The night air hung heavy as the group left the ruins behind, the hum of the Hammer fading into memory. The hills stretched out before them quiet, lifeless, as though the earth itself held its breath. But the silence was not empty. Beneath it, faint and persistent, the sound of dragging chains echoed like a heartbeat out of rhythm.
Clink. Drag. Clink. Drag.
The rhythm grew louder the further they walked, not carried by wind but as if the earth itself whispered it beneath their feet.
"Okay," Vile muttered, voice tight. "That's not normal. I don't… I don't like this." He adjusted his glasses, though they were already perfectly straight. His hands wouldn't stop fidgeting.
Mya kept her hand close to her blade, her eyes scanning the horizon. "Graves," she said suddenly, her tone steady but grim. "We're walking toward them. Old ones. Abandoned long before our time."
"Abandoned graves," Liam echoed, his voice cracking with unease. "Why are we why do we always end up in places like this?"
"Because answers don't hide in safe places," Alex replied calmly. His steps never faltered, though the chain-sounds pressed closer, matching the rhythm of their stride. "Stay sharp. No one falls behind."
Kira walked beside him, her eyes narrowed. "Graves, chains, shadows. This is no coincidence. The hammer led us here—whether we realized it or not."
The moon broke through the clouds then, silver light spilling across the land. And there, spread before them, rose the shattered remains of a battlefield. Spears jutted out of the ground like broken teeth, rusted and half-buried. Armor lay scattered, fused into the soil. Stone markers crumbled under moss and roots. It was a grave not for one, but for thousands.
And in the center of it all stood a pit.
A yawning maw in the earth, lined with shattered stone and broken chains that dangled from its sides like the ribs of a fallen beast. From deep within, the sound pulsed again.
Clink. Drag. Clink. Drag.
The Scythe of Chains was down there. Waiting.
Ethan stepped forward, his hand resting on one of the old chains embedded in the soil. The metal was ice cold, yet it thrummed faintly, as if alive. His expression darkened. "This isn't just a weapon. Something was bound here."
"Something?" Liam echoed, his voice small.
"Or someone," Kira corrected.
Lyra's soft voice floated over them, almost like a warning carried by the wind. "Chains don't only bind. They also remember. If you break them, you don't just free what's trapped you release the memories of everything that ever struggled against them."
Vile paled. "So… so if we pull the Scythe out"
"We won't be pulling it out," Alex said firmly. His eyes stayed fixed on the pit. "Not yet. First, we learn what we're facing."
As if in answer, the ground trembled. From the depths of the pit, the chains stirred. Slowly, impossibly, they began to slither upward, dragging against stone like serpents made of iron.
One chain snapped free with a thunderous crack and lashed across the battlefield, carving a deep scar in the earth before retracting. Another tore loose, whipping through the air with a scream of metal on wind.
And then shadows moved within the pit. A low, guttural growl rose, mingling with the rattle of steel.
Ethan drew his blade, eyes blazing. "Too late for studying, Alex. It's already awake."
Alex's hand tightened around the hilt of his sword, his gaze never wavering. "Then we fight. Stay together no one breaks the chain of formation."
The first shadow lunged from the pit, its form half-human, half-wraith, bound in broken links that dragged behind it like wings. Its eyes glowed with a pale, soulless fire.
The Grave of Chains had awoken.
And the Scythe within it was calling.