Page 110 of The Hyena’s Guardian

And another.

Within seconds, every ancient guardian lining the chamber had shifted its attention toward him.

They seemed caught between opposing commands, the corruption urging them forward while the ancient seal recognized something in Matt that it could not reconcile.

None of them moved.

They simply watched.

Matt swallowed. “Okay…”

He looked around the room. “I somehow liked it better when they were just statues.”

Far below, something buried beneath the mountain surged against its prison. A roar thundered upward through the stone, shaking dust from the ceiling.

Theron looked from the statues to Matt, genuine disbelief breaking through centuries of discipline.

“That should not be happening.”

Matt laughed once.

“You say that a lot around me.”

The opening between the doors widened enough now to reveal darkness beyond. Not empty darkness. Movement.

A massive circular chamber stretched somewhere beyond the threshold, lit faintly by deep red light pulsing far below like the heartbeat of something buried alive.

And from somewhere inside it came breathing.

Slow. Patient. Waiting.

Baptiste’s expression hardened. “The throne chamber.”

Vale motioned sharply toward the opening. “Move.”

Nobody needed convincing twice. The group began retreating toward the widening gap while the statues remained motionless behind them, their glowing eyes fixed on Matt. He hated that far more than if they had attacked. Theron stayed beside him as they backed toward the doorway. His attention had not left Matt since the seal opened.

“You’re beginning to sense it,” Theron said.

He was.

The whispers had stopped wandering, pressing against the edges of his thoughts until he could no longer separate one voice from another.

Then something stronger rose beneath them.

The stronger voice did not belong to the mountain. It came from the hyena.

Protect him.

***

The group crossed the threshold carefully.

The moment Matt stepped through the doorway, pressure settled across his chest hard enough to steal half a breath from his lungs. It did not feel physical exactly. The sensation resembled walking too deep beneath water while something enormous watched from below.

Behind them, the massive stone doors continued grinding open.

Ahead stretched the throne chamber.