The archaeologist stood still, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cold air. His breathing grew shallow, uneven.
No… if help comes, it'll take at least ten days to clear all that rubble. Ten days? We'll be dead by then ,no food, no water… We're completely trapped.We can't escape on our own, we're screwed, we're so screwed.
His knees buckled, and he crouched down, pressing both hands to his head like it might stop his thoughts from spilling out.
I had plans. A future. I wanted to publish, travel, live…I didn't even lose my virginity…God, I don't want to die like this.
He looked up, eyes darting around, frantic.
And then his gaze met the boy Lukas, Calm, Still, Watching.
What the hell is with this kid?How can he be this calm? How is he not screaming? I'm falling apart and he just… stares.Why is he looking at me like that?
Unnerved, he looked away ,toward the others.
Ruby. Her red hair catching the dim light. Her wide, pink eyes still glossed with fear but holding onto something like hope.
She's beautiful…God, what a beautiful girl…
His thoughts spiraled.
No one's coming.We're going to die here anyway.So… why not? Might as well enjoy what's left, right?
His lips twitched.
Yeah… yeah… maybe just once before the end…
But even as the thought passed through him, something deep inside cracked like a final warning before a soul is lost.
Hours passed. Silence settled over the ruins like a shroud. Exhaustion had dragged most of them into uneasy sleep, some curled on cold stone, others against the damp walls.
But one man remained awake.
The archaeologist moved quietly, eyes scanning the still forms. His breath trembled in the thick air. His mind, unspooling from fear and isolation, latched onto something else ,something darker.
He looked at Ruby.
She's still asleep... far from the others…
He stepped closer. One foot, then another, careful not to make a sound. Shadows cloaked him.
Just a little closer…
He crouched beside her, hand trembling as it reached forward.
Click.
A sound.
Then a voice sharp, cold, and deadly calm.
"How did a scum like you even become an archaeologist?"
The man froze.
Lukas stood in the dark, arm extended. In his hand: a pistol, steady, unwavering, aimed directly at the archaeologist's head.
The man turned slowly, dread flooding his chest.
Lukas's voice dropped to a whisper, colder than the stone walls around them."Try to move again, and I'll make sure history forgets you ever existed."
The archaeologist's breath hitched. Beads of sweat gathered at his temple as he slowly raised his hands.
"I...I wasn't going to—" he stammered.
"Don't," Lukas cut him off, voice low and even. "Don't lie to me. You already crossed the line."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Lukas took a slow step forward, eyes fixed on the man like a blade poised to strike.
"This place is breaking everyone. But if you lose your humanity, you're already dead."He tilted his head slightly, tightening his grip on the pistol. "And I don't tolerate the dead walking among the living."
He motioned with the barrel.
"Go back. Now. Before I change my mind."
The archaeologist, pale and shaking, turned and stumbled away ,half-crawling back into the shadows where the others slept. He didn't look back.
Lukas stood there a moment longer, the weapon still in hand ,watching.
Then, with a sigh, he lowered the pistol, eyes drifting to Ruby, still undisturbed in sleep.
"Monsters aren't born down here," he murmured to himself. "They just stop pretending."
He holstered the weapon and returned to his corner, sleepless. Guarding the night.
The archaeologist sat hunched in the corner, far from the others, arms wrapped around his knees. His breath trembled in his throat, heart still hammering from the confrontation.
That kid…
He stared at Lukas, who now sat silently by the far wall, motionless, expression unreadable. Like a statue carved from ice.
He didn't even flinch. Didn't raise his voice. Just pointed that gun at me like it was a scalpel… like he'd done it before.
The archaeologist shuddered.
"What kind of kid pulls a gun without blinking?" he muttered to himself. "What kind of teenager walks through hell and doesn't even break?"
He looked around at the others, still asleep. Peaceful. Vulnerable. Blissfully unaware of the darkness they had brought with them.
Then back at Lukas.
He's not like the rest of us. He's not scared. Not sad. Just... empty.
A sick knot twisted in the archaeologist's gut.
He's not a boy. He's a monster that wears the face of one.
He pressed his back tighter against the wall, as if distance could protect him. From the dark. From the ruin. From him.
From Lukas.
Dawn came, but inside the ruin, darkness still ruled. Not even a sliver of sunlight could pierce the thick stone walls.
Everyone was awake.
None knew what had happened during the night.
Albert's stomach growled loud enough to echo. He staggered toward the water pooling near the wall, hands trembling with thirst.
"Don't," Lukas said sharply. The single word cut through the silence like a blade.
Albert froze mid-step. "W-Why?"
Lukas didn't look back. He kept his flashlight on the carved stone wall, his voice calm but firm. "We don't know what's in that water. Could be parasites, chemicals… or worse. We're not risking it."
Reluctantly, Albert backed off.
The group huddled together ,two officers and the remaining children, trying to fill the silence with fragments of memory, speaking of their lives back home. Schools. Families. Dreams. Normal things. Just to feel human again.
Meanwhile, the archaeologists kept working deeper in, brushing at stones, sketching inscriptions, muttering in excited tones as if the world outside didn't matter.
Lukas stayed apart, running his fingers along the etched murals carved into the black walls. The drawings were crude humanoid figures with twisted faces, elongated limbs, some kneeling, others burning under symbols he couldn't understand. One mural showed a group of people standing around a circular pit, shadows towering behind them, mouths agape in silent screams.
He narrowed his eyes. Was that pit… real?
Then it happened.
The walls trembled. Just slightly. Enough to silence everyone.
And then
A voice.
It wasn't loud, yet it was everywhere. Inside their ears. Under their skin. It sounded like it came from the stone itself.
A voice not of man or woman, but something ancient.
Layered.
Hollow.
Crying and whispering at once.
"Four shall be offered, and the rest shall leave... or all will perish. One hour remains."
Then silence.
Not even a drip of water echoed afterward.
Everyone stared at one another. Eyes wide. Breaths held.
"What the hell was that?" one officer whispered, hand already on his pistol.
Albert backed into the wall, mumbling, "No… no, this is a joke. That was a recording, right? Right?"
But Lukas remained still.
He looked up at the walls again. At the figures now seeming to twist and writhe in the flickering light.
And he whispered ,more to himself than anyone else
"…The ruin just spoke."
"It's just pressure," one of the archaeologists muttered. "Underground acoustics. Maybe a speaker , i never heard ruins speak"
A nervous laugh echoed from another.
"Right, ruins cant speak."
Ben looked around uneasily. "Guys…."
But before anyone could answer—
THWIP.
A clean, wet sound.
Then silence.
One of the officers stumbled forward. His body took two more steps before crumpling.
His head rolled to the floor like a kicked helmet.
Blood sprayed in a wide arc. For a second, no one moved.
Then—
Ruby screamed. A sound so raw it shattered whatever calm had remained.
Albert fell back, gagging. The other officer fumbled his gun, scanning wildly with his flashlight. "Who?! Who did that?!"
There was no one. No footsteps. No attacker. No movement. Just the body. Just the blood. Just the head.
Then… the ruin spoke again.
But this time, the voice was darker—lower, as if dragged from beneath the earth itself.
"Judgment has begun. Four must fall…Or none shall rise."
Silence.
Drip.
Drip.
Ruby was sobbing now, curled against the wall. Ben stood frozen, pale as chalk. Even the archaeologists were silent, staring at the body with wide, hollow eyes.
Albert muttered through chattering teeth, "T-this is real. This is real…"
Lukas stepped forward slowly, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Now they'll believe."
And behind his eyes, something cold and calculating had already begun turning.
One officer lay dead, his head cleaved clean from his body, his blood soaking into the ancient stones beneath him. The gruesome sight of his severed head sent a chill through the remaining group, the weight of the situation settling heavily on their shoulders.
The other officer, his eyes wide with fear, fumbled for his gun, his hand shaking as he drew it. He turned quickly, his breath ragged and wild as his gaze locked onto the two remaining archaeologists. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger. The two archaeologists didn't even have time to scream before they crumpled to the ground, lifeless, their blood staining the floor.
The officer, now panting, turned the gun toward Ruby, his face twisted with desperation. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice quivering. "But I want to live." His finger tightened on the trigger, ready to end Ruby's life, to ensure his own survival.
Ruby stood frozen, her eyes wide with horror, her body trembling as she realized her time might have run out. Before the officer could pull the trigger
in that darkness Lukas moved.
No hesitation. No warning.
A flash.
crack.
The second officer dropped, blood pooling beneath him, a clean hole through his skull.
Everyone froze.
The ruin, quiet now, seemed to hold its breath.
all looked at the person who shoot , Lukas turned to face them. His voice was cold, detached, but terrifyingly rational.
"Four must die. three are done and only one remain."