Beneath the Earth
Lena's breath came in ragged gasps as the room dissolved into total darkness. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears, drowning out everything else. The ground beneath her feet felt unstable, as though it were shifting, pulling her toward something far deeper than just the underground catacombs of the old church.
"Lena…" The voice whispered again, closer now.
The air was so cold, so unnatural, that she could see her breath fogging in the blackness. Her eyes, wide and desperate, searched the impenetrable void, but there was nothing—nothing but shadows, twisting and flickering like ghosts themselves. She took a trembling step forward, only to stumble over something cold and smooth.
The rumbling from below had stopped. The voice had stopped. The silence was suffocating.
"Ray! Ethan!" Lena shouted, but her voice sounded weak, swallowed by the oppressive blackness. She couldn't even tell if they were still there with her.
A soft rustling sound from behind her made Lena spin around, her pulse spiking again. A dim light flickered in the far corner of the room, growing brighter, and she squinted, trying to make sense of it.
There, on the far wall, a crack had appeared in the stone. It was not just a crack—it was a wide opening, like a doorway, and from it, a pale, unearthly glow emanated.
"The book…" Lena whispered, her voice trembling. She looked down at the pedestal, her fingers grazing over the ancient pages. The symbols had stopped glowing, but something had shifted. She could feel it in the air.
Suddenly, a heavy, cold hand gripped her arm, and she spun around, heart pounding in her throat. It was Ethan.
"You shouldn't have opened it," he said, his voice strained and hollow. His eyes were wide with fear, but there was something else there—something distant, almost as though he had been touched by something that had altered his very essence.
"Ethan…" Lena whispered, struggling to free herself from his grasp. "What's happening? What is this place? What have we awakened?"
Before Ethan could answer, the ground under them shook again, more violently than before. The walls groaned, and Lena heard a deep, throaty growl that seemed to rise from the earth itself. The crack in the wall expanded, and an oppressive force seemed to pull at her soul.
"Get away from the crack!" Ray's voice cut through the chaos, a warning, sharp and urgent.
But it was too late.
A gust of cold wind surged through the room, extinguishing the flickering light, leaving them in total darkness. For a split second, Lena thought she saw figures moving in the shadows—figures with elongated limbs and pale, glowing eyes—but when she blinked, they were gone.
Then, she heard something that made her blood run cold.
A voice, low and guttural, echoing from the crack:
"Welcome back… Lena."
It wasn't just a voice. It was a presence—something ancient, malevolent, something that had been waiting for her all these years.
"What… are you?" Lena choked out, her voice barely above a whisper.
There was a brief, painful silence before the voice spoke again.
"We are the Silent Ones."
And then, the room exploded into a cacophony of screams.