Chapter 2: The Hunter in the Dark

Elliot ran.

His heartbeat pounded in his ears, nearly drowning out the guttural roar that shook the ruins behind him. The wind lashed against his face as he stumbled over broken stone, barely managing to keep up with the woman sprinting ahead of him.

"Faster!" she shouted, her voice sharp with urgency.

Elliot gritted his teeth and pushed forward, his mind racing. He had barely begun to understand where he was, let alone why something massive was now chasing him. But the terror in the woman's voice was real—and that was enough to keep him moving.

The ruins blurred past them. Jagged stone pillars. Crumbling archways. Flickering, glowing symbols carved into the walls. The further they ran, the more Elliot could feel it—a presence, vast and hungry, closing in.

The ground shook again.

Then, a flash of motion from behind.

Elliot risked a glance over his shoulder.

The creature was enormous, a towering silhouette of shifting shadows and jagged bone. Its form was unnatural, its limbs wrong, as if it had been stitched together from nightmares. Glowing eyes locked onto him with unnatural intelligence, and as its maw opened, Elliot saw rows of serrated teeth gleaming like obsidian knives.

It let out a second roar—louder, angrier—and the ruins trembled in response.

"What the hell is that?!" Elliot gasped.

"Not something you want to fight," the woman snapped. "Move!"

She yanked him forward just as the creature lunged. A claw the size of a man's torso ripped through the air where Elliot had been standing a second ago, shattering a pillar into dust.

Elliot didn't need to be told twice.

They reached a crumbling bridge of stone suspended over a deep, swirling abyss. The woman didn't slow down. Instead, she leapt, landing gracefully on the other side.

Elliot, however, skidded to a stop. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me—"

The creature roared behind him. No time to think.

Elliot sucked in a breath and jumped.

For a split second, he was weightless. The abyss yawned beneath him, an endless void. Then—impact. He barely caught the ledge, his fingers scraping against rough stone.

The woman was already there, grabbing his wrist and hauling him up with surprising strength. "On your feet, Keybearer!" she barked.

Elliot had no time to protest.

The creature skidded to the edge of the broken bridge, its glowing eyes burning with fury. For a moment, it seemed ready to leap across—but it stopped.

Instead, it let out a deep, guttural growl. The ground beneath them trembled.

"That's not good," Elliot muttered.

The woman didn't answer. She pulled him into a nearby passageway, leading him through a series of crumbling corridors, deeper into the ruins. Only when they were far enough from the bridge did she stop, pressing her back against the wall.

Elliot doubled over, catching his breath. "Okay," he panted. "I think I deserve some answers now."

The woman gave him a long, assessing look. Then, after a pause, she spoke.

"You should not be here."

"Yeah, I figured that part out," Elliot said, exasperated. "What was that thing? And why did it stop chasing us?"

The woman hesitated before answering. "A Shadeborn. A hunter. It feeds on the remnants of this world's broken magic. The fact that it sensed you means it knows you don't belong."

Elliot's blood ran cold. "So… it wanted me because I'm an outsider?"

She nodded. "And because you have that." Her gaze flickered to the shard still clutched in his hand.

Elliot exhaled slowly. "You called me Keybearer earlier. What does that mean?"

The woman studied him again, then finally said, "It means this world has chosen you."

"Chosen me for what?"

She looked away, her expression dark. "To put it back together… or to destroy it completely."

A heavy silence settled between them.

Elliot tightened his grip on the shard, feeling the weight of her words. He had spent his life searching for lost civilizations, for forgotten truths hidden in the pages of history. But this? This was beyond anything he could have imagined.

His gaze met hers again. "And what do you want me to do?"

The woman's lips pressed into a thin line. "First, I want to keep you alive."

She turned toward the dark passage ahead. "Come. We need to move before the Shadeborn returns."

Elliot hesitated only for a moment before following.