The runes split.
Lines of fire carved into the stone walls flickered once, twice,and then bled out, like dying embers smothered by ash. The cavern plunged into a choking half-darkness, the only light the bilious green that pulsed from the fissure below.
The Hunger pressed harder. The ground heaved beneath their feet, stone plates tearing apart like brittle parchment. A tendril slick with glistening spines whipped upward, lashing against the ceiling. It struck an Elder square in the chest. The man's wards flashed briefly, then shattered like glass. His scream ended as the tendril dragged him down into the abyss.
Rhea's breath stuttered. Gods.
Kael didn't flinch. His sword hissed free in a single motion, runes along its length flaring to life. He placed himself between her and the fissure, every line of his body taut as a bowstring. "Move, Rhea!"
But she couldn't. The Queen's voice rattled through her skull, threading with the beast's roar. You feel it, don't you? The marrow of the world gnawing at its chains. You are its cage. You are its feast.
Her knees buckled, shadows pouring from her fingertips unbidden. Kael caught her elbow, steadying her even as the ground split again, nearly pitching them both into the abyss.
The Elders regrouped, staffs raised high, their voices raw with strain. But their chant had lost its unity, broken syllables crashing over one another. Fear cracked their discipline. Another tendril shot upward, battering them apart like leaves in a storm.
"We can't hold this!" one Elder shrieked before vanishing in a spray of blood and bone.
The leader's mask turned toward Rhea. "Bind it!" he howled. "Now!"
Rhea's heart slammed against her ribs. "I don't know how—"
"You are the vessel! Either you cage it or it devours all!"
The beast surged again, its maw rising higher, teeth like jagged cliffs dripping rot. A wind poured from its throat,heat and decay so foul it stripped the breath from Rhea's lungs.
Kael grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to meet his burning gaze. "Forget their riddles. Forget their doom. You've held fire. You've chained shadows. You can bind this too."
She shook her head, panic cutting sharp. "The cost—"
"I'll pay it with you." No hesitation. No fear. Just the raw, unshakable vow in his eyes.
A roar like thunder split the cavern. The wards crumbled completely, shards of glowing rune-light scattering like dying fireflies. Stone rained from above.
The Hunger was free.
A tendril the width of an oak snapped toward them. Kael shoved Rhea aside and slashed upward. His blade bit deep, searing through flesh with a spray of sizzling ichor. The tendril recoiled with a shriek that shook the cavern, but two more surged in its place, battering the ground where they'd stood.
Rhea's shadow lashed out instinctively, coiling like serpents around one tendril. It bucked and writhed, straining against her hold, the effort ripping fire through her veins. Another tendril caught her across the ribs, flinging her hard against a pillar of stone. The impact stole her breath, blood flooding her mouth.
"Rhea!" Kael's cry cracked through the chaos. He cut through another strike, every motion desperate, precise. But the monster was endless,every blow split into more writhing flesh, every wound healing with grotesque speed.
She forced herself up, spitting red, her vision swimming. The Queen whispered through the haze: Stop fighting it. Let me through. Together, we can leash it forever.
Her chest heaved. She knew what that meant,what it would cost. Her. Her soul. Her bond with Kael.
The Hunger roared again, its maw gaping wide enough to swallow armies. The cavern tilted, cracks spidering outward to the surface above. If it broke free fully, the mountain would shatter. The world would follow.
Kael staggered to her, face bloodied, his sword arm trembling but unyielding. He pressed his forehead to hers, even with ruin crashing down around them. "Whatever it takes. We do it together."
Shadows coiled at her back, fire burning in her chest. Between them, power sparked,a volatile collision of flame and darkness, light and hunger.
Rhea lifted her hands toward the abyss. "Then hold me steady."
Kael's arms locked around her, bracing her against the storm. She screamed as she let the shadows surge, as the Queen's laughter tore through her mind, as the cavern itself cracked open to swallow their defiance.
The Hunger shrieked, the sound enough to rip the sky apart.
And Rhea pulled.