I lifted my hand, flame brightening. The tunnel curved into shadow, deeper than our light could touch.
Then I saw it. Not the creature itself—but a scrape along the stone. Long. Clawed.
“Something’s down here.”
“No shit,” Caelen breathed, drawing his sword.
The air thickened—damp and cloying. The temperature dropped.
Then something exhaled. Slow. Too slow to be human.
“Don’t speak,” I murmured. “Don’t even breathe loud. If it’s what I think it is… we stay quiet.”
Behind us, the sound came again. A ripple. A scrape. A whisper of scales on stone.
We moved—each step deliberate, soundless. The tunnel narrowed, walls slick and pressing close. The deeper we went, the heavier the air became. Colder too. Like the cave was exhaling frost.
Up ahead, the path split—two crooked veins winding off into shadow.
“Remind me why we’re crawling through a godsdamn hole in the world?” Caelen muttered, veering left.
“Because Slade couldn’t climb out. Because he went this way. And because I’m not leaving him behind.”
A faint sound echoed ahead—soft at first, like dripping water. But it wasn’t water.
Drip. Scrape. Drag.
Caelen halted. “Did you hear that?”
I nodded, lifting one hand. A small flame ignited in my palm—low, contained, just enough to push back the dark.
The shadows leapt.
Something peeled off the ceiling.
It moved like smoke, too smooth, too silent. Pale. Almost human—but wrong. Its limbs stretched too far, fingers tapering to hooked claws. Skin hung like parchment over bone. It didn’t crawl. Ithung.
“Morrkrin,” I whispered.
“A what now?” Caelen hissed.
“Cave leech. They cling to caverns. They drop on prey and drain what they touch.”
The Morrkrin tilted its head toward the light, eyeless, but aware.
“They hate fire,” I said. “But they’re fast. Don’t stop moving.”
We ran. The thing screeched—a low, keening sound like grinding glass—and dropped.
It didn’t chase. Not exactly. But the air trembled with its presence as we fled through the narrowing passage.
“That thing touched me—” Caelen hissed, stumbling.
“What do you feel?”
He blinked, like something had short-circuited. “I… can’t remember what I was about to say.”
“Keep moving. Don’t let it take more.”
