Chapter 12: The Awakening
A deep rumble reverberated through the tunnel, shaking dust from the ceiling and sending Elias’s heart into overdrive. The whispers didn’t fade—they grew stronger, more desperate, as if unseen mouths were chanting in unison. He turned to Grayson, eyes wide with fear. “We need to move. Now.”
Grayson didn’t argue. He grabbed Elias by the arm, and they sprinted through the passage, their footsteps echoing like a drumbeat in the oppressive silence. The shadows twisted unnaturally, curling toward them like living tendrils. The deeper they ran, the stronger the feeling of being watched became.
Then, the light from the match flickered violently—and went out.
Darkness consumed them.
Elias’s breath hitched as an icy hand brushed against his shoulder. He jerked away, fumbling to relight the match. Grayson cursed under his breath, clicking the revolver’s safety off. “Something’s here.”
A scraping sound echoed from the tunnel behind them—slow, deliberate, as if claws were dragging against stone. Then, a voice. Low, guttural, inhuman.
“Why… do you return?”
Elias swallowed the lump in his throat. “Who are you?”
A silence followed. Then, in a whisper that crawled beneath his skin, the voice replied:
“We were the first… and we will be the last.”
Elias’s pulse pounded in his ears. He felt something shift in the darkness—something massive, something waking. The air grew thick, suffocating, as a presence loomed over them.
Grayson fired a shot. The muzzle flash illuminated the tunnel for a split second, revealing a glimpse of something horrific—
A twisted, skeletal figure with hollow eyes and a grin too wide for its face, its bony fingers reaching for them.
Elias didn’t scream. He couldn’t. Terror had stolen his voice. Grayson grabbed his wrist and yanked him forward. “RUN!”
They bolted down the tunnel, the sound of scraping claws following close behind. The walls seemed to pulse, like they were alive, shifting, trapping them within the nightmare.
Then—light.
A faint glow at the tunnel’s end. A door.
Elias pushed himself harder, lungs burning, every step a desperate race against the thing behind them. Grayson reached the door first, slamming his shoulder against it. It groaned but didn’t budge.
The whispers were deafening now. The presence was right behind them.
Elias threw his weight against the door. It gave way, sending them sprawling onto cold stone. Grayson kicked it shut, locking out the horrors behind them.
Silence. Only their ragged breaths remained.
Elias turned, taking in their surroundings. They were in a vast chamber, lit by flickering torches. In the center stood an altar of blackened stone, covered in ancient carvings. Atop it lay an object—a book, bound in something that looked disturbingly like flesh.
Grayson exhaled sharply. “What the hell is this place?”
Elias stepped forward, drawn to the book. His fingers hovered over it, the whispers still echoing in his head. Then, the moment he touched it—
The chamber trembled. The torches flickered wildly. And a single phrase burned itself into his mind.
The Shadow is watching.
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