Kael and Lyra stood at the threshold of the open doorway, the darkness beyond it stretching deep beneath the ruins. A tomb. A vault. A prison. Whatever it had once been, it was no longer sealed.
Cold air slithered from the opening, thick with the scent of damp stone and something more power. Ancient and restless.
Kael ran his fingers over the strange carvings on the doorway. He had seen them before, back when he was still bound to the Well of Eternity. They were marks of the old gods, warnings against trespassing into their sacred places.
And yet, Sylas had ignored them.
Lyra gritted her teeth. "This shouldn't exist. This world was supposed to be new. Clean. There were no gods, no remnants of the old ways."
Kael exhaled. "We assumed that. But maybe… not everything was erased."
A shiver ran down his spine. If Sylas had come here looking for power, and if he had found something, then whatever lay beyond this doorway could be worse than anything they had faced before.
He stepped forward.
Lyra caught his wrist. "Kael—"
He met her gaze. "If Sylas is down there, we don't have a choice."
Her grip tightened for a moment, then she nodded. "Then let's finish this."
Together, they descended.
The air grew colder as they moved deeper into the underground passage, their torches casting flickering shadows against the stone walls. The silence was heavy, pressing against them with an unnatural weight.
Then they saw it.
A chamber, vast and circular, its walls etched with the same forbidden symbols as the entrance. At its center stood a raised platform, and atop it—
A throne.
Not just any throne. It was carved from obsidian, pulsing with faint embers of golden energy. The same energy that once flowed from the Well of Eternity.
Kael's breath caught.
And sitting upon it—
Sylas Kaine.
He was changed. His once-proud armor was cracked, his cloak tattered, but his eyes burned with power. Power that should have been erased.
"You're too late," Sylas said, his voice calm, almost amused. "The gods may be dead, but their secrets remain."
Kael's stomach twisted. The energy in the chamber wasn't just power. It was something older, something alive.
Sylas stood slowly, his fingers trailing over the arm of the throne. "This world may be new… but it still has a past. And I am going to reclaim it."
The chamber trembled. The carvings on the walls lit up, glowing like firebrands. The power wasn't just awake.
It was waiting for him.
Kael drew his sword. "Then we stop you. Here and now."
Sylas smiled.
"Try."
The ruins roared to life, and the battle began.