The silence after the battle lingered like a fog. Even after the creature had dissolved into a pool of acrid steam, the echo of its screech clung to the cavern walls.
Kael sat against the rough stone, breathing shallowly. Selene paced nearby, wincing as she pressed a cloth to a gash on her side. The luminance moss painted the jagged floor in an eerie blue glow.
Kael's hand brushed over the straps of his pack. Beneath the canvas, something stiff resisted. He pulled out the tattered journal he'd picked up earlier - a worn leather-bound book. At the time, it had seemed insignificant. But now, it felt like it was waiting for him.
He flipped it open, scanning scribbled notes, crude maps, and sketches of strange symbols. Some entries were lucid; others descended into madness. One line stuck out:
When the walls close and the light dies, think not of strength, but of sequence.
Selene paused mid-pace, eyeing him. "You're not seriously reading right now, are you?"
"Something in here… might help. Whoever wrote this was trapped down here too. Maybe they found something we haven't."
She didn't respond, but she didn't stop him either.
They continued down the winding path. The walls pulsed faintly, as if the dungeon itself breathed. Kael stayed close to Selene, blades drawn. A trio of smaller creatures lunged from the dark - twitching limbs, translucent flesh. They moved like puppets with their strings cut.
Kael held back, letting Selene surge forward with her usual fury. Her blades sang in the tight corridors. When Kael joined in, it was with precision - strikes aimed at joints, feints to draw the creatures out. He didn't let adrenaline lead.
The skirmish ended quickly.
"You didn't charge in for once," Selene noted, panting.
Kael offered a tired smirk. "I'm conserving my strength."
Selene smirked. "Is that your way of saying I was scared?"
Kael just let out a sigh.
The tunnel opened into a circular chamber with a domed ceiling. Carvings spiraled across the stone - intricate, geometric, clearly not natural. From a narrow crack in the far wall, they glimpsed a raised metal panel inset with seven circular indentations.
Selene stepped forward and gave the massive metal door a push. To their surprise, it swung open without resistance.
She blinked. "Was that supposed to open, or did all that training give me superhuman strength?"
Kael frowned. "Let's hope it was the former."
But the moment they crossed the threshold, the stone rumbled. Behind them, the door slammed shut with a thunderous clang.
Selene whirled and pounded her fist against it. Solid. Immovable. "Trap?"
Kael nodded slowly. "Puzzle, more likely."
Selene studied the center panel. "No runes. No switches. Nothing obvious."
Kael stepped toward the dais. Around it stood seven stone pedestals, each with a carved disc: a flame, an eye, a tree, a star, a beast, a tower, and a spiral. The indentations on the door matched them.
He turned to a nearby slab where the matching discs had been laid out: Spiral. Tree. Flame. Tower. Beast. Star. Eye.
Selene leaned over his shoulder. "So... what now? Just jam them in and hope it doesn't fry us?"
Kael didn't answer. He opened the journal again and started to shift through the pages.
"What are you doing, starting to read again?"
"Wait," Kael said, "I think I read something like this."
Selene sighed but stayed beside him.
"There," Kael said, pointing.
"I watched from the crack in the stone as Erun tried every order - fire to water, tree to flame, tower to beast. None worked. But the wall… it kept pulsing, like a heartbeat. It felt like something was waiting. It made my skin crawl. Erun thought he was close, but I don't think he ever understood what it meant. Then the seal took him."
"A cycle," Kael echoed.
Selene gestured to the discs. "What cycle? What do they mean? Spiral? Tree? Why those?"
"Spiral could be the beginning, or chaos at the start. Tree might be growth. Flame, destruction. Tower, clarity or pride after destruction. Beast - instinct or survival. Star - guidance or hope. And the eye…"
He paused. "Perception. Or truth. Maybe judgment."
Selene raised an eyebrow. "So we're guessing."
"Educated guessing."
She frowned. "Still doesn't explain why the last team failed. If it's just a pattern - why didn't they find it?"
"They brute-forced it," Kael said. "The journal says they tried every combination. But the key wasn't the order alone. It must be something else."
He placed a palm on the stone. Beneath the silence, he felt it - thump... thump... slow and deep. Like a heartbeat.
Kael closed his eyes. "It must be the sequence... and timing. You have to listen."
"No," Kael said. "I think it's a ritual."
Selene tilted her head, her lips curling into a smirk. "Oh, so what - do we start chanting in ancient tongues now? Maybe some secret hand gestures to make it official?"
Kael didn't respond. He picked up the Spiral disc and placed it into the first slot, matching the pulse.
Click.
A soft hum followed. The stone accepted it.
He waited. Then the Tree.
Click.
"Motion. Growth. Then destruction," he murmured.
Flame clicked into place.
He hesitated. "Perspective after ruin." Tower.
Click.
Then Beast. "Survival."
Star. "Hope."
And finally, Kael lingered over the Eye. "Judgment."
Click.
Silence.
Selene's brow furrowed. "Did it - "
The wall hissed. Gears churned behind it. The metal door groaned open, revealing a narrow stone bridge suspended over a chasm. Far below, a sea of liquid light rippled like a sleeping star.
Selene exhaled. "...Okay, I take it back. That was kind of cool."
Kael didn't respond. His hand lingered on the final disc.
She smirked. "If this keeps up, I'm calling you Puzzle Boy."
Kael shook his head. "Please don't."
Kael stared at the open doorway, the journal heavy in his hands. "It's not about solving puzzles. It's about proving we're different from whatever failed before us."
Selene raised a brow. "By standing around philosophizing?"
He met her gaze, the dungeon's pulse throbbing around them. "By learning."
The bridge stretched before them, its stones humming with latent energy. After a beat, Selene smirked. "...Annoying when you're right."
He stepped onto the bridge. Heat rose in waves, distorting the air.
Halfway across, he paused, glancing down.
"That journal… the guy who wrote it. He didn't make it out."
Selene nodded. "We will."
"How do you know?"
"Because we're not like them. They reacted. We plan. And besides, we have someone watching over us, remember?"
Kael nodded, eyes narrowing as the pulsing beneath the bridge grew louder.
"Then let's keep moving. Before thinking gets us killed."
They crossed into the next darkness. Behind them, the door slid shut. The bridge vanished into shadow.