Round 398

The stone’s breathing became more pronounced, each expansion and contraction now matching Silra’s pulse beat in perfect synchronization. The walls hadn’t moved like this before—hadn’t felt alive until the angelic essence started bleeding into their ancient structure. Jeane stood frozen at the threshold of the descending staircase, her body locked in place by sheer terror as she watched the walls consume Abby millimeter by agonizing millimeter.

“Open yourself,” the voice from below rumbled again, and something inside Jeane’s mind simply… broke. The command wasn’t spoken aloud—it was the stone itself speaking through vibrations that traveled up through her bones. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed forward into the stairwell without conscious volition, her body moving of its own accord as if pulled by invisible strings.

The walls behind her closed together again, grinding shut with a finality that sealed off the passage back the way they’d come. The stone around them shifted and flowed like living tissue, bioluminescent fluid seeping from new pores to coat everything in a thin layer of glowing ichor.