Reinhardt's breath was steady, but his pulse pounded like war drums. The air in the temple was thick, suffocating, charged with a presence unseen but undeniably there. The voice that had spoken—a deep, ancient thing—echoed through the chamber, neither welcoming nor hostile. It was expectant.
"You are not the first to seek refuge here. But tell me… will you be the first to leave?"
Selene's hand twitched at her side, dark magic already crackling in her fingertips. "Who speaks?" she demanded, her voice sharp.
Silence.
Then, the chamber shifted. The stone beneath them pulsed, as if the entire structure was breathing. Runes along the towering walls flared to life, casting eerie golden light that twisted and reshaped the space around them. The entrance they had come through? Gone. The walls stretched, the ceiling expanded, and before them now stood an altar of black stone, its surface etched with veins of liquid gold.
And seated upon it—a figure wrapped in shadows.
It did not rise. It did not move. Yet, Reinhardt felt its gaze pierce straight through him.
"You do not recognize this place, do you, Marked One?"
Reinhardt stiffened. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword. "I don't know what you're talking about."
The figure let out a sound—not quite a laugh, but something older, something amused.
"You should. After all, it was meant for you."
Selene's eyes flickered to Reinhardt, but his gaze remained locked on the being before him. "Enough riddles," he said, stepping forward. "What is this place? What do you want from us?"
For the first time, the figure moved. A slow, deliberate tilt of the head.
"This is the Hollow Seat, where gods once bargained with mortals. And what I want… is the same thing I have always wanted."
A pause.
Then, the shadows around the figure shifted, peeling away to reveal a throne. A throne that felt familiar.
Reinhardt's stomach dropped.
Because deep in his bones, he knew.
He had been here before.
Not in this life. But in another.
And the truth of that realization chilled him to the core.