Garin pulls me forward with surprising strength, his grip like iron around my wrist. I stumble but keep pace, letting him lead me through the twisting corridors. The air is heavy with heat and steam, our footsteps echoing against stone and metal. We make sharp turns, passing broken pipes spewing mist, the distant shouting behind us growing fainter. Then, Garin takes a final turn - and we step into something entirely different.

  The room before us is vast, stretching over two levels. It isn’t as immense as the turbine hall, but it looms in its own way. The center is dominated by a towering monolith, carved from stone so dark it looks like it drinks in the light - except for the ancient glyphs etched into its surface. They glow with an eerie luminescence, a soft, pulsing radiance that spreads outward, filling the space with an unnatural glow.

  The air is wrong.

  A deep, low hum thrums through the chamber, not the steady drone of machinery but something deeper, something alive. Layered beneath it is another sound - distant, faint, like the remnants of a choir lost to time. The voices shift, fading in and out, neither fully present nor entirely gone. Garin presses forward, unbothered, his gaze locked downward, as if staring at his own feet is the only thing keeping him together. I, on the other hand, hesitate. Just for a moment, my body frozen as my mind tries to make sense of what I’m seeing.

  One second too long.

  From the edge of my vision, hands.

  I react on instinct - throwing Garin forward onto the ground as I roll into a dash, unsheathing my sword in one fluid motion. I spin, blade raised, just as four of them step into the light. The special guards. Their long swords are already drawn, their polished steel catching the glow from the monolith.

  Above, on the second level, two more figures stand at the balcony railing - crossbows aimed directly at my head. Garin, still on the floor, reaches toward me weakly. His face is empty, his eyes hollow.

  "Forgive me." Then, he goes still.

  Trapped.

  I barely have time to process what’s happening when a voice cuts through the humming air.

  "Look who it is!" One of the guards sneers. "The little rat who thinks he can chew through steel." Another chuckles.

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  "You were just in the right place at the right time, weren't you?"

  A pause. Then -

  "Take him!"

  I move.

  Dashing to the side, I drop into a slide, my boots kicking up dust as I slip behind one of the thick pillars supporting the second level. Just as I do, two bolts snap through the air, slamming into the stone with a thunk, inches from where my head had been.

  Heavy footsteps pound toward me.

  "Come on out, you little shit!" One of them growls. Above, I hear the subtle click of a crossbow being reloaded. I exhale slowly, drawing my own. I wait. The instant the first guard rounds the corner - I jam the crossbow under his chin and pull the trigger. The bolt punches through flesh and bone, bursting out of the top of his skull with a sickening crack. Blood splatters against the wall, dark streaks running down the stone as his body stiffens - then collapses.

  No time to hesitate. I sprint toward the door. And run straight into the third guard.

  The impact knocks me off balance, forcing me back a step. Behind me, the fourth guard - still standing by Garin’s motionless body - shouts.

  "I've changed my mind!" he calls. "Kill that bastard! He'll be of use anyway!"

  The guard in front of me swings - a brutal, decapitating strike. I barely react in time, my blade coming up to parry, steel shrieking against steel as we lock together. Then, the whistle of a bolt behind me.

  I shift my weight forward, twisting at the last second. The guard stumbles, just as the bolt slams into his back - followed immediately by another. He shudders, gasping, his breath a wet, gurgling rasp before he slumps to his knees and collapses face-first. Blood spatters my face, warm and thick.

  The door behind me is blocked. Two guards remain, advancing cautiously. Above, I hear the crossbows resetting.

  No escape.

  They move in. The first swings, and I deflect, twisting my blade to knock his off course. The second lunges, forcing me to pivot - one step back, another parry, steel flashing in the dim glow of the monolith. I’m fast, but they’re stronger. Each hit drives me back, my footing slipping on the smooth stone.

  Then - pain.

  A sharp sting lances across my side. A second cut follows, biting into my shoulder. I stagger. Another blow knocks my sword from my grasp. It clatters to the floor, sliding away into the shadows.

  I drop to my knees, facing the monolith.

  The room spins, my vision darkening at the edges. A dull ringing fills my ears, drowning out everything else. Somewhere in the haze, I reach for my crossbow, turning -

  Just as a longsword pierces my skull.

  The blade drives through my left eye, splitting through bone, sliding deep into my brain.

  Everything stops.

  I can’t feel my body anymore. Fortunately, I don’t feel pain either. But the sword - it's still there. Lodged deep in my skull. A foreign presence. Cold. Unnatural. My vision blurs, the last flickers of light fading from my one remaining eye. My body sways. Then, weightless, I fall. Downward. Into the embrace of endless sleep.