Page 29 of The Hyena’s Guardian

“Because I can’t hear it anymore.”

That stopped him cold.

Before Matt could respond, the reinforced lift platform shuddered beneath their boots as the operator powered it on. Metal cables groaned overhead while the machinery lowered into the excavation shaft, carrying Team Two downward through cold air that smelled increasingly of wet stone and something older buried beneath it.

The storm above them faded gradually as the platform descended deeper beneath the monastery. Rain disappeared first, becoming a distant hiss somewhere far above them, followed by the fading growl of thunder and the restless wind sweeping across the mountainside. By the time they reached the second excavation level, the world above already seemed impossibly far away.

Floodlights mounted along the excavation walls cast uneven pools of white across ancient corridors and fractured stone pillars disappearing deeper underground. Shadows stretched strangely between them, distorted by jagged walls and unstable architecture in ways that made distance difficult to judge.

Nobody onboard the platform spoke much anymore.

Even Matt’s sarcasm had started losing momentum beneath the oppressive weight settling through the tunnels around them. The deeper they descended, the more the atmosphere changed. The pressure beneath his skin was no longer abstract or instinctive.

It felt aware.

The platform jolted suddenly before grinding to a stop near a fractured stone landing overlooking the next descent corridor.

“Level Three,” one of the wolf operatives announced.

Vale stepped off first with her rifle raised as the rest of the team followed into the corridor beyond. Their footsteps echoed softly through the ruins while mounted lights swept across ancient walls covered in faded carvings and water damage.

Matt moved with the others through the descending corridor, but his attention kept drifting farther ahead into the darkness beyond the floodlights. The tunnel curved sharply somewhere deeper underground, leaving long stretches of shadow untouched by the portable lamps mounted along the excavation walls.

Then something moved.

The motion lasted less than a second at the far edge of the corridor, too fast and indistinct for Matt to identify. It did not resemble a person so much as the brief displacement of darkness itself, like something had crossed between one patch of shadow and another before disappearing completely.

Matt stopped instantly.

The reaction hit hard enough that every muscle in his body locked at once while the hyena within surged into violent alertness beneath his ribs. Instinct narrowed sharply toward the darkness ahead, focused with an intensity that made the rest of the corridor seem to fade around the edges.

Baptiste saw the change and halted beside him. “What did you see?”

Matt kept staring down the tunnel. “Movement.”

Several operatives farther ahead turned at that, rifles shifting upward almost as one while Commander Vale stepped toward the front of the formation without hesitation.

“Direction?” she asked.

Matt raised a hand toward the darkness beyond the next support arch. “Ahead. Past that corridor split.”

Nobody questioned him. That bothered Matt almost as much as the movement itself.

The excavation team nearest the front adjusted their floodlights toward the far end of the tunnel, sending harsh beams cutting across wet stone and ancient support columns carved directly into the mountain. Shadows shifted sharply beneath the light, but nothing moved again.

For several long seconds, the only sound came from dripping water echoing somewhere deeper underground.

Then a low scraping sound carried faintly through the corridor ahead, like stone dragging against stone somewhere deeper in the tunnels. The noise moved with deliberate weight rather than sudden movement, and Matt watched tension ripple through the formation in response. Weapons lifted higher while several wolves near the front bared their teeth without seeming consciously aware of it.

The scraping returned a few seconds later. It lingered this time, rough stone grinding against rough stone somewhere beyond the reach of their lights.

Chapter 6 - Matt

The scraping echoed through the corridor again, close enough now that nobody mistook it for settling stone.

Every operative in the formation froze instinctively as the noise carried through the ruins ahead of them. Floodlights swept across wet stone and fractured support arches while rifles lifted toward the darkness beyond the corridor split.

Nothing moved.