Chapter Twenty-Three
Echoes Beneath the Depths
The corridor swallowed them in silence.
Kael led the group with blade in hand, Aethra's Sight threading faint flickers across his vision. The air had grown colder, thinner, heavy with a pressure that felt almost conscious. Their footsteps echoed against the stone, then fell quiet, as though the walls themselves had begun to absorb sound.
Zerai grunted. "Feels like we're walking into a mouth that forgot how to chew."
"It's not just the air," Arden murmured. "The leyline flow here… it's been altered. Bent, or redirected. This isn't natural."
The corridor opened into a wider hallway, smooth stone giving way to ancient slabs veined with faintly pulsing lines. Symbols long buried by time emerged beneath lichen and grime, glowing ever so faintly.
Mara knelt beside one of the glowing marks, brushing it gently. "This script isn't Velmoran. Not entirely. It's been rewritten."
Liora frowned, standing guard. "What does that mean?"
"Someone changed the meaning. A long time ago," Arden said. "But the magic lingers."
The silence broke suddenly as Kael raised a hand. He pointed toward a broken satchel slumped against the base of a cracked pillar. A guild insignia peeked through a tear in the canvas.
"Remnants," Eryndor said. He moved to inspect it while the others formed a protective ring. Inside, he found dried blood, a shattered compass, and a melted badge. "This was recent."
Zerai sniffed the air. "Scorched metal, ozone. Something big happened here."
They followed the trail—blood smears along the wall, drag marks, then deeper in, a broken blade etched with burn patterns.
The corridor behind them suddenly groaned. Kael turned just in time to see the stone shifting, seams in the wall writhing like muscle. The way sealed behind them.
"Not good," Mara said, stepping beside him.
Arden drew breath. "This section is alive. Or controlled."
The walls pulsed again, subtly rearranging. Pathways bent and curved like veins.
"We mark our route," Arden said. He conjured a glowing sigil at the intersection, searing it into the stone. "We'll need to remember the way back."
They moved on. The deeper they went, the stranger the architecture became—columns carved with twisted shapes, eyes without pupils, hands reaching from the ceiling. Then came the scent of rot and oil.
The chamber beyond was vast. A vaulted space with half-collapsed stairs and shattered balconies. At the center stood something massive: a statue at first glance, but its chest moved with shallow, ragged breath.
A construct.
It rose slowly. Stone limbs fused with sinew. Muscle wrapped in bronze plates. A torn guild cloak pinned beneath one clawed foot.
Kael and Eryndor moved first, blades flashing. Their strikes hit armor, sparking off but drawing its focus. The creature swung a thick arm, and Kael barely rolled clear.
Mara and Liora flanked, cutting at exposed joints. It howled—a grinding, half-human shriek.
Zerai leapt from a balcony, crashing down on its back. Electricity coursed through his arms as he struck again and again. The construct staggered.
Arden traced radiant sigils in the air. "Cover me!"
Kael nodded. He and Eryndor drove the creature back with coordinated strikes. Mara deflected a sweeping blow, giving Liora an opening to slice at its leg.
Arden slammed his staff into a completed circle. Light burst forth, locking the construct in radiant chains.
"Now!"
Zerai launched forward, fist striking the creature's exposed chest. A core—a pulsing, rune-etched orb—cracked. The construct screamed once, then collapsed.
The silence after felt like a pressure releasing.
Mara kicked aside part of the rubble. "What's this?"
Beneath the debris was a half-buried survival orb. It glowed faintly, pulsing.
"Someone's still alive," Kael said.
Beside it, Arden pulled a torn page from the dust—a partial map, one corner marked with a noble crest.
"That's House Vaelen," Arden said quietly. "They disappeared over two hundred years ago."
Kael touched the orb. A flicker passed through him—a chained figure in darkness, whispering a single name.
"Vaelen."
Liora exchanged a glance with Eryndor. "We're going after them, aren't we?"
Kael nodded. "We keep going."
The corridor ahead was dark, lit only by flickering torchlight in the distance.
Far away, unseen eyes watched through runed mirrors. A shadowed figure whispered:
"They've taken the bait. Shall I activate the next layer?"
Continue to Chapter XXIV...