The void trembled like a lung taking its first breath.
From beneath the fractured plain, something impossibly vast stirred, and the darkness warped as though unable to contain its presence. The air thickened, pressing down on the four survivors like invisible hands trying to crush them flat.
Min-joon clutched Lin tighter, shielding him as if flesh and bone could protect against the immensity pressing down from every direction. Lin's breaths were faint, his lips pale, his skin clammy with the aftermath of marrow's fire. Yet even unconscious, his brow furrowed, as though his body sensed the approach of something older than nightmares.
The ground cracked. Stone splintered outward, jagged fissures glowing faintly as if veins of buried light resisted the weight pressing through. And then it opened: a colossal eye, lidless and ancient, rising from beneath the abyss.
