Blood hit the stone first. Then the hound.
I yanked the dagger free, the blade half-chipped, my arm shaking. The thing went down hard, teeth still clamped on air like it refused to die.
"That's number… what, eight?" I wheezed the words out. "Still breathing. Suck it."
My chest burned. I could feel the ache where others would just let their Sigil patch them up. Would've killed for that kind of cheat code. But no, Sigil-less. Bottom of the ladder. You fight longer, you bleed more, and nobody remembers your name.
My arm felt like it'd been chewed through. It kinda had. One of the smaller ones got a clean bite before I kicked it off and split its jaw. I checked the blade. Cheap iron, edge already dull, hilt sticky with blood and dust. I'd need to scrub it later if I made it back.
"Should've just gone for scraps, huh," I muttered, forcing a laugh that sounded more like choking. My own voice echoed off the cracked pillars, too loud, too alone.
Somewhere behind me, claws scraped stone. Not one. Three. Four.
"Right. Not done yet."
I pushed off the wall and limped down the corridor. My legs ached from the run, my shoulder burned, and my Resonance, what little I could store in vials, was almost gone. Sigiled scavengers would've cleared this place in minutes. I was just a stubborn idiot with two knives and bad timing.
The tunnel curved into a lower hall, half-buried under rubble. I ducked beneath a slab hanging from the ceiling. Dust fell into my hair, gritty and cold. The air smelled of old iron and rot, same as every ruin that promised "easy relics."
I could still picture Lira back at the hub, arms crossed, saying, "Don't go alone again, Cael. You'll come back in pieces."
Well, she wasn't wrong. I pressed a hand against my ribs and hissed.
The sound of claws grew closer, echoing, uneven, hungry.
I reached the next wall and slumped against it, dragging air into my lungs. My pulse pounded in my ears. The Resonance vial at my belt clinked when I shifted. My last one.
"Could really use a miracle right about now," I muttered, eyes darting toward the corridor's dark end. "Or a door. Door would be nice."
The ruin gave me silence in return. Just faint vibrations through the floor, like the world itself breathing.
The ground shook once, a deep thud somewhere below, like something big just woke up. I froze mid-step. The hounds behind me went quiet too.
"...Great. Even they're scared."
I took the next corner fast, half-limping, half-running. My boot hit a loose tile and nearly sent me down face-first. The lamp clipped to my belt flickered, throwing quick flashes of stone walls carved with runes I didn't have time to read.
A right turn, a dead end. Perfect.
I swore under my breath and looked around. No other way out, just a cracked archway on the left. The air there pulsed faintly, cold brushing over my face. A hum rolled through it, low and steady, like a heartbeat buried under stone.
"Huh…"
That sound didn't belong here.
I pulled one dagger loose again and stepped inside.
The chamber wasn't big. Round, collapsed on one side, dust thick enough to chew. In the center sat something half-buried in rubble. Metal, box-shaped, faintly glowing under the grime. A pattern burned on top, a lotus, its petals shifting with light that didn't look like fire.
"You've gotta be kidding me…"
I crouched down, brushing debris off the top. The hum got louder, more alive the closer I was. The light pulsed once, and every old rune on the wall blinked back to life for a split second.
I stumbled back, one hand going to my dagger. "Okay, okay, calm down—didn't mean to wake you up or whatever you are."
Nothing answered. Just that quiet thrum, steady as a pulse.
The air felt weird. Heavy. My skin prickled, like standing too close to a Resonance field. I glanced at my belt. The vial of blue liquid faintly shimmered, reacting.
"…You eat Resonance?"
No reply, obviously. Still, I could feel it, this slow pull, like the thing was asking for it.
"Of course you're hungry. Everything down here wants a bite."
The thought of feeding it was stupid. I already used half the vial patching my arm. If it was alive and actually valuable, maybe I could finally stop scraping for scraps.
Hell, I wasn't even sure this thing was a relic. It felt… different. Alive, almost.
I hesitated, thumb tapping the cork. My head was pounding, blood still dripping down my sleeve. The hounds were probably already sniffing through the tunnels.
I exhaled hard. "Screw it."
The cork popped. One drop slid out and hit the lotus mark.
The hum deepened.
For a split second, the hum synced with my heartbeat. Like it knew me.
The glow sharpened until it filled the room. White crawled through the veins of metal. My teeth buzzed, the lamps on my belt shorted out, and my gut screamed to run.
"Ah, shit—!" The floor gave out before I could move. A bright light burst through the room and dragged me in.
Then nothing.
No sound. No air. Just weightless pressure crushing from every side. I couldn't even tell if I was falling or floating. My daggers drifted past my face like silver fish, spinning in the dark before I caught them.
"What—what is this?" My voice came out strangled, swallowed by the void.
It wasn't black, not really. The dark shimmered, like ink underwater, stars blooming and dying in flashes all around me. Each one flickered like a heartbeat.
I tried to breathe, but there was no air. No ground either. Still, somehow, my boots touched something. Every step sent out faint ripples, like I was walking on shallow water that never splashed.
I turned slowly, taking it all in. "Am I dead? …No, can't be. I don't feel—" I touched my chest. My heart still hammered. "Okay. Not dead. Just… somewhere worse."
The hum returned, low and steady. It rolled through the dark, deep enough to vibrate in my bones.
I looked up. Far ahead, in the middle of that endless black, something was glowing. A shape sitting still, humanoid, barely, but the light around it pulsed like the box had.
"The hell are you?" I whispered.
It didn't move. Just watched. Or maybe it was asleep.
…
Then the eyes snapped open. Bright, blinding, and looking straight at me.