The fissure squeezed us like a vice, water surging at our heels, black and frigid as the red-eyed beast’s roar chased us through the dark. My shoulder scraped stone, Aya’s ragged breaths hot against my neck as I shoved her ahead, the shard in my pocket searing through the fabric like a coal. The silence that followed the hum was worse—a living quiet, thick with intent, pressing against my skull like it could see us running. I didn’t dare look back, didn’t want to know if that molten eye was still there, tracking us through the flood.
The passage twisted, the walls slick with algae that slipped under my hands, slowing us as the water rose to our thighs. Aya stumbled, her grip faltering, and I caught her, hoisting her up. “Keep going,” I grunted, my voice raw, barely audible over the slosh and groan of the trench. Her side was bruised, her steps uneven, but she nodded, teeth gritted, pushing forward with a strength I hadn’t seen in her before. The shard pulsed, a faint rhythm against my leg, syncing with something I couldn’t hear—yet.
The fissure widened, spilling us into a shallow pool, the water knee-deep and shimmering with faint green streaks—bioluminescence, but dimmer, older than the city’s glow. The cavern stretched wide, its ceiling a jagged dome pierced by stalactites that dripped into the pool with hollow plinks. I hauled Aya to a slab of stone rising from the water, its surface etched with symbols like the shard’s, worn smooth by time. She collapsed onto it, clutching her ribs, her face pale under the grime. “Lin Ze… what is this place?” she rasped, her eyes scanning the dark.
I didn’t answer, my gaze caught by the pool’s edge. Something glinted beneath the surface—a lattice of metal, rusted and tangled, half-submerged like a drowned machine. I waded closer, the water chilling my legs, and knelt to touch it. It was cold, unyielding, its surface carved with grooves that matched the shard’s markings. “It’s… like the device,” I muttered, pulling the shard from my pocket. Its faint warmth flared as I held it near, and the lattice pulsed—a single, weak throb of green light that rippled across the pool.
Aya sucked in a breath. “Don’t—” Her warning cut off as the cavern shuddered, a low groan echoing from the walls. The water trembled, and that deeper hum returned—not the Whisperer’s, not the guardian’s, but the same vast pulse from before, shaking the stalactites loose. One crashed into the pool, spraying us with icy shards, and I yanked Aya down, shielding her as the hum grew into a growl. “It’s waking something,” she whispered, her voice tight with fear.
I gripped the shard, its heat now a steady burn, and shoved it back into my pocket. “We need to move.” But before we could stand, the water erupted at the cavern’s far end—a geyser of black foam, spitting mist that reeked of sulfur and decay. A shape broke through, not the red-eyed beast, but something leaner, faster, its body a coil of sinew and scales, eyes glowing amber like embers in the gloom. It slithered onto the stone, its tail lashing, a hiss rising from a maw lined with needle-thin fangs.
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Aya pressed against me, her hand fumbling for a weapon that wasn’t there. “Another one…” she breathed. I raised my fists, useless against this thing, its movements fluid and predatory, circling us like a snake sizing up prey. The shard pulsed harder, and the creature’s head snapped toward me, amber eyes narrowing. It lunged, jaws wide, and I dove aside, dragging Aya with me. Its fangs sank into the slab, cracking it, venom sizzling where it struck.
The hum spiked, a deafening roar that split the air, and the lattice beneath the water flared—bright, blinding green, arcs of light leaping from its grooves. The creature shrieked, recoiling as the energy lashed its scales, leaving charred streaks. I pulled Aya behind a stalactite, her breaths shallow, my own chest heaving. “It’s tied to the shard,” I said, voice low. “It’s… reacting.”
She nodded, peering out. “But why—” Her words choked off as the water surged again, this time from the fissure we’d escaped. The Whisperer slithered through, its oil-slick form a ruin—tendrils severed, black slime trailing in clots, but its needle-teeth gleamed with unyielding malice. “Yours… calls…” it hissed, gliding toward the lattice, its remaining tendrils twitching. Behind it, a shell beast staggered in, its cracked armor leaking purple ooze, eye flickering like a dying lamp.
The amber-eyed creature turned, hissing, its tail slashing the water as it faced the Whisperer. The lattice pulsed again, light arcing toward both, but the Whisperer dodged, tendrils whipping out to snare the scaled beast. They collided, a tangle of shrieks and snarls, venom meeting slime in a spray that stung my skin. The shell beast lumbered toward us, tendrils coiling, and I shoved Aya aside, lunging to meet it. My fist smashed its cracked shell, pain jolting up my arm, but it reeled, purple blood dripping.
“Lin Ze!” Aya shouted, scrambling to her feet. She grabbed a stalactite shard from the pool, jagged and slick, and drove it into the shell beast’s eye. It screeched, tendrils flailing, then collapsed, sinking into the water. I turned—the Whisperer had pinned the amber beast, its tendrils tightening, but the lattice flared once more, a shockwave of light that threw them apart. The Whisperer shrieked, retreating toward the fissure, its voice a fading rasp: “Not… yours…”
The amber beast hissed, shaking off burns, its eyes locking on us again. I pulled Aya back, the shard burning through my pocket, its pulse matching the lattice’s glow. The water trembled, and that deeper hum returned—louder, closer, a sound that shook the cavern to its core. The ceiling cracked, stalactites raining down, one narrowly missing us as we ducked behind the slab. The amber beast coiled, ready to strike, when the pool exploded—a claw, black and massive, erupted from below, scales glinting like obsidian.
It wasn’t the red-eyed beast, nor the guardian—something else, its bulk heaving from the depths, eyes a pair of molten slits, red as blood. The amber beast froze, then fled, slithering into the shadows as the new creature rose, its roar a furnace blast that drowned the hum. The lattice flared one last time, then shattered, green light dying in a shower of sparks. The water surged, flooding the cavern, and I grabbed Aya, pulling her toward a narrow ledge along the wall.
“Climb!” I yelled, boosting her up as the flood swallowed the slab. She reached down, hauling me after her, the shard’s heat a brand against my thigh. The creature’s red eyes burned through the water, its claws raking the stone, and the cavern groaned, walls buckling under its weight. We pressed against the ledge, breathless, as the flood rose, the pulse beneath us alive—angry, ancient, and unstoppable.