The First Devourer advanced, its rotating teeth grinding like rusted gears. Mael felt the scar on his torso burn as if someone had pressed a red-hot iron to his flesh.
"Father..." he choked out, though he knew the thing before him was anything but human.
The creature cocked its head, and for a split second, its voice split in two - one guttural, the other perfectly mimicking his progenitor's.
"Don't call me that. He just stole my sword... and locked me here."
Hex and Lien retreated, but Vorpal pulled Mael forward. The twin sword embedded in the Devourer's spinal column pulsed with a sickly glow, as if answering some unspoken call.
"Why did my father betray you?" Mael demanded, cold sweat dripping down his back.
The Devourer spread its torso-mouth wide, revealing a void where memory fragments floated:
The Headmaster, with his spider-like hands, signing a contract on human skin.
His father, young, driving the twin sword into the Devourer's back.
And Mael himself as a child, being branded with the violet scar.
"An exchange," the creature rasped. "Your life... for mine."
A thunderous crash shook the Underworld. Something heavy pounded against the trapdoor above.
"The Hunters," Lien whispered, her face draining of color. "They broke the seal."
The Devourer straightened, its body cracking like dry branches.
"Take my sword, heir. But know that every time you wield it..."
Mael didn't let it finish. Vorpal commanded him to move. He lunged for the spinal column and grabbed the twin sword.
Contact was an explosion.
Agony. Fire. And then... voices.
"Kill them," Vorpal whispered.
"Save us," pleaded the Devourer's memories.
The chains binding the spinal column shattered. The Underworld began collapsing.
"Run!" Hex dragged him toward a side tunnel. "If that thing gets loose, all of Elysium will fall!"
Mael looked back. The Devourer stood motionless, watching as the Hunters descended like spiders.
"I'll come for you, traitor's son."
Then the ceiling gave way.