The chamber pulsed like a beating heart, each throb making the walls constrict closer. The blackened mass at the center—the brain—hung in its tangle of glowing tendrils, every thread twitching as if aware of their presence.
Rhea didn't think she moved.
Her claws sliced through the nearest creature, the momentum carrying her straight toward the suspended organ. But the web of tendrils reacted, tightening like a net and jerking the brain higher into the air.
Kael swore under his breath and threw himself into the fray, cutting down another twisted guardian. "Rhea,these things aren't just protecting it. They're part of it."
"I noticed!" she snapped, raking her claws across the chest of another flesh-thing. Warm ichor sprayed her face, stinging her eyes.
The walls groaned. A low, resonant hum filled the chamber,so deep it rattled her bones. Then, without warning, the floor split apart.
The creatures didn't stumble,they crawled into the cracks, vanishing into the living stone before erupting out again closer, faster, more vicious.
Rhea knew they couldn't hold out much longer.
Kael's gaze locked on the brain. "We don't have to fight them all. Just kill the head."
The web of tendrils pulsed again, and for a brief moment, she saw it,a single thick cord at the back, thicker than the rest, feeding deep into the wall.
A lifeline.
She met Kael's eyes. "Cut it."
He moved first, darting past a lunging attacker, his blade flashing silver in the dim glow. The creatures sensed his intent, all of them converging on him at once.
Rhea didn't think,she became her wolf.
Bones cracked, fur rippled over her skin, and she launched herself into the swarm, teeth tearing, claws ripping. She didn't care about pain. She didn't care about the taste of blood in her mouth. She only cared about giving Kael seconds.
He reached the tendril. The blade came down.
The cut wasn't clean. The tendril shrieked,yes, shrieked;a sound like stone grinding and bone breaking. The walls convulsed violently.
The brain thrashed in its web, tendrils whipping wildly. One struck Kael across the chest, sending him sprawling.
Rhea hurled herself upward, jaws snapping around the tendril where Kael had struck. She bit deep, her teeth sinking until she tasted something bitter and electric. The pulse in the chamber faltered.
Kael was up again in an instant, his sword driving into the weakened cord. This time, it split entirely.
The effect was immediate.
The guardians froze mid-motion, their glowing eyes dimming to nothing. The floor stopped shifting. The oppressive heat of the air bled away into a cold stillness.
The brain sagged in its web, its power gone.
But before Rhea could even catch her breath, a tremor,different this time rolled through the chamber. A deep rumble that wasn't the labyrinth collapsing.
Kael's head snapped toward the far wall. A crack of red light split it open, something massive pressing against it from the other side.
"This isn't over," he said grimly.
The wall burst inward.
What stepped through was not the labyrinth's creation.
It was the Queen.