Blood Hounds

The ruins stretched before them like the bones of a forgotten world.

Kael stepped carefully over the broken stone, his sword loose in his grip. The air was heavy here, thick with something unseen. Not just silence—expectation. As if the ruins were waiting for something.

Fenrir padded beside him, his ears flicking at sounds Kael couldn't hear. His hackles remained raised.

Rhia ran a hand along a crumbling wall. "This place is ancient," she murmured. "But it doesn't feel abandoned."

Darian smirked. "That's because it isn't."

Kael tensed. "Explain."

Darian gestured toward the ground. "See those?"

Kael followed his gaze. The dirt between the stones had been disturbed—faint tracks, half-faded but recent.

Someone had been here. Or still was.

Rhia shifted uneasily. "The Black Hounds?"

Darian shook his head. "No. They wouldn't come this deep without numbers."

Kael frowned. "Then who?"

Darian exhaled, stepping forward. "Let's find out."

---

The Descent

They moved deeper into the ruins, past broken pillars and collapsed walls. Time had swallowed this place, but the deeper they went, the less nature seemed to reclaim.

The vines stopped. The roots thinned. It was as if something kept the wild at bay.

Kael felt it. That presence. That watching.

Then Rhia stopped. "Look."

A doorway. Carved into the earth, half-buried by time. The stone around it was smooth, untouched by age.

It didn't belong.

Darian studied it, then let out a low whistle. "Well. That's definitely not natural."

Kael approached, running his fingers along the stone. It was cold. Too cold. And the closer he looked, the more he saw them—symbols etched into the surface.

The same symbols he had seen in the wraith.

His pulse quickened. "This place isn't just ruins." He looked at Darian. "It was sealed."

Darian nodded. "And someone unsealed it."

Fenrir let out a deep, warning growl.

Then the whisper came.

Soft. Faint. Twisting through the air like smoke.

Kael…

Kael froze. His breath caught in his throat.

The door creaked.

Something inside had heard.

Something inside was waiting.

Darian drew his blade. "Well. No turning back now."

Kael exhaled slowly, tightening his grip on his sword.

Then, without another word, he stepped through the door.