Chương 68: 068

Shit, shit, shit. Wind roared in my ears, my heart hammering harder than the fall itself as Dura and I plummeted toward the shadowed abyss below. The surface writhed. Tendrils of darkness unfurled like smoke made solid, reaching, grasping, hungry. Every hair on my neck stood on end. Even a single touch from those things would be game over. And I had no plan. Fortunately, Dura did. Her eyes flicked to the cavern wall, jaw setting hard.

"Arms around me. Tight!" Didn't have to tell me twice. Freefall made the maneuver messy, but I twisted, locked my arms around her neck. She hooked one arm around my waist, crushing me against her, while the other swung her axe toward the rock. The world blurred into a nauseating whirl of stone and shadow. My stomach lurched, and then everything snapped to a sudden, jarring stop. Her axe bit deep into a crack, wrenching us out of the fall with a gut-twisting lurch. She hissed, muscles straining, but the weapon held.

We dangled hundreds of feet above the churning black sea. Not safe, but alive.

"I could kiss you," I panted, adrenaline buzzing like live wires through me. Her laugh rasped against my ear.

"Take you up on it once we're out of this alive." Right. Still had to figure that out. I risked a glance downward, and instantly regretted it. The shadows surged, weaving together into a massive spire, a needle of darkness stabbing straight at us.

"Fucking hell." Panic choked my throat, but I forced it out.

"What?" Dura demanded, still straining against the axe.

"They're forming a tendril," I grit out. The spire pulsed, crawling upward with cruel intent.

"They'll reach us in a minute. I don't have any light spells-." Then an idea hit like a lightning strike.

"But I don't need any." I craned my head skyward, lungs burning.

"Thomas! Throw us the staff!" Dawn's Light. Made to smite the undead, yes, but the brilliance it unleashed against that army… it was our only shot. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. For a heartbeat, nothing answered. Then the staff tipped over the ledge above.

"Are you ready?" Time's voice cut down, taut with urgency. I wrestled an arm free, holding tighter with the other.

"Yeah! Drop it!" The staff fell, glowing orb inching closer with every second. The shadows surged upward as if aware of their impending doom. Almost there, just a few more inches, then a tendril lashed around my ankle, yanking both me and Dura downward. She hissed, shoulder braced against the axe. I kicked uselessly, adrenaline spiking as the staff inched closer. I lurched sideways, slamming it against the wall to stop it. Wood bit into my ribs, leaving a long, jagged bruise—but I didn't care.

The shadow tendril coiled higher, shaking us, trying to rip the staff free. I clenched it, channeling mana through every fiber.

"Close your eyes!" I didn't wait. Light erupted from the staff, searing the darkness as the scythe's blade sprung into existence. The tendril dissolved into mist with a piercing shriek. I squeezed my eyes shut, letting the brilliance burn past my lids, and only exhaled when the oppressive weight of the shadows finally receded. Time had bought us a reprieve—not much, but enough. Enough to breathe. To think.

The staff drained mana with a relentless pull, a grim reminder that the clock hadn't stopped—it had only slowed.

"Any ideas?" I asked, clinging to hope.

"Brains aren't my strong suit," Dura muttered through gritted teeth.

"Lodging my axe in the wall is all I've got."

"I'd be dead if not for that, so no complaints," I said, squinting past the glow. The shadows had pressed flat against the cavern walls, revealing a wide circle of bare stone beneath us. As the darkness peeled back, more of the floor came into view—and my jaw nearly unhinged.

"Holy shit…" Dura stiffened.

"What?" I stared down. A spiral stretched from one edge of the pit to the other, coiling downward like a staircase into the abyss. Each layer twisted toward the center.

"The floor's not flat. It's a spiral," I said, throat dry, eyeing the three distinct potions warily.

"A multileveled spiral..."

"The hell you mean multileveled?" Dura pressed, impatience in her voice. How should I even begin to explain…

"There's three separate areas inside it." I started, taking in each of the distinct…almost biomes resting below us.

"The outer ring's…foggy. Grey mist everywhere." I blinked heavily, fighting sudden drowsiness.

"It makes you…sleepy, just looking at it." Dragging my eyes away, I focused on the next level.

"The middle layer's coated in ice, or glass. Everything's reflective." Something shifted among the mirrors. My breath hitched. A pale shape darted from shard to shard, almost invisible against its surroundings.

"There's something moving down there,""Considering how fucked this place is," Dura said flatly, "I don't wanna know what that is." Agreed.

"And the next layer?" she pressed. I squinted at the bottom.

"Like the first one, but darker. The fog looks heavier… I think this is where the shadows are from, when they're not being held back."

"And that's the last one?" She prodded.

"Not quite." I squinted at the center. A faintly glowing golden bubble.

"There's a shield in the middle. It's radiating light, but not enough to drive the shadows away." Dura exhaled sharply.

"Think we'd survive dropping into it?" I shook my head.

"Probably not. And even if we did… there's no way back up." Only up through the 'biomes' and I for one didn't feel like traversing hell's own staircase. Something coiled beside the bubble, almost too quick to follow. And when I saw it… my blood froze.

"…What the fuck is that?!"