Page 69 of Third

He spun and lunged for her, dropping flat, arms outstretched. His hand locked around her wrist, holding iron-strong just as her grip gaveway.

She dangled.

Below her, the corridor plummeted into darkness. The air rising from it was cold and sour, thick with the reek of oxidized metal and something ancient—something wrong. It kissed her face like a whisper, damp and breathless. No bottom. Noecho.

“Don’t let go,” she gasped, nails digging into the edge oncemore.

“I will not.”

She tried to find footing, but the wall crumbled beneath her boots. Tor’Vek shifted, dragging her up centimeter by centimeter. His other hand caught her elbow, then under her arm, and with a final surge of strength, he hauled her over the ledge.

They crashed back onto solid ground together, breathless.

She rolled to her side, panting, then let out a shaky laugh that was part hysteria, part relief.

“Next time, let’s pick the path with fewer death traps.”

Tor’Vek didn’t answer right away. He just stared at the collapsed floor behind them, eyeshard.

“We will not go back that way,” he said atlast.

Anya swallowed. “So… monster it is.”

He nodded once. The motion was quiet, resolute—but it struck something in her. Not dread. Not even fear. Just the heavy certainty of what waited ahead, and the way he’d already accepted it. Her mouth wentdry.

And together, they pushed onward.

The new corridor was strangely intact. Still dim, still narrow, but the groaning and fracturing had stopped. Every footstep echoed longer than it should have. No more shifting walls. No more falling floors.

It should have been a relief. Her muscles even started to loosen, just a little. But something about the too-perfect stillness unsettled her. The silence pressed in too tightly, like a sealed chamber with no air left. After the chaos behind them, this quiet didn’t feel earned. It felt borrowed—and about to be reclaimed.

Tor’Vek’s pace never changed, but she could feel the tension in him just the same. She matched his rhythm, each step deliberate. Her shoulders slowly unlocked, but her instincts remained on high alert. The farther they went without disruption, the more exposed she felt. Like whatever was waiting had decided to let them come closer. Just fornow.

The corridor went on longer than she expected. They passed ancient doors sealed shut, rusted wall plates covered in dust, and small, delicate symbols etched into the floor like a forgotten language. Once, they stepped over the shattered remains of one of the spider scouts, legs crumpled, sensor dark. She didn’t ask what had done it. She didn’t want to know. Her mind already supplied the image unbidden—massive claws, gleaming black, curled around crushed metal. Asingle glint of intelligence in whatever eyes had stared through that feed. The thought made her throat tighten. If she acknowledged it, she’d never keep moving.

They were close. She could feel it. Ashift in the air pressure, afaint charge on herskin.

She looked at Tor’Vek. He nodded once. The final turn was just ahead.

Anya didn’t speak. Neither did Tor’Vek. Not even the bond stirred—just a low, distant flicker in her chest, like it was holding its breath along withher.

The silence here wasn’t safety. It was anticipation—looped, breathless, the kind that made your skin crawl before anything actually happened. Anya’s heartbeat filled the void, too loud in her ears, and even the sound of their steps felt like an intrusion, like they were walking into the lungs of something ancient, and it had just inhaled—waiting to exhale when it chose to endthem.

The corridor opened into a chamber.

Not massive. Not grand. Just... still. Rounded walls. Ahigh, concave ceiling. In the center stood a pedestal no taller than her waist. And floating above it—without visible suspension or support—was what she assumed to be the central stabilizer.

Anya stared atit.

It was beautiful. Smooth crystalline lines, humming with soft blue light. She took one step closer.

“Careful,” Tor’Veksaid.

“Is it active?”

“No. But this entire place may be reactive.”

She nodded, forcing herself to breathe slower. The bond twitched slightly at his nearness, but she ignored it. They had made it. They were here. She took another step forward.

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