The sound echoed through the fortress once more.
A long metallic scraping that seemed to travel through the empty corridors of Frostwatch before gradually fading into silence.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The command center had become perfectly still.
Even Aren wasn't saying anything.
That alone was concerning.
Kael lowered the journal slowly while his gaze shifted toward the doorway. The noise had come from somewhere deeper within the fortress. It hadn't sounded natural. It hadn't sounded like the wind.
It had sounded deliberate.
Like something moving.
Or someone.
Aren swallowed.
"Please tell me someone else heard that."
Selene looked at him.
"We all heard it."
"Good."
The boy paused.
"Actually, no. That's worse."
Nobody disagreed.
Draven stepped toward the doorway and rested one hand on the hilt of his weapon.
The usually calm student looked completely focused now.
"We should report this."
Serena nodded immediately.
"Agreed."
Before anyone could continue, a communication crystal attached to her belt suddenly lit up.
The glow immediately drew everyone's attention.
Serena activated it.
Static filled the room.
Then a voice emerged.
"...Team Three reporting..."
The signal crackled.
"...residential district clear..."
More static followed.
"...no survivors..."
The crystal went silent again.
The report wasn't surprising.
Yet hearing it somehow made the situation worse.
Frostwatch was enormous.
The longer the search continued, the harder it became to believe anyone was still alive.
Aren rubbed the back of his neck.
"Four hundred people."
Nobody needed him to continue.
The number lingered heavily in the room.
Four hundred soldiers.
Researchers.
Workers.
Support staff.
Gone.
Without a trace.
The idea felt impossible.
And yet they were standing in the middle of the evidence.
General Caelan's voice suddenly emerged from the communication crystal.
"All teams continue investigations. Report any abnormalities immediately."
The military commander paused briefly.
Then added:
"Especially sounds."
The crystal dimmed.
Apparently they weren't the only ones who had heard something.
That wasn't reassuring.
Not even slightly.
Draven looked toward the group.
"We keep moving."
Nobody argued.
The command center had already yielded one clue.
If they wanted answers, they needed to continue searching.
The group eventually left the room and entered another corridor.
The silence returned almost immediately.
The fortress seemed determined to swallow every sound.
Their footsteps echoed softly against stone.
The cold felt stronger inside the building.
Strangely stronger.
Kael noticed it first.
The temperature wasn't simply low.
It was getting lower.
Gradually.
Steadily.
The farther they walked, the colder the air became.
Lyra frowned.
"Do you feel that?"
Everyone nodded.
Aren immediately wrapped his coat tighter around himself.
"This place is haunted."
"It's not haunted."
"It's definitely haunted."
Serena glanced around.
"Ghosts aren't real."
The boy pointed dramatically.
"That's exactly what people say before meeting ghosts."
Selene looked disappointed.
"I was hoping he'd stop talking."
Aren looked wounded.
The argument might have continued if another sound hadn't echoed through the corridor.
Everyone froze.
This time it was different.
Much softer.
Almost impossible to hear.
A distant footstep.
The sound came from somewhere ahead.
Then another.
Then silence.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Weapons appeared.
Mana stirred.
Nobody was joking anymore.
Draven's voice became quiet.
"You heard that."
Not a question.
Kael nodded.
So did everyone else.
Aren looked significantly less interested in exploring.
The group advanced carefully.
Every corridor seemed identical.
Stone walls.
Frozen windows.
Abandoned rooms.
Empty hallways.
The deeper they traveled into Frostwatch, the stranger the fortress became.
Not because of what they found.
Because of what they didn't.
No bodies.
No signs of struggle.
No evidence.
Nothing.
The absence itself had become unsettling.
Eventually the corridor opened into a large chamber.
The room resembled some sort of operations center.
Maps covered the walls.
Large tables occupied the center.
Several magical devices remained active despite the fortress being abandoned.
For the first time since arriving, they had found something unusual.
Power.
The room still had power.
Blue light pulsed from crystal arrays embedded within the walls.
Ancient runes glowed beneath layers of frost.
Aren blinked.
"Shouldn't those be off?"
Serena approached one of the arrays.
Her expression darkened.
"They should."
The military student ran her fingers across the frozen surface.
Then stepped back.
"These were activated recently."
The room became silent.
Recently.
Not years ago.
Not months ago.
Recently.
Someone had used them.
The realization settled over the group.
Kael moved toward one of the larger tables occupying the center of the chamber.
A map rested upon its surface.
Most of the frontier had been marked with military routes and supply lines.
One section immediately caught his attention.
A circle.
Drawn in black ink.
The mark surrounded a location far north of Frostwatch.
Aren noticed it too.
"That's not suspicious at all."
Lyra stepped closer.
The circle surrounded a mountain range.
Nothing more.
No explanation.
No notes.
No labels.
Just a single black circle.
Draven frowned.
"Someone wanted attention drawn there."
Before anyone could speculate further, the communication crystal suddenly activated again.
This time, the voice wasn't General Caelan's.
It sounded panicked.
"Contact!"
The word exploded through the room.
Static followed.
Then shouting.
"Movement inside the western district!"
Another burst of interference.
"We have visual—"
The transmission cut off.
Everyone stared at the crystal.
Silence followed.
Aren slowly turned toward the others.
"Please tell me that's a misunderstanding."
Nobody answered.
Because nobody believed it was.
The crystal activated again.
General Caelan's voice emerged immediately.
Calm.
Controlled.
Dangerous.
"All teams converge on the western district immediately."
The military commander paused.
Then added:
"This is not a drill."
The room erupted into motion.
Everyone moved at once.
Weapons were drawn.
Mana surged.
The investigation was over.
Something had finally happened.
The group rushed back into the corridor.
The fortress no longer felt empty.
The silence no longer felt harmless.
Every shadow suddenly appeared deeper.
Every hallway appeared longer.
The feeling of being watched returned.
Stronger than before.
As they ran through the abandoned corridors, Kael couldn't shake a growing certainty.
Whatever had happened to Frostwatch.
Whatever had taken four hundred people.
Whatever had caused entire patrols to vanish.
They were about to see it for themselves.
And judging by the tension visible on every face around him—
Nobody was ready for what waited in the western district.