Chapter 2: The Alchemist's Shadow
The trembling of the room grew stronger, the faint pulse of the glowing symbol spreading an unnatural light across the walls. Elias took a step back, his eyes fixed on the pattern etched into the floor. He'd seen strange things in Eldoria, but this—this was beyond the mechanical ingenuity of the city. This was something far older, far darker.
"What the hell did he do?" Elias muttered, his voice low.
The wiry man with the pistol wasn't paying attention anymore. His gaze was glued to the glowing pattern, his face pale as a corpse. The gun in his hand fell to the floor with a clatter.
"Get out of here!" the man yelled, his voice cracking. "You don't understand! It's too late now!"
Elias didn't move. He was no stranger to fear, and while his instincts screamed at him to run, his curiosity held him in place. This was the trail Victor Caine had left behind, and Elias had no intention of leaving it cold.
The symbol flared brightly, and the low, guttural sound intensified. Elias felt the air shift, growing heavy with a suffocating pressure. The man bolted for the door, but before he could reach it, a shadow emerged from the center of the symbol.
It wasn't human.
The thing twisted and writhed as if its form couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Tendrils of darkness stretched out, flickering like flames yet moving with an unnatural grace. A single, glowing eye appeared in the mass of shadow, locking onto Elias with a predatory focus.
The wiry man screamed. He never made it to the door. A tendril lashed out, wrapping around his leg and dragging him toward the symbol. The man's cries were cut short as he vanished into the darkness, the air filled with a sickening wet sound.
Elias cursed under his breath, his mechanical arm clicking as he retracted the hidden blade. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't going to let him leave without a fight.
The shadow surged forward, and Elias moved on instinct. He dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the tendril that lashed out toward him. It struck the wall, leaving a scorched mark in its wake.
His mind raced. He needed to figure out what this thing was—and fast. His eyes darted to the journal he'd picked up earlier. If Victor Caine had summoned this creature, the answer might be in those pages.
With the shadow creature circling him, Elias flipped through the journal. The diagrams and notes were frantic, almost incoherent, but one page caught his attention. It was a drawing of the same symbol on the floor, accompanied by a single word written in bold, jagged letters: "Contain."
"How the hell do I contain it?" Elias growled, his frustration mounting.
The shadow lashed out again, and Elias ducked behind a workbench. The creature's tendrils smashed through it like paper, sending gears and tools flying. He rolled to his feet, holding the journal tightly in his hand.
Then he saw it. Near the bottom of the page, written in smaller, hastily scrawled text, was the answer: Destroy the catalyst.
Elias's eyes flicked to the shattered flask on the floor. That had to be it. Whatever Victor had done, the flask had played a part in summoning this thing. If he destroyed what remained of the catalyst, maybe it would send the creature back to wherever it had come from.
Elias bolted toward the flask, the shadow roaring behind him. A tendril lashed out, catching his coat and tearing it open, but he didn't stop. He reached the center of the room, dropping to his knees beside the broken glass.
The spilled liquid glowed faintly, the same unnatural hue as the symbol. Elias pulled a vial from his coat, scooping up what he could of the substance. It burned against the glass, hissing like acid. His mechanical hand clenched around the remaining shards of the flask, crushing them into powder.
The creature howled, its tendrils thrashing wildly. The pressure in the room intensified, and the glow of the symbol began to flicker.
"It's working," Elias muttered, though he didn't feel much relief. Whatever he was doing, it was making the creature angry.
The shadow surged toward him, all its tendrils converging into one massive strike. Elias twisted out of the way, pulling his revolver from his coat in one swift motion. He fired, the bullet piercing the glowing eye in the creature's mass.
The room exploded with light. Elias was thrown back, slamming into the wall as the creature let out a deafening screech. The symbol on the floor burned brightly, then faded, leaving only a charred mark. The shadow was gone.
Elias coughed, the taste of soot and blood in his mouth. His body ached, and his mechanical arm whirred softly as he pushed himself to his feet. The workshop was in ruins, tools and machinery scattered everywhere. The journal lay on the ground, singed but intact.
He picked it up, his mind racing. Whatever Victor Caine had been involved in, it was far beyond anything Elias had dealt with before. And the Ouroboros Society—they were at the center of it all.
Elias pocketed the journal and stepped over the charred remains of the symbol. He needed answers, and the only way to get them was to follow the trail Victor had left behind.
As he stepped out into the foggy streets of Eldoria, Elias couldn't shake the feeling that he'd just opened a door that couldn't be closed.
And whatever lay on the other side was waiting for him.
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