I could still feel the weight of the Hound's body in my arms.
The blood had dried on my skin, but the scent of it lingered, iron and sweat, thick in the air. My ribs ached where its claws had torn through me, and every movement sent a dull throb of pain through my body. I knew the wounds weren't fatal, but they were a reminder.
A reminder that I had won, but only barely.
Aiden hadn't said much since the fight.
He walked beside me now, hands shoved in his coat pockets, gaze flicking toward me every so often. Watching. Calculating. I knew that look. He wasn't just tagging along for fun anymore.
I exhaled slowly, keeping my focus ahead as we wove through the bloodstained halls of the Pit's lower levels. The place smelled of death. A labyrinth of stone corridors and rusted gates, leading deeper into the underground chambers where fighters prepared for their next battle, or tended to the wounds of their last.
I had to keep moving. I had to be ready.
"You could've gone anywhere."
Aiden's voice cut through the noise of the Blood Pit, steady but laced with curiosity.
I barely acknowledged him as I sat on a cracked stone bench, wrapping a strip of cloth around my ribs. The wound from the Ravager Hound still throbbed, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been.
Aiden leaned against a rusted metal post, watching me. Waiting.
"There are plenty of places to hunt Echoes."
He continued.
"The Wraith Markets, the Riftfields, even the lower districts of the city. But you came here."
I kept my hands busy, tightening the bandage, avoiding his gaze.
He wasn't wrong.
The Demon Realm was full of places to acquire Echoes, some through trade, some through battle, some through far more twisted means. But I had chosen the Blood Pit. Not because it was easy, and not because it was the best option.
Because I knew something no one else did.
Aiden exhaled sharply.
"You're after something specific, aren't you?"
I didn't answer right away. I let the question settle between us, let the distant roar of the arena fill the air.
And finally, I spoke.
"There's an Echo here."
Aiden tilted his head.
"No shit. That's kind of the whole point of this place."
"Not just any Echo."
I met his gaze now, my voice quieter, more deliberate.
"A powerful one. One that nobody else knows about."
Aiden's smirk faded slightly. Then, after a moment, he let out a short chuckle.
"Alright, I'll bite. What makes you so sure?"
Because I wrote this world.
Because I knew things no one else did.
But I couldn't say that.
Instead, I let my gaze drift toward the bloodstained sand of the arena.
"Because I know whose Echo it is."
Aiden studied me, eyes sharp.
I could tell he was thinking, turning my words over in his head, weighing them against what he knew. Testing me.
And he wasn't wrong to.
I hadn't told him everything. I couldn't.
But I also wasn't lying.
I pulled my coat tighter around me, shifting on the bench as the ache in my ribs flared again. My body was still screaming from the fight, but I ignored it. I had more important things to focus on.
Aiden finally sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Let's hear it. What's so special about this Echo that only you know about?"
I exhaled, my gaze drifting to the pit again. The sand was still dark with fresh blood, the scent thick in the air.
"It's a beast."
Aiden raised an eyebrow.
"A beast? What, like another Ravager Hound?"
I shook my head.
"No. Stronger. Older. Something that shouldn't even be here."
He frowned but didn't interrupt.
I leaned forward, resting my arms on my knees.
"A long time ago, there was a monster in this Pit that no one could kill. It wasn't just a fighter—it was a force of nature. The overseers tried everything. Sent warrior after warrior, beast after beast. It tore through them all."
Aiden's expression shifted slightly.
"And let me guess. One day, it just... vanished?"
I nodded.
"They never found the body."
Silence stretched between us.
"One fight, it was there. The next, it wasn't."
Aiden drummed his fingers against the metal post he was leaning on.
"And you think its Echo is still here?"
"I don't think."
I met his gaze, my voice steady.
"I know."
Aiden didn't respond right away. He was watching me again, but this time, something in his expression had shifted.
Less amusement. More interest.
"You're really convinced."
He said finally.
I nodded.
"Then tell me this."
He pushed off the post, stepping closer, his voice lowering slightly.
"If this thing was so powerful, if no one could kill it, then how the hell did it end up here in the first place?"
He wasn't just asking for the sake of it. He was testing me.
And he wasn't wrong to.
I exhaled, letting my fingers trail along the rough surface of the bench.
"It wasn't supposed to be here."
I said.
"It was never meant to fight in the Pit."
Aiden frowned but didn't interrupt.
"It was captured."
I continued sharply.
"A beast taken from the deeper parts of the realm. The overseers wanted something to boost the Pit's reputation, something new, something terrifying. So they found one."
I let my gaze drift toward the arena again.
"But they didn't understand what they were dealing with."
Aiden remained silent for a moment, his gaze lingering on me as if searching for cracks in my words.
Then, he exhaled sharply, crossing his arms.
"Alright, let's say I believe you."
His voice was casual, but I could tell he was thinking several steps ahead.
"If this thing was captured and thrown into the Pit, and no one ever found its body, then that means one of two things."
I didn't interrupt. I let him work through the logic himself.
"One."
He held up a finger.
"It died, but whatever's left of it is buried so deep no one's been able to recover its Echo."
His finger lowered.
"Two."
Aiden's smirk faded, replaced by something more serious.
"It's not dead at all."
A chill ran down my spine.
Because that second possibility?
It was the one I was afraid of.
I kept my face neutral, but Aiden wasn't fooled. His smirk returned, slower this time.
"Yeah. Thought so."
He pushed off the metal post, stepping forward until he stood just a foot away.
"So tell me, Damien. What exactly are we hunting down here? Because if this thing is still breathing… that's a whole different kind of problem."
I didn't answer immediately. Instead, I turned my gaze toward the bloodstained floor of the Pit, where the deeper chambers lay hidden beneath layers of history and violence.
"I don't know if it's alive."
My voice was steady, but the weight of uncertainty pressed against my ribs.
"But I know its Echo is still here. And if we find it…"
I hesitated.
Because what would happen if I absorbed something that strong? Something that shouldn't exist?
Aiden watched me closely.
"You're not telling me everything."
"No."
"Figured."
The distant sound of metal clanking against stone echoed through the corridor. A guard's footsteps, maybe. Or another fighter making their way toward the lower levels.
Either way, we were out of time.
I pushed myself up from the bench, ignoring the dull ache in my ribs.
"I'm going down there."
Aiden let out a short, dry chuckle.
"Of course you are."
He glanced toward the corridor, eyes narrowing slightly.
"And you know where 'down there' actually is?"
I nodded. Because I did.
Because I wrote it that way.
The Blood Pit's deeper chambers weren't common knowledge. Most thought the lower levels were just old cells and maintenance tunnels. But I knew better.
I had written the main characters finding it exactly like this—a hidden pathway, forgotten by time, buried beneath the foundations of the Pit.
And now, I was walking in their footsteps.
Aiden exhaled through his nose, clearly weighing his options. Then, finally, he shrugged.
"Lead the way, genius."
The Path Below
The air grew heavier the deeper we went.
What had once been wide corridors of stone and rusted iron became something else entirely. The walls narrowed, the architecture shifting into something older—too old. The rough-hewn stone was covered in faded carvings, markings that didn't belong in a gladiatorial arena.
No, this place had been something else before the Blood Pit existed.
Aiden ran his fingers along one of the carvings, his smirk faltering slightly.
"Yeah. This ain't normal."
His voice was quieter now, more measured.
"I take it this wasn't in your little travel guide?"
I shook my head.
"No. The Pit was built over ruins. No one knows what was here before."
Aiden let out a low whistle.
"Fantastic. Ancient ruins beneath a death arena. Because that never ends badly."
A sharp rumble suddenly echoed through the passage.
Both of us froze.
The sound wasn't distant.
It was coming from below.
Aiden clenched his fists, his posture shifting slightly.
"Tell me that was just the foundation settling."
I didn't answer.
Because we both knew better.
The air itself felt charged, an undercurrent of pressure sinking into my skin, pressing against my bones.
And then—
A pulse.
It wasn't a sound, but a sensation. A deep, reverberating thrum that resonated from below, setting my teeth on edge.
THUMP.
Aiden exhaled slowly.
"I hate that."
I swallowed, forcing myself to keep moving forward.
"We're close."
The passage widened slightly, revealing a rusted metal gate that had long since been torn open.
Deep claw marks scored the stone floor.
Something had been here.
And something had left.
Aiden crouched down, running his fingers along the markings. His brows furrowed.
"These aren't fresh. But they're not ancient either."
I stared past the gate, into the abyss beyond. The chamber was vast, an underground coliseum of sorts—but unlike the Blood Pit above, this one felt… wrong.
There were no torches. No signs of life. Only the remnants of something long forgotten.
And at the center, partially buried beneath rubble—
A massive, blackened skeleton.
My breath hitched.
This was it.
The beast that had vanished.
The one that should have been impossible to kill.
And yet, here it lay. Its ribs crushed inward, its skull partially shattered.
Aiden let out a low whistle.
"Well, damn."
I took a cautious step forward, the air growing colder with every inch.
The closer I got, the stronger the pull became.
The Echo was still here.
It was waiting.
And the moment I reached for it—
The bones shifted.
Aiden's fists clenched, his stance tightening.
"You better tell me that was just the air settling."
I couldn't.
Because the pull of the Echo wasn't fading.
It was getting stronger.
And then, with a deep, grinding sound, something stirred beneath the bones.
A low, guttural rumble filled the chamber.
Not a growl.
Not a snarl.
A breath.
I froze.
Aiden let out a slow, measured breath, his feet shifting ever so slightly, ready to move.
"Damien."
His voice was steady, but his posture wasn't.
"You sure that thing's dead?"
I wasn't.
And as the bones shifted again, I realized—
I had made a mistake.
A very big mistake.