The city groaned beneath them like a beast in its death throes.
Eira stumbled as another quake rippled through the ground. Ancient towers in the distance cracked and leaned, sending fountains of dust into the sky. The Hollow Heart's light was gone now, and in its absence, the city's true decay became visible—veins of magic shriveling, stone melting into dust, and ghostly shapes rising, only to fade.
Lucien caught her arm. "We need to keep moving. Whatever you did… it's not over yet."
Eira looked back once. The crystal tree, or what remained of it, had completely collapsed, buried in molten stone. The blood crown was no more. But something deeper had stirred in the foundations—something older than even the First King.
Valtherion glanced up toward the crumbling spires. "This city wasn't built to survive the king's fall. It was built as a tomb."
"A tomb for what?" Eira asked.
His voice was grim. "For what came before vampires."
The Descent
They fled across a broken bridge that twisted downward into the lowest reaches of the city—toward the catacombs beneath the royal sanctum. Old pathways revealed themselves with every step, etched in languages long forgotten. The wind carried whispers, ghostly and faint.
Eira felt the city breathing beneath her feet. It wasn't just dying—it was waking up.
"I thought the king was the root of the curse," she said to Valtherion.
"He was," he replied. "But even he feared what lies below."
They reached a wide archway shrouded in cold mist. The symbols above it had been worn away, but Eira felt their weight just standing near them.
"What's beyond this point?" Lucien asked.
Valtherion hesitated. "The Cradle of Night."
The Cradle of Night
Inside, silence reigned. The walls here were smooth obsidian, pulsing with faint starlight, as though the very stone remembered the sky. The temperature dropped with every step, and their breath clouded the air in front of them.
They passed rows of statues—massive, cloaked figures carved in mid-motion, as if frozen in the middle of fleeing something.
Eira touched one and recoiled. Its surface was warm.
"They were alive once," Valtherion said. "Long before the blood kings. This city wasn't built by vampires. It was built by something else—and when the king rose, he buried it."
"Why?" she whispered.
"Because what slept down here made even him afraid."
The Murmur Below
At the heart of the Cradle was a pool of black water, still as glass. Faint lights flickered beneath its surface—stars trapped under the earth. Around it stood stone columns covered in ancient runes. One was cracked and leaking a faint stream of red mist.
Eira's eyes widened. "That's the same mist we saw near the Hollow Heart."
Valtherion nodded. "It leaks when the bindings weaken."
Lucien drew closer to her, his expression hard. "You ended the king's reign—but the city was built on something worse. And now it's waking up."
Eira knelt by the pool. The water didn't reflect her image—it showed memories. She saw flashes of the First King's rise, the forging of blood magic, the sealing of these ruins. But behind those memories was something else.
A shadow with eyes. Watching.
Waiting.
The Warning
Suddenly, the water rippled. A figure began to form within its depths—an echo of a woman cloaked in void, her eyes glowing gold.
"You have shattered the balance," she said, her voice like a chorus of bells. "The crown is gone, and now the veil weakens."
"Who are you?" Eira asked.
"A memory. A warning. The king sealed this place not to protect himself—but to protect you from what sleeps here."
Eira stood. "Then tell me what it is. I deserve to know."
The figure hesitated, then pointed to Eira's chest—where her pendant glowed faintly. "The key does not open doors. It chooses which remain closed. And you… have chosen poorly."
With that, the vision vanished.
Choices and Shadows
Lucien moved to Eira's side. "We need to decide now. Do we go deeper and confront what's left—or try to escape before it all collapses?"
She looked at him—truly looked. His face was drawn with worry, but his eyes held only trust.
"I can't leave knowing there's more beneath this place. If the king feared it, and still chose to rule, then whatever's down here might outlive us all."
Valtherion didn't argue. "Then we go deeper. But know this, girl—you've already broken one fate. What lies ahead may not be breakable."
Eira nodded. "We won't face it alone."
As they passed the pool and into the dark beyond, the last of the city's light faded behind them. The way forward was uncertain.
But the girl who had once fallen through mirrors was no longer afraid.
She was ready to face whatever waited in the dark.