The next level was nothing like the first.
There were no packs waiting in the darkness.
No scattered movement. No dozens of bodies slipping between the rocks.
For several seconds after they crossed the threshold, there was only silence.
Then the ground moved.
Not trembled.
Moved.
The stone beneath their feet rose by several inches before dropping again, sending a slow vibration through the soles of their boots. Loose fragments rolled across the black ground. A few brittle plants growing from the cracks bent beneath the disturbance, their thin stems bowing until their leaves nearly touched the earth.
Vaelyn stopped.
The others did too.
Far ahead, something shifted behind the enormous formations of black stone.
At first, it looked like a hill.
Then the hill stood up.
