"Y–Yue... I–I think you should stop," Lihua stammered, clutching Yue's sleeve with trembling fingers. Her eyes darted toward Ling, Wei, and Jong In — all three standing frozen in the shadows, their faces pale, fear flickering in their eyes though none dared to speak.
Yue sighed, shaking off Lihua's grip with a small, dismissive shrug. "What do you mean stop?" she muttered, glancing over her shoulder at them. "You all agreed this was worth checking out. And I think we're better off figuring out what these symbols mean before the seniors get here." Her grin flickered in the dim beam of her flashlight, eager and defiant. "Come on… imagine the promotion."
"I've already imagined that months ago," Ling muttered, stepping forward cautiously. His eyes narrowed on the worn leather book clutched in Yue's hands — a collection of dead languages, forgotten alphabets, and cryptic symbols, their only guide in this place where time itself seemed to sleep. His voice dropped lower. "But... didn't you feel it? The air shifted the moment you spoke that first symbol out loud."
Yue hesitated, her fingers tightening around the book. Between the two towering boulders loomed a colossal gate, suffocated by thick, unyielding vines. Even the sharpest tools they carried were useless against its age-old defenses. Yue had guessed it was a gate — but now, standing before it, it felt like something more. Something sealed for a reason. Something that did not want to be disturbed.
"But we need this, Ling," Yue pressed. She turned to Lihua, eyes softening. "Li, you need the money for your mother's surgery, don't you?"
Her gaze shifted to Jong In. "And you… you've got two siblings waiting for tuition and those loans breathing down your neck."
She paused, looking at Wei. Her mouth opened, then closed. Finally, her eyes landed back on Ling, and she blinked. "Okay — both of you are rich. You do this for fun. You'll never understand what it's like to need this." Her fingers curled around the ancient book. "I need it for my father's medical bills. I don't have time to be cautious."
Wei let out a slow breath, his shoulders sinking with quiet resignation. "We've offered to help — all three of you — more times than I can count," he said softly, his gaze flicking from Ling to the towering boulders, then back again.
"But you always refuse." He paused, the corner of his mouth twitching into a half-smile as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "So… let them have their moment." His eyes glinted with curiosity. "Besides, I won't lie — I'm dying to see what happens. It's the kind of thing that'll blow up on my feed. Imagine the engagement!"
Ling could only roll his eyes. "Whatever suits you," he muttered, stepping back with a groan. "Just don't make me say I told you so when this all goes sideways."
"You're always too stiff, Ling," Yue chuckled, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "You signed up for this madness. If something bad happens… well, that's part of the deal."
Ling didn't bother arguing. He just gave a small shrug and moved aside, letting Yue continue her reckless curiosity.
"Li, a little more light here, please?"
Lihua nodded, stepping closer and angling her flashlight toward the worn pages of the ancient book Yue was hunched over.
"E...Ezamuvos," Yue murmured, squinting as she tried to line up the symbols carved into the boulder with the ones in the book. But the deeper she compared, the more her brow furrowed. The symbols didn't match — not even close. They shifted, curved, and spiraled in ways that didn't exist in any of the dead languages documented in the text.
"This is hopeless," she sighed, frustration creeping into her voice as she reached to flip to another page.
But just before she could, Wei's voice cut through the stillness.
"Guys! You need to see this."
They turned to find him standing in front of the massive gate, the vines pushed aside just enough for him to snap photos of something half-hidden beneath the layers.
They hurried over — and there, at the center of the ancient gate, was a single handprint, perfectly engraved into the stone.
"Whose handprint do you think that is?" Jong In asked, voicing what seemed like the most obvious question.
Ling, however, gave a thoughtful answer. He ran a fingertip along the outline of the print. "Probably someone who was here before this stone hardened… though this isn't concrete." His voice dropped. "It's pure boulder. The symbols we've seen so far match styles from around 3000 BC. There's no way to leave a mark like this without advanced technology — or unless someone was here long before us."
"Wow, that's cool, genius," Wei said, his eyes wide with mock awe. He clutched his chest dramatically. "Careful, Ling — keep talking like that and I might just drop to one knee and propose on the spot!"
Jong In placed a hand on Wei's shoulder with a solemn expression. "Wei… if you're gay, just say so. We're your friends. We listen. We support. We do not judge."
Wei blinked at him, then snorted. "I'm not gay, Jong In. I'm impressed and wanted my kids to inherit his intellect. There's a difference."
"Honestly," Ling muttered, rubbing his temples as though the banter physically pained him. His gaze drifted back to Lihua, who was now examining the carved handprint with all the seriousness of someone inspecting a betrayal.
"This hand is too small," Lihua huffed, placing her palm over it and frowning deeply, as if the gate itself had offended her. "I mean, seriously. Rude." She turned toward Yue, who was still buried in her book, brow furrowed in frustration. "Yue, try it. Your hands are the smallest — maybe it's... I don't know, meant for someone like you."
Before Yue could protest, Lihua grabbed her wrist and dragged her forward. "Come on, stop reading ancient gibberish for a second."
Reluctantly, Yue allowed her hand to be pressed against the cold stone.
And then — silence.
Ling, Jong In, and Lihua all leaned in.
It fit. Perfectly.
Not just close — it was like her hand had been the mold. No gaps, no uneven edges. The stone seemed to swallow her palm, cradling it as if it had been waiting.
Even Ling, who rarely showed more than mild irritation or disinterest, took a sharp breath.
Jong In's playful grin slowly faded. "That's… weird."
The air shifted. A faint, low hum vibrated through the stone beneath their feet — subtle, almost inaudible, but undeniable.
Lihua swallowed. "Did anyone else just feel that?"
Yue tried to pull her hand back — but it wouldn't budge. The stone felt soft, warm now, like living skin.
"I...I can't move my hand," Yue stammered.
"Fucking what?" Wei hissed, stepping forward in alarm. He grabbed Yue's arm and tugged, trying to pull her hand free — but Yue gasped in pain, her face twisting.
"Stop, stop! It feels like… like it's gripping me!" she gasped, eyes wide.
Before anyone could react further, the ground beneath them rumbled — soft at first, then violent enough to knock dust from the ceiling and send small pebbles skittering.
"Oh, of course," Jong In groaned, throwing his hands in the air. "Of all the times for an earthquake, it has to be right now? Really? Universe, you've got jokes."
The tremors grew stronger. Cracks spider-webbed across the walls. Somewhere in the distance, rocks crashed and echoes bounced down the darkened corridors.
"Go," Yue gritted out, struggling to yank her arm back with tears in her eyes. "Just go! I'll figure it out!"
Wei looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "And leave you here to die?" His voice cracked. "Okay, yes, I love attention, and yes, I post everything I do on social media, but I am not a jerk who ditches his friend to be swallowed by an ancient death door! I have standards!"
"Questionable standards," Ling muttered, bracing himself against the wall as another tremor shook through them.
Wei ignored him, grabbing Yue's other shoulder. "We're getting you out of here, or we're going to be buried together in the most dramatic group burial ever, and I hope you're ready for matching headstones!"
Before anyone could reply, the gate itself emitted a low, resonant sound — not mechanical, not natural — almost like a distant voice sighing awake.
Everyone froze.
"Did… did that gate just breathe?" Jong In whispered.
Suddenly, whispers slithered from the thin cracks of the massive gate — voices layered over each other in dozens of tongues, some pleading, others screaming, some laughing with chilling malice. The entire cavern groaned, the weight of ancient power stirring awake after centuries of silence.
What happened next was too fast for any of them to process.
A piercing, high-pitched cry — not quite human, not quite beast — rang out, echoing from the depths of the sealed darkness. The pressure that followed was suffocating. A wave of sinister, crushing force slammed into Ling, Lihua, Jong In, and Wei, throwing them to the ground like rag dolls, unconscious before they even hit the stone floor.
But Yue — Yue heard everything. She saw it all.
From the thin cracks of the gate seeped black and red miasma, swirling like smoke but heavier, alive, venomous. Shapes twisted inside it — faces that howled and vanished. The vines that once bound the gate snapped all at once with a violent crack, dropping like dead serpents across her unconscious friends.
Yue gasped when the gate finally released her hand. She stumbled back, breath ragged, crawling on hands and knees toward Lihua.
"Wake up... please, wake up!" she whispered desperately, shaking her friend's shoulder, then Wei's, then Jong In's, then Ling's. None of them stirred — they were heavy and limp, caught in a spell beyond her understanding.
The ground trembled once more. Without warning, the great stone gates groaned — then flung open inwardly with a force so great it nearly sucked all of them into the abyss beyond.
The black and red miasma erupted outward, not as smoke, but as a stampede of restless souls, shrieking in freedom. They rushed out like birds escaping a shattered cage, clawing at the cave walls, shattering ancient stone, and tearing through the cavern ceiling in bursts of violent force. Massive rocks tumbled down — but by sheer miracle, none struck them.
Yue sat frozen, heart pounding, watching the impossible unfold before her eyes. Her vision began to spin. Her body trembled, every nerve on fire, until the weight of exhaustion and that oppressive spiritual pressure pushed her down beside Ling.
She lay there, gasping, her face turned toward the gate — now wide open, revealing nothing but endless, swallowing darkness.
Suddenly, a massive shape descended slowly, landing with weightless grace. A white giant hawk. Its crimson eyes locked onto her with ancient fury.
But before her mind could process it, the creature shifted — feathers folding into silk robes, wings shrinking into pale arms.
A man.
He stood before her, tall and imposing, silver hair falling over sharp, inhuman eyes filled with disbelief and rage.
"What... did you do?" he hissed, his voice low and trembling, as though holding back fury or fear.
Yue tried to answer — tried to even focus on his face — but her strength gave out.
The last thing her fading mind clung to was his glowing, crimson eyes, and the glint of his silver hair, shimmering like moonlight over a storm... and then nothing.