The Crypts of Gharazuun – Below the Palace Ruins
The narrow passage leading from the Hall of Deep Memory gave way to a yawning chasm—a vertical shaft carved not by mortal hands, but gouged by some impossibly large force in the planet's youth. A spiral of bone steps, half-melded into the walls, wound downward through utter darkness.
Esharok stood at its edge, the crimson flicker of ancient glyphs reflecting in his luminous eyes.
"This is the Maw's Throat," he said quietly.
"Few who descend return whole. It hungers not just for life… but for identity."
Queen Saumu gave the nod.
"Light the torches. Shailia, scan for psionic interference. Sefu, rear watch. Kizito—flank with me."
The team began the descent. The air grew dense, not with dust, but with memory—clinging to their skin like webs. Their helmets filled with static. Shailia twitched as psionic interference scraped her mind, whispering forgotten names.
Descent into Madness
As they spiraled downward, they passed shattered murals depicting the rise and fall of Kazi priest-kings. At certain landings, broken sarcophagi exhaled pale, phosphorescent vapor. Ancient guardian statues, now eroded and fused with flesh-like growths, lined their path like mournful sentinels.
Kizito's voice cut through the radio static.
"We're not alone. Something's echoing us. I hear footsteps that aren't ours."
Shailia's fingers brushed a glyph—it flickered, then pulsed. Her mind flooded with a vision:
A priest-king, gnawed from within, screaming as a shadowworm bursts through his spine—its teeth singing in unknown frequencies.
She staggered.
"It's… bleeding through. Not just psionically. The thing below us—it infects space and memory."
Esharok didn't turn.
"It does more than devour. It rewrites. To encounter the Krymaloth is to be forgotten by history."
Sudden Tremor – The Awakening Begins
Without warning, the crypt shook violently. Ancient stone groaned, dust cascading from the ceiling.
THRMMM.
THRMMM.
A low, rhythmic pulse echoed from beneath them—vibrating not just in their ears, but in their bones.
Glyphs flared to life all around them, burning red with ancestral warnings. The sound intensified—like the breathing of a buried colossus.
Esharok fell to his knees, eyes wide with terror.
"It's begun," he rasped.
"The creature… it is waking."
The Krymaloth Rises
From the abyssal shaft below, a noise unlike anything natural emerged—a low groan, as if a planet were exhaling its last breath.
Then the first jagged tooth breached the dark—twenty meters of obsidian enamel, serrated like a monolith of shattered glass.
A colossal mass surged upward, sheathed in overlapping plates of bio-metal and calloused flesh. Its segmented body coiled and expanded, filling the tunnel with the stench of dying worlds.
A scream, alien and deafening, shook the chamber.
It was the Krymaloth—The Silent Behemoth.
A Forgotten Weapon
Its body unfurled like the skeletal coils of a dead god resurrected. Each segment bristled with rotating teeth and vibrating sensory feelers, tasting the air with violent memory. As its head emerged, its maw split into concentric jaws—each lined with spiraling blades that shimmered with dark energy.
This was no simple beast.
This was a biological failsafe, left behind by the Silent Ones—a race extinct by their own apocalyptic designs. The Krymaloth was a planetary eraser, a final judgment upon any world the Silent Ones deemed irredeemable.
"Move!" Saumu shouted. "Back to the surface! Relay to the Giza Mtuji: weapons free!"
Aboard the Giza Mtuji – High Orbit
From orbit, Queen Saumu watched through the reinforced command viewport as the planet buckled.
The ground ruptured. Obsidian teeth rose like mountains. A geyser of debris and bloodshot mist erupted into the atmosphere.
"Engage fighters and bombers!" she snapped. "Target that creature immediately!"
A swarm of fighter wings launched—swooping down with blistering speed, unleashing plasma lances, disintegration rounds, and shadow missiles.
"Orbital bombardments authorized. Target the emergence zone. Do not let it breach the upper crust."
Explosions peppered the creature's surface—but its armor cracked only slightly before regenerating.
Discovery – The Nature of the Krymaloth
In the science bay, Dr. Malika leaned over the glowing datastream, decoding at frantic speed.
"It's a Krymaloth," she said, voice breathless. "Seeded by the Silent Ones. Their final weapons."
"Designed to annihilate ecosystems, devour minds, and infect even psionic fields. It consumes culture, history—potential. It is why the Kazi fell silent. It was planted here as a firewall. A universal reaper."
She paused, eyes widening as she read deeper.
"This one was dormant until our scans triggered a psionic disturbance in the crypt. We may have… awakened it."
The Battle Begins
Fighters strafed the beast's surface, launching payloads that tore flesh and exposed writhing muscle beneath. Nanobot swarms clustered along its flanks, chewing through armor with limited success before being expelled in chemical bursts.
But the Krymaloth was learning. Its segments began refracting energy. Shockwaves rippled outward, smashing incoming craft mid-flight. Its scream now caused psionic feedback—ripping memories from the weak-minded.
On the bridge, Saumu gritted her teeth.
"Maintain pressure! Feed all combat data to Dr. Malika. We need to find a weakness. We cannot allow this to reach the surface in full!"
Final Image – The War Begins
As the first wave of orbital bombardment struck, the creature reared back—roaring in voiceless rage. Beneath it, the ground bled. Above it, the stars trembled.
The Krymaloth—a relic of ancient terror—had risen.
And the fate of the Mahasimu, the Kazi, and the galaxy beyond… now balanced on the edge of a tooth.