Chapter 46: The One Beneath
The roar did not come from above.
It came from beneath the world.
The stone floor trembled so violently that Atreus lost his balance and slammed into one of the frozen statues. A thin crack spider-webbed up the stone figure's chest, and for one haunting moment, Atreus thought he saw the eyes move inside.
"Father—!" he gasped.
Kratos steadied him with a firm grip. "Do not look at them."
The ground pulsed again. A low, spreading thrum ran through the chamber, like a massive heart beating somewhere far below their feet.
The green veins along the walls flared brighter.
The mountain was no longer sleeping.
It was breathing.
Kratos felt it in his bones. This was not simply a place of corruption. This was not just the Hollow's influence.
Something ancient lived here.
Something that had been caged.
And now the cage had cracked.
"Move," Kratos rumbled. "Now."
Atreus nodded, fear tightening his chest as they ran deeper into the chamber, weaving between the silent stone figures. The expression carved into each statue twisted into a different form of terror, and the farther they went, the fresher the faces looked—less weathered, more detailed.
"These people…" Atreus whispered. "Some of them look like they died yesterday."
"The Hollow does not care for time," Kratos said.
The statues began to hum softly.
One of them shifted.
Barely noticeable… but real.
Atreus froze.
"Father… that one just—"
"Do not stop," Kratos warned.
A faint cracking noise echoed through the chamber — not from the ceiling, not from the walls, but from the statues themselves. Tiny fractures crept across their surface. The air filled with a low chorus of stone grinding against stone.
Then the first one moved.
The statue's head turned slowly toward them.
Its lips — once solid rock — parted.
A dry breath hissed from its mouth.
Atreus shot an arrow without thinking. The arrow struck the statue's neck, shattering a chunk of stone free — but instead of crumbling, shadow poured out of the opening, twisting, writhing like smoke.
The statue began to step forward.
Then another.
Then ten more.
The preserved victims were waking.
"They are not alive," Kratos said coldly, drawing his blades. "They are vessels now."
The walking statues advanced — stiff, jerking movements, faces half-stone, half-shadow, as if something inside them was trying to remember how to exist.
Atreus fired again, this time aiming for the green cracks glowing through their chests. One collapsed instantly.
"That's it!" he shouted. "The green cracks — their core!"
Kratos moved like a storm. His Blades of Chaos roared to life, slicing through shadow and stone alike. Each blow cleaved a figure in half, obliterating the corruption inside, but more kept coming. Dozens. Hundreds.
The entire chamber was awakening.
"They will overwhelm us!" Atreus shouted.
"No," Kratos growled, slashing through another. "They will fall."
But even he could feel the truth in the boy's words. For every one they destroyed, another cracked and stepped forward. The air filled with dust, echoes, low distorted whispers trapped inside stone mouths.
One voice — clearer than the rest — rasped out of a half-broken statue:
"…It sees you…"
Kratos froze for half a breath.
"The One Beneath sees you…"
The entire chamber fell silent.
Every statue stopped moving at once.
The green glow faded, replaced by darkness so heavy it felt like weight on the mind.
And then — something stepped into the chamber.
The temperature dropped instantly. Frost cracked across the ground where it walked.
It was not large like the Devourer.
It did not need to be.
It was tall. Slender. Shaped almost like a man. But its body was not complete. Parts of it faded into shadow, like unfinished reality. Its skin was split with lines of pale green light, glowing faintly, as if something inside it was struggling to get out.
It had no eyes.
Yet Kratos knew it was watching him.
Atreus felt it too. The gaze pinned him in place like a nail through the chest.
"Father…" he breathed, barely able to speak. "What is that?"
Kratos stepped in front of him.
"The Warden," he said under his breath. "The Hollow gave it a mind."
The figure tilted its head, as if amused.
When it spoke, the sound echoed through the chamber and inside their skulls at the same time.
"You walk on forbidden veins, Ghost.
You disturb the sleep of eternity."
Kratos didn't flinch.
"If eternity relies on darkness," he said, "then it deserves to be disturbed."
The Warden lifted its hand slowly.
The statues around them cracked again. Shadows leaked from every fracture like blood from a wound. The floor beneath Kratos' feet softened, becoming something like thick tar.
"You are not meant to be here," the Warden continued.
"Neither is the boy.
Yet the mountain whispers his name…"
Atreus stiffened.
"What did you say?" Kratos roared.
But the Warden only smiled, its mouth opening in an inhuman curve.
"The mountain remembers him."
The ground split open behind them.
A massive stone doorway rose from the depths — ancient, engraved with symbols Atreus had seen only in forgotten realms. A doorway to something sealed long ago.
A prison.
A tomb.
A god-grave.
Kratos sensed the power radiating from it. It nearly matched his own.
No…
Older.
Darker.
The Warden gestured toward it with unsettling calm.
"One of the Nine sleeps behind that door.
And it screams in your blood, little god."
Atreus' heart hammered in his chest. "In… my blood?"
Kratos turned sharply to him. "Ignore it."
But the ground around the door began to glow in response to Atreus' presence. The runes brightened as he stepped closer — drawn, like gravity had shifted around him.
"I don't understand," Atreus murmured. "I don't want to open anything."
The Warden drifted closer without touching the ground.
"You already have…"
The massive door shuddered.
A deep, echoing boom came from behind it — something striking from the other side.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
Dust poured from the ceiling.
The mountain screamed.
THOOM.
A crack split down the center of the doorway, glowing with blinding green light.
Kratos grabbed Atreus and pulled him back with brutal force.
"Get away from it!" he ordered.
The Warden began to laugh softly.
"Run if you wish.
The door has heard you now."
Another deafening impact — and part of the ancient seal shattered.
A massive eye appeared behind the crack.
Watching.
Waiting.
Not free… yet.
Kratos backed away slowly, never taking his gaze off the door.
"We leave," he said grimly. "Now."
"But Father— what is behind that door?"
Kratos' voice was ice.
"Something the Nine were afraid to kill."
Behind them, the eye blinked once.
And in the darkness of the crack, something smiled.