continued to suffocate the ancient temple ruins above, but far beneath the stone foundations, darkness ruled with a far heavier weight.
The pit where Ravi Mohan had fallen seemed endless at first, swallowing both light and sound as if the earth itself had opened its mouth.
And somewhere in that abyss, a man struggled to breathe.
Ravi Mohan groaned softly.
Pain pulsed through every bone in his body, spreading from his wounded shoulder down to his spine like fire crawling under his skin.
For several seconds he couldn't even open his eyes.
The air smelled strange.
Old.
Rotten.
Like something that had been sealed away for centuries.
His fingers twitched weakly against the cold stone floor.
Dust clung to his palms, mixing with the blood that had been dripping from his shoulder since the gunshot above.
He forced himself to inhale deeply.
"Where… am I…?"
His voice echoed softly.
The sound bounced around the cavern walls before dying into silence.
Ravi slowly opened his eyes.
Darkness greeted him.
At first he thought he had gone blind.
But then, far across the cavern, faint red light rounded with star shaped demonic pulsed weakly from something carved into the giant door.
It wasn't bright.
Just enough to reveal shapes.
Ravi pushed himself up painfully.
His injured shoulder screamed in protest, forcing him to grit his teeth.
"Damn… that cop…"
He staggered to his feet.
The ground beneath him felt strangely smooth — too smooth for natural stone.
Almost like a floor that had been deliberately carved.
As his eyes adjusted to the dim crimson glow, the full chamber slowly revealed itself.
And Ravi Mohan felt something unfamiliar crawl into his chest.
Fear.
The underground hall was enormous.
Stone pillars stretched upward into darkness, supporting a ceiling so high it vanished into shadow.
Ancient carvings covered every surface.
But these were not ordinary carvings.
They were symbols.
Unknown.
Disturbing.
Shapes of twisted figures.
Creatures with horns.
Warriors kneeling before something massive.
Ravi frowned.
"Some kind of old temple…"
He wiped blood from his mouth.
"But this place wasn't on the surface."
Then he noticed something else.
Directly in the center of the chamber floor.
A massive symbol carved into the stone.
Ravi stepped closer carefully.
His boots scraped against dust that looked undisturbed for ages.
Each step echoed louder than the last.
The symbol looked like a giant star.
Not a simple one.
Five jagged arms stretched outward in perfect symmetry, forming a pattern that looked eerily ritualistic.
Lines connected the star's points, forming circles and triangles inside it.
The carving was deep.
Deliberate.
Old.
Ravi crouched slowly.
His fingers brushed against the stone.
It was cold.
But not dead.
A strange pulse vibrated faintly beneath the floor.
Almost like a heartbeat.
"What the hell is this place…?"
His voice sounded smaller now.
Less confident.
Something inside him stirred suddenly.
A memory.
A dream.
The same dream that had haunted him for weeks.
The broken seal.
The screaming gate.
The endless darkness.
Images flashed violently in his mind.
Fire.
Shadows crawling across the earth.
Creatures rising from beneath the world.
Ravi clutched his head.
"No… not again…"
His breathing became uneven.
The dream returned stronger this time.
He could see the gate.
Massive.
Ancient.
Covered with chains made of light.
Something was trying to open it.
From the inside.
Ravi stumbled backward, nearly falling.
The visions faded suddenly.
Leaving only silence behind.
He stood there shaking slightly.
"What is happening to me…?"
His voice cracked.
That was when he noticed something lying near the edge of the star symbol.
A small white object.
Half buried in dust.
Ravi walked toward it cautiously.
When he kicked the dust aside, his stomach tightened instantly.
then he sees around,
there was an human
Ravi crouched slowly.
"Someone died here…"skull and bones are lying in here
He looked around nervously.
"More than one maybe."
And then he saw it.
Another skull and human bones.
Then another.
tons of bones is here
Scattered around the chamber floor were fragments of bones.
Human bones.
Some half-buried.
Some broken.
Ravi swallowed hard.
"This… was a ritual site."
His voice dropped into a whisper.
"Someone performed something here…?"
The star symbol.
The bones.
The carvings.
Everything pointed to the same terrifying conclusion.
This place had been used for sacrifices.
A faint wind moved through the cavern suddenly.
But there were no openings.
No visible tunnels.
Ravi froze.
The wind carried a sound.
Very faint.
Very distant.
A deep rumbling breath.
Ravi turned slowly toward the darkness behind him.
"Who's there?"
His voice echoed weakly.
No answer came.
Silence returned.
Heavy.
Oppressive.
He tried to calm himself.
"It's just the wind…"
He forced a laugh.
"Underground caves make weird sounds."
But deep inside his chest, instinct screamed something else.
Run.
Ravi grabbed his wounded shoulder and began searching for a way out.
The cavern walls stretched endlessly in every direction.
But only one path looked like a passage.
At the far end of the chamber stood a massive stone doorway.
Not broken.
Not ruined.
Sealed.
Chains carved directly into the stone crossed the doorway like bindings.
Symbols glowed faintly along them.
Old.
Powerful.
Ravi approached slowly.
Each step felt heavier.
As if the ground itself didn't want him near that door.
The closer he got, the stronger the vibration became.
The same pulse he had felt in the floor earlier.
Now it was unmistakable.
Something was behind that door.
Alive.
Ravi stopped several feet away.
"Just a sealed chamber…"
He whispered nervously.
"Nothing else."
But the dream returned again.
This time stronger.
The gate.
The chains.
The same symbol.
And a voice.
Deep.
Ancient.
Whispering from beyond the seal.
Ravi's eyes widened.
"No…"
He stepped back suddenly.
The ground trembled faintly.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The glowing carvings along the walls flickered slightly.
Then—
A sound.
A heavy metallic scrape echoed from the sealed doorway.
Like something shifting behind it.
Ravi froze.
His breathing stopped.
Another sound followed.
Slower this time.
A deep exhale.
Not human.
Ravi whispered weakly.
"…hello?"
The answer came as a low rumble.
Something massive moved behind the stone door.
The chains carved into the surface began vibrating softly.
Ancient symbols flickered brighter.
Ravi staggered backward in pure fear.
"What… what is that…?"
Then came the sound again.
Closer now.
Heavier.
A hoof struck stone.
Once.
Then again.
Ravi's blood ran cold.
Whatever was behind that door…
Was awake.
And it knew he was there.
The chains rattled slightly.
The seal trembled.
From the darkness beyond the doorway, two faint glowing shapes slowly appeared.
Watching.
Waiting.
Ravi Mohan took another step backward.
His voice barely escaped his throat.
"…what the hell did I fall into…?"
The underground chamber fell silent again.
But the presence behind the door remained.
Breathing.
Patient.
Ancient.
And somewhere far above…
Under the darkening sky of the festival grounds…