𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆. Even she had to agree that wasn't a word she'd use to describe this place. Her hand rested against the wall, using it as a guide, though she had more of one than he did. The stone was damp beneath her fingertips, unnaturally cold, as though the warmth had long since been drained from it. But the demon didn't like this place. Not the church itself - though it had never been comfortable in consecrated places, but whatever lay beneath it. The shadow attached to her was trying desperately to pull her back, out of there. Though it said nothing, it never spoke, she could almost feel it screaming at her not to do this. Every instinct it possessed urged retreat, recoiled from whatever slept below. But Tifa gritted her teeth and pushed forward anyway.
Every breath seemed impossibly loud. Even the faint scrape of her boots against the stone carried farther than it should have, swallowed by the darkness before returning as little more than a whisper. The silence wasn't peaceful. It pressed against her ears, waiting.
The sound caused by him nearly missing a step had her stop instantly. She didn't ask if he was okay, she knew he was. Her shoulders tensed as her eyes swept over the chamber, searching for movement where there was none.
She wasn't sure what unsettled her more; the absolute absence of sound, or the way the air itself seemed louder than anywhere she'd ever been. It felt heavy in her lungs, carrying the faint scent of damp earth and ancient stone. The chamber they found themselves in was thankfully larger. Moonlight filtered through cracks in the ceiling, spilling silver across fractured pillars and crumbling masonry. Though it wasn't enough to illuminate it fully, it was enough for her to gauge the enormity of it. Shadows pooled between the ruins, refusing to give up what lay beyond them.
The air was thick. Not with dust, nor humidity, but with something she couldn't name. Something old. It settled against her skin with an oppressive weight, and for the first time since entering, she found herself wondering whether the thing bound to her wasn't afraid... but remembering. And if it was remembering, it didn’t like it.
❝ I feel it. ❞ She answered Dante quietly, not shrugging his hand off her arm. She stepped closer to him, her eyes scanning the room. Noticing the broken coffins for the first time.
Her gaze lingered on the splintered wood, tracing the jagged edges left behind. They hadn't simply caved beneath centuries of decay. They looked as though something had torn into them...
Or forced its way out. A chill settled beneath her skin.
Tifa followed after him, her attention shifting to the gouges carved deep into the stone. Not only was this thing anything but subtle, like Dante had said, but judging by the size of those scratches... it wasn't small. They cut through solid rock as though it had been nothing more than damp earth beneath sharpened claws. Whatever had made them hadn't been trying to hide. It hadn't needed to.
She drew in a slow breath, peering into the gap in the wall. It didn't look stable. Fractured stone jutted overhead, loose rubble scattered beneath their feet. One wrong step, one careless movement, and the entire passage looked ready to come down around them. Still, so long as they watched their footing and kept moving, they should make it through.
She only hoped there'd be another way out.
Something told her this opening wouldn't still be here when they came back.
Without thinking, she slipped her hand into his. Not for comfort. For stability.
...At least, that's what she told herself.
❝ Yeah. I'm still with you. ❞ she told him, giving his hand the faintest squeeze before looking back towards the darkness ahead. Her voice remained level, steadier than the nerves twisting in her stomach.
ellievsbear
areudirty
stormborns
2087
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
jacobvanloon
gracieabrams
dailybridgerton
snowghoul
amandla
tangentwithtanner
