Teen Wolf: Savage Roots
Chapter 5 — The Mark and the Message
The tunnel felt heavier now.
Like it was watching them.
Standing over the body, Stiles Stilinski swallowed hard and forced himself to focus. He pulled out his phone, crouched down, and snapped a picture of the symbol burned into the man's skin.
🔘
The flash briefly lit the walls.
For a split second… it looked like the shadows moved.
Stiles quickly stood up.
"Yeah, nope. Still hate this place," he muttered.
Beside him, Liam Dunbar kept staring at the body, jaw tight.
"Maybe Deaton knows something about it," Liam said quietly.
Stiles shook his head immediately.
"No."
Liam looked at him.
"Not Deaton."
"Then who?" Liam asked.
Stiles slipped his phone back into his pocket, eyes still locked on the mark.
"…Ethan."
Liam blinked.
"Why would Ethan know?"
Stiles turned to him, dead serious.
"Because Ethan have seen worst than Deaton."
Liam stared at him.
"…That makes zero sense."
Stiles pointed at the symbol.
"Exactly. And nothing about this makes sense either."
That shut Liam up.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then—
A faint sound echoed deeper in the tunnel.
Both of them froze.
Stiles slowly turned his flashlight toward the darkness.
Nothing.
Just endless black.
"…We're leaving," Stiles said immediately.
"Yeah," Liam agreed.
They didn't argue.
They backed away from the body.
And the deeper they went, the more it felt like something was following them—
Just out of sight.
---
Across town…
Inside her lake house, Lydia Martin stood alone.
The lights flickered.
Her breath slowed.
Then stopped.
The world went dark.
---
She woke up in a room that didn't exist.
No walls.
No ceiling.
Just endless black.
And a table.
A single, long table stretching into the void.
Someone sat at the other end.
She couldn't see them.
Only hear them.
Tap.
…Tap.
…Tap.
Fingers striking the surface slowly.
Calm.
Controlled.
Waiting.
A voice echoed.
Deep.
Cold.
Cosmic.
"How beautiful it is… to have power."
Lydia's body tensed.
Her blood—
It burned.
Not like fire.
Like boiling water beneath her skin.
She turned slowly.
"Who are you?"
The tapping stopped.
Silence fell.
Then—
"I am something this world cannot even imagine."
The voice shifted.
"Heaven would kneel."
"Hell would scream… to obey."
Lydia's breath hitched.
Her eyes suddenly burned—
Blood streamed down her face.
She collapsed to her knees.
"You know too much, Lydia."
The voice was closer now.
Right behind her.
She tried to speak—
But pain shot through her throat.
The being laughed softly.
"I have a message for you to give to your friends."
Lydia forced herself to look up.
"What do you want?" she managed to whisper.
The figure stood.
Still nothing but darkness.
No face.
No shape.
Just absence.
Then it moved.
It walked toward her.
Each step felt wrong.
Like reality bending around it.
It crouched down.
A hand—if it could even be called that—lifted her chin.
"I want something that was taken from me… six billion years ago in your friend have it."
Lydia's eyes widened.
The voice dropped lower.
"My brother failed to claim it."
A pause.
"But I will not."
Lydia's bleeding slowed.
Her voice shook.
"…Your brother?"
A soft chuckle.
"Yes."
"Now tell me, Lydia…"
"Can you find out who he is?"
"Who he was?"
"Has the figure Tap Lydia head.
Her body trembled.
She couldn't move.
Couldn't breathe.
"Her eyes started to bleed out.
Then the voice whispered:
"This is the message."
The words that followed made no sense.
None at all.
"Yuiydue… yuet… bouyashiki."
The moment the words left its mouth—
Lydia's jaw locked.
Her mouth filled with blood.
She tried to scream—
Nothing came out.
Her voice was gone.
Completely.
The being let her drop.
Music—low and distorted—began echoing through the void.
Then—
Lydia screamed—
---
She shot upright in her room.
Gasping.
Shaking.
Sweat soaked through her clothes.
The real world rushed back in.
Her hands trembled as she looked around.
And froze.
Every wall—
Covered.
The same symbol.
🔘
Over and over.
Scratched.
Written.
Carved.
Her breath broke.
Because she didn't remember doing any of it.
---
Back in the tunnel entrance…
Stiles and Liam finally stepped out into the open air.
Both of them stopped.
Breathing heavily.
Stiles looked back at the darkness behind them.
"…Yeah," he said quietly.
"This is way bigger than us."
Liam nodded slowly.
And for the first time since they got there—
He looked afraid.
Not of what they saw.
But of what they didn't.