The roar was not just sound—it was weight.
It pressed into their chests, rattled their bones, and made the torches along the walls flicker as though the air itself wanted to flee.
The seal cracked.
Thin lines of crimson light spiderwebbed across its surface. The masked warriors froze, their rigid stance betraying the faintest hint of hesitation.
Then, with a sound like shattering glass, the black stone split open.
From the rift emerged a claw—long, obsidian, and slick with molten veins that pulsed like a heartbeat. The claw gripped the edge of the broken seal, and something massive began to pull itself upward.
Rondan's breath caught.
It wasn't a beast in the way the surface world knew beasts—it was shaped like one, but wrong in every proportion. A serpentine body covered in jagged scales, eyes burning white like shards of a dying star, and a mouth that opened far too wide, revealing rows of teeth shaped like runic daggers.
Leina's voice trembled.
"That's… that's not supposed to exist here."
The masked warriors suddenly abandoned their coordinated attack. One turned his blade toward the creature, while the other stepped back toward the shadows.
"Contain it," the first ordered, voice sharp with urgency.
"No," the second replied. "The Heart wanted it freed. Let it judge them."
The creature's gaze fell on Rondan. The air around him grew heavy, each breath burning in his lungs.
It knows me, he realized. Somehow… it knows me.
Without warning, it lunged—not at the masked warriors, not at Leina, but straight for him.
Rondan rolled aside, feeling the ground shatter where he'd stood. The molten veins of the claw burned through the stone like parchment.
Leina grabbed his arm.
> "We can't fight this, not like this! There's another seal deeper in the catacombs—if we can get it there, maybe—"
A deep laugh echoed in their minds, and Rondan realized it wasn't coming from any mouth in the chamber.
"Run, little flame. You were lit for me."