The maintenance shaft plunged deeper than any cadet-access tunnel should.
Aria's boots scraped against rusted metal as she half-dragged, half-carried Elias down the slanted corridor.His weight hung over her shoulders, heavier than he had any right to be considering his size.
Kellan kept pace just behind her, one hand braced on the wall, the other gripping his staff.
Jarek stumbled at the rear, hyperventilating.
The shaft lights flickered violently—each time they stuttered, the darkness behind them surged forward like a living thing.
Aria didn't look back.
She didn't need to.
She could hear it.
The massive creature tearing through the shaft door—ripping, screeching metal grinding against bone-like claws.
"Kellan," she rasped, "how far does this tunnel go?"
Kellan glanced at the rusted markings along the wall.
"Too far. This isn't a normal access line. We've crossed into abandoned levels."
Jarek tripped on a loose cable.
"A-abandoned?! Since when are there abandoned layers?! No one ever—"
Kellan snapped:
"Cadets aren't told everything."
Aria's mind cut through the noise.
Focus on Elias.Keep moving.Do not let him fall asleep.
"Ward," she whispered to him, her voice low and urgent."Stay awake. Do you hear me? Stay with me."
Elias didn't answer.
But he twitched—shoulder tightening, fingers spasming.
Good.
He heard her on some level.
Then he murmured something under his breath.
Not in human language.Not in any language spoken on the surface.
A string of words deep and rhythmic—the syllables sliding into the air like blades wrapped in silk.
Kellan slowed.
"That again…"
Aria shook Elias slightly.
"Ward. Stop. Don't say that here."
But he didn't.
He kept whispering.
And the tunnel around them reacted.
Pipes vibrated.Old lights flickered.Somewhere far ahead, something hummed in response.
Jarek let out a strangled cry.
"He's—he's waking the whole Descent!"
Aria snapped, harsher than intended:
"He is NOT doing it on purpose! He's barely conscious!"
The tunnel suddenly widened into a vast circular chamber—a forgotten maintenance hub buried in silence and dust.
Rusty scaffolding climbed the walls.Broken machinery lay in heaps.Old signs hung crookedly, half-buried in debris:
LAYER 9: RESTRICTED ZONEAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
Kellan stopped dead.
"No way…"
Aria dragged Elias to a central platform.
"What is Layer 9?"
Kellan wiped sweat and blood from his forehead.
"It's a dead zone. A failed expansion. The government sealed it off years ago. Even the maps don't show it anymore."
Jarek clutched his head.
"Why would they build a cadet trial on top of something like THIS?!"
Aria gave a bitter laugh.
"Because they were too arrogant to think anyone would fall this deep."
Kellan opened his mouth to respond—
—but stopped.
His eyes widened.
His nostrils flared.Veins bulged across his neck.
"Oh no…"
Aria shot toward him.
"Kellan. What's wrong?"
He clenched his jaw.
"My Beast-Spine… it's reacting."He grabbed the wall for support."This place—whatever happened here—it's saturated with something."He shuddered."It's making the beast inside me wake up."
Jarek backed away from him.
"N-no no no, not again—Kellan, don't go feral, PLEASE—"
But Kellan pushed him aside.
"I'm not losing control!"
Aria forced her voice steady.
"What is it reacting to?"
Kellan nodded toward Elias.
"He is the source."
Aria swallowed.
Of course he was.
Elias murmured again—this time louder, clearer, the foreign syllables cutting the air like cold razors.
Kellan's body flinched with every word.
"Aria—make him stop—before I—before something in me—"
He didn't finish.
A loud snap echoed overhead.
Aria's head snapped up.
The scaffolding trembled.Dust fell.Metal groaned.
Something was crawling across the ceiling.
Something big.
Jarek collapsed to his knees.
"No… no no no no—"
A shrill, metallic cry pierced the chamber.
Aria's blood turned cold.
The thing from the shaft was following them.
It tore its way out of the tunnel above and landed on the far side of the chamber—its body tall and thin with backward legs and too many joints.
And its voice—
Its voice was Elias'.
Not exactly.
A twisted imitation.
"…Aria…"
Aria froze.
Kellan's eyes widened in disbelief.
"It's copying him…"
Elias, half-conscious, whispered again—
and the creature responded in the same alien tongue, but wrong, distorted.
Aria's heart hammered.
This wasn't mimicry.
This was a lure.
Jarek sobbed.
"We're dead. We're so dead."
The creature's many-jointed limbs clicked as it approached—slow, careful, intelligent.
Aria grabbed Elias under both arms.
"Kellan! Move!"
Kellan's Beast-Spine surged, dark veins spreading down his throat.
He looked at Elias—fear and recognition mixing in his eyes.
"Aria… that thing is learning from him."
The creature whispered again.
"…Aria…"
Hunger dripped from the word.
Elias whispered back—a different phrase—and the chamber lights shattered.
Jarek screamed.
Aria pulled Elias tighter.
"WARD! STOP—"
But Elias' voice cut through the darkness like a blade.
Low.Ancient.Commanding.
The creature froze.
Not physically.
Something inside it hesitated.
Aria seized the moment.
"Kellan—now!"
Kellan stepped forward, Beast-Spine fully ignited—muscles swelling, bones shifting, his aura bursting outward.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
He slammed his staff into the ground.
The impact reverberated through the chamber.
The creature shrieked—the first real sign of fear they'd heard.
Aria dragged Elias through a side passage.Kellan shoved Jarek forward.
The creature recovered fast—too fast—
and lunged.
Kellan turned and roared.
"ARIA—GO!"
Aria hesitated.
Kellan slammed his staff into the creature's face, snapping bone and flesh.
"I said GO!"
She obeyed.
She carried Elias into the dark tunnel, heart pounding, ceiling shaking, Jarek scrambling behind her.
Behind them—
Kellan's roar echoed.
Followed by something worse.
The creature laughing in Elias' voice.