The air inside the chamber was thick—heavy with something unseen yet palpable, like a lingering whisper of the past.
Leon's heart still pounded from the vision.
He turned toward the monolith. The ancient inscriptions glowed faintly, their light slowly fading.
This place wasn't just a burial ground.
It was a warning.
Jarek let out a breath. "Leon, what the hell just happened? You went stiff for a full minute."
Leon took a moment before answering. How much should he reveal?
He met their gazes. "This ruin… It belongs to a civilization that was erased."
Silence.
Rhun was the first to speak. "Erased?"
Leon nodded. "They were part of the war long before Devia's history was recorded. They fought something… something that should not have existed."
Kaelen narrowed his eyes. "And they lost."
Leon exhaled. "Completely."
Jarek crossed his arms. "So why hasn't this been found before? Why wasn't this in the game's history?"
That was the question.
And Leon had an answer.
"The Holy Empire covered it up."
The words hung in the air like a curse.
Rhun's eyes darkened. "You're sure?"
Leon nodded. "They abandoned this place. And whatever happened here… it was powerful enough that even Gaia left it untouched."
That unnerved him the most. Gaia controlled everything in Devia—and yet it had ignored this place.
Jarek ran a hand through his hair. "Great. A hidden empire, a forgotten war, and some monster that wiped them out. Anything else we should know?"
Leon glanced at the monolith.
"The monster might still be alive."
---
A Warning From the Dead
The moment Leon said the words, the chamber's air grew colder.
Kaelen's ears twitched. "Something just changed."
Rhun's gaze sharpened. "Leon, look at the monolith."
Leon turned.
The inscriptions had stopped glowing.
But something new had appeared—a single phrase carved deeper than the rest.
━━━
"IT SLEEPS BELOW."
━━━
The words sent a chill down Leon's spine.
Kaelen cursed. "Oh, come on. I hate cryptic warnings."
Jarek scowled. "'It'? As in, the thing that wiped them out?"
Leon didn't answer. His focus was on the ground.
There was a faint tremor beneath their feet.
Rhun's expression darkened. "We need to leave. Now."
Leon agreed.
If it was still here…
They had awakened something.
---
Escape from the Depths
They turned back toward the tunnel.
Leon led the way, his senses on high alert.
The deeper they had gone, the more unnatural the ruins had felt. Now, with the monolith's warning and the tremors beneath them, he had no doubt—this place was waking up.
Kaelen's voice was tense. "We shouldn't have come here."
Leon didn't disagree. But it was too late to turn back the clock.
The passage began to shake.
Dust rained from the ceiling. The ancient stone trembled as something rumbled from below.
Leon's instincts screamed at him.
Run.
"Move!" he ordered.
They sprinted through the corridor. The once-silent ruins now echoed with a deep, resonating sound—as if something was stirring in its sleep.
Then—
The walls cracked.
A low, inhuman growl filled the air.
Jarek cursed. "Tell me that's not what I think it is!"
Leon's jaw tightened. He had no idea what was waking up.
But he knew one thing—
They were not prepared to fight it.
---
The Final Gate
The tunnel opened up into a second chamber—this one far smaller but with a clear exit at the far end.
Leon's gaze locked onto it. Freedom.
But before they could move—
The ground behind them split open.
A massive clawed limb emerged from the cracks, black as obsidian, pulsing with veins of dark energy.
Jarek turned pale. "That's a damn nightmare made real."
Leon's breath was steady, but his hands clenched into fists.
Whatever this thing was… it was only partially awake.
They could still escape.
"Go!" Leon commanded.
They rushed for the exit, sprinting across the chamber as the creature's limb clawed at the earth, its full form still buried below.
The deep growl reverberated through the ruins, shaking the very air.
Leon didn't look back.
He reached the doorway first, slamming his palm onto a rune-etched lever.
The ancient mechanisms groaned—
And the exit slammed shut behind them.
The last thing Leon saw was a single glowing eye emerging from the cracks—
Watching.
And then—darkness.
---
The Surface and the Aftermath
The group stumbled out onto the surface, gasping for breath.
The night sky stretched above them, vast and endless.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then—
Kaelen turned to Leon. "What the hell was that?"
Leon didn't answer immediately. His mind was still racing.
They had escaped.
But whatever was buried in that ruin was still down there.
And it had seen them.
Jarek muttered, "Please tell me we're never coming back here."
Leon exhaled.
"We're coming back."
Kaelen stared at him. "Are you insane?"
Leon met his gaze.
"If that thing wakes up completely, it won't stay underground."
He turned toward the horizon, toward the distant Holy Empire.
"The Empire buried this secret for a reason. And I intend to find out why."
Because one thing was certain—
The past was clawing its way back to the surface.
And Leon would be there when it did.
---