The air inside Thorne Hollow clung to Kael's skin like damp ash.
No torches burned. No magical light floated ahead. Only the faint green glow from the etched runes on Elira's gauntlet lit their path. It pulsed in rhythm with her heartbeat shallow and quick.
They moved in silence through the first corridor, boots sinking into dust that hadn't been disturbed in centuries. Crumbled statues lined the sides faceless, arms broken, mouths wide open in mid-scream.
Kael tried not to look at them.
The scythe pulsed faintly again.
Hungry. Not yours. Never was. Still waiting.
They reached a wide chamber, its ceiling partially collapsed. Old banners hung in tatters, marked with a sigil Kael couldn't recognize an open eye with something curling out of it like smoke.
"Formation," Tessan muttered.
The group fanned out automatically: Ryall and Tessan forward, Kael middle-rear, Elira and Drev covering the sides.
The floor shifted.
Then it opened.
A low-tier horror erupted from below long and bone-thin, its body covered in mottled, grey skin that flaked like ash. Its jaw split wide and crooked, filled with serrated teeth that chattered before it screamed.
Ryall didn't hesitate. His blade flashed, coated in amber aura, and slashed across its chest. The monster shrieked but didn't fall.
Another one crawled from the wall, impossibly thin, moving like it forgot what limbs were for. Then another. Then another.
Kael's grip tightened around the scythe's haft. The blade sang low, like the growl of something ancient.
Tessan charged forward, smashing one creature's legs with a brutal arc of his cleaver, cracking bone like dry wood. "They're slow. Weak bones."
Elira shouted a word that wasn't a word. A bolt of force dense, humming, and sharp blasted into one of the horrors, folding it in half against the far wall.
Drev vanished.
Reappeared behind two of the things.
Their necks snapped before they knew he was there.
Kael took a breath. He moved.
The scythe unraveled as he swung its black flame licking outward. The first strike wasn't clean. It carved shallowly through the nearest creature's shoulder, but didn't drop it.
He stepped again, twisting like he'd seen Ryall do in training. His second slash came faster, and this time the shadows followed.
The scythe screamed.
So did the horror.
Black fire caught along its limbs, not burning but unmaking. The creature collapsed, twitching, as parts of it disappeared into formless smoke.
Kael's eyes widened.
His heart raced.
It wasn't just shadow or destruction it was concept, barely formed. Like the weapon was trying to erase something the world still recognized.
Then one of the creatures tackled him from the side.
Kael crashed to the ground, the air ripped from his lungs. It snapped at his throat—but Elira was there, palm crackling. She sent it flying with a single blast.
"You alright?" she shouted.
Kael nodded, dragging himself upright. "I can fight."
"Good," Ryall growled, cutting another monster down with a roar. "Because there's more!"
The walls shivered as a larger one dropped from the ceiling. This one wasn't frail. Its body was armored, plates jagged and bone-white, and it moved like it remembered war.
It roared.
Tessan met it head-on, cleaver rising. The impact shook the floor.
Kael turned toward a smaller horror that had gotten too close to Elira. His swing came faster now more confident. The scythe howled. Shadows coiled around his arm, pulsing with black and purple flame.
The horror never touched the ground.
By the time the echoes faded, silence returned like a tide.
Bodies twitched and steamed.
The larger horror lay still, half its head crushed by Tessan's weapon.
Elira steadied herself against the wall, breathing hard. Drev flickered into view beside her. Ryall wiped his blade and nodded.
Kael looked down at the scythe. The flames had dulled. For now.
Elira limped to his side. "You're adapting fast."
Kael didn't answer. He couldn't.
The scythe wasn't warm. It wasn't proud. It wasn't his.
But it had responded.
And somewhere, deep in Thorne Hollow, it felt like something was watching.
Smiling.
Waiting.