The air was damp, heavy with the stench of rust and old stone. Their torches cast long shadows that wavered across walls lined with shackles, each iron loop still clasped around brittle bones… except for the ones that weren't bones at all.
Liora slowed, her breath fogging in the chill. The chained figures weren't corpses — not entirely. Pale skin clung to faces stretched too thin, and in the silence, a sound broke through: the faint rasp of lungs struggling for air.
"They're alive," she whispered, her voice breaking.
Kael tilted his head, squinting into the flickering dark. "Alive? That depends on your definition. Those don't look like anything worth saving."
As if hearing them, one of the revenants stirred. Its head lifted, jaw trembling. The faint heartbeat that had followed them since the surface now pulsed stronger, echoing through the stone. The chains rattled.
Liora's grip on her blade tightened. "These were knights. My brothers and sisters…"
Kael smirked bitterly. "Then your order had worse secrets than I thought."
The revenant's eyes snapped open — not milky and blind like the others, but burning faintly gold, almost human. It let out a strangled cry, and at once, the catacombs came alive with noise: chains clanging, dozens of bodies thrashing, gasps and growls blending into a chorus of torment.
"Run or fight?" Kael asked, his dagger already in hand.
Liora's heart pounded. Every instinct screamed to flee, but the weight of Sereth's medallion pressed cold against her chest. She stepped forward instead.
"We free them. Or end them. But we do not run."
Kael gave her a sharp, dangerous grin. "Finally. Something I can agree on."
The first chain snapped.
Chapter Six Ends