The Day Death Died

The Day Death Died - Chapter 30

The creature's roar echoed off the cavern walls, reverberating through my chest like the shockwave of an explosion. The sound was primal, an ancient fury that chilled my blood. As its massive form barreled toward us, the ground trembled, each thunderous step pulling it closer.

"Move!" Edwin's voice cut through the chaos, dragging me back to the present.

Instinct took over, and I dove to the side just as the creature's clawed foot slammed down where I had been standing. The stone beneath it cracked and shattered, sending jagged shards flying in every direction. I hit the ground hard, the impact jarring my bones, but there was no time to dwell on the pain.

"Edwin!" I scrambled to my feet, searching the dark, twisting shadows for him. "Where are you?"

The creature reared back, its obsidian scales glistening in the faint light that barely penetrated the chamber. Its glowing crimson eyes locked onto me, and I could feel its gaze like a physical weight pressing against my chest. It was massive, a hulking beast that looked like something ripped straight from a nightmare. The darkness itself seemed to cling to it, wrapping around its limbs like a living thing, and every step it took caused the ground to crack and shift beneath its weight.

I stumbled backward, my mind racing. I needed to think. I needed a plan. But my thoughts were scattered, fear clouding everything.

Edwin appeared from the shadows behind the beast, his scythe glinting as he swung at its exposed flank. The blade made contact with a sickening thud, but instead of cutting through the creature's thick hide, it glanced off with a shower of sparks.

"What the hell is this thing?" Edwin growled, barely dodging a swipe from the creature's massive tail.

"I don't know!" I yelled back, panic rising in my throat. "But it's not happy to see us!"

The creature turned, snapping its jaws at Edwin, who rolled to the side just in time. Its movements were fluid, faster than something of its size had any right to be. There was a lethal grace to it, like a predator playing with its prey.

And we were the prey.

"Get to the other side!" Edwin shouted, locking eyes with me for a split second. "I'll distract it. You need to find Pandora's Box!"

I hesitated. "What? No, we need to—"

"Now, Maddison!" Edwin's voice was sharp, commanding. He was already moving, drawing the creature's attention away from me with another swing of his scythe. "We didn't come this far for you to die here."

I bit back my protest, knowing he was right. There was no way we could defeat this thing in a straight fight—not without knowing what it was or how to stop it. The box was our only chance. Whatever power it held, I needed to find it, fast.

With one last glance at Edwin, I bolted toward the far end of the chamber, where the pull of Pandora's Box was strongest. The air grew thicker with every step, the oppressive weight of the abyss pressing down on me harder now, as though it were trying to slow me down, to keep me from reaching my goal.

Behind me, I could hear the sounds of battle—Edwin's grunts of exertion, the creature's roars of fury. Every time I glanced back, I saw flashes of movement: Edwin dodging, weaving, keeping just out of reach of the creature's deadly claws.

I forced myself to focus, pushing the sounds of the fight out of my mind. The box was close. I could feel it, like a pulse in the air, drawing me toward it with an almost magnetic pull.

The chamber opened up into a smaller space, the walls narrowing until I reached a dead end. But there, at the center of the room, on a pedestal made of the same black stone as the rest of the abyss, sat Pandora's Box.