MasukThe cavern didn't just crumble; it hesitated, listening first.Stones hung in the air, their cracks trembling but frozen. It was like the whole place was holding its breath, waiting for some signal before giving way. The silence was all wrong—too heavy, too aware.Selene felt it before she heard it: a breath. Not the wind, not just air moving, but a slow, deep inhale from the earth itself, tugging at her bones, vibrating through her marrow. It stirred up old memories as well.Aurek went rigid, his arm instinctively tightening around Selene. A low growl rumbled in his chest, like a wild animal wanting to be set loose.Lysera cursed under her breath. That's no cave-in.Another breath came, deeper this time.The markings under Selene's feet—now her markings, she realized—pulsed faintly, not flaring wildly or attacking, but responding."No," Selene whispered, "It's… listening."Then the floor dropped, not in a sudden crash, but deliberately.The stone slid aside like a door opening, revea
Okay, I will rewrite the texts to make it sounds natural and engaging.***CHAPTER 80 — WHAT BLEEDS STILL BELONGSThe crazy wolf didn't charge at them like a wild thing.Instead, it grinned.The grin spread slowly across its face, opening its mouth inch by inch, showing off teeth stained black from burns and blood. And some of that blood? Definitely wasn't the wolf's own. You could see broken bits of chains hanging off its shoulders and back, clinking softly against the cave floor. Each clink was like a sad reminder of how it was supposed to be locked up.Aurek's breath got all short and shallow.The dude was waking up inside Aurek – he pulled back for a split second, surprised, but then he came surging back, all mixed up with knowing something awful and hating it at the same time.Finnian, he said.The name just dropped into the silent cave, heavy as could be.The wolf turned its head a bit, and its eyes burned bright white as the marks cut into its skin glowed even brighter. You rem
The cavern sighs, not with air, but with a tangible shift in pressure. It rolls out from the glowing sigil in a deliberate wave, like the earth breathing out a long-held secret. Selene tenses beside Aurek, her fingers digging into his. The hum beneath their feet grows louder, resonating in their bones.Someone's coming.Not sneaking, not charging headfirst, but steadily drawing near.Aurek feels it before he hears it—a power tugging at his senses, a presence warping reality like gravity bends around a star. He stands tall, his back ramrod straight. The wild power within him stirs, alert and caged, every sense honed to a sharp edge.Behind us, he murmurs, his breath ghosting past her ear.Selene nods, her gaze fixed straight ahead.Footfalls echo in the cavern, slow and steady, each step deliberate. There's no clatter of armor, no scrape of metal on stone. Whoever is coming isn't trying to scare them.Which only makes it worse.A figure steps into the sigil's faint light.A woman.She'
The very first thing Selene registers isn't fear crawling up her spine. Nope, it's pure, focused attention.It hits her like a pressure building behind her eyes, almost like a hand gently—but firmly—pressing against her chest from the inside. It wasn't forceful or aggressive.It felt like… assessment.She sucks in a sharp breath. Her fingers dig into the rough, cold stone beneath her. As she frantically glances around, the cavern appears exactly as it was moments ago. The bottomless pit still gapes behind them, dark and never-ending. Aurek is still at her side, his shoulders set, his body coiled tight, ready to spring into action.But something is different. She can feel it.Something has noticed them.“Aurek,” she whispers, her voice barely carrying over the oppressive stillness of the air, “do you feel that?”He doesn’t answer immediately. A beat of silence hangs in the air.That alone sends a shiver of unease down her spine.When he finally turns his head, whatever fire had been bu
It wasn't serenity or emptiness, but a suffocating stillness.The silence hammered at my ears, a weight on my chest, a vise on my thoughts. It felt like the world itself was holding its breath, judging whether humanity deserved to continue existing. A heavy, expectant pause before some cosmic verdict.Aurek still held me, too tight.His arms were bands of steel around my ribs, his chin a solid weight against my temple. It felt like if he loosened his grip even for a second, something inside me would shatter and fly apart into a million pieces.Aurek, I breathed, my voice barely audible.He didn’t respond.His breathing, normally a comforting rhythm, was off. Too slow, too heavy. Each inhale sounded like a monumental effort, like he was dragging something immense along with it.I shifted back just enough to see his face.Thin lines of gold-black light pulsed beneath his skin, not glowing like the conduits we share—these were embedded. Etched. As if something had rewritten his very bein
The instant the words leave her mouth, a stark truth slams into me.It's not fear gnawing at my insides.It's no doubt whispering in my ear.It's certain. Cold and absolute.A certainty that cleaves through my chest, leaving a raw, gaping wound, yet somehow, I remain standing."No," I repeat, but the word rings hollow, stripped of all force. The abyss below reacts before my mind can even process it—light contorts violently, shrinking back, folding in on itself like a mortally wounded animal. The very ground beneath us shrieks in protest—the air crackles, sharp enough to slice skin.Then, Selene’s blood answers the call.I feel as if it were my own.A disturbingly harmonious pull—so wrong, yet so perfect—weaving through her veins. It's syncing her life force with the entity lurking beneath our feet. The binding has begun, and my consent is no longer relevant.She's becoming the keystone.The living prison.I take a step toward her, desperation clawing at me, but the world itself pushes







