Ashveil lay like a corpse beneath the earth—silent, rotted, and half-forgotten by time.
The entrance was hidden in a forest of black pines two days east of the fortress. The trees grew too close, their branches like twisted fingers clutching at the sky. Fog clung to the ground as if afraid to rise.
Haruto stepped cautiously into the dark opening that led below. A shattered stone arch marked the descent—its ancient runes worn smooth by centuries of wind and ash. Behind him, Serenya and Lucien followed, torches glowing faintly against the pressing dark.
"The last records place Ashveil's fall during the Cataclysm," Serenya whispered, her voice nearly swallowed by the oppressive quiet. "No survivors. The city vanished in fire and silence."
"And no one ever rebuilt?" Haruto asked.
Lucien shook his head. "Some ruins are meant to stay buried."
They descended for hours.
The air grew colder. Fungal moss clung to the stone steps. Far below, something ancient breathed—slow and deep, like a slumbering creature dreaming of a world it no longer knew.
When they reached the first level of the city, Haruto stopped in his tracks.
Massive columns held up the collapsed ceiling. Broken statues lined a sunken road, their faces cracked or erased entirely. Strange blue lights flickered in the distance—will-o'-the-wisps or perhaps something worse.
"It's beautiful," Serenya whispered. "In a cursed, soul-devouring sort of way."
They walked carefully.
As they passed an old fountain, dry and covered in vines, a soft sound echoed—a scrape. Then a second. Metal against stone.
Lucien drew his sword silently.
From the darkness ahead came figures—shuffling, humanoid, but not alive. Their bodies were skeletal, wrapped in rusted armor and cloaks that seemed to bleed shadow.
"Ashveil Sentinels," Serenya hissed. "Guardians cursed to watch a city long dead."
They did not speak. They simply charged.
Haruto met the first one head-on, Nullblade flashing. The strike passed through armor and bone as though cutting air, and the creature dissolved into ash. But more followed—ten, twenty, maybe more.
"Back-to-back!" Lucien shouted.
Serenya unleashed a nova of ice, freezing several in place, but it wasn't enough. They were surrounded.
Haruto spun, slashing with growing precision. The Nullblade pulsed in his hand, responding faster than before—as if it remembered how to fight even if he didn't.
Suddenly, one Sentinel broke through and reached Serenya. Its rusted blade descended—
But Haruto was faster.
He stepped between them and blocked the blow. The clash sent a jolt through his arm, but he held.
Serenya's eyes flickered with something unreadable. "Thanks."
The final Sentinel fell, crumbling to dust.
Silence returned.
Lucien scanned the shadows. "That wasn't random. Something down here knows we're coming."
And far below, beneath the city, a sound echoed—soft, rhythmic, like metal tapping bone.
Something was waiting