None of them spoke right away.
Not because he was avoiding it. Just because he wanted to see how long they would wait.
The mana was still moving under his skin. Faint, but stable. It had weight again. Control. No more flickers. No more pressure spikes behind his ribs. No more random pulses that hit the wrong limb.
Elara shifted slightly. Not toward him. Just… re-centering her stance. Like she was trying to get a better read.
Her eyes were fixed on his face, but the way her fingers twitched near her side told him she was cataloging everything.
His movement. His posture. How clean the cuts on the monsters had been.
'She's recalculating something..'
Nathan stepped forward, boots scraping lightly over the stone.
Then he pointed at the nearest corpse.
Merlin looked at him.
"Right. Dumb question."
He scratched the back of his neck.
"I just—when did that happen? Your core was wrecked."
"It was," Merlin said.
"That doesn't really answer—"
"It's not wrecked anymore."
Nathan stared at him.
Then laughed once, too sharp to be relaxed.
"That's it? That's the explanation?"
"I didn't realize I owed you one."
Nathan opened his mouth.
Then closed it again.
Seraphina still hadn't said anything. She was half-seated against the wall now, one knee drawn up, hand curled over her ribs. Her eyes didn't move from him.
She wasn't studying him like Elara was.
She just looked… different.
He couldn't place the expression.
'Like she's still processing.'
Her voice, when it came, was hoarse but clear.
"You're not supposed to be able to do that."
Merlin glanced at her.
"You were way too damaged."
"Then how are you standing?"
He exhaled once through his nose.
Then crouched, carefully, blade still loose in his hand. He rested it against the ground beside him and looked over the monsters' bodies.
"They were easy," he said.
Nathan made a choking sound behind him. "That's not an answer either."
"I saw them. One had three arms."
Merlin raised an eyebrow at the nearest one.
Nathan stared at him. Then looked at Elara like he expected backup.
She hadn't looked away from Merlin.
"I'm not going to explain everything here," he said.
"Because you don't want to, or because you can't?"
Elara finally stepped forward. Her shadow passed across his shoulder. She looked down at the corpse closest to her boot, then back at him.
"Something's changed."
"Are you done hiding it?"
That, apparently, was enough.
Seraphina let her head fall gently against the wall behind her. She didn't close her eyes. Just rested. Silent.
Nathan let out a slow breath, hands on his hips.
"You know, I was kinda hoping I'd get to be the cool one eventually," he muttered.
Turned to the others.
"We can't stay here. The labyrinth's shifting again."
"How do you know?" Elara asked.
He pointed at the ground behind her.
A shallow ripple ran across the floor, just once. Like the entire hallway was breathing in slow motion.
"Okay. That's not normal."
"Not even close," Seraphina said.
Merlin lifted his blade.
Motioned toward the next corridor.
"Come on," he said. "We move now, or we wait to get surrounded."
Elara was already walking.
Nathan groaned softly. "Yeah, alright, Mr. Enlightenment. Lead the way."
And they followed him.
But the silence was heavier than before.
Full of everything they wanted to ask.
And everything he wasn't ready to say.
The hallway tightened again.
It wasn't just the walls. The air closed in too. Not hot. Not cold. Just weighted. Like every foot of space was trying to decide if it still wanted them inside it.
Merlin led the way. Elara moved quietly at his left, maybe two steps behind. Nathan stayed toward the back, his boots landing just a little heavier than before. Seraphina was silent.
None of them had spoken since they left the chamber.
No one asked what to do with the body.
There wasn't anything to do.
Merlin's eyes stayed forward. He scanned the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Every few steps, the markings changed. The deeper they went, the more layered they got.
'It's compressing the space again.'
Not physically. Not in a way most people would notice.
But he could feel it in the geometry. The way the arches bent tighter. The curve of the floor sloped just enough to make balance strange. If anyone else was dizzy, they weren't saying it.
Nathan exhaled behind him, too loud.
"You'd think for something ancient and deadly, it'd at least look cool. Give me some floating runes. Skeleton pile. A glowing obelisk or something."
He coughed once. "No? Just me?"
Merlin didn't respond.
He could feel the tension running through his back. Not from nerves. From pressure. Domain energy pressed inward now. Closer. Like it was watching them step by step and waiting for something specific.
'This place isn't just shifting.'
'It's reacting. To us maybe?'
Quiet. Just above a whisper.
"I don't like the walls."
Nathan blinked. "I don't like any of this, but sure. What about the walls?"
Stone. Uneven. Carved.
"Pretty sure walls don't talk, El."
She ran a hand across one slowly.
"This place haven't echoed in five minutes."
Seraphina's voice came a little slower, more strained. "It's like absorbing sound."
"That's not good, is it?" Nathan asked.
"It means the domain's preparing something for us." Merlin added.
Nathan let out a long sigh.
"Fantastic. I was worried we'd get bored."
The air kept thickening.
They passed under a broken arch. The shape of it looked melted, not shattered. Like the stone had turned soft for just a second and then froze mid-collapse.
Ahead, the corridor sloped downward again.
The green glow along the walls flickered.
Merlin stopped walking.
The others paused behind him.
He crouched low and brushed his fingers along the floor. The stone felt warmer now. Barely. But wrong.
'Fresh pulse. Something moved down here recently.'
He stood and looked back at the others.
"You need to be ready."
"For what exactly?" Nathan asked.
Merlin didn't answer.
Not because he didn't know.
Because putting it into words would make it too real.
After a couple of minutes a monster dropped through the ceiling like it had been waiting.
Seven limbs. Bent the wrong way. A body built for speed, not balance. Its eyes were sealed shut, but its head turned toward sound. No vocal cords. Just breathing, too wet and too fast.
Merlin stepped forward.
No one stopped him this time.
The creature charged.
'Let's take care of it quickly.'
His mana moved before his feet did. Wind slipped around his shoulders, quiet and narrow, narrowing his frame by a half-step. He leaned into it, let it carry his weight out of reach.
The claw hit empty air.
Stone cracked behind him.
He didn't stop moving.
A short pivot brought him to the creature's side, and with it, a pressure shift under his skin. Space tilted, barely, just enough to drag his stance an inch forward without touching the ground.
Water coated the edge. Thin. Icy. Not enough to freeze, but enough to bite deeper than steel should've. The creature twitched.
'I'm way stronger now.'
He ducked under its second strike. Its limb passed overhead. Missed by inches.
A ripple passed through his spine.
Time bent, not by seconds, just moments. He moved faster than the decision, not the action.
His next cut landed behind the joint.
He rolled out from beneath it, low to the floor, the cold from his blade still trailing across the air. Dust kicked into his lungs. He exhaled through it, sharp and even.
Merlin was already behind it.
One final step forward. His foot found the centerline of its shadow. The strike followed.
The creature's head fell to the side.
The body slumped after.
Just the sound of weight hitting stone.
He didn't straighten immediately.
Let the mana settle. Let the last traces of the wind drag off his coat. Let the tension drain back into silence.
Nathan had stopped mid-step, arms half-lifted like he couldn't decide whether to run or help.
Seraphina didn't speak.
Merlin sheathed the blade. Quietly. No need to look at it.
He walked past them without a word.
But behind him, he could hear Nathan whisper it anyway.
"…what the hell was that."
Because the floor was still warm.
And that wasn't the last one.