The dimly lit cavern echoed with the sound of dripping water, each drop breaking the oppressive silence like a countdown. Damian Voss stood at the edge of an ancient altar, his flashlight trembling in his hand.
The air buzzed with something primal, a hum just beneath hearing that vibrated in his bones.
He swallowed hard, the weight of centuries pressing down on him in this moment.
"This is it," he murmured. His voice sounded alien in the vastness of the chamber. "The Obsidian Heart."
The relic rested at the centre of the altar, a jagged shard of black crystal pulsating faintly with a deep, red light. It looked alive, as if it were breathing, waiting. Around it, ancient carvings stretched up the walls, depicting scenes of gods clashing with monstrous beasts.
Each image seemed to move in the flickering light, though Damian knew it was a trick of his exhausted mind.
"Are you sure about this?" The voice of Jonah Crane, Damian's closest friend and most trusted teammate, broke through the haze.
Jonah stood a few feet back, his face partially obscured by shadows. His sharp features were tense, his hand gripping a crowbar tightly.
"We don't know what this thing is capable of. We've already lost two of our team just getting here.
Damian turned, his dark eyes blazing with an almost fanatical determination. "We didn't come this far to turn back now, Jonah. The Heart is the key. To everything."
Jonah hesitated, his gaze flicking between Damian and the relic. "And what if you're wrong?"
"I'm not." Damian's voice was cold, final. He stepped closer to the altar, each movement deliberate, as if the ground beneath him might shatter at any moment.
"Wait," came a third voice, softer but no less urgent. Olivia Price, their lead historian, emerged from the darkness, her face pale and drawn.
She clutched an ancient scroll to her chest, her lips trembling as she spoke. "The inscriptions… they're a warning.
It's not just a relic, Damian. It's… it's a prison. The Heart was meant to seal something away, not to be used."
Damian's laugh was sharp and humorless. "Do you think the gods themselves would have gone to such lengths to hide something so powerful if it wasn't worth wielding? This is our chance to rewrite everything we know about the world. About power."
He ignored Olivia's protests and reached out, his hand trembling as it hovered inches above the Obsidian Heart. The red light grew stronger, illuminating his face with an eager glow. The hum in the air grew louder, like the roar of an approaching storm.
"Damian, don't!" Olivia screamed.
"It's too late," Jonah muttered, his knuckles white around the crowbar.
The moment Damian's fingers brushed the surface of the Heart, the world shifted.
A deafening crack echoed through the cavern as the relic exploded with light, a surge of crimson energy spiraling outward.
Damian's scream was swallowed by the roar as the ground beneath them buckled and split apart.
From the darkness below, something stirred.
When Damian opened his eyes, he was on his back, staring up at a sky he didn't recognize.
The cavern was gone, replaced by an open expanse of swirling clouds and blood-red lightning.
Jonah and Olivia lay nearby, unconscious but alive. The relic was gone from his hand, but the pulsing light remained—only now, it came from within his chest.
"What have I done?" he whispered his voice trembling.
A low growl answered him.
He turned his head slowly. Standing at the edge of the fractured ground was a creature unlike anything he'd ever seen. Its skin shimmered like molten metal, its eyes twin suns burning with malice. As it stepped forward, the earth hissed and blackened beneath its claws.
Behind it, the sky darkened further, and more shapes began to emerge from the void. Monsters, dozens of them, clawing their way into the world. Each one bore the mark of an ancient myth brought to horrifying life.
"Damian!" Jonah's voice was a broken shout as he stumbled to his feet. "What is that?"
Damian didn't answer. He couldn't. The truth was a weight crushing his chest, heavier than the relic's light. This was his doing. He had unleashed them.
And then came the voice, a whisper that echoed in his mind like a thousand screams.
"You are the harbinger. You are the key."
Damian's heart pounded as he turned back to the creature, its jaw opening to reveal rows of jagged teeth. It lunged, and the world seemed to shatter around him.