The symbols flared—lines of pale blue fire etching across the plaza stones, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Mira stepped back, heart racing. "Rael! It's a seal—this whole city is one big binding ritual!"
Rael didn't hear her.
He felt it.
The darkness pouring from the creature wasn't natural—it was a leak, a taste of what had been sealed below for centuries. The creature was merely the door cracking open.
And the door was now wide.
With a guttural roar, the abyssal beast exploded into black mist—but in its place, the ground caved in. A massive spiral maw opened beneath the plaza, swallowing shattered stone and dead air. From the chasm below came whispers, not one voice but many, layered in agony and delight.
"The seal has broken," Mira whispered. "Something's coming."
Darius yanked her back as the edge crumbled. "We need to leave. NOW."
Rael stood at the edge, his eyes glowing faintly.
And then he heard it.
"Descend," said the Whispering One. "You are mine."
Rael stepped forward—but Mira grabbed his wrist. "Don't you dare."
He looked at her—really looked. Her eyes were pleading. Afraid. Of him.
Rael clenched his jaw, then turned. "Let's go."
They ran, the ruins collapsing behind them as the whispers grew louder, clawing into their minds.
But as they escaped Velrath's edge, something followed. Not the creature—not a beast—
A presence.
Invisible. Watching.
And Rael knew.
Velrath was only the beginning.