Behind him, Echidna stirred.
"I'm coming with you," she said almost immediately.
Chael didn't even look at her. "No."
Echidna scoffed. "What do you mean 'no'?"
"You're in no condition to fight after everything that happened just yesterday." His voice was as cold as ever. "And you're still just an Unveiled, so you'll just get in my way."
Echidna opened her mouth, but stopped. She then let out a slow breath, her eyes narrowing.
Chael could tell she knew he was right.
She could barely stand without wincing. Her body was covered in bruises and cuts, her clothes still damp with dried blood and her muscles still trembled from exhaustion. If she followed him, she wouldn't last long.
Instead, he turned his focus inward.
His right arm still wasn't completely functional, but it was far better than it had been. The accelerated healing of a Harbinger was making a difference. He rolled his shoulder experimentally and felt the stiffness. The pain was still there but it was manageable.
Slowly, he reached for the door handle.
The cold metal pressed against his palm, and just as he was about to turn it-
"Wait."
Chael stilled.
His blindfolded gaze turned toward her, the reflection of Echidna's silhouette flickering in his spearhead.
She had stepped closer. Her silver eyes were strangely unreadable. Then, without another word, she lifted a hand and pulled the apple-shaped pendant from around her neck.
Chael raised his eyebrow. "What are you-"
She pressed it into his palm.
"You need this more than me," Echidna muttered.
Chael's fingers curled around the pendant which was warm from her body heat.
For the first time ever, when he looked at her, he didn't feel any hatred. He didn't feel the simmering rage that had burned within him ever since she and her mercenaries had dragged him through hell.
Instead, he didn't know what he felt.
There was something strange about the way she looked at him now. There was a hollowness in her silver eyes.
Like something was missing.
He swallowed the feeling down and silently slipped the pendant over his neck.
Without saying anything, he turned away and faced the door once more before twisting the handle. The hinges barely made a sound as it swung open.
****
The corridor stretched endlessly ahead. Its vast emptiness pressed against Chael like a heavy weight. The dim beige glow from the walls pulsed softly, almost like a faint, eerie heartbeat within the cold stone.
There was no dust.
No lingering scent of rot, no dampness and no signs of time eating away at the structure.
It was immaculate.
And completely lifeless.
Chael exhaled through his nose as he moved forward. His boots barely made a sound against the stone floor, each step swallowed by the silence. The corridor's ceiling was very high, almost a couple of metres up. The walls on either side were smooth, unblemished by cracks or wear, as if they had been built just yesterday.
Initially, since the hallway was very very dim, Chael was walking mostly through spacial awareness with what little he could see from the reflection.
Then, his perspective grew brighter. Chael's steps halted. Because further down the corridoor, there was a burning torch placed on the wall.
Chael was instantly dumbstruck.
A burning torch?
So this place was being maintained, after all.
But by who, or by what?
The thought was both frightening and somewhat comforting at the same time.
Chael slowly carried on walking except this time he was a lot more cautious, down to the very step.
Occasionally, he would pass doorways. Some were open and some shut. And each time, he would pause, listening carefully before stepping inside.
And what he found only deepened his unease.
Every room was pristine. Just like the one he and Echinda were staying at.
He had come across a chamber filled with chairs and a long wooden table that was completely untouched. There were no scratches and no dust layering the surface. The chairs were perfectly arranged, as if a meeting had ended just minutes before, yet there were no signs that anyone had ever been present.
Chael ran a hand along the surface of a nearby dresser.
Nothing.
No dust.
His frown deepened.
It was as if the place had been preserved in a moment of time and was eternally waiting for its occupants to return.
But there were no occupants and yet, the glow remained.
Chael's spear head reflected what little light pale moonlight came from the window as he looked around this room.
Where was it's occupant?
Why hadn't they returned? Chael was sure that he and Echinda were in that room for more than twenty-four hours, yet no one came in.
And if this place had been abandoned long ago, why was it still functioning? Who, or what was keeping it this way?
Chael exited the room and continued down the endless hall. The unsettling uniformity of the corridors made it difficult to tell if he was going deeper into the structure or simply walking in circles. The architecture was impossibly vast, the ceilings stretching higher and higher the further he went.
The hallway finally opened into a larger chamber. It was a sitting area.
Plush, velvet couches were arranged in a perfect semicircle around an unlit fireplace. A grand chandelier hung from the ceiling and the crystals hanging off it shimmered in the fire light.
Chael stepped forward, the eerie glow flickering slightly across the reflective surfaces of the chandelier's glass ornaments. He adjusted his grip on his spear and his gaze flickered around the chamber.
Still no signs of life. And no answers.
His muscles tensed slightly. He had encountered abandoned ruins before. He had seen the remains of fallen settlements that had long since been touched.
But this was not one of them.
This place was not abandoned but rather, it seemed waiting.
Chael exhaled slowly before pressing on.
He needed to know more. He wanted to understand what this place was and why it still stood, untouched and preserved in unnatural perfection.
So he continued forward, into the heart of the silent, immaculate halls of Nytheril.
After what felt like forever, he finally stopped.
Not because of something he saw - but because of something he heard.
A sound.
Metallic footsteps.
Chael froze.