The ruins grew quieter after the kill
too quiet.
Kian wiped his hands on his torn shirt, though the blood stains refused to go anywhere. His breathing was still uneven, his body trembling with leftover adrenaline. He had survived, but barely.
The sky dimmed even further, and a cold fog rolled between the broken pillars like something alive.
He stood up, scanning the environment with his newly gained vision. Every shadow seemed deeper, every movement sharper. He could see the outlines of creatures hiding far beyond the mist—small ones, crawling ones, things with too many limbs.
But none dared approach.
That alone made his skin crawl.
He took a few slow steps forward, not sure where he was going but knowing he couldn't stay. The ground here felt wrong. Every stone carried something ancient, heavy, and judgmental.
Then
clang!
Metal struck stone somewhere ahead.
Kian froze. His fingers tightened around the broken stone shard he still held. His heart hammered in his chest.
A silhouette appeared, walking through the fog
slow, confident, deliberate.
Human.
At least the shape was.
She stepped fully into view: a tall woman dressed in dark armor that looked forged from shadow itself. Two black blades hung at her sides, and strange glowing patterns ran down her arms like living tattoos.
Her eyes were the color of winter—sharp, cold, unreadable.
She stopped several feet away and studied him without blinking.
"You don't belong here," she said.
Her voice was calm but razor-edged, like she was one breath away from pulling a blade.
Kian swallowed. "I don't even know where 'here' is."
Her gaze narrowed. "You speak like an outsider…"
She circled him slowly, analyzing every movement he made, every breath he took. It felt like being inspected by a predator who hadn't decided if you were prey or not.
"What are you?" she finally asked.
Kian frowned. "What do you mean what am I? I'm"
She cut him off.
"No human arrives here without surviving the Vein Storm. No warrior enters the Shadow Ruins without training. And no one… no one kills a Shadehorn on their first breath."
Her eyes dropped briefly to the beast's corpse behind him.
Then she looked back, expression unreadable.
"That makes you dangerous."
Kian stiffened. "I didn't ask to be here. I just woke up"
"Lies."
She gripped one of her blades.
Kian raised his hands. "Hey hold on. I'm not your enemy."
The woman's eyes flicked to the black sigil partially visible on his chest through his torn shirt. Her entire posture changed.
She stepped back sharply.
"The Sigil of Echo…" she whispered. "Impossible."
Kian looked down at himself. "You know what this thing is?"
She didn't answer.
She was too busy staring at him like he was a ghost from a nightmare.
"You should not exist," she murmured.
A chill ran through Kian. "Can someone please explain things to me?! What is this place? Why am I here?"
Instead of responding, she unsheathed her blade and pointed it at him.
"If the Council sees you, they'll kill you on sight."
"Why?!"
"Because Echo bearers bring calamity."
Kian felt his stomach drop. "I don't even know what an Echo bearer is"
"You will," she interrupted sharply. "But for now, stay quiet."
The fog behind her shifted.
Something was moving.
Her expression hardened immediately. She leaned forward slightly, blades angled for a fight.
"Damn," she whispered. "They followed you."
Kian's pulse spiked. "What followed me?"
She didn't look away from the fog.
"Hunters."
As if summoned by her voice, multiple glowing eyes lit up inside the mist red, blue, violet. Dozens of them. The air vibrated with low growls.
The woman stepped closer to him, her voice low and urgent.
"Listen carefully: You may not understand this world… but you want to live, yes?"
Kian nodded, heart pounding.
"Then stay behind me. Do exactly what I say."
"How am I supposed to trust you?" he asked.
She didn't look at him.
"You killed a Shadehorn alone. You have the sigil. You survived the fall. That makes you more valuable alive than dead for now."
She tightened her grip on her blades.
"And besides… if you stay there any longer, you'll die in the next ten seconds."
Kian looked back at the glowing eyes nearing them
too many, too fast.
"…Okay," he said. "I'm with you."
The woman smirked faintly.
"Good. My name is Nyra."
She raised her blade.
"And if you want to survive the Shadow Realm
keep up."
The hunters burst from the fog.
And Chapter 3 ended with steel, shadows, and the beginning of a terrifying partnership.