The one who returned
Chapter 13
The hooded figure stepped into the dim cell, their presence bending the air like a crushing weight. Eidolon froze. Even after all these years-however many had passed-he could never forget that aura.
It was the same suffocating, poisonous presence that dragged him into this dungeon...the same one that ruined his life.
But now it was different.
Stronger. Colder. Hungrier.
Eidolon's breath caught as the door slammed behind the figure, sealing them inside together. The other survivors-only four left besides him-pressed themselves into corners, trembling. Even the walls felt afraid.
The figure's shadow stretched unnaturally across the ground, like a living stain dripping off their feet. Eidolon could feel it watching him. Watching his heartbeat. Watching his fear.
"You've grown," the hooded figure said, voice neither male nor female-just wrong, like a song played backward.
"Good. You were always meant to survive."
Eidolon's fists clenched. His body had grown, hardened, sharpened-but he was still trapped. He still didn't know anything about the world outside this hell.
"Why did you bring us here?" he forced out.
The figure tilted their head, amused.
"You still don't understand... but you will soon."
They raised one hand, and the air rippled. The floor beneath the prisoners sparked with glowing lines-runes that had been sleeping all these years now waking up like hungry beasts.
The four prisoners screamed as chains of black flame erupted around them, wrapping their limbs, dragging them toward the center of the room. Eidolon leapt forward-
-but the hooded figure's shadow snapped up like a serpent, coiling around his throat and lifting him off the floor.
"Not you," the figure whispered.
"You are... special."
Eidolon's vision blurred, rage boiling beneath his skin. He grabbed the shadow with both hands-it burned, but he didn't stop. He felt it weaken, just a little.
The figure paused. For the first time... surprised.
"Interesting."
The runes blazed. The walls shook. The dungeon groaned like it was awakening from a long sleep.
Eidolon forced the words out through clenched teeth:
"What... are you doing to them?"
The figure lowered their hood.
And Eidolon's blood turned to ice.
It was a woman-no, a demon wearing the shape of one-with bone-white hair, eyes like cracked amethyst, and a smile carved too wide to be human. A familiar smile. The smile from his nightmares.
"Finishing what I started."
The screaming grew louder.
The chains tightened.
The ritual began.
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