Chapter 123 – The First Guardian
The doors groaned like the belly of the earth itself.
Kael's chaos surged, every shadow-strand of his power pushing into the carved stone until, at last, the runes flared blinding white. The hinges shrieked as the ancient doors gave way, splitting just enough for stale, cold air to flood the cavern. It smelled of dust, rot, and something sharp, something alive.
Umbra snarled, teeth bared, fur bristling so hard his frame looked twice as large.
Kael's heart hammered as he pulled the doors wider. His chaos soldiers, spectral and silent, marched past him into the breach. For a moment, nothing stirred in the dark—just a yawning black corridor, lined with webbing so thick it looked like draped sheets of silk turned to stone.
Then the sound came.
Click. Click. Click.
The scrape of chitinous legs echoed down the cavern, each strike deliberate, rhythmic. Kael's jaw tightened. He knew what stalked him before it revealed itself.
A shape skittered from the darkness, far larger than any natural spider. Its body was armored in plates of midnight chitin, glossy and ridged with pulsing veins of faint, greenish light. Eight legs spread wide, each as thick as an oak's trunk, the tips barbed like spears. Its mandibles clicked, drooling strands of venom that hissed when they touched the stone floor.
Its eyes—eight of them, arranged in two cruel rows—glimmered like lanterns in the dark.
"A guardian," Kael whispered, recognition cutting through the tension. "The doors weren't sealed for time alone… they were sealed with blood."
The beast shrieked. The sound reverberated through Kael's bones, so sharp his ears rang. His chaos soldiers raised their weapons, shields locking in formation.
"Hold," Kael barked, stepping forward. His chaos burned inside him, but he studied the creature, forcing calm through his fear. Fast legs. Armored torso. Weak point behind the mandibles…
The spider lunged.
Two of the soldiers vanished beneath its bulk, crushed instantly. Mandibles pierced a third, dissolving it with venom that ate through shadow and steel alike.
Kael answered with fire. He thrust his hand forward, a coil of chaos erupting in a spiraling bolt that smashed into the beast's thorax. Chitin cracked, green ichor spraying, but the spider shrieked again, undeterred.
"Shields!" Kael roared. His soldiers locked tight, spears braced as the spider slammed against them. The impact rattled the cavern, but the wall of shadows held—barely.
Kael darted around the flank, weaving through falling stones as the beast tore at the shield line. He hurled another wave of chaos, this time shaping it into a blade of black flame. He slashed across the spider's side, cutting deep enough to shear off one leg.
The creature howled, staggering.
"Umbra!" Kael shouted. The wolf launched from the shadows, teeth sinking into the spider's joint at the base of its leg. The beast thrashed, but Kael's soldiers pinned its limbs, spears sinking deep into its joints.
Kael leapt, chaos magic burning through his body until his eyes glowed like dying suns. He landed atop the spider's head, gripping its mandibles as it bucked and screeched. The chitin burned his hands, venom splattering dangerously close, but he forced his will into a single, brutal strike.
A spear of raw chaos erupted from his palm, piercing straight through the beast's skull.
The spider convulsed, its screeches turning to gurgles, then silence. Its legs collapsed, shaking the cavern floor as it fell.
Kael stood on its corpse, chest heaving, sweat running down his brow. His soldiers dissolved one by one, their task complete. Umbra padded forward, muzzle stained with ichor, eyes locked on his master.
Kael looked down at the beast, then back at the runed doors.
"If this is the guardian," he muttered, "then what lies beyond?"
Hours later, the Hollow's gates opened as Kael returned, leading a team of miners hauling the corpse. The spider's body dragged behind them on sledges—its meat pungent but edible, its chitin glistening, promising armor stronger than steel.
Gasps rose from the villagers. Children peeked from behind mothers, wide-eyed at the sight of the beast's towering form. Soldiers whispered among themselves, some fearful, others reverent.
Fenrik approached first, his face pale. "By the gods, Kael… you brought this thing back?"
Kael nodded. His voice was grim, but steady. "It's food. It's armor. It's proof. The Hollow must grow stronger, and this is the first step."
Thalos crossed his arms, gaze locked on the corpse. "And if there are more like it behind those doors?"
Kael looked past the ogre, eyes hard, haunted by what he'd felt when his hand touched the runes.
"Then we'll have to decide whether to shut them forever," he said, "or walk into the dark and claim what waits within."
The villagers fell silent as the spider's body was dragged through the Hollow's streets. Kael's chest tightened at the sight—part victory, part warning.
The Hollow had tasted its first dungeon.
And the doors were still open.