The word still rang in his head.Purgatory.
Kael clenched his teeth.A metallic taste already filled his mouth, as if hearing it alone had infected the air.
Beneath him, the stone vibrated.Faint at first.Then stronger.Like a muffled heartbeat, smothered by layers of rock and chains.
Each pulse seemed to answer that forbidden word.As if the underlevel itself remembered.
Kael inhaled, but his breath stayed short.His golden gaze turned to Thana.She kept silent.Her tiny, dark eyes refused to meet his.
Then, behind them…a sharper chime.Closer.As if a first chain had just given way.
Kael drew a breath, shook his head.His golden eyes fixed on the corridor's dark.
— This is neither the place nor the time to unpack that… I suppose.
He clenched his fists, breath a little heavier.
— Let's keep moving.And stay careful.
His gaze slid toward the direction where the chains shivered along the walls.A chill traced his nape.
— … I don't like this corridor.
He advanced cautiously.Each step rang on the wet stone.
By reflex—almost in spite of himself—he tried to sync his paceto the chains' regular clatter.
A beat.A step.A clack.A step.
As if matching his rhythm to theirsmight keep him from hearing the madness hiding behind these walls.
The corridor was wide.Very wide.Wide enough for five people to walk abreast without brushing shoulders.
The walls were built of dense stone blocks, sealed like a fortress.Every crack seemed to weep damp; every seam thrummed under the weight of chains.
They were getting closer.Step by step, the first two doors took shape.Set face to face,like silent wardens of a forbidden pass.
Kael slowed.His golden eyes traced every relief.
These doors…They resembled the banquet's.Same technique.Same carving.Same binding runes.
With one difference.
They were less imposing.Lower, less massive.But the materials…the seals…everything else was identical.
He lifted a hand.His fingers neared the door.
A reflex.As if to test the material, to verify it was real.
But he froze.The memory of his earlier blunders cut through his thoughts like a blade.His arm trembled.
He turned his head slightly, golden eyes locking on Thana.She knew this better than he did.Better to wait for her confirmation.
And yet…the tips of his fingers brushed the door's cold frame.
And at once—
A dull clack sounded.Then another.And another.
From one end of the corridor to the other, floating flames kindled in sequence.A bluish glow leapt forth, lighting each door of each cell.
Within seconds, the entire corridor flared with spectral clarity.
Discretion vanished.Annihilated.
Kael clenched his teeth.A glacial shiver ran his spine.
He opened his mouth, ready to curse.But Thana spoke first—her voice snapping, dry, almost commanding:
— Stop beating yourself up over nothing.
Her halo flashed with firm light.
— Whatever you'd done… this would have happened.So quit flagellating yourself for it.
Silence pressed in.Kael ground his teeth, eyes pinned to the corridor's spectral glow.
Thana resumed, lower:
— Let's keep going.
For an instant there was only silence.Then everything burst.
A din crashed over the corridor at once.
Rending sobs.Hysterical laughter.Cries of torture, bones breaking, flesh being torn.Whispers of hatred.And others, softer—seeping with sickly love.
Everything followed.Everything overlapped.A torrent of voices impossible to tell apart.
The stone vibrated with every inflection.The flames danced to the rhythm of that sonic madness.
An ordinary person…would not have lasted more than a few seconds.Their eardrums, their mind, their very soul…would have given under the overload.
Kael clamped his hands to his temples.The uproar pounded, hammered, flayed every corner of his awareness.There was no escaping it.
With every second, the crack inside his mind lengthened.A constant, acid pressure.A sonic gulf ready to swallow him.
He grit his teeth.But his breath broke.
Thana, perched on his shoulder, watched.Her halo trembled with a taut, nervous gleam.
Then, in an icy voice, she cut through:
— Umbra.
The shadow stirred, still half-curled against Kael's skin.
— Devour them.Every soul in these cells.Now.
Her voice snapped through the air, implacable—a sentence pronounced.
The shadow uncoiled.A shiver rippled the air, and at once the cries changed pitch.The din turned to ragged, smothered screams, swallowed by an unseen gulf.
Umbra unfurled.Black coils slid from Kael's mark, snaking toward the cells.Each door throbbed; each seal beat—then filaments of shadow threaded through the bars.
The souls were drawn in.One by one.Their howling voices turned to torn rattles, until they guttered into nothing.
Kael flinched.Hands still on his temples, he panted.The silence began to return, but his breath stayed short.
A doubt seized him.— And… Lilith's seal? Does it…
Thana answered at once, not even letting him finish.— Of course not.
She never looked away from him.Her voice carried a glacial intensity.
— That seal protects your mind.From illusions, manipulations, mental attacks.
Umbra's shadows were still gulping the last translucent shapes, their warped forms vanishing into him.
— But here, Kael…it's not your mind under attack.
Her halo darkened.Each word fell like a sentence:
— It's your soul.
Thana still trembled, her halo pulsing with a dark light.— That's why I'm furious…
Her voice broke for a heartbeat, then came back, sharper than ever:— They dared to touch your soul.Whoever they were before…no one—no one touches your soul!
Kael raised his head, still gasping.His golden eyes tried to soften.He fumbled for words.
— Don't worry…the noise is starting to fade.It hurts less.
But Thana almost burst—her voice cracking through the damp air:— You don't understand, Kael!
She stepped closer, tiny, her incandescent gaze driving into his.
— We're talking about your soul!It's more than fragile.The slightest mistake… and you'd vanish forever.
Her words fell like blades.— You could have died if I hadn't sent Umbra to handle it…to the second!
She didn't let him answer.Her halo burned with an implacable, near-harsh light.
— So you're going to do me the favor of strengthening your soul.Before we leave.And of repairing it.
Kael froze, startled by the violence of her tone.His lips parted, but no sound came.
Thana drew closer still, her tiny eyes blazing with icy intensity.
— I don't care how long it takes.I will not let up until it's done.
Silence fell again, broken only by the far echo of chains.Kael looked away, unable to hold her gaze.
Suddenly, Umbra straightened.His shadow tightened, then shot straight toward Thana.
A taut hush, then…
— Yes, she said with a nod.… Okay.All right.You can keep going—we'll handle it.
Kael stared, still breathless.— What did he say?
Thana turned her tiny, clear eyes on him.
— Umbra just explained that each devoured soul left a fragment behind.He doesn't know what it is.But he feels energy coming off it.
Kael frowned.— Fragments…
Thana nodded.— I told him we'll take care of gathering them.He can keep "farming" in peace.
They approached the first cell.
Kael slowed at once.His golden eyes narrowed.
The floor…It was covered.
A score of fragments glimmered, scattered across the wet stone.Small translucent shards, pulsing with a faint energy, like coals still alive.
And all that…from a single cell.
Kael inhaled.A short, disbelieving breath.
— … All that from one cell?
Thana dipped her head.Her halo glowed grave.
— Yes.And there will be more.
Kael stood frozen over the shard-strewn floor.His golden eyes swept the fragments, incredulous.
— … So he devoured at least twenty souls in this one cell alone?
Silence hovered.Then a breath slipped from him—half wry, half chilled.
— Remind me to feed him well…and never annoy him.
He forced a faint smile, but his fist stayed tight.His breathing deepened.
— … Twenty souls, just to start.
He straightened slowly.His golden eyes brightened in the gloom.
— Then let's see what the other cells are hiding.