The darkness was suffocating.
Kruger stirred, his mind clawing its way back to consciousness. His body ached, his veins burned with an unnatural heat. He was no longer in the cathedral. The air was thick with rot and incense, a grotesque blend of death and alchemy.
Chains clinked as he moved—bound.
A single torch flickered overhead, casting eerie red glows against the damp stone walls. Strange symbols, etched in blood, pulsed faintly like living wounds. Whispers slithered through the chamber, their voices layered with madness and suffering.
And then, she appeared.
Selene glided forward, the crimson glow illuminating her form—her inhumanly pale skin, the wicked grin carved across her lips, and the deadly vials swaying at her chest. She looked ethereal, almost beautiful, but Kruger knew better.
"You fight so hard, dear General," she purred, circling him like a predator toying with its prey. Her golden hair cascaded over her shoulders, stained with blood and something black.
Kruger spat to the side, his jaw clenched with fury.
"If you're going to kill me, do it already."
Selene chuckled—a low, sultry laugh that sent a chill through the chamber. Her black-painted nails traced over his cheek, lingering just above his pulse.
"Kill you?" she mused, feigning surprise. "Oh, no, no, no... Death is so very boring."
Her hand slipped lower, resting against his chest. Kruger felt it instantly—a surge of something wrong seeping into his bloodstream, twisting through his nerves like roots of a venomous tree.
His vision blurred, the torchlight warping, turning red, then black. The whispers grew louder.
"You feel it, don't you?" she whispered, her lips dangerously close to his ear. "My Crimson Hymn. A gift. A curse. A song only the dead can truly understand."
Kruger fought against the chains, but his muscles refused to listen. The infection spread—his heart pounded like a war drum, his breath turned shallow. And then he heard them.
The moaning wails of the cursed.
Beyond the chamber's iron doors, something stirred—a horde of figures shifting in the shadows, their bodies writhing with unnatural movements. Eyes that once belonged to men now gleamed with unholy hunger.
"They were like you once," Selene sighed, stepping back. Her red irises gleamed with satisfaction. "Proud. Unbreakable. Until I taught them a new purpose."
She raised a gloved hand, and the doors creaked open.
The undead lurched forward, their hollow eyes fixated on Kruger. Their bodies twisted, their bones cracking as they moved in unison, their whispers melding into a single, horrifying chant.
Selene tilted her head, her smile widening.
"Sing for me, my darlings."