The ancient stone corridor narrowed ahead, lit by flickering blue torches that shouldn't have still been burning.
Mazen felt the heat press against his skin, his pulse echoing the faint, steady thrum of something breathing beneath the earth.
Calen glanced over, breaking the silence.
"You fought sharp back at the ridge," he grunted. "Didn't think you had it in you."
Mazen arched a brow.
"Didn't think you gave compliments."
"Don't get used to it," Calen muttered, but the ghost of a grin pulled at the edge of his mouth.
The others chuckled. Tension broke like a loosened noose.
Shadow stopped ahead, raising a hand.
"Hold."
They gathered around as he knelt near an old stone marking — a sigil burned into the rock, cracked by age.
"It's worse than we thought," Shadow murmured.
Mazen crouched beside him.
"What is it?"
Shadow hesitated, then spoke, voice low enough only for Mazen to hear.
"We're not here for a vault raid, boy. The Fire Serpent's bindings are failing. The Crown's been stoking it awake. If it escapes… this world burns."
Mazen's stomach twisted.
"Why tell me now?"
"Because when it breaks loose," Shadow said, eyes sharp beneath his mask, "it'll be you holding it back, whether you're ready or not."
Another tremor shook the stone.
Calen cursed softly.
"Guess that's our cue."
Mazen stood, feeling a weight settle on his shoulders heavier than the mountain above them.
And somehow — it felt right.
They didn't make it thirty steps deeper before the first attack came.
A blur of movement from the shadows — Crown guards in dark leathers, faces pale with fear but blades steady.
They'd been waiting.
"Down!" Shadow barked.
Steel clashed instantly.
Calen's axe split a soldier's wrist with a wet snap. Another lunged for Mazen — too fast, too close.
Mazen's dagger rose without thought, his body moving faster than it ever should've. The blade found a gap beneath the soldier's ribs.
A ragged gasp, and the man crumpled.
Calen shot him a quick glance.
"Not bad, kid."
Mazen's breath came hard, but his hands barely shook.
The fight turned fast. Three more downed in seconds.
But it wasn't the guards that made the blood freeze in their veins.
A deep, unnatural growl rolled through the chamber walls.
The fire pits flared violently, and from the cracked stone ahead, a massive scaled limb burst through.
"Serpent's awake," Shadow muttered grimly.
Mazen's skin prickled as a pulse of heat slammed through the vault — a wave of air thick with ash and burning stone.
The Fire Serpent's massive eyes flickered open behind the wall.
A dozen feet wide. Burning like two dying suns.
Calen swore.
"Gods… we are so dead."
Shadow stepped forward, blades drawn.
"Not yet."
Another tremor hit.
Mazen felt his pulse match the ground's — a low, steady thrum that wasn't fear this time.
It was something else.
A cold, dangerous calm.
He didn't plan to run.
The Fire Serpent's head crashed through the stone barrier, its scaled muzzle larger than a wagon. Flames poured from its throat, licking across the vault floor, searing stone and bone alike.
One of the Pact fighters screamed as fire took him.
"Fall back!" Calen shouted, dragging another merc clear of the flames.
Mazen's vision blurred from the heat, the pulse in his chest louder than the serpent's roar.
A burst of movement — a chunk of the creature's charred, cracked scale skidded across the floor, still smoldering.
Without thinking, Mazen snatched it up.
His palm burned instantly — but the pain wasn't normal. It was deeper, a pull in his veins, a spark of something ancient and hungry.
The world tilted.
Darkness poured from his skin.
A ring of ink-black mist surged out from his chest, wrapping around the serpent's muzzle, binding its jaws mid-roar. The beast thrashed, rattling the vault walls.
The Pact fighters froze.
Calen's mouth opened in shock.
"What the hell…?"
Shadow's gaze narrowed, sharp and unreadable.
The tendrils of shadow whipped tighter, chaining the beast's head to the cracked columns.
Mazen felt like something else was moving his limbs. His voice was thick, not his own.
"Stay down."
The Fire Serpent's struggles slowed, the shadows thickening like oil, holding it.
But Mazen's vision was blurring, his strength ebbing fast.
The shadows didn't care. They wanted more.
Shadow grabbed his shoulder.
"Stop. That's enough."
It took every ounce of will to pull back.
The darkness hissed as it faded, the serpent's head sagging, too weak to fight.
Mazen dropped to one knee, the burned scale still clutched in his hand.
Calen just stared at him like he'd never seen him before.
"You… what the hell are you?"
Mazen didn't have an answer.
The Fire Serpent wasn't done.
Even with Mazen's shadows gripping its throat, the beast roared again — a muffled, furious sound that made the walls tremble.
Cracks split the ceiling.
A column fell, crushing two more Pact mercenaries.
"Damn it, hold those chains!" Shadow barked, slashing through a wave of flame with twin curved blades. His cloak smoldered at the edges, but the man moved like smoke and steel.
Calen was already beside Mazen, dragging him upright.
"Stay with me, kid."
Mazen's body ached, his vision swimming, but the darkness still pulsed at the edge of his senses.
"I… I can't hold it," Mazen gritted out.
"You're not holding it alone," Calen snapped. He gripped Mazen's shoulder, steady and fierce. "You gave us a shot. Now let's finish this before it wakes up for good."
Shadow appeared beside them.
"Listen, both of you. The serpent won't die — it never does. The best we can do is push it back into the vault core and seal it. Your shadows can do it. They have to."
Mazen swallowed hard, the burned scale in his palm still burning hot.
He forced himself upright, Calen keeping him steady.
The Fire Serpent lunged, but the darkness answered, binding it tighter, choking back the flames.
"Now!" Shadow shouted.
The Howling Pact drove the remaining binding stakes into the stone floor. The shadows surged down through the cracks, weaving into ancient, half-dead runes.
The Fire Serpent's massive eyes rolled back as the magic forced it down, inch by inch, into the vault's core.
Another quake shook the earth.
The beast vanished beneath the stone with a final roar that sounded almost… desperate.
The vault fell silent.
The air reeked of smoke and scorched blood.
Mazen's knees buckled again, but Calen caught him.
"Not bad, rookie," the big man said, grinning through the soot and sweat.
Shadow sheathed his blades.
"It's contained… for now."
They'd won.
But the war was only just beginning.