**The Thing Beneath**
**1. The Spire Unravels**
The moment Elias’s blood hit the floor, the world *split*.
The fleshy walls of the Spire convulsed, black veins bulging like roots tearing free from soil. The ground beneath them *heaved*, throwing Zelene and Damian to their knees. Mikey barely stayed upright, his body thrumming with the unnatural energy pouring from the cracks in the stone.
The Hollow King staggered back, his stolen face twisting in fury. **“You fool!”** he snarled at Elias’s crumpled form. **“You’ve killed us all!”**
Mikey didn’t understand—not until the *darkness* began to rise.
From the widening fissures in the floor, something *stirred*. Not mist. Not shadow. Something *older*.
Something *hungry*.
**2. The First Horror**
The air itself *warped*
