Story 1198: They Who Dwell Behind

Beneath the rotted crypts of the Blackmoor District, there was a wall older than the city itself. Stone etched with sigils not meant for eyes, pulsing like skin when touched. It wasn’t built—it was grown. And behind it, something waited.

Evelyn stood before it now, her torch sputtering. The silence from the previous days still weighed heavy, but here, in the deepest dark, she began to hear again.

Not words. Breaths.

Low. Deep. Ancient.

As though a dozen lungs exhaled behind the stone.

She traced the lines on the wall, and her fingertips trembled. The symbols felt warm. Wet. She tried to pull her hand away—but it stuck. A voice without air filled her mind.

“You have heard the silence. Now you will hear us.”