They walked in silence for several hours; the landscape growing increasingly surreal. Formations of rock began to take on almost organic qualities, twisting and branching like petrified trees or frozen tentacles reaching skyward. In some places, the ground itself seemed to breathe, rising and falling in a slow, rhythmic pattern that forced them to time their steps carefully.
Walking behind Lenny, Rhys took in the sight with a mixture of awe and fear.
"Hey Lenny, I see what you meant by weird."
"You're talking about the landscape? That's not what I what I meant. The weirdness happens when you're not looking."
As if to validate the boy's warning, Rhys glanced behind them only to find that the path they'd travelled had transformed—what had been a gentle slope now appeared as a sheer cliff face that would have been impossible to descend.
"Jesus," Rhys muttered, a chill crawling up his spine despite the heat.
Lenny marched forward, unperturbed by the world unravelling behind him.
"That's actually a good thing. It means we're getting closer. Try to remain calm, Rhys. It's only gonna to get worse the closer we get to Tartarus."
"That's…not comforting," Rhys replied dryly.
'Look at me, being consoled by a child. Now that I think about it, he is older than me. By decades!'
The mental gymnastics Rhys was performing made him feel better about being led by a child in his eyes.
As the first sun began its descent, Lenny led them to a small outcropping that formed a natural shelter. The boy moved with practiced efficiency, establishing their camp with the ease of someone who had performed the same routine countless times. He kindled a small fire with materials in his pack.
Rhys settled himself across from the boy, the dancing flames casting strange shadows across their faces.
As night fell completely, the sky transformed from crimson-violet to a deep indigo scattered with stars unlike any Rhys had ever seen. They formed patterns that seemed to shift and rearrange themselves when viewed directly, only stabilizing in his peripheral vision.
"Why do you keep trying?" Rhys asked suddenly, breaking the contemplative silence.
"After failing so many times… why not just stay in the cave?"
Lenny stared into the fire, his youthful face momentarily betraying his true age—the weariness of decades spent trapped in this nightmare.
"I don't know anymore," he admitted quietly. "Habit, maybe. Or hope." He looked up, meeting Rhys's gaze.
"What else is there to do but try?"
The simplicity of the answer struck Rhys with unexpected force. In this place of cosmic horror and twisted reality, the most human response was the most basic—to keep moving forward.
"Get some sleep," Lenny said, effectively ending the conversation. "I'll take first watch."
Rhys hesitated, understandably wary of sleeping in the presence of someone who had harvested parts of his body for food.
Reading his thoughts, Lenny's mouth quirked in a humourless smile. "I won't eat you while you sleep. Not when you're helping me."
"That's… reassuring, but the fact that you have to say something like that…"
Rhys replied sarcastically, but eventually, exhaustion won out over caution. He positioned himself with his back against the rock wall and closed his eyes, slipping into an uneasy slumber haunted by dreams of falling through endless doors and corridors that twisted in on themselves like optical illusions.
***
The second day brought new horrors.
They awoke to find the landscape had rearranged itself overnight. What had been relatively flat terrain now featured towering monoliths that spiralled toward the sky in impossible formations. The path ahead wound between these structures, narrowing into a treacherous corridor that seemed deliberately designed to funnel them forward.
"I don't like this," Rhys muttered as they entered the narrow passage. "Feels like a trap."
Lenny nodded grimly.
"That's because it is."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a shadow fell across the path ahead. A massive creature unfurled itself from where it had been coiled around one of the stone spires. Its body was serpentine but segmented like an insect, each section covered in what appeared to be overlapping plates of chitinous armour. Multiple limbs—too many to count—extended from its torso, ending in hooked claws that scraped against the stone with a sound like metal on glass.
Its head, however, was the most disturbing feature; a grotesque approximation of a human face stretched across an inhuman skull, with too many eyes arranged in asymmetrical patterns and a mouth that split horizontally across the lower portion of its face.
"Run?" Rhys suggested, already backing away slowly.
Lenny shook his head, drawing the blue-glowing blade from his makeshift scabbard.
"No point. The terrain would change to trap us again."
The creature let out a sound—not quite a roar, not quite a scream—that reverberated through the stone corridor, setting Rhys's teeth on edge. It began to move toward them with surprising speed, its many limbs propelling it forward in a fluid, undulating motion.
"Stay behind me," Lenny instructed, his body already beginning to change. His skin darkened, taking on the appearance of the same chitinous material that covered the creature, while his eyes expanded slightly, their irises splitting into multiple pupils.
Rhys drew his own weapon—a crude but sharp blade Lenny had provided—though he doubted it would do much against the monstrosity bearing down on them.
The creature lunged, its multiple limbs reaching for them with terrifying coordination. Lenny moved with inhuman speed, his adapted form allowing him to match the creature's movements. He met one limb with a flying kick that sent it reeling back.
He ducked beneath one swinging appendage, slicing upward with his glowing blade, which cut through the chitinous armour with unexpected ease. Realising the threat, the creature sent multiple claws towards the boy, aiming to slice and dice him.
In response, he threw his blade vertically, freeing his hands to slap the claws away in a quick exchange of blows. The monster tried to catch him with a hook, but Lenny ricocheted off the force—sending him flying. He caught the blade and released a downward strike, slicing open one of the creature's many eyes.
The creature shrieked in pain, its body coiling reflexively away from the blow. Dark ichor sprayed from the wound, sizzling where it hit the ground.
Rhys tried to circle around, looking for an opening, but found himself suddenly facing one of the creature's secondary limbs as it swung toward him with devastating force.
Time seemed to slow. The claw came down on him like a guillotine.
In that moment of imminent threat, Rhys felt something stir within him; a response to danger that triggered his instincts. Without conscious thought, his body reacted. His arm, raised to block the blow, began to light up. Crimson-violet fire surged down his arm in an instant, spiralling from the mark like it had always been waiting. The blade he held dropped, irrelevant now.
Immediately, his perception widened greatly. He felt like he had total authority over his own body, commanding it to do actions that would be otherwise impossible for him to do. The ground, the creature, even the wind—all of it moved as if it waited for him to act first.
The creature's limb connected with Rhys's blazing arm, and instead of shattering it, the hypnotic flame ate the impact, burning brighter that same instant.
"You good?" Lenny shouted, momentarily distracted by Rhys's Aspect activating.
The brief distraction cost him. Another of the creature's limbs caught Lenny squarely in the chest, sending him flying backward into one of the stone monoliths with bone-crushing force. The boy slumped to the ground, momentarily stunned.
The creature, sensing weakness, immediately refocused its attention on Lenny, multiple limbs raising to deliver a killing blow.
Rhys's eyes locked onto Lenny's crumpled form. Blood streaked the monolith where the boy had landed, and he wasn't moving.
'Shit, why isn't he getting up?'
Something twisted in Rhys's chest, mostly fear, and the fire seemed to dim in response.
The creature raised its limbs to strike. Lenny was going to die if Rhys didn't do anything.
"It's like the subway all over again."