He knew this tunnel.
There was a turn ahead—a sharp drop leading into a natural crevice. If they could reach it, they had a chance to leave the creatures miasma.
or they could-
The ground trembled.
A low hum filled the tunnel, making Xin's skull feel like it was vibrating.
They hit the turn—and suddenly, the ground vanished beneath their feet.
Xin barely had time to react before he plunged into darkness.
His body twisted midair, the wind rushing past him as he fell, heart hammering.
Belial and Raven dropped beside him, their silhouettes barely visible in the void.
Then—
An Impact.
Xin crashed onto something solid, the air ripped from his lungs. He groaned, vision swimming, struggling to process what just happened.
A dim glow surrounded them—ether veins lighting up the underground cavern they had landed in.
Above them, the tunnel sealed shut—as if it had never existed.
Xin coughed, pushing himself up. "What… the hell was that?"
Belial sat up with a pained grunt, glaring at the now-closed tunnel. "A Dusk scourge. That's what."
Raven groaned, rolling onto his back. "Is everyone all right?."
Xin took a shaky breath. "Yeah. For now."
Belial exhaled, scanning their surroundings. The cavern was massive, stretching far into the darkness. Strange structures jutted from the ground—like pillars of crystallized ether, pulsing faintly.
But that wasn't the only thing here.
A few meters ahead, a massive stone door stood embedded into the cavern wall.
Ancient. Unmarked.
And slightly… open.
Xin followed Belial's gaze. "That doesn't look ominous at all."
Belial got to his feet, dusting himself off. "Better than going back up, to our friend up there."
Raven sighed. "You say that now."
Belial stepped toward the door, peering into the darkness beyond.
And then—
Something inside the cavern stirred.
A slow, deep exhale—not a person.
Xin's blood ran cold.
Whatever was in there… was awake.
The air in the cavern was thick with tension, almost suffocating as Belial, Xin, and Raven stood frozen, their eyes locked on the stone door. The slight creak of the massive structure shifting echoed in the stillness, but their attention was soon drawn elsewhere.
Xin's Ether Eye flickered, a soft glow emanating from his eyes as he activated the ability, scanning the room around them. His heart skipped a beat when the world around him began to shift and distort through the lens of his enhanced vision. The cavern walls stretched into nothingness, and only the flow of ether remained visible.
It wasn't just the ether that he saw now.
The horrors were there, lurking just at the edge of his vision, phantoms in the shadows—creatures twisted beyond recognition. Their forms were incomprehensible to the human eye, like shards of nightmares pieced together, their bodies a maze of fractured ether, coalescing and splitting apart as if they existed between realities.
He couldn't see them completely. Only flashes—blurred tendrils of darkness that pulsed with malicious intent. But Xin knew they were there. Watching. Hunting.
"Something's moving." Xin whispered, his voice tight.
Belial didn't need to ask; he could feel it, too. His hand instinctively went to the hilt of his blade, but the darkness pressed down on him like an invisible weight, paralyzing his movements.
Raven growled, his armored form shifting slightly. "We need to move, Belial. What the hell are we doing?"
"Don't move," Belial hissed, his voice barely above a whisper. "I think… I think they're drawn to the ether. We can't risk making a sound."
Xin nodded, his body tense as his Ether Eye swept over the space again. The horrors were closer now, though he could only see their presence as the ether around them twisted and warped. They were drawn to the energy, like predators sensing prey.
The cavern was alive with the hum of energy, the flickering of glowing veins that powered the horrors' twisted forms. There was something deeply unsettling about the ether in this place—it was corrupted, like something ancient and wrong had seeped into the land.
And then one of the creatures found them.
Xin's heart stopped as a strange, dark shape loomed before them. It was massive, humanoid, with long, jagged limbs that seemed to stretch far beyond natural proportions. Its head was an empty void, with only a faint glow of dark ether floating inside it.
The creature's etheric signature flared briefly—an aura of dark red and sickly green swirling around it. It paused. Almost like it was listening, waiting for them to make the first move.
They stood perfectly still, holding their breath.
But then—a movement. It was a quick shift in the shadows, and before they could react, the creature lunged.
"Move!" Belial shouted, but it was already too late.
Raven's instinct took over, his heavy armor clanking as he dashed toward the side, throwing himself into the nearest crevice in the cavern, hoping to hide from the creature's line of sight.
The creature screeched, a horrible, inhuman sound that reverberated through the cavern like a shrill wind. It was disorienting, a high-pitched wail that seemed to tear at their very souls.
Belial's Ether Eye flared brightly, his vision distorted as he saw the creature's form stretching and multiplying, until there were three of them, all shifting in and out of reality. Their movements were so fast, so erratic, that he couldn't follow them with his eyes alone.
"Hide!" Belial shouted again, but the creature had already detected their positions. The horrors could sense their ether signatures, and it was only a matter of time before they closed in.
Xin's breath quickened, but his mind remained focused. He knew they couldn't afford to panic. If they were going to survive, they needed to move strategically.
The creature, drawn by their presence, turned its blackened eyes toward them, its movements too fast, too jagged to comprehend. It rushed towards them, its limbs stretching out like tentacles, reaching through the ether with terrifying speed.
Raven dove into the darkness, disappearing into the crevice, his form swallowed by the shadows. Belial followed suit, ducking low as the ground around him seemed to pulse with energy. He could feel the horrors drawing closer, their presence filling the air like a thick fog.
"Focus." Xin whispered under his breath. He closed his eyes for a moment, then activated the Dharma Wheel.
The golden energy flooded out of him in a blinding burst, but it wasn't enough to blind the horrors. They were too close now.
Then Xin had an idea.
Without thinking, he turned toward the etheric flow around him and focused on the dark energy. His Ether Eye flared again as he reached out with his mind, gathering the corrupted ether, reconstructing it, purging the poison that twisted it.
It worked—the dark ether began to shrink, compressing until it lost its dangerous form. But the effort took everything he had. The pain in his head intensified as the ethereal tendrils of darkness tried to crawl back into his mind.
Xin gritted his teeth, refusing to let go. He had to get rid of it before they were overrun.
Meanwhile, Belial and Raven were doing their best to stay hidden. Raven's eyes glowed faintly as he too activated his own ether vision, watching for any sign of the horrors. His pulse raced, every sense heightened, his instincts screaming to move.
But they couldn't afford to make a sound. The cavern was alive with threats, and every shadow felt like a death sentence.
Suddenly, one of the horrors appeared directly in front of them, its form stretched and distorted beyond recognition. It had multiple faces, each one a grinning mask of sorrow, agony, and rage, all in one.
Belial could only watch as it approached. There was no time. He needed to act.
He had one option left. Run. He reached for his sword, ready to cut down whatever came his way.
The creature lunged—its face opening wide like a grotesque, gaping maw.
But in that instant, Raven struck. From the shadows, his fist punched through the horror's throat in one swift motion.
Or he thought he did.
The creature writhed, but Raven was already retreating, pulling Belial with him. Xin, his hands shaking from the effort, called out to them, "Move!"
They ran.
The cavern seemed to shudder, the walls vibrating as if the very rock were trying to expel them. The horrors followed, their screeches echoing as they twisted through the ether, relentless.
Then—silence.
They had made it.
For now.
But Belial knew, deep down, that this was just the beginning. And in the deep, dark cavern ahead, something far worse awaited them.
The true horror if this mountain.
...
Outside, the first weak rays of sunlight clawed through the ash-laden sky. Wet, guttural munching echoed in the stillness, each bite punctuated by the brittle snap of bone. Fragments of something unnatural—shimmering tendrils of ether—floated aimlessly in the air, catching the faint light like dying embers.
The creature loomed, grotesque and towering, its jagged spine protruding in violent peaks, each segment shifting unnaturally beneath its armored hide. Its bipedal legs, lean and predatory, tensed like coiled springs, honed for the relentless pursuit of prey. A horrific cacophony of shifting bone and sinew erupted from its twisted frame, the sound dragging through the silence like nails over a tombstone.
In the stillness, its earholes twitched, as though sensing the unseen.
The blind witness was evolving.