The inscription crawled across the entrance like a malevolent spider, each archaic symbol a chilling portent. A shiver danced down Lucian's spine, a cold tendril of unease snaking its way through his determination.
"Well that's not ominous at all is it." Kainith commented.
"Do you feel that dread?" Rance noted. "I told you. No one comes to the Jagged Hills. This place doesn't really look like it'll contain anything anyways."
"What about the gem?" Rory mused.
"Rory, we don't get to keep that? I mean unless we want to fight whatever gives Lucian his powers, and I don't know about you but a Demon lord is not on the top of my list." Rance chastised.
"Guy's stop." Lucian pleaded. "Let's just get in and get this over with. Rance you can just have my share of the loot here."
"Fine." Rance stated
With a deep breath that echoed hollowly in the oppressive silence, Lucian pushed open the heavy, groaning door.
"Light up boys." Kainith quipped as he pulled out a torch and lit it.
The oppressive darkness that greeted them was a tangible entity, a thick shroud that swallowed the meager light of their torches. The air hung heavy and stagnant, thick with the cloying stench of decay. It was a suffocating weight that settled in their lungs with each labored breath. The silence was broken only by the rhythmic drip-drip of unseen moisture and the faint creak of settling rock.
"Well this is much less foreboding than I had imagined." Lucian said.
"Look there." Rory said, pointing forward into the darkness where there was the faintest of purple glow.
"Well, we might as well walk towards it. We have to venture deeper if we have any hope of getting out of here in a reasonable amount of time." Rance said.
As they ventured deeper, the oppressive darkness yielded to an otherworldly luminescence. The cavern walls pulsed with an unnatural violet glow, revealing a network of writhing, purple tentacles woven into the very rock. They writhed and pulsed with an unsettling life of their own, their sinuous forms resembling a grotesque tapestry of pulsating flesh. From the cavernous ceiling above, a viscous, acidic slime dripped with a rhythmic splatter, sizzling and smoking upon contact with the damp stone floor. The air grew thick and humid, the stench of decay replaced by an acrid, metallic tang that burned at the back of their throats.
"Okay maybe Rance was right. Maybe this isn't such a good idea," Rory stated wearily.
"Since when are you afraid of anything big man?" Kainith looked up at Rory.
"Rory points at the rock, "I hate snakes. You know that and this tunnel sure feels like we are being surrounded by a bunch of snakes."
Lucian looked up at Rory. "Look I get it, but just think of the disgusting tentacle-like things as worms instead. You're not afraid of some little worms are you?" he said with a mocking smile.
Rance snickered in the background as Rory lashed back with. "No, I'm not scared of worms. Let's just kill whatever did this to this cave and get back to the tavern so I can have a mead."
Rance looked at Rory inquisitively. "Wait, did you just say mead? You hate mead and call people who drink mead weak cause they like, and I'm quoting here, 'That super sweet weak shit'."
Rory with an embarrassed look on his face now looked at Rance. "Look, that stuff we had at the tavern in fallwind was pretty okay."
Rance just smiled and slugged Rory on the shoulder. "Whatever you say, big guy."
YOU ARE READING
On A Knife Edge
FantasíaLucian is a small Demon born with big aspirations of becoming a thief. That is until the one job they didn't want to do ended in a way they could have never imagined. Join Lucian in his journey across the magical land of Archanella. He will meet fr...
