The sky was slowly turning bright, and dawn was almost there. The cold air was giving way to warmth.
The sound of the ocean waves became clearer, after all, not too far ahead, there were places where the canyon and the sea met.
After exchanging one last look and confirming their decision, the two moved forward. With every step, the darkness faded a little, and the smell of dampness and rust grew stronger.
Daniel entered without a word. Drael followed. The air inside was heavy, as if no living soul had breathed there for centuries.
A faint blue glow from Daniel’s aura lit up the damp stone walls... and at that moment, both of them stopped instinctively.
To their surprise, the inside of the tomb was covered with carvings, hundreds of them, etched across the walls, so detailed that both men froze in disbelief.
They hadn’t even fully entered yet, and already there were carvings everywhere?
On the wall, rows of ancient paintings could be seen, dark and faded drawings, made with something that looked like blood mixed with soil.
Both frowned at the sight; the substance on the wall really did look like dried blood, old, but still distinct.
If they had to guess, it was probably hundreds of years old.
In the first carving, a group of humans were kneeling, children as young as seven and elders with white hair among them.
In front of them stood men in torn clothing, swords in hand, driving the kneeling people toward an altar.
On the ground, trails of blood led to the depiction of an ocean in the background.
The meaning was clear: the children and elders were thrown into the canyon. And in the next carving, a massive skeletal hand rose from beneath the ground, catching them mid-fall.
"Looks like they sacrificed innocent people... from kids to the elderly," Drael muttered. His tone held no emotion, only quiet awe.
That skeletal hand, both of them recognized it. They had seen it once with their own eyes, the same monster that had caught one of Daniel’s fallen shadows.
It seemed the people were offering sacrifices to that creature. But for what? To calm its wrath? Or to prevent it from attacking them?
"Echoes of the forgotten... So that’s why. Their hatred comes from this place," Drael sighed, as if realizing something.
Daniel studied the carvings carefully.
The next scenes were even more brutal, bodies torn apart, blood filling shallow pits, and a massive shadow looming over the canyon, a skeletal monster with horns and torn wings.
Beneath the carving, something was written in an ancient language, but time had eroded most of it away.
Drael placed his hand on the wall, his eyes narrowing. He was sure of his guess now.
"This place... these people must’ve made sacrifices to calm the rage of the sleeping beast inside the canyon."
The next carving was different, it showed a hero in stone armor, holding a sword and glowing with radiant light, standing against the slumbering monster.
Behind him lay the bodies of countless people, and before him stood a creature made of mist and blood.
But in the following image, that same hero had fallen, his body torn apart, his sword broken, and the monster smiling above him.
"So this is his tomb. The hero who tried to fight it... and lost," Drael said quietly.
"But who built a tomb for him?" Daniel murmured with curiosity.
A few steps ahead, the wall changed again. The ocean appeared once more, but this time, it was no longer calm. Its waves were black, filled with corpses, and in the center, a crimson light was shining.
Around the ocean, people were kneeling, reaching their hands toward the light, as if worshiping it.
"The same ocean... but why are they worshiping it? That thing looks more like evil than something divine," Drael said.
Both he and Daniel had witnessed the horror of that sea, Daniel even experienced it firsthand.
A few steps further, a new image appeared, a crimson temple.
Its pillars were made of stone and blood, and above it burned a flame that flickered between red and black.
People knelt before it, and an old man in a long robe stood before them.
"That must be the Crimson Temple," Daniel said, staring at it.
They assumed the old man was likely a priest or something similar.
The final carving was the strangest of all. The same priest was kneeling before something deep within the temple, though that thing was unclear. Only vague, twisted lines, like open eyes staring from within the darkness.
Every time they tried to look closer, an overwhelming sense of dread washed over them, a warning that they shouldn’t look any further.
Both Daniel and Drael stayed silent, staring at the wall. When the carvings finally ended, they had already learned much about the truth of this canyon.
Then, the passage continued deeper into the tomb.
The further they went, the stronger the stench of decay became.
The floor was littered with bones and skulls, hundreds, maybe thousands of them.
It was strange. Who did these remains belong to? Could they have been the sacrificed ones? Maybe some had tried to escape down here.
Some still wore ragged clothes. Daniel nudged a bone aside with the tip of his sword.
"They’ve been here for years... but the energy of death still lingers."
At last, they reached the end, a half-circular hall with a high ceiling.
At its center stood a stone coffin, surrounded by broken chains and cracked stones.
Drael was about to say something when the ground suddenly trembled.
From the walls came whispers, the same ones they’d heard before in the canyon.
Screams, cries, pleading voices... and then, shapes began to rise from the bones.
The Forgotten Echoes.
Faces without eyes or mouths, only forms made of mist and hatred, holding decayed weapons in their hands.
Dozens of them. Then hundreds.
The two exchanged a look, something about this place was deeply wrong.