The chamber quaked with every beat of the Maw's colossal heart, echoing through the companions' bones like a war drum. The pulsing light painted the root-walls in sickly shades of green and black, dripping with resin that hissed and steamed as it touched the ground.
Carlos raised his blade, its golden light flickering against the dark. "We need to move. If we stand still, this place will swallow us."
The others nodded, though their faces betrayed exhaustion. Thalor's shield was cracked, his arm bleeding freely. Lys's quiver was nearly empty, only a handful of arrows left. Rina pressed a cloth to her side where a tendril had torn deep. Maren leaned heavily on her staff, the glow trembling in her hands.
But they walked forward — because there was no other path.
The Living Walls
The passage they entered was narrow, the walls pressing close. Roots writhed like muscles, twitching with every heartbeat. The stench of resin hung heavy in the air, sharp and choking.
As they moved, the walls shifted. What had been a straight path twisted suddenly into curves, splitting into multiple tunnels.
"It's changing itself," Lys whispered, her bow half-raised.
"A labyrinth," Rina muttered, her eyes scanning the writhing walls. "It doesn't want us to reach the heart."
The tunnels groaned, shifting again. A shriek echoed through the darkness, followed by the skittering of claws.
Carlos tightened his grip. "Stay close. We don't split up."
The First Trial
A swarm of resin-born creatures poured from the ceiling — spiderlike beasts with crystal legs that stabbed downward with terrifying precision.
Thalor lifted his shield, sparks flying as claws raked across its battered surface. He roared, shoving upward, forcing the beasts back. "Keep moving!"
Lys loosed an arrow, piercing one through the abdomen. It burst in a spray of black ichor, the fluid sizzling against the ground.
Rina darted forward, slashing through tendrils that lashed from the walls. Her blades flashed like silver lightning, every movement driven by grim resolve.
Maren unleashed a shockwave of fire, the blast illuminating the tunnel. The beasts shrieked as they burned, but the flames reflected off the walls, nearly scorching the companions as well.
Carlos cut a path through the swarm, his blade glowing brighter with each strike. "Forward!" he barked.
Step by step, they pushed through, the swarm thinning. But even as the last beast fell, the tunnel twisted again — and the way back closed behind them.
The Voices Return
The labyrinth grew darker. The golden glow of Carlos's blade seemed swallowed by the air itself, as though the Maw resisted its light.
And then the whispers returned.
Not faint, not distant — but close, intimate, curling inside their skulls.
Lys heard her mother's voice again. "Every shot you take is wasted. You'll fail them all."Thalor heard his brothers. "You let us die. You will let them die too."Rina heard her own voice, dripping with mockery. "You're a knife in the dark. You'll never be more."Maren heard laughter, wild and manic. "You will burn them. You will freeze them. You will end them."And Carlos heard the cruelest whisper of all: his own. "You can't save them. You will choose who lives. Who dies. That is your destiny."
Each step grew heavier. Each breath burned with doubt.
But they did not stop.
The Second Trial
The passage opened into a vast chamber where resin hung like stalactites, glowing faintly with sickly light. Pools of ichor bubbled on the ground, their fumes choking.
As they stepped forward, shapes rose from the pools — not beasts this time, but familiar figures.
Reflections again.
Lys gasped as her mother's form rose from the resin, arrows of fire clenched in her hands.Thalor staggered as he saw his fallen brothers, their eyes hollow, their mouths whispering his name.Rina froze as dozens of shadowy versions of herself slithered free, blades glinting.Maren screamed as twisted versions of her own face emerged, each one wreathed in a storm of fire and ice.And Carlos… Carlos saw himself. Not one reflection, but many — each representing the choices he had yet to make, each one whispering who he would let fall.
"This isn't real," Carlos growled. But even as he spoke, the resin doubles advanced, their eyes glowing with hunger.
The companions fought — but this battle was slower, crueler. Every blow they struck splattered resin across the chamber, and from each drop, another figure rose. It was endless.
"We can't kill them all!" Rina shouted, slashing desperately.
"Then we don't try," Carlos barked. He pointed to a tunnel at the far end of the chamber. "We push through!"
The companions formed a wedge, Thalor at the front, his shield battering the resin-doubles aside. Arrows and daggers cleared the flanks, while Maren's fire carved a burning path through the center. Carlos's blade shone brightest of all, each strike scattering the darkness.
Step by step, they forced their way through, until at last they burst into the tunnel beyond — gasping, bleeding, trembling.
The reflections screamed behind them, but the tunnel sealed, leaving only silence.
The Chamber of Roots
The path narrowed again, leading them into a chamber where roots hung like veins, pulsing with dark light. The air was thick with resin, each breath like swallowing knives.
Carlos pressed a hand to his side, where a vine had torn through his armor. Blood seeped between his fingers.
Lys staggered, her quiver nearly empty, her eyes heavy with exhaustion.Thalor's shield arm trembled, the metal barely holding together.Rina leaned against the wall for a heartbeat, clutching her wound.Maren nearly collapsed, her staff the only thing keeping her upright.
They were breaking.
And yet, as the roots pulsed around them, Carlos lifted his blade again. "One more step," he whispered. "Just one more step."
The others looked at him — and, though their bodies ached, they nodded.
A Glimpse of the Heart
The tunnel bent sharply, then opened into a ledge.
Below them stretched a vast abyss. At its center hung the Maw's true heart — a colossal sphere of resin and root, glowing with a blinding green light. Tendrils stretched outward like the arms of a god, pumping corruption through the labyrinth.
The companions stood frozen, staring down at the heart that pulsed like the core of a dying star.
"It's… alive," Maren whispered, her voice trembling.
"And it knows we're here," Thalor growled.
The heart pulsed again — and the chamber shook violently. Roots lashed upward, tearing through the walls, the ceiling, the floor. The abyss screamed with the sound of tearing flesh.
The Maw had seen them. And it would not allow them to leave alive.
They braced themselves, weapons raised, as the labyrinth came alive around them.
The true battle was about to begin.