"This is where we get off," said one of the nymphs, her voice barely louder than the wind rustling through the trees. The tiny figure hovered a few feet above the ground, her glow already dimming as the forest around them thickened and darkened.
Alex turned to face them. The three nymphs who had accompanied him looked worried, their shimmering wings twitching nervously. The air had changed. Colder. Heavier. Like stepping into a room where someone had just shouted.
"Like we said, take extra care, Alex," one of them warned, wringing her tiny hands. "You are not immortal. These creatures can hurt you."
He nodded. "I understand. Thank you."
They vanished in a flicker of light and breeze, leaving him alone with the whispering trees and the humming tension in the air. Alex took a deep breath and stepped forward, ducking under the wide root of a fallen tree that formed a natural tunnel. On the other side was a tight clearing, and right in the middle—a crack in the ground, no more than a meter wide.
He crouched beside it and summoned a fireball in his palm. It danced and flickered like a living thing, casting flickering shadows on the edges of the pit. He held it over the opening and peered in.
Ten feet down, a small landing. Nothing moved.
He tossed the fireball inside and waited. Listened.
Silence.
Alex leapt.
He landed smoothly on both feet, crouched like a cat, another fireball already growing in his hand. The underground chamber was about the size of his hotel room, just damp and carved in rough stone. Narrow passages stretched out in two directions like the tunnels of a giant ant colony.
"Kael, come forth," Alex whispered.
A soft light flared beside him. The silver-furred dire wolf stepped out from the glow, as silent as mist, eyes scanning the chamber. The two had grown inseparable these past days. Where Alex moved, Kael followed. Where Kael went, Alex trusted.
He tossed two fireballs in opposite directions, lighting up the cave with a warm orange glow. The shadows ran from the corners, revealing nothing but stone and stillness.
Then they walked.
For thirty minutes, they moved deeper into the cave system. Left, right, then down. A maze of rock and silence. No movement. No sounds. Just the soft padding of Kael's paws and the flickering glow of conjured fire.
Then—without warning—Alex felt it.
Something.
A ripple in the air. Like a tremor, but not in the earth—in his bones. His whole body tensed.
Right side.
He spun just as a blur flew at him, claws stretched out. He dodged left, missing the strike by mere inches. His reflexes—now bordering on superhuman—saved him again. He threw his fireball at the attacker, but the creature was fast. Too fast.
Kael lunged without hesitation, intercepting it mid-run. The creature ducked beneath the wolf's swiping paw and slid under him, rolling to the other side of the chamber.
Then it stood—and laughed.
"Har-har-har!" The sound was deep and guttural, like metal grinding against bone.
"You are brave coming down here," it said. "Just because you killed my children doesn't make you worthy to face me, Kabrar-qa!"
Alex blinked.
Kabrar-qa was grotesque. Like a bloated version of the smaller night creatures he'd been hunting. Six feet tall, almost as wide as he was tall, with gray, leathery skin and black fangs that didn't fit in its mouth. It shouldn't have been able to move fast—but somehow, it did.
"Wow," Alex said. "You had me at 'har-har.' But... you speak my language?"
Kabrar-qa grinned horribly. "As always, you Terrans think you are the superior race. Your kind brought doom to this world, and now you act like saviors."
Alex raised an eyebrow. This thing was talking—reasoning—even mocking. Not just a monster. An intelligent monster.
"We know what's coming," Kabrar-qa sneered. "We heard the call too. The announcement from your precious sky-people. But we are not afraid. We have waited for this age, preparing for our comeback."
Alex tilted his head. "So... if you're so ready, why hide in a cave? Why not build a monster castle in the middle of the city and announce your glorious return?"
Kabrar-qa's eyes flared. "We hide not in fear. We wait for the cage to break, and once it does, the Gahaab-lierq tribe will reclaim the world, and everyone will once again fear our name."
So there was something keeping them down here. A stronger race, probably their rival. Maybe more powerful to drive them into hiding.
"Right," Alex muttered. "Definitely something bigger going on."
"You talk too much," the creature growled. "I will enjoy peeling your skin from your skull."
It lunged.
Alex didn't flinch.
Two wind blades formed in his hands, slicing through the air as he brought his right foot—covered in a sheath of stone—straight at the monster's face.
Kabrar-qa twisted left, dodging the kick, but not fast enough to avoid the wind blade to the side of his skull. It struck with a crunch, sinking into thick skin and cracking bone.
Kael moved in instantly, fangs sinking into the creature's arm, tearing it free with a wet rip.
Kabrar-qa screamed and stumbled backward.
Alex hurled another fireball, this time straight at the creature's face.
It hit.
The flames exploded, engulfing Kabrar-qa's head. The monster howled as its eyes melted into black sludge. Another fireball struck its legs, charring flesh and muscle.
Kael leapt to the other side, ripping into the creature's remaining leg. It toppled over, a pile of burning, broken rage.
Alex didn't wait.
Three more wind blades flew from his hands, slicing into the monster's neck. The third one severed it completely. Kabrar-qa's head hit the ground with a dull thud and rolled across the stone floor.
Silence.
Then—a roar.
Deeper. Louder. Angrier.
A sound that vibrated through the walls, the floor, and the marrow of his bones.
Something was coming.
Something worse.
Alex stood, breathing hard, eyes locked on the dark tunnel ahead.
Kael growled low beside him, ears flat, fur bristling.
The real battle had only just begun.