Steam hissed from the corroded bronze pipes lining the damp stone corridor, filling the air with the sharp, metallic tang of rusted iron.
Wet condensation dripped from the ceiling, tapping rhythmically against the metal collar of Kael's leather duster.
Every drop sounded like a countdown.
Kael pressed his back against the greasy masonry, waiting for his racing heart to slow down.
Forcing his breathing into a steady, silent pattern, he recalled the many times Eldrin had taught him to navigate the Undercity.
His fingers twitched against the worn grip of his heavy brass-barreled pistol, but he didn't draw it.
Gunfire in these narrow tunnels was a death sentence.
It would alert every guard, scavenger, and rogue magus within a three-mile radius.
Silence stretched, heavy and suffocating, broken only by the distant, rhythmic thud of the Imperial steam-pumps above.
Oakhaven's gears ground day and night, a relentless machine that chewed up lives and spat out ash.
Kael had grown up in its gears, learning to navigate the soot-stained alleys before he could even read.
He had known hunger, cold, and the cruelty of the city's factories, but Eldrin had given him a purpose beyond mere survival.
Copper-scented air scraped his throat as he slipped his bone-handled trench knife from its sheath.
Blood on the ground was fresh, pooling in the deep cracks of the ancient flagstones.
It didn't belong to a rat or a stray hound.
Eldrin had been gone for far too long.
A simple scouting run to locate a rumored cache of Pre-Cataclysm relics should have taken two hours at most.
It had now been five, and the sickening knot in Kael's stomach was turning into absolute certainty that something had gone wrong.
Ten years of training under the old man had taught Kael that survival depended on caution.
Relics were the lifeblood of the black markets, ancient technology that the Empire’s scholars couldn’t begin to understand but desperately wanted to control.
Eldrin had always been careful to only harvest what they needed to survive, avoiding the high-risk vaults that attracted the attention of the Imperial Guard.
Today, that legendary caution seemed to have vanished completely.
Splatters of fresh, dark fluid stained the flagstones ahead, reflecting the dim pressure gauges high above.
Kael knelt, dipping his gloved finger into the wetness.
It was still warm.
Footsteps echoed in the distance, a faint, scraping sound that set Kael's nerves on fire.
Moving forward with deliberate, agonized slowness, he kept his weight on the balls of his feet, avoiding the loose gravel that littered the floor.
Cold air hit his face as he left the modern underbelly behind, stepping into the raw, unpolished stone of the ancient world.
---
Shadows clung to the jagged edges of the tunnel walls like predatory beasts waiting to strike.
Grim memories of his first delve into these lower levels flashed through Kael’s mind.
He had been a boy of twelve then, clutching Eldrin’s coat as they evaded a pack of feral ghouls.
That day, Eldrin had killed three of the beasts with nothing but his trench knife and a brass lantern.
Below the hum of the distant city, a low, pulsing vibration began to thrum through the soles of his boots.
Rubble crunched beneath his boots as he turned a sharp corner, the narrow corridor suddenly opening up into a massive, vaulted chamber.
Panic, sharp and metallic, flooded Kael’s mouth as his eyes locked onto the center of the cavern.
Corrupted crystal facets pulsed with a heartbeat that felt entirely alien, its jagged structure looking like a wound in the world bleeding violet light.
Vaulted stone arches loomed over the horrific scene like the ribcage of a dead titan.
Rounding the base of the crystal structure, his boots slipped in a wide pool of dark, sticky blood.
Purple light bathed the pale, blood-drenched face of his mentor.
Eldrin hung suspended three feet off the ground, the massive crystal shard protruding directly through his chest.
Blood, thick and hot, poured down the side of the crystal spire, pooling around Kael's boots.
"Eldrin!" Kael choked out, his voice cracking under the weight of a sudden, suffocating grief.
Cold dread washed over Kael, freezing the blood in his veins.
Kneeling beside the crystal, Kael gripped his mentor’s trembling shoulder.
"I'm going to get you down," he lied, his voice shaking violently.
Weakly, the dying man raised a blood-slicked hand, pressing it against Kael's chest to stop him.
"Kael..." Eldrin gasped, his chest heaving with agonizing effort.
Tears burned hot against Kael’s eyes, blurring his vision of the man who had been his father, his teacher, and his only anchor in a brutal world.
"Don't speak," Kael pleaded, reaching up to support Eldrin's trembling shoulders.
Coughing violently, Eldrin spat a mouthful of dark blood onto the violet crystal.
"No time," Eldrin wheezed, his fingers tightening on Kael’s coat with a sudden, unnatural strength.
Gasped breaths came faster now, shallower.
"This heart," Eldrin breathed, his eyes wide, staring at something invisible in the darkness above them.
Clenching his teeth, Kael held the wrapped object Eldrin forced into his hands.
"Run," Eldrin whispered.
Shaking hands reached out to touch his mentor’s face, closing the glassy, sightless eyes.
Grief mutated within his chest, the agonizing pain twisting into a searing, white-hot need for vengeance.
"I will kill them," Kael whispered to the empty cavern, his voice flat, devoid of any warmth.
Standing up slowly, he felt the heavy weight of the wrapped object in his hand.
Resting in his palm was a petrified, obsidian heart.
Faint, microscopic runes were etched into the black stone, pulsing with an almost imperceptible, dim light.
Roaring silence seemed to fill the chamber as Kael stared at the artifact.
Crimson stains from Eldrin's blood still coated Kael's fingers, smearing across the dark, polished surface of the obsidian heart.
Panic flared anew, but before Kael could drop the artifact, his muscles locked.
As Kael's fingers close around the obsidian heart, a wave of unbearable agony lances through him, and the ancient stone pulses with a malevolent, crimson light.