Broken Hearts, Broken Blades

Chapter 3: The Gem

Simon:

We kept moving, heading deeper into the tunnels. We were going the right way--after reading those journal entries, it had to be in this direction. Darei was at the front with Kester. Melda was right next to me, her ax slung over her shoulder. The tunnels narrowed, making us move in single-file.

My heart was racing. I could still hear it--somewhere behind us. We needed to keep moving, though. The tunnel was only illuminated by our glowsticks. Part of me was glad that I wasn't claustrophobic--but the thought that this...demon...was in here. It was either dead--which was entirely possible--or was somehow still alive.

"Uh, guys...back there, those tents were from a previous--"

"Yeah, we're not the first ones down here," Kester said. "The Boss mentioned that another group came here a long time ago. The only people who came back were the ones stationed by the entrance. And they said that two of the explorers came back, covered in cuts, bites and bruises. They said..."

"That there's a demon in these ruins?" I finished. They all looked at me; a couple were impressed, but the rest looked at me as though I was a freak. "What? I read the journal. They say that there's some kind of demon that picked off most of the last expedition." We kept going down the corridor; every few feet, I would hear it again: A faint click, of something sharp on the stones.

The path branched off into two different directions. Darei kept going straight, not bothering to stop. I shined the light into the path to the right, and saw what looked like a closet. It was small, with a couple of shelves carved into the stone. Kester shoved me along, twirling his sword in his hand. "Keep moving."

The silence in the tunnels was almost deafening. The only thing we heard was the sound of our footsteps. But I still couldn't shake the feeling that there was someone following us--that there was something else down here.

Our path opened up into another wide-open chamber. But this one was very different. A narrow bridge stretched out to a small platform with a pedestal on it. A faint glow came from an object suspended an inch above the pedestal; was that what we were looking for?

"So, which one of us is gonna get it?" I asked. Everyone was silent.

"You go," Darei said. "We've got the weapons. We'll wait here and cover you."

I didn't have the energy to argue. "I swear if this thing is booby trapped, I'm gonna haunt you all."

They all chuckled, and I went to the foot of the bridge. It was made of a shimmering black stone, about a foot above a small, sunken pit. It was empty, but something about this room was weird--almost ritualistic.

Each step was steady and careful. I kept expecting a section of the floor to sink, and darts to fly at me from every direction. I would look over my shoulder at them, seeing them highlighted by their glow sticks. And after two agonizing minutes, I made it to the platform. The object was a white, crystalline object, carved into a weird, multi-sided shape. I reached out to it. A faint electrical current went through my arm, and my fingers touched it. It was warm, with what felt like a heartbeat pulsing through it.

I curled my hands around the object--the Gem. I pulled it away from the pedestal, and it started to feel warmer. The glow in it grew brighter, and I tried to let go. But my hands wouldn't release it.

There was a sudden, loud whump, and I felt my whole body jolt. Copper filled my mouth, and I fell back. My whole body shuddered for a moment, and the Gem slammed into my chest. It flashed, and a bolt of silver lightning shot from it, slamming into the ceiling. All the breath rushed out of me, and I finally managed to push the Gem off my body. It hit the ground next to me, and it crumbled. The light was gone, and it fell to dust the second it left my body.