(Solomon's POV)
Some monsters can be defeated.
Others can be understood.
But the most terrifying ones?
They only grow stronger when you feed them.
The Silence After Hope
The liberated soul had vanished.
Gone.
Free.
For the first time since entering the abyss beneath the city, we had achieved something impossible.
A soul had escaped the Hunger.
A fragment of eternity had been returned to itself.
The cavern should have felt lighter.
Victorious.
Instead—
Something felt wrong.
I noticed it first in the darkness.
The shadows weren't retreating.
They were gathering.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
As though every broken soul imprisoned in the abyss had suddenly become afraid.
My grip tightened around my blade.
"Mirabel."
She looked up.
Her face was pale.
Too pale.
"I feel it too
