CHAPTER 58: 55: A PRESENCE.

He couldn’t even scream, the darkness had gotten a hold of his throat before that.

Edward was suffocating under the titanic pressure all around him, blinking his eyes open, he looked around, studying where he had fallen to.

There was a dull throbbing pain radiating from the back of his head, and his vision was still coming in blurry no matter how much he blinked.

From a first glance, it looked like he was in a moderately sized cave, illuminated by sharp glowing crystals, with mana particles floating around them.

There was a certain tension in the air along with the pressure, keeping Edward on edge.

He looked down at his hand, and the person who was holding on to it.

Selene had a terrified expression on her face, her hands still clutching Edward’s strongly even though she had fainted. Her wand was nowhere to be seen, and there was a small cut on her cheek, blood slowly dripping onto the dry ground.

"What the hell happened..." He couldn’t help but mumble to himself.

He turned his head around, searching for the rest of his companions in the dim light of the cave.

Once he was sure that they were all safe, he let out a trembling sigh, and pressed his palm to his temple.

The pain was growing.

It was starting to become unbearable.

He sucked in a shaky breath and tried to sit up—but the moment he moved, a stabbing bolt of pain shot across his skull, blurring the world into streaks of blue and black.

He swallowed a cry.

Not now. Not when everyone else was unconscious.

Edward forced his vision to steady, blinking until the cave walls stopped swimming. The crystals embedded along the stone shimmered like fractured stars, casting jagged shapes across the ground. They pulsed faintly—like something was breathing with them.

That wasn’t comforting.

"Guys...?" His voice cracked.

Rowan was the closest—crumpled near a boulder, one hand clawed into the dirt, his nails glowing faintly with leftover mana. His chest rose and fell steadily, but his brow was furrowed so tightly it looked painful. Like he was fighting something even in unconsciousness.

Calen lay half-buried under rubble that must’ve fallen during... whatever dragged them here. Edward crawled toward him, ignoring the throbbing in his skull. The moment he reached out, Calen’s fingers twitched.

"Calen—Calen, are you okay?"

A pained groan escaped him, but relief washed through Edward. Alive. Bruised. But alive.

Aria was farthest away, slumped against a pillar of glowing stone, her blade still clutched in her hand even in unconsciousness. A crackling aura flickered around her fingers—like her mana had tried to shield them at the last second but failed.

Edward’s breath hitched.

Something powerful enough to shut down Aria, Selene, and Rowan in a single hit...

That wasn’t supposed to exist.

He glanced back at Selene—her lashes fluttering weakly now, breath shallow, grip on his hand tightening unconsciously like she was afraid he’d disappear if she let go.

"Selene..." His voice broke.

He brushed the dirt from her cheek, noticing the faint trace of black residue clinging to her wound—like soot. Except it wasn’t soot. It shimmered faintly, pulsing the same way the crystals did.

He froze.

His heartbeat stumbled.

The pulse of the residue... matched the pulse of the cave.

Edward’s breath caught in his throat.

Something moved behind him.

A sigh—no, a rumble—like an exhale of warm air across his spine.

Slow.

Deep.

Listening.

He turned mechanically, fear sinking its nails into his stomach.

The crystals dimmed.

The air thickened.

And from the far end of the cave, in a darkness the light refused to touch—

Two colossal eyes opened.

His mind blanked.

For a long, horrifying moment, Edward couldn’t move, breathe, or think. His stomach twisted as though a giant invisible hand had reached inside his body and squeezed. The pressure bearing down on him was suffocating—thick, oily, and ancient, like the air itself had lived a thousand years longer than it should have.

He staggered back until his shoulders hit the cave wall. Cold rock dug into his spine, grounding him just enough to remember how to inhale.

Barely.

A low, continuous hum thrummed through the floor beneath him, vibrating up his legs. He lifted his hand off Selene’s just to check, and the sensation weakened—so he pressed his palm back to the ground again.

The cave was alive.

He didn’t know how he knew, but he knew.

"Okay... okay, think..." he whispered, though his voice trembled so badly it was hardly sound at all.

The crystals lining the walls brightened with each of his breaths, as if responding to his rising panic. And the more he panicked, the more the light stuttered—too bright one second, barely flickering the next.

He pressed his hand to his chest, feeling his heart hammering like a trapped bird. His fingers were shaking violently. He couldn’t tell if it was adrenaline, fear... or if the cave itself was trying to shake him loose.

He forced himself to take a step.

The ground pulsed once in response.

Edward nearly tripped.

"What is this place...?"

His whisper echoed strangely—too quickly, too sharply, bouncing back at him in distorted fragments.

’what... this... place...’

He jerked back, spine hitting the wall again.

No echo should behave like that.

His gaze snuck toward Rowan again. The man didn’t so much as twitch. His breathing was steady, but his nose was bleeding faintly—thin red trails dripping down toward the dirt. When Edward looked closer, the blood wasn’t exactly red.

It had a faint, iridescent sheen.

Mana poisoning? Mana overload? Something worse?

He crawled over to Aria next, inch by inch, terrified of making noise. Her blade kept flickering with static sparks every few seconds, like a dying ember refusing to be snuffed out. Each spark pushed back the oppressive darkness around them a little... but only for a heartbeat.

Then the shadows crept back in, thicker than before.

Edward reached out to shake her shoulder—

The cave floor pulsed again. Sharper this time.

He froze.

His hand hovered over Aria, but he didn’t dare touch her. Every inch of his skin crawled with warning—Move wrong and something will notice.

A cold draft swept through the hollow chamber, swirling dust around his ankles. It carried a smell with it—earthy, metallic, like rain and rust and something older, deeper. Something that did not belong in the presence of humans.

The hairs on his arm stood on end.

He could feel it now.

A presence.

Watching him.

Waiting.

He slowly raised his eyes toward the darkness at the far end of the cavern, the place the crystal light refused to reach. His breathing slowed to shallow, frightened gasps.

The darkness... shifted.

Not like smoke.

Not like shadow.

Like something enormous shifting its weight.

Stone groaned. Dust fell from the ceiling. A gust of warm air swept across the cavern floor and brushed Edward’s cheek, carrying with it a deep, rumbling resonance that vibrated in his ribs.

Then—

Those colossal eyes blinked.

Once.

Deliberately.

As if acknowledging him.

Edward’s heart stopped.

He wasn’t alone.

And whatever was in that darkness...

It had been waiting for him to wake up.