Chapter 247
Chapter 247
Chapter 247
Chapter 247
ARIA
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The creatures circled me, moving with unsettling coordination. Five of them visible, probably more in the darkness beyond the fungs glow. Not attacking yet-assessing. Determining whether I was prey or something else. Their movements were too organized to be mindless predators, too purposeful to be random.
Then one spoke.
Its voice was ruined, gravelly, barely comprehensible-like vocal cords that hadn’t been used properly in decades trying to form words they’d almost forgotten. “Moon child. Bright. Different. Not food. Not yet p>
They could speak. Whatever these things were, they retained enough humanity or intelligence to communicate. Which somehow made them more horrifying than if they’d been mindless predators. These were people once. Competitors who’d fallen in previous Hunts, maybe. Or victims of other trials, other tests, left here to become warnings about failure.
“The fragment,” another creature rasped, pointing with one too-long finger toward the trench wall maybe twenty feet away. “Trial continues. Climb. Prove worthy. Or stay. Become us. Feed the earth p>
I looked where it was pointing and saw them-handholds carved into the stone. A climbing route that would take me back to the surface, that would let me escape this pit of corpses and
creatures.
If I could climb with my injured abdomen.
If the creatures didn’t attack while I was vulnerable and clinging to the wall.
If the earth manipulation didn’t seal the trench while I was still inside, trapping me here permanently.
If, if, if. Too many variables I couldn’t control.
“Why?” I asked the speaking creature, stalling while I tried to assess my options. “Why are you helping me? Why not just kill me like you’ve killed everyone else down here p>
The creature tilted its head in a gesture that might have been recognition or curiosity. “Moon child is different. Tastes different. Smells different. Not like others who fall. Others are food. You are… potential p>
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Chapter 247
“Potential for what p>
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“To escape. To continue. To become more.” It gestured vaguely upward. “Or to stay. To feed. To become less. Choice is trial. Choose correctly prove worthy. Choose incorrectly, join us p>
Above, Ivory shouted something I couldn’t make out clearly through the distortion. But her tone was urgent, panicked in ways I’d never heard from her before.
“Ivory!” I called up. “What’s happening p>
“The maze is collapsing!” Ivory’s voice came back, clearer this time. “Faster than before! The bridge I’m on is crumbling! In thirty seconds, maybe less, there won’t be a route to the center chamber p>
Thirty seconds. She had thirty seconds to reach the second fragment or be stranded in a collapsing maze with no way forward or back.
And I was down here, in a pit of corpses with creatures that used to be human, facing a climbing route that might kill me even if nothing attacked while I attempted it.
We were being separated. Divided. The trial was forcing us apart, making us face challenges independently rather than as partners.
I had to choose. Attempt to climb out now and try to regroup with Ivory, but lose time we didn’t have, risk the creatures attacking while I was vulnerable, probably fail to reach her before the maze sealed completely. Or trust that Ivory could reach the crystal alone while I dealt with the creatures and found another path through this nightmare.
Trust. That’s what this came down to. Whether I could trust my partner to handle her own trial while I handled mine. Whether our partnership was strong enough to function when we were physically separated.
The creatures were watching me, waiting for my decision. Their expressions-if you could call them expressions on those twisted faces-suggested they’d seen this before. Seen competitors fall into the trenches, seen them make choices, seen them succeed or fail or join the ranks of the transformed.
“The climbing route,” I said to the speaking creature. “Where does it lead p>
“Up,” it rasped. “Out. Different path than you entered. Converges eventually. If you survive. If you’re fast enough. If you’re worthy p>
“And if I stay here trying to climb while my partner reaches the center alone p>
“Then you fail together. Or you succeed separately. Or you both die. Many outcomes. All possible p>
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Chapter 247
Helpful. Really fucking helpful.
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Above, I heard the sound of stone crumbling. Heard Ivory curse-actual cursing, which she rarely did and knew she was making her own impossible choice about whether to wait for me or go for the crystal.
“Go!” I shouted up to her. “Reach the center! Get the fragment! I’ll find another way to you p>
“Aria, you can’t—” Ivory started.
“Go!” I repeated, putting every ounce of command I could muster into my voice. “That’s an order from your Luna! Get the fragment and I’ll meet you at the exit p>
A pause. Then Ivory’s voice, tight with conflict: “Don’t die down there. If you die, I’m going to be extremely angry at you p>
Then I heard her running, her footsteps receding, choosing the crystal over attempting a rescue that would probably fail anyway.
I turned back to the creatures surrounding me. The climbing route. I’m taking it. Are you going to attack me while I climb or can we establish some kind of temporary truce p>
The speaking creature made a sound that might have been laughter or might have been something else entirely. “Truce is earned. Prove you deserve passage. Fight the guardian. Win, you climb. Lose, you stay p>
“Guardian?” I asked, dread settling into my stomach. “What guardian p>
From deeper in the trench, from darkness the fungi’s glow didn’t reach, something moved. Something much larger than the humanoid creatures. Something that made the ground shake as it approached.
The creatures scattered, clearing space, positioning themselves along the walls like spectators preparing to watch entertainment.
And into the green light stepped the guardian.
It had been human once. I could see that in its basic structure-two arms, two legs, a torso and head. But it had been transformed far more dramatically than the other creatures. Its body was massive, easily eight feet tall and proportionally broad. Its skin was the same gray as the others but thicker, almost armored looking. Its hands ended in claws that looked like they could tear through stone.
And its face. Gods, its face was a nightmare. Eyes that glowed with that same bioluminescent green as the fungi. A mouth full of teeth that were too many and too sharp.
“Fight,” the smaller creatures chanted. “Fight. Prove. Earn. Fight p>
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Chapter 247
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The guardian roared, the sound echoing off the trench walls, loud enough that I felt it in my chest. Then it charged.
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