The mountain moved like it was alive.
Not shaking.
Not collapsing.
Breathing.
A slow, deep expansion that made the stone corridor groan under pressure that had nothing to do with gravity.
Everything went dark.
Not just lights going out.
Something deeper.
Like the concept of illumination had been erased from this space.
Rylan’s grip on my hand was the only thing grounding me.
Warm.
Real.
Human.
“Stay close,” he said.
His voice didn’t carry fear.
But it carried certainty.
The kind that comes when you realize fear is no longer useful.
Aria stood frozen ahead of us.
Staring at the sealed corridor behind us.
The stone that had dropped like a cage.
We were trapped.
Completely sealed inside.
And the creature—
Lucien.
No.
Not Lucien.
Something beyond Lucien—
stood in the
