Timbrelle’s mind froze in place. The terror she felt was different from before. After weeks of avoiding the creature in the Dorark her reactions had become instinct. Here, on the mountain, outside the thorny forest… what was she supposed to do?

Her body was fighting to betray her. A word welled up in her throat—a compulsion. One that only her body felt the need to obey. The best she could ever do was cover her mouth and run before the unholy drive overcame her meager control.

As ever, the word itched at her mind. It wanted her to get curious… to lower her guard. She had no doubt that the moment she gave it any morsel of her attention, the creature would use that as a window to seize control of her mind the way it compelled her body. She didn’t know what word it wanted from her but as it approached, ever so slowly, her lungs burned to loose it in a scream.

A cold sweat broke out under her rain slicker as ice coursed through her veins. She slapped a hand over her mouth and grabbed Ellia’s wrist.

Ellia cut off a question at seeing Timbrelle’s face. The abject terror was enough to make the maid throw Timbrelle over her shoulder and sprint for the bridge with no explanation necessary. Their bags and sandwiches were an offerring to the pursuer—a figure Timbrelle could see wandering through the trees. At the sound of Ellia’s footsteps she saw the creature snap its attention to them. The clicking was now close enough for Timbrelle to hear over the crashing of the nearby waterfall. Ellia, having no such audible buffer, was beginning to wince at the volume.

They pounded closer to the bridge, their combined weight making for slow progress. Despite Timbrelle’s efforts to keep her thoughts away from the monster preying on them, she caught jostled glances now and then.

The creature stepped out of the trees with unnatural precision, as though it moved along a mathematically straight line. The red and white mask that covered its face had been blackened with age and left no visible holes for eyes, nose or mouth.

Ellia hauled her like a sack of cement. She bounced and jostled on the maid’s shoulder, feeling the pressure in her chest lessening ever so slightly as the distance mounted. She rained heavy steps onto the path, hurtling them toward the bridge.

As they came to the final few steps before the bridge, something unlikely happened—something unnatural. Ellia stepped on a rock, her foot rolling to the side under their combined weight and snapping her shin with a foul crack. The ground rose to meet them in a jarring collision. Timbrelle skittered across the gravel, thankful for the stinky, hardy rain slicker. Ellia went tumbling end over end, coming to a stop just before the bridge.

As Timbrelle climbed to her feet in a daze she could see Ellia yelling ineffectually over the waterfall. She blinked, trying to focus on the maid.

Run! Run! Ellia screamed at her through the roar of water. Her voice not much more than a suggestion of sound. The maid was crawling to her, left leg at a grotesque angle.

The creature’s mask crested the hill. It bobbed slightly as the slow, measured steps brought it closer. however, she didn’t need to see it to know it was closing in. Timbrelle scurried to Ellia. She’d need both hands to pull her over the bridge but couldn’t risk the creature forcing her to speak the word welling up in her chest once she pulled her hand away. It was an order from the monster that she couldn’t refuse. Inevitable.

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They needed to escape.

Timbrelle bit down on her bottom lip, praying to the Miasma that the pain would be enough to keep her wits about her. She needed a gag or something that prevented her from speaking. Biting down on her lip like an oral block during an old-timey surgery, Timbrelle hooked Ellia under her arms and began pulling her backwards to the bridge. As most people were, Ellia was much larger than her. She could hardly hold onto the rain slicker, much less toss the maid over her shoulder.

The creature was only stone’s throw away at this point. She refused to look at it. She wouldn’t risk it making the compulsion worse. Would it enthrall her if she focused on it? With the control it exercised over her voice, she couldn’t be that flippant.

Her heel thumped the support post for the bridge. Thank god! If she could just get Ellia across, she could cut the bridge and leave the thing on the other side—or better yet, she could wait until it got into the bridge and cut the suspensions with her foraging sickle. Maybe she could even kill it with the fall.

The bridge swung wildly, encouraged by her clumsy movements. The creature was nearly to the support lines and would be on the bridge in seconds, gaining ground in her struggle to drag Ellia. She could see its scabbed-over toenails on mottled gray feet walking like a bride down the aisle. Step… stop… step… stop.

Tears couldn’t be distinguished from the rivers of water flowing down her chin and into her slicker. The shaking was enough to tell the maid was crying too. There was no room now to run past the creature and lure it away from Ellia. They would meet it together. They would be claimed together.

Ellia kept screaming for her to run. Pleading for the woman to leave her. She had time to get away but only if she accepted the maid’s sacrifice.

Timbrelle’s brain was both working as fast as it could… and simply not fast enough. There was no way out of this. She needed something, anything. Much like Piña’s suggestion the night before, the only other option was to die.

An idea popped into her head. An objectively bad idea, to be sure. However, where their death was certain with no action, the overwhelming risk of mortality in this new plan felt like a lifeline.

Timbrelle grabbed the wooden slats of the bridge, flipped out her razor-sharp sickle and slashed the suspension ropes.

Ellia’s eyes went wide in the weightless instant before gravity claimed them and she scrambled to grip the wood beside Timbrelle. The stillness was short lived. They plummeted into space. The long bridge, built for swaying since its very first crossing, swung away from the waterfall and out over the mountainside. When they reached the end of their arc, the bridge sent a ripple from the connected side all the way down to them. Timbrelle latched onto Ellia just as the end of the bridge flipped them violently into the air, clinging only to each other in free fall.

It was surprisingly quiet as they sailed through the air. The only sound beyond rushing wind was the pure, sustained chime of the interface.

Ping!

Your hidden ability has activated.

Then another.

Ping!

You have attuned to ‘Ruby of Physical Fortification’. ‘Physical Fortification’ has been added to abilities. This Crystalurgical ability may be toggled on and off without use of the interface.

*Your Aurora abilities are visible under the Crystalurgy tab.

The ground was rising to meet them with enthusiasm. Timbrelle pulled Ellia in, trying to shield he woman with her body. She had no idea what ‘Physical Fortification’ entailed but it had to be more useful than her title’s social ability. She didn’t want to invoke something called ‘Fragile’ while plummeting to her death.

“Toggle on! Toggle on! Oh god! Toggle—“