Hyperion Evergrowing-Chapter 201: The Stillness Before Death

Six dead men were carried into the advanced camp several hours into the third day. They were laid side by side and covered by sheets. They weren’t the first fatalities of the expedition, but they were the first full party wipe.

Hylon felt bile rise as he watched several people argue and shout over the bodies. He wasn’t a stranger to death, though neither was he completely used to it. No, what made his guts feel like they were twisting around as if trying to strangle him from the inside was the state of the corpses.

The worst of them were almost unrecognisable as having once been human, their armour, bones and muscles smashed into a bloody pulp. One of the corpses, he wasn’t sure if they had been male or female, was missing the top half of their body, only two twisted and broken legs remained. To his side Cerri gagged, and he grabbed her shoulder and led her out of the camp.

Whatever he was feeling upon seeing the bodies would be infinitely worse for her. Cerri threw up until there was nothing left, and then she sobbed, dry heaving as she gasped for breath. Hylon handed his sister a waterskin, and she grabbed it with trembling fingers.

“Gods.” She whispered, her voice sound hollow. “I felt it, oh gods.”

“It’s okay, you’re okay.”

“So many broken chunks of bone.” Her pupils dilated and she started hyperventilating. Hylon grabbed her and pulled her close, telling her to focus on him, to not think about what she had sensed.

The bone mage shook, her hands flexing unconsciously, her grip tightening until it was almost painful as she squeezed him. Rou and Lucia found them, and for several minutes the party huddled just out of sight of the camp. When she had finally calmed down, Cerri took a deep breath.

“One of my skills ranked up.” She said, laughing despite herself. “I’d rather not have it at all.”

“We should go.” Rou said. “Camp is bad.”

“You’re right, big guy.” Hylon said. “They’ll take the bodies away I’m sure, but until they do we should stay away.”

Lucia’s masked face glanced down at what had once been Cerri’s breakfast and lunch. She vanished, then returned a few minutes later with some dried rations. Lucia glanced back towards the camp. “Apparently, they’ve discovered a way further down into the dungeon. The monsters in the deeper level are far stronger. Lady Eire is preparing a force to explore.”

She wasn’t explicitly saying it, but Hylon could tell from Lucia's posture that she was agitated. “You think he might be down there?”

The masked adventurer shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Silence hung in the air for several seconds. Finally Cerri broke it. “Was that where those people died?”

Lucia nodded. “It was.”

“Did you know about the deeper levels?” Hylon asked.

“No, I’ve spent more time down in the dungeon with you than I did with my mentor.”

“We should go.” Cerri said, gulping down a mouthful of water. “Maybe we can stop others from dying. And I get the feeling that you would go down there by yourself if we didn’t follow.”

“I… Thank you.” Lucia said.

“Danger…” Rou said sadly. “N’one die, okay?”

They nodded.

===

“Why on earth did you volunteer for this?” Silas snapped. “You should have known better. I know this because I was the one who taught you three!”

“Half the subjugation force is involved, and we’re stronger and better trained than a good portion of them.” Hylon countered, but his grandfather's anger had taken most of the wind out of his sails.

Silas rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. “It is an unnecessary risk, the monsters further down above level twenty five, some even have proper auras, and from what we’ve scouted the dungeon’s layout is more prone to shifting at random.”

The two of them stood off to the side, their conversation hushed as several dozen men and women prepared around a massive gash in the stone. Hylon shot a glance at his siblings and Lucia, and he grimaced. “Gramps, the three of us have all leveled up more than once, and our teamwork is better than ever. With you and some of the other elites we will be safe.”

“There’s no such thing as safety in a dungeon, brat.” The old man grumbled. “You should have at least counselled with me first. Tell me true, why are you being foolish?”

Hylon glanced at Lucia. She saw him look, and he shrugged.

“Damn boy, don’t tell me you’re acting suicidal to impress some juvenile crush.”

“W-what? No, what are you even talking about?”

Silas gave him a flat look.

“It was Cerri’s idea!”

“Uh huh, you think my point changes?”

He felt his face grow red, and he slapped his brow with a palm and ran his fingers down over his eyes and mouth. “Lucia wants to find her mentor. We… we want to help.”

Silas grunted. “Fine, I suppose I can accept that, even if I think the risk is far greater than it should be. Promise me that when you find the body you’ll retreat.”

“Body… You think he’s dead?” Hylon whispered.

The old man placed his helmet over his head and adjusted the sheath of his blade. “I’d put money on it. The [Scout]s found several week or so old remains of some destroyed elementals when we first arrived, but nothing since. Whoever he was, his actions likely delayed the break by a handful of days, his sacrifice was not in vain.”

“I… I see.”

“Promise me.”

“Fine. I promise we’ll leave if we find the body.”

“Good.” Silas squeezed his shoulder, then hobbled past. Hylon watched his grandfather go, his limp vanishing as he crossed the crescent shaped chamber and headed towards where the other elites were waiting by the entrance to the lower level.

“Shit.” He swore.

Rou waved him over.

Hylon jogged over, but tripped as the ground trembled. The murmur of conversation within the chamber died as the shaking earth and falling dust drowned them out. It went on for over a minute, and by the end everyone was looking around, posture tense.

“We descend!” Lady Eire shouted, blue flame dancing around her raised hand. “Victory and glory await!”

Hylon couldn’t help but notice the adventurer teams that gathered around her, but chose to ignore them. He ran over to where his party was waiting. “Gramps was fine with us going. But he wants us to be careful, and retreat when we… find your mentor.” Hylon couldn’t look Lucia in the eye, or mask, whatever.

She took in his words, and he could only imagine the expression that was hidden from the world as realisation and grief kindled in her half hidden eyes. “When we find him.”

Hylon nodded and shouldered his spear, then marched towards the groups disappearing deeper into the dungeon. The others followed, the sound of three sets of footsteps echoing as they descended. Lucia slipped past him, held up a hand to indicate she was scouting ahead, then vanished in a dark blur, disappearing into the crowd ahead of them.

The way down quickly led to a set of natural steps similar to the entrance they had used to enter the dungeon itself, but unlike when they were closer to the surface, faux sunlight no longer filtered down from above. A dozen motes of light, either from torches, lanterns or skills showed the subjugation force descending in single file, armour and weapons glinting. The steps circled an abyss that nobody could see the bottom of, and even when Lady Eire shot a jet of blue flame down almost fifty metres nothing was outlined except the spiralling steps and the jagged stone of the wall.

Rumours worked their way back to Hylon and the others, apparently this wasn’t the same passage that had been scouted, the dungeon had shifted once again. He was just worried that beetles would swarm them from the walls. Hylon shuddered, he hated those things.

There was a cry up ahead as one of the lead adventurers fell, but he didn’t fall down the steps, instead he slammed into the wall with a grunt of pain. Everyone stopped, watching in awe as the man stumbled to his feet, now standing on the wall as if it were the floor.

A deafening crack sounded from behind Hylon, and he spun to see the way out closing, the gap vanishing from almost ten metres wide to less than five in only a handful of seconds. The few members of the subjugation force, both combatants and support personnel who hadn’t descended, were backing away, leaving the entrance shrouded in darkness. There was another deafening sound as stone shifted, and something massive fell away into the depths. It was the highest step.

“Run!” He hissed, pushing Rou forward, Cerri hot on his heels. “The stairs are collapsing!”

His shout was one of many, and within seconds everyone was racing down the steps. People reached the point where gravity flipped and stumbled into the wall, but the disorientation from having their world flipped prevented many from getting to their feet fast enough to not have those hot on their heels fall on top of them.

A pile of yelling and struggling people formed, with those already on the wall moving to pull them away to let others reach the needed step. More stone fell away, and Hylon felt a woosh of air passing as one of the steps passed not three metres away from his head as a massive chunk of rock bounced off the wall as it passed by. They fell faster and faster, quicker than the humans were descending the stairs.

Someone screamed as they were pushed, their body toppling off the steps and into the abyss, their flailing limbs and wide, terror stricken eyes quickly disappearing into the darkness. Hylon looked over his shoulder, less than ten steps were between him and his siblings sharing the same fate. Even as he looked, another step fell away. Twenty odd people now stood on the wall, and they were close to being safe.

A soldier hesitated to make the small jump to the final step, and he was shoved from behind by those who didn’t fancy plunging to their deaths. The man overshot the step that changed gravity and hit the next one head first. His body fell to the side, hitting the wall with a crunch of bone. He didn’t move.

The step just behind them shifted, then fell loose, falling into the abyss. Cerri screamed and grabbed his shirt, then Rou’s massive arms wrapped around them both as the large boy yelled and jumped forward, bypassing the six people in front of them. He didn’t aim for the first available step since it was contested with people, but instead leapt for the next. Rou’s legs hit rock and buckled, then the world spun and the three of them tumbled sideways, landing atop the still unmoving soldier.

A strong grip grabbed Hylon by the shoulder, and he winced as metal plated fingers dug into his skin. “Regret coming yet?” Silas asked, his helmet half raised and his scowl fierce. Hylon was pulled to his feet, but his mind didn’t comprehend the new direction down was, and he fell backwards. He wasn’t the only one struggling, over a dozen men and women looked like they were trying to stay upright on a dangerously rocking ship.

Silas hauled Cerri and Rou up, the other two teens having a lot less trouble than he did finding their balance. There was still a pile of humanity off to the side, and Hylon looked around for the fourth member of their team as he sat up. Lucia wobbled over, shaking her head, her dark hair having fallen loose to hang around her upper back.

“I… I heard dungeons could do this.” She said, sounding breathless. “But I didn’t think we would experience it.”

“I would find it more fascinating.” He said. “If we weren’t trapped. Also we lost two people, maybe three.”

“His neck is broken.” Cerri was saying, the girl having knelt next to the soldier. She held out her hand and concentrated, but Silas put a hand atop her head. She looked up at him under red locks, and the old man shook his head. Cerri shuddered and backed away, wrapping her arms around herself.

Several people were ranging down the passage, their light sources illuminating where the steps bisected the way forward, still lining the wide tunnel even though nobody could use them. There were small gaps between each rock platform, but most people, Hylon included, would need to climb over them. Shouldn’t be too hard with how the tunnel curves. He noted, watching a pair of leather clad adventurers trying to scale the curved walls, they got a few metres up before sliding back down to where the dungeon had decided gravity would be.

“My head hurts.” Rou said as he looked back towards the entrance.

“Mine too.” Hylon sighed. He dusted himself off, ignoring the anguished yelling of a group that crowded around the soldier’s body. He turned to Silas, who was looking down the passage with a grim expression. “What do we do?”

“We break out of the trap the dungeon sprung on us.”

“Wait, dungeon’s are intelligent?” He asked, failing to keep the alarm out of his voice.

“Instinctual.” Lucia said.

Silas grunted. “The young ones, yes. From what I’ve heard, the dungeon below the imperial capital is… frighteningly aware.”

Hylon shook his head. “So… we’re inside a living thing?”

Lucia shrugged. “No, not really.”

“Dungeon’s are condensed energy. Mana, the will of the world, suffuses them with intent, purpose, and that gives them control over their surroundings. And before anybody asks, I don’t know how, or why. Scholars have been researching and debating the phenomena for centuries, perhaps millennia.”

Hylon glanced between his grandfather and the masked adventurer. Lucia was nodding along as if it made sense. He groaned. “Is any of this stuff actually important to know about, or can I skip learning it?”

Silas gave him a cruel grin, then marched towards the head of the group.

“Mana isn’t important unless you gain the ability to invoke spells.” Cerri said. “Silas already taught me about it.”

“You don’t have a skill that lets you cast spells.” He pointed out.

Cerri pouted. “Yeah, but I will. It’ll be my capstone skill for my [Attuned: Bone] class. Probably.” The redhead turned her attention to Lucia. “Can you cast spells?”

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“Nope.” The masked adventurer said.

“Not me.” Rou said.

“We know, Rou.” Cerri said, patting his arm.

“Members of the subjugation!” An adventurer with a bow slung over his back called, grabbing their attention. He stood on a step thirty metres or so down the tunnel. “Please give us a few minutes to come up with a plan to overcome this challenge!”

Murmured conversation already filled the passage, and it only got louder with the announcement. Hylon saw Silas reach where the expedition’s leadership was gathered. The old man said something that none of them could hear, and the noblewoman with a streak of white through her otherwise black hair flinched.

===

Minutes passed, and most sat or lounged around while the force’s leadership came to a decision. Hylon wasn’t sure what exactly they were choosing between, they only had one way to go. An adventurer with stone magic had already tried to open the way back to the upper level, and it hadn’t worked.

“If this was a trap.” Cerri said, chewing on a bar of oats and dried fruit. “Then why hasn’t the dungeon sent monsters after us?”

“Good question. Ask it to someone who has a clue.” He replied.

“I already did.” The bone mage sighed. “Lucia doesn’t know either.”

“Her mentor probably fell into a similar trap.” Hylon said idly, then panicked as he shot a glance at the masked adventurer.

She hadn’t heard him, instead she was making non committal head movements as Rou showed off his stone dice. The little object clattered to the floor, rolled on the uneven surface for a breath, then showed a six. Rou beamed in pride.

“You got any plans for after we subjugate the dungeon?” Hylon asked, shaking his head in amusement.

“Like what? We’re just going to keep travelling with gramps.”

“Sure, but, what comes after?”

Cerri frowned, her brow creasing with her consideration. Rou’s dice nudged the side of Hylon’s shoe, and he glanced down at it. Six again.

“Rou, this thing is definitely weighted.” The die hopped in place, rolling over to show a three. He blinked. What the…? The cube shaped rock bounced again, flipping over to show the face he had carved a one into. The ground shook.

“Oh shit.” Hylon said, jumping to his feet, accidently kicking the die away. Rou scrambled after it, but the world rocked from side to side with more violence than he had ever felt it do before. Rubble and dust fell from the ceiling, and several who had stood staggered in place or even fell over. It felt like the passage was moving, as if its position underground was being forcibly altered.

A crack split down the middle of the tunnel’s sealed entrance, and the world went still. Then the passage was peeled open by two massive fists, an arm wider than the trunk of a mature tree burst through the small gap, blasting shards of stone over the gathered humans. It pulled back, and Hylon realised he had been holding his breath, his arms raised to shield his face.

“Pull back!” Silas bellowed. “Parties one through three, create a defensive line!”

And then a dozen of the large elementals the expedition’s elites had often dealt with climbed into the passage. They didn’t fall, their gravity was aligned with that of the human’s. Hylon just gawked for several seconds. If those are the large elementals, then how big is the one who’s arm we just saw?

He had no time to think, instead he grabbed Cerri and sprinted down the wide tunnel. Skills flashed in a multitude of colours towards the charging elementals, but he didn’t look back to see how effective the attacks had been. He cut left, slightly ascending the passage’s curved wall, attribute enhanced legs carrying him forward. Hylon reached the step that was blocking their way and knelt, hands cupped.

Without missing a beat, Cerri planted a foot into his hands and he boosted her up onto the step. She reached down and pulled him up, then the two of them hauled Rou up as the large boy scrambled to reach them. Lucia landed beside them, and extended an arm to help. Suddenly she yelled and ploughed into Hylon’s side, sending both him and Cerri sprawling atop the step. A heartbeat later a chunk of stone larger than his entire body whizzed over head. Hylon’s blood ran cold, that would have instantly killed anyone it had hit.

“Thanks.” He gasped, working with the two girls to pull his brother up onto the step. Over half the adventurer’s had scaled the obstacles, several fleeing further down into the passage with as much speed as they could manage.

Hylon searched, but in the dim light of the tunnel he couldn’t find his grandfather among those that had made it. With skills flashing and several light sources having been discarded in the rush, the stone passage danced with a chaotic mix of a hundred colours.

The elementals reached the hastily made defensive line of humans, and he watched with horror as a stone fist wider than his torso turned a woman with bright, pastel-green hair into paste against the floor, her armour providing no defense against the sheer force of the blow. Another man was grabbed and squeezed, and he thrashed wildly as the monster raised him up to its jagged maw. It was only thanks to the hundred other loud noises that Hylon didn’t hear the sickening crunch, but he still imagined it. Most people were over the line of steps now, and many groups were deciding if they would run, or use the terrain as a makeshift wall.

“There!” Cerri yelled, pointing to where the strongest among them were clashing with the earth elementals.

A familiar man in ornate metal plate raised his blade, then blurred forward, cleaving a monster in half with a single empowered swing. The elemental that was slowly chewing on the dead adventurer topped backwards, the pulverised corpse falling from its too large mouth. Silas moved, the old nobleman grabbed an adventurer and pulled him out of danger, battered aside a groping palm, then stabbed upwards to impale a monster’s head through its jaw.

A third elemental lunged for him, and Silas pulled back his free hand and met it fist for fist with a shout of defiance. The monster’s arm exploded, but Silas went stumbling back, his own arm falling limp.

Cerri gasped and went to leap down off the stairs but both Hylon and Lucia grabbed her. “I can help him!” She cried. “Let me go to him.”

“He’ll retreat!” Hylon shouted over the din of battle. “Trust him!”

As he did so, the old man’s sword took off the elemental’s head. The air screamed overhead, and two dozen flaming arrows fell among the approaching monsters, carrying significantly more force than Hylon had expected. They detonated on impact, not dealing lethal damage, but causing several of the vaguely humanoid constructs to stumble.

The archer twisted and lowered to a crouch as he drew another arrow, this one glowing with intense heat and power. He loosed, and the projectile melted through the head of one of the larger creatures. A jet of blue flame washed over several monsters, followed by a detonation of lightning in the shape of a hammer.

The visibly injured were dragged back, and Hylon ran over to help haul one up over the wall. An energising warcry echoed off the walls of the dungeon, strengthening all who heard it. The first wave of elementals was being pushed back, but at a massive cost. At least three more bodies lay on the stone floor, making the number of fatalities from thirty seconds of combat total five.

The last of the monsters engaging the adventurer’s fell, then the elite members of the subjugation force retreated. More elementals were coming, and the ground shook as the gargantuan one reached back into the passage, its palm slamming into the floor.

Silas was among the last to ascend over the wall of steps as he casually leaped up onto one of the platforms of stone. He held his unblemished sword casually, but blood trickled through the gauntlet of the arm that hung limply at his side.

“Grandfather!” Cerri yelled, and he turned towards them. Silas nodded down at the other side of the steps, then jumped off. Cerri climbed down after him, and Hylon and the others followed.

His sister ran over to where Silas was addressing a group of adventurers, and she grabbed his wounded arm, making him wince.

“Get rid of it.” She snapped, and he looked amused for a second before making all of his body armour vanish with a skill that warped the air around him. “Why did you try and punch it? Your arms and hand are broken!”

“My sword was stuck.” Their grandfather protested. “This is an important lesson, sometimes you just need to punch something.”

Cerri looked like she was about to punch him, which probably wasn’t what they needed at the moment. Another volley of flaming arrows screamed through the air.

“Do we fight? Do we need to kill that massive elemental?” Hylon asked.

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Silas grimaced as several disconcerting popping sounds came from his arm. “With any luck- Shit, girl, be more gentle! With luck, the dungeon is putting everything into this assault.”

“It won’t be lucky if we all die. I don’t think any of us can scratch that thing.” One of the adventurers said. His teammate slapped him upside the head. “Owch. I was telling the truth.”

“We should go deeper.” Lucia said. “It’s our only chance.”

“Girl.” Silas said. “Sometimes you need to play the hand you’re dealt, not the hand you wish you were dealt. We can’t gamble on your mentor being alive.”

“But-”

“But even if he was, what are the odds of him being in any state to fight? Be realistic.”

Lucia clenched her fists, and she glanced down the passage as if trying to will him to appear out of the darkness.

“Silas!” Lady Eire shouted, her hands wreathed in blue fire. “The third wave approaches!”

“Pull back to behind the wall.” He replied, shaking out his newly healed arm and flexing his fingers. The flesh was still raw and bloodied, but it was better than nothing. “We’ll hold them here instead of letting the bastards run us down.”

The noble lady looked stressed, and sweat ran down her brow, but she nodded. There was a deafening roar, and everyone backed up, looking towards the entrance. The gargantuan elemental was forcing its way inside, two massive hands dug rivets into stone, and a second pair pulled it forward by digging into the floor. Four arms, and the thing was bigger than most building’s Hylon had ever seen in his life.

The elemental was too big to fit standing, so it hunched like a beast hunting prey as it crawled forward, its eyeless face moving to loom over them. Silas made his armour re-appear, the old man barking orders. Several adventurer’s turned and ran, fleeing for their lives, and Hylon couldn’t blame them. The last few humans on the wall dropped down and ran to take up firing positions.

They formed a loose line, Hylon finding himself next to Rou on the right flank of their formation. The large boy smiled as if trying to console him, his wide eyes glistening. It damn near broke Hylon’s heart.

“We’ll survive this. Together.”

“Together.” Rou agreed. “I need new dice.”

“I’ll make you all the dice you need.”

“I’m behind you guys.” Cerri said. “Try not to take a direct hit.”

Both boys nodded in affirmation. Lucia stepped up beside them, her weapon nowhere to be seen. She adjusted her mask, fidgeting nervously.

“Hey, we’ll be fine.” Hylon said. She looked at him, but didn’t speak. “They’re just a bunch of massive rock monsters. Nothing to worry about.”

“I have a little brother. I’m not dying until I return his home to him.”

“How little?” Rou asked.

Lucia laughed, her shoulders sagging. “I missed his ninth birthday. I won’t miss any others. I can’t.”

Hylon was about to ask a question, more to distract himself than anything else, but the first elemental reached the wall and climbed over it. “Shit. here we go. Stay alive everyone.” He said, rolling his neck.

A second, then a third monster appeared, then a forth and a fifth. Skills flashed, arrows flew, several people with melee weapons projected beams or slashes at the enemy. By sheer luck the elemental closest to them survived the volley unscathed, as did the ones immediately behind it.

“Kill what makes it past me.” Lucia said, and before any of them could register her words, the masked girl blurred forward. Her ivory white sword materialised, stabbing into the leg of the closest elemental. She danced back as it struck, ducking under its blow. The monster’s shadow fell over her, and Lucia faded away, appearing behind it, her sword vanishing and reappearing to slice a gash down its back.

The monster stumbled forward, and Hylon and Rou pounced, raining blows onto its stone body until it broke apart. All down the line similar clashes took place as adventurer, soldier and volunteer dismantled individual elementals. But more came, and the wall was already buckling under their weight.

Lucia engaged a second monster, cutting its hand twice, then disengaged in a blur to strike at a third. She menaced the slow moving monsters with lightning quick strikes, and given enough room to move around it didn’t look like they had a chance of hitting her. But she could only tie up one mass of animated stone at a time, and even then only barely. Hylon stabbed his spear into the centre of mass of a monster, pulling back to stab a second, then a third time. Rou, just shorter than the large elemental, grabbed it around the neck and pulled, giving him time to build up strength in his blows.

Finally his spear punched into the elemental’s middle and out the back ,the thing’s stone body shuddered, then fell apart. Hylon didn’t have the spare energy to cheer, and even if he did he probably wouldn’t, their situation was growing increasingly grim by the second. A third and forth monster were already upon them, their massive arms swinging to crush them into paste. In the chaos of battle he lost sight of Lucia, but he didn’t have time to worry. Rou took a blow to his forearm, and while the large boy cried out in pain, the limb didn’t break thanks to Cerri’s intervention.

Strength flooded Hylon’s body, and he lunged, leaping forward to lance his spear through the head of another. He and Rou pulled back as the line of defenders buckled, giving more space for the elementals to gather. It seemed like there was an endless number of them, with every monster they killed two more took their place. Lucia slid between the legs of an elemental, her sword materialising as she cut at its knees. Her mask was cracked, and her leg was half flayed, tiny chunks of sharpened rock still embedded into flesh.

Hylon reached out and pulled her behind the line, and Cerri yelped in panic when she saw the state of the other girl. Suddenly, the pressure on them doubled, and what was an almost impossible battle seemed utterly unwinnable. The elementals that reached them were no longer suffering from structural damage inflicted by the masked adventurer, and unharmed they were too strong to deal with quickly.

Rou was grabbed around the middle and pulled off his feet, his meaty arm protecting his head as a monster tried to crush his skull with a maw of jagged stone teeth. Rou screamed as his arm was pulverised, but there was nothing Hylon could do. His spear snapped as he stabbed forward, and a rocky palm slapped him across the torso, sending him flying.

Hylon saw stars as his vision swam, and he blinked rapidly to chase them away. Weirdly enough, he didn’t hurt at all. Actually, he couldn’t feel anything, it was as if his entire body was numb. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cerri slide to a stop next to him, her trousers tearing as her knees met rough stone. She shouted something, but he didn’t hear. She touched his chest and her hands shook, tears filling her eyes.

Humans ran past him as they fled, most were injured, and they left the bodies of their fallen comrades behind. From so far back, Hylon could see that a good chunk of the large elementals had been destroyed, and for a moment he couldn’t figure out why they were fleeing. Then the gargantuan being of stone’s hand crashed down onto the wall, its head scraping against the ceiling as it pulled itself closer with earth shaking strength.

Cerri gave up trying to heal him and started dragging his limp body away from the monsters. She wasn’t fast enough. Hylon’s hearing slowly returned, but it did him little good, all there was to hear was screaming and the horrible groaning sound of rock grinding against rock as the titanic monster raised another hand. It’s presence covered him, crushing him, like the dispassionate majesty of a falling mountain. It didn’t care about him, didn’t care about any of them. It would kill them with the ease of a boot squashing a bug.

Gods, we never stood a chance. He thought, watching numbly as the creature’s hand almost crushed Rou’s unmoving body into the floor. It seemed to grin down at him, or maybe at the running or dying humans in general. It’s hand descended, and time seemed to slow. Hylon thought that was cruel, why was his brain trying to prolong his final moments?

Lucia appeared before him, moving slower than normal, her sword drawn and pointed upwards as if to defy the massive construct of stone. It looked almost comical, the girl was bloodied, and her mask was missing, dark hair billowing behind her. She stood alone, the only person in Hylon’s field of vision that still dared to fight back against their fate. It was beautiful, in a suicidal sort of way. Lucia yelled in defiance and fury, orange eyes blazing as they locked onto the descending fist.

The world seemed to tint gold, and the moment stretched.

So this is what death is. Hylon thought, smiling in spite of everything. This must be the moment of clarity before one’s life was snuffed out, his internal wounds must be worse than he had feared. Why then was there a strange, almost indescribable sense of hope brushing against the back of his mind. The weight of the mountain pressing down on all of them seemed to lessen, stones that were falling from the ceiling moved as if caught in molasses, and his vision grew golder still.

Gold. He mused. I thought death would be darker.

Gold. Like the newly glowing hairline cracks in Lucia’s sword and armour.

Gold, like the power that flooded down the passage, resplendent and glorious as it washed over everyone present. A new dawn rose as an unfamiliar presence made itself known, and every ache and pain seemed to retreat before it, vitality suddenly present where before only flickering lifeforce had been. Rou’s body twitched, as did the forms of several others Hylon had assumed were deceased.

The massive stone fist moved so slowly that it appeared as though it hung, frozen in midair as if suspended by an invisible force.

In the eternal moment before the end, Hylon watched in awe as the elementals flinched.

All of them.

Then a towering figure in white armour and tattered cloth shot past them, eyes pinpricks of amber rage, fist drawing back, a dozen golden arms weaving around the limb. The figure struck, a single punch aimed right at the descending fist of the titanic elemental. Hand met hand, and the monster blasted backwards, its arm shattering into a thousand pieces of stone, the force of the blow parting the air and making cracks appear along the walls of the dungeon.

The figure in white twisted, and a forest of arm thick golden spikes rose from their back. They fell, stabbing down into elementals by the dozen, punching cleanly through stone as if it were little more than butter.

The world of gold seemed to fade, and with it time returned to its normal pace. But stillness remained, nobody moved, nobody dared breath. Lucia stumbled forward, her sword falling from between her fingers, and the stranger vanished in a streak of golden light, appearing an instant later by her side to catch her. The blade’s fall stopped just before it hit the ground as if suspended by unseen strings.

“Where were you?” She asked, her voice shaking in either rage or relief, Hylon couldn’t tell which.

“Trapped.” The man said, his voice a rich baritone. He looked back at them, and Hylon saw the plain ivory mask that covered his face. “The dungeon decided it didn’t like me breaking its toys. Luckily I sensed a little bit of myself when everything started to shift.”

Lucia grabbed his tattered cloak and visibly struggled to speak. It looked like she was trying desperately not to cry.

“And I see you brought help.” He said, his tone warm. A hand wreathed in an ivory gauntlet gently landed atop her head, and he ruffled her hair. “You did fantastically. I’m so proud of you.”