The darkness in the passage was oppressive, weighing against Jaeden and Liandra like a living entity. Faint patches of luminescent moss glowed weakly along the walls, their greenish light barely illuminating the slick, uneven surfaces. The few shadows danced as if alive, flickering across the stone in erratic patterns.
Jaeden stepped carefully, the crunch of grit under his boots breaking the silence. Every sense was heightened, his Meta-sight painting the path ahead in subtle highlights. Here, a faint crack in the wall, likely irrelevant; there, a thin thread of unusual plant growth curling upward. It was like seeing the world through a lens that whispered secrets only he could hear.
A familiar voice chimed into his mind, surprising him with its level of -humanity. “Jaeden, still alive, I see. Should I be impressed or concerned?”
He grinned faintly. “S.A.S.S.Y., good to hear from you. I was starting to think you’d ditched me for a better hero.”
“Oh, please. Heroes are a dime a dozen. You, however, are... unique.”
Behind him, Liandra moved with a predator’s grace, her heavy cloak barely rustling despite the uneven terrain. Her presence was unnervingly calm. Though she’d claimed her powers were dampened, Jaeden couldn’t shake the feeling that she was holding back. That thought gnawed at him. He wasn’t sure if she was an ally, a liability, or something in between.
“So, about this King of Shadows,” he began, his voice cutting through the uneasy quiet. “What’s the vibe? Brooding tyrant? Secretly a collector of rare butterflies?”
Liandra’s lips curved slightly. “His rule is absolute, but not cruel. Balance is his guiding principle.”
Jaeden crouched, his attention caught by a patch of moss growing in tendrils that seemed to sway faintly as he approached. His Meta-sight tingled. “Sounds great until someone decides to tip the scales.”
“S.A.S.S.Y.: You’ve discovered [Aethermoss]. Alchemical and crafting potential. Quality: Uncommon.”
He scraped the moss into a pouch and stood, catching Liandra’s raised eyebrow. “Rule number one of adventuring,” he said, mock solemn. “Loot everything. You never know when moss might save your life—or your wallet.”
The oppressive monotony of the winding tunnel grew heavier. No deviations. No signs of life. Just the endless path and a low, vibrating hum that seemed to pulse through Jaeden’s bones. He stopped abruptly, holding up a hand to silence Liandra. The faintest rhythm reached his ears—a steady thrum, like the beating of a distant drum.
“What is it?” Liandra’s voice was a whisper, taut with readiness.
“Something’s ahead,” Jaeden replied. “Moving, maybe.”
Without taking his eyes off the path ahead, he reached into his Null Gate, pulling out the Titanoboa Tooth Daggers. The white, curved blades caught the faint light of the moss as he tossed one to Liandra. She caught it effortlessly, her grip firm and practiced.
“Got another?” she asked, inspecting the weapon with a raised eyebrow.
Jaeden smirked, tossing her the second. “Always.”
Her eyes flickered briefly toward his hand and back again, but she said nothing.
The passage widened abruptly, the oppressive tunnel giving way to a circular chamber that seemed alive with menace. Towering stone pillars ringed the space like silent sentinels, their surfaces carved with grotesque faces frozen in exaggerated expressions of pain and rage. Their hollow eyes and gaping mouths seemed to follow Jaeden’s movements, adding to the sensation of being watched.
At the chamber’s center, a faint bluish mist curled lazily over a raised pedestal. The vapor moved unnaturally, its sinuous patterns too deliberate, as though something unseen controlled its flow. The metallic tang in the air intensified, coating Jaeden’s tongue and tightening his chest. His skin prickled, a cold sweat forming at the nape of his neck.
S.A.S.S.Y.: Area Discovered – Chamber of Lament.
Jaeden’s grip tightened instinctively on the Orichalcum Sword of Asterius. The cursed blade vibrated faintly in his hand, its resonance matching the strange energy that seemed to saturate the chamber. He didn’t trust it -not entirely- but the sword had saved his skin more than once, even if it always left him wondering what price it would eventually demand.
His heightened awareness flared, subtle threads of energy pulling at his focus. The mist wasn’t just alive -it was purposeful. He could feel the faint tug of power weaving through the vapor, threading into the pedestal and radiating outward in invisible currents. The glyphs etched into the stone, scarred and worn, glowed faintly with a light that felt ancient and wrong, as though it had no business existing in the present world.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Jaeden took a cautious step forward, the soles of his boots scraping against the gritty floor. Before he could take another, Liandra’s hand shot out, her grip firm as iron on his arm.
“Wait,” she said, her tone sharper than he’d ever heard it. Her violet-shadowed eyes narrowed, scanning the chamber with a precision that mirrored his own instincts. “That mist -it’s warded.”
Jaeden frowned, glancing from the mist to her. “Warded how?”
She stepped past him, her cloak rippling as though caught in an invisible breeze. Her gaze sharpened, and she extended her hands, the faint shimmer of her power coalescing around them. Her hands moved subtly, puppeteering the shadowy threads that flickered into and out of visibility, as her power stuttered into life.
Jaeden watched as they unraveled from her fingers, weaving intricate patterns in the dim light. The threads hummed softly, their motion cutting through the unnatural stillness of the room.
“It’s a trap,” Liandra murmured, her focus absolute. “A defensive ward. But these glyphs…” She trailed off, awe creeping into her voice. “They’re ancient. Older than anything I’ve seen.”
“Great,” Jaeden muttered, crouching beside her. “Because we haven’t run into enough deathtraps lately.” He activated his Assessment Ability, letting the soft, whispering awareness filter through his senses. The insight flowed like water down a dry creek bed, pooling into an answer.
“Paralysis mist,” he said, his voice grim. “Step into it, and you’re done. Freeze-you-on-the-spot toxic.”
Liandra nodded, her expression unchanged. Her threads coiled tighter, slicing into the mist with surgical precision. Each flick of her fingers sent ripples through the glyphs, unraveling the ward bit by bit. The tension in the room felt like a taut wire stretched to its limit, each movement threatening to snap it.
“It’s guarding something,” she murmured, more to herself than to him. Her threads shimmered faintly as they twisted over and through the glyphs, her movements fluid and deliberate. “But what?”
“That’s what I was hoping to find out,” Jaeden replied, rising to his feet. “Can you -do anything about it?” He nodded at her curious motions and the barely visible strands that she was manipulating.
Liandra paused before nodding, her focus intensifying. The threads she wove became fully apparent to his meta-sight -as it seemed to enhance his other perceptions- so he watched as they coiled tighter, slicing into the mist. Slowly, the blue haze dissipated, drawn into the glyphs like water spiraling into a drain. The pedestal stood bare, revealing a shard of dark crystal pulsing faintly with an unnatural light..
“Looks like you got your groove back,” Jaeden commented, once she’d finished. Liandra smiled wanly and gestured for him to go ahead.
The shard was small, but its presence filled the room, radiating a cold energy that seemed to sink into Jaeden’s bones. He stared at it, drawn in by the faint, rhythmic pulse. It felt alive in a way that set his teeth on edge.
Jaeden reached for it, his fingers hovering just above its surface. Liandra’s voice cut through the air like a blade.
“Be careful,” she warned, her tone sharp. “That’s not just a fragment.”
He hesitated, glancing at her. “What is it?”
Liandra didn’t look at him. Her gaze remained fixed on the shard, her expression unreadable. “It’s tied to something bigger. Shards like these don’t exist in isolation. Its pattern is bound by threads to -I don’t know what.”
Jaeden frowned but didn’t pull back. The shard’s energy seemed to reach for him, a cold current that thrummed against his palm. He grasped it carefully, the chill sinking into his skin as though the crystal were siphoning warmth from his body. His HUD lit up instantly, S.A.S.S.Y.’s snark cutting through the moment.
S.A.S.S.Y.: Item Acquired – Obsidian Shard. Tier: Legendary. Effect: Unknown.
“Well, that’s not ominous at all,” Jaeden muttered, studying the shard. Its surface was etched with faint, swirling patterns, almost like the flowing lines of a spider’s web. The cold energy it emitted felt both familiar and alien, like something that shouldn’t exist but somehow fit perfectly into his hand.
Before he could dwell on it further, the ground beneath them trembled violently. A deep, guttural growl reverberated through the chamber, the sound rolling like distant thunder. The shadows along the walls twisted unnaturally, coalescing into hulking forms that seemed to pull themselves free of the darkness.
The air turned frigid, each breath burning Jaeden’s lungs as though he were inhaling ice. His hand tightened around the shard as his other instinctively raised the Orichalcum Sword of Asterius. The cursed blade flared to life, its dark energy crackling along its edges in jagged arcs of gold and black.
The shadows took form -hulking, featureless creatures with glowing eyes that burned like embers in the gloom. Tendrils of mist coiled around their shifting bodies, moving with a restless, predatory hunger.
S.A.S.S.Y.: Threat Detected – Shades of the Bound. Threat Level: Moderate.
Liandra stepped forward, her threads unfurling in a radiant cascade of violent purple light. They twisted around her hands like living things, imbuing the twin Titanoboa Daggers with umbral energy, until their edges were sharp as lasers. Her expression hardened, her voice calm but edged with dry humor.
Liandra flipped one of her daggers. “Looks like you tripped more than one trap.”
Jaeden sighed, drawing his Orichalcum Sword of Asterius. The blade pulsed faintly, its hunger reacting to the tension in the room. “Story of my life.”
The first Shade lunged, its glowing eyes fixed on Jaeden as its claws raked the air. He moved instinctively, sidestepping the attack and bringing his sword down in a swift arc. The blade cleaved through the creature’s arm, and the cursed energy surged, spreading through the Shade’s form like black lightning. The creature let out a distorted wail before dissolving into mist.
“Not so bad,” Jaeden muttered, turning to face the others.
The remaining Shades advanced, their movements fluid and unnervingly synchronized. Liandra’s threads lashed out like whips, slicing through one Shade with a sound like tearing fabric. The imbued daggers piercing it like a pincushion, causing the creature to convulse, its body fracturing into mist under the umbral assault.
“Nice,” Jaeden said, deflecting another Shade’s clawed swipe. “You’ve got this whole murder-weaving thing down.”
Liandra didn’t respond, her focus razor-sharp as her threads coiled tighter. The Shades didn’t slow, their glowing eyes fixed on their prey.
The chamber’s temperature continued to drop, frost creeping along the edges of the pedestal. Jaeden’s breath fogged in the frigid air as he sidestepped another attack. His senses sharpened, his instincts pulling him toward the center of the room, where the shard pulsed faintly in his grip.
“This just keeps getting better,” he muttered.