What they saw was a massive chamber
The moment they stepped into it, the world shifted. Time seemed to thicken around them, as if the air itself had turned to molasses. Even the sound of their breath dragged behind, dulled and sluggish.
It was humongous.
The cavern stretched beyond sight, a vast hollow carved into the bones of the earth. From floor to ceiling, it arched like a natural cathedral, the curved dome disappearing into darkness above their heads. The rock itself shimmered with veins of pale minerals, glowing faintly in the torchlight. The glow was quiet, almost holy in its beauty.
But that fragile beauty was buried beneath what clung to every surface.
Cocoons.
Hundreds of them. Possibly thousands. Enough to make the walls seem alive.
They lined the chamber like grotesque decorations, occupying every crevice, every ledge, every inch of available space. Some were nestled horizontally against the stone. Others slumped in heaps along the floor, half-buried in the thick, matted webbing. Dozens hung from above, suspended by cords of fibrous silk that swayed ever so slightly in the currents of stale air. Each cocoon was pale, semi-translucent, bound in countless thin layers of glistening thread. They looked like corpses wrapped in spider silk, curled into fetal positions. Most were still.
But not all.
Some of them twitched. Others pulsed faintly, rhythmically, like something inside was breathing. Alive. Waiting.
Gray stood frozen at the threshold. His throat went dry.
Adel's mist still clung to their bodies. It rippled around them like a second skin, distorting their outlines and smudging the heat of their presence. It wasn't true invisibility. Everyone knew that. But it kept them hidden from whatever was alive in here, and they were glad.
Lira moved forward first.
She stepped forward with her torch held low, her shoulders squared but her fingers clenched white around the hilt. Her gaze didn't wander. She was locked onto the center of the chamber.
Something waited there.
It rose from the stone like a monument to decay. A massive cocoon, far larger than the others, suspended between floor and ceiling by ropes of hardened silk. These here different from the webbing elsewhere, thicker, darker, corded like the anchor lines of a ship. They held the cocoon completely still in midair, as though the earth itself dared not touch it.
It was the size of a wagon.
Its surface was semi-translucent, but unlike the others, it was covered in dark veins that pulsed steadily, each beat echoing through the webbing like a signal. The veins shimmered with an oily black color, moving slowly, deliberately. The whole thing looked more like a heart than a prison.
Gray took a small step forward, unable to tear his eyes away. His chest tightened. "Wh—"
Adel's hand clamped over his mouth before the sound could finish leaving his lips.
Her eyes were wide, unfocused. Her other hand trembled as she reached for his wrist and gripped it with more force than he expected. Gray turned to her, saw the sweat beading on her forehead despite the chill in the air. She didn't speak.
Then he heard it.
A sound beneath the silence.
Low. Deep. Like thunder walking.
A steady rhythm, far away at first, but growing stronger. It wasn't just noise, it was movement. Heavy, deliberate steps, each one sending a faint tremor through the stone beneath their feet. The cocoon webbing quivered.
From one of the vast tunnels that branched off the chamber, a shadow stirred.
And something came out of it.
The creature was monstrous.
Its body filled the tunnel's entrance, forcing itself into the chamber with mechanical grace. It moved in sections, as if every limb had to be convinced to obey. Multi-jointed legs struck the ground with deliberate, brutal precision. Its body was plated in hard, gleaming layers of chitin, slick and black, each one reflecting the flicker of the torchlight like wet armor.
And its eyes...
Dozens of them. Not just on its face, if it had a face, but along its limbs, its underbelly, the sides of its body. Every eye blinked independently, twitching in different directions. No two focused on the same thing.
It's mouth was closed, but it stretched from one side of it's face to the other. Sharp fangs sticking out at the edges.
But from its back, two sacs rose like bellows, swelling and deflating with slow, ghastly rhythm. They were a dark, shimmering blue, coated in a slick fluid that dripped onto the stone floor in fat, hissing droplets.
Gray couldn't move.
He couldn't even think.
The creature paused.
Then, slowly, it turned.
All the eyes shifted together.
Foward them.
For a moment, time seemingly died.
No one breathed.
No one moved.
Gray was sure it saw them. Felt them. Knew they were there.
But even if it did, what could they do about it?
There was no running from that thing. He knew that much
But just then it turned away.
'Did—Did it not see us?' Gray's mind pounded heavily. As if a hammer was smashing it's inside out.
The monster lumbered toward the massive cocoon at the chamber's center. One of its legs reached forward, extending a needle-like appendage from the tip. With surgical precision, it stabbed the cocoon once. A sharp hiss escaped. A puff of vapor rose from the puncture.
Then, without a sound, it withdrew the needle, turned, and walked back into the dark.
The thunder faded with each step.
Only when the last echo died did Gray let out the breath he had been holding. Lira exhaled with him.
"We need a plan," she said softly. Her voice was flat. Controlled. Too controlled.
Gray blinked. His hands were shaking.
Adel wiped her face, then stared at her palm. Blood ran from her nose, vivid against her skin. "What the hell was that thing doing?"
Gray looked again at the central cocoon. The veins still pulsed. Slowly. "Feeding it. Or fueling it. Maybe with Vyre. Maybe something else. But whatever's in there... it's still changing."
Lira didn't look away from the cocoon. "It's a hive king. Or something worse. That cocoon might be breeding the next generation. If it hatches..." Her voice faded.
Gray nodded. "Then we burn it."
Adel hesitated. "How? Fire won't spread well in this air, let alone walls."
Lira looked at Gray. "You and I go in. Opposite ends. Light what we can. Focus on the clusters. Adel, you stay behind. If you see anything tell us. If anything comes, you sound the retreat."
Adel pressed a blood-streaked hand to her temple. "I can hold the veil for five more minutes. Maybe less."
Gray met her eyes. She looked exhausted. Scared. They all did.
'Five minutes... it's all we have to play a game with death...' his thoughts calmed down slightly.
Gray pulled out a torch from his waist.
Lira struck a flint to Gray's torch. The flame caught instantly, dancing in the thick air.
They moved together.
Into the nest.
Each step felt like a crime.
Gray's boots touched the webbed stone. He lowered his torch. The first cocoon blackened on contact. Then curled in on itself, smoking. The silk caught, fire creeping like a living thing.
He moved to the next. And the next.
Across the chamber, he saw Lira doing the same. Her blade gleamed with reflected firelight. Behind her, smoke rose in coils.
The air thickened with the smell. Burning silk. Rotting flesh. A sweetness that made Gray's stomach lurch.
He kept going.
One cocoon burst as he passed. Something fell out. Not a person. A thing. Half-grown. All teeth and claws and unfinished hunger.
He pushed forward.
Then he saw one that stopped him.
Larger than the others, but smaller than the main cocoon. Wrapped tighter. And from the edge of the silk, fingers protruded. Human fingers. Pale, twitching.
Gray stepped closer.
The cocoon moved. A soft tap came from inside.
Someone was in there. Alive.
'What—what the hell?' He reached for it.
Then a sound stopped him cold.
A click.
Wet. Above him.
He turned his head.
The creature was back.
But this time, it wasn't walking.
It was clinging to the ceiling.
Its limbs were splayed out like a spider, hugging the dome above the nest. Silent. Perfectly still. Every one of its eyes stared straight at Gray.
It had never left.
It had never stopped watching.
The mist hadn't failed. The veil hadn't fallen.
It had simply waited.
Watched.
Gray's chest collapsed inward. His torch slipped from his fingers and clattered to the stone. He couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
He stood deathly still. But he realized... it was of no use.
"Adel... run!" He screamed with all his might. But something hit his head.
And the world disappeared into darkness.