Chapter 12: The Unseen Hunter

A guttural growl rumbled from the darkness, low and resonant, vibrating through the chamber's walls. Elliot instinctively stepped back, gripping the shard tighter as a pulse of cold energy coursed through his hand. Seris drew her dagger, eyes narrowing at the unseen presence just beyond their sight.

"Don't move," she whispered, barely audible.

The air around them grew heavy, charged with an unnatural stillness. The breathing continued—deep, slow, predatory. It was circling them, unseen in the shifting shadows.

Elliot felt his pulse hammering in his ears. "What is it?" he managed to ask.

Seris didn't answer immediately. Instead, she took a slow step sideways, adjusting her stance. "Something that hunts in the dark. And it knows we're here."

Then, without warning, it struck.

A blur of shadow lunged from the darkness, impossibly fast. Elliot barely had time to react before Seris shoved him aside, twisting to intercept the attack. Her dagger flashed, meeting the creature's claws with a sharp clang of metal against something far denser than bone. The impact sent her skidding back, boots struggling to find grip against the stone floor.

Elliot scrambled to his feet, heart pounding as he caught his first real glimpse of their attacker. It was a towering figure, vaguely humanoid but wrong in every sense—its limbs too long, its movements unnatural. Its face was obscured beneath a veil of shifting shadows, but its eyes glowed like burning embers, locking onto Elliot.

The creature exhaled, the sound closer to a snarl than breath.

Then it lunged again.

Elliot barely dodged, throwing himself to the side as the thing's claws raked through the space where he had stood moments before. The force of its attack shattered the stone floor, cracks splintering outward like a spider's web.

Seris was already moving, her blade finding openings between the creature's attacks. She fought with precision, every strike calculated, but the monster was relentless, shrugging off blows that should have crippled it.

"Elliot! The shard!" Seris shouted as she ducked under a sweeping claw, retaliating with a quick slice across the creature's side.

Elliot didn't hesitate. The shard in his palm was pulsing, resonating with something in the ruins. He focused, and for a brief moment, he felt it respond—a surge of energy rippling through his body.

The creature turned toward him, sensing the shift. Its growl deepened, and the shadows around it thickened. The air crackled as if reality itself was bending under the sheer weight of its presence. Seris gritted her teeth, barely dodging a swipe that would have torn her apart.

"It's not just some beast," she hissed. "It's connected to the ruins—maybe even guarding something."

Elliot felt the shard grow warmer in his grip, as if urging him to act. He took a deep breath and raised it high. The air around them shimmered, and a faint glow spread outward, illuminating the carvings on the chamber walls. The same symbols that had pulsed before now flared to life, casting their light against the dark.

The creature shrieked in response, recoiling as if in pain. Its form flickered, momentarily losing substance, as though the light disrupted its very existence.

"That's it!" Seris shouted. "Keep going!"

Elliot stepped forward, focusing all his will into the shard. The glow intensified, driving the darkness away inch by inch. The creature let out a deafening roar and lunged again—this time, straight for Elliot.

Seris moved before she could think. She leaped between them, her dagger glowing faintly now, as if the shard's power had transferred to it. She slashed at the creature's arm, the blade cutting deep, and this time, it screamed.

The reaction was immediate. The shadows trembled and withdrew, peeling away from the chamber's walls like mist dispersing at dawn. The creature staggered back, its once-menacing form flickering wildly as it struggled to hold itself together.

Elliot could feel it weakening. He took another step forward, raising the shard higher. "This ends now!" he shouted.

A final pulse of energy erupted from the shard, washing over the chamber in a wave of light. The creature let out one last, agonized cry before its form was torn apart, its body dissolving into wisps of shadow that scattered into nothingness.

Silence followed. The weight that had hung over the ruins suddenly lifted, as if the air itself had been freed from some invisible grip.

Seris lowered her dagger, breathing heavily. "That... was close."

Elliot nodded, his chest rising and falling as he tried to calm his racing heart. "What was that thing?"

She wiped the sweat from her brow, looking around at the ruins. "A guardian. Or a remnant of whatever used to control this place. Either way, it's dead now."

But as she spoke, Elliot noticed something on the ground where the creature had fallen—a mark burned into the stone, the same ancient symbol that had been carved into the murals. It pulsed faintly before fading away.

Seris saw it too. Her expression darkened. "This isn't over. Something—someone—is still watching us."

Elliot swallowed hard, gripping the shard once more. If that was just a guardian, what were they guarding against?

The ruins gave no answer, but Elliot had a sinking feeling that they were far from the only ones searching for the shards. And not all of them would be as easily defeated.

As they gathered themselves and prepared to move forward, the last remnants of shadow swirled behind them, reforming into something unseen.

The hunter may have been vanquished, but its master was still out there. And it had taken notice of them.