Ella had her nose buried in her notebook again, mumbling under her breath as we pushed through the undergrowth.
"If we passed the ridge an hour ago, then this path should curve left... I think." She looked up briefly. "Unless that weird tree was the wrong marker."
Henry walked beside her, peering over her shoulder with no real understanding. "You realize your map looks like a toddler's fever dream, right?"
"It's not a map, it's field documentation," she said with a huff. "Hand-drawn, under pressure, while running from a carnivorous mud-beast."
"Still looks like spaghetti with labels," he muttered.
Up ahead, Amelia's voice cut through the trees. "We're still moving in the right direction."
"You sound very confident for someone who's never been here before," Ella called back.
"That's because someone has to be," Amelia replied, not slowing down.
Emily trailed behind them, quietly listing off observations about the surroundings, talking more to herself than anyone else.
Their voices drifted around me as we walked. But something gnawed at the edge of my awareness. I didn't notice it at first, but as time passed, it dawned on me.
I couldn't hear anything else.
I stopped.
There were no birds. No insects. Not even the wind stirred through the branches above.
Just the steady crunch of boots on the forest floor, and the faint murmur of conversation ahead.
But beyond that… nothing.
I slowed to a stop.
The silence pressed in like a weight, thick and unnatural. The kind that makes the back of your neck prickle. I turned to the forest all around us, scanning the bushes. The forest wasn't just quiet, it was dead still.
It took a few moments before everyone else realized I'd stopped.
Henry looked back. "Atlas?"
Amelia paused, glancing over her shoulder. "What is it?"
I didn't know exactly what had me so on edge. It just seemed so… off.
Then, a little bit hesitant, I asked, "Do you hear that?"
The group stopped, then listened.
There was nothing but unnatural silence.
Ella slowly closed her notebook, the soft rasp of paper seeming loud against the stillness.
Henry edged closer, his voice barely above a whisper. "You think something scared everything off?"
I didn't answer.
"Maybe we should turn back," he muttered. "You know how it goes in horror movies. The second everything goes quiet... someone's about to die."
"We're not in a movie," Ella murmured, hugging her journal closer to her chest. Her voice lacked its usual sharpness. "It's probably just this part of the woods. We keep moving, and we'll hear something again."
"It wouldn't make sense to double back just because it's quiet," Amelia said from the front, her voice steady as she pushed through a curtain of hanging vines.
I followed close behind, the forest unnervingly still around us. My boots sank slightly into the mossy ground, each step swallowed by the hush that pressed in from all sides.
Henry muttered from behind, "Still not staying in the back. Everyone knows how that ends."
"Oh great," Ella whispered, clearly on edge. "So I'm the bait now?"
And then the forest broke.
A sound like the earth itself being split open ripped through the air. Wood screamed, deep and primal, as if whole trees were being torn apart. Somewhere ahead, something massive was moving, shoving its way through the jungle like the world owed it space.
Emily gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
"Quiet," Amelia hissed, her eyes locked on the dense treeline ahead.
Another boom followed, far stronger than the last, shaking the ground beneath our feet.
Ella's voice trembled as she leaned toward Amelia, whispering, "What do we do?"
Amelia stayed silent, eyes fixed ahead. Benjamin glanced at her, then offered his own suggestion in a low voice. "Better we see it before it sees us."
Amelia gave a curt nod. "We'll check it out. But the moment it looks bad, we're gone."
I could tell the others didn't like the plan, but they kept silent as we crept forward, careful not to make a sound. The closer we got, the heavier the air seemed to press down around us.
The soil trembled, dust trickling loose, just as another boom rolled over us.
We crouched, creeping up a rise where the forest seemed torn apart. Trees lay broken like scattered twigs, splintered and uprooted in all directions.
Climbing over the edge, I had to brace myself against the ground as a violent gust of wind tore across the rim, flinging dirt and debris past us in a stinging rush. I shielded my face, blinking grit from my eyes, and when my vision finally cleared, the sight below froze me in place.
The slope we'd scaled was only the rim of a massive crater, its walls gouged deep from what had to be an asteroid's impact.
And below… chaos.
Thousands of corpses littered the basin, mangled into heaps of flesh and shattered bone. Yet at the center of the carnage, standing tall and unbroken, were two giants locked in battle.
They were alike in stature, but nothing else. One was draped in living green, a body of stone and soil held together by a lattice of vines and thick roots. The other blazed with fury, its body cracked open with glowing seams, molten fire pumping through its veins.
The plant titan roared and reshaped its arm into a massive, club-like appendage, swinging it down with the weight of a collapsing mountain. The fire-born raised an arm to block, magma spilling from the cracks as the impact shook the ground. With a surge of power, it kicked the other's abdomen.
The blow sent the vine-clad giant hurtling across the crater, smashing into the far wall with an eruption of dirt and rock. For a heartbeat, the battlefield stilled, and in that pause I saw what they were fighting for.
At the very center lay a silver asteroid gleaming with a light that seemed to pulse with the fight.
With the green titan out of it, the red one bent low, reaching for the silver stone.
But before its hand could close around it, the ground erupted. A tide of vines speared upward, coiling around its body, winding tighter and tighter until stone cracked beneath the pressure. The more the titan struggled, the more the vines multiplied, replacing every strand it snapped.
The titan still tried to grab the asteroid, but the moment it flexed its fingers, the vines tightened and bent the fingers backwards with the harsh sound of cracking stone.
Slowly, the green giant pulled itself from the crater wall, lumbering forward through the haze of dust and smoke. It had the upper hand now.
Until the red titan changed.
The magma flowing through its body flared, veins blazing like rivers of sunlight until its entire form glowed with a searing brilliance. Then—
A cataclysmic explosion.
No matter how many vines held it, the blast tore through everything. The shockwave ripped across the crater, bodies and shrapnel launched skyward like leaves in a storm.
"Get down!" Benjamin roared. He yanked Emily to the ground, shielding her with his body.
I dove behind a slab of stone, pressing myself flat.
BOOM!
The force slammed into us like a typhoon, rattling my bones. If not for the slant of the crater shielding us, we'd have been torn from the earth and thrown into the sky. My ears rang, a piercing whine that drowned out the world, hammering against my skull until I thought it might split me apart.
Blinking through the haze, I checked on the others. Luckily, they were all fine, other than being heavily covered in dirt. Breathing in a sigh of relief, I–
Squelch.
Something massive hit the ground beside me with a wet crunch. A body, if it could even be called that, slammed into the dirt less than a foot away, so mangled it was unrecognizable.
I stared at it, realization dawning with a cold rush down my spine.
I had almost been crushed.
I glanced skyward again, half-expecting another mangled body to drop from above. But when I saw nothing, a second sigh of relief slipped out, and after a quick check on the others, I crept up the ridge to see what remained.
The crater was unrecognizable. Rivers of molten rock slithered across the battlefield, hissing and spitting as they devoured anything in their path. Flames licked skyward from scattered infernos, painting the ruin in a hellish glow.
The titans still stood, or what was left of them.
The molten giant swayed, its body dim and hollow. The once-blazing veins that had coursed with fire were little more than faint embers now, as if it had burned through the last of its strength.
The vine-clad titan was worse. It had taken the brunt of the explosion. A thick coating of lava clung to it like molten tar, alighting the plant life like a furious inferno. Its body writhed, vines thrashing as if trying to smother the fire, but every movement only spread it further.
It smashed its bulk against the ground, rolled, even flung itself into the crater wall, but the flames refused to die. One by one, the bindings that held it together burned away.
First, the arms. Collapsing into heaps of charred stone. Then its legs buckled, and it sank to its knees, crumbling from within. Finally, its chest and head caved in, scattering into a pile of blackened rubble.
I swallowed hard, my throat dry from the smoke and heat.
That was… vicious. Watching it unravel piece by piece, I couldn't help but picture my own body in those flames. How fast would it take for it to consume my skin and bones before turning me to ash?
But before the thought could root any deeper, something else stole my attention.
The silver stone at the crater's heart…cracked.
A jagged line split down its surface, followed by another, until the entire mass broke open. Inside, there was no shining crystal or fiery core; it was just a dark, viscous liquid that shimmered in the dim light. Oily and almost alive.
The sight made my stomach knot, but at the same time… I couldn't look away.
Something tugged at me.
The longer I stared, the heavier my eyelids felt, as though sleep were pressing down on me. My body buzzed with a strange warmth, a whisper of comfort that promised I could just… crawl inside, close my eyes, and rest. Forever.
I didn't even realize I had taken a step forward. My boots scraped on the stone of the ridge. Then another step, carrying me closer, as though the pull was inside my very bones.
The sound of movement snapped me halfway back.
I looked down.
The molten giant, broken and dim, was moving. It rolled onto its side and began dragging itself toward the black pool.
Almost like that of a trance.
And just as it reached the pool, leaning over its shifting surface, something changed.
Tendrils of darkness began to rise from the pool, snaking their way up the titan's arms, wrapping around its body. Then just as fast, the giant seemingly snapped out of its trance and struggled to free itself, tearing at the tendrils, but for every one it ripped away, two more took its place. The darkness was consuming it, pulling it toward the pool, its once-fiery veins dimming as the black tendrils tightened their grip.
I watched as the red titan's movements slowed, its strength fading as the dark matter worked its way into its core. It tried to fight, but the effort was futile. In a final, violent spasm, the titan crumpled to the ground, its body convulsing as the darkness overtook it.
And then, silence. The titans were gone, and all that remained was the eerie stillness of the battlefield.
Slowly getting up beside me, Emily spoke in a quiet voice, "We should go."
I was about to nod along. However, before I could respond, we all watched in stunned disbelief as the colossal form we'd assumed was dead began to stir. A thick, inky substance oozed from the cracks in its body, writhing like some ancient horror. The dark fluid reached out, gripping the chunks of molten stone and shattered armor clinging to its form.
Then, it began to compress.
Slowly, but violently, the stone groaned and cracked under unseen pressure as the black mass pulled it inward, crushing the remnants of the titan's body into itself. Piece by piece, its immense form folded down, collapsing in on itself until what remained was no longer a mountain of destruction, but only a dense, humanoid figure, no taller than eight feet, standing unnaturally still in the settling silence.
Then, as if responding to Emily's words, the creature turned its head towards us. Its empty eyes fixated on us with an unnerving intensity. Before we could process what was happening, Amelia's voice shattered the silence, snapping us into action.
"Run!" she barked.
Without a second thought, we bolted away from the crater, our hearts pounding in our chests as we hurtled ourselves down the earthen slope. The ground blurred beneath our feet, each stride carrying us farther from the looming threat behind us. But our escape was short-lived.
As soon as we hit the base of the slope, I glanced back to see the figure just waiting at the crater's edge.
My head spun. There's no way… That had to be at least fifty meters, covered in the span of seconds.
Amelia clearly thought the same. She skidded to a halt, boots grinding against the dirt. "We're not outrunning it!" she barked, summoning her hammer in a whirlwind of stone. Her gaze snapped to us like a whip. "Atlas, up front! Henry, with me!"
I dug in, turning hard to face the thing, sparks of lightning buzzing across my limbs. My muscles thrummed with raw energy, ready to crash against whatever came our way.
The creature's inky eyes found mine, fixing me in place with that hollow, bottomless stare.
And then it moved as if it were a blur; it was gone from where it stood in a flash, and suddenly, just as fast, it was right in front of me.
Shi… the thought was cut short as the thing swung its arm down in a wide arc, aiming for my skull.
I threw myself aside, just narrowly avoiding the attack.
The air screamed as its strike split the space where I'd been standing a moment before
How can it move this fast?
I countered on instinct, slashing at its throat, expecting it to dodge or do anything. But it just stood there as my blade sliced into its neck effortlessly.
There was no blood. No cry of pain. Just a slow reformation as the stone knitted itself back together.
What?
I didn't have time to think before a fist hit me square in the chest like a wrecking ball. Amelia's barrier shattered in a burst of light and shards, and I was airborne before the pain even registered. The world spun, tree branches blurring past, then–
CRACK!
My spine met the trunk with bone-jarring force. The breath was torn from my lungs just as fast as my consciousness faded...
Sound came first, shouting, the clash of rock on rock. My vision returned in pulses, as my mind struggled to recal what was happening. I was crumpled at the base of the tree, limbs numb, breath shallow, my chest a blazing knot of pain.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move and was just left there to watch.
Amelia stood between the beast and Henry, blood streaming down her temple. Her left arm hung limp, fingers twitching uselessly. Henry was scrambling backward, feet digging into the dirt, eyes wide with panic as he tried to crawl away.
Amelia roared.
Stone erupted beneath her feet, coiling up into a massive hammer that she swung over her shoulder. More rock surged mid-swing, grafting to it, turning the weapon into a boulder-sized mass hurtling toward the monster's head.
But the creature didn't flinch.
It blurred forward, already within striking distance before her swing even had the slightest chance of reaching it.
Its arm shot out, reshaping in an instant into a wicked spike that launched forward, impaling her shoulder before the hammer could land. The weapon slipped from her grasp as her scream tore through the air.
She staggered back, cradling the wound, eyes wide with pain, but she didn't fall.
Gritting her teeth, Amelia reached out with her good arm, stone gathering at her fingertips, forming jagged shards.
But it was too late.
The creature swung its massive arm across her torso. The blow lifted her off her feet and sent her crashing into a jagged rock formation with a sickening crunch, before rolling off onto the ground motionless.
"Amelia!" Henry cried out, panic cracking his voice. But he didn't get to finish.
The creature pivoted sharply, its dark eyes locking onto him. Without pause, its arm twisted, reshaping into a jagged, sword-like blade, and then it lunged.
Henry barely rolled aside, the blade slamming into the dirt where he'd just been.
But it didn't stop.
The blade twisted and warped, melting into a sinuous, blackened whip.
It lashed out, wrapping around Henry's neck with a violent snap, yanking him off his feet.
I need to move! Now! My body screamed in protest as I forced myself up, every joint burning. I stumbled forward, barely able to keep myself on my feet.
But I was too late.
The creature raised its free arm, the stone shifting and narrowing into a sword, and without a shred of mercy, it drove it straight through Henry's abdomen.
Henry's eyes went wide.
Blood exploded from his back, painting the ground behind him in long, arterial bursts.
NO!
A scream tore out of me, raw and animalistic, fueled by something deeper than rage. Lightning surged through my veins, sparking along my limbs as the enhancement activated. The world around me dimmed as everything narrowed to a single target.
I rushed forward, energy crackling off my skin, as I summoned a saber.
With a roar, I brought it down.
The blade cleaved through the creature's arms cleanly, severing them both in a quick motion. Henry dropped to the ground in a heap, the whip unraveling from his throat.
But it wasn't over.
One of the severed limbs twitched, and the whip lashed out again, just missing my head as I ducked. It ripped through the air with a shriek of displaced energy.
Panting, I pressed my palm against the creature's chest.
"Get away from him!"
And then I let go. Every ounce of lightning I could summon discharged at once.
The blast lit up the clearing like a second sun.
The force sent the creature and me flying back.
We hit the ground hard, kicking up dust and debris, and for a moment, there was only the ringing in my ears and the taste of blood in my mouth.
All I could do was hope that somehow, Henry would survive.
I groaned and forced my eyes open. The air was thick with smoke and shattered earth, but through the swirling haze, a shadow began to rise.
The creature.
It staggered to its feet, slow and unsteady, swaying as though its limbs no longer obeyed it properly. Its once-smooth stone exterior had begun to sag in places, like tar under a blazing sun. And then I saw it.
A chunk of its shoulder drooped and dripped onto the ground with a wet splatter. And beneath it, the wound shimmered green.
Poison?
It all clicked into place.
That's why it went after Henry… He poisoned it. That's why it was so desperate to kill him.
With this knowledge, I know that we finally had a chance. Pushing myself upright, I managed to clear my murky head as I activated my abilities once more. My fingertips crackled with energy, and I summoned a pair of gauntlets over my arms, heavy and solid.
With a breathless huff, I muttered, "Okay… if knives don't work, then it's time to go old-fashioned."
I launched forward, lightning snapping beneath my feet. I closed the distance in a blink, my fist slamming into the creature's side with a thunderous boom. It reeled, stumbling back, but recovered quickly, swinging a heavy, jagged arm at my head.
I ducked under it and drove my knee into its midsection, sending out a crackle of electricity on impact. The creature roared and swiped again, this time catching my shoulder and sending me tumbling sideways.
I hit the ground, rolled, and sprang back up. It was faster than I expected, but still slower than before.
And it was only getting worse.
It lunged with another strike, but I sidestepped and countered, hammering my gauntlet into its jaw. The stone cracked, and I followed up with a flurry of jabs – left, right, left – each hit charged with voltage, each blow carving deeper cracks into its body.
It tried to retaliate, its arm morphing mid-swing into a blunt mace, but its transformation faltered and ended up looking like a loose blob.
It's losing control of its form.
I ducked low, planted my feet, and punched straight into its gut. Lightning erupted from the point of contact, blasting the creature backward, skidding across the dirt.
It tried to stand again, slowly.
I didn't give it the chance.
With a roar, I darted forward once more, lightning spiraling behind me like a comet trail. I feinted right, then spun left, slamming my fist into its temple. The impact sent out a shockwave that cracked the ground beneath us.
The creature crumpled to one knee, groaning, leaking more of that strange green ichor.
I stood over it, panting, gauntlets pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat.
Not so invincible now.
My legs trembled beneath me, every muscle straining just to keep me upright. My breath came in ragged bursts, each one scraping at my throat like broken glass. I was running on fumes, but I didn't care. This had to end.
I stepped forward and lowered my hand onto its skull.
I'm ending this.
Sparks leapt from my fingers as the connection snapped into place. A surge of energy blasted through my arm, into the creature. It convulsed violently, limbs thrashing, its grotesque body twitching beneath me. I gritted my teeth and pushed harder.
Lightning poured from me in crashing waves. My body screamed in protest as my muscles began to spasm. Forcing through it, my vision began narrowing to a tunnel of flickering blue and black. I felt like I was being torn apart from the inside out. But that didn't matter. As long as I could kill it, the rest of us would survive
Steam began to rise from its flesh, hissing from every crack and joint. The blackened armor of its body started to bubble like boiling tar. Fissures split across its frame as the lightning surged deeper, cracking through its outer shell.
Almost there. Just a little more.
I dropped to one knee, my strength nearly gone. My heart slammed against my ribs as if trying to break free.
The creature shrieked, a twisted, unnatural sound that vibrated through my bones. Its torso heaved as pressure built within it. Then a red glow began to pulse beneath its skin, slow at first… then faster, and brighter.
I stared down with wide eyes. It was the same ability of the giant
"Atlas, get back!" Amelia's voice cut through the chaos like a blade. Desperate and Terrified.
I turned toward her without thinking.
And in that moment, the glow inside the creature erupted.
A deafening blast ripped through the battlefield. The shockwave hit like a tidal wave, launching me through the air. I hit the ground hard, skidding across jagged stone.
Lava spewed from the creature's core, painting the world in fire. The ground quaked as molten rock exploded outward, lighting the sky in blinding orange. The air screamed with heat and fury as flaming debris rained down like dying stars.
Agony gripped me as a searing projectile tore into my leg, the heat biting deeper than any blade ever could. Flesh blistered and popped. I crashed to the ground, gasping, clawing at the scorched wound, my vision swimming in waves of red and white.
Then it came.
The creature lurched from the smoke, no longer even humanoid. Its body split open with a sickening crack, molten light spilling from within. Its silhouette writhed, black limbs unfurling like the legs of some ancient, broken god. Tendrils of molten flesh lashed out in every direction, carving through the ground, slicing through stone, reaching for anything that moved.
It screamed, a shriek so raw, so full of agony and rage, that it split the air like thunder.
I formed a shield on instinct as a tendril slammed into it, the force rattling my bones. Another followed, then another, one crashing into my side, searing a line across my ribs. Another slammed into my shoulder, burning through my clothing. I staggered backward, guarding high, then low, trying to read the chaos, but there was no rhythm. Just madness.
It had lost control. Whatever mind it had was gone now.
The thing shrieked again, louder this time. Its form twisted further, limbs multiplying, flailing without reason. It no longer resembled any creature, as its form was now just a writhing mass of fury and pain.
I tried to hold my ground, gritting my teeth as each blow landed harder than the last. But my shield started to crack from the strain of each attack.
A roar tore from its center as it drew back one of its largest limbs, now shaped like a warped, molten blade.
No–
It slashed down.
Instinctively, I attempted to evade the deadly strike, although I dodged a fatal wound. The blade cleaved cleanly through my left arm, leaving behind a trail of scorched flesh and excruciating pain. Before I could fully comprehend the horror of my injury, the creature swung again.
With no time to spare, I summoned a shield in a desperate bid for survival. My mind raced as I made a split-second decision, channeling the raw power of lightning into the makeshift barrier. Just as the creature's blade descended, poised to cleave me in half, it collided with my electrified shield.
The crackling surge of electricity danced across the monstrous blade, causing it to lose its form momentarily. Yet, despite the success, the force of the creature's blow shattered my ribs as it slammed me into the ground.
Pain radiated from my broken body as I tried to get up. I had to get back into the fight to protect my friends and end this monstrous threat once and for all, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get to my feet.
My body didn't listen. Every muscle screamed in protest. The world swam, but through the blur, I saw it. The creature staggered, its once-commanding form now collapsing in on itself. Black sludge oozed from its wounds, steam hissing from its sides as the lava ate away at it. It looked like its molten power had come at a cost.
And then came the barrage.
Chunks of earth and stone slammed into it from all directions, each impact punching into its rotting flesh with unrelenting force. It flailed, trying to shield itself, but its movements were sluggish. Each second, the green glow intensified, accelerating its decay.
Even so, it didn't fall.
The air trembled with each hit, the clearing echoing with the sounds of chaos, stone against flesh, the creature's shrieks of defiance, and the dull hum of raw power being spent.
And still, it endured.
Then Amelia stepped forward, hammer in hand. Her breath was ragged, her face bloodied, one arm limp at her side. But her eyes, her eyes were blazing with Fierce, unyielding determination.
She didn't hesitate as she charged.
Her hammer arced through the air and slammed into the creature's side with a bone-rattling crack. The ground trembled beneath the impact, a shockwave pulsing through the earth. The creature reeled, its twisted form trembling, molten limbs faltering beneath its own weight.
But it wasn't done.
With a guttural screech, it struck back, its molten blade lashing through the air like a whip of flame. Amelia ducked low, the heat grazing her cheek as she rolled aside. With a grunt, she drove her hand into the ground, summoning jagged stone spikes that erupted upward, impaling the beast's body.
The creature shrieked in fury, thrashing as it tried to pull itself free. Its limbs flailed, slicing through air and stone, molten blood hissing against the ground.
Amelia gritted her teeth, pain flashing across her face as she steadied herself. Her grip tightened around the hammer, every movement sending waves of agony through her broken body. Still, she pressed on.
She swung again, once, twice, a third time, each strike hammering into the creature.
Then it retaliated.
A sharp tendril lashed out and caught her across the thigh. The blade bit deep, causing her to stagger, choking on a cry as her leg gave out beneath her, blood spilling down her torn pant leg.
She nearly dropped the hammer.
But managed to hold on.
Drawing in a deep breath through clenched teeth, she lifted the weapon once more. Stones began to swirl around its head, pebbles first, then boulders, growing larger by the second, till I was horrified that she might actually crumble under the weight.
With a roar, she brought it down.
The earth erupted.
The hammer collided with the creature, and the ground shattered beneath the force. A shockwave blasted outward, sending dirt and debris flying in every direction. Dust filled the air like smoke from a collapsed building.
I shielded my face as the tremor rolled over me.
And then silence.
Through the settling dust, I barely made out Amelia's figure. She stood there, swaying on her feet, the massive handle of the hammer slipping from her grasp. Her knees buckled, and she dropped to the ground motionless as blood started to pool beneath her.
But the fight wasn't over.
From deep within the rubble, something stirred.
A pulsing core forced itself free from the shattered remains, glowing with a blackish red hue. Dark tendrils writhed outward like roots, snaring the broken limbs around it, dragging them back. Piece by piece, as it rebuilt itself.
No. Not again.
My stomach dropped as the figure began to take shape
Then something moved to my side.
Benjamin.
He sprinted through the smoke and debris, determination blazing in his eyes. Sliding to Amelia's side, he snatched up her gun and leveled it at the core.
"Benjamin, watch out!" I shouted, struggling to rise.
Too late.
A shadow lashed out. A final, desperate strike from the dying beast. A jagged blade of darkness erupted from its side, slicing the air like a spear. It drove straight into Benjamin's body with a sickening squelch.
But he didn't stop.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Three shots cracked through the battlefield, but one struck true.
The core shuddered, pulsing once… twice… before spiderweb fractures split across its surface. It collapsed in on itself, crashing to the ground in shards. The tendrils convulsed, twitching in one last spasm before shriveling into ash, scattering across the earth.
Benjamin dropped to his knees, clutching his side as blood spilled fast between his fingers. His face twisted with pain, yet through the agony, a faint, triumphant smile broke across his lips.
The creature was gone. We had beaten it.
Dust hung in the still air, drifting lazily through the ruin as the battlefield finally fell silent. My vision wavered, the adrenaline draining from my body, leaving only the crushing weight of exhaustion. Darkness pressed in at the edges of my sight.
The last thing I saw was Benjamin collapsing beside Amelia, the two of them lying motionless in the fading light of a fight finally put to rest.