The room was bigger than we thought.
Our torches lit the walls poorly. The ceiling was lost in darkness. The floor had symbols carved into the stone. They were worn smooth by centuries of nothing touching them.
Maya walked to the wall. She touched the carvings. Her face was pale in the torchlight.
"These symbols are the same " she said. "From the temple. From Room 13. From your grandfathers basement."
"How many are there?" Kirana asked.
Maya counted the symbols. Her finger touched each one.
"There are twelve " she said. "Twelve symbols. Twelve artifacts. Twelve locks."
I looked at the wall. I saw the symbols times. In my grandfathers basement. In Room 13. In the temple by the sea. They were always the same.
"Where is the thirteenth?" Kirana asked.
Maya looked around. Her eyes checked the walls. There were twelve symbols. No more.
"There is no thirteenth " she said.
Lina looked at the floor.
Her eyes glowed faintly. Silver-white. Her hand was on her chest. She breathed slowly.
"There is one " she said. Her voice was quiet. "It's under us."
We looked down. At the stone beneath our feet. The symbols were carved into the floor. They were the twelve. Repeating. Repeating.
In the center of the room. Where the torchlight didn't reach. There was something else.
Not a symbol. Not a carving. A darkness. A deep darkness that seemed to swallow the light. A darkness that breathed. That waited. That knew we were there.
"The Void " Lina said. "The thirteenth lock. The one that was never meant to be opened."
She knelt. Her hand touched the stone. The stone was warm. Too warm. Like something was waiting beneath it.
"Your grandfather opened this door once " she said. "He saw what was inside.. He closed it. He buried it. He tried to make everyone forget.. He couldn't forget.. Neither can we."
She looked up. Her eyes glowed brighter.
"Kael if we open this door something will come out. Something that has been waiting for a long time. Something that will not go back."
I knelt beside her. My hand touched the stone. It was warm. Like the cup of tea in my room. Warm like my grandfathers hands when he told me stories before bed.
"What is it?" I asked.
Linas voice was quiet.
"Your grandfather wrote about it. On the stones. He said. " She stopped. Her voice cracked. "He said it was the thing that came through. The first thing that wanted to be free.. If it gets out it will open the others. The other doors. The other locks. Everything your grandfather tried to close. It will open them all."
I looked at the darkness beneath the stone. At the thing that was waiting.
"How do we stop it?"
Lina was quiet for a moment. Her hand was still on the stone. Her eyes were still glowing.
"We don't " she said. "We can't stop it. We can only choose. Open the door now. Leave it closed and hope no one else opens it."
Rakas voice was rough. "Hope? That's your plan? Hope?"
Lina stood. Her eyes were not glowing anymore. They were Linas eyes. Warm brown. Scared.
"I don't have a plan " she said. "I don't know what's there. I don't know what will happen if we open it. I only know what your grandfather wrote.. What he wrote. " She looked at me. "He wrote that he was wrong. That he should never have opened the door. That some things should stay buried. That some doors should never be opened."
She took my hand.
". He also wrote that if someone was reading his words if someone had come this far then maybe. " She stopped. Her voice was shaking. "Maybe it was time."
"Time for what?" Kirana asked.
Lina looked at the darkness beneath our feet.
"Time to finish what he started. Time to let out what he trapped. Time to face what he ran from."
We stood in silence.
The torchlight flickered. The darkness beneath our feet breathed. The symbols on the walls watched.
Maya spoke first.
"If we open this door we don't know what will happen. We don't know what will come out. We don't know if we can stop it."
She looked at me.
". If we don't open it Ouroboros will. They'll find this place. They'll open the door.. They won't care what comes out."
Raka stepped forward. His face was hard. His eyes were sharp.
"Then we open it. We face it. We stop it. Like we stopped the things in the sea."
Kirana was beside him. Her hand was on his arm.
"Like you almost died in the sea " she said. Her voice was cold. "Like we almost lost you."
Raka looked at her. His face softened. Just a moment.
"I'm still here " he said. "We're all still here."
Kirana didn't answer.. She didn't let go of his arm.
Ombak was at the edge of the circle. His green eyes were fixed on the darkness. His face was pale. His hands were shaking.
"Your grandfather asked me to help him bury this place " he said. His voice was quiet. "He asked me to help him hide it. To help him forget.. I did. I helped him bury the city. I helped him hide the door. I helped him pretend it never happened."
He looked at me.
". I never forgot. I never stopped thinking about what was there. What he saw. What he was so afraid of."
He stepped forward. His hand touched the stone. The warm stone.
"I've been carrying this for twenty years " he said. "Twenty years of waiting. Of wondering. Of being afraid. I'm tired of being afraid."
He looked at me.
"Open it Kael. Whatever is in there. We'll face it. Together."
I looked at the darkness beneath our feet.
At the thing that was waiting. At the thing my grandfather had seen. At the thing he had spent the rest of his life trying to forget.
My hand was on the stone. The stone was warm. The warmth of my grandfathers hands. The warmth of the tea in my room. The warmth of something that had been waiting for me to come.
Lina was beside me. Her hand was in mine. Her eyes were not glowing. They were Linas eyes. Warm brown. Scared.. Steady.
"Kael " she said. "Whatever happens I'm with you."
I looked at the others. Maya, her silver bracelet quiet. Raka, his fire ready. Kirana, her ice cold. Ombak his green eyes clear for the first time.
Lina. Always Lina.
I looked at the darkness.
"Open it " I said.
Lina nodded. She knelt. Her hand touched the stone. Her eyes began to glow. Silver-white. Brighter than before.
The stone moved.
Not like a door opening. Like something waking. The stone shifted. The symbols on the floor began to glow. One by one. Twelve symbols.. In the center. The thirteenth. Began to pulse. Like a heartbeat. Like something that had been asleep for a long time.
The darkness, beneath our feet grew deeper. Grew darker. Grew hungry.
From the darkness. Something spoke.
"Finally."