The battlefield was no longer silent.
Chains rattled in the darkness like living serpents, scraping against stone with a hunger that didn't belong to this world. The pit breathed a deep, guttural sound that sent a chill straight through their bones.
Ethan stood with his blade drawn, gold glinting faintly in the moonlight. "Whatever's down there," he muttered, "it's not planning to stay down."
"Then we make sure it does," Mya shot back, fire blazing in her voice as she drew her blade. She stepped forward, her stance firm.
But Alex raised his hand, halting her. His voice was low, steady. "No one moves until we know what it is. We can't just charge in blind."
The shadow from the pit shifted again slow, dragging itself upward. Chains clinked with each inch it climbed. The figure's face was hidden, but its glowing eyes burned through the dark like dying stars.
"Alex," Liam whispered, trembling slightly. His hand gripped his sword, knuckles white. "T-That thing's looking right at us."
"Yeah," Vile said, adjusting his glasses nervously. "And judging by the way those chains are moving, I'd say it's… aware."
Kira stood beside Alex, silent but alert. Her sharp gaze followed the movement of every chain, calculating, measuring. "It's testing us. Watching."
Lyra's soft voice cut through the clamor. "Then we mustn't show fear."
The ground trembled as one of the chains cracked loose from the pit's rim, lashing across the field with terrifying speed. Ethan reacted first, swinging his sword to deflect it. Sparks exploded as metal struck metal.
"Whoa !" Ethan staggered back, breath sharp. "These chains aren't normal iron!"
Vile's mind was already racing. "They're infused with energy signatures. I can feel it through the ground. It's… alive."
"Focus!" Alex barked. "Form up!"
The team shifted instantly Alex at the front, Ethan and Mya flanking, Kira close to his side, Liam slightly behind but ready, Lyra in the center, and Vile analyzing every movement.
From the darkness, the creature finally emerged.
A tall, gaunt figure wrapped in chains, its body like cracked stone stitched together by black metal. The Scythe of Chains floated just behind it, suspended in the air, whispering like wind through broken tombstones.
"...Who dares," it rasped, its voice like rust scraping metal, "to walk the grave of the bound?"
Mya didn't flinch. "We're not here to bow."
"Then you are here… to break."
Before anyone could move, three chains whipped out like blades. Kira's reflexes blurred as she dodged, Ethan blocked one, and Liam despite his fear threw himself forward to shield Lyra, his sword shattering against the force but diverting the strike just enough.
"Liam!" Lyra cried, catching him as he stumbled.
He coughed, gripping his arm but forcing a shaky smile. "I-I'm fine… I said I'd protect you, right?"
Alex stepped forward, power burning behind his calm eyes. "We're not leaving here empty-handed. That Scythe belongs with us."
The chained figure tilted its head, the sound of metal groaning. "The Scythe belongs to none. It remembers wars your kind has long forgotten."
Ethan smirked, gold glimmering in his eyes. "Yeah? Well… time for it to remember us."
The battlefield erupted.
Chains lunged like wild beasts, slamming into the ground and throwing up clouds of dirt and bone. Mya dashed forward, blades sparking with each strike against the metal. Kira's movements were silent and precise, cutting through weak links like whispers in the dark. Vile shouted readings and angles, guiding their attacks with surgical precision.
Liam, though shaking, held the line beside Lyra, whose warm light created a faint barrier against the onslaught.
And at the center of it all Alex, calm and unshaken, raised his sword. "We end this together. No one fights alone."
As the creature roared, the Scythe pulsed a heartbeat of power older than their world.
And the chains… began to move with purpose.