The air inside the caves was heavy—thick with moisture, shadows, and something far older than either of them had ever faced. The walls pulsed faintly with crimson veins of energy, like the Core's heartbeat echoed even here. A whisper, neither wind nor voice, beckoned them forward.
Selena's grip tightened around Dante's hand.
"Do you feel that?" she whispered.
Dante nodded, jaw set. "It's starting."
They descended deeper into the belly of the earth, their torchlight flickering against rough-hewn stone. At the base of a spiraling staircase carved into obsidian, a door awaited. Not wood. Not metal. Bone.
Carved with ancient symbols. Locked not by keys—but by will.
Selena stepped forward. The glyphs on her arms pulsed in response. The door groaned, opened inward, revealing a chamber bathed in blood-red light. At the center stood a stone altar. Around it, six thrones made of blackened bones—and seated upon them, silent figures in robes of ash and smoke.
