The floor trembled again.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Stone scraped against stone somewhere deeper in the ruin.
Kael twisted slightly, trying to see further down the corridor.
The Echo had changed.
Before, the ruin felt quiet.
Now it sounded like a distant drumbeat.
Something ancient was waking.
Lyra noticed it too.
"…That sound," she murmured.
The crossbow lowered as she stared into the darkness.
Stone shifted.
Then something massive stepped into the lantern light.
A guardian.
The construct stood twice the height of a man.
Its body was formed from cracked stone plates and ancient metal fragments.
Echo sigils flickered across its surface.
Its eyes burned with cold blue light.
Lyra swore quietly.
"…Of course there's a guardian."
Her knife flashed.
The rope holding Kael snapped.
He dropped to the floor.
The moment his boots touched the stone—
The guardian moved.
A massive fist smashed into the ground where he had been standing.
Stone exploded outward.
Kael rolled away.
Lyra fired her crossbow.
The bolt struck the guardian's shoulder.
The Echo sigils flared.
The bolt snapped harmlessly.
"Great," she muttered.
"Completely useless."
Kael watched the construct carefully.
Listening.
The Echo around the guardian screamed with ancient memory.
This thing wasn't just stone.
It was a memory of a soldier.
Bound to defend the ruin.
"Move left," Kael said suddenly.
Lyra didn't question it.
She jumped aside.
The guardian's fist slammed down exactly where she had stood.
Lyra blinked.
"…How did you know that?"
"Tiles remember pressure."
The guardian turned again.
Kael pointed.
"There."
At the center of the construct's chest was a cracked metal plate.
The Echo around it pulsed unevenly.
"The memory anchor," Kael said.
Lyra fired.
The bolt struck the plate.
The guardian staggered.
Kael shoved a broken stone slab forward.
The unstable floor collapsed beneath the construct.
The guardian fell into the pit below.
Stone shattered.
Silence returned.
Lyra lowered her weapon slowly.
"…You're not a normal scavenger."
Kael brushed dust from his coat.
"I've been told that before."
The compass vibrated again.
The needle spun.
Then locked into place.
Pointing deeper into the ruin.
Lyra stared at it.
"…What exactly did you bring into this place?"
Kael looked into the darkness ahead.
"I think," he said quietly,
"we just woke something much bigger."