☆Chapter 9☆

The world around Maya twisted violently as the dark tendrils dragged her down, deeper and deeper into the earth. The light from the surface vanished almost instantly, replaced by suffocating darkness. The sensation of falling felt endless, the air growing colder and thicker with each passing moment. She tried to summon her flames to halt her descent, but the energy pulling her down seemed to suppress her power. It wasn't like anything she had encountered before, ancient, malevolent, and far stronger than any force she'd ever faced.

Maya gritted her teeth, her irritation rising as the abyss swallowed her whole. She wasn't used to being overpowered, and the thought that someone, or something, had the audacity to think it could trap her was almost laughable. Almost.

The descent continued for what felt like hours, the pressure around her building, her senses straining to adapt to the unnatural force wrapping itself around her. The tendrils felt like they were alive, pulsating with dark energy that seeped into her skin, as if tasting her power and drawing strength from it. She resisted the urge to tear them apart, knowing that her flames were being dampened in this strange environment.

Suddenly, with a jarring thud, Maya was thrown onto solid ground. The impact sent a shockwave through her body, and she winced slightly as she picked herself up, shaking off the remnants of the dark energy still clinging to her. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, adjusting quickly to the near-complete darkness. The air was thick with the stench of decay, and the oppressive weight of the ancient power pressed down on her like a heavy fog.

She was in a massive cavern, the walls glistening with a strange, otherworldly light that seemed to pulse in time with her heartbeat. Eerie, glowing stones embedded in the walls illuminated the cavern with a sickly green glow, casting long, twisted shadows that danced across the uneven ground. The ceiling stretched high above, disappearing into the darkness, and the cavern floor was littered with jagged rocks and strange markings that looked like they had been carved by something older than time itself.

Maya dusted herself off, her molten eyes narrowing as she assessed her situation. The energy that had pulled her down here still lingered in the air, thick and suffocating. She could feel it all around her, watching, waiting. A presence, ancient and malevolent, lurked in the shadows, far deeper than the light from the glowing stones could reach.

She had faced countless enemies in her time, gods, demons, and monsters that would make most mortals quake in terror. But this… this was different. The power in the air wasn't just raw, it was old, older than the gods she had encountered, older than the very world itself. It made her skin crawl, though she would never admit it.

"Well," she muttered to herself, her voice echoing slightly in the cavern, "this is new."

Her fingers twitched as she tried to summon her flames again, but the fire sputtered and fizzled out almost immediately, smothered by the oppressive force surrounding her. She clicked her tongue in annoyance, though her curiosity was piqued. Whatever was down here, it had the power to suppress even her divine abilities, and that meant it was worth investigating.

Maya took a step forward, her boots crunching against the jagged stones beneath her feet. The cavern seemed to stretch on forever, but as she moved deeper into the darkness, she could feel the presence growing stronger, more focused. It was like the air itself was alive, breathing, watching her every move.

She wasn't afraid, but she was cautious. There was something to be said about ancient power, and even a goddess had to tread carefully when dealing with forces that predated the very fabric of reality.

As she ventured deeper, the oppressive energy shifted, becoming almost tangible, like a weight pressing down on her chest. The air grew colder, and the stench of decay became almost unbearable. Maya's molten blue eyes glowed faintly in the dark, casting a faint light as she moved.

Then, she heard it.

A voice.

It was faint at first, more of a whisper carried on the wind, but it grew louder with each step she took. The voice was deep, ancient, and filled with a power that resonated with the very walls of the cavern.

"You have come at last, goddess."

Maya stopped in her tracks, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the darkness. The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once, reverberating through the cavern like the rumble of an earthquake. She couldn't see its source, but she could feel it, an overwhelming presence lurking just beyond the edge of her perception.

"And who exactly are you?" Maya called out, her voice echoing off the stone walls.

For a moment, there was only silence, but then the voice returned, stronger this time. "I am that which was sealed before the dawn of gods. I am the first. I am the last. And I have waited eons for a being like you to set me free."

Maya's lips curled into a smirk. "Set you free? Sorry, but I don't do charity work."

The voice chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound that made the ground tremble beneath her feet. "You misunderstand, goddess. You are no mere mortal. You hold within you the power to reshape reality itself. Your fire is but a fraction of what you are capable of."

Maya's smirk faltered slightly. "And how would you know that?"

"Because I am the one who helped create this world," the voice replied, its tone heavy with authority. "Before your gods claimed dominion over it, I and others like me forged the very fabric of existence. But the gods feared us. They sealed us away, deep beneath the earth, so that they could rule without opposition."

Maya crossed her arms, unimpressed. "A sob story about gods being jealous of your power? Heard that one before. What makes you different from every other self-proclaimed 'ancient power' I've encountered?"

There was a pause, and then the voice spoke again, its tone darker, more insistent. "I am no self-proclaimed power. I am the beginning. I am what your gods fear. And you, goddess of destruction, are the key to my release. You feel it, don't you? The pull of this place? The power beneath your skin?"

Maya frowned. She had felt something, an odd pull, a sensation she couldn't quite explain, like the energy here was trying to merge with her. But she wasn't about to admit that.

"You think I'm just going to free you because you said some spooky words in the dark?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You're going to have to do better than that."

The voice chuckled again, and this time, the sound was accompanied by a faint glow in the distance, deep within the cavern. The light was dim at first, but it grew brighter with each passing second, illuminating the ancient carvings on the walls. Symbols that predated the gods, etched into the very stone by hands long since turned to dust.

"Come, goddess. Come and see what awaits you. The truth of your power… and your destiny."

Maya hesitated for a fraction of a second, her curiosity battling with her instinct for self-preservation. This was a trap, she knew it. But traps could be fun.

With a sigh, she began to walk toward the light.