Chapter 10: The Trap is Sprung

Chapter 10: The Trap is Sprung

The revelation settled over them like a shroud of freezing dust. Arthur the Great, the Shining King, had not been a conqueror but a jailer. This entire gleaming city, this monument to order and law, was built upon a foundation of his single, monumental failure. The pulsing black crystal in the center of the chamber was the ultimate royal secret, the first and deepest rot.

"The containment runes are failing," Kael murmured, his face illuminated by the frantic glow of his data-slate. "Not from age... they're being actively corroded. The ambient grief-mana in the city above, the low-level despair of millions of souls living in this gilded cage... it's been seeping down here for centuries, feeding this thing, making it stronger. Arthur's own sorrow was the key to the lock, but the city's misery has been the poison weakening the bars."

Chase stared at the crystal, a feeling of dreadful kinship washing over him. A prison built of regret, powered by sorrow. It was the story of his own life, writ large in stone and shadow. The cold pull he'd felt wasn't just a magical resonance; it was a call of recognition.

"We need to report this," Elara said, her voice regaining its sharp, authoritative edge. The shock was receding, replaced by the cold calculus of command. "This is beyond a simple patrol. This is a strategic threat to the entire city. Kael, can you get a signal through?"

"Negative, Commander. The dampening field is absolute. We're completely cut off."

As if summoned by his words, a deep, grinding groan echoed through the catacombs. It was the sound of stone on stone, a final, tomb-like finality. Borin, who had been standing guard by the entrance, turned his massive head.

"The door," he rumbled, his voice a low earthquake.

They all spun around. The massive, rune-etched stone plug Chase had opened was sliding shut. It moved with an unnatural speed, too fast for a mechanism of its age. It slammed into place with a deafening boom that shook the very floor, plunging the entrance into utter darkness and sealing them inside.

A trap.

"Borin! The door!" Elara yelled, but it was too late. The golden light of the Arthurian seal flared once, then died, leaving only inert stone.

"It's been sealed from the outside," Kael stammered, his eyes wide with panic. "Someone used a remote trigger. Someone knew we were here."

Before the implication of his words could fully sink in, the shadows in the chamber began to move. They didn't writhe and coalesce like the feral creature in the ruins. These shadows peeled away from the walls in sharp, defined shapes, rising like soldiers from their graves. Bones, black and stained by ancient grief, were pulled from the very air, forming sleek, nightmarish exoskeletons. They were humanoid in shape, but impossibly tall and thin, moving with a silent, synchronized grace.

And in the center of each one's chest, a single, complex sigil glowed with a cold, blue-white light. The same light as Sir Kay's cybernetic eye.

"Hostiles!" Elara shouted, her mag-pistol already drawn and firing. A bolt of white energy struck one of the shadow sentinels, staggering it, but the wound filled in almost instantly.

Borin let out a roar of fury and charged, his axe a blur of motion. He was a force of nature, a walking bastion of stone and steel, and the creatures met him head-on. The clash of his enchanted axe against their shadowy limbs produced a sound like shattering crystal.

This wasn't a random ambush. This was an execution.

"Kael, analyze that sigil!" Elara commanded, providing covering fire for Borin. "What is it?"

Kael, huddled behind a fallen pillar, frantically manipulated his slate. "It's… it's a modern binding rune! Knight-Sorcerer issue, seventh-generation encryption. It’s a control matrix! Someone isn't just letting these things out; they're creating them! Weaponizing the entity's power!"

The pieces slammed together in Chase's mind with sickening force. Lancelot's cryptic clue hadn't just been a pointer; it had been a move, designed to send them here. The sealed door. The coordinated attack. The Knight-issue sigils. This was a purge. Someone in New Camelot's leadership wanted them silenced before they could reveal what they'd found. Someone who had access to both ancient sites and modern military magic.

If you lose control again, Kay’s voice echoed in his memory, I will be the one to switch you off.

"It's Kay," Chase growled, his hands igniting with a flickering, orange light. The Itch was rising, a furious tide demanding release. He could feel the Lex System on his arm fighting him, the ghost of Kay's failsafe a cold pressure against his will.

He unleashed a blast of pure kinetic force, not the chaotic explosion from before, but a focused ram of power that sent two of the sentinels skidding back across the obsidian floor. They recovered instantly, their blue-lit eyes fixing on him. Their directive had changed.

"They're trying to split us up!" Elara yelled as two of the creatures broke off from Borin and lunged toward her and Kael.

The battle devolved into a desperate, chaotic dance in the oppressive gloom of the tomb. Elara was a whirlwind of precision shots and acrobatic dodges. Borin was a bulwark, holding the main passage against a tide of shadowy assailants. But the sentinels were relentless, their movements perfectly coordinated. They weren't trying to win through brute force; they were using tactics.

One of the sentinels feinted at Elara, drawing her fire, while another lunged straight for Kael.

"Kael!" Chase yelled.

He moved on instinct, pushing a wave of raw energy to intercept the creature. The blast threw it off course, but in that split second, two more sentinels converged on his position. One slammed into the ceiling directly above him, and with a terrible crack, a shower of ancient stone and dust cascaded down, creating a solid barrier between him and the others.

"Chase!" Elara's voice was muffled, distant.

He was cut off. Trapped in the main chamber with Kael and half a dozen of the blue-lit monstrosities. And in the center of it all, the black crystal was beginning to pulse faster, its dark light growing stronger. The raw emotions of the battle—the fear, the anger, the desperation—were a feast for the entity it held. The psychic pressure in the room intensified, making his teeth ache.

A sentinel lunged at Kael again. The young operative cried out, tripping over a loose stone. The creature's shadowy claws reached for his throat. Chase didn't think. He teleported—a short, violent burst of raw motion that he hadn't used in years. He appeared between Kael and the creature, grabbing the sentinel by its head and unleashing a point-blank burst of chaotic fire. The creature dissolved with a silent scream, its control sigil shattering.

But the cost was high. The uncontrolled burst of power sent a feedback surge through his system. The Lex System flared violently, and for a half-second, a crippling static shock raced up his arm, making him cry out in pain. Kay’s failsafe. A warning shot.

He stumbled back, his vision swimming. And in that moment of weakness, the remaining sentinels struck. They didn't attack him. They swarmed the terrified Kael, wrapping him in shadowy tendrils, lifting him off the ground, and dragging him back toward the far side of the chamber, away from the fight.

"No!" Chase yelled, trying to push through the pain, trying to gather his power again.

But it was too late. He was alone. His team was on the other side of a wall of rubble, fighting for their lives. His only ally in this part of the chamber was being dragged into the darkness. And the heart of the prison, the great black crystal, was pulsing with a rhythm that was starting to feel terrifyingly familiar. It was the rhythm of his own panicked, grieving heart.

The psychic pressure coalesced. The vague, ancient echoes of Arthur's despair faded, replaced by something immediate, something new and terribly intimate. A whisper, clear as a silver bell, echoed not in the chamber, but directly inside his skull.

"Chas-ey?"