Before the Flesh Titans ever charged the walls, the first true discovery belonged to the party sent down the abyss at the center of the city.
They descended through the sloping corridors toward the third stage, the ghost-green fog thickening with every step.
It clung to the stone, swallowed distance, and turned even the nearest shapes into blurred suggestions.
The first team of twenty five kept one hand to the corridor walls as they moved, sweeping the surface with spiritual sense, searching for any hidden seam, trap, or change in the stone.
Then the passage changed beneath their fingers.
"Hey, look at this. The terrain changed."
It had. The old cobblestone gave way to something rougher, coarser, more natural. The worked walls of the corridor became grainy stone.
"I confirm."
"Same here."
"I think this is a cave."
That was enough to tighten every throat in the group. Their rearmost pair were messengers, placed there for that very reason.
