Born in Blood-Chapter 585: Heavy

Liam took off the opposite way of the Tomb, running at full speed. Ravaak did the same, only because his leader did so. Had it been his choice, he likely would have continued fighting until the death.

"Watch for traps!" Liam shouted without looking back. His disheveled hair whipped back due to how fast he was running. It almost seemed cartoonish.

Stepping on an invisible pressure plate, a burst of green fire spewed out from the corridor ahead. He narrowly ducked under, while Ravaak, lacking the flexibility and speed that Liam had, simply shouldered through it.

A bit of his armor melted, but it looked healable.

Ahead, two rows of doors appeared.

One row on the left. One row on the right.

"Keep her occupied for a bit," Liam commanded Ravaak over his shoulder.

He nodded and turned around, then stood firm against the ghoul running at them on all fours.

Four doors on each side.

Liam studied the left doors first, his translator slowly deciphering the script.

The first door read in its ancient language, "Dignity."

The second read, "Justice."

The third read, "Honor."

The fourth read, "Pride."

Liam then turned towards the right doors as booms and bangs and shrieks rang out from Ravaak and Thing’s battle.

The first read, "Humiliation."

The second read, "Revenge"

The third read, "Dishonor."

The fourth read, "Shame."

Complete opposites.

Liam took a moment to choose.

Whatever the word was, it had to have some sort of relevance to the challenge behind it.

The greater issue was whether or not Ravaak and Liam could enter through the same door.

’Maybe it challenges through your pride, or your justice, or your honor.’

’But what about the others?’

’What would the Shame and Transgression door challenge me through?’

Liam wasn’t only picking for himself.

He was picking for Ravaak, too.

After all, it wasn’t guaranteed that they could enter through the same entrance.

Liam had no sense of justice.

He had no honor.

Perhaps he had dignity?

But how much dignity did he really have? A very small amount.

What about pride?

Well...

Pride, Liam had a lot of.

Not even as a human, or as an Ashura. He no longer considered himself as such... but as an Entity.

It was a door that suited him most, hence his decision to choose it.

But what about Ravaak?

What suited him?

It was a no brainer.

It was Revenge.

Ravaak and his race as a whole wanted revenge against the humans.

Liam looked at Ravaak. Him and the Thing were breaking each other apart and healing just as fast, blows exchanging with unreal speed and force.

Liam gave him a mental command. They would try entering the Pride door first, and if Ravaak didn’t fit, he’d enter through the Revenge door.

Despite his back being turned, Ravaak gave a nod. Chaos churned across his armor and converged into a single orb.

Ravaak hurled the orb forward, hissing through the air. The Thing faced it head on, fearless and filled with contempt.

Just before the orb hit the Thing, Ravaak followed after it, grabbed the orb with all of his hands and slammed it across the Thing’s face.

BOOOM!

The Thing flew across the Tomb walls, stunned and disoriented.

At the same time, Ravaak ran towards Liam.

"Three, two, one," Liam said, and on one, they both pressed through the Pride door.

Liam lurched through, and immediately realized he had fallen off some place high.

Wind whistled past his ears. He saw nothing but darkness. Something smelled like burnt corpses and rotting flesh.

Using Transfiguration, fleshy wings emerged from his back, allowing him to slowly glide downwards.

Slowly, his feet touched the ground. He remained in place.

"Ravaak?" he called out.

Silence.

The Ashura hadn’t responded.

He hadn’t got in.

Liam frowned. He checked on the Ashura mentally, but saw that he had already entered through the Revenge door.

A moment later, Ravaak had activated his Blood Connection with Liam

’Forgive me,’ Ravaak said. ’I was unable to get in.’

’It’s fine,’ Liam responded. ’Tell me if you need help or get in trouble. I’ll figure out my own room first.’

’Don’t worry about me. Be safe.’

***

Besides the very ground he was standing on, Liam saw nothing in the infinite darkness.

His mental waves, his Shadow Sense and everything in between, sensed nothing at all.

He took a step forward and kept moving, alert and tentative, keeping his gaze to the ground to look for any clues on what to do.

Then, he saw it.

A large circle etched in the ground.

Liam looked at the circle and analyzed it.

It was covered in all sorts of ancient inscriptions, forming a complicated and intricate pattern.

Before he did anything drastic, Liam took out a small magical beast corpse and threw it on the circle.

Slowly, it floated upwards!

Up and up it went, until it merged with the darkness, hiding whatever the circle led up to.

With a careful tiptoe, Liam put his foot onto the circle.

Nothing happened... and he didn’t float either.

Then, Liam put his leg in.

Still, nothing.

He put his hip in the circle, and the rest of his body out of it.

Nothing.

Then, he put the rest of his body in. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Heavy!

An invisible crushing weight immediately bent his spine, his head shooting to the floor.

Slowly, the weight grew even heavier, forcing him to go on one knee, using a hand to support himself.

Like a blanket that seemed like the weight of the world, it pressed down at him. In humiliating fashion, Liam slowly had to crawl out of the circle on all fours.

Unlike when he came in, all of his body, even his toe, had to leave the circle in order for the weight to disappear.

And it did.

Liam caught his breath and frowned, healing the broken spine and cracked bones in his body.

Liam narrowed h

is eyes. He had a very good idea of what was happening here, and he didn’t like it at all.