The moment the symbols beneath Kael's feet ignited, the entire underground chamber descended into chaos.
Ancient crimson light spread across the stone floor in massive circular patterns, climbing the walls and pillars like veins awakening after centuries of dormancy. Every symbol carved into the underground structure began glowing simultaneously, illuminating hidden markings nobody had noticed before beneath layers of dust and age.
The academy alarms died instantly. Not malfunctioned. Silenced.
As though something deeper than the academy systems had taken control.
Kael stood frozen at the center of the expanding formation, staring downward while heat pulsed beneath his skin. The mark inside his chest burned painfully now, each heartbeat sending waves of pressure through his body hard enough to make breathing difficult.
Around him, officers and technicians backed away instinctively.
Nobody told them to.
Their bodies reacted on their own.
Even the air felt wrong near Kael now.
The silver-eyed man moved first.
"Move him away from the center," he said sharply.
Marek immediately stepped forward, but the moment he crossed the outer edge of the glowing symbols—
the chamber shook violently.
A pulse exploded outward from the floor.
Not destructive.
Rejecting.
Marek was thrown backward hard enough to slam into one of the stone pillars behind him. Several officers nearly lost their footing as the crimson light intensified further across the chamber.
Kael looked up immediately. "Marek—"
"I'm fine," the instructor growled while standing again, though blood now ran faintly down one side of his forehead.
Lira stared at the floor around Kael in disbelief. "It pushed him away…"
The silver-eyed man's expression had become darker than before. Not fear exactly.
Recognition.
"The seal beneath the academy is responding to him."
Kael laughed once nervously despite the situation. "You keep saying horrifying things with way too much calm."
Nobody answered.
Because something beneath the chamber had started moving.
A deep sound echoed upward through the underground structure.
Not mechanical.
Breathing.
Massive breathing.
The floor trembled again beneath everyone's feet while dust drifted endlessly from the ceiling overhead. Somewhere deeper below the academy, colossal mechanisms older than recorded civilization had begun awakening one after another.
Ren slowly looked toward the darkness beneath the lower stairwell sectors. "There are more chambers under this one."
The silver-eyed man nodded once.
"Far below."
Marek wiped the blood from his forehead while glaring toward him. "You knew."
"Yes."
"And you never warned anyone?"
The man's silver eyes remained fixed on Kael. "Because they were never supposed to awaken again."
The crimson symbols continued spreading wider across the chamber floor until they reached the massive gate itself. The ancient metal immediately began vibrating violently as the glowing patterns climbed across its surface like fire.
Then—
every person in the chamber heard it.
A voice.
Not inside their heads like Kael.
This time it echoed physically throughout the underground structure itself.
Ancient.
Massive.
Sleeping.
The Throne stirs.
Several officers immediately panicked.
"What the hell was that?!"
"That wasn't human—"
The chamber shook violently again before they could continue.
One of the surveillance screens suddenly reactivated through heavy static.
The footage outside had become nightmarish.
District 17 was collapsing.
The battle between the faceless Guardian and the skeletal giant had torn apart entire western sectors of the city. Buildings burned beneath the storm while military forces retreated deeper toward the inner districts.
But worse—
more colossal silhouettes had reached the walls.
At least five now.
Each completely different from the others.
One resembled a towering cloaked figure dragging chains larger than skyscrapers behind it.
Another crawled across the ruined horizon on dozens of elongated limbs.
And far beyond them—
something enormous moved within the clouds themselves.
Lira's voice nearly failed. "How did humanity survive this before?"
The silver-eyed man answered quietly.
"Most civilizations didn't."
The room fell silent.
Kael forced himself to breathe steadily while staring at the screen. Everything had escalated so far beyond normal comprehension that part of his mind simply refused to process it anymore.
This morning he was worried about synchronization exams.
Now ancient cosmic beings were surrounding the city because of him.
The thought made him feel sick.
Then suddenly—
the glowing symbols beneath his feet changed.
The circular patterns across the chamber floor began rotating slowly.
Ancient stone groaned beneath the movement while hidden mechanisms deep underground awakened fully for the first time in centuries.
The silver-eyed man's expression changed instantly.
"No…"
The center of the chamber split open.
Massive cracks spread across the glowing floor before ancient stone platforms slowly descended downward into darkness beneath the academy.
A staircase.
No—
something much larger.
An entire pathway hidden below the underground chamber itself.
Cold air rushed upward from the opening, carrying with it the smell of ancient dust, rainwater, and something far older.
Kael stared downward into the darkness below.
And immediately felt recognition again.
Not fear.
Not mystery.
Memory.
Like part of him already knew what waited beneath the academy.
The voice echoed again throughout the chamber.
Clearer now.
Closer.
Return to the Throne.
Kael moved before anyone else did.
The moment the staircase revealed itself beneath the chamber floor, the pressure inside his chest intensified violently, pulling at him like an invisible chain. Ancient wind rushed upward from the darkness below while the crimson symbols across the walls pulsed faster and faster.
Then the academy shook again.
A massive impact exploded somewhere above them. The entire underground chamber tilted hard enough to throw several officers off balance while chunks of stone crashed from the ceiling.
"The western structure collapsed!" one technician shouted.
The surveillance screens flickered wildly. The faceless Guardian had been thrown through part of the academy exterior by the skeletal giant outside, tearing apart entire sections of the upper sectors during the collision.
And worse—
another colossal silhouette had entered the city.
This one moved unnaturally fast.
Too fast for something that size.
Marek grabbed Kael's shoulder immediately. "You're not going down there."
Kael looked toward the staircase again. "That thing downstairs clearly disagrees."
The silver-eyed man suddenly turned sharply toward the upper chamber exits. His expression changed instantly.
"Move."
The next second—
something slammed into the underground ceiling from above.
Stone exploded inward.
A gigantic black limb burst through the chamber roof, crushing one of the upper platforms instantly beneath its weight. Officers scattered while debris and dust flooded the underground sector.
Screams echoed everywhere.
The thing hanging from the ceiling looked like a massive skeletal arm covered in dark flesh and glowing fractures. Long clawed fingers dragged across the chamber walls while crimson light spread around the impact point.
The creature from outside had reached the academy.
And it was digging downward.
"GET BACK!" Marek roared.
The arm smashed downward again.
The underground floor shattered.
One entire side of the chamber collapsed instantly into darkness below while academy personnel were thrown across the room. Kael barely avoided falling as Ren grabbed his arm and pulled him backward.
The silver-eyed man moved faster than anyone could process.
One moment he stood beside the gate.
The next—
he appeared directly beneath the descending limb.
Then he raised one hand.
The impact stopped.
The entire chamber froze.
The gigantic claw capable of tearing apart buildings halted inches above him, held back by a single outstretched arm.
For the first time since meeting him, the silver-eyed man looked dangerous.
Not mysterious.
Not calm.
Terrifying.
Cracks of pale silver light spread across his arm while ancient symbols ignited beneath his feet.
Then he pushed upward.
The colossal limb exploded backward through the ceiling in a storm of shattered bone and black blood.
Everyone stared in complete silence.
Kael blinked once. "Okay."
The silver-eyed man turned immediately toward the staircase below. "There's no time anymore. It knows where you are."
Another roar shook the academy.
The creature above began tearing through the structure again.
Marek clenched his jaw tightly. "If we go down there, we don't know what's waiting."
"If you stay up here," the silver-eyed man answered coldly, "you die."
That ended the discussion.
The chamber began collapsing rapidly now. Ancient pillars cracked apart while the ceiling continued caving inward under repeated impacts from above. Emergency systems sparked violently across the underground sector.
Kael looked toward the staircase descending into darkness.
That same feeling kept pulling him downward.
Memory.
Recognition.
Like the path below had been waiting for him specifically.
Lira grabbed weapons from one of the fallen officers and tossed one toward Kael. "Please tell me you know how to use this."
Kael caught it awkwardly. "Absolutely not."
"Perfect."
Another crash echoed overhead.
The skeletal arm smashed through the ceiling again, larger this time, ripping apart entire sections of the chamber while academy officers opened fire desperately against the creature above.
Blue Veyra blasts lit the darkness.
None of them slowed it.
"MOVE!" Marek shouted.
The group sprinted toward the staircase as the underground chamber collapsed behind them. Kael nearly slipped on broken stone while Ren pulled Lira away from falling debris beside him.
The staircase spiraled endlessly downward beneath the academy ruins, illuminated only by the glowing crimson symbols lining the ancient walls.
And the deeper they descended—
the older everything became.
The clean academy structure vanished completely after the first several levels. What remained beneath looked less like human construction and more like buried civilization.
Massive statues lined the walls.
Faceless statues.
Thousands of them.
Some knelt.
Some stood holding broken weapons.
Others looked upward toward the darkness above like worshippers awaiting something divine.
Kael's chest tightened harder with every step downward.
The silver-eyed man moved ahead of them quickly now, his expression darker than before.
"What's down here?" Ren asked.
The man answered without slowing.
"The first place humanity buried."
The staircase seemed endless.
Their footsteps echoed through the buried ruins beneath Veyra Academy while the world above continued collapsing behind them. Dust drifted constantly from the ceiling overhead, sometimes accompanied by distant impacts that shook the ancient structure around them. Whatever was attacking the academy had not stopped digging downward.
And it was getting closer.
Kael forced himself to keep moving despite the pressure building inside his chest. The farther they descended, the worse the feeling became. Every wall, every symbol, every ruined statue they passed felt familiar in ways he could not explain.
Not familiar like memory.
Instinct.
Like his body recognized this place before his mind did.
The crimson symbols lining the staircase pulsed faintly as they passed, illuminating gigantic murals carved directly into the underground walls. Most were damaged by age, but Kael still caught glimpses of impossible scenes: colossal beings standing over burning worlds, oceans split apart beneath black skies, armies kneeling before enormous thrones.
And in nearly every mural—
one throne remained empty.
Lira noticed it too. "Why is that throne always empty?"
The silver-eyed man answered while moving ahead. "Because history was rewritten around its absence."
"That's not a normal sentence," Kael muttered.
Another violent tremor shook the staircase. Somewhere far above them, something enormous roared loud enough for the sound to reach even this deep underground.
Then came another sound.
Closer.
The creature digging through the academy had entered the lower sectors.
Marek looked upward sharply. "It's following us."
"Of course it is," Kael said. "That would be too convenient otherwise."
The staircase finally opened into a massive underground city.
Everyone stopped moving.
The space beneath the academy was so enormous it physically distorted perspective. Ancient black structures stretched endlessly into darkness while gigantic bridges connected ruined towers far above a vast underground abyss. Crimson light flowed through cracks in the architecture like veins beneath stone.
And everywhere—
statues.
Not hundreds.
Millions.
Entire crowds of faceless figures filled the underground city, frozen permanently in kneeling positions facing a colossal structure at the center of the abyss.
A throne.
Even from this distance, the thing looked massive enough to rival mountains.
Kael's breathing slowed.
The moment he saw it—
the mark beneath his skin pulsed painfully.
The silver-eyed man stopped near the edge of the ruined platform overlooking the buried city. "Welcome to Nythara."
Ren scanned the endless ruins carefully. "This entire civilization was beneath the academy?"
"Beneath humanity itself."
Lira stared toward the gigantic throne in disbelief. "Nobody found this?"
"They did." The silver-eyed man's expression darkened slightly. "Nobody survived long enough to speak about it."
That explained a lot.
A deep cracking sound suddenly echoed through the underground city.
Everyone turned instantly.
Far above them—
the ceiling exploded inward.
The creature had reached them.
A colossal skeletal form crashed through layers of ancient stone and academy ruins before slamming onto one of the massive bridges crossing the abyss. Black dust erupted everywhere while the structure beneath it cracked violently under its weight.
Now they could finally see it properly.
The creature resembled a twisted humanoid stretched across enormous skeletal limbs. Black armor-like flesh covered parts of its body while pale light burned within the gaps between exposed ribs. Its faceless head slowly turned toward the group.
Then it screamed.
The sound shook the entire underground city.
Statues cracked.
Bridges trembled.
The abyss below rippled like disturbed water despite containing only darkness.
"RUN," Marek shouted immediately.
The creature moved instantly.
Despite its massive size, it crossed the bridge with horrifying speed, smashing ancient structures apart as it lunged toward them. Officers opened fire while retreating backward, blue Veyra blasts exploding harmlessly across its body.
Kael sprinted beside the others across the ruined platform while debris rained around them. Behind him, the creature tore through the underground city like a nightmare unleashed after centuries of imprisonment.
The silver-eyed man suddenly stopped.
Then turned.
Silver light exploded across his eyes.
The underground city trembled violently as ancient symbols ignited beneath his feet again. This time Kael noticed something terrifying—
the ruins themselves were responding to him.
Entire sections of the buried city began glowing.
The silver-eyed man raised one hand toward the charging creature.
And the colossal throne in the abyss answered.
A deep sound echoed throughout Nythara.
Ancient.
Awakening.
Then gigantic chains erupted upward from the darkness below, wrapping around the creature mid-charge before slamming it violently into the ruined bridge beneath it.
The impact shattered entire sections of the underground city.
Kael nearly lost balance from the shockwave alone.
The silver-eyed man's voice echoed across the abyss now, no longer sounding entirely human.
"Stay behind me."