Episode 52 – Awakening (Part 2)

  The darkness swallowed them whole.

  Kade’s body hit the ground with brutal force, but his mind was still racing, trying to make sense of everything. His pulse hammered in his ears as he scrambled to push himself up. Around him, the others were disoriented but alive, groaning and cursing in the deep, pitch-black void they had fallen into.

  The explosion’s aftershock had triggered a violent shift in the tunnel, collapsing the ground beneath them. Now, they were trapped in another cavern, deeper than the one before. The air was thick with dust and something else—something colder.

  Kade’s flashlight flickered, casting fleeting shadows over the walls, revealing jagged stone and strange markings. This place wasn’t like anything they had encountered before. It wasn’t just abandoned—it was alive.

  “Everyone alright?” Kade called out, his voice sharp.

  “I’m fine,” Naomi’s voice came, her tone steady but edged with uncertainty. “But we need to move. Fast.”

  Kade squinted in the dark, trying to get his bearings. The walls seemed to pulse around him, the same black veins that had covered the monolith now streaking through the ground. But this time, they weren’t just veins—they were seeping out of the stone, as though the cavern itself was bleeding.

  “We’re not alone,” Owen said, his voice tight. He was already scanning the surroundings with his tablet, though the screen kept flickering, struggling to process the readings in this cursed place. “This whole place is… reacting to us. The energy’s fluctuating.”

  “Stop talking and start moving,” Mason growled from somewhere in the darkness, his voice raspy but determined. “The longer we stay here, the worse it’ll get.”

  Kade didn’t need to be told twice. His gut was telling him they were running out of time, and the feeling was becoming unbearable.

  They moved quickly through the jagged passageways, the only sounds their footsteps and the occasional crack of stone shifting. Kade’s thoughts raced. They had no idea where they were, but the deeper they went, the more the air seemed to change. It was colder now, thicker, suffocating. And beneath that was something darker—wrong.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “I think I’m seeing something,” Naomi said quietly ahead of him. “There’s a glow… up ahead.”

  Kade’s heart skipped a beat. He had no idea what was waiting for them, but the glow was unmistakable—something powerful, something ancient. They had to reach it. But at the same time, Kade couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a trap.

  They pressed forward, the tunnel growing narrower as they reached the source of the light. The walls were lined with smooth, black stone, their edges sharp like the teeth of some massive, forgotten creature. The glow ahead pulsed rhythmically, like a heartbeat.

  And then they reached the source.

  It wasn’t a natural light. No, it was something far worse. A swirling vortex of energy, hovering above a massive stone pedestal, its edges crackling with power. The glow was cold, alien, like it didn’t belong in this dimension. But what truly made Kade’s blood run cold was the figure standing before it.

  It was a man—or at least, it looked like one. But his eyes… his eyes were empty, like a void, a blackened pit where nothing existed. The figure turned toward them slowly, a faint smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

  “You should not have come here,” the figure whispered, his voice reverberating through the cavern, making Kade’s skin crawl.

  Kade’s hand tightened on his gun. “Who are you?”

  The figure’s smile widened, but there was something off about it. “I am the gatekeeper… and you are trespassing. All of you. And now, you will know the truth.”

  The glow around the pedestal flared brighter, blindingly so. The vortex seemed to open wider, pulling at the very fabric of reality. Kade felt his breath catch in his throat as the air around them thickened.

  “What truth?” Kade demanded. But as he spoke, a cold, sharp whisper entered his mind—a voice that wasn’t his own.

  “You should have stayed in the dark. This is where it ends for all of you.”

  Naomi’s voice broke through the silence. “Kade, something’s wrong. This isn’t just a man.” She was backing away slowly, eyes wide with fear.

  The figure’s form began to shift, blurring at the edges like smoke, and the glow intensified, warping the air around them. Kade’s head spun as he fought to stay focused.

  “We need to get out of here!” Owen shouted, panic creeping into his voice. He grabbed Kade’s arm, pulling him back. But it was too late.

  The ground beneath their feet cracked open again. But this time, there was no fall. There was only sinking.

  The walls around them seemed to fold inward, as if the cavern itself was breathing—closing in. Naomi, Mason, and Owen tried to move, but the floor buckled, and they were pulled toward the center of the chamber. The pedestal began to glow brighter, the vortex spinning faster, until it was like staring into the heart of a collapsing star.

  Suddenly, the figure lunged forward, his form warping into something monstrous. His body stretched and shrank in impossible ways, twisting like liquid metal. His face split open, revealing a maw of sharp teeth and blackened, swirling tendrils that reached toward Kade.

  And then—everything stopped.

  The figure paused, his head jerking to the side. The darkness surrounding them pulsed like a heartbeat, and Kade could feel the change—something was shifting beneath the surface. It wasn’t just the figure. It was them.

  “Wait,” Kade whispered. His hand dropped to his sidearm, but he didn’t fire. His mind was racing—this wasn’t just another creature. It wasn’t just Azazel2. Something wasn’t right.

  The figure tilted its head, its grin widening as if it could read Kade’s thoughts. “Do you feel it now?”

  The whisper invaded his mind again, but this time, it was clearer. It was his voice—or was it?

  “You were never meant to know this… You thought you were fighting Azazel2, but you’re too far gone now. Welcome to the real world.”

  Kade’s blood ran cold.

  Naomi screamed as the ground beneath them split open further, but there was no escape. They were caught in the center of the vortex. It wasn’t just pulling them in—it was pulling reality apart.

  Kade’s eyes went wide as the figure’s true form became clear. It wasn’t a man at all. It was an entity—an ancient force that had been manipulating everything from the start.

  And now, it was awakening.

  With a sudden, violent crack, the world broke—and everything went dark.

  End of Episode 52.