Chapter 109: Inside the Tower Part 5
The great gate pulsed in the dark like a living thing.
Its violet chains writhed as though sensing their approach, humming with energy that made the skin crawl. It wasn’t just magic—it was layered intent. A will behind the warding, alien and suffocating, watching them. Judging them.
Inigo stepped forward first, his boots squelching on the blood-slick floor. His M4 was ready, mag topped, his grip tight.
"Whatever’s beyond this," he muttered, "it knows we’re here."
"I feel it," Arienne said softly, her voice distant. "It’s old. Too old for words. And powerful."
Korrik grunted and rolled his shoulders. "So was the last bastard. We dropped him, didn’t we?"
Lyra said nothing, but her eyes didn’t leave the chains.
With a sharp inhale, Inigo raised his hand and touched the surface of the gate. The moment his fingers met the outer ring, a wave of nausea hit him like a hammer. He staggered but didn’t fall. Instead, the chains began to unravel. Not snap. Not break. Unravel, like smoke twisting in reverse, pulled into unseen cracks that weren’t there a moment ago.
And then the door opened.
It didn’t swing or creak. It simply ceased to exist.
Revealing a vast chamber beyond.