The silence that followed the demon's disappearance was strange. Not peaceful and hollow. It was like the ruin itself had stopped breathing.
Nola stood still, katana lowered but not sheathed. Her eyes remained on the place where the creature had sunk through the stone, its grotesque form burned into her memory.
Saren lay still beside the spot, his body slumped, motionless. But none of them dared step closer. Whatever part of him had been human, was completely gone.
Vera was the first to move.
She turned, scanned the long corridor that stretched beyond the broken chamber. The ancient hallway that led deeper into the ruins. To the final room.
And the pressure coming from that direction… it wasn't just dark. It was massive. Like an ocean of darkness pressing behind a door.
Felix wiped blood from his brow and stepped up beside her. "Do you feel that?"
Everyone did.
The more closer they got to the entrance of the last chamber, the more eerie they felt.Their relics pulsed faintly, like they were reacting to something primal. Something dangerous.
Vera's hand curled tighter around her blades. She didn't blink. Didn't breathe for a moment.
"That's what Saren was guarding," she said, voice low.
"Guarding?" Tris asked, backing up a step. "He was terrified of that room. He didn't guard it. He kept it locked. Like a vault."
Felix looked back at the others, voice quiet.
"He wasn't the final threat. He was the first wall. And it's already cracking."
The sense of fear was getting worse. Cold dread clung to them like wet fabric.
Ari stirred where she lay. Nola rushed to her side as her friend groaned softly.
"I'm here," Nola said gently. "Easy. Don't move too fast."
Ari opened her eyes, squinting at the light, then looked at the others. Her voice came out dry. "What did I miss?"
"Something bad," Nola said. "And something worse is still waiting."
Vera turned sharply. "We're not going in there."
Everyone looked at her.
She wasn't uncertain.
She was firm.
"We're pulling back. Right now. We get to the transport, report what we've found, and let Command send someone else. Someone stronger. Whatever's behind that room, it's above us."
"But-" Felix started.
"No. You saw what that glyph did to Saren. You saw that thing feeding off him like a parasite. That was just a fragment of whatever's waiting deeper inside. We go in there now, it's suicide."
Tris swallowed. "Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'm good with not dying today."
"Fall back," Vera ordered. "Now."
They didn't argue.
They didn't want to.
Moving back through the ruin should've been a relief, but it wasn't. The sense of dread didn't fade. If anything, it followed them. The pressure in their heads didn't ease. The shadows clung tighter.
They reached the courtyard. The transport was parked just ahead, still intact, its surface lightly dusted with ash and ruin debris.
Nola helped Ari along, supporting her weight as they climbed the steps.
"Let's just get out," Tris said, already reaching for the door.
Vera was the last to step outside the ruin gates.
And that's when it happened.
The sky turned green.
No warning. No sound.
Just a pulse.
A ripple.
A shimmering dome of emerald light snapped into place around the ruins in an instant, flaring with a faint hum. It rose into the sky like a curtain being drawn down from the heavens.
The moment it solidified, the air changed.
Tris flinched and pressed his hand against the windshield. "What the hell is that?"
Felix's eyes widened in horror. "That's a containment ward. Massive. Someone, or something just sealed this entire ruin."
Vera was already sprinting to the edge of the courtyard. She pressed her hand against the green field. It was slimy and warm to touch but as impervious as diamonds.
"We are trapped," she said.
Felix joined her, scanning the ward with wide, frantic eyes. "Not a trap. A prison. The entire structure has been locked down. This wasn't meant to keep us out, it was meant to keep something in."
Nola's blood went cold. "And now we're inside with it."
The barrier pulsed again, rhythmically like a heartbeat.
From inside the transport, a low beeping sound began to rise.
Tris looked down at the dashboard. "Uh. Guys?"
Everyone turned.
Tris slowly backed out of the vehicle, holding up the small mission transponder. It blinked red.
"No signal," he said. "Not just jammed. It's like we're cut off from everything."
Ari leaned against the wall, face pale. "Command from Comet Legion can't see us. Can't track us."
"They won't know what happened," Felix whispered.
Vera stared at the pulsing wall.
"We're not getting out," She said solemnly.
Then Nola stepped forward. "We should regroup. We secure the upper floors, fortify the ruin, set up protections around Ari. Until we know more, we treat this like a siege."
"Against what?" Tris asked, his voice tight.
No one answered.
Because no one knew.
Only one thing was certain.
Whatever Saren feared… was awake now.
And they had just become its audience.
Or its next course.
Night fell fast.
Not the natural kind.
It was sudden, like a light being smothered.
The green barrier above the ruin darkened the sky, tinting everything a sickly emerald hue. Shadows grew longer, deeper. The torches and rune-lamps they lit flickered weakly, like they didn't want to stay alive.
The team had taken refuge in the upper halls of the ruin. Ari was resting in a corner, her breathing steadier now, though her body still refused to respond fully. Felix carved warding glyphs around their makeshift camp while Tris stood watch near a shattered window, bow ready.
Vera hadn't spoken much.
Neither had Nola.
They were listening.
And that's when it came.
Click.
Click click.
Nola froze mid-step. Her hand dropped to her katana. She turned her head slowly toward the hallway.
Click.
Clickclick.
This time… from the opposite side.
Felix looked up from his glyphs. "Did anyone else-"
Click-click.
"Yeah," Tris muttered, already drawing an arrow.
The clicks came again, closer now. And more of them.
Not just one creature.
Many.
Clickclick. Click. Click. Clickclickclick.
They echoed through the stone like knuckles tapping on hollow skulls. Rhythmic, hungry, eager.
Tris's grip tightened. "Tell me that's some creepy wildlife. Please."
"It's them," Nola said, voice low. "More of them. Like the one that fed on Saren."
Felix's face went pale. "They're inside the barrier. Probably always were."
"They waited," Vera murmured. She stood now, blades out, ready. "Now they're hunting."
Ari stirred in her sleep and muttered something they couldn't hear. Nola knelt beside her, gently checking her pulse.
Click.
Clickclickclick.
The sounds were multiplying. Crawling along the ceiling. Scratching behind the walls. Somewhere between insect and predator. Too fast. Too close.
Then silence.
Nothing but breath and blood and the faint crackle of their rune-light.
Vera didn't lower her weapons.
Nola didn't even blink
They knew what silence meant.
It meant the creatures were near.
Watching.
Choosing.
"Shift in pairs," Vera said softly. "No one alone. Rotate every hour."
Felix finished a final ward and backed up. "This won't hold them forever."
"It doesn't have to," Nola replied. "Just until morning."
Tris looked toward the dark stairwell beyond the camp, where the last sound had come from.
And then, almost too quiet to hear-
Click.
Click.
Click.
From above.
He raised his bow.
"Guys?"
They all looked up.
The ceiling was black now, shadow-drenched and alive with sound.
"Shit."