The ground beneath Elena vibrated again, a low rumble that made the walls of the cellar seem to shudder. She glanced at Kael, whose sharp gaze remained fixed on the trapdoor. He didn't seem fazed by the tremors, but Elena couldn't shake the feeling that something was coming. Something worse.
"What's happening?" she whispered, her voice barely audible over the low growl that seemed to echo from the forest.
Kael didn't answer immediately. His fingers tapped rhythmically on the hilt of his blade, the only sound in the otherwise still room. Then, finally, he looked at her, his eyes dark with what seemed like regret.
"Something bigger than the creatures outside," Kael said, his voice low and steady. "The rumbling is the sound of the ground shifting. It means they're getting closer, but it's not just the beasts. There are other forces at play now. Forces that won't stop until they have you."
Elena swallowed hard. "What do you mean? What are these forces?"
Before Kael could respond, a harsh, rapid knock echoed from above, followed by a string of incomprehensible voices. Elena's heart thudded in her chest. It wasn't the creatures from the forest. This was different. It was something else—something human, or at least close to it.
Kael's expression darkened. He stood slowly, his hand gripping the trapdoor handle. "Stay here," he ordered, his voice hard. "No matter what you hear, you stay hidden."
"I'm not going to just sit here!" Elena protested, her heart racing.
Kael held her gaze for a long moment before giving a tight nod. "You're not ready for this yet. Trust me."
He reached for the blade at his side, testing its weight as he moved toward the door, his body tense. Elena hesitated, her pulse hammering in her ears. She wanted to argue, to demand answers, but Kael was already climbing the ladder, disappearing through the trapdoor.
Elena felt the seconds stretch into eternity as she stood in the dark, alone. The silence was thick, suffocating, as if the entire world was holding its breath.
But then it came—another rumble, stronger this time. The ground shook with a violent force, making the walls tremble, and dust rained down from the ceiling. Elena's heart skipped a beat as she realized that this was no ordinary tremor. Something had broken through the surface, something large.
She had to do something. Kael had told her to stay hidden, but there was no way she could just sit here and wait. She had already come this far, hadn't she?
With her hands trembling, Elena grabbed hold of the ladder and began to climb. The noise from above grew louder, punctuated by harsh voices and the sharp crack of gunfire. Her stomach twisted. What had Kael gotten himself into? What kind of people were up there?
When Elena finally pulled herself up through the trapdoor, she froze. The cabin was a wreck. The door had been blown off its hinges, and the once-safe space was now a battlefield. Kael stood in the center, his blade slick with dark blood, while two men—both dressed in tactical gear—were locked in a tense standoff with him.
"Kael!" Elena called, her voice coming out louder than she intended.
He turned sharply, his eyes wide with surprise, but it didn't last long. His gaze hardened, and his posture shifted into that of a man ready for a fight.
"Get back!" Kael shouted, but before Elena could move, the two men turned to face her.
One of them, a tall, broad-shouldered man with dark sunglasses, smiled coldly. "Well, well, what do we have here? The little princess has come to play."
Elena instinctively stepped back, her eyes darting to Kael for any sign of reassurance. He looked between the two men, his jaw clenched.
"This is a bad idea, Darren," Kael said, his voice calm but laced with danger. "You don't want to do this."
"Too late for that," the man named Darren sneered. "We've been looking for her for months. You can't protect her forever."
Kael's hand tightened around his blade, his eyes narrowing. "You'll have to go through me first."
The tension in the room crackled. Elena could feel the weight of the moment pressing down on her, suffocating. She knew Kael wasn't someone who backed down from a fight, but something about the men in front of them felt different—darker, more dangerous.
The man with the sunglasses raised a hand, signaling to the other man. "Take care of her," he said casually, as if it was just another part of the mission.
Without thinking, Elena reached for the strange power inside of her. Her hands tingled with the energy she had felt earlier, the same power that had thrown the creature across the room in the cabin. She had no idea how to control it, but something told her that this might be the moment she needed to figure it out.
Before the second man could move, Elena's hands blazed with light, sending a shockwave of energy through the air. The force was so powerful it knocked the man off his feet, sending him crashing into the wall with a sickening thud.
Darren's eyes widened in disbelief as he turned toward her. "What the hell—"
But Kael didn't hesitate. In one swift movement, he lunged, his blade flashing as it cut through the air. The last thing Darren saw was Kael's cold, determined eyes before everything went black.
Elena stood frozen, her chest heaving. The power that had just erupted from her hands felt both alien and familiar, as though she had tapped into something far beyond her control.
Kael wiped his blade clean, his expression unreadable. He turned to Elena, a flicker of something—approval, maybe?—passing through his eyes.
"You did good," he said quietly.
Elena could barely find her voice. "What was that? What's happening to me?"
Kael sheathed his blade, looking over at the two unconscious men. "The questions are piling up, and the answers? Well, we don't have them yet."