The bell's laughter followed them.
It did not echo in the chamber the way sound should. It lingered, clinging to the air like a residue Ashen could taste—metallic, bitter, old. The chains anchoring the colossal bell swayed gently, though nothing touched them, their links groaning in protest.
Ashen stood at the chamber's edge, staring down into the chasm beneath the bell.
There was no bottom.
Not darkness—absence. A void so complete his eyes slid away from it, unable to find anything to hold onto. And yet he felt it watching him, patient and alert, as if the emptiness itself had learned his shape.
Mara shifted beside him. "Tell me that laugh didn't come from down there."
Ashen didn't answer immediately. The mark on his chest throbbed in slow, deliberate pulses, matching the bell's sway.
"Yes," he said finally. "And no."
She grimaced. "That's not helpful."
The chains suddenly jerked.
Metal shrieked as one of the massive links cracked, a spiderweb of fractures racing across it before stopping—just short of snapping.
Ashen flinched. Pain lanced through his chest as if the chain had been hooked directly into his ribs.
"It's testing the seal," he gasped.
Mara grabbed his arm. "Testing how?"
Another chain shuddered.
From the darkness below, something rose—not a body, not fully. A suggestion of form, defined by the way the air bent around it. Pale symbols flared briefly within the void, mirroring the mark burned into Ashen's skin.
A voice followed.
Not loud. Not threatening.
Almost gentle.
You came early this time.
Ashen's knees weakened. "I don't know what you are."
A pause.
Then a soft, amused sound. You always say that.
The bell swayed again, lower now, closer to the chasm's edge.
Mara stepped in front of Ashen without thinking, blade drawn. "Whatever you are, you don't get him."
The presence shifted, attention brushing over her like cold breath against the back of her neck.
Ah, it murmured. The unmarked one. You never last long.
Ashen felt anger cut through the fear. "Leave her out of this."
The void pulsed.
You speak as though you have authority, the voice said. You have not yet paid the cost.
The chamber darkened.
Ashen suddenly understood.
"This isn't just a seal," he said slowly. "It's a prison."
The chains creaked approvingly.
Better, the voice replied. Words matter here.
Mara glanced between the bell and Ashen. "You're telling me that thing down there is what the bells were built to hold?"
"Yes," Ashen said. "And more."
Fragments of knowledge slid into place—not memories, but impressions pressed into him by the mark. He saw flashes of the past: people ringing the bell not in warning, but in offering. Blood soaking stone. Voices chanting through screams.
"The bells feed it," he whispered. "They don't just bind it. They keep it… satisfied."
The presence stirred, pleased.
Once, you understood your role.
Ashen clenched his fists. "I'm not your keeper."
No, the voice agreed. You are my door.
The bell rang.
Not fully—just a partial strike, muted and wrong—but it was enough.
Pain exploded through Ashen's chest. He cried out as the mark flared bright, symbols lifting from his skin like embers before slamming back into place. He collapsed to one knee, gasping.
Mara shouted his name, dropping beside him, hands hovering helplessly.
The void laughed again—closer now.
Every time the chain weakens, it said, you feel it. Every fracture sings to you. That is how we stay connected.
Ashen forced himself upright, teeth bared. "What do you want?"
Silence.
Then: To be whole.
The words carried weight. Not hunger. Not rage.
Longing.
"You broke something," Ashen said.
The presence did not deny it.
I was divided, it said. Scattered across thresholds. Sealed with bells and blood. You are the last piece that remembers how to open.
Mara shook her head fiercely. "He won't do it."
The void's attention brushed her again, colder this time.
You will try to stop him, it said. You always do.
Ashen snapped his head up. "What does that mean?"
The chamber trembled.
Visions slammed into him—too fast, too sharp. Different faces. Different bodies. Always the mark. Always the bell. And beside him, again and again, someone like Mara—standing defiant, dying screaming.
Ashen roared, clutching his head as the visions ripped away.
"No," he gasped. "That's not how this ends."
A long pause.
It can, the presence said softly. If you choose better than the others.
The chains rattled as if in anticipation.
Mara grabbed Ashen's shoulders, forcing his focus back to her. "Look at me," she said urgently. "Whatever it's showing you—it lies."
He met her eyes.
"I don't think it is," he whispered. "But I don't think it knows everything either."
The mark pulsed—once, sharp and deliberate.
Ashen understood what the chamber was demanding.
Blood had opened the door.
But blood could also bind it further.
He stood, unsteady but determined, and stepped toward the bell.
Mara lunged for him. "Ashen, don't—"
"I have to," he said. "If I don't act now, it'll keep pushing until the chains break."
The presence went still.
Careful, it warned. You risk tearing yourself apart.
Ashen placed his bloodied palm against the nearest chain.
Cold surged through him, flooding his veins with something ancient and vast. He gritted his teeth and pushed back, focusing on the mark, on the bell above, on the idea of containment rather than surrender.
The chain flared with light.
Cracks sealed. Metal groaned as it tightened, pulling the bell higher from the chasm.
The void howled.
Not in rage—but in pain.
You would bind yourself further? it demanded. You do not understand the cost.
Ashen screamed as something inside him locked into place, heavier than before. The mark burned, then dimmed, leaving behind a deep, bone-aching exhaustion.
The chamber fell silent.
The presence withdrew, sinking back into the void.
This is not over, it said quietly. It never is.
The bell stilled.
Ashen collapsed backward, catching himself against the stone.
Mara was at his side instantly. "You idiot," she breathed, half-laughing, half-sobbing. "You absolute idiot."
He managed a weak smile. "Still alive."
"For now."
The chamber began to fade, walls dissolving into shadow as the corridor reformed behind them.
Ashen stared at the bell one last time as it receded into darkness.
He could still feel it.
Waiting.