The Cloak Guard

The Sculptor, Part 3

 Emily was doing her best to calm her nerves as they flew through the air. They had been flying on a massive, indigo crane heading in the direction of Eustace's address. She wasn't sure what to expect from this. She'd barely lasted against Swarm and apparently this guy was way more powerful than him and, unlike him, didn't seem to rely on his microbots to help him but rather raw power alone. Emily looked down at her hands and wondered what stretchy powers could do here.

End of the world. It was hard to wrap her head around a threat like that. Sure, she'd seen a few movies with those kinds of stakes, but she never really felt anything about it because she knew it wasn't real. Even now, going up against an actual world-ending threat, she still didn't feel like it was real.

That was, until the enormous spire burst from the ground.

"What the hell?" she yelped, scrambling back as Sumin brought the crane to a stop, both watching the spire continue to rise up above them, more spikes forming from it.

"That is our destination," Sumin told her. "That is where the map says Eustace's house was."

"So...the Sculptor did this? Why?"

"Unclear at the moment. But I assume he and our comrades are at the top."

"Right," Emily nodded, prepping herself. Still, if the Sculptor was able to accomplish something like this, what wasn't he capable of? And what could she possibly do against him?

What you can, she told herself. This was just another challenge for her, and she would overcome it just like all the others.

She was so focused on her thoughts that she almost didn't see it. They were passing over a large open field when the ground suddenly shifted. Emily glanced down, seeing a bunch of strange, pointed rocks circling the field. She frowned, looking at them a little more closely. She was pretty sure they hadn't been there a second ago and when she followed their trail, they were positioned in a circle around where she and Sumin were flying over and looked a little like...

"Teeth," she murmured, fear taking over her whole body. "SUMIN, WATCH OUT!"

The ground erupted, the enormous mouth rising up to bite down and swallow them whole. Emily screamed while Sumin tried to fly them out of there but it was too late, the jaws clamping shut around them.

Emily closed her eyes, preparing to feel her body get crushed, but nothing happened. She blinked her eyes opened when she heard someone grunting and looked up to see Sumin right above them, arms held up on either side with a large indigo pole holding the jaws at bay. Emily gasped at how close they were, only a small shaft of light still visible above them.

"We need to get out of here," she said.

"Yes, that would be preferable," Sumin replied. A second later, a large indigo platform appeared in front of them. "Step on this. We will have to...DUCK!"

Emily instinctively ducked as an earthen tendril shot out to strike at Sumin. The platform moved, blocking the blow but even in the darkness, Emily could see more tendrils forming.

"Emily, you must leave," Sumin told her.

"What? I can't leave you here!"

"My powers will help me survive but I am not sure you can," they said, blocking another tendril. "Trust me, you must leave now while you still can. Do not worry about me. I have a plan."

Emily gulped but nodded. "Ok."

"Here." Another platform suddenly appeared next to her. She jumped on and it began to move upwards quickly, making her stumble slightly. "Get up the tower and stop Sculptor!" Sumin shouted after her. "Do not...NO!"