They ran for what felt like hours, through corridors of screaming faces, past chambers filled with floating lights that might have been souls, across bridges made of solidified nightmare. The thing behind them Lee never got a good look at it, just a sense of size and hunger and wrongness kept pace easily, never gaining, never falling back, always there at the edge of perception.
Finally, they emerged into a vast chamber.
It was the heart of the Sunken City. Lee knew it immediately. The chamber was circular, maybe a mile in diameter, its walls covered in writing symbols that glowed with their own light, shifting and changing as Lee watched. At the center of the chamber, suspended in midair, was a sphere of pure darkness.
The Sleeper.
"The seal," the Pilgrim said, falling to his knees. "We're too late. It's already breaking."
Lee looked at the sphere. Cracks ran across its surface thin at first, then wider, then gaping. Through the cracks, he could see something moving inside. Something vast and ancient and terrible.
"What do we do?" Kira asked.
The Pilgrim shook his head. "There's nothing we can do. The seal was meant to last a thousand years. But someone's been feeding it. Someone's been making it stronger. The Sleeper is waking up faster than anyone predicted."
"Who's been feeding it?" Ren asked. His voice was calm, but his eyes were sharp.
The Pilgrim opened his mouth to answer.
"I have."
Inyocha stepped out of the shadows. He looked different now older, somehow. Taller. The shadows around his hands had grown, coiling up his arms like living tattoos.
"You," Lee said.
"Me," Inyocha agreed. "I've been feeding the Sleeper for years. Every demon I killed. Every shadow I bound. Every soul I consumed." He shrugged. "It all goes to the same place. The Sleeper is hungry. I gave it food. In return, it gave me power."
"Why?" Kira demanded. "Why would you do something so stupid?"
Inyocha's eyes flashed. "Because I wanted to be strong enough to survive. Because I wanted to be strong enough to matter. Because I wanted to be strong enough that no one could ever throw me away again."
"Strength isn't " Lee started.
"Don't." Inyocha's voice was ice. "Don't you dare lecture me about strength. You don't know what it's like. You've never been alone. You've always had friends. Always had people who cared. I had nothing. Nothing but the shadows and the hunger and the screaming of the walls."
"I had nothing too," Lee said quietly. "Until I found them."
He gestured to his friends. To Kira, who was glaring at Inyocha like she wanted to set him on fire. To Taro, who was hiding behind Ren but watching with wide, scared eyes. To Ren, who was calm as always, but whose hand rested on the knife at his belt.
"The Rust Sea orphanage wasn't exactly a vacation," Lee continued. "I fought for every meal. I bled for every scrap of safety. I almost died more times than I can count. But I found people who cared about me. Not because I was strong. Because I was there. Because I showed up. Because I refused to give up on them."
"Sentimental nonsense," Inyocha spat.
"Maybe." Lee shrugged. "But it's kept me alive. It's kept them alive. And it's going to keep you alive too, whether you like it or not."
Inyocha stared at him. The shadows around his hands writhed and twisted.
"You're insane," he said finally.
"Probably," Lee agreed. "But I'm also right. You know I am. That's why you're still here. That's why you didn't kill us when you had the chance."
For a long moment, Inyocha didn't move. The shadows around his hands slowly stopped writhing. The fire in his eyes dimmed.
Then he laughed.
It wasn't a nice laugh. It was bitter and broken and full of pain. But it was real.
"Fine," Inyocha said. "Fine. You want to save me? You want to be my friend? You want to prove that bonds matter more than power?" He pointed at the sphere of darkness. "Then save that. Save the Sleeper. Save the million souls trapped in the walls. Save everyone, like you keep saying you want to do."
"I will," Lee said.
"Then prove it." Inyocha stepped back, into the shadows. "I'll be watching, brother. I'll be waiting. And when you fail when you finally understand that some things can't be saved I'll be there to pick up the pieces."
He vanished.
The chamber was silent.
Then the sphere of darkness cracked wider, and the Sleeper began to wake in earnest.