The cavern stayed quiet after that single word—marked—like the earth itself was holding its breath. The creature didn't move. It stood half-hidden in the tunnel entrance, its long limbs stretched at strange angles, its skin so pale it almost glowed under the soft blue light.
Addison's fingernails dug into my wrist. Not enough to hurt, but enough to say one thing: don't run.
I swallowed hard. "What is that?"
She didn't blink. "An old one."
"That doesn't tell me anything."
"It's older than the watcher. Older than the hunter. Older than the pact." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "It shouldn't be awake."
The creature tilted its head slightly, like it was studying us. No eyes. Just two smooth hollows. It didn't need sight to know exactly where we were.
"How does it know?" I whispered.
"It hears the blood."
That sentence landed like a weight.
The creature took a step into the cavern. It didn't walk like a person. Its limbs folded in strange places, bending low, then high, as if its bones rearranged under the skin. The scraping sound returned, but quieter now, almost a soft drag across the stone floor.
Addison pushed me behind her. "Stay back."
"Addison—"
"Stay back."
Her voice cracked.
The creature's mouth opened a little. Not wide. Just enough for a soft breath to seep out and make the blue water ripple.
It wasn't air.
It was something cold enough to sting my skin.
"Why is it saying I'm marked?" I whispered.
"Because you are."
"How do you know?"
"Because it doesn't speak unless it's certain."
I didn't like the way she said that.
The creature slid another foot forward. The cavern lights shifted, making its skin shimmer like damp clay. That long, thin arm reached out again, fingers trailing across the stone. It wasn't reaching toward us—not yet. It was tracing the ground, searching for something. Or someone.
Addison pulled me back toward the archway of carved stones at the far side of the cavern.
"What are you doing?" I whispered.
"Not letting it corner us."
The creature paused, as if it heard her plan.
It turned its head toward us slowly. Too slowly. Like it was adjusting its shape to fit the motion.
I felt cold seep into my bones.
Then it spoke again. A scratchy whisper dragged across stone.
"Come."
Addison stiffened. "Don't move."
The creature stepped closer.
"Addison…"
"I know."
The thing's long fingers curled slightly, tapping on the ground. A rhythm. Slow. Repetitive. Like a heartbeat that didn't belong to anything alive.
Tap.
Tap.
Pause.
Tap.
Tap.
Pause.
The sound crawled under my skin.
Addison forced a slow breath. "If it touches you, it binds you."
"I don't want to be bound to anything in here."
"That makes two of us."
The creature's neck stretched unnaturally as it leaned toward the pool, bringing its hollow face close to the water's surface. The blue glow rippled over its skin.
It whispered again.
"Come… blood of the first."
My stomach dropped. "What does that mean?"
Addison didn't answer right away. She stared at the creature like her mind was racing through every story she'd ever been told.
"It thinks you're connected to the first pact," she said softly.
"And what is that?"
"Something the town buried so deep nobody remembered the details." She shook her head. "Not even my family."
The creature lifted its head again.
This time its mouth stretched wider.
The skin at the edges cracked, splitting open like dry earth. Something dark seeped from the corners of its mouth, dripping onto the stone and sizzling on contact.
Addison pulled me behind her, shielding me with her body. "Back toward the arch. Slow."
We moved one step at a time. The creature's head followed each shift of our feet.
"Why aren't we running?" I whispered.
"Because if we run, it'll crawl over that ceiling and drop on us."
I risked a glance up.
The ceiling was lost in shadow. High enough for anything to hide in.
We reached the archway—a low stone structure carved with spirals and symbols I didn't recognize. Some glowed faintly, pulsing like veins under skin.
Addison ran her hand over one of the carvings. "These weren't made by the town."
"Then who made them?"
"The ones who lived here before the pact."
I didn't have time to ask who that was.
The creature moved again.
But this time it didn't step.
It glided.
Its feet hovered an inch above the ground, body swaying gently like it was pushed by a breeze. The scraping sound faded. The air grew colder.
Addison tensed. "That's not good."
"How is any of this good?"
"It only glides when it's ready to claim something."
My pulse hammered. "Claim what?"
"You."
Before I could respond, the creature's mouth widened further. A trembling, wet crack echoed through the cavern. Its jaw unhinged with a slow, sickening stretch.
Addison grabbed my hand. "Don't look at it."
"I'm not trying to!"
The creature let out a thin, distorted hum—not a sound of hunger. More like recognition. It bowed its head slightly, as if acknowledging something in the air around me.
Then it whispered:
"It wakes… because you came."
My chest tightened. "Addison…"
She squeezed my hand. "I'm here."
The creature leaned forward, reaching out one long finger toward my chest.
Just one.
Moving so slowly it felt like the air thickened around us.
Addison stepped in front of me again. "Don't touch her!"
The creature paused. Its head turned toward Addison.
Its mouth closed halfway.
Then widened again.
And wider.
And wider.
Until the entire lower half of its face split open into a round, black void.
Not a mouth.
A hole.
The hum rose into a hollow, vibrating growl.
Addison pushed me back. "Run."
"You said not to run!"
"It's not tracking movement anymore—it's tracking the mark!" she shouted.
Before I could think, before I could breathe, before I could look again—
The creature lunged.
It didn't step. It didn't glide.
It snapped forward with impossible speed.
Addison shoved me aside, and the creature's long arm swept through the air where I had been standing. The wind from its movement knocked me to the ground. Stone scraped my palms as I scrambled away.
Addison screamed my name.
The creature turned toward me—
And the blue light in the cavern flared bright enough to sting my eyes.
The carvings on the arch pulsed violently, glowing like hot metal.
A sound cracked through the cavern—
A deep, rumbling voice coming from the stone itself.
Addison's eyes widened in terror.
"Oh no… not that—"
The creature recoiled from the light, shrieking in that jagged, broken whisper. It curled its limbs inward, folding itself into an unnatural shape as the glow burned against its skin.
Its scream rattled the walls.
Then—
The ground beneath us trembled hard.
A crack shot across the cavern floor, splitting the stone under my feet. Water rushed into the opening. The earth shook again, stronger this time, sending rocks falling from the high ceiling.
"Addison!" I shouted.
She reached for me.
I reached back, fingertips brushing hers—
Before the floor split wide beneath me.
And I fell.
Again.
Straight into blackness deeper than anything I'd seen before.
The creature's final whisper echoed after me—
"The first returns."