I underestimated the depth of his betrayal

In the Depths of Hollow Earth (Witnessed/Connected from Cancun)

The air in the Hollow Earth cavern where Enlil, the Anunnaki Commander, had sought respite, was frigid and smelled of ozone and the dark blood of unknown entities. His Anunnaki battle armor, once a testament to unsurpassed might and technology, was dented, torn in several places, and stained with his own golden blood and the alien ichor of his enemies. He clutched his chest, where a psychic or energetic wound inflicted by the Luciferian Netlin or a spawn of Cthulhu caused sharp, debilitating pain. Every breath was an effort.

The battle had been carnage. His attempt at a direct offensive, a bold blow against the combined forces of the Ancient One and their new Netlin allies, had resulted in disaster. He had underestimated the synergy of their unholy alliance, the way Cthulhu's madness fueled the cold, methodical annihilation of the Luciferians. His Anunnaki legions, what remained of them after Nyx's betrayal and the initial skirmishes, had been shattered. He himself had narrowly escaped, his pride shattered along with his armor.

Suddenly, a sound. The faint crunch of loose stone, the echo of movement in the vast, silent cavern. Enlil tensed instantly, his ancient warrior instincts screaming danger despite his exhaustion. His hand went instinctively to the energy weapon still hanging from his belt, but his fingers were numb.

More of them? he thought, a wave of cold despair mixed with impotent fury coursing through him. The tentacled spawn of the Void? Or those traitorous Netlin, with their smiles of cold superiority and their spears of dark light? No... I have no strength left for another confrontation... but I will not fall without taking some of them with me. A spark of his former arrogance and ferocity flickered in his golden eyes. He braced himself for the worst, waiting for the appearance of some cosmic nightmare.

A figure emerged from the phosphorescent gloom of the cavern. Enlil narrowed his eyes, his vision clouded with pain. It was tall, with the familiar golden glow of his own race.

"Enlil!" The voice was unmistakable, laden with an urgency and concern that Enlil had not heard from his brother in countless ages.

Enki materialized fully, moving with a swiftness that belied the usual caution of a scientist. His face, normally a mask of Anunnaki control, was twisted with anxiety. He rushed to his brother, his golden eyes scanning Enlil's wounds.

"Enki...?" Enlil's voice was a harsh whisper of disbelief. Seeing his brother, the scholar, the subtle manipulator, here in this subterranean hell was the last thing he expected. "You... here? How...?"

"Brother, I received your... your call of distress," Enki said, kneeling beside him, his hand instinctively reaching out to assess the wound in Enlil's chest, though he stopped short of touching. "Your life signal was weakening. I feared the worst. The forces of Cthulhu and the Luciferians... did they find you?"

Behind Enki, another figure emerged from the shadows, quieter, almost ethereal. It was Kael'Thara, the Lyrean, his pearly skin glowing faintly in the gloom, his large, dark eyes fixed on Enlil with a mixture of wariness and a strange compassion. He held a Lyrean device in his hands that emitted a soft whirring noise, likely a scanner or a medical stabilizer.

Enlil, even in his weakened state, recognized the alien. "A... a Lyrean?" he gasped, a grimace of pain and bitter irony crossing his lips. "With you, Enki? Times are truly desperate if the children of Anu seek the company of Lyre's ghosts. Have they come to witness the fall of the last of Terra's self-appointed 'gods'?" His pride, though wounded, still burned.

"We have not come to witness falls, Commander Enlil," Kael'Thara said, his voice a series of resonant tones that Enki's device translated instantly. "We have come because the fight against the Devourer and his heralds of the Cold Light is a cause that now, tragically, unites us all. Your brother informed us of your brave, though perhaps... reckless, solo offensive. We believed you might need support, or at least extraction."

Enki nodded, his gaze fixed on Enlil's wound. "Brother, after your desperate call for unity, and with the information provided by the Lyreans and the growing threat on the surface, the council in Cancún made a decision. Bold. Dangerous. We headed here, to the Hollow Earth, just as Kael'Thara and his people suggested, to take the war directly to the manifestations of the Great Old One, to find a link, a weakness. We sought you."

Enlil looked at him, processing the words. His plea... they had heard it. They had come. Despite all the

From all the hatred, from all the rivalries, from the eons of conflict between them, Enki had come. And not only him, but with these strange allies from the surface, motivated by a near-suicidal plan.

A convulsive cough shook Enlil's body, and a drop of golden Anunnaki blood stained his lips. "The confrontation... was... a massacre," he managed, his voice barely a thread. "Their combined power... the madness of Cthulhu, the cold, methodical annihilation of the Luciferian Netlin... Nyx and her Chaos Dragon barely slowed them before being... neutralized themselves. My legions... what remained of them... shattered like glass against an obsidian wall." He looked at Enki with a new, stark, and desperate humility he had never shown before. "You were right, brother. About many things. I underestimated the depth of their betrayal... and overestimated my own strength to face them alone."

The Anunnaki Commander, the proud warrior, the ruthless executor of Anu's will, was broken, but perhaps, just perhaps, in that brokenness, a new and desperate form of unity could begin to be forged in the darkest depths of the Earth.