The underground city remained completely still after the headless giant knelt.
No roaring. No collapsing structures. No movement from the awakened statues surrounding the district. Millions of faceless stone figures remained bowed toward Kael beneath the endless darkness of Nythara while crimson light flowed silently through the veins beneath the ancient streets.
Kael genuinely wished somebody would explain why ancient nightmare creatures kept worshipping him.
Instead, everyone looked equally disturbed.
"That is not normal," Lira said quietly.
"Thank you for the groundbreaking observation," Kael replied without taking his eyes off the giant.
Vhal'Zareth remained motionless near the edge of the abyss, chains hanging silently from its enormous body. Up close, the scale of the thing felt incomprehensible. Entire buildings could fit beneath the massive cloak-like structures draped around its armored frame. The darkness where its head should have been twisted unnaturally, like space itself refused to exist properly there.
And yet— it continued kneeling.
The silver-eyed man finally stepped forward. "It recognizes authority."
Kael looked at him immediately. "Can we stop saying sentences that create ten more questions?"
"You are connected to the Empty Throne. Ancient guardians respond to that authority instinctively."
"That still doesn't explain WHY."
Before the man could answer, the ground beneath the district trembled again.
This time— the city itself awakened further.
Massive structures throughout Nythara began illuminating one after another. Ancient towers flickered with pale light while gigantic mechanisms hidden beneath the streets slowly activated after centuries of silence. Across the abyss, enormous circular structures embedded into the walls started rotating, releasing deep mechanical sounds that echoed throughout the underground civilization.
The buried city was powering on.
Ren turned slowly while watching lights spread across distant districts. "This whole place was asleep…"
"No," the silver-eyed man answered quietly.
He looked toward the colossal throne in the distance.
"It was waiting."
That sentence immediately made Kael uncomfortable.
A deep metallic sound suddenly echoed somewhere nearby.
Then another.
One of the ancient structures beside the avenue began moving.
The group stepped back instinctively as gigantic sections of black stone shifted apart, revealing a massive doorway hidden inside the wall itself. Dust exploded outward while crimson symbols ignited across the opening.
And behind the door—
light.
Warm golden light.
Kael frowned immediately because it was the first non-crimson light they had seen in Nythara.
The silver-eyed man stared at the doorway for several seconds before speaking.
"…Impossible."
Marek noticed his reaction instantly. "What is it?"
The man slowly walked toward the entrance. "This district should have been sealed permanently."
The group followed carefully behind him.
Beyond the doorway lay an enormous interior hall untouched by ruin. Unlike the dark abandoned structures outside, this place looked preserved perfectly. Giant pillars stretched upward beneath a glowing ceiling while ancient chandeliers illuminated the massive chamber with soft golden light.
It looked less like ruins—
and more like somebody still lived there.
Long tables remained untouched. Bookshelves lined entire walls. Massive circular devices rotated silently near the ceiling while ancient water channels flowed beneath sections of the polished black floor.
Lira stared around the hall in disbelief. "How is this place intact?"
Nobody answered.
Because something else had caught their attention.
At the far end of the chamber stood several human figures.
Not statues.
People.
Kael immediately tensed.
The figures wore long dark robes marked with silver symbols resembling fractured rings. Their faces were hidden behind smooth white masks while faint crimson light glowed beneath the cracks running across the masks themselves.
Nobody moved.
The silence became heavy instantly.
Then one of the masked figures stepped forward slowly.
"…So the city was correct."
Its voice echoed strangely beneath the mask, distorted slightly like two voices speaking together.
The silver-eyed man's expression darkened immediately. "You survived."
The masked figure tilted its head slightly. "An unfortunate outcome for some, perhaps."
Marek moved subtly in front of the group. "Who are they?"
The silver-eyed man answered without looking away from them.
"The Archivists of Nythara."
Kael immediately disliked that title.
The masked figure's gaze shifted toward him.
Even through the mask, Kael felt the pressure of it.
Then all the masked figures slowly lowered themselves onto one knee.
"Welcome back," the Archivist said quietly.
"The city has awaited the Throne's return."
The hall remained silent after the Archivists knelt.
Kael stood completely still, trying to process the fact that an ancient underground civilization apparently had a welcoming committee prepared specifically for him. At this point, reality had stopped feeling reliable hours ago.
Still— something about these people felt different from the creatures outside.
More dangerous.
Not physically.
Intellectually.
The masked figures rose slowly from their kneeling positions while the soft golden light of the chamber reflected across the cracks in their white masks. None of them moved aggressively, yet the atmosphere around them felt painfully tense.
Marek did not lower his guard for a second. "You said this city was abandoned."
The silver-eyed man's expression remained cold. "It was supposed to be."
One of the Archivists answered calmly. "Most of Nythara is dead. We simply remained where others could not."
Kael immediately noticed the wording.
Not:
> survived.
But:
> remained.
That sounded intentional.
The lead Archivist stepped forward slowly. Unlike the others, silver markings extended across the edges of their mask in intricate circular patterns resembling throne symbols.
"We observed the awakening from below," they said. "The Empty Resonance has finally returned."
Kael rubbed his forehead tiredly. "Can literally anybody in this underground nightmare explain things like a normal person?"
For the first time, one of the Archivists gave a small amused tilt of the head.
Interesting.
They weren't emotionless.
Just restrained.
The silver-eyed man suddenly spoke sharply. "You should not have activated the city."
"The city activated itself."
"That is impossible."
"Not anymore."
That answer visibly bothered him.
Kael noticed it immediately.
Good.
Finally somebody else looked confused for once.
The lead Archivist turned toward Kael again. "The central systems recognized your existence the moment you entered Nythara."
"That sentence concerns me deeply."
"It should."
Lira stepped beside Kael carefully. "What exactly are you people?"
The Archivist remained silent briefly before answering.
"We are memory keepers."
The golden lights throughout the chamber flickered softly while distant mechanical sounds echoed through the underground city beyond the walls. Somewhere far outside, gigantic structures continued awakening one after another across Nythara.
The Archivist continued walking slowly through the hall as they spoke.
"When the First Ruin began, civilizations collapsed faster than history could record. Entire bloodlines vanished within days. Kingdoms disappeared before messages could spread between continents." Their masked gaze shifted slightly toward the distant city outside. "Humanity was not prepared to survive the fall of the Thrones."
Kael's attention sharpened immediately.
This was the first time somebody had spoken directly about the Ruin without avoiding details.
"The Thrones ruled the world?" Ren asked.
"No." The Archivist stopped beside one of the massive rotating devices near the chamber wall. "They stabilized it."
That sentence made the room quieter instantly.
The silver-eyed man closed his eyes briefly, like he already knew where this conversation was heading.
The Archivist touched the ancient mechanism gently. Symbols illuminated across its surface while glowing projections spread outward into the air above them.
Maps.
Massive world maps.
Kael stared upward as continents appeared across the projection sphere overhead, far larger than any maps taught in modern civilization.
Most horrifyingly— many places were missing from modern records entirely.
"The world was once connected," the Archivist said softly. "Before the Thrones fractured."
The projection shifted again.
Thirteen enormous symbols appeared across the globe, each positioned over different regions of the ancient world. Some glowed brightly.
One remained dark.
The Empty Throne.
The moment it appeared, static rippled violently across the entire projection.
Like reality itself hated the symbol.
"The balance failed when the Empty Throne vanished," the Archivist continued. "The world began rejecting itself."
Kael frowned immediately. "What does that even mean?"
The Archivist looked directly at him.
"It means reality started collapsing."
Silence.
Then distant screaming echoed from outside the hall.
Everyone turned instantly.
One of the massive windows lining the chamber overlooked the underground city beyond. Across the glowing districts of Nythara, the colossal statues had begun moving again.
But this time— they weren't kneeling.
They were turning toward the abyss.
Something was coming.
The entire city suddenly shook violently as a deafening roar exploded through Nythara loud enough to crack sections of the chamber walls.
Kael looked outward just in time to see gigantic black limbs climbing over the edge of the central abyss.
Not one creature.
Dozens.
The skeletal entities were pouring upward from beneath the city itself.
The roar rolling through Nythara did not sound alive.
It sounded ancient.
The gigantic skeletal creatures climbing from the abyss moved like things dragged upward from a nightmare buried too deep beneath reality. Black limbs slammed against the sides of the colossal throne district while broken chains hung from their bodies, scraping sparks across the ancient stone structures around them.
And there were too many.
Kael stared through the massive chamber window as another creature pulled itself over the edge of the abyss. Then another. Then five more shapes emerged beneath the crimson light flooding the underground city.
The statues across Nythara immediately reacted.
Millions of faceless guardians rose simultaneously.
The entire city shook from the movement alone.
Ancient stone giants marched toward the abyss while crimson symbols ignited across their massive bodies. Some leapt directly from the surrounding districts onto the skeletal entities climbing upward, tearing through black armor and bone with enough force to split bridges apart.
The underground city erupted into war.
Lira stared outside in disbelief. "What ARE those things?"
The lead Archivist answered quietly.
"The Hollow Born."
Kael immediately hated the name.
"The Hollow Born were created during the final stage of the First Ruin," the Archivist continued while watching the battle outside. "Fragments of failed existence. Beings rejected by reality after the Thrones fractured."
"That somehow explained absolutely nothing," Kael replied.
Another colossal guardian slammed one of the skeletal creatures back into the abyss below. The impact shattered entire sections of the throne district while crimson light exploded across the underground city.
But the Hollow Born kept climbing.
Relentlessly.
Like they were being drawn upward by something.
Or someone.
The silver-eyed man suddenly looked toward Kael.
His expression hardened immediately.
"They're not attacking the city."
Kael slowly realized it too.
Every Hollow Born emerging from the abyss ignored the guardians whenever possible.
Instead— they all moved toward him.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
The nearest creature suddenly screamed.
Then launched itself across the district.
The gigantic skeletal entity crashed through several ruined structures before slamming directly into one of the awakened statues guarding the avenue outside the hall. Stone exploded everywhere while the guardian was thrown backward into the surrounding towers.
The chamber trembled violently.
Marek immediately stepped forward. "We need to leave. Now."
The Archivists did not move.
The lead figure simply continued staring at Kael.
"The resonance is accelerating faster than predicted."
Kael pointed outside toward the literal apocalypse happening across the city. "Can we continue the mysterious ancient dialogue later?!"
Another impact shook the hall.
This time closer.
One of the chamber walls cracked apart as black skeletal limbs burst partially through the ancient structure before retracting violently. Dust flooded the golden chamber while alarms unlike anything modern echoed throughout Nythara itself.
Deep mechanical sounds rolled beneath the city.
Then the colossal throne at the center of the abyss began glowing brighter.
Every single person in the hall felt the pressure instantly.
The mark inside Kael's chest burned hard enough to nearly drop him to one knee.
Fragments flashed through his mind again.
A black sky splitting apart.
Thirteen colossal thrones.
A war so massive entire oceans burned beneath it.
And standing before the Empty Throne—
the silver-eyed man.
Younger.
Covered in blood.
Kneeling.
Kael stumbled backward as the vision vanished.
The silver-eyed man noticed immediately.
His expression changed for the first time since entering Nythara.
Fear.
"You're remembering too early."
"What did I just see?" Kael demanded.
But before he could answer—
the entire underground city went silent.
Every guardian stopped moving.
Every Hollow Born froze.
Even the mechanical systems throughout Nythara halted instantly.
The silence felt wrong.
Artificial.
Then came footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Echoing from somewhere deeper within the city.
The lead Archivist turned sharply toward the chamber entrance for the first time.
And for the first time since meeting them—
their composure broke.
"No…"
Another step echoed.
The pressure flooding the hall intensified violently. Cracks spread across the polished black floor while the golden lights overhead flickered erratically.
Something was approaching.
Something even the Hollow Born feared.
Then a voice echoed softly throughout the chamber.
"You should have left him forgotten."
Kael's blood ran cold instantly.
Because he recognized the voice.
It was the same voice from the mural.
The figure sitting upon the Empty Throne.