Cassie
"You shouldn’t have come alone."
The voice came from nowhere. It wasn’t loud, but it crawled through the air like smoke.
I stopped.
The crypt was quiet, the kind of quiet that presses on your chest. Stone walls circled me, marked with strange symbols that pulsed faintly, like they were breathing.
Moonlight slipped through the cracks above, spilling down in slivers. But the warmth here wasn’t from the moon.
It was from something older.
I took a step forward, heart pounding. “Who’s there?” I asked.
I noticed the flames flickering from the altar in the center. They grew higher.
And then—she appeared.
A tall figure stepped from the shadows, cloaked in black. Her face was sharp, eyes glowing like coals, and she moved like she wasn’t really walking—just floating.
“You carry my
