Lyla stepped forward, her boots scraping against the stone floor of the ruined chamber.
The air around her still crackled with the aftershocks of her battle, but the thing she had fought the thing that should not have existed was gone.
Not dead.
Not defeated.
Just… waiting.
She exhaled, rolling her shoulders, forcing herself to remain steady.
She had won this fight.
But she had not won the war.
The Marked Ones were still above, somewhere in the city ruins.
If they were still alive.
She could feel the weight of something shifting above her, the city itself stirring as if it had finally woken up.
And whatever had been waiting here for centuries was no longer willing to stay hidden.
Lyla inhaled sharply and moved.
The chamber stretched endlessly, its towering walls covered in str
