Mira didn't return the next day.
Her soldiers remained in the pit, but she disappeared into the upper levels with the Warden. No one knew where she went. No one dared to ask.
But the pit felt different now.
Tighter. Heavier.
Like a storm was forming underground.
Auron spent most of the day in silence. He sat near the old forge ruins, eyes half-closed, but his senses wide awake.
Jace joined him later, dragging a sack of stale bread.
"You're not gonna eat?" he asked.
Auron shook his head.
Jace sat beside him anyway.
"She's hunting you, isn't she?"
"Yes."
"You think she'll come back?"
"She never left."
Jace looked around.
"You sound like you're expecting something."
"I am," Auron said. "Everything's been too quiet."
As if to answer his words, the ground shook.
Slightly.
Just once.
Then silence.
They both stood quickly.
A low hum spread through the pit, almost like a whisper that everyone could feel but couldn't hear.
And then came the smoke.
It poured from the old tunnels in thin waves of gray, curling up through cracks and broken tiles. It smelled like burnt paper and something worse—bone.
Screams echoed from the western edge.
Auron and Jace ran.
They weren't the only ones. Dozens of slaves and a handful of guards rushed to the smoke-filled corridor. The air was thick and heavy.
At the end of the tunnel, behind a broken steel door, they found it.
A room made of ash.
Everything inside was gray and still—floor, walls, even the ceiling. Dust hung in the air like snow frozen mid-fall. In the center of the room stood a statue.
A man.
Or what used to be one.
Now covered completely in ash, arms reaching upward like he had been burning alive.
Auron stepped forward.
The system pinged.
\[Warning: Residual Abyssal Energy Detected]
\[Life Force – Disintegrated]
\[Pattern: Curse Explosion]
\[Source: Unknown]
Someone had used abyssal power in this room.
Not him.
Not the priest.
Someone else.
Mira stepped into the chamber behind him.
"You feel it too," she said.
Auron didn't turn.
"You think I did this?"
"No. This wasn't your signature."
She stepped beside him.
"The explosion started from inside the body. No outer injuries. No spell residue. Only abyss."
Auron stayed quiet.
Mira looked around.
"There's another out there. Another one like you."
Auron finally turned to face her.
"Then they're not like me."
Her eyes narrowed.
"You're right. They're worse."
The guards began pushing the others back. Slaves were ordered away. The ash was making people cough. The room felt like it wanted to trap them all.
Mira spoke softly.
"If this spreads... we'll lose the entire mine."
Auron stared at the statue.
"Then find them. Before I do."
Mira met his eyes.
"We'll find them together."
He said nothing.
But the voice in his head was already laughing.
"So many monsters crawling out of the dark. What fun this is becoming."
Auron turned and walked out.
The ash clung to his boots.
And the air behind him burned.