Reincarnated as an Elf Prince

One pattern looked like fire had spilled sideways and frozen mid-curl. Another was all straight lines bent wrong, fracturing under pressure.

One was barely there, thin, etched like memory instead of fact.

But one, dead center, was glowing faintly.

A dull white pulse, rhythmic.

Like a heartbeat.

Void, again.

He didn't move toward it yet.

Instead, he listened.

The chamber was whispering.

Not in language.

In pattern.

His core reacted again, just like before, but sharper.

Every step he took inside this place dragged more from him. Not mana. Not power.

History.

Luneth stood behind him.

Pale. Still.

Her eyes flicked toward the pulsing glyph.

Then back to the others.

She didn't speak.

But she was shaking.

Just slightly.

Lindarion turned to Lira.

She looked up from her crouch. "Same structure as the first. Outer rings, internal sequence, but this one's more damaged."

"Damaged how?"

She stood. "It's not reacting correctly. Either it was interrupted—or someone tried to force it."

Erebus stepped closer to the wall. Stared for a long moment.

Then said, "There was another team here."

Lindarion's chest tightened. "Recently?"

"No. Long ago."

"How do you know?"

Erebus pointed to a corner panel—barely noticeable. Cracked along one seam.

Inside it, half-covered in dust—

—a mark.

Three interlocked diamonds. Simple.

But he'd seen it before.

On a contract.

From the guild that didn't exist anymore.

Lira saw it too. Her eyes narrowed.

"Old faction," she said. "Disbanded decades ago."

"Not disbanded," Sylric muttered. "Erased."

Lindarion looked again.

This chamber wasn't new.

It was reused.

Someone had tried to enter. Maybe they had.

Maybe they hadn't come back out.

He stepped toward the pulsing glyph.

It didn't resist.

But it didn't invite, either.

He knelt, hand out, but didn't touch.

Void brushed his skin like cold breath.

No power.

Just memory.

And something else.

Intention.

Behind him, Luneth exhaled sharply.

He turned fast.

She staggered once.

Lira caught her elbow.

She straightened.

Didn't speak.

But her eyes were locked on the center glyph.

She was remembering something.

Or something was remembering her.

Lindarion stood.

"We go deeper," he said.

Stitch flinched. "Deeper? You want to open this one?"

"No," Lindarion said. "I want to understand what they left behind."

He looked to Erebus.

"Scout forward."

Erebus nodded once and moved ahead without hesitation.

The others prepared silently.

Lira drew a blade.

Sylric flicked a coin once, caught it, muttered something under his breath.

Luneth still hadn't moved.

But her eyes followed the glyph like it owed her something.

They advanced toward the second threshold.

And behind them, the chamber pulsed once more.

Faint.

But louder than before.

—

The door sealed behind them.

No rumble. No echo. Just a snap of pressure in the air, like the mountain had exhaled and locked them in.

Lindarion stopped mid-step.

Erebus spoke first.

"Trap."

No one argued.

Lira had already drawn a blade. Luneth shifted her stance. Sylric's fingers hovered near his belt, though he wouldn't be able to cast much here, too little ambient flow.

The chamber floor cracked.

Not from age.

From design.

Lines spread across the surface, carved glyphs they hadn't seen on the way in, now glowing faintly with wrong-colored light. No mana. No script. Just reaction.

Lindarion took a step back, but the damage had already been done.

The walls didn't open.

The floor did.

The first thing crawled out, a half-formed mass of bone plates and wet stone, its movements jerky like it hadn't decided which limbs were real yet.

Then came the next.

And the next.

Five. Ten. Fifteen. All of them different, but all born from the same shape, twisted forms of void-stained creation. No eyes. No mouths. Just movement and intent.

Lindarion's right hand snapped out.

Fire surged down his arm, red-orange sparks crackling across his knuckles.

The chamber warmed instantly.

One of the creatures lunged.

Lindarion moved first.

His foot pivoted, arm tucked close, then he drove a straight punch forward. Flame burst from his fist like a hammerhead, striking the creature square in the torso.

The thing ignited, violently.

It didn't burn.

It burst.

Charred bone scattered in a sharp radius.

Stitch cursed behind him.

"Since when do you have that much fire?"

"Since always," Lindarion muttered.

He raised his left hand.

Lightning crackled across his palm, bright, jagged, uncontrolled.

Another monster charged.

He stepped forward and slammed both hands together.

Fire and lightning collided in his core, then lashed out in a narrow arc.

The bolt ripped across the floor, striking three enemies in a line.

The first exploded.

The second twisted mid-motion, limbs convulsing.

The third dissolved into twitching fragments.

Luneth flinched.

Sylric said nothing.

Stitch just stared.

Only Lira stayed calm.

Erebus didn't even glance.

The monsters adapted.

They rushed in groups now, moving faster, shifting tactics. One of them leapt high, a blur of jagged edges.

Lira met it in midair, darkness erupted from her blade like shadow spun into steel. The creature split on contact, falling in two separate screams.

Luneth raised her arm. The air around her dropped in temperature.

A sheet of pale mist followed, then froze solid, an angled wall of ice that redirected a charging creature straight into Lindarion's fist.

He caught it by the neck.

Fire licked his arm.

Then engulfed the thing.

He threw the burning husk against the far wall.

Sylric finally spoke. "Remind me to never piss you off."

Lindarion's breath was steady. "Then don't get in my way."

Another pulse from the floor.

More cracks.

Stitch backed up. "They're not stopping."

Erebus stepped forward.

Still silent.

He extended one arm.

Chains uncoiled from his coat, fast, precise, looping in calculated arcs.

The nearest monster lunged.

A chain wrapped its throat, tightened.

Then dragged.

It slammed into the wall.

Hard.

Didn't move again.

The other chains followed, snapping around limbs, torsos, heads. Erebus moved like water, never panicked, never loud. Every motion ended in pain for something that wasn't him.

Lindarion circled toward the pulsing glyph.

It was slowing now.

Dimmer.

The monsters weren't weakening, but their frequency was.

Lira joined him.

"Timed burst," she said. "It's a test."

He grit his teeth. "For what?"

"To see what survives."

A creature lunged from the left.

He didn't turn.

Just raised his hand.

Lightning cracked.

The thing's chest caved in midair.

It hit the floor in pieces.

Luneth crushed the last one with an ice spike through the throat.

Then silence.

The glow faded.

No new movement.

Sylric let out a long breath. "Please tell me that was all of them."

Lindarion stared at the center glyph.

It didn't pulse anymore.

Just glowed.

Steady.

Faint.

Waiting.