The ground gave way with a violent roar.
Stone cracked. Soil collapsed. The Sky Reaper shrieked as its talons scraped against falling rock, wings beating furiously as it struggled to regain balance. Dust and debris filled the clearing, choking the air and blinding everyone for a heartbeat.
"MOVE—NOW!" Priya shouted.
Avdhoot didn't hesitate.
He turned, fire erupting from his arms, blasting a controlled wave outward—not at the beast, but at the collapsing ground. The flames hardened the edges of the break just enough to slow the cave-in, buying them seconds.
Seconds were all they had.
"Bhavna, Akshay—on me!" Meira yelled, reinforcing Akshay's body with stabilizing mana as Kiran and Bhavna lifted him together.
Veer grabbed Priya's arm and pulled her back as a slab of stone crashed down where she'd been standing a moment earlier.
The Sky Reaper roared again—angrier now, wounded pride burning hotter than its pain. Its wings slammed downward, forcing air into the tunnel opening, widening it violently.
It wasn't falling.
It was forcing its way in.
"That thing is coming after us!" Tara shouted.
Avdhoot skidded to the tunnel's edge, staring into the darkness below. The passage sloped downward sharply, rough and unfinished, magic still lingering in its walls.
"Everyone inside!" he ordered. "Single file! Don't stop!"
Priya hesitated, looking back at the beast. "What about you?"
"I'm last," Avdhoot said flatly.
Veer opened his mouth to argue—
—and another roar split the air.
The Sky Reaper leapt.
Not into the sky.
Into the collapse.
Avdhoot slammed his hands into the ground.
Fire exploded downward, racing along the tunnel walls, hardening stone, reinforcing the unstable passage just as the group rushed inside. The heat burned his arms, fractured mana tearing through his veins like broken glass.
He screamed—but held it.
"GO!" he roared.
The tunnel swallowed them.
Darkness rushed in as the opening above partially collapsed behind Avdhoot. Rock slammed down, dust choking the air, cutting off light and sound from the surface.
For a moment—
There was nothing but chaos.
They slid.
Not falling—sliding—down the slanted tunnel, scraping against stone, hands clawing for balance. Bhavna screamed. Veer swore loudly. Akshay groaned faintly, unconscious but alive.
Then—impact.
They spilled into a wider chamber, bodies tumbling across rough stone before coming to a painful stop.
Silence followed.
Heavy. Suffocating.
Broken only by coughing and ragged breathing.
"Everyone… count off," Priya said hoarsely.
"One," Veer answered immediately.
"Two," Tara said.
"Three," Meira replied, voice strained.
"Four," Bhavna said shakily.
"Five," Kiran followed.
A pause.
"Six," Avdhoot said quietly, emerging from the darkness, fire flickering weakly around his hand.
Relief crashed through the chamber.
"You idiot," Veer breathed. "You scared the hell out of us."
Avdhoot leaned against the wall, chest heaving. "Still alive. That's what matters."
Above them—
A distant, enraged screech echoed through stone.
The Sky Reaper was still there.
But it wasn't coming through.
Not yet.
Meira examined the chamber quickly, eyes adjusting to the low light from Avdhoot's fading flames. "This tunnel wasn't natural. Look at the walls."
"These stones weren't made for paths," she whispered.
"They were made to hold something in place."
The words settled heavily.
Priya swallowed. "You're saying this was… already here?"
"Yes," Meira said. "Buried. Sealed. Whatever Avdhoot did—he didn't create this. He exposed it."
Runes—ancient, half-eroded—lined sections of the stone.
"This is an old service tunnel," Meira realised. "Probably predates the Academy. Reinforced against collapses… barely."
Priya clenched her fists. "Which means it'll hold long enough."
"And if it doesn't?" Veer asked.
"Then we move faster," Avdhoot said.
Avdhoot felt the crystal shard pulse faintly against his chest, warm in a way that made his skin prickle.
The tunnel sloped gently forward now, wide enough for them to walk. Above them, dust rained softly from the ceiling, but the structure held—reinforced by ancient runes that glimmered faintly as if responding to his presence.
"Akshay," Priya said urgently.
They checked him quickly. His injury was bad—but stable. Blood loss slowed. He was conscious, jaw clenched against the pain.
"I'm not dying in a hole," Akshay muttered. "That'd be embarrassing."
Despite everything, Bhavna let out a weak laugh.
They moved.
"Path splits ahead," Kiran reported, peering into the darkness. "Left slopes downward. Right rises slightly."
Avdhoot closed his eyes briefly, feeling the faint pull of mana in the stone—like a current underground.
"Left," he said. "That way leads outward."
They moved.
Carefully. Quietly.
The tunnel twisted and narrowed, then widened again. Water dripped from above. Roots pierced through cracked stone. The air grew cooler, fresher.
Then—
Light.
A faint glow ahead.
They emerged from the tunnel into a shallow ravine far from the original clearing, hidden beneath dense rock overhangs and twisted trees. Evening light filtered through the canopy, painting everything in gold and shadow.
No Sky Reaper.
No roars.
Just wind.
They collapsed—some sitting, some lying flat on the ground, utterly spent.
Veer laughed weakly. "I officially hate campaigns."
Priya exhaled slowly, shaking hands clenched tight. "That… was beyond Tier Two."
Tara nodded grimly. "That thing wasn't supposed to be here."
Avdhoot stared back toward the mountains, jaw set.
"It wasn't hunting randomly," he said. "It reacted to mana. To pressure."
"To you," Veer said quietly.
Avdhoot didn't deny it.
They moved carefully back toward their camp under the cover of dusk, avoiding open ground, rotating watches even while walking. Every snapped twig made nerves spike—but nothing followed.
When their camp finally came into view, intact and quiet, relief nearly knocked them over.
They made it.
Barely.
Akshay was placed gently into a tent. Meira collapsed beside him, drained but determined. Bhavna sat outside, staring at the fire without speaking.
The group gathered in silence.
The campaign had changed.
This wasn't an herb collection anymore.
This was survival against forces the Academy hadn't warned them about.
Avdhoot sat alone near the fire, fractured mana still burning painfully beneath his skin. He stared into the flames, remembering the Sky Reaper's eyes.
It hadn't fled.
It had watched.
And somewhere above the Northern Highlands—
It was still waiting.
[End of Chapter 13]