Vale tightened his grip on the spear, both hands wrapped firmly around its handles. He stared at the three centipedes ahead of him. All of them had emerged from the same side of the cave, the direction opposite the exit.
That was the only positive in this entire situation.
Cold sweat ran down his face as his grip tightened further, his knuckles whitening. He glanced over his shoulder toward the exit, then back into the depths of the cave. The stone around them began to crack in earnest now, deep fractures spidering through the walls and ceiling. This section of the cave wouldn't hold for long.
Sand was already pouring down through the holes the centipedes had torn open, hissing as it struck the stone floor.
Vale ground his teeth together. He wanted to learn more about this place, about the blood, the markings, the so-called false angel, but survival came first. Whatever secrets this cave held meant nothing if he died here.
The centipedes moved.
One of them suddenly launched itself toward him.
Vale's eyes widened as he twisted sharply to the side, feeling the rush of air as the creature thundered past him, its massive body missing him by inches. Before he could fully recover, a second centipede struck, lunging straight for his head.
Vale ducked low, its mandibles snapping shut where his face had been a moment earlier. Both creatures vanished back into the stone almost instantly, retreating into the cave walls to reposition for another strike.
Vale sucked in a sharp breath and steadied himself just as the third centipede charged.
This time, he didn't dodge.
As it rushed him, Vale planted his feet and swung his spear hard, slamming it into the creature's side. The impact knocked the centipede off course, sending it crashing into the wall before it, too, disappeared back into the collapsing stone.
Now he could hear them.
Crawling above him. Below him. Inside the walls.
Vale turned slowly, dread tightening in his chest. "Seriously?" he muttered.
The cave answered.
More holes began to form, dozens of them, splitting open the stone like rotting flesh. Vale's eyes widened as countless shapes revealed themselves, centipedes pouring out from every direction.
The realization struck him hard.
Somewhere near this place had to be a breeding ground.
Either that, or these creatures lived in packs, something Vale found deeply unsettling. On his world, centipedes were solitary predators. They didn't cooperate. They didn't swarm.
But this wasn't his world.
Vale swallowed hard and touched the pockets on his armor, confirming the necklace and the mask were still there. He swallowed again, then made his decision.
He slid the spear back into its holster.
Running was his only option.
Before he could move, the first centipede struck again, bursting from the wall and charging him with relentless fury. Its mandibles clicked violently as it closed the distance, sand raining down around them as the cave continued to fracture.
Vale clenched his teeth and raised his right arm, the mechanical one.
At the last possible moment, he threw his fist forward with everything he had.
The impact echoed through the cave as his punch slammed into the centipede's thick carapace, violently altering its trajectory and sending it crashing aside.
"I don't have time for this!" Vale shouted.
The centipede screeched as it recovered, but Vale was already moving.
He sprinted into the narrow tunnel ahead, boots pounding against the stone. Behind him, horrifying clicks and unholy cries erupted as the swarm gave chase. The sound alone was enough to make his skin crawl.
Vale ran at full speed.
A fracture split open in the wall beside him. His eyes flicked toward it just as a centipede's head burst through. Without slowing, Vale struck it with his metal fist the instant it emerged, stunning it long enough for him to dash past.
The creature shrieked and continued after him.
A massive boom echoed behind him.
Vale bit his lip. That had been the chamber he'd just left, the one with the bloodstained walls. Even now, with death snapping at his heels, the thought surfaced unbidden.
'Was it really right to take both the necklace and the mask?'
The question died as quickly as it came.
The ground ahead fractured violently. Vale twisted mid-stride as a centipede burst upward from beneath the stone, rushing past him before disappearing again just as fast.
He didn't slow down. He couldn't.
Every second mattered. Losing speed now meant death.
The centipedes chased him relentlessly, bursting from walls, floors, and ceilings. Vale twisted and contorted his body constantly, narrowly avoiding lethal strikes again and again as the creatures surged toward him at terrifying speed.
He risked a glance over his shoulder.
Too many.
The tunnel behind him was filled with writhing bodies, their onyx legs clattering against the stone in a sound that was haunting, unnatural.
Vale snapped his gaze forward, and froze.
Light.
Real light.
If there was light, then the exit was close.
And Eskar.
Hope surged through him as he pushed himself even harder, lungs burning, muscles screaming. He dodged another snapping mandible, then another, refusing to slow no matter the pain.
Finally, he burst into the open chamber near the exit.
Eskar stood there, frozen, a makeshift rope secured beside him.
Vale was breathing heavily now, exhaustion threatening to drag him down. Running at his maximum speed for this long was tearing his body apart, but he didn't stop.
As he ducked under one last lunging centipede, Vale shouted with everything he had left.
"Eskar!"
Eskar turned.
His eyes widened in horror as he saw the tidal wave of centipedes flooding the tunnel behind Vale.
Vale didn't hesitate.
"Run!"
Eskar looked at Vale and hesitated, just for a heartbeat.
Then he ran.
He sprinted toward Vale, drawing his onyx blade in one smooth motion. As Vale burst from the narrow passage, flames erupted from Eskar's weapon, roaring outward in a violent surge. Fire swallowed the tunnel behind them, devouring stone, sand, and centipedes alike as they poured through.
The cavern filled with shrill, agonized shrieks.
Vale glanced back, eyes wide, panic barely contained. He knew, they both knew, this wouldn't hold for long.
"Come on!" Vale shouted at the top of his lungs.
Eskar grit his teeth and released the flames, the fire retracting back into the blade as the heat shimmered in the air. The effort visibly drained him. He understood as well as Vale did, the flames only slowed the swarm. Worse, every burst took something from him.
A losing exchange, no matter how it was measured.
Without another word, Eskar followed Vale as they reached the rope, thick, crude, and woven from hardened scorpion muscle. Vale didn't slow. He leapt for it and began climbing immediately, hauling himself upward at incredible speed using only his arms. Meter after meter vanished beneath him in seconds.
Eskar was right behind him.
Both of them were in peak physical condition by any standard, but neither had ever imagined that such strength would be tested like this. Not in retreat. Not in desperation.
Below them, the centipedes erupted from the sand in a frenzy, snapping and shrieking as they surged upward, attempting to seize their legs. Mandibles clashed inches from their boots.
Too slow.
Vale and Eskar climbed relentlessly, disappearing upward as the swarm thrashed uselessly beneath them.
Vale reached the top in less than a minute. He swung himself over the edge and immediately turned, extending a hand. Eskar grabbed it, exhaustion etched across his face as Vale hauled him up the final stretch.
"Thanks," Eskar muttered, barely catching his breath.
Vale wiped sweat from his brow, chest heaving. "No problem."
Before either of them could relax, Drago approached.
"Do you seriously think this is over already?" he asked.
Vale turned to him, confusion and dread twisting together. "What do you mean?" Vale said sharply. "We escaped, didn't we?"
Drago didn't answer immediately. He simply looked past Vale, down toward the desert below.
"You escaped on a surface level," Drago said at last. "But do you really believe those bastards can't reach the surface?"
As if summoned by his words, the sand began to rumble.
West of their position, the ground churned violently as countless centipedes erupted from beneath the dunes, shrieking in maddened fury as they surged toward them.
Vale's eyes widened.
"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered.
Drago placed a hand on Vale's shoulder and allowed himself a small, confident smile. "Not to worry."
The first centipede charged, the sand vibrating violently beneath its weight.
Then,
The ground exploded.
The sand beneath the charging creature erupted upward as something massive burst from below, catching the centipede mid-lunge. There was a single, thunderous snap.
"We have our own guardian."
Vale's breath caught as the desert guardian revealed itself.
A towering wyvern rose from the sand, scales gleaming beneath the sun. It lifted its head once, a centipede clenched in its maw, and closed its jaws with effortless force, severing the creature cleanly in two.