The chained creature slammed against the ruined bridge again, its scream shaking the underground city hard enough to send cracks racing across nearby towers. Gigantic black chains wrapped around its limbs and ribs, dragging sparks of crimson light through the darkness below the abyss.
Kael stared at the silver-eyed man in disbelief.
The calm, almost detached figure from the chamber above was gone. Standing at the edge of the broken platform now, he looked like part of the buried city itself. Pale symbols burned across his arms while silver light flowed through his eyes like liquid flame.
Even the air around him felt heavier.
The creature roared again and pulled against the chains with enough force to snap part of the bridge apart. Massive chunks of stone crashed into the abyss below, disappearing into darkness without a sound.
"We need to move," Marek said immediately. "Now."
The silver-eyed man did not turn around. "Go toward the central structure. Do not stop moving."
"You're staying here?" Lira asked.
"For a moment."
That answer alone sounded dangerous.
Another chain erupted upward from the abyss and pierced directly through the creature's shoulder, pinning it violently against the collapsing bridge. Black blood sprayed across the ancient structures while the entire underground city trembled from the impact.
Kael did not wait for another explanation. He followed Marek and the others across the ruined platform while the battle behind them intensified rapidly. The buried city of Nythara stretched endlessly in every direction, filled with ancient towers, collapsed bridges, gigantic statues, and glowing crimson veins running beneath the architecture itself.
The deeper they moved into the city, the stranger everything became.
Some structures resembled temples. Others looked almost mechanical, covered in rotating circular symbols embedded directly into the stone. Massive faceless statues lined entire roads, all kneeling toward the colossal throne at the center of the abyss.
Kael kept noticing the same symbol repeatedly carved into walls and pillars:
a circular throne surrounded by thirteen fractured rings.
The Empty Throne symbol.
His chest tightened every time he saw it.
Ren moved beside him while scanning the ruins carefully. "This place doesn't look destroyed."
Kael noticed it too.
That was the disturbing part.
Nythara looked abandoned,
not ruined.
There were no signs of war.
No skeletons.
No collapsed battlefields.
It looked like an entire civilization had simply vanished overnight.
Another deafening roar echoed behind them. Kael turned briefly and saw the chained creature tear one arm free before lunging toward the silver-eyed man again with terrifying speed.
Then silver light exploded across the abyss.
The impact shattered several bridges instantly.
Marek grabbed Kael's shoulder and forced him forward again. "Eyes ahead."
They entered a massive avenue lined with gigantic black pillars stretching hundreds of meters upward into darkness. Crimson symbols glowed faintly across the floor beneath their feet while ancient murals covered the surrounding walls.
This time the murals were clearer.
Kael slowed slightly while looking at them.
The first mural showed thirteen enormous thrones standing beneath a black sky.
The second showed civilizations kneeling before them.
The third—
Kael stopped walking.
One throne had been carved out of the mural entirely.
Not damaged.
Removed.
The stone itself looked violently erased from existence.
Lira noticed his expression immediately. "What?"
Kael pointed silently toward the mural.
Even Marek frowned after seeing it.
The missing throne section wasn't broken naturally. The surrounding carvings remained perfectly preserved while the missing portion looked unnaturally smooth, as if reality itself had rejected the image.
Ren stepped closer. "Someone erased it intentionally."
"No," came a voice behind them.
Everyone turned instantly.
The silver-eyed man had returned.
There was no sign of the creature behind him anymore.
Only silence.
His coat was partially torn now and faint silver cracks spread across one side of his neck, disappearing beneath his collar. Yet his expression remained unreadable.
"What happened to that thing?" Kael asked.
"It will return eventually."
That was not reassuring.
The silver-eyed man walked toward the mural slowly, his silver eyes fixed on the empty section where the throne should have been.
"History was rewritten around the Empty Throne," he said quietly. "But rewriting reality leaves scars."
He touched the erased section gently.
The wall reacted instantly.
Crimson light spread across the mural while the entire avenue began trembling beneath them. Ancient mechanisms awakened somewhere deep within the underground city, echoing through the massive structures around them.
Then the mural changed.
The stone surface liquefied into moving images.
Everyone froze.
The ancient city of Nythara appeared across the wall in vivid detail, alive and illuminated beneath a black sky. Millions of people filled enormous streets while gigantic floating structures hovered above the city like artificial moons.
And at the center of it all—
stood thirteen colossal thrones.
Occupied.
Kael's heartbeat slowed.
The figures seated upon them looked exactly like the beings from the Black Sea.
The moving mural continued shifting rapidly.
The sky above Nythara suddenly cracked open.
Darkness poured downward across the world while entire sections of the city began collapsing into black voids. The people below started running in panic as gigantic creatures emerged from the fractured sky itself.
War.
The First Ruin.
Kael stared at the mural as one of the thrones suddenly rose from its place.
The Empty Throne.
Unlike the others, its ruler was hidden completely in darkness.
Then the mural glitched violently.
Not visually.
Reality itself seemed to distort around the image.
The silver-eyed man's expression changed immediately.
"No…"
The moving mural began breaking apart.
The figure upon the Empty Throne slowly turned—
toward Kael.
And spoke.
"You were never meant to return."
The moment the figure inside the mural spoke, the entire avenue shook violently.
Not like an earthquake.
Like the city itself had reacted.
Every crimson symbol across the pillars ignited simultaneously while a deep sound echoed beneath Nythara, ancient enough to make Kael's chest tighten painfully.
"You were never meant to return."
The voice did not sound loud, yet it filled the entire underground city. Lira immediately stepped backward while Ren instinctively reached for his weapon again. Even Marek looked visibly unsettled now.
But Kael couldn't move.
The figure sitting upon the Empty Throne remained completely covered in darkness, impossible to identify properly despite standing directly before him through the mural projection. Yet Kael felt something horrifyingly familiar from it.
Not recognition.
Connection.
The silver-eyed man reacted instantly. He slammed his hand against the wall and the mural shattered apart into fragments of crimson light.
Silence returned.
For several seconds nobody spoke.
Then Kael finally looked toward him. "You wanna explain why ancient nightmare king version of me just threatened me?"
"That was not you."
"Fantastic. Somehow worse."
The silver-eyed man stared at the broken mural carefully, his expression darker than before. "The memory should not have activated."
"Memory?" Ren asked sharply.
"Nythara records fragments of the past. Important events. Important beings." He slowly lowered his hand from the wall. "But that projection was aware of Kael's presence."
Lira frowned. "Memories aren't supposed to do that."
"No," the silver-eyed man answered quietly. "They are not."
Another tremor rolled through the avenue beneath them. Far behind the massive pillars, distant roaring echoed through the underground city again.
The chained creature was still alive.
And moving.
Marek immediately looked toward the sound. "We need a route out of here."
"There is no route out," the silver-eyed man replied. "Only downward."
Kael exhaled slowly. "I'm starting to really hate ancient civilizations."
The group continued deeper into Nythara. The avenue eventually opened into a gigantic circular district surrounding the central abyss itself. Massive bridges stretched across the darkness toward the colossal throne in the distance while countless abandoned structures surrounded them like silent monuments to a dead world.
The scale of everything felt impossible.
Some towers extended so high they vanished into darkness above. Others had collapsed sideways across entire districts, forming gigantic stone pathways suspended over the abyss.
And everywhere— the statues kept kneeling.
Millions of faceless figures frozen in worship toward the central throne.
Kael noticed something else now.
The farther they walked, the more intact the city became.
Dust disappeared.
The crimson veins beneath the structures glowed brighter.
Some mechanisms embedded into the walls were still moving slowly despite their age. Circular devices rotated silently inside the stone while distant lights flickered through abandoned towers deeper within the city.
Nythara wasn't dead.
It was dormant.
The realization sent a chill through him.
Lira noticed it too. "This place is still functioning…"
The silver-eyed man gave a small nod. "Partially."
"After how many years?"
"…Longer than your civilizations have existed."
Kael looked around again, trying to comprehend that scale of time. Humanity had built entire modern nations above this buried city without ever understanding what slept beneath them.
Then suddenly— a light appeared across the abyss.
Everyone stopped.
Far away near the colossal throne, something had awakened.
A massive circular structure embedded into the ground began glowing with pale white light. Ancient mechanisms turned slowly around it while gigantic symbols illuminated one after another across the surrounding ruins.
Kael felt the mark beneath his skin burn again.
The silver-eyed man's expression hardened immediately.
"It found us."
Before anyone could ask what he meant, the ground beneath the district trembled violently.
Then one of the kneeling statues moved.
Stone cracked apart across its massive body as the faceless figure slowly lifted its head for the first time in centuries. Crimson light ignited within the cracks spreading across its form.
Then another statue moved.
And another.
Across the district, countless ancient figures began awakening one after another, their stone bodies groaning loudly while pieces of rock fell from them like ash.
Ren stared in disbelief. "Tell me those are friendly."
The silver-eyed man remained silent.
Which answered the question perfectly.
The nearest statue rose fully now, towering over the surrounding structures as crimson light poured through the fractures across its faceless body. Ancient symbols burned across its chest while its enormous head slowly turned toward Kael.
Then every awakened statue across Nythara did the same thing simultaneously.
They all looked directly at him.
And knelt.
Kael's brain completely stopped processing reality for a second.
The statues were kneeling.
Not attacking.
Not surrounding them.
Kneeling.
Across the massive district, colossal stone figures bowed their heads toward him one after another while crimson light spread through the cracks in their ancient bodies. The sound alone shook the underground city like thunder rolling endlessly through buried ruins.
Nobody moved.
Lira stared upward at the nearest statue, her voice barely above a whisper. "They're acknowledging him…"
Marek's grip tightened around his weapon immediately. "Or preparing something."
Honestly, Kael preferred that explanation.
Because this— this was worse.
The nearest statue slowly lowered itself further until its gigantic head nearly touched the ruined avenue before them. Crimson symbols ignited across its chest, forming the same thirteen-ring throne symbol Kael had seen throughout the city.
Then the abyss trembled.
A deep sound echoed through Nythara again, louder this time. The gigantic throne at the center of the underground city began glowing faintly beneath layers of darkness while ancient mechanisms awakened around it one after another.
The silver-eyed man's expression darkened instantly.
"We're too late."
Kael looked toward him. "Too late for what exactly?"
Before he could answer, every statue across the district suddenly froze.
Then all of them lifted their heads at once.
Not toward Kael.
Toward the abyss behind him.
Something was climbing upward.
A massive black shape slowly emerged from the darkness below the central throne while ancient chains dragged across the stone beneath it. The sound echoed throughout the underground city like metal scraping across bones.
Kael felt cold spread through his chest immediately.
Not because he recognized the creature.
Because the mark inside him reacted in fear.
The shape continued rising slowly from the abyss until part of it entered the crimson light surrounding the throne district.
Everyone froze.
It was enormous.
Far larger than the skeletal creature from before.
Its body looked almost humanoid, wrapped in layers of ancient black armor covered in glowing fractures. Gigantic chains hung from its limbs while a torn cloak-like structure dragged behind it across the stone.
But the most horrifying part—
its head was missing.
Not destroyed.
Gone.
The neck ended in complete darkness.
And inside that darkness— stars were moving.
Kael immediately took a step backward.
The silver-eyed man quietly spoke one name.
"Vhal'Zareth."
The headless giant stopped moving.
Then slowly turned toward the group despite having no face.
The statues around the district lowered themselves further instantly, almost trembling as they knelt. Even the buried city itself seemed quieter now.
Kael stared upward at the colossal entity while pressure built violently in the air around them. Every instinct inside him screamed the same thing:
this thing was ancient beyond comprehension.
Then the chains hanging from the giant's body began moving on their own. Not attacking.
Reaching.
Toward Kael.
Marek immediately stepped in front of him while blue Veyra energy ignited across his arms. "Back away."
The silver-eyed man's voice cut through the tension instantly.
"That would be a mistake."
The chains stopped inches from Kael before hovering silently in the air around him. Ancient symbols glowed faintly across the black metal while fragments of strange whispers echoed from within them.
Then— Kael heard a voice again.
Not aloud.
Inside his head.
The throne remembers you.
His chest burned painfully.
Fragments flashed across his vision again: burning skies, collapsing kingdoms, gigantic armies kneeling before darkness.
And standing above them—
the headless giant.
Not as an enemy.
As a guardian.
Kael stumbled slightly as the visions vanished.
Lira grabbed his arm immediately. "Kael?"
"I'm fine," he lied instantly.
The headless giant took another step forward.
The entire district shook beneath its weight.
Then, slowly— it knelt too.
The buried city fell silent.
Millions of statues.
Ancient guardians.
Colossal entities.
All kneeling toward Kael beneath the endless darkness of Nythara.
And far above them—
something inside the academy screamed.