"Eli?"
The cavern shook with the weight of Kairo's voice.
"Eli!" His shout ripped through the dark, booming against the dripping stone like a war horn. The sound carried, swallowed, then thrown back at him by the endless walls.
His flashlight beam carved viciously across the black flood, scattering ripples of pale light that danced and broke apart over the surface.
He moved fast, each stride urgent, boots hammering into the water with heavy splashes that echoed like drumbeats.
"ELI!" The second call came sharper, louder—cracked open by something he rarely let slip. Panic.
His blood pounded in his ears, hot and furious. His jaw locked as his eyes cut across the water—left, right, scanning low for any trace.
A flash of black hair. The corner of a sleeve. The shape of a body. Anything.
But there was nothing.
Just water. Just stone.
Just endless dark.
Kairo's breathing came shallow, sharp. His voice snapped again, tearing out like a whip. "Answer me! Eli!"
