt them,” she snarled, her voice cutting through the darkness like a blade drawn across bone. “Find them, rip them to pieces, and reclaim every scrap they took. When it’s done… when every last one of them is a pile of meat… I’ll take you to the true heart chamber…the place where this all ends.”

Suddenly, light erupted around my hands, blinding and searing. My right hand flared with scorching heat, the flesh splitting under a hungry burn as a twisted, jagged symbol clawed its way into my skin. It was seething with the same sickly red as the quivering heart. The pain was raw, starving, clawing, and I nearly lost myself to the urge to scream, but within the cage, Myoordrakien’s presence swelled… restrained, yet almost soothing. He allowed it. This was…a gift.

“This mark will grant you passage,” she hissed, her tone heavy with grim finality. “It is your key to come and go as the hunt demands. But be warned… my children will seek to entrap you in these hollowed corridors, bound to this hell, terrified of severing their last connection to the power they stole. Kill them all. Flee to the surface if you must, then return. Kill again…again…until there is nothing left of them but viscera.”

Her words sank in, brutal and hungry, filling the void with a savage promise. The mark still burned, but the pain only fueled the sense of purpose welling inside me—a grim determination to hunt, slaughter, and strip this place bare until nothing of her wayward spawn remained.

Before I could speak to ask more or even voice a thought, a blinding white light surged through me, wiping away the darkness and her weakened, pulsing heart, leaving me in the silent, buzzing glow of emptiness.

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The stone spat me out like a curse, and I hit the ground with a jarring thud, my mind still spinning.

“Sam, what the hell?” Alex’s voice shot through the haze, sharp and incredulous. She looked genuinely rattled, concern flickering behind her eyes. “How did you get out? You’ve been gone for hours! I thought this place ate you alive.” Her voice carried an edge of something raw, a concern that caught me off guard. Was she really that torn up about the idea of losing me?

Before I could catch my breath, she ran over, gripping my shoulders and hauling me upright before I could even think to move. Her face was so close that I could feel the warmth of her breath ghosting against my cheek in the tunnel’s crimson light, and for a moment, neither of us moved. It was like time had paused… Alex was staring at me with a look that held equal parts frustration and relief, the intensity of it startling.

“It… it let me out,” I managed, the words tumbling out before I had a chance to make sense of them. Everything was a disorienting blur… the sights, the memories that weren’t mine, the feeling of being part of something else. I slowly pulled away from Alex’s grip, still trying to piece together what had just happened.

Alex seemed to snap out of it, blinking as she took a step back. She quickly looked away, trying to shake off the awkwardness, though I could still feel the tension hanging between us. “What do you mean, ‘It let you out’?” she asked, her voice wavering with confusion and disbelief.

“This place…” I swallowed, my throat dry as if the memory itself had scraped it raw. “It’s… it’s alive. I saw… I saw its memories, like I was inside it… like I was part of it. It was… I don’t know how to explain.” The words seemed as twisted and hollow as the feeling in my chest. “It felt so real… like I was… like I was it.”

“Sam, you’re not making any sense.” Alex’s brow furrowed, but the concern stayed in her voice. “This wall ate you. I saw it. The wall opened and took you whole. You disappeared into this… this glowing mess… and I thought you were gone. Gone, like for good. It’s been hours, Sam.” Her hand swept around the tunnel, motioning to bodies sprawled across the stone. “Look around.”

Only then did I see it… her hands, slick with fresh blood. The metallic sheen almost black in the dim light. My eyes followed her gesture, landing on a grisly scene: five, maybe six bodies scattered around us, the remnants of things that had come for her while she waited on me… hoping I would return. She never left this spot.

“Hours?” My voice felt foreign, hollow. “You’re saying I was gone for hours?” My mind reeled. It had felt like mere moments… a blink, just long enough for that vision to flash through me. To witness the Primeval of Hunger. But if hours had passed… then Alex had stayed, waiting, fighting through whatever came after her without abandoning me.

“Why… why did you stay?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper. “You could’ve just left, gone deeper, maybe found a way out. Why stay here?”

She pressed her lips together, holding back a storm of frustration. I could see the strain etched into her face… the exhaustion, the annoyance, and something else, something defiant. “We’re here for a reason, Sam. I didn’t forget that,” she said, her voice steady despite the fire in her eyes. “And besides, I could still feel you in there, somehow. Like… like your life wasn’t snuffed out yet. I even tried digging through the damn rock to reach you.” She pointed behind her, at the bodies. “These bastards kept showing up, slowing me down, but I wasn’t leaving without knowing you were really gone.”

I could sense the vampires that lay severed and torn on the ground, and something else with wings of skin. I eyed it curiously as I leaned around her… trying to get a better look.

Her words settled over me, heavier than any rock wall, her fierce loyalty cutting through my daze. I could still feel the brand of that otherworldly memory pressing into my hand, binding me to a fate I barely understood. I needed to explain to her.

"Thanks," I said, and meant it.

A few minutes passed, silence stretching out as Alex wrestled down whatever mix of anger and relief was sparking in her eyes. Finally, she let out a sigh and muttered, “You’re welcome.” No sarcasm, no edge… just the strained sincerity of someone who’d had enough but was still there anyway.

The air was thick with the rancid stench of the bodies scattered nearby, decomposing faster than anything natural. I could barely stomach it, so I pointed down the tunnel to a cluster of rocks about thirty yards deeper in, far enough from the nauseating remains. Alex shot me a look, lips pressed tight, but followed as I moved, settling down beside me once we reached the rocks.

For a while, neither of us spoke. I focused on steadying my breathing, still trying to wrap my mind around everything I'd just seen. It was a lot… and it had actually shaken me slightly. Alex stayed silent, her gaze fixed on me, both curious and wary. I knew she was on edge, constantly scanning the darkness around us for any new threats, her hands twitching every so often, ready for whatever might come.

“This place…” I finally managed, my voice low and uneven as I looked around at the walls hemming us in. “It’s not just… rock. It’s alive. It’s something ancient, something… Primeval.” The words felt strange in my mouth, like they didn’t quite fit. “This… this thing, it’s the Primeval of Hunger. It was here when the world was young, before humanity even took shape.”

She blinked at me, brow furrowing. “Primeval? What the hell does that mean?”

“Yeah, I didn’t think that would land” I nodded, not sure how to explain the enormity of it. “There are others, too. Three that I’ve seen… and another one, one I just learned about. This one,” I said, gesturing around at the walls enclosing us, “it’s… something more. It’s like… a memory of what it once was. It showed me things, things that felt real. Like I was inside it, like I was it.” I could see her staring at me, eyes narrowed as if trying to decipher if I was even making sense. “There’s… something, something it was running from. It was scared, hiding. Whatever it was, it chased it down, and it burrowed deep into the earth to escape. That’s how it got here… hid itself away, dormant.”

Alex sat up straighter, absorbing my words in tense silence. I could tell by the look on her face that it was a lot to throw at her, but I had to keep going. “It’s… the creator,” I continued, my voice quieter now. “The source of certain supernatural beings. Vampires, werewolves… maybe even things I don’t know about,” I admitted. “They all… came from it somehow. The elders were drawn here… like they were its offspring in some way.”

“Wait, wait, hold up.” She interrupted, throwing a hand up, her expression half-pissed, half-disbelieving. “You’re just spitting this out like it’s the weather forecast, Sam. How do you even know any of this is real? You sure you didn’t just knock your head in there? This is insane, and you’re talking like it’s some… factual history lesson.” She let out a rough exhale, clearly overloaded and frustrated by the lack of any solid proof.

I rubbed a hand over my face, shaking my head. “Look, I know it sounds crazy. But the details aren’t the point, okay? We already know about the elders. There are nine of them. If we take them all out, we can pull the power they stole from this thing back into it, siphon it back where it belongs. That’s what we need to do first. After that, we can finally take this thing down. Its heart… it’s buried somewhere deep, untouched, and protected inside with some kind of exoskeleton. We reach that, and we end this for good.”

Alex scoffed, letting out a harsh laugh. “An ‘exoskeleton on the inside?’ Damn, you really didn’t go to college, did you?” She shook her head, exasperation sharpening her voice. “You mean endoskeleton, genius. Exoskeletons are on the outside. I swear, read a book or something.” Her tone wasn’t sarcastic… it was irritated, like the last straw after hours of hell. I could feel her resentment simmering, probably from having to fight her way through those things while I was gone.

I bit my lip, swallowing a retort. She wasn’t wrong… she had a right to be pissed. She’d been waiting, fighting alone, probably half-believing she’d find my corpse wedged in the rock somewhere. “Anyway,” I muttered, cutting through the silence. “Point is, we take down the elders first. Then we end this.”

She glared at me, skepticism still plain on her face. “And what happens to the city above when you ‘end this’? You’re talking about killing something that’s buried right under an entire town. You think it’ll all just stay intact if we do that? I’m not risking bringing down a whole city just because you’ve got some half-baked plan from a fever dream.”

Her words landed with a grim finality, and for the first time, I understood the weight of what we were planning.

“Don’t worry about that,” I said, my voice steady despite the whirlwind of emotions swirling within me from the meeting of Primevals. “It’s been dormant for a long time. I mean, a very long time. It’s petrified, its body fused into the rock around it, trapped in a prison of its own making. It told me what to do… like I was a conduit for its ancient knowledge. It’s been running from something, hiding from its fate for ages now. There’s so much more to this than you realize. It’s hard to put into words for someone else… you don’t really know…”

She studied me closely, her expression a mix of skepticism and bewilderment. “And how do you know all this? Why the hell are you so tied up with all this weird shit? I’ve been around since the mid-1940s, and I’ve never heard anything like this.”

A sigh escaped me, the weight of her words sinking in. I’d opened a can of worms, and she was trying to make sense of the chaos spilling out. “Because of the monster inside me,” I admitted, my throat tightening. “The thing you’ve probably been wondering about since we met. It’s one of them… a Primeval. It’s bound to me.” I watched as her eyes flicked over my face, searching for some sign that I was joking, that this was all a prank. But the seriousness in my voice must have struck a chord, and I could see her understanding begin to shift, if only slightly.

“That’s the other Primeval you saw… one of the others?” Alex’s brow knitted as she tried to connect the dots.

“Yeah,” I confirmed, the reality of my situation weighing heavily. “There’s the Unseen, the Primeval of Hunger, and another one I can’t quite place. I think it’s the Primeval of Flesh… and Bone.” I hesitated, trying to recall the details. “Mine… mine is of Annihilation. It craves death… not blood like you, or flesh like the others. It wants the moment a life is snuffed out. To end things… for good. That’s what it longs for.”

“You said this thing was running?” she pressed, motioning towards the walls that closed in on us, their dark surfaces absorbing the faint light. “Was it running from yours?”

I shook my head, feeling the shadows close in tighter. “No. In the memory, it was thinking about my Primeval, how it was already dead. It had vanished from their world, and they all knew it. But then something else came, something that hunted them down. That’s why they all ran, hiding in places like this, burying themselves beneath the earth, creating new dimensions to slip into, like the Unseen did.”

“What could scare something that can create an entirely new existence?” Alex’s mind was working overtime, her brow furrowed as she chewed on the implications.

I paused, uncertainty creeping in. Should I reveal more? I glanced around the dim tunnel, the dark edges hinting at unfathomable horrors beyond our reach. What if we didn’t make it out of here alive? I couldn’t keep secrets from her; she had trusted me enough to follow me into this nightmare without question. I still had questions about that.

“It was Death,” I finally said, my voice dropping to a whisper. “Death came for them all. He’s a force… an entity all on his own. When the Primevals ran, trying to prolong their lives beyond what they were meant for… when anything tries to live beyond its means, doing twisted, evil things to cling to power or stay in this world… Death will come for them.” I met her gaze, the intensity of her green eyes drawing me in. They widened slightly, revealing a vulnerability I rarely saw in Alex. It was as if my words were slicing through her tough exterior.

“That’s how the first Primeval, Annihilation, was killed,” I continued… my heart racing. “Death came for him, made a deal. He became the hand of Death in the physical world after his siblings cheated Death. Since then, his power has passed between different hosts… people cursed to continue the work the first Primeval started. New Hands of Death to hunt down those who try to escape him. That’s what I am.” I bared it all to her.

Silence settled between us, heavy and palpable. I could see the gears turning in her mind as she processed the truth I had laid bare.

“Death, like a skeleton with a big scythe?” Alex tried to inject some levity, attempting to lighten the oppressive tension in the air.

I let out a shaky breath, unable to fully relax into a laugh. “I’ve never seen him as a skeleton, actually. The form I’ve seen is always cloaked, usually at a distance where I can’t get a good look. But he’s appeared to me in other ways, too. For a while, he showed up as my predecessor, John… the one who held this curse before me. Lately, he’s been appearing as me, like a carbon copy staring back at me in a mirror.” I paused, gathering my thoughts. “But he is real, in ways you might not think. But… if he shows up… you don’t want to be around…”

“So, you were a normal guy,” she pieced together slowly, her voice laced with disbelief. “Then you got cursed somehow, and this monster now lives inside you? And it’s a Primeval, one of those things?” She gestured again towards the walls, their darkened surfaces shimmering with a sinister energy.

Yes. I stated plainly.

Out of nowhere, she started laughing uncontrollably, the sound echoing off the damp walls of the tunnel. A musical symphony of uncontrollable laughter tore through the silence of the tunnel. Her vibrant red hair spilled over her shoulder as she leaned forward, her body shaking with amusement. The laughter was infectious, a burst of joy that seemed wildly out of place in our grim surroundings. It felt surreal to watch her find such humor in the heavy truth I had just revealed. But I couldn’t join in; I sat there, tense, my eyes darting into the inky darkness around us, silently pleading that no lurking threat was drawn to her laughter. I didn’t want to lose this moment of truth. The thought of something sinister honing in on our location, because she couldn’t maintain her fucking composure, gnawed at me.

Minutes stretched on as she heaved with laughter, completely lost in the moment. I stole glances at the shadows, acutely aware of the stillness that surrounded us. The sound of her amusement felt like a beacon, an unwelcome signal in this haunted place. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, her laughter began to taper off, replaced by a quieting realization. I could sense the shift in her energy; she had hit the peak of her amusement and was now coming down from that high, her expression slowly morphing into one of seriousness.

As her laughter faded into silence, I noticed her eyes narrowing, locking onto mine with an intensity that made the air thick between us. It was clear that she was processing everything I had laid bare. The ridiculousness of my words seemed to settle in, but so did the gravity of the truth behind them. I watched as her mind raced to piece together the puzzle of who I was, all the bits of information she had gathered in our short time together now swirling in her thoughts.

Her gaze didn’t waver; she studied me intently, searching for any sign that I might be joking. The remnants of laughter lingered in her smile, but the seriousness of the situation dulled that light, making her features appear more resolute. I could feel her wrestling with disbelief, yet somewhere beneath that turmoil, I sensed an unspoken understanding. She was beginning to accept the impossible: that I was a vessel for something ancient and terrifying, something that craved Death itself.

I realized then that despite the wild absurdity of it all, she had a depth to her… a vulnerability hidden beneath layers of bravado and sarcasm. It made my heart pound in a way I hadn’t expected, like she was unraveling parts of me I had kept tightly sealed. There was an attraction, a connection in that moment, fragile yet undeniable, and it hovered just beneath the surface of our conversation.

“You really believe this, don’t you?” she finally said, her voice low and steady, cutting through the silence. It was a statement more than a question, a reflection of the trust that was slowly building between us, even amidst the chaos. I nodded, my expression unwavering, and she seemed to draw strength from my resolve. The tension between us shifted, charged with an energy that felt both exhilarating and dangerous, a flickering flame in the midst of the dark unknown surrounding us.

As we settled into an uneasy silence, the stillness was shattered by the sound of footsteps… slow, deliberate, and distinctly singular. The cadence of those approaching steps echoed through the damp, claustrophobic space, each footfall echoing like a heartbeat, and though they did not carry the promise of destruction, they felt ominous. It was as if whoever it was had taken to creeping through the shadows, oblivious to the fact that I could hear them perfectly.

I glanced at Alex, who had a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “All you, buddy. Time to start lifting your weight, oh great Hand of Death,” she mocked, her voice laced with playful challenge.

Taking a deep breath, I stood up from my perch and began to pace toward the unseen intruder, my senses heightened. As I closed the distance, I stopped about fifteen yards away from Alex, the shadows thickening around me. I could feel the presence lurking just out of sight, and instinctively, I knew that whatever… whoever was moving in the darkness was not human. The realization sent a confident surge into my choices. If they were down here, it meant they were tied to the horrors that enveloped this place.

In that split second before I could fully comprehend my next move, a low snarl erupted from the shadows, followed by the sudden surge of a figure lunging at me. A woman, I recognized immediately, her body moving with predatory grace. She wore clothes that seemed more suited for a night out than an encounter in the bowels of this forsaken place, and as she launched herself at me, her jagged teeth bared in a grotesque snarl. The lower fangs jutted out longer than the upper ones, giving her a bulldog-like appearance that left no doubt in my mind; this was not a vampire. The telltale aroma of bloodlust and potency that usually accompanied their kind was absent, and yet there was something decidedly menacing about her.

My instincts kicked in before I could think, and with a swift, decisive motion, I caught her by the throat as she soared towards me. I held her suspended for just a moment, studying her. There was a wildness in her eyes, a blend of fury and desperation. But I couldn’t linger; the inevitability of what I had to do loomed over me.

In one fluid motion, I twisted her head with a brutal snap, the sound echoing through the tunnel like a gunshot. The pulse of life fled her body in an instant, leaving only the weight of the act behind me. The monster swelled in its cage, sated with the death at my hands. Whatever she had been, she was now a lifeless form, and as I took a breath, I sensed that no other threats lingered in the immediate vicinity.

Kneeling beside her, I took stock of her clothes. They were surprisingly well-fitted, and a surge of practicality coursed through me. In a brisk yet respectful manner, I began to peel the garments from her body, avoiding lingering near her corpse any longer than necessary. Yes, she was a monster, but that didn’t erase the odd pang of discomfort as I stole her clothes and exposed her body. I knew Alex would have a field day with this, mocking my choices, and I couldn’t let that thought linger.

With a fresh set of clothes in hand, a tight shirt and a mid-thigh skirt, I made my way back to Alex. She was still perched on the rock where I had left her, a curious mix of expectation and amusement in her expression as I approached.

“Here you go, one fresh set of clothes,” I announced, exaggerating a bow as I presented the folded garments like a butler. “Compliments of the last unfortunate soul we encountered.”

She eyed the pile with a skeptical look, raising an eyebrow as she unfolded the shirt and pants, holding them up to her body as if trying them on in a makeshift dressing room. “I guess they’ll have to do,” she muttered, a resigned acceptance in her tone, though playfully amused with my lightening the mood.

Without hesitation, Alex began to strip off her blood-stained clothes, the fabric ripping away in swift motions. I found myself momentarily stunned, my eyes widening as she revealed herself, her confidence striking me dumb. For a fleeting moment, I was caught off guard, unsure if I should turn away or simply stand there. My instincts kicked in, and I glanced down quickly, awkwardly shifting to give her some semblance of privacy.

A low chuckle escaped her lips, tinged with dark amusement as she caught my reaction. I could hear her muttering under her breath, swearing as she realized her undergarments were also tainted with blood. It was a mix of mortification and humor, and I couldn’t resist the urge to send out a pulse through my mind, envisioning her in my head. The energy rebounded back, intertwining with my senses, giving me a rough idea of her presence. She had stripped down completely, examining her underwear for salvageable bits, scratching at the stained fabric with her nails.

“Did you happen to take the bra off her too, you fucking creep?” she shot at me, her tone sharp.

“Oh no,” I replied, feigning innocence. “Why would I have done that?” I countered, trying to sound genuinely perplexed. “Oh wait... yeah no. Because I'm not some kind of necrophiliac!”

“Well, it’s not just my shirt and pants that got ruined; I need a full replacement!” she demanded, her tone dripping with mockery… I think trying to get me to turn around.

I chuckled darkly at the absurdity of the situation. “It wouldn’t fit you anyway,” I shot back, unable to resist the bait.

Her incredulous glare was palpable. “Excuse me?”

Laughter burst from my chest, reverberating through the darkness. “What I mean is,” I said, struggling to maintain some semblance of class, “she wasn’t as physically… gifted as you. She was… smaller.” The words spilled out, my mind racing with the unintentional implications of my statement. I felt like a piece of garbage for even engaging in this conversation, and taking the dead monster’s underwear was a line I simply could not cross.

“Well,” Alex said, her tone shifting to one of reluctant acceptance, “I suppose that’s true.” Not because she didn’t like the compliment, I could sense that, but because she couldn’t argue against the fact that I had unwittingly complimented her. The realization hung in the air, and I could almost hear the gears turning in her mind, conjuring up all the new ways she could mock me for my blatant perviness.

And without missing a beat, the familiar barrage of teasing began, the jabs and jibes a twisted symphony of banter echoing through the dimly lit tunnel. She kept it up as she dressed herself, covering her exposed skin once again… but barely.