The first sound Lena heard was the slow dripping of water echoing through the vast underground hall. It reminded her of a clock ticking, each drop pulling her further away from the chaos of the battlefield they had escaped. The chamber they had fallen into was massive, with walls carved from stone and veins of glowing blue light running through them like rivers of energy. The air was damp, heavy with old power that felt alive.Kai was beside her, breathing hard, his chest rising and falling as if every breath came with effort. His arm was draped protectively across her, and for a moment she didn’t move, simply taking comfort in his warmth. The Zero Child stood a few feet away, his small form glowing faintly in the blue light. His eyes were wide, scanning the chamber with a strange calm that did not belong to someone his age.Lena pushed herself up on her elbows, wincing at the ache in her body. Every muscle felt bruised, and her ribs burned from where she had slammed into the stone fl

The night stretched heavy around them, a silence broken only by the faint hum of energy still clinging to the ruined chamber. Smoke drifted in lazy curls, carrying the bitter scent of burning stone and scorched metal. The group—Lena, Kai, the Zero Child, and the strange woman they had barely managed to save—stood in the middle of it all, as if time had frozen after the chaos.Lena’s chest rose and fell in uneven breaths. Her body screamed with exhaustion, but her heart beat hard with a fire that refused to dim. She turned her head slightly, her eyes falling on the woman lying weak against the cold ground. Her face, pale and almost translucent in the flickering glow, still carried an aura of ancient strength.The woman’s eyes fluttered open. They were silver, shining like the moon, and when she looked at Lena, something inside Lena stirred—an echo, a recognition she couldn’t explain.“Who… are you?” Lena asked softly, her voice raw, almost afraid of the answer.The woman’s lips curved

The air in the chamber was heavy, as if the walls themselves held their breath. The glow from the cracks in the stone ceiling pulsed faintly, casting shadows that seemed to move on their own. Lena stood close to Kai, her hand brushing against his. She didn’t even realize she had reached for him until his fingers closed gently around hers. The warmth of his touch steadied her.The Zero Child stood a few steps ahead, eyes fixed on the glowing circle etched into the center of the floor. Its light shifted like liquid, rippling outward with every breath the child took. Power hummed in the air, low and steady, but beneath it was something darker—something waiting to wake.Kai narrowed his eyes, scanning the room as if trying to read the hidden patterns written into the stone. “This chamber is alive,” he muttered under his breath.Alive. The word lodged in Lena’s chest like a sharp thorn. She had felt it too—the way the walls almost seemed to listen, the way the ground trembled faintly as th

The silence in the chamber was heavy, like a thick blanket pressing down on everyone. The glowing cracks in the stone walls hadn’t stopped spreading. They pulsed faintly, alive like veins under skin, carrying energy that hummed in the air. Every second felt slower, stretched thin with dread.Lena stood in the middle, her body trembling from exhaustion. Her arms hung by her side, but her eyes burned with fire. She had lost count of how many times she had almost fallen, how many times Kai had caught her, how many times the Zero Child had steadied her. She was running on nothing but will.Across from her, the woman—the one born of shadows, the one tied to the chamber itself—watched with an unreadable face. Her long hair floated as though under water, her pale skin glowing faintly. She seemed both fragile and terrifying, as if she could shatter or destroy the world with a flick of her wrist.Kai placed himself slightly in front of Lena, his stance firm. He was injured—blood ran down his s

The night was heavy with silence, as if the world itself was holding its breath. The battle had left scars on both land and soul, and the people who survived were only just beginning to realize the weight of what they had endured. The fires that had raged earlier were now reduced to faint embers, glowing weakly in the darkness like dying stars. Ash floated in the air, carried by the wind, settling quietly on broken stones and shattered walls.Lena stood at the edge of the ruins, her body trembling but her gaze fixed on the horizon. Her chest rose and fell unevenly, every breath pulling at wounds that had not yet healed. Behind her, the survivors were gathering, too stunned to speak, too tired to weep.Kai was a few steps away, watching her with a mixture of relief and pain. His dark hair was matted with blood and sweat, his shirt torn and his hands still shaking from the fight. Yet his eyes never left her. For so long, he had fought to keep her alive, to keep her from being swallowed