Chapter 18 — Something Old Stirs
The vibration grew stronger.
Dust fell from the ceiling in thin lines. The cave walls hummed, not loud enough to hear, but enough to feel in the bones.
Kael stayed still. Moving felt wrong, like the ground might notice.
Lira whispered, "Is it coming closer?"
"I think," Kael said, "it's standing up."
A deep sound rolled through the space ahead. Not a roar. More like stone shifting under its own weight after a long sleep.
The darkness moved.
A shape pulled itself out of the far end of the cave, slow and heavy. It wasn't smooth like the others. This thing was rough, layered, like it had grown here instead of arriving.
Its body scraped the ceiling. Cracks spread with every movement.
No eyes. No face.
Just a massive shape with lines carved into it—symbols worn down by time. Old marks. Not system text. Something older.
Lira swallowed hard. "That thing… it's part of the cave."
"Yeah," Kael said. "And I don't think it likes visitors."
The thing shifted again.
The symbols on its surface began to glow faintly, one by one. Not bright. Tired. Like they'd been waiting a long time to be used.
The ground beneath Kael's feet warmed.
His blade vibrated in his hand.
He frowned. "That's new."
The thing leaned forward.
The air thickened, pressing down on them. Kael's knees bent slightly under the weight. Lira grabbed onto his arm to stay upright.
Then the thing stopped.
One glowing symbol flared brighter than the rest.
The pressure eased.
A sound came from the creature. Low. Rough. Almost like a word being dragged out of stone.
"Un…bound…"
Kael's heart kicked hard.
"It can talk," Lira whispered.
"No," Kael said. "It remembers."
The creature shifted its massive weight and turned slightly—not toward them.
Toward the tunnel they'd come from.
The scraping sound returned.
The laughing thing was moving again.
The old creature's symbols pulsed, brighter now.
The cave shook.
Two monsters.
One narrow space.
And Kael standing right between them.