The red eyes moved closer.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Johanna raised her weapon.
"What is that?"
Dinraal did not answer.
For once, he had no sarcastic remark.
The thing crawled forward.
Its claws scraped against the metal floor.
SCRAAAAAPE.
The sound echoed through the corridor.
Then the creature emerged from the darkness.
Claire went pale.
Isolde's grip tightened around her rapier.
Johanna took a step forward.
Dinraal immediately raised an arm.
"Don't."
Johanna glared at him.
"Get your arm out of my way."
"Not until you stop trying to shoot everything that moves."
"It has glowing red eyes."
"That doesn't automatically make it hostile."
The creature roared.
The force of it shook the corridor.
Johanna slowly looked at Dinraal.
He stared back at her.
"…I may have spoken too soon."
The creature lunged.
"MOVE!"
Everyone scattered.
Massive claws slammed into the floor where they had been standing.
Metal buckled.
Dinraal rolled across the ground and came up empty-handed.
His weapons were still gone.
Wonderful.
The creature turned toward Isolde.
Dinraal's expression changed.
"ISE!"
She moved.
A claw tore through the wall beside her.
Johanna fired.
The rounds struck the creature's armored hide.
Sparks flew.
It barely reacted.
"Armor-piercing rounds!" Johanna shouted.
"I used them!"
"Use better ones!"
Dinraal looked toward her.
"That's not helpful!"
The creature roared again.
This time, it charged Claire.
Claire raised her weapon.
Dinraal moved.
The world slowed.
Not literally.
But something inside him changed.
The Mithril Gaunt grew warm.
A word surfaced in his mind.
HALT.
Dinraal reached toward the creature.
"HALT!"
The word exploded from him.
The corridor went silent.
The creature froze.
One claw hovered inches from Claire's face.
Everyone stared.
Dinraal stared hardest of all.
Claire slowly looked at the claw.
Then at Dinraal.
"I assume you planned that?"
Dinraal swallowed.
"Of course."
Claire narrowed her eyes.
The creature began to tremble.
Dinraal's expression changed.
The command was failing.
"Oh."
Johanna raised her weapon.
"Move."
Dinraal stepped aside.
Johanna fired.
The creature broke free.
The bullet struck its shoulder.
It roared.
Then something unexpected happened.
The creature did not attack Johanna.
It turned.
And fled.
Everyone watched it disappear into the darkness.
Silence returned.
Dinraal slowly lowered his hand.
Isolde looked at him.
"Did we just scare it away?"
Johanna frowned.
"No."
Dinraal stared into the darkness.
His awareness had changed.
The creature was still moving.
But it was not leaving.
"It wasn't attacking us."
Claire looked toward him.
"It certainly seemed hostile."
Dinraal shook his head.
"No."
He pointed toward the corridor ahead.
"It was running from something."
A deep metallic groan echoed through the facility.
Everyone became still.
Johanna slowly turned toward Dinraal.
"Now what?"
Dinraal looked at the Mithril Gaunt.
"It was afraid."
Elsewhere
Vael walked alone.
The underground complex stretched endlessly before him.
His footsteps were the only sound.
Then a voice spoke.
"You failed."
Vael stopped.
The silver mask turned toward the darkness.
"I did not."
A figure stood at the end of the corridor.
Unlike Vael, the stranger wore no mask.
He was tall.
Thin.
Almost unnaturally so.
His skin was hidden beneath layers of dark fabric.
Vael's expression remained unreadable.
"The Gaunt awakened."
The stranger stepped closer.
"And?"
Vael was silent.
The stranger stopped.
"And?"
Vael looked toward him.
"It responded to Dinraal."
A smile appeared beneath the stranger's hood.
"Of course it did."
Vael's hands curled into fists.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
Vael stepped forward.
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
The stranger laughed softly.
"You have always been impatient."
"Answer me."
The stranger's smile disappeared.
"Because the Silver Prince needed to awaken it himself."
Vael stared at him.
"And now?"
The stranger looked toward the ceiling.
A distant roar echoed through the facility.
Vael's eyes narrowed.
"You released it."
"No."
The stranger looked back toward him.
"You did."
Vael froze.
The stranger smiled.
"When you attacked the city, you woke something that had been sleeping beneath it."
Vael turned sharply.
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
Another roar shook the walls.
Vael's expression darkened.
"What is it?"
The stranger stepped backward.
"You should know."
Vael stared at him.
The stranger's final words followed him into the darkness.
"It is what your people left behind."
The Corridor
Johanna's communicator suddenly activated.
Everyone turned.
Static filled the air.
Then a voice broke through.
"—hanna!"
Johanna grabbed the device.
"Identify yourself!"
"—this is Captain—"
The signal disappeared.
Johanna shook the communicator.
"Damn it."
Dinraal looked toward her.
"Can you contact the jumpship?"
"No."
Claire's face tightened.
"They're still jamming us."
Isolde looked down the dark corridor.
"Then we need to get out of here."
Dinraal nodded.
"Agreed."
Johanna frowned.
"You're agreeing with her?"
Dinraal looked at Isolde.
"Don't make this weird."
Isolde smiled.
Johanna stared between them.
Claire closed her eyes.
"Oh no."
Johanna slowly looked toward Claire.
"What?"
Claire opened her eyes.
"Nothing."
Isolde immediately stepped beside Dinraal.
Dinraal looked at her.
She smiled innocently.
"What?"
Johanna's expression became suspicious.
Dinraal pointed down the corridor.
"We're moving."
They traveled deeper into the facility.
That realization bothered Dinraal.
Their objective should have been the surface.
Instead, every available route seemed to lead downward.
The upper corridors had collapsed.
Several doors had been sealed.
And the path his strange new awareness offered him led deeper beneath the city.
Johanna noticed.
"Why are we going down?"
Dinraal stopped.
He looked at the others.
Then toward the Gaunt.
"I don't know."
Johanna crossed her arms.
"That is not reassuring."
"I didn't say it was."
Isolde looked toward him.
"Can the Gaunt lead us somewhere?"
Dinraal hesitated.
"Yes."
"Then follow it."
Johanna stared at her.
"My lady."
"What?"
"We don't know where it's taking us."
Isolde shrugged.
"Neither does he."
Dinraal looked offended.
"I am standing right here."
"I know."
"And I would prefer it if everyone stopped making decisions for me."
Claire smiled.
"That ship sailed some time ago."
Dinraal pointed at her.
"You're enjoying this."
"A little."
Another metallic groan interrupted them.
The ground shook.
This time, it was closer.
Dinraal's expression hardened.
"Enough."
Everyone fell silent.
His awareness spread through the facility.
He could feel them.
The creature.
Vael.
The armored soldiers.
But there was something else.
Something enormous.
Buried far below them.
Sleeping.
Dinraal's eyes widened.
"Oh."
Johanna raised her weapon.
"What?"
Dinraal looked toward the floor.
"The creature wasn't the only thing down here."
Silence.
Claire swallowed.
"What do you mean?"
Dinraal slowly raised his eyes.
"I mean…"
The lights died.
Darkness swallowed them.
Then something beneath their feet opened its eyes.
The floor exploded.
Isolde screamed.
Johanna grabbed her arm.
Dinraal threw himself toward them.
The corridor split apart.
A massive section of the floor collapsed into darkness.
Claire barely caught the edge.
Dinraal grabbed her wrist.
"Got you!"
Claire looked down.
"There is something moving down there."
Dinraal looked.
Immediately, he regretted it.
Far beneath them—
something enormous moved through the darkness.
Two red eyes opened.
Then four.
Then six.
Johanna pulled Isolde away from the collapsing edge.
Dinraal hauled Claire upward.
The corridor continued breaking apart.
"RUN!" Dinraal shouted.
They ran.
Behind them, something began climbing.
The sound of claws against metal followed them.
SCRAAAAAPE.
SCRAAAAAPE.
SCRAAAAAPE.
Johanna fired behind them.
The muzzle flashes briefly illuminated the darkness.
For one instant, Dinraal saw it.
A massive body.
Covered in black armor.
Too large to fit comfortably inside the corridor.
Yet it kept coming.
Its claws tore through the walls as it forced itself forward.
"What is that?!" Johanna shouted.
Dinraal ran faster.
"I don't know!"
Isolde glanced toward him.
"You said that last time!"
"I'm consistent!"
The creature roared.
The blast of sound knocked dust from the ceiling.
Then Dinraal felt something.
The Gaunt.
A command.
Not a word.
A warning.
He stopped.
Johanna nearly ran into him.
"What are you doing?!"
Dinraal stared ahead.
A massive sealed door stood at the end of the corridor.
Ancient symbols covered its surface.
The Mithril Gaunt began to glow.
One symbol changed.
Then another.
The door slowly opened.
Cold air poured from the darkness beyond.
Everyone stared.
Claire whispered, "Please tell me that's the exit."
Dinraal said nothing.
The creature behind them was getting closer.
Johanna grabbed his shoulder.
"Dinraal."
He stepped through the door.
The others followed.
The massive door began closing behind them.
The creature lunged.
A claw reached through the narrowing opening.
Dinraal raised his hand.
The Gaunt burned.
A word appeared in his mind.
This time, he understood it immediately.
SEAL.
Dinraal spoke.
"SEAL."
The doors slammed shut.
The claw disappeared behind them.
A deafening impact struck the other side.
The walls shook.
Then—
Silence.
Everyone stood still.
Johanna slowly lowered her weapon.
Claire leaned against the wall.
Isolde looked toward Dinraal.
He was staring ahead.
She followed his gaze.
The room beyond the door was enormous.
Ancient.
And unmistakably artificial.
A vast chamber stretched into the darkness.
Thousands of metallic structures lined the walls.
At the center of the room stood something that made Dinraal stop breathing.
A throne.
Not an ordinary throne.
It was enormous.
Made of silver.
And carved into its surface was the same symbol as the Mithril Gaunt.
Johanna stepped closer.
"What is this place?"
Dinraal didn't answer.
He walked toward the throne.
With every step, the Gaunt grew brighter.
Then a voice spoke.
Not from behind them.
Not from the darkness.
From inside Dinraal's mind.
WELCOME HOME.
Dinraal froze.
Isolde saw his expression change.
"Din?"
He looked at the throne.
His face had gone pale.
Claire stepped closer.
"What is it?"
Dinraal swallowed.
Then whispered the words he could barely believe.
"I think…"
The lights throughout the chamber suddenly activated.
Thousands of machines came to life.
Metal groaned.
The floor began to tremble.
Dinraal looked around.
And finally understood.
"This isn't a ruin."
One of the enormous metallic structures opened.
A pair of glowing eyes appeared inside.
Dinraal took a step backward.
"It's a tomb."
The first metallic structure opened completely.
Something stepped out.
Then another.
And another.
Johanna raised her weapon.
Isolde drew her rapier.
Claire stepped backward.
Dinraal stared at the figures emerging from their ancient chambers.
They were soldiers.
Thousands of them.
And every one wore the armor far older than the Draec Empire.
Then they all spoke.
In perfect unison.
"THE EMPEROR HAS RETURNED."