Aurelia ran.
She didn’t know how long she’d been moving minutes, hours, or something stranger but the corridors of the sanctuary bent endlessly ahead of her, folding and unfolding like ribs of a living creature. Veins of dark light pulsed through the stone, dim at first, then brighter with every step she took.
She wasn’t alone.
She felt the First Unwritten’s presence behind her not chasing, not guiding, but watching. Always watching.
“Keep moving,” she whispered to herself, breath shaky. “Don’t stop. Don’t think. Just move.” The ground shivered beneath her feet, as though responding to her heartbeat. Or her fear. That was when she heard it:
A soft, rhythmic thumping.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Coming from somewhere deeper in the sanctuary. She slowed.
The sound wasn’t footsteps. It was
