The catacombs thundered with the sound of chains snapping and stone groaning. The revenants surged like a tide, pressing closer with every heartbeat. Liora's blade dripped ichor, her arms trembling from the endless clash of steel and claw.
"Back!" Kael shouted, cutting down another attacker. His breath came ragged, his face pale but eyes blazing. "We'll be buried here if we stand another second!"
Liora's gaze lingered where the golden-eyed revenant had fallen. Its words rang louder in her head than the battle itself. Don't let it spread.
"Liora!" Kael's voice snapped her out of it as a claw swiped inches from her throat.
She spun, striking hard, the creature collapsing at her feet. Then, against every instinct, she turned — not upward toward escape, but downward, toward a broken arch in the far wall. Behind it, a narrow stair wound into darkness. The booming heartbeat was louder there, vibrating through the stone.
"This way!" she cried.
Kael's laugh was sharp, almost disbelief. "Toward the thing making that sound? You're mad!"
"Do you want to fight them forever?"
Another wave pressed against them, claws scraping, teeth gnashing. Kael cursed under his breath and followed. Together they shoved through the arch, stumbling onto the stairwell. Revenants slammed against the narrow opening, but the broken stones slowed them.
The stairwell spiraled endlessly downward, the air growing thicker, colder. Strange markings covered the walls — spirals, sigils, and the sun-emblem of the Dawnwatch, all carved deep into the rock. But they were wrong — twisted, distorted, like the order's creed had been rewritten by something else.
Liora's torchlight flickered across a final carving: a circle split in half. One side radiated light. The other bled shadows.
Her breath caught. "This… this isn't a prison." She reached out, tracing the stone with trembling fingers. "It's a seal."
The heartbeat thundered, shaking dust from above. From the darkness below came a whisper — not from one revenant, but from all of them at once, echoing up the stairwell:
Break the seal… and we are free.
Kael gripped her shoulder, pulling her back. "Tell me you don't actually believe going deeper is a good idea."
But Liora's eyes burned, torn between fear and duty. "If we don't… the city above is already lost."
Chapter Nine Ends