Story 870: Echoes of the Swarm

The air was thick with black ichor and the lingering heat of the explosion. The Devourer’s body twitched, its grotesque form still convulsing as the last remnants of life drained from its core.

But Evelyn knew better than to celebrate.

A low, guttural sound rumbled through the cavern, almost like a pulse in the walls themselves.

Leon took a cautious step back, his rifle still trained on the unmoving creature. “Tell me that’s not what I think it is.”

Reaper gritted his teeth. “It’s never that easy.”

Then—the eyes opened.

All around them, in the walls, in the ceiling, in the very flesh of the chamber itself. Dozens. Hundreds. Some were tiny, some were grotesquely large, but all of them blinked in unison, their sickly yellow glow illuminating the darkness.

Something else was here.

Mia let out a shaky breath, her wound still bleeding through her torn sleeve. “What the hell is this place?”