Their footsteps pounded against the stone, echoing through the twisting tunnels as they ran for their lives.
Xin's breath came in short, panicked gasps. His vision still swam, the world tilting unnaturally as the effects of the creature's gaze clung to his mind like invisible chains. His muscles burned, but he forced himself forward.
Behind them, the Misfit followed.
It did not run.
It did not hurry.
And yet, with every step they took, it was somehow closer.
Belial knew they had seconds, maybe less, before it caught them. This thing didn't belong to the usual monstrosities of this cursed land. It was something worse—something old.
Something far more intelligent..
"Left!" Belial barked, barely dodging a low-hanging jagged crystal as they took a sharp turn.
The tunnel narrowed, forcing them into a single-file sprint. The ground beneath their boots was uneven, making every step a potential death sentence if they lost balance.
Raven yelled behind him. "Where are we going?"
"Out!"
"Real helpful, Bel!"
Xin risked a glance back—and instantly regretted it.
The Misfitwas right behind them, its twisted form flickering in and out of existence like a dying flame. The shadows around it twisted, stretching unnaturally against the cavern walls.
Then it started to move.
Not by running.
Not by leaping.
It simply shifted, appearing ahead of them in the tunnel, its featureless abyss of a face somehow grinning.
Xin's stomach plummeted.
Impossible.
"DOWN!" Belial roared.
Raven tackled Xin, forcing him to the ground as the Misfit lashed out. The very air warped, rippling like disturbed water where they had just been standing.
Belial skidded to a stop, snatching up a handful of dust and ether-laced dirt from the ground. With a quick, desperate flick of his wrist, he scattered it into the air.
The moment the dust touched the Misfit's form, it hissed, its body twitching violently.
Xin's eyes widened. What?
It wasn't hurting the creature, but it was enough to disrupt it.
"Move! Now!"
They scrambled up and bolted again, their path twisting deeper into the labyrinth of tunnels.
The ground began to slope downward, the tunnels growing steeper and uneven. The only light came from the dimly pulsing ether veins running along the walls, casting eerie glows on the stone.
Belial's mind worked furiously. Think. Think. Think.
They were going deeper. That was bad.
They needed to find a way up—or at the very least, a way to lose it.
Xin staggered beside him, still recovering from the creature's influence, but keeping pace. "Belial—what is that thing?"
"I don't know." Lie. He knew enough. Just not enough to kill it.
Raven growled. "If we can't fight it, what the hell are we supposed to do?"
The answer came too soon.
Ahead of them, the tunnel split into three paths.
Belial barely hesitated. He pointed to the center tunnel. "That one!"
No one argued.
They plunged forward—just as a sickening screech rattled through the air.
The Misfit did not like that.
The air shimmered, the tunnel walls trembling as if reality itself was rejecting their presence.
And then—
The ground vanished.
For a moment, they were weightless, suspended in empty air.
Xin barely had time to register what happened before he was falling—
The world blurred, a mix of shadows, ether veins, and the distant glow of something unknown below them.
The wind rushed past his ears, the cavern's depth stretching into an endless abyss.
Belial twisted midair, trying to control his descent—but there was nothing to grab onto.
Raven let out a furious curse.
Xin barely managed to scream before—
Impact.
His body slammed into something solid, pain jolting through his limbs. The force of the landing knocked the air from his lungs, leaving him gasping.
A few feet away, he heard Belial groan, followed by Raven's familiar string of curses.
Xin coughed, trying to push himself up.
The ground beneath them was… oddly smooth.
He blinked, forcing his vision to focus.
And that's when he realized—
They weren't on stone.
They had landed on something ancient.
Something built.
Dim blue glyphs flickered to life beneath them, stretching out in strange, unreadable patterns. They pulsed faintly, responding to their presence.
Xin's stomach twisted.
"Belial…" he croaked.
Belial sat up, rubbing his head. His golden eyes scanned the area—and immediately darkened.
"Shit."
Raven grunted as he rolled onto his feet. "What now?"
Xin pointed toward the glowing glyphs, voice low.
"This place… isn't natural."
Belial's jaw tightened. He already knew that.
Because he had been here before.
And the last time, he had died horribly.
Above them, a distant whisper echoed through the darkness.
The Misfit… was still watching.
A heavy, oppressive stillness pressed down on them, disturbed only by the faint hum of the glowing glyphs beneath their feet.
Xin pressed a hand against his chest, trying to steady his breathing. The fall had rattled him, but the real problem was still above them. The Misfit was waiting. Watching.
Belial stood slowly, his golden eyes scanning the cavern, his fingers tightening around the hilt of his sword. He recognized this place. It was a fragment of the past—a ruin buried deep within the tunnels. A forgotten structure left behind by something far older than the horrors above.
Xin ran his fingers across the smooth surface beneath them. The glyphs weren't just decoration. They were etched into the floor, pulsing with some kind of etheric energy.
"Where… are we?" Xin finally broke the silence, his voice edged with tension. His glowing red visor reflected the eerie blue glow surrounding them.
Belial exhaled. "Somewhere we shouldn't be."
Xin frowned. "That's… really comforting, Belial."
"Yeah, well, would you rather be up there with that thing?"
Xin and Raven exchanged glances. No, definitely not.
But the uneasy feeling in Xin's gut wasn't going away.
This place was wrong.
It was different from the rest of the tunnels. The air here felt… thicker, charged with ancient ether. The walls were smooth and polished, unnatural in comparison to the rough, jagged rock they had been running through. And the glyphs—they weren't just glowing.
These walls were reacting.
As if something had been activated the moment they landed.
"Whatever this place is, we can't stay here long." Raven turned his head toward the tunnel above, where the Misfit had been. "I don't like the fact that it didn't chase us down here."
Belial nodded. "It means one of two things."
Xin swallowed. "Either it can't come down here…"
"…or it's waiting for something worse to deal with us," Belial finished grimly.
None of them liked that second possibility.
Xin stood, stretching out his arms, sending a pulse of ether through his body to shake off the lingering pain from the fall. "We should move. If there's a way out, we need to find it before—"
A low hum filled the chamber.
Xin froze.
Raven turned sharply, his armor clanking against the stone.
Belial cursed under his breath.
The glyphs beneath their feet flared brighter, illuminating the cavern with a cold, blue radiance. Symbols shifted, rearranging in a sequence none of them could understand.
Then, slowly…
The ground began to descend.
The entire platform they stood on was moving.
Xin's heart leapt into his throat. "It's a—"
"An elevator," Belial confirmed, already bracing himself. "A damn big one."
Raven growled, stepping closer to the center. "And where exactly is it taking us?"
Xin didn't answer. Because he didn't know.
And somehow, that was worse than the Misfit.
The platform moved smoothly, but the descent was slow— agonizingly slow.
Xin could feel it now.
The ether in this place was dense. It was old. Strong. It felt nothing like the raw ether that flowed through the world. This was crafted, as if it had been manipulated into existence by someone—or something—that understood it on a fundamental level.
That meant only one thing.
This place wasn't natural.
It was built.
And something had been left behind.
Belial let out a slow breath, staring down at his feet, at the moving glyphs. "This shouldn't be here," he murmured.
Xin glanced at him. "You recognize it?"
"…In a way."
Raven's head snapped toward him. "And you're just now mentioning that?"
Belial clenched his fists. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that we need to be ready to run."
"From what?" Xin asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted the answer.
Belial's golden eyes flickered with something unreadable.
"For whatever's waiting at the bottom."