The cavern narrowed into a tunnel, its walls glowing faintly with streaks of molten red essence. The heat pressed against their skin, though no flames burned. The deeper they went, the more the air thickened—dense, heavy, as if every breath carried the weight of centuries.
Jonas kept glancing over his shoulder, muttering curses under his breath. "Feels like the walls are breathing. I swear I heard something move back there."
Mara cut him a sharp look. "Focus. Paranoia will get us killed before anything else does."
But she, too, kept her hand near her blade.
Selene halted suddenly, raising her staff. The flame quivered, as if pulled by an unseen wind. A sound rose—soft at first, then swelling.
Whispers.
Eris froze. The voices weren't in the air. They were in his head. Thousands of them, layered one over the other, speaking in a language that shouldn't exist yet still clawed at his understanding.
Liora's face paled. "Do you hear them too?"
"Yes," Eris breathed, clutching his temples. "They're calling me."
The silver veins across his skin pulsed violently, glowing so bright it painted the walls in shifting patterns. He stumbled forward, eyes clouded with light.
Selene caught his arm, her own voice strained. "Do not answer them. These are echoes—souls trapped in essence. If you open yourself too far, you'll drown."
But the whispers grew louder, converging into a single, thunderous phrase:
"Descendant. Release us."
The pools along the tunnel erupted in ripples. Shapes began to form—humanoid, but twisted, their bodies made of liquid fire and shadow. They crawled out slowly, dragging themselves toward the group, their mouths moving with the same wordless chant.
Jonas drew his pistol, firing into the nearest shape. The bullet hissed through, splattering liquid fire across the walls, but the figure reformed instantly.
Mara stepped forward, blades flashing. Her strikes severed the shapes again and again, but they only slithered back together.
Selene slammed her staff to the ground. A shockwave of white flame burst outward, halting the creatures for a heartbeat. "They cannot be killed by steel or fire. They are bound echoes!"
Eris fell to his knees, the whispers deafening now. He clenched his fists, silver light spilling out like wildfire.
Liora dropped beside him, holding his face. "Eris, listen to me. Don't let them pull you under. Use it—don't surrender to it!"
The echoes pressed closer, the tunnel filling with their molten glow. The air turned suffocating, vibrating with their chant.
Eris raised his head. His eyes blazed pure silver.
And for the first time, he shouted back.
"I am not your vessel—I am your end!"
A wave of silver fire exploded outward, colliding with the essence-born echoes. They shrieked without voices as their forms shattered into fragments of light, dissolving into the walls until the tunnel fell silent once more.
The group stood gasping, weapons still raised, staring at the young Descendant.
Jonas finally broke the silence, voice low. "Remind me never to stand on the wrong side of you, kid."
But Selene's expression was grim. "The echoes would not have stirred unless the Heart is near. Whatever waits for us below… it already knows we are coming."