The cavern breathed.
Havyn felt it in his chest, a slow, rhythmic pulse that wasn't quite sound, nor entirely physical. The water rippled around them, moving in unnatural currents, as if something vast and unseen was exhaling from beneath.
The pulse they had felt before—distant and buried in the deep—was growing stronger.
Selene remained still, her silver eyes scanning the darkness.
Then, the voice came again.
"You are not welcome here."
Havyn's pulse spiked. The words did not come from any single direction but from everywhere at once—as if the cavern itself had a mouth, as if the deep water surrounding them had a will of its own.
Selene shifted, dark magic curling around her fingers. "That's usually our cue to leave."
Havyn agreed. But there was one problem.
"Where, exactly?"
They were in a vast, underground lake with no visible shore. The cavern stretched endlessly into blackness, its ceiling a jagged void high above. The Leviathan had already vanished beneath the surface, its massive bulk slipping into the depths like a nightmare retreating into slumber.
But something else was still watching.
Selene turned in a slow circle, treading water with careful, measured movements. "It's not the Leviathan."
Havyn nodded. "No."
It was something worse.
Then, the water shifted.
A shape rose from the depths—slow, deliberate. At first, it looked like another rock formation, a mound of smooth, black stone breaking the water's surface.
But then—
It opened its eyes.
Twin, massive, glowing voids pierced the darkness, set into a face older than time itself.
Selene inhaled sharply. "Gods."
The thing was colossal.
Not a beast, not a monster, but something ancient. A being carved from the bones of the world itself. Its form was impossible to fully see, its body stretching deep beneath the water, but the glimpse they had was enough.
This was no guardian.
It was a warden.
And they were trespassers.
---
The Voice of the Deep
"You do not belong here."
The words vibrated through Havyn's skull, deeper than sound—a presence, pressing into his mind.
Selene winced, gripping her temple. "It's in my head."
Havyn bared his teeth, instincts screaming at him to fight—but against what? This wasn't something he could claw or bite.
Selene's breath hitched, her fingers twitching as shadows coiled around her. "It's searching."
Havyn snapped his gaze to her. "For what?"
Selene's eyes darkened. "For me."
Before Havyn could respond, the thing moved.
Water surged outward as the entity rose higher, its form towering over them. The pressure in the cavern increased, the pulse growing deafening—a silent drumbeat hammering through the depths.
Selene flinched.
Havyn saw it—the way her shoulders tensed, the way her fingers flexed against the water's surface.
She was struggling.
Then—
She gasped, body jerking like a puppet on strings.
Havyn lunged forward, grabbing her. "Selene!"
Her silver eyes snapped to his, wide and wild. "It knows."
The voice came again, curling around them like a whisper and a scream all at once.
"The Marked One."
Selene shuddered.
Havyn's grip tightened. "What is it talking about?"
Selene didn't answer.
Because she couldn't.
Her breath caught in her throat as black tendrils snaked from the water, wrapping around her limbs. They weren't hers. They weren't her magic.
They were his.
The Warden.
Havyn reacted instantly.
He shifted, muscles rippling, claws tearing through the tendrils. But they weren't flesh. They weren't real.
They were shadow.
And they were dragging Selene under.
---
A Battle of Wills
Selene thrashed, but the darkness held tight. The Warden's gaze bore into her, peering into something deeper than flesh—deeper than the soul.
Havyn refused to let go.
He dug his claws into the shadowy tendrils, his own magic roaring to the surface. It wasn't the smooth, controlled power of a practiced druid—it was wild, untamed, primal.
The cavern shook.
The air crackled with raw, unbridled force as Havyn tore at the bindings, his body shifting partially—his arms becoming something monstrous, his form caught between man and beast.
The Warden's voice shifted—no longer a whisper, but a low, displeased growl.
"You do not understand what she is."
Havyn's snarl was pure defiance. "I don't care."
The darkness shattered.
Selene gasped, freed from the Warden's hold, and Havyn didn't hesitate—he grabbed her, pulling her against him.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then—
The Warden laughed.
It was a sound that belonged to no living thing, an echo of something old and cruel.
"Then you are both doomed."
The cavern collapsed.
---
The Fall Into the Abyss
The world split apart.
Water rushed downward—not outward, but down—as if the lake had been resting on something far deeper.
Havyn barely had time to react before the floor beneath them vanished.
Selene's fingers clutched at his cloak, her breathing ragged. "Havyn—"
Then they fell.
The water became air.
The air became nothing.
Havyn twisted mid-fall, instinct roaring through his veins. Shift. Adapt. Survive.
But before he could—
The darkness swallowed them whole.
---
The Awakening Below
Havyn gasped.
He was not in the water.
He was not falling.
He was somewhere else.
Cold, damp stone pressed against his back. A faint, pulsing glow illuminated the darkness above him, revealing jagged rock formations stretching like ribs around a vast, open space. The air was thick, heavy with a scent both familiar and wrong.
He turned his head.
Selene lay beside him, motionless.
Havyn's heart slammed against his ribs. "Selene."
She didn't respond.
Panic surged through him, but before he could reach for her, something shifted in the dark.
A shadow moved along the cavern wall—not human, not beast.
Then, a voice.
"She belongs to us now."
Havyn's blood ran cold.
He turned slowly, his body tensing as the figures emerged.
Tall. Cloaked. Their eyes glowed with eldritch light, their robes marked with symbols he didn't recognize—but Selene's magic did.
The sigils on her skin flared, reacting to their presence.
And suddenly, Havyn understood.
This wasn't just an underground cavern.
It was a sanctuary.
A prison.
A place where the marked were meant to remain.
And Selene had been claimed.