The thing laughed in the darkness.
It was not loud, but the stones beneath my feet began to tremble. The sound echoed through the depths of the fortress before returning slower and heavier, as if something enormous was trying to remember how to laugh.
Then the ground opened.
The courtyard of Draeven March split down the middle. One of the soldiers fell into the hole before he understood what was happening. His voice disappeared almost immediately, leaving behind only a short echo against the walls.
The soldiers backed away.
Some raised their swords.
Others did nothing at all.
Two red eyes appeared at the bottom of the hole.
They were far away at first.
Then they began to rise.
A massive head emerged from the darkness, surrounded by red smoke. Its twisted horns struck the remains of the wall, sending stones raining down over it without slowing it in the slightest.
The head alone was larger than a war carriage.
Black plates covered its skin. Red lines pulsed between them with every breath. Its mouth was long and filled with so many thin teeth that I wondered if there was room for anything else inside its skull.
Kaelen turned toward me through the dust and asked if I knew what it was.
I shook my head.
My knowledge did not extend to monsters the size of war carriages, especially not when they were buried beneath my home. He kept staring at me as if waiting for an explanation.
I had none.
The creature opened its mouth.
Red steam poured out, carrying the smell of burning metal.
Then it roared.
The sounds inside the fortress stopped. Even the wounded soldiers near the gate raised their heads.
The creature lifted one of its claws.
It was larger than a man.
"Get away from the edge!" I shouted.
The soldiers did not need a second order. They rushed toward the gate while Kaelen and Seris remained in the courtyard.
I moved toward the monster.
Kaelen shouted behind me, but he could not stop me.
"Where are you going?"
"To where it’s going to strike."
It was not a good answer.
It was the only one I had.
The claw came down.
I jumped aside just before the stones beneath my feet shattered. A wave of dust rushed across the courtyard, and fragments of rock flew around me.
I did not wait for the next attack.
I ran over a slanted piece of the wall and jumped onto the creature’s back. The black plates were hot, but I kept moving. I drove my sword into the gap between two of them and gripped the hilt with both hands.
The blade only went in a few inches.
Then the monster moved.
Its back rose violently, throwing me toward the wall.
I struck the stones and fell to the ground. A sharp pain passed through my back, then the feeling disappeared from my left arm.
A red screen appeared before my eyes.
> Target unknown.
>
> Rank cannot be determined.
>
> Predator’s Claim unavailable.
I stared at the words.
"Even you don’t know?"
A massive shadow covered me.
I rolled away, and the monster’s claw crashed down where I had been.
I forced myself to stand.
Kaelen had arrived.
He rushed toward the monster’s head, jumped over one of its horns, and drove his white sword into its eye.
The creature released a sharp sound like metal scraping against glass.
Kaelen pulled back quickly, but the claw passed beside him and smashed into the ground behind him.
On the other side, Seris raised her hands.
Drops of blood gathered around her fingers and turned into red spears. They shot toward the monster’s joints. Two pierced its front leg, while the third missed and struck its armor.
Seris’s face lost some of its color.
Blood began to gather beneath her nose.
"This thing doesn’t have normal blood."
"Then don’t use blood."
She turned toward me.
"Excellent suggestion. What should I use instead?"
"Anything that doesn’t come from your body."
She shook her head and looked back at the monster. She did not have a better option.
The creature inhaled.
White light began forming behind its teeth.
The stones beneath us trembled.
I knew what was coming before it opened its mouth.
"Move!"
The beam crossed the courtyard.
It passed directly beneath my feet and did not hit the wall opposite us.
It erased it.
The eastern tower disappeared in an instant, leaving behind an open sky and burning pieces of stone.
Kaelen stared at the empty space. He pointed at it without taking his eyes off the monster.
"There was a tower there."
"I noticed."
"How are you going to pay for repairing it?"
"We haven’t reached that stage yet."
He continued staring at the smoke.
"You’re thinking about repairing the fortress now?"
"I’m thinking about anything that won’t kill me in the next minute."
He did not answer.
There was no time.
Red lines began spreading from the ring to my forearm. I felt Cinder Vein heating up before I decided to use it.
"No."
The heat grew stronger.
"I said no."
It did not listen.
My veins began glowing beneath the skin, and white light appeared in the palm of my hand.
Whitefire Lance.
Raise my hand.
Hit the monster.
Burn my arm.
The plan was simple.
That made it better than most of my plans.
I planted my feet and shouted, "Kaelen! Move!"
He did not ask why. He pulled Seris toward the side of the wall.
I aimed my palm at the monster’s head and released the beam.
The light pierced its injured eye.
It exploded inside the creature’s skull.
The monster staggered backward and crashed into the wall. Stones fell over its back.
For a moment, everything went silent.
Kaelen asked if it was dead, but I had no time to answer.
The rubble moved.
The monster rose from beneath it.
The injured eye did not bleed. Instead, a layer of black material began growing over it.
I dropped to one knee.
Blood ran from my nose.
Seris stepped closer and pressed a hand against the wound on her wrist.
"You used the white light."
"I know."
"It’s burning you."
"That’s new information."
She looked at me with irritation.
"I told you that before."
"I was busy."
"You’re always busy when the subject is you."
Kaelen reached out his hand.
I moved away before he could touch me, and he stopped.
"I was going to help you."
"I didn’t ask for help."
"That doesn’t mean you don’t need it."
I looked at the monster as it lifted its head from the rubble.
"It doesn’t look ready to leave us alone."
Kaelen watched me for a moment, then lowered his hand.
"You’re still trying to hide that you’re injured."
"And you’re still trying to arrest me."
"I haven’t forgotten."
He did not say it like a threat.
He said it as if he were reminding me of something simple.
The monster growled.
The cracks around it widened, and red strands resembling veins emerged from them. They wrapped around its body before sinking back into the darkness beneath the fortress.
Seris stopped watching the monster and looked at the ground.
"This isn’t a guardian."
I kept my eyes on the creature.
"What is it, then?"
"A guardian is summoned to protect the door."
She raised her eyes toward the monster.
"This came out because the door woke up."
I did not like the difference.
"Then put the door back to sleep."
She laughed without any humor.
"If I knew how, I wouldn’t still be standing here."
The monster moved toward the gate.
Inside, the soldiers began retreating. Odrik tried to organize them, but his voice disappeared beneath the chaos. Some men stared at the monster, while others held on to their weapons as if iron could protect them from something that erased towers with a single beam.
I saw Renn on the wall.
He was aiming his bow at the monster’s head, but his hand was shaking.
"Renn!"
He looked at me.
"Aim for its mouth."
"It’s moving!"
"Then wait."
The monster opened its mouth.
Renn fired.
The arrow entered the roof of its throat.
The monster closed its jaws, and red smoke leaked between its teeth.
Then it turned toward the wall and raised its claws.
Renn took a step back and shouted, asking Kaelen why he had saved him.
Kaelen did not even look at him. He was still bracing his white sword against the claw.
He told Renn that his hand would be more useful holding the bow, then pushed the claw away from him.
I used the opening.
The monster’s mouth was still open, and between its throat and its first row of teeth, I saw something black wrapped in red chains.
A core.
The source of its power.
I pointed toward the core and asked Seris for three seconds.
She understood what I intended immediately, which was why her first response was rejection. I did not argue. The teeth were already coming together.
In the end, she raised her hands as if she had decided to hate me after we finished.
Blood poured from the wounds on her wrists and rushed across the ground. It formed red chains that wrapped around the monster’s lower jaw.
The creature shook violently.
The first chain snapped.
Then the second.
Blood began running down Seris’s arms.
"Three seconds!" she shouted.
I jumped onto one of the monster’s fangs, then into its mouth.
This was not a smart decision.
It was the only one available.
I drove my sword into the wall of its throat and pulled myself forward. The core hung in front of me, suspended inside a web of black chains.
The red chains around the jaw began cracking.
The teeth started moving.
I reached out.
The ring burned.
A voice spoke inside me.
"Do not touch the lock."
My hand stopped.
It was not the ring’s voice.
This voice was deeper.
Closer.
My fingers reached the core.
Black energy exploded through my body.
The courtyard disappeared.
I saw an ancient fortress beneath the ground.
Men from House Draven stood before a massive stone door. One of them wore a black ring that looked like mine.
I saw a woman dressed in church robes place a red heart inside an iron box. Her face was hidden, but the ring on her finger matched mine.
Then I heard a voice.
"It will only open when the original blood returns."
The image changed.
I saw the original Veyr inside the throne room.
Blood covered his mouth.
A white sword pierced his chest.
Kaelen stood before him.
Behind Kaelen was a black door, half open.
Two red eyes watched from the other side.
The vision ended.
I returned to my body with my hand still wrapped around the core.
The teeth were closing in.
A red screen appeared.
> Target detected: Guardian Core.
>
> Predator’s Claim available.
>
> Rank cannot be determined.
>
> Absorption may result in host collapse.
There was no confirmation button.
"Wonderful."
The monster’s jaws continued closing.
I tried to pull my hand away.
It did not move.
The core was not holding me with anything I could see, but it would not let me separate from it.
I reached toward the chains with my other hand.
They were hot, but they did not burn me.
I pulled.
They did not move.
Then I understood.
The ring was not a weapon.
The lock.
I looked at my hand.
"Then what am I?"
The core pulsed beneath my fingers.
No one answered.
The teeth came closer to my head.
"Open."
Everything remained still.
"Open!"
Red light burst from my finger.
The first chain trembled.
Then broke.
The monster screamed and shook violently.
The second chain snapped.
Its mouth stopped for a moment.
Kaelen was standing on the lower jaw, holding his white sword between the teeth.
"Veyr!"
"Move!"
"I’m not moving!"
"This is not the time for heroics!"
"I didn’t ask for your opinion!"
His sword slipped slightly.
The jaw began descending.
"Seris!"
Her voice came from outside.
"What do you want?"
"The third chain!"
"I can barely stand!"
"Then cut it while sitting!"
"You’re horrible!"
"I know!"
She raised her hand.
Blood rushed from the wounds into the monster’s mouth and formed a spear that pierced the third chain.
The metal cracked.
Kaelen’s white sword shook in his hands.
The teeth moved closer to his head.
I struck the chain with my hand.
Once.
Twice.
On the third hit, it broke.
The monster stopped.
The light disappeared from its eyes.
Then a voice came from deep inside it.
"Bearer of blood."
I did not move.
I asked without raising my voice, "Who are you?"
"The guardian."
"Guardian of what?"
The monster opened its eye.
It was no longer red.
It was completely black.
"The guardian that waited for the jailer’s return."
Energy exploded from the core into my arm.
I screamed.
My hand tore away from it, but the energy did not stop. Black lines spread from my fingers to my neck.
I lost my balance.
I fell from the monster’s mouth.
Seris caught me before I hit the ground, but my weight dragged her down with me.
Kaelen landed beside us.
He asked what had happened, but Seris placed her fingers near my neck before answering.
"He’s still breathing."
Kaelen looked at her.
"That’s not what I asked."
"Then ask a better question."
The monster began retreating.
It did not attack.
Its body sank into the darkness as if the hole was swallowing it.
Before its head disappeared, it spoke again.
"The door remembers your name."
I looked at the ring.
"I don’t know my name."
The monster’s eye slowly closed.
"It does."
Then the stones closed over the hole.
The fortress shook.
A new screen appeared before my eyes.
> Guardian Core not absorbed.
>
> Connection registered.
>
> New ability available: Abyssal Sense.
>
> Effect: Detects sealed doors, hidden paths, and entities connected to the abyss.
>
> Warning: The guardian has recognized the bearer of blood.
>
> Warning: The bearer has been marked.
The black lines around my neck burned once before fading beneath my skin.
I disliked the mark even more than the warning.
I sat up with difficulty.
Kaelen was staring at the place where the marks had disappeared.
He asked what I had done.
"I saved the fortress."
"That’s not what I saw."
"Then you saw something incomplete."
He continued looking at my neck.
"I saw marks."
Seris pressed a hand against her injured wrist.
"He opened a connection."
Kaelen turned toward her.
"With what?"
"The thing beneath the fortress."
"The monster?"
"The monster was the guardian."
Kaelen straightened and looked toward the fortress.
He wanted to get the people out first.
I shook my head.
Leaving was no longer a solution. If the door opened before we learned how to close it, the area outside the fortress would be no safer than the inside.
He did not like the answer, but he did not argue for long. He said we needed to find out what the fortress was guarding before anyone moved.
The problem was that I did not know.
He asked if I knew how to close it.
"No."
Then he asked if I knew who could.
"No."
He looked at me more narrowly after that, as if he was beginning to understand how large the problem was.
"Do you know anything useful?"
I looked at the ring.
"I know I don’t want to be here when it opens."
Seris said quietly that the ring had not belonged to House Draven.
I turned toward her.
"Then why did my family guard the door?"
She looked toward the fortress.
"Because they were the jailers."
I looked at the ring.
"And the ring?"
She hesitated for a moment.
"The lock."
A sound came from beneath the fortress.
One knock.
Then a second.
Then a third.
This time, it did not come from the hole.
It came from beneath the fortress itself.
Odrik appeared at the entrance to the courtyard, with his sister standing behind him between two soldiers.
He studied the cracks spreading across the ground, then looked at me.
"What did you do, my lord?"
I did not answer.
In the novel, Draeven March had been destroyed in the second Chapter.
I had assumed the church was responsible.
I had been wrong.
The fortress had not been the target.
It had been a cover.
A prison.
And a lock.
I had restarted the key.
I placed my hand over the ring.
Something beneath it pulsed.
Once.
Then again.
A muffled sound came from deep inside the fortress.
Kaelen turned toward me, but he did not need to ask. I was already staring into the darkness between the stones, my sword in my hand.
I did not know what had awakened beneath us.
But I was beginning to understand why House Draven had spent generations guarding this place.
A massive stone door shifted beneath our feet.
It opened another inch.
The ground shook hard enough to throw several soldiers off balance.
A crack tore across the eastern courtyard.
Something struck the other side of the door.
Once.
The stone bulged outward.
Kaelen drew his sword.
Seris stepped back, blood dripping from her fingers.
From inside the fortress, a deep metallic sound rolled through the ground.
The door was not opening by itself.
Something was pushing it open.
The ring grew warm again.
For the first time since I had touched it, the voice inside sounded afraid.
"Run."