Night covered the academy in unnatural silence.
No voices echoed through the training grounds.
No metal clashed against metal.
Even the wind itself felt quieter tonight, as though the entire compound instinctively understood something forbidden was about to awaken beneath it.
Leo walked between two enforcers through the northern sector in complete silence.
Heavy black cloaks concealed most of their armor, but their hands remained close to their weapons at all times.
Not relaxed.
Prepared.
As though escorting a prisoner capable of becoming a catastrophe at any moment.
The instructor walked slightly ahead without speaking.
Kael had been forbidden from accompanying them.
The argument that followed lasted nearly half an hour before the enforcers finally forced him back.
Leo still remembered the frustration in his eyes as the gates closed behind them.
"Don't disappear down there."
Those had been Kael's final words.
Simple.
But strangely heavy.
Now, as Leo descended deeper beneath the academy, those words kept resurfacing inside his mind repeatedly.
Because part of him genuinely feared that might happen.
The underground passage stretched endlessly downward through ancient black stone corridors illuminated by dim blue flames burning inside narrow wall torches.
The deeper they descended—
the colder the air became.
But it was not ordinary cold.
Leo felt something else mixed within it.
Pressure.
Ancient pressure.
Like invisible eyes hidden somewhere beyond the darkness were slowly turning toward him.
The whispers inside his awareness had become unusually quiet since entering the tunnels.
That silence frightened him more than their voices did.
Eventually the group reached a massive circular stone gate carved directly into the mountain beneath the academy.
Leo stopped unconsciously.
Because the gate did not resemble anything built by normal hands.
The stone surface was covered in countless overlapping symbols twisting across each other like living patterns.
Some resembled eyes.
Others looked like chains.
And at the center—
a massive vertical crack stretched through the gate itself, sealed by enormous black metal restraints covered in ancient markings.
Leo's chest tightened immediately.
Because the moment he looked at the gate—
the whispers returned.
"…HOME…"
The voice echoed softly inside his head.
Ancient.
Longing.
Leo staggered slightly.
One of the enforcers instantly gripped his weapon tighter.
The instructor stepped closer immediately.
"Focus."
Leo forced himself to steady his breathing.
But his eyes remained locked onto the massive gate.
Because deep inside his awareness—
something beyond it was awake.
The taller council member stood waiting near the entrance.
His expression remained unreadable beneath the dim blue light.
"You feel it already."
Not a question.
Leo swallowed slowly.
"…What is behind that gate?"
The council member remained silent briefly.
Then—
"The remains of the First Watcher."
The world around Leo suddenly felt colder.
The whispers erupted violently.
"…LIAR…"
"…WE WERE NEVER DEAD…"
"…OPEN…"
Pain exploded through Leo's skull instantly.
He gripped the side of the stone wall tightly while breathing unevenly.
The black lines beneath his skin pulsed visibly now beneath his sleeve.
The enforcers stepped back instinctively.
Fear flashed briefly across even their disciplined expressions.
The instructor moved closer.
"Suppress it."
"I'm trying—"
Leo's voice shook slightly.
The whispers were louder here.
Stronger.
More alive.
As though the deeper tunnels amplified their existence.
The council member watched carefully.
Then quietly spoke.
"This is why the Hall exists."
He approached the massive gate slowly and placed one hand against the black restraints sealing it shut.
The symbols across the surface faintly glowed.
"For centuries," he said calmly, "this academy was not a place of training."
A faint pause followed.
"It was a prison."
The heavy restraints began unlocking one by one with deep metallic sounds echoing through the tunnel.
Leo's heartbeat slowed.
Not from calmness.
From instinctive dread.
The whispers inside his mind suddenly became silent again.
Complete silence.
Waiting.
The final restraint unlocked.
Then—
the gate slowly opened.
Darkness breathed outward from the gap.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
A cold black mist spilled from the opening like something exhaling after centuries of confinement.
Several enforcers visibly stiffened.
One quietly muttered a prayer beneath his breath.
Leo froze completely.
Because the darkness beyond the gate did not feel empty.
It felt aware.
The instructor stepped forward first.
"Move."
The group entered carefully.
And the moment Leo crossed the threshold—
the whispers exploded louder than ever before.
"…RETURN…"
"…WE REMEMBER YOU…"
"…CHILD OF THE DOOR…"
Leo nearly collapsed instantly.
Pain tore through his mind violently.
Fragments of impossible images flashed across his vision.
A sky covered in massive black eyes.
Cities burning beneath shadows.
Countless kneeling figures screaming prayers toward the heavens.
And far above them—
something enormous watching from beyond reality itself.
The vision vanished immediately.
But Leo's breathing remained unstable.
The Hall stretched endlessly beneath the academy like an underground ruin abandoned by time itself.
Massive stone pillars disappeared upward into darkness.
Ancient chains covered entire walls.
Countless symbols glowed faintly across the ground beneath their feet.
And everywhere—
there were signs of containment.
Broken seals.
Collapsed barriers.
Rust-covered restraints large enough to imprison giants.
Leo stared silently while the group continued deeper.
The air itself felt heavier with every step.
Then he saw them.
Bodies.
Not fresh.
Ancient.
Several skeletal remains sat chained against the walls throughout the Hall.
Some still wore fragments of armor.
Others wore long decayed robes marked with unfamiliar symbols.
But what froze Leo completely—
was their wrists.
Every single skeleton bore black marks identical to his own.
Cold horror spread through his chest instantly.
"These were vessels," the instructor said quietly.
Leo could barely speak.
"…All of them failed?"
"Yes."
The answer came from the council member this time.
The group continued walking.
And the farther they descended—
the worse the Hall became.
Some walls were covered in deep claw marks.
Others had massive sections completely destroyed as though something enormous once tried escaping from inside.
Several ancient corridors had been entirely collapsed intentionally.
Sealed.
Buried.
Leo felt increasingly unstable with every passing minute.
The whispers grew stronger here.
Not random anymore.
Focused.
"…YOU RETURN…"
"…AFTER SO LONG…"
"…OPEN THE FINAL GATE…"
His head pounded violently.
The instructor noticed immediately.
"We are close."
Leo looked toward him sharply.
"Close to what?"
But before the instructor could answer—
the group entered an enormous circular chamber.
And everyone stopped.
At the center of the chamber stood a massive black structure extending upward into darkness.
Not stone.
Not metal.
Something else.
Something wrong.
It resembled a gigantic door.
Ancient chains thicker than tree trunks wrapped around it endlessly, covered in glowing seals that pulsed faintly through the darkness.
And across the surface of the door—
countless gigantic eyes were carved directly into the material itself.
Leo's breathing stopped.
Because the moment he looked at it—
every whisper inside his mind became one voice.
"…YOU FOUND US."
The black lines beneath Leo's skin spread violently upward.
Pain exploded through his body.
The chamber trembled faintly.
The enforcers immediately drew their weapons.
The instructor stepped forward sharply.
"Leo!"
But Leo could barely hear him anymore.
Because his awareness had become locked onto the massive sealed door before him.
And then—
one of the carved eyes slowly opened.
Silence crashed through the chamber.
Absolute.
Impossible.
The enormous eye stared directly at Leo from the center of the ancient door.
Alive.
Watching.
Recognizing him.
Then the voice echoed once more inside his mind.
Clearer than ever before.
Almost gentle.
"…You were never meant to resist."