The next morning, the desert held an eerie calm. Shadows stretched long and thin across the landscape as if trying to escape the heat that had yet to arrive. Luca stood beside the dusty jeep, eyes scanning the red horizon. He hadn't slept. Not truly.
Adunni stirred inside the tent behind him. Her dreams had been restless—filled with fractured visions of her grandmother's voice, golden eyes, and gates made of bone. When she emerged, wrapped in a loose cream shirt and desert trousers, her gaze locked with Luca's.
"She came to me again," Adunni said, her voice still husky from sleep.
Luca moved toward her. "Your grandmother?"
She nodded, rubbing the back of her neck. "Only this time... she was standing beside a crumbled pillar, holding something—an orb made of obsidian and moonstone. She said, 'Not all pillars were made to hold up the sky. Some were made to bury gods.'"
Luca exhaled slowly. "That doesn't bode well."
Adunni cracked a tired smile. "Nothing ever does."
Before either could say more, a sharp chime came from the satellite phone. Luca reached for it. Camilla's ID blinked on screen, and this time the message was encrypted.
> TO: LUCA SUBJECT: URGENT—FOURTH OBELISK
I've triangulated the connection. The obelisk in New Mexico responds to the Rome site and the Arizona anomaly. But I've also detected an older, dormant site… deep in Ethiopia. We were wrong. There aren't four gates. There are five.
And the fifth is already cracked.
Luca swore under his breath. "Camilla thinks there's another. Ethiopia. And it's stirring."
Adunni's skin broke into goosebumps. "My grandmother always said, 'If the lion ever sleeps beneath the fifth moon, wake no one.'"
Their eyes met. For a moment, the weight of the prophecy pressed down on them both. But then, with a sharp cry, the wind shifted.
A howl. Not from a wolf.
From below the canyon ridge.
Both moved instantly, gear in hand, senses flaring.
POV: Selene — Hours Earlier
Selene's lungs burned as she sprinted across the shattered stone path. The fourth gate hadn't just opened—it had ripped the earth apart.
Matteo had pushed her out of the collapsing chamber seconds before the ceiling gave way.
Now, behind her, the sound of movement echoed in unnatural rhythms—bones grinding, stone scratching, claws clicking. Not wolves.
Something older.
She dove behind a ridge, pressing her hand against a deep gash on her shoulder. Blood pulsed between her fingers. Her mind swirled with one thought:
Get back to Luca and Adunni.
But Matteo...
He had stayed behind to buy her time. He had looked into her eyes and said, "Go. I'll find you. I promise."
And she had run.
The guilt crushed her as much as the pain.
Then she stumbled. Her leg gave out. Her vision darkened.
Before she passed out she sent a message to Luca.
The last thing she saw before everything went black was the symbol glowing on the canyon wall—the fourth pillar mark.
A moon surrounded by spiraling flames.
Luca and Adunni urgently travels back following Selene's message.
As Luca and Adunni reached the ridge, a figure stumbled into view—bloody, barely conscious.
It was Selene.
And she was whispering one name through cracked lips: "Matteo... trapped... they came through the fourth..."
Then her eyes rolled back.
And behind her in the shadows, something howled back.
_ _ _
They get to the site, and saw her at the canyon's opening. Luca scooped Selene into his arms, careful of her wounds. Blood had soaked through her blouse. Her breathing was shallow.
Adunni grabbed the med kit, working quickly as they laid her near the tent. "She's lost a lot of blood," she murmured. "But I can stabilize her. Just—keep watch."
Luca turned to the canyon ridge. The howls had gone silent. That was worse.
Minutes passed. Adunni's hands moved with precision, the glow of her hybrid energy humming faintly as she sealed the worst gash on Selene's side.
Finally, Selene stirred. Her eyes fluttered. "Gate... opened... not just one creature. Pack. But not like yours. Not alive."
Luca and Adunni exchanged a grim look.
"We go down," Luca said.
Adunni stood. Her voice didn't tremble. "Then we go now."
As they descended into the canyon, the rocks grew warmer underfoot. The symbols etched into the walls flickered—then began to glow as if recognizing her presence.
At the canyon floor stood a stone altar.
On it: a broken chain. Scorch marks. Claw marks.
And a trail of blood leading into the darkness.
Luca turned to the canyon ridge. The howls had gone silent.
As they descended into the canyon, the rocks grew warmer underfoot. The symbols etched into the walls flickered—then began to glow as if recognizing her presence.
At the canyon floor stood a stone altar.
On it: a broken chain. Scorch marks. Claw marks.
And a trail of blood leading into the darkness.
The canyon closed in around them as Luca and Adunni followed the blood trail into the heart of the ancient tomb. The darkness grew thick, the air denser with each step. Adunni's skin prickled—not with fear, but something deeper. Familiarity.
"This place was built to hold something," she whispered.
Luca ran his fingers along a massive carving. "Or someone."
They entered a vast chamber. Stone pillars stretched upward into shadow. In the center stood a well of obsidian, glowing faintly with the same markings Adunni had seen in her dreams.
Then a sound—a faint growl. Metallic. Hollow.
From the shadows, a figure limped out.
Matteo.
Bruised. Bloodied. Breathing.
Adunni ran to him. "You're alive!"
He gripped her wrist. "You shouldn't be here. It's not sealed anymore. The pack... they're not natural. They're made."
Luca stepped beside her. "Made by who?"
Matteo's eyes flicked to the wall.
"Darius."
Behind them, a pillar cracked.
The gate was opening again.
A creature stepped through the fractured gate—wolf-like, but with molten eyes and armor etched with runes. It growled Adunni's name.
And whispered it like it remembered her.
Luca crouched beside the altar, brushing away sand to reveal an ancient crest—half moon, half sun, crossed by a silver fang.
Adunni's eyes widened. "That's the hybrid sigil. My grandmother used to draw that into the earth whenever she told her stories."
The shadows moved.
And something growled.
"We're not alone," Luca whispered.
The canyon answered back.