The darkness beyond the door was like ink spilled across a canvas, thick and endless. Hatku and Tashina moved together, but they couldn't see each other—only the dim light of Hatku's green flame to guide them. It flickered and twisted, as if the air around them resisted its presence. Every step they took seemed to echo, yet no sound reached their ears. The space around them felt alive in a way that made the hairs on their necks rise.
The door closed behind them without a sound, as if it had never been there at all.
Tashina reached out for Hatku's hand, her grip tight. "Where are we?"
Hatku didn't answer right away. He could feel it—the pulse of something ancient and familiar in the air. His flame, still alight, danced unnaturally in the absence of wind. The space felt like it stretched infinitely in all directions, yet he felt the pressure of something contained—something waiting.
"I don't know," he said quietly. "But I think it's not a place. Not a realm. At least, not one we know."
The symbols from the shard, the strange markings, swirled through his mind. He had drawn them in the dirt countless times, tried to make sense of them. But now, in the presence of whatever force had opened the doorway, the markings seemed to move, reshaping themselves into shapes that he couldn't fully comprehend.
Tashina took a cautious step forward. The ground beneath their feet felt like stone but was impossibly smooth. "This place… it's alive," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
Hatku nodded. "I can feel it."
Suddenly, a low hum reverberated through the air, a sound like a thousand voices speaking in unison, yet no words could be made out. The vibrations seemed to come from the very walls of this dark place, or perhaps from the earth itself.
"Hatku," Tashina said urgently, her voice strained. "Look."
In the distance, far ahead in the vast expanse of darkness, a faint glow began to appear. It wasn't like the light of the outside world—it wasn't natural. The glow pulsed rhythmically, like a heartbeat. And as they watched, it began to take shape, forming into a towering figure—a silhouette that seemed to shift and distort with every beat of the light.
The hum grew louder, the voices clearer. Hatku felt an inexplicable pull toward the figure, something in him urging him to move.
Tashina took a step back, her hand tightening around the shard in her grip. "What is that?"
"I don't know," Hatku said, his voice tight with unease. "But we need to find out."
They moved forward, drawn toward the pulsating figure. As they drew closer, Hatku's flame flickered again, its light dimming in the face of whatever force was at the heart of this place. The figure became clearer, and with it, the strange hum intensified, vibrating through the air.
As they reached the edge of the glowing presence, the light coalesced into the shape of a figure—a man, but not a man. His body was made of the same shifting, fluid light that seemed to bend and twist with every movement.
He spoke, but his voice wasn't heard with the ears. It was felt, deep in Hatku's chest, like the thrum of a forgotten heartbeat.
"You have come," the voice said. "But not for what you think."
Hatku stood frozen, the weight of the voice settling over him. Tashina took a step forward, her eyes narrowing. "What is this place? What is it you want from us?"
The figure's form rippled, his face a shifting blur of light. "I do not want. I am only what is."
Hatku took a breath, trying to steady himself. "Then tell us what we're supposed to find here. Is this where the Ultimate Being is?"
The figure tilted its head slightly, as if contemplating the question. "The Ultimate Being you seek is not what you believe. You seek power, yet you do not understand the cost of such power."
Tashina's grip on the shard tightened again, her eyes flashing with impatience. "We've already paid too much. What more is there?"
The figure's light seemed to shift, flickering like a flame caught in the wind. "What you seek is not found in a being, but in the path. The key has always been in your hands."
Tashina looked down at the shard, now faintly glowing in her grip, its symbols shifting with a life of their own. Hatku stared at the figure. "What do you mean?"
The figure's voice grew softer, but its words were heavy. "The shard is not just a key to realms. It is a key to understanding. To seeing beyond the veil of what is known."
Hatku's pulse quickened. "Then what are we supposed to do with it? How do we stop this?"
The figure's form rippled once more, the light dimming. "To stop, you must first understand why you fight. To save, you must first understand what you are willing to lose."
The darkness around them seemed to breathe again, the pulse of light fading with each word.
And then, the figure began to dissolve, his form dissipating into the void, leaving nothing but the soft hum behind.
Tashina stood motionless, her breath shallow. "What does that mean?" she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.
Hatku clenched his fists. "I don't know. But I think we've only just begun to understand what we're dealing with."
As the last of the figure's light faded into the darkness, Hatku and Tashina were left with more questions than answers, the shard still glowing faintly in Tashina's hands.
And somewhere, beyond the veil, they could feel the stirring of something else.
Something ancient.
Something watching.