Another spider lunges for Cassius from behind.
“Behind you!”
He turns too late… and I move before I think. The blade arcs again, the blue glow flaring brighter as it slices through the spider’s side. It collapses, legs curling in on itself.
Across the chamber, Oberon is holding back three at once, fire bursting from his hands in sharp, violent strikes. One gets too close, too fast, and its leg catches his shoulder, tearing through fabric and skin.
He grunts, staggering, but answers with a blast of flame that engulfs it.
Cassius throws his hand forward, forcing his water outward. The mass slams into a spider mid-charge, crushing it sidewaysinto the stone with a wet, bone-cracking force before it drops, twitching, to the floor.
Sylvian shoves his spider off with a surge of strength, rolling to his feet just as another drops toward him. He catches it mid-lunge, driving his blade up into its underside, but it knocks him back, sending him skidding across the slick floor.
Ashton moves instantly, dragging Sylvian out of the way as a massive leg slams down where he’d been.
“They’re circling!” he warns.
I turn, and a spider drops. The largest one yet. It hits the ground between us and the exit, blocking the archway completely. The stone cracks beneath its weight. Its body is massive, towering, its eyes fixed on me.
Of course it is.
My grip tightens on the sword. My side throbs. My breath comes in and out too fast, but it lunges.
I barely dodge, its leg slamming into the ground, splintering stone. The force of it throws me sideways. I hit hard, my vision flashing white.
It turns again, and I push up, forcing my body to move, raising the blade just as it strikes. The impact drives me back, my boots sliding across the stone. My arms shake under the force.
Then the blade flares. Bright. Cold. Alive. It cuts. Deep.
The spider screams, thrashing violently. One of its legs catches Ashton, knocking him off his feet. He hits the ground hard.
A violent gust tears through the chamber as Ashton throws his power outward, wind slamming into a smaller spider and ripping it apart mid-lunge, scattering pieces across the burning webs.
“Stay down!” Cassius snaps, stepping in, cutting another spider away from him.
Oberon sends a wall of fire crashing into the others, holding them back for a second, just a second.
“Finish it!” he shouts.
I grit my teeth and drive forward. Pain lances through my ribs, but I ignore it. I bring the blade down again, the blue light flaring as it bites deep into the spider’s body.
It shudders. Then collapses.
The ground splits suddenly near the edge of the chamber, stone cracking open as Sylvian drives his power into it. A spider lunges toward us and disappears into the opening, swallowed whole as the earth slams shut again.
“Move!” Cassius grabs my arm, pulling me upright before I can fall with it.
We run.
The archway is right there, rain pouring through it in silver sheets. Cold air spills into the chamber, sharp and clean, cutting through the rot.Freedom.My lungs burn as I push harder, ignoring the pain in my side, the ache in my legs. And then… nothing. I smack into stone. Hard stone.
I stumble forward, my hands slamming into hard stone where the doorway was. The sound of rain vanishes. The cold disappears with it, ripped away so abruptly it leaves a ringing silence behind.
I freeze.
“No,” I breathe.
The archway is gone. No door. No rain. No sky. Just solid stone. An illusion.
