Year 217 After the Age of Ruin
17th day of the Month of Ashes,
The door opened with a mournful creak, sending up a cloud of dust that slowly rose before settling like a ghostly veil.
A heavy silence fell over the group, as if the very air had frozen before the unknown.
Kael felt a shiver run up his spine. This door had been sealed for centuries, and yet it had opened as if it had been waiting for them. As if something inside had sensed their presence.
Darius, standing beside him, took a step back, his hand tightening around the hilt of his sword.
— "Boss… I don’t like this one bit."
Lysara, however, remained silent. Her gaze was fixed on the yawning darkness before them, her fingers trembling slightly. Her instincts, honed by years of survival, screamed at her to turn back.
But Kael was already moving forward.
— "We’re going in."
Lysara grabbed his arm.
— "Are you sure about this? This isn’t just an ordinary ruin."
— "Exactly. This is a unique chance to understand what happened here."
She sighed before slowly nodding.
Darius cursed under his breath before pulling a torch from his pack and lighting it.
— "You’re both insane… But fine, might as well die together."
Kael stepped forward, crossing the threshold like a man walking into the heart of darkness.
Inside, the complex was a long metallic corridor, devoured by rust and the ravages of time. Cables hung from the ceiling like blackened tendrils, swaying faintly as if stirred by an invisible breeze.
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The floor, once smooth, was cracked, deformed by impacts of unknown origin. Some metal tiles seemed to have melted, as if struck by an infernal heat centuries ago.
The smell was strange. A mix of oxidized metal, ancient dust… and something else. Something organic. A faint stench of rot, barely perceptible, yet strong enough to make Darius grit his teeth.
— "Damn… What is that smell?"
Kael had no answer. But he could feel something in the air… A presence.
They moved forward cautiously, their footsteps echoing against the walls. The corridors were covered in engravings. Strange symbols, eroded by time.
Lysara ran her fingers over one of them, narrowing her eyes.
— "This isn’t a language I recognize… But these drawings…"
Kael brought his torch closer.
The pictograms depicted human figures, surrounded by a luminous halo. In the next scene, the halo collapsed onto them… Transforming them into twisted creatures, their limbs contorted, their faces frozen in silent screams.
Darius swallowed hard.
— "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Kael had no answer, but he knew this mural told a story… and its ending was far from happy.
After several minutes of exploration, they emerged into a vast circular chamber.
The ceiling was high—almost too high to see its peak. At the center stood a massive console, covered in broken screens and dead buttons.
Kael stepped forward cautiously, running his hand over the control panel.
Then, suddenly, a crackling sound.
The screens flickered to life for an instant, displaying lines of unreadable text.
Lysara flinched as a mechanical voice echoed through the room. A distorted, trembling voice, like an echo from a forgotten past.
— “… Experiment… failed… Contamination… irreversible… Evacuation impossible…”
Then, a noise.
A deep, distant sound.
Something was moving in the depths of the complex.
Darius paled, instinctively drawing his sword.
— "Tell me that was just an echo…"
Kael didn’t answer. His fingers tightened around his weapon.
Lysara took a step back, her eyes scanning the darkness of the corridor behind them.
Then, another sound. Closer this time.
A scraping noise. As if something heavy was dragging itself across the metal floor.
Darius cursed under his breath.
— "We need to move… Now."
But before they could react…
A deep, resounding thud echoed in the darkness.
A thud… like a massive heart, dormant for centuries, now awakening.
And this time, they were no longer alone.
