Ezra didn't hesitate.
The moment the statues lunged, he was already moving.
A blade sliced through the air where his head had been a second ago, the force of it splitting stone like butter. Dust and debris exploded outward, but Ezra had no time to flinch.
The statues weren't slow, lumbering things. They moved with deadly precision , their hollow eyes locked onto him with an intent that felt unnervingly human.
"The debt must be paid."
The hooded figure on the throne hadn't moved. It simply watched.
Ezra barely managed to twist away from another strike, feeling the air shudder past his cheek.
He had fought before. Not like this, not against things carved from stone , but survival was survival. And survival meant thinking fast.
His eyes flickered to the chamber's layout.
Four statues.
One way out behind the throne.
The path was blocked.
His mind raced. He had to disrupt them. Break their rhythm.
But how?
Then
A dull, burning pulse throbbed against his chest.
The Sigil.
A deep, coiled hunger stirred, pressing against his ribs. It felt different this time. Not overwhelming, not something trying to consume him whole but something waiting.
Ezra swallowed hard.
No time to hesitate.
A statue lunged.
Ezra shifted at the last second, letting the blade pass inches from his skin. And as he moved
He let go.
For just a fraction of a second he stopped resisting.
The hunger lunged outward.
His fingertips brushed against the stone warrior's arm
And something rippled through the air.
A crack split across the statue's arm , fractures spreading like veins of lightning. The blade it held trembled then shattered into dust.
Ezra didn't waste time being shocked.
He moved.
The statues hesitated. Only a moment, but it was enough.
Ezra bolted toward the throne.
The hooded figure let out something like a chuckle. "You begin to understand."
Ezra ignored him.
He had no idea what he had just done. No idea what he had just used.
But it had worked.
And that was all that mattered.
The moment he passed behind the throne
The world shifted.
Ezra's feet hit solid ground but not stone.
He stumbled forward, nearly losing his balance. When he looked up
His breath caught.
The underground chamber was gone.
Instead, an endless city stretched before him.
Massive, towering spires of black stone rose into a sky that was… wrong.
No sun. No stars.
Just an expanse of spiraling, shifting colors , like something pressed against the fabric of reality itself.
The air was thick , buzzing with a presence Ezra couldn't explain.
And the streets
They were empty.
Silent.
But not abandoned.
He could feel it.
Something was watching.
Ezra exhaled slowly. "Right. That's… new."
He had escaped the statues.
But somehow
This place felt even worse.