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“Stay close and watch your step.”

For what felt like the hundredth time, Imber glanced back to check the pace of the blood mage following him. She was keeping up, and the safety rope connecting them nearly dragged at their feet. Yet, Imber continued to look back.

“I must look terrible,” Suri thought, biting her pale lips. “But as long as Cassia’s ability is active, he doesn’t need to worry about me.”

The hunters squad descended. The path of twisted roots led them further and further down. Although they maintained an unhurried pace, no one rushed the trackers leading the way. The enormous roots beneath them creaked plaintively but bore the weight of over twenty hunters in full gear. Occasionally, the scouts would turn the squad around and change the route.

The air was heavy and damp. Suri’s soft boots were soaked, sinking into the fleshy blue carpet of lichen. Her traveling crystal cast a golden light at her feet, turning the drops of moisture into golden dew.

But captivation by the deceptive beauty of the landscape was unwise. The fluffy surface concealed voids and gaps formed by rotten wood. The travelers had to not only watch their steps but also listen to the sound of the footsteps of the person ahead.

“I see the fixtures,” one of the scouts shouted. Imber tensed, catching Suri’s attention.

“What’s happening?” she whispered, afraid to miss something.

Imber turned his head and replied, “They found traces of another hunters.”

The captain asked a series of short questions, but the scouts must not have had the answers, and the first rank fell into a prolonged silence.

“Why did we stop?” Cassia was the first to break. She stood on tiptoe, trying to see what was happening ahead, but with her height, it was a futile effort.

“The scouts are checking if the path used by the other squad is still viable. On one hand, it’s impossible to determine if anything has changed since then; on the other, if they have already cleared the way, it will save us time and effort in descending.”

“Mm, what do you think, brother?” Cassia mused.

“I wouldn’t follow the path of another squad. It’s not worth the risk. But I’m not the captain.”

“But we could try to catch up with that squad and join forces. Wouldn’t that increase our chances?” Cassia exclaimed.

Imber shook his head. “No. We’d just get in each other’s way.”

Almost immediately after Imber spoke, the group heard a loud “changing route,” and the first rank slowly began to move back the way they had come.

“So, he decided not to risk it,” Suri heard a brief comment from a former third-rank captain along the way.

Walking on the trampled lichen was easier. Their feet naturally found the previously left tracks, and the squad climbed higher up the roots at an enviable speed. Avalon, the only tracker bringing up the rear, slid forward, scouting for a place to cross to another path.

“Hey! We can reach those roots from here. Are you blind?” an irritated hunter shouted. In response, Avalon sped up, passing by another ideal crossing spot.

“May you fall from the sky!” the same hunter cursed, stomping his foot. “Why are you hesitating like a picky guild`s slut? What’s wrong with this path?” The slow descent was putting a lot of pressure on the hunter. Time was slipping away quickly, and the squad hadn’t even covered half the distance. The last thing anyone wanted was to spend the night on these creaking, decaying roots.

Avalon finally acknowledged the hunter’s desperation. He stopped and replied, “The vegetation is too dense there. Jumping is dangerous.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The hunter wasn’t expecting a reply, so he muttered a solitary “What?” and squinted at the nearby root. His knowledge wasn’t enough to discern the difference in the lichen growing under his feet and on the adjacent path.

“He’s right,” Imber intervened. “Lichen grows faster on rotting wood. There’s a high chance there are voids there.”

The hunter squinted but couldn’t see anything unusual. He wasn’t a tracker, after all.

“Alright, you know better,” the hunter grumbled. Judging by his expression, he wanted to add something sarcastic towards Avalon when suddenly, a cracking sound interrupted him.

A rumbling grew in waves, and with it, the vibrations underfoot intensified. Reaching a peak, the vibrations exploded with a powerful jolt, throwing people into the air. Myriads of droplets fell from the forest branches under the stone vault, pouring down on the crawling roots like a torrential rain.

“It’s a tremor! Hold on!” a powerful shout echoed through the warriors. The hunters’ hands shot to their weapons. Steel gleamed and plunged into the surface beneath their feet. Blades, daggers, nails: any means were fair game. There was no time to think. The massive trunk shuddered and groaned with a series of new jolts.

What instilled terror in the inhabitants of Azur became a deadly trap for the hunters stuck on the decaying roots.

Suri clutched the handle of her dagger with both hands, which had pierced the yielding soil. Unfortunately, a powerful push threw Imber aside. The rope at her waist tightened, pulling her down.

Dry dust and wood chips rained down, clogging their noses and throats. Coughing threatened, sharp pain tearing through their lungs. But distraction meant accepting their fate.

The tremor intensified. A massive root overhead snapped and crashed down, dragging everything in its path. The party narrowly escaped such a fate, and Suri pressed herself into the lichen, trying to become as inconspicuous as possible to the cruel fate.

A rumble emanated from the center of the giant trunk, deep and distant. Its sturdy stone bark cracked in several places, breaking off and plummeting into the abyss. The tree supporting the aerial castle wavered. The thought of the destruction this caused in Azur was terrifying, but the hunters could only think about their lives.

Cries of fear spread around. One by one, warriors fell, and only the safety rope separated them from death. Some were less fortunate, struck by large wooden debris and dragged into the abyss. Comrades didn’t hesitate, cutting the rope and sending their fallen companions on their final journey.

“Spare me, heavens, spare me,” someone prayed to the only god they knew.

The rumbling in the trunk’s center ceased, and with it, the tremors stopped. It all happened so suddenly that the hunters didn’t dare stand up for a long time. It was hard to say if they were waiting for more tremors or if their legs were trembling.

“Are you hurt?” Imber asked. He approached carefully, his attentive eyes and skilled hands examining Suri’s body from head to toe for injuries.

“Brother, I’m fine,” Cassia giggled. Then she jumped to her feet and stared somewhere, occasionally hopping comically as if it could help her spot her target faster. Soon, a wave of relief crossed her face. It seemed Avalon was also safe. Noticing this, Imber stopped worrying about her.

“Suri,” Imber called. The blood mage wasn’t injured but was acting very strangely. She stared wide-eyed at the gap that had formed in the outer bark during the earthquake. Her eyes were wide open.

“Cas, has her fear returned?” Imber asked grimly. “Can you do something? This is the worst possible time.”

Cassia pulled out an artifact from her inner pocket, looked into the blood mage’s eyes, and said hesitantly, “Her fear is still under control. This is something else.”

Suri was deaf to everything happening around her. A vast world had unfolded before her eyes. A mirror-like watery expanse stretched to the horizon, and white curly wavelets ran across the malachite spaces. The measured sound of waves reached her ears.

“What is this? Water?” Suri whispered in awe, clutching Imber’s hand. She didn’t take her sky-blue eyes off the sparkling water surface illuminated by the bright sunlight.

“Yes,” the warrior followed her gaze. “Such a view is visible from Azur’s fortress wall on particularly clear days.”

Suri shook his hand impatiently. “And what else? Is there nothing but water? No other land, buildings, anything?”

“Maybe there was something once,” Imber replied uncertainly. He couldn’t understand why this view impressed the blood mage so much. “Can you stand?”

“Something’s wrong.” Suri didn’t hear him. “Why is it so calm? Shouldn’t there have been waves?”

She pushed Imber’s hand away and stared at the giant trunk. The tremor had left visible marks on it. The stone bark of the tree, like parched earth, bore deep cracks. And from their black crevices came a rotten stench.

What could a pathetic bunch of people do to save Azur? The tree supporting the castle was rotting from the inside, and no one could reverse it. Soon it, and everyone it sheltered, would be swallowed by the ocean of the doomed.

“All those who can’t continue the descent, choose: wait for the party’s return or some survivors, or try to return to the castle on your own. The rest, prepare to move out,” conveyed one of the experienced hunters, relaying the captain’s order. “We’re damned lucky to have survived the tremor at this height, and even luckier if it doesn’t happen again before we descend,” he muttered through clenched teeth.

Checking provisions and equipment, the squad of hunters resumed their descent. After what they had been through, the hunters moved faster. The entire group’s anxiety pressured the trackers, pushing them to perform their duties at the edge of their capabilities.

Even before descending into the Labyrinth, the first rank lost four members.

The squad now had nineteen hunters.