Reaching forward, lightning answered my will. It tore free from my body and arced along the walls in brilliant bursts as I shot forward.
The glow of the lightning carved a path through the darkness as I followed the billowing mist pouring from a single tunnel leading deeper into the dungeon. I pushed on without slowing, deeper and deeper, until the stone around me began to change. The walls pulsed faintly, no longer stone at all but flesh. Faces pressed out from the surface, prisoners, guards, and creatures alike, frozen in expressions of pure terror, their mouths open in silent screams.
Ignoring it all, I moved faster than I ever had before, surging through twisting corridors, in fear of what it might have already done to Sandra and Nolan. The thought gnawed at me, tightening my chest till I didn't know how I'd live with myself if it had killed them… or worse, turned them into something like this.
What was the point of all this power if all I could do was watch everyone around me die?
Gritting my teeth, I turned the final corner only to freeze.
Beyond me lay a vast cathedral of living flesh. At its center stood the thing.
Its body a grotesque monolith of skin and bone, far larger than anything I had imagined. In the dim light, its true shape was impossible to fully grasp, but even what I could see made my stomach twist. It resembled the creature Nolan had told me about, the one from his story of the other world, but unfinished. Half-formed bones jutted from its dark flesh, curving into the beginnings of a ring, as though it were trying to build a gate for the eye in the sky. A thick cord of pulsing flesh ran from the ceiling and plunged into its head, anchoring it in place.
But it wasn't alone.
Beyond it lay Sandra and Nolan, each encased in a cocoon of flesh, their minds trapped in an endless trance as tendrils dug into their skin, leaving deep marks where it had begun to bond with them.
My blood boiled as I dropped to one knee and slammed my hands against the living floor. "Eat this, you bastard."
Lightning exploded from my fingertips and raced through the flesh beneath my hands, spreading outward in a violent ripple. The chamber erupted in screams, a thousand voices crying out in unison, begging for it to stop. The energy funneled upward, climbing the cord embedded in the creature's head as its massive body convulsed and spasmed.
Near Sandra and Nolan, the flesh tore itself away, as if unable to latch on anymore, as the energy severed the bond.
And before the thing could recover, I launched forward, sabers blazing as I brought them down toward its neck in a flash of blinding light.
But just as I closed the last few inches, a yellow eye snapped open on the back of its head, locking onto me. The cord tore free, and in the same instant, something hit me.
I didn't even see the attack.
One moment, I was mid-strike; the next, I was flying, my body slamming into the wall hard enough to carve a crater into flesh and stone. The air was ripped from my lungs as I collapsed to my knees, gasping.
Looking up, I watched in horror as the white bones along its body began to retract, sliding back beneath black flesh, its three eyes shifting to the front of its head as it rose to its full height, nearly ten feet tall.
I coughed up a bit of blood but still found myself grinning.
"They grow up so fast…"
Then, in an instant It lunged.
Its hands stretched out to seize me, but the moment it moved, I unleashed a burst of lightning. The shock locked its muscles for the briefest heartbeat, just long enough for me to roll beneath it and sprint toward Nolan.
I would like to say I had almost made it, but in reality, I only managed to traverse a couple of yards before a massive hand snapped around my leg and hurled me upward.
I crashed into the ceiling with a thunderous impact, the entire chamber shuddering as cracks raced outward. My vision went black for a moment.
When it cleared, I acted on instinct.
A spear formed in my hand, and I hurled it straight into the creature's center mass, only for it to slide uselessly off its skin and embed itself into the stone beneath.
Grimacing, I barely had time to duck as claws tore past my head, the rush of air alone enough to sting.
"Ha… you miss—"
Boom.
The world exploded as I was launched across the chamber and slammed into the far wall, where a whole section began to collapse.
Dodging the debris, I managed to steady myself, but seeing as I couldent do a thing against it, my mind raced through possibilities. What could I use to distract it? My eyes darted from one side of the room to the next, only to notice the spiraling cracks forming on the ceiling above us.
Grinning, I staggered forward. "Is that all you've got?" I taunted, spitting blood.
It answered with raw force, charging forward with enough power to turn me into paste. At the last second, I dove aside. It struck the wall instead, the impact shaking the chamber violently. Cracks split the ceiling, spreading fast as chunks began to rain down.
Well… that worked a bit too well.
The room was coming apart, but instead of running, I pivoted.
Using its momentary confusion, I grabbed Nolan by the collar and pulled with everything I had. The metal groaned as I strained, but no matter how hard I pushed, the shackle held. I gritted my teeth and reached deeper, summoning the void around my body. It formed into an exoskeleton, amplifying my strength. With it, the metal began to groan, then scream.
With one final surge, I tore the restraints apart, ripping them free just as the ceiling began to collapse in earnest.
"This is going to hurt," I muttered, bracing myself as the world came down.
But as the seconds passed, I opened my eyes to find that, all around us, the stone had frozen in place.
Exchanging a glance with Nolan, he grinned. "It's about time," he roared.
With a violent heave, the ground answered him. Stone surged upward, reforming into massive pillars that tore a path through the chamber. With a nod to Nolan, I scooped up Sandra and ran.
Behind us, something shrieked, and then the rubble exploded outward as the abomination tore itself free
"Oh wow," Nolan scoffed over his shoulder. "That is one ugly monster."
"Nolan, focus!" I hissed.
Instead, his body began to swell, stone and power surging through him as he grew larger and larger, until he nearly rivaled the creature in size. He cracked his neck and grinned. "Time for payback."
"Nolan, don't—"
He shot forward before I could finish, but instead of his imagined payback, the creature caught his fist mid-swing, stopping him dead.
His eyes went wide, "Oh cr—"
The counterstrike hit like a mountain. Nolan was launched past us, slamming into the far wall with enough force to send fractures racing through the chamber. The ceiling groaned as he slid down, coughing, his massive form shrinking back to normal size.
"What did I say?" I hissed
He groaned, then grinned weakly. "Yeah… okay. Point taken."
Even dazed, he thrust out his hand and pulled. Stone tore loose and crashed down, burying the creature beneath tons of rubble. For a moment, I thought it might actually work.
Then Nolan's face drained of color as the rubble began to move.
Stone split and buckled as the abomination forced its way forward, dragging itself through the earth as if it were nothing more than thick mud.
"Run!" I shouted.
Lightning flared from me, carving light through the tunnel as we bolted. I shoved Sandra toward Nolan, and as he took her, stone flowed over his missing arm, reforging it in seconds. He seized her collar and ripped it free.
Sandra gasped.
Her eyes snapped open just as the creature lunged again. She threw her hands out on instinct, and a concussive blast erupted from her palms, slamming the abomination back into the wall an instant before its claws could close around Nolan's head.
Without wasting a moment more, he collapsed the tunnel behind us in a deafening roar.
"Where do we go?" he yelled as we rounded a corner.
A massive impact shook the passage behind us as the creature smashed through the collapse.
My thoughts raced as I thought of different possibilities, but only one seemed to give us even a chance of success.
"This way!" I shouted, but the moment I rounded the corner, something wrapped around my neck.
I was yanked backward and slammed into the wall so hard the stone gave way, swallowing me several feet deep. Pain exploded through my skull as it tore me free and smashed me into the wall again.
My vision blurred.
Through one half-open eye, I saw its face split apart, layers of flesh peeling back to reveal rows of serrated teeth as it screamed inches from me, pure rage pouring out of it.
A moment later, a massive hammer slammed into the creature's face, sending it crashing back into the wall. Sandra followed suit, her hands shaking as a continuous stream of concussive force poured from her palms, driving its body deeper into the stone.
But even with all that power, she couldn't hold it for long.
With a roar, the thing forced itself forward, inch by inch, gaining ground as it pushed against Sandra's power with otherworldly strength.
Freeing me from the wall, Nolan turned to the monster to help her as stone shot from the ground in a relentless torrent.
But all it took was a split second.
The instant Sandra's power faltered, the thing moved.
It crossed the distance in a blur, its grip snapping shut around her hand and yanking her forward. Its arm drove straight through her chest, punching out through her back in a violent spray of blood and shattered bone.
For a moment, the world was still before a soft whimper escaped her mouth as she stared at it, unblinking, as if she couldn't comprehend how it was possible.
Then the disbelief faded as her eyes glazed over, before she slumped forward. Her body going slack within its cold grip.
From the side, a bestial roar tore through the tunnel as Nolan surged forward, stone crawling over his body and sealing into a thick shell of armor as he swung his hammer down with everything he had.
Only for the hammer to shatter the instant it touched the creature's skin, fragments scattering across the floor as if the blow had never mattered. Undeterred, Nolan didn't stop. His rage became all-consuming as he grew larger with every step, power roaring through him while he seized the thing by the face, straining to crush its skull between his hands, screaming as he poured everything he had into the effort.
The creature let him.
With a careless flick, it tossed Sandra's corpse aside, her weight hitting the stone without ceremony, and only then did it turn its full attention back to Nolan. Slowly, almost thoughtfully, it reached up and closed its hand around his arm before breaking it with a simple twist.
Nolan screamed, the pain ripping through him even as he refused to stop, slamming his head into the creature again and again in a desperate, broken rhythm.
It waited.
Then, unhurried, it placed one hand against Nolan's face, the other settling at his shoulder, and began to pull.
The sound of ripping flesh filled the tunnel as his entire shoulder tore free.
Tossing it to the side, the creature smiled as Nolan's eyes rolled back into his head, and his towering figure collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
"No!"
I lunged forward, slashing wildly. My blades scraped uselessly against its flesh. I screamed as I struck again and again, but nothing mattered. Nothing could change what had already happened.
The creature stepped toward me, almost savoring it, and reached for my head.
Then a concussive blast tore through the tunnel, throwing both Nolan and me down the passage and out of its grasp. I barely caught a glimpse of Sandra, weakly extending her hand forward with a weak, almost hopeful smile, before the tunnel collapsed on top of them both.
Lying there, I stared off into the distance, utterly frozen, but when my mind finally caught up, it screamed. A sorrowful scream that was soon snuffed out the moment my mark vibrated; the rage, the sorrow, the helplessness all dulled to nothingness, leaving me an empty shell.
With nothing but emptiness, I dragged Nolan through the tunnel toward the light, my movements slow and uncaring.
What was the point?
We were going to die here anyway. Nothing was going to change that.
I collapsed onto the sand of the colosseum and looked back.
The creature emerged from the darkness at its own pace, as if it knew we had nowhere left to run.
But the moment it breached the shadows, it paused.
For a brief, almost reverent moment, it tilted its head toward the sky to watch the light of the twin suns burning overhead. Then its face split open in a crude imitation of a smile.
This was it…This is where everything ends.
Too tired to fight, I shut my eyes as it grabbed my skull. The crushing pressure began to build, second by second, as my skull began to creak.
Boom.
Something slammed into the creature with enough force to tear me free and hurl me across the sand, where I hit hard and rolled to a stop.
When I looked up, I froze.
The Zarru'keth had latched onto the abomination's head, its massive jaws buried deep as its long body coiled around the thing, constricting with relentless force. It squeezed tighter and tighter, as if it meant to crush the creature outright.
And for the briefest of moments, I let myself hope. But if this place had taught me anything, it was that hope meant nothing in the place of true power.
The titan reached up, seized the Zarru'keth, and with terrifying ease tore it free. One massive hand grabbed another part of its body, then pulled.
The Zarru'keth writhed, its body trying desperately to heal even as it was being torn apart. With a grotesque sound, it was ripped in half and hurled aside.
The smaller Zarru'keth lay there, writhing, struggling to knit itself back together. Then it cried out.
The sound was thin and broken, like a child calling for its parent.
Again and again it cried, its voice echoing across the arena as it lay dying.
But no one would answer. Why call when there was no hope? Why even…
The world shook.
Sand vibrated beneath me as the colosseum itself began to crumble. Pillars collapsed, stone shearing apart in thunderous clouds as the entire left side of the arena gave way.
And from within the destruction came a sound so ancient and immense that even the abomination froze.
The ground pulsed.
Then again.
And again.
Each thrum hit like a drumbeat of destruction, until even the titan took an unsteady step back.
For one impossible moment, everything was still.
Then the sand beneath the abomination split open as a mouth—colossal beyond reason—opened beneath it, and the creature fell in whole before it snapped shut. The impact sent a shockwave tearing across the arena, throwing us back as a Zarru'keth the size of a mansion erupted from the sand.
Green flame ignited within its jaws, as whatever remained of the abomination was erased from existence.
For a long moment, it simply towered over us. Its once-obsidian scales had turned sun-bleached silver, blazing beneath the twin suns, as all I could do was stare up at it, stunned.
Then its gaze shifted. The fury drained from its golden eyes as they settled on its crying child. With startling gentleness, it lowered its massive head and nudged the broken body closer, cradling it as the creature began to pull itself back together.
The moment was shattered when those same golden eyes swept the arena and locked onto Nolan and me. My heart dropped when it turned fully toward us, a low hiss slipping free as sparks flared to life in its mouth, and I knew that in the next breath, we would be reduced to nothing.
Then, out of nowhere, a metal ring slammed shut around its jaws.
Then another.
And another.
Dozens of interlocking rings snapped into place as colossal chains burst from the sand, fusing to the metal and dragging the creature down. It tried to roar, but the sound was choked off, its fury useless against the restraint.
From above, two figures descended.
One clad in brilliant silver armor.
The other was standing atop a perfectly smooth metal disk.