The cold deepened at once.Each step seemed to draw a little more warmth from his body.
Kael descended slowly.The air grew heavy with damp, clinging to his skin.His golden eyes caught every fissure, every vein of Magia embedded in the stone.
The banquet's silence had died behind him.Ahead, another rumble took its place.Deeper.Heavier.Accompanied by a metallic chiming—repeating, obsessive.
Chains.Yes.
Thana quivered faintly on his shoulder.She added nothing.She didn't need to.
What they realized then…they could not have sensed before.
The door.It had masked the truth.Like a filter.Like a leaden curtain.
On the other side, density erupted.Magia spilled over them in frozen waves.Crushing.Oppressive.
Kael grimaced.His breath hitched.
Tiny, Thana curled against his neck.— … We couldn't perceive it earlier.It's the door, she said, indicating it.It held everything back.
Kael clenched his teeth.His golden eyes pulsed.Ahead of him, the stair was no longer a passage.It was a descent into a saturated gulf.
Suddenly,a drop slid along his neck.Then another.Then another.
Kael stiffened.He raised a hand, wiped the damp from his skin.
He turned.His heart tightened.
Thana.Perched on his shoulder.In tears.
Large beads rolled down her cheeks, and she seemed not to notice.Her halo trembled, wavering.
— Thana… what's wrong?
She blinked, surprised by her own reaction.As if she hadn't realized she was crying.
A silence.Then, in a low voice:
— I caught… a familiar scent.In the Magia of this underlevel.The same as with the specters.
Her tiny fingers clenched.— But… I can't remember why.It's as if my body remembers.Not my mind.
Kael froze, golden eyes fixed on her.— Then why… why didn't you say anything about the specters?
She looked away.Her tears kept falling.
— Because I wasn't sure.And I didn't want to… add more weight to you for nothing.
Kael was silent.Then, slowly, he raised a hand.
With the tip of his finger, he brushed her tiny cheek.Wiped away a tear still rolling.
Her round, wet cheeks trembled under the touch.Thana blinked, surprised, almost confused.
— Don't carry that alone, he said softly.We'll know.We'll uncover what's buried here.
He gently rubbed her tears away, one by one, as if erasing them from her skin.As if erasing the burden she hadn't dared to share.
Thana lowered her head.Her halo quivered faintly, but her lips stayed closed.
Kael set his jaw.More determined than before.If there was a truth in these walls…he would unearth it.
He stood still a moment.Golden eyes fixed on the runes.Thoughts still snagged on Thana's words.
But her voice returned, harder.Sharper.
— Focus on what's next.You don't know what waits below.
Kael turned his head a fraction.His cheeks still damp, but his gaze burned with new resolve.
He nodded, slow.A breath.Then a step.
The stair sank further.Each tread seemed to swallow the light, one by one.
Kael took the descent.The steps coiled in a narrow, oozing spiral.
The Magia's density engulfed him at once.Like a semi-viscous mist.Every breath felt like immersion.
And yet…he sensed a strange affinity with this energy.Light.Too subtle to grasp.
But a difference, marked.Inexplicable.
He frowned.And of course, turned to Thana.His "specialist."Self-appointed, for lack of anyone else.
She didn't try to explain everything.Her voice rang out—brief, firm:
— When we reach the underlevel, we'll stop for a moment before going on.You'll understand after.And it may benefit you… if you put in the effort.
Kael froze for a heartbeat.More lost than before.
Then he nodded.And resumed his march.Careful step.One after another.
Until the underlevel finally took shape ahead.
A colder breath greeted him.Dense.Loaded with moisture.
The floor widened at last beneath his feet.The stone sweated, gleaming with an oily sheen.
A first chime rang out.Metallic.Isolated.
Then another.And another.In echo, farther on.As if the walls themselves sang under the invisible weight of chains.
Kael halted.His golden gaze raked the faces of the rock.
Marks.Ancient.Cut into the stone.They pulsed faintly, lit by the gold of his eyes.
He reached out.His fingertip brushed a wet carving.A shiver shot through him.
Thana spoke at last.Her low voice vibrated in the saturated air:
— These aren't mere decorations.They're seals.They're closing something.They're closing… souls.
Kael slowly withdrew his hand.His breath grew heavier.The echo of chains intensified, drew closer.
The underlevel opened before him.A narrow black maw, thick with muffled murmurs.
Another chime rang out.Closer.Kael turned his head slightly, senses taut.
But Thana's voice cut his movement clean, cold, commanding:
— Sit.
Kael froze.Stared at her, surprised.
She pressed on, her halo vibrating with renewed intensity:— Now. In the cultivation posture you always use.
He hesitated a second.Then yielded.His knees touched the damp stone.His hands rested on his thighs.Breath slow.Controlled.
Thana drew a little nearer, her tiny gaze locked on his.— We're going to begin what I mentioned earlier.But hear me: you won't have infinite chances.So focus.Every breath.Every fiber.
Kael clenched his jaw.His whole body still thrummed under the Magia's density.But he nodded.
— Understood.
Thana held him in a long look.Her tiny eyes shone with a grave light.
— To start… I'll explain what you sensed in that Magia.The part that unsettled you.
Kael remained still, breath steady.He waited.
— It was black Magia.Like ours.More precisely… Magia of Death.
She paused.Then, lower:
— But not only that.
Her halo vibrated, almost dark.
— It was mixed with demonic Magia.And with Magia of putrefaction.
Kael flinched imperceptibly.The weight of the words thrummed through his core.
Silence fell between them.Thana watched him, gauging.
— That's why you felt an affinity.And at the same time a difference too stark to ignore.
Thana straightened slightly.Her voice turned harder, heavy with meaning.
— I'll be honest with you.I don't yet know the reason.But in your lineage… you carry traces of demonic Magia.
Kael frowned.His golden eyes widened a fraction.
She continued, relentless:— That's why you sensed compatibility.It's in you.But… I'm not fit to guide you there.Attempting to absorb it now… could be fatal.
A cold silence weighed.
Then Thana pressed each word, sharp:
— However, remember this.Magia of putrefaction… you must never approach it.Never.
Her eyes burned with icy intensity.— It resembles Death Magia, yes.But it's corrupted.Degenerate.A poison that consumes everything it touches.
She shook her head, firmer still.— Never absorb it, Kael.Never.
Kael stood motionless.Golden eyes on the floor.
Demonic Magia… in his lineage.The revelation rang like an echo he could not mute.
He drew breath.Long.As if to anchor himself.
Then lifted his head.Jaw set.
— Fine.I heard you.Magia of putrefaction… I'll never touch it.
A deep rumble rolled through the underlevel at once.As if the walls themselves had heard his vow.
Thana tensed.Her halo flashed with a nervous gleam.
Kael clenched his fists.A glacial breath slid into his lungs.Every fiber of his body thrummed beneath the Magia's density.
Something, below, had awakened.