The night stretched on in suffocating silence.
Kaelith sat near the entrance of their shelter, his gaze fixed on the ruins beyond. The pale light from Astrith—their new world's unfamiliar moon—cast long, warped shadows that twisted across the jagged remains of ancient structures.
He could still feel the weight of the creature's words pressing against his mind.
"You do not belong."
It hadn't been a threat. Not entirely. It had been a warning.
Kaelith exhaled, trying to push away the unease curling in his gut. He wasn't the only one struggling. Veym, usually brash and full of restless energy, had grown unnervingly quiet. Edrin, normally composed, kept tracing those unfamiliar symbols into the dust, his brows furrowed like he was on the verge of remembering something he shouldn't.
Solrin sat cross-legged, eyes closed, his breathing steady—but Kaelith could see the tension in his jaw, the faint glow of light beneath his skin flaring up at random intervals.
Then there was Orin.
He hadn't spoken since they had settled in. Instead, he stood just beyond the threshold of their shelter, body half-dissolved into shadow, like he was listening to something they couldn't hear.
Kaelith shifted. Someone needed to break the silence.
"We should figure out what's happening to us," he murmured. "We're not… human anymore."
Edrin looked up, fingers halting mid-symbol. "No. We're not."
Veym let out a dry laugh. "Yeah, I think the claws gave that away." He flexed his hands, sharp black talons catching the dim light. "I feel like I could tear through steel with these."
"You probably can." Solrin's voice was even, but there was an undercurrent of unease. He lifted a hand, and a soft golden glow spread across his palm. "I can do this now. Call light. Shape it. Control it."
Edrin frowned. "And I can… read things I've never seen before. Or maybe I always knew how. I don't know anymore."
Kaelith clenched his jaw. "Then what about Orin?"
The group turned to where Orin stood, barely visible in the dark.
He hadn't moved.
Kaelith took a step closer. "Orin?"
No response.
But the shadows around him shifted.
Then, Orin finally spoke, his voice lower than usual. "We're being watched."
Silence.
Solrin was the first to react. "By what?"
Orin turned, his silver eyes glowing faintly in the dark. "I don't know. But I can feel them. They've been watching since we got here."
A chill crawled down Kaelith's spine.
They already knew this place wasn't abandoned. The creature from before had proven that. But this was different.
"What do you mean?" Veym asked, standing up, his claws tensed.
Orin's expression was unreadable. "They don't move like that thing did. They don't even move at all. They're just… there."
Kaelith turned toward the ruins, forcing himself to stare into the darkness. The jagged remnants of buildings stretched out into the horizon, shifting ever so slightly under the moonlight.
Nothing moved.
And yet, now that Orin had said it, he could feel it too.
A presence. Many of them.
Just beyond the edges of perception.
Watching. Waiting.
The air felt wrong.
Solrin stood slowly, the golden glow beneath his skin pulsing brighter. "If they aren't attacking, they're either waiting for something…" His eyes narrowed. "...or trying to decide if we're worth attacking at all."
Kaelith's muscles tensed. "Then we can't just sit here and let them decide."
"We don't even know what they are," Edrin countered.
"Then we find out."
Veym grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Now you're speaking my language."
Orin gave him a sharp look. "Be careful what you ask for."
Kaelith nodded. "We stick together. No one wanders off alone. We move now."
No one argued.
—
The Descent
Moving through the ruins at night was like stepping through a dying dream.
Every turn led to pathways that hadn't been there before. Structures shifted when no one was looking. The very space around them felt fluid, like the ruins refused to be understood.
Kaelith forced himself to focus. The deeper they moved, the more the presence around them intensified. The sensation was no longer distant.
It was close.
Then, without warning—
Orin stopped.
The others halted immediately, eyes darting to him.
"What is it?" Kaelith whispered.
Orin's gaze was fixed ahead. His voice, when it came, was barely a breath.
"Something's wrong."
Kaelith followed his line of sight—
—And his blood ran cold.
At first, he thought it was just another ruin. Another archway standing forgotten among the wreckage. But as he stared, the truth slipped into place.
It wasn't a structure.
It was a figure.
A massive figure, crouched in the dark. Its form was hunched and motionless, its surface reflecting the pale light in strange, inconsistent ways—not like skin. Not like stone.
Like something in between.
And then—it blinked.
Two pale, slitted eyes snapped open.
A deep, rattling breath escaped from the creature, its massive frame shuddering as if it had just woken from an endless slumber.
No one moved. No one breathed.
Then—
It spoke.
"You should not be here."
Its voice wasn't loud. It didn't need to be. It carried through the air, sinking into the bones, wrapping around the mind.
Solrin was the first to react. "Move. Now."
The group barely had time to react before the thing shifted.
The air itself groaned as it rose to its full height, unfolding limbs that had been hidden within its form. It was tall—far too tall—its shape warping between something humanoid and something unrecognizable.
Kaelith didn't need to be told twice.
"RUN!"
They bolted.
The ruins twisted around them, the paths from before no longer there. The space itself wasn't the same.
Behind them, the creature moved.
It didn't chase. It didn't need to.
Every step it took broke the world around it.
Stone withered beneath its touch. The air grew heavier, darker, colder. The very reality of the ruins faltered.
Kaelith's lungs burned, his body moving faster than he thought possible. But the presence behind them did not fade.
It was not a beast. It was not a predator.
It was something else.
And then—just as suddenly as it began—
The chase ended.
The group stumbled forward as the pressure abruptly vanished.
Kaelith fell to his knees, gasping for breath. The others weren't much better.
They turned.
The thing was gone.
The ruins behind them were… different. The path they had run through was no longer there.
It was as if it had never existed at all.
Solrin swallowed hard. "What… the hell… was that?"
Orin was silent.
Kaelith forced himself to breathe. His heart was still hammering in his chest, but one thought burned brighter than all the rest.
They had survived.
For now.
But the truth was clear.
They weren't just being watched.
They were being judged.
And next time?
Next time, they might not be allowed to leave.