"It's waking up."
Jude's blood ran cold. "What is?"
The man's gaze met his.
And for the first time since arriving here ,
Jude felt fear.
"Something that should never wake at all."
The silence was thick, pressing against Jude's ears as if the very air had weight. He didn't move. Didn't breathe. He simply listened. The vibration in the ground was slight, but it was there, a pulse deep beneath the stone, like a distant heartbeat growing stronger. The man standing before him remained still, his storm-gray eyes locked on something beyond the shadows. The weight of his presence had already unsettled Jude, but this ,this was something else. It wasn't just the words he had spoken. It was the certainty in his tone, the way he didn't flinch, didn't waver, as if he had seen the impossible unfold before and knew exactly how this would end.
Jude clenched his jaw. "What's waking up?"
