"The eyes beneath the wastes are never closed..."
The whisper lingered as Kael and Rayne stepped into the cavern beyond the shattered Bone Vault.
The air was thicker here. Hot, damp, and rank with the smell of rot. Red veins glowed along the wall like arteries pulsing beneath stone, casting a sickly sight that revealed more of the chamber with every step.
Kael gripped Veindrinker tight. The sword hummed against his palm, warning, alive.
Rayne moved at his side, her dagger still lit with blue flame, though it sputtered as if the cavern itself was leeching its strength. Her eyes swept the walls, searching for the source of the whispers. "This place is wrong. It's not natural stone, it feels grown."
She was right. The walls curved inward, ribbed like the inside of a great carcass, wet with condensation that dripped into the black pools across the floor. From somewhere deep within, a rubble answered their presence. Not a tremor, not shifting earth. A breath.
Kael's jaw clenched. "Something is awake down there."
The pools rippled. A single drop of liquid hit the surface and spread wide, distorting the red glow. Then, with a sound like tearing flesh, the pool nearest them split open, revealing a massive lidless eye.
It blinked once. Then another opened beside it. And another. Dozens of eyes, blooming across the cavern floor, walls, even the ceiling, all turning to stare at them.
Rayne stepped back, breath catching. "Gods..."
The whispers returned, no longer formless but a chorus:
"Blood.... fire.... bond.... the waste sees you."
The nearest eye rolled towards Kael, its pupil contracting like a predator's. Veindrinker's runes flared, pulling his arm towards it.
The cavern pulsed as the eyes began to open wider, and beneath their glow, something enormous shifted in the dark.
The cavern shook as the eyes widened, blood-red light spilling across the walls. From the black pool rose tendrils of flesh, slick and veined, reaching towards Kael and Rayne.
Rayne hurled a steam of fire, severing one tendril mid-air. It shrieked like a living thing, recoiling as the flames scorched its skin. "It's not just watching us," she hissed. "It's hunting."
Kael swung Veindrinker, the blade cleaving another tendril. The cut swept black ichor that hissed as it struck the ground. But as fast as he struck, more tendrils unveiled from the pool, writhing like serpents.
The whispers swelled into words, echoing from every eye.
"Blood remembers. Fire obeys. The bond is forged in the wastes."
Kael gritted his teeth, slicing again. "They keep calling it a bond."
Rayne's fire flared brighter, her expression sharp with defiance. "That doesn't mean we have to accept it."
One tendril wrapped around Kael's leg, dragging him towards a pool. He slashed at it, but two more lashed out, coiling around his arm. Veindrinker vibrated violently, its runes blazing crimson as if answering the pull of the cavern itself.
"Kael!" Rayne leapt forward, her flames roaring into a wall of blue fire that scorched the tendrils binding him. The eyes recoiled, blinking furiously against the blaze.
The cavern trembled as something vast stirred beneath the pools. A massive shape rose, shifting the water with the force of its breath. For a moment Kael saw it, half buried in the dark, a beast with a body like a mountain and a face stitched together from bone and shadow. Its countless eyes burned crimson.
Rayne's voice faltered. "That's not a beast. That's an ancient."
The monsters gaze fixed on Kael. Its voice filled the cavern and the vault, vast and undeniable.
"You are marked by the Hollow Crown. You will not leave until bond is proven."
The pools boiled. Tendrils lashed faster, thicker.
Kael met Rayne's eyes, his grip tightening on Veindrinker. "Then we prove it.... together."
The ancient's tendrils struck like whips, forcing Kael and Rayne together, their backs turned to each other. Each impact shook the cavern, spraying shards of stone and streaks of black ichor.
Kael slashed hard, his blade splitting a tendril clean through. "We can't kill it!"
Rayne's fire burst outwards in a wave, scorching the closest eyes. They blinked and wept smoke, but more opened above them, watching without end. "Then what does it mean, 'prove the bond'?"
The ancient's voice thundered from every direction.
"Blood and fire must strike as one. Show the bond, or be consumed."
Tendrils surged all at once. Kael swung, Rayne burned, their movements colliding... close, too close. She nearly scorched him, his blade nearly cut her, their rhythm off by a heartbeat.
The eyes above them narrowed.
Kael caught her wrist mid strike, forcing their blows to land together. Veindrinker's runes blazed crimson as her flame surged along its steel, fusing fire and bloodlight into a single arc.
The tendrils shrieked as the fused strike cut through them, burning and drinking their ichor at once. The cavern shook, the pools boiling violently.
Rayne's eyes widened, reflecting the crimson fire racing Veindrinker's runes. "Its.... feeding on both of us."
Kael's breath was ragged. "No. It's answering to us."
For a heartbeat, the tendrils pulled back, the cavern stilling. Every eye locked on them.
The ancient's voice lowered to a whisper that rattled their bones.
"The bond awakens. Stronger than fire. Stronger than crown. Strong enough.... to break."
The pool surged. The beast began to rise fully, its bulk displacing half the chamber. Rows of eyes blazed crimson as the flesh parted into a maw that stretched wider than the cavern itself.
Rayne's voice trembled despite her fire. "Kael... if that thing comes through, nothing will survive."
The ancient roared, the cavern collapsing inward. They had seconds left. The cavern quaked as the ancient rose higher, its body forcing stone to split and crumble. The chorus of eyes fixed on Kael and Rayne as if weighing their worth.
Kael's arm shook beneath the weight of Veindrinker. The blade pulsed in tune with the mark across his chest, drinking his strength even as it offered him more. He gritted his teeth and planted his stance. "We can't outrun it."
Rayne's flames flared bright, fierce, though sweat streaked her brow. "Then we don't run."
For a breath, Kael just looked at her. Her jaw set in defiance, her fire licking the shadows back, her silhouette etched against the burning cavern. And something inside him twisted, an ache sharp and unwanted. Not here. Not now!! He forced the thought down.
The ancient roared, tendrils lashing in a storm. Kael stepped in front of her, his blade intercepting the first wave. "Stay close!"
Her fire surged around him, burning the second wave to ash. "It is you who needs to keep up."
They fought in rhythm now, blade and flame striking as one. The cavern pulsed with every shared movement, every strike carrying more force than it should. The bond wasn't just survival, it was power.
But with each pulse, Kael felt that ache again. The pull towards her, the fire in her eyes, the way her breath caught when he shielded her. He shoved it down, focusing only on the fight. This wasn't the time.
The ancient's maw opened wide, black ichor dripping from its jagged teeth. The whispers emerged into a single command.
"Choose..... Bond or blood. One will survive."
Kael's grip on Veindrinker tightened. "We don't choose. We fight."
Rayne's flame roared higher, blue fire racing up Veindrinker's blade as she pressed her hand to his arm. For a moment, the world narrowed to just the two of them, her touch burning, the bond pulsing stronger than ever.
Together, they drove Veindrinker into the ground. The runes blazed crimson, her fire flooding the cracks. The cavern split, light erupting in a torrent that swallowed the ancient's scream.
The eyes burst one by one, black ichor raining as the monster collapsed back into the pools. The chamber shuddered, then fell silent.
Kael staggered, catching Rayne as her knees gave way. Her head rested against his shoulder for only a moment before she pulled back, forcing the wall between them again.
Her voice was hoarse but steady. "Don't think this means I trust you."
Kael smirked faintly, hiding the storm inside him. "Wouldn't dream of it."
But as he looked at her, alive and unbroken in his arms, he couldn't ignore the truth anymore. He already felt the pull, and that terrified him more than any ancient ever could.