The tremor was subtle at first, a faint vibration beneath his boots, barely distinguishable from the quiet hum of the cavern. But then, it grew.
A low, groaning sound rumbled through the stone, deep and vast, like something shifting far beneath the earth. Dust trickled from the ceiling. The crystals embedded in the walls flickered, their glow pulsing erratically, casting shifting shadows across the chamber.
He took another step forward. The altar was close now, its surface smooth and polished, unnaturally pristine against the rough, ancient stone surrounding it. And in its center—
A glimmer.
Something small, something reflecting the pale crystal light.
Then the ground lurched.
Not just a tremor, but a deep, rolling shift, as if the entire valley was stirring. The mist outside thickened, curling inward, slipping into the chamber like grasping fingers.
Then he heard it.
Not the shifting of stone. Not the distant collapse of ruins.
A sound deeper, wetter.
A gurgling, earth-rending noise, like flesh dragging through tunnels too tight to hold it.
A vibration rolled through the cavern floor, not the delicate shudder of an earthquake, but the rhythmic undulation of something massive moving beneath.
His breath caught.
Then, the stone behind the altar exploded.
Dust and shards of rock blasted outward as something erupted from the ground—a vast, writhing shape, its surface slick with cavern moisture, lined with chitinous ridges that scraped against the stone.
A worm.
Not just a worm. A thing of impossible size, its segmented body stretching far beyond what his eyes could follow, vanishing into the mist. The force of its emergence sent cracks splintering through the chamber, its movements slow but unstoppable, a beast that had long since carved its domain through the depths of the world.
Its head—if it could be called that—was featureless, save for a gaping maw lined with concentric rings of jagged, grinding plates, clenching and unclenching as if tasting the air.
The dagger pulsed in his grip.
The worm shuddered, twisting, its bulk shifting through the ruins beyond, its very presence an earthquake given form.
Then, it turned toward him.