Dust filled the chamber.
The hooded figures landed in silence, forming a circle around the broken floor. Each of them wore the same blood-mark symbol carved on Arin's key.
And at their center stood the last man to arrive.
Arin's father.
Mira's legs weakened.
"No… this can't be real."
Kael stared as if he had seen a ghost.
"You…" he whispered. "I watched you die."
The man removed his hood slowly.
Older face.
Grey in his beard.
The same eyes Arin had.
"I allowed you to."
The chamber went still.
Even the being inside Arin's body paused.
Then it smiled.
"So the coward returns."
Arin's father stepped forward, calm and cold.
"I didn't return."
He looked directly at the black-eyed Arin.
"I never left."
Mira shouted, "Where were you all these years?!"
He did not look at her.
"Keeping the seal alive."
The cult members raised their hands together and began chanting in an unknown language. Red symbols ignited across the chamber floor, connecting into a giant circle around Arin.
Kael tried to stand. "Stop them! If they complete the ring—"
Too late.
The final symbol lit.
Chains of red light erupted from the ground and wrapped around Arin's possessed body.
For the first time, the being growled in anger.
"You think these toys can hold me?"
Arin's father replied, "Not hold."
He raised a dagger made of black bone.
"Separate."
Mira's eyes widened. "Separate what?"
Kael answered in horror.
"His soul."
The dagger stabbed into the glowing circle.
A scream tore through the chamber.
Not from Arin's mouth.
From everywhere.
The black eyes flickered.
For one second, Arin's real voice burst through:
"RUN!"
Then darkness returned stronger than before.
The chains shattered.
Half the cult members were thrown into the walls hard enough to break bone.
Blood splashed across the symbols.
The being stood free again.
And now it was furious.
It lifted one hand.
Three hooded figures rose into the air screaming before their bodies twisted unnaturally and dropped lifeless.
Mira backed away in terror.
Arin's father did not move.
Instead, he looked at Mira for the first time.
"There is only one way left."
He threw her a silver knife.
She barely caught it.
"What is this?"
"The blade your mother died protecting."
Mira froze.
"She was one of us," he said. "And she chose you."
The being laughed.
"Always sacrificing children for hope."
Arin's father stepped closer to Mira and spoke quietly:
"If you stab Arin's heart, the monster dies with him."
Mira's hands began shaking violently.
"No…"
Kael shouted, "Don't trust him!"
The chamber ceiling cracked again.
The black door behind them started opening by itself despite being sealed.
Something even larger moved behind it.
The being inside Arin suddenly turned toward the door.
For the first time…
Fear crossed its face.
Mira noticed.
"What's behind that door?"
Arin's father answered without blinking.
"His creator."
The door burst open.
A gigantic shadow crawled into the chamber.
And it spoke with Mira's mother's voice.
To Be Continued…