Elias was slipping.
Aria felt it in the way his body twitched violently every few seconds, as if his mind was being yanked between worlds.His breath came in short, uneven bursts.His fingers clenched and unclenched around fistfuls of her coat.
The golden-eyed being's warning echoed in her skull:
Do not let him sleep.
So she held him upright against her, refusing to let his weight sag more than a fraction.
Kellan scouted ahead, clutching a cracked railing for balance.His blood still dripped from his mouth, his Beast-Spine flickering like a dying ember.He was at his limit, whether he admitted it or not.
Jarek hobbled behind them, pale and trembling.
The Iron Descent was no longer silent.
The steel groaned around them…ridges along the walls pulsed faintly…vents hissed like something breathing in the metal.
It was listening.
Aria called ahead:
"Kellan—anything?"
Kellan wiped blood from his mouth and pointed down a slanted walkway.
"There. A maintenance shaft. Looks like it leads to an older layer. Maybe safer."
Jarek let out a weak laugh.
"Safer? Nothing down here is safe!"
"Then shut up and run," Kellan snarled.
Aria tightened her grip around Elias' torso and began moving him forward.
His head lolled slightly.
"Ward," she whispered sharply, "stay awake."
He didn't respond.
But he did breathe—barely.
They approached the shaft, a narrow metal passage angled downward, rusted and dark.A flickering emergency strip light buzzed faintly on the wall.
Kellan dropped to one knee beside it, catching his breath.
"This is our way out," he said.
Aria knelt beside Elias, brushing wet hair off his forehead.
His skin was fever-hot.
"Elias," she murmured."Look at me."
His eyes fluttered half open.
For a moment, he saw her.
Truly saw her.
"…Aria…?"
Relief cracked across her chest.
"Yes. I'm here."
"…don't… let me…"
He didn't finish.
His body jerked.
Hard.
Aria nearly lost her grip.
Jarek stumbled back with a yelp.
"What was that?!"
Kellan's expression darkened.
"That wasn't physical. That was internal pressure."
Aria held Elias' head steady.
His lips moved slowly, soundlessly.
Then—
He whispered something.
Not in their language.
Not in any language she recognized.
Soft.Jagged.Layered.Resonant.
A word that vibrated faintly against the steel.
Aria froze.
"…Ward… what are you saying…?"
Elias didn't hear her.
He kept muttering in that strange tongue—low, rhythmic syllables that sounded like ritual or command or invocation.
And then—
The Iron Descent answered.
Metal plates along the wall shifted.Something deep below groaned in acknowledgement.The entire structure trembled, as if something massive turned its head toward them.
Jarek screamed.
"Oh gods—he's TALKING to it—!"
Aria's blood went cold.
But she didn't let Elias go.
"Ward. Stop. Stop speaking—stop—"
His voice kept spilling out—
soft, burning syllables that made even the air feel heavier.
Kellan forced himself to his feet.
"Aria. We need to move NOW."
She looked around sharply.
"What's happening?"
Kellan pointed upward.
Shapes were forming in the fog above them—arms, eyes, twisted silhouettes pulling themselves out of the walls and ceiling like half-formed nightmares.
"His voice is calling them."
Jarek wailed:
"He's SUMMONING THEM?!"
"No," Kellan growled."He's waking them."
Aria pulled Elias close, pressing her forehead to his.
"WARD—STOP—WAKE UP—"
His voice caught.He choked.
For a second—just a second—he opened his eyes again.
And she saw two things in them:
Pain.And something ancient pushing through the cracks.
He whispered:
"…I didn't mean to…"
Aria cupped his face.
"I know. Stay with me. MOVE, Ward."
But his eyes rolled back.
His body convulsed again—
and the shadows above them descended.
Kellan roared.
"ARIA—NOW!"
Aria threw Elias over her shoulder with brute force and sprinted into the maintenance shaft just as the ceiling behind them tore open.
Shadow limbs clawed at the shaft's edge, screeching with hunger.
Kellan shoved Jarek in first.
"GO—!"
Jarek scrambled inside.
Aria followed with Elias on her back.
Kellan turned to hold the rear—
and froze.
A massive shape crawled out of the shadows.
Not a Devourer.Not a Wraith.Not the guardian.
Something worse.
Something that smelled like the deepest layer of the Threshold.
Kellan whispered:
"…oh no…"
He slammed the shaft door shut just as a claw the size of a spear punched through the metal.
Aria dragged herself deeper into the shaft.
The darkness behind her roared.
Jarek sobbed.
Kellan shoved the door with all his weight.
Elias hung limp on Aria's back—breathing, but only barely.
And then—
He whispered again.
Another word.
Soft.Resonant.Old.
The shaft lights flickered in response.
And down the tunnel—
something answered back.
A metallic voice.Ancient.Awakening.
Aria froze in place.
"What… was that?"
Kellan swallowed hard.
"Not something we want to meet."
Elias exhaled—slow, weak, barely conscious.
Aria whispered:
"Ward… what are you calling to you…?"
He didn't answer.
His eyes were closed.
But his lips curved—very faintly.
Not a smile.
Something closer to instinct.
Or hunger.
Behind them, the shaft door groaned as the thing outside began tearing it apart.
Aria hissed:
"Kellan—Jarek—MOVE!"
They ran.
The shaft sloped deeper, darker, colder.
And down in that blackness—
something woke fully.
Something that had been asleep for a long, long time.