“Do we risk it?” Lycus questioned, his eyes looking deep into the abyss below. A den dug into a cave wall, lit only by the red hot lichen on the walls. Ryke’s own gaze looked towards the trails on the ground that led both in and out. The trails going out were obviously old and nearly covered up by dirt and dust, but the ones going in seemed new. He could only respond with a sigh.

“We haven’t met the quota.”

“And why is that so important?” Ravi perked up. Notoriously uncaring of his own safety, the boy only cared to make sure Drisnae was safe. “We’ve got plenty of the Peonies as it is-”

“Orders. This is what we signed up for-”

“But it’s not! We weren’t meant to-”

“Do you think we’ll survive if we don’t?” Ryke smiled wryly, staring down into the den and the source of the writhing, slithering sounds echoing from within. “Do you not understand we might die even if we go back?” The group remained silent. Caius and Lycus frowned, while the other three simply remained still. Only Ravi and Drisnae appeared frightened, but no one could really blame them. Ryke definitely couldn’t.

“It’s possible the Bastion has already been destroyed. It’s possible it’ll be destroyed only the day after we return. We don’t and won’t know. We can only do our best to make sure we do what we can to prevent that from happening.” Ryke explained again. He wasn’t going to tell them he was talking out of his ass, but it’s not like he didn’t believe the words he said either.

“You can remain in the camp if you’d like. We won’t tell anyone.”

“I.. thank you, Ryke.”

The twins displayed a moment of hesitation, each looking to their respective partner over the last couple days, and then making their way out of the fog together. Only when the duo were completely out of sight did the rest look back to the den and the numerous Angicor slowly slithering out. Ryke held his glaive tight.

“Lycus, Kievra and I will handle the biggest ones. Caius, Ofrir and Maximus, clear the stragglers. Understood?”

Met with nods of understanding, the party gripped their weapons tight and did their best to forget their missing companions. Ofrir was placed in charge of holding the torch as the group dived into the Serpent’s Den. The air grew stagnant and the sound of slithering scales, rock against rock, filled the air.

Ryke finally saw the numerous Angicor making their way up the tunnel. Azure spread across his hands, strengthening his grip and control, his golden eyes landing on the biggest serpent. Easily the length of two people, he could vaguely see its vitality now. Three Fera took up most of the cave, two being the size of a full grown man. Whilst the last one was the same size, it seemed to have a growing, deformed lump on its neck.

The three Centurion Candidates moved forward in tandem, each one forcing their opponent into combat and opening themselves up to the horde of snakes behind them. Caius and Maximus held the line at their sides, whilst Ofrir quickly made his way through picking off stragglers with his range and offering light via the torch, the only other source besides the Azure Glow of Ryke’s vitality.

Within moments his glaive was striking out at the large Angicor, forcing it to slither under the weapon before striking at his abdomen. Before its fangs could bite into his armour, he slammed the end of the polearm into its snout. He transitioned the recoil into a levering action, bringing the heavy metal blade down straight onto the beast's scales- only for the blade to spark off of its rock like body. As he barely kept the grip on his weapon, the Angicor slammed its head into his stomach and knocked him straight to the floor.

Its weight felt like it was crushing his legs whilst its body quickly slithered on top of him, the serpents scales sliding between the gaps in his armour. The sharp rock-like material sliced through his flesh and the Angicor slowly opened its maw over him, ready to swallow the boy whole. His heart beat uncontrollably and Ryke quickly thrust the shaft of the glaive forward- he heard the tough ironwood creak under the pressure of the serpent’s jaws. Roaring beneath its weight, the boy pushed upwards with all his strength.

He could see in his periphery, his companions were more careful after seeing what happened to him. Avoiding full blows to the scales, careful to slide between them with every strike. None could afford to help him, though. Ryke could tell they were all fully focused on their own battles- as he should be too.

Throwing his friend's fate to the back of his mind, he managed to push the snake off of his glaive, swinging the flat of its blade into its head and knocking it to the side. Finding some breathing room, he slammed the end of the glaive back into the beast's head whilst getting back to his knees. Ryke saw it coiling up for another strike and just barely managed to roll out of the way, using the opportunity to slam the flat of the blade into its side and send it rolling.

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

The smell of iron quickly spread throughout the cavern, serpent corpses building up along the floor. The stone beneath their feet was wet with blood. Ryke rushed forward, piercing the glaive in between the beast's scales. Its jaw once more snapped down over his head as he crouched down low, ripping the weapon’s blade from the creature’s flesh. Now down low, his eyes widened in fury as its tail came flying at his side. His knees buckled beneath him as he was forced back down, doing his best to block the blow with his left arm and the Angicor snapped its jaw down around his forearm before he could recover from the tail. Its fangs sliced against his exposed flesh, but the armour held true, refusing to bend beneath its grip.

Roaring out, he slid the haft of the glaive within his grip, wrapping his hand around it just below the blade. The Angicor’s eyes visibly turned to the weapon and it released his forearm in an attempt to back off but he mustered his strength and grabbed it firmly by the fang, forcing it to remain clamped around his arm. Ryke stared it in the eyes whilst he slid the glaive through the gap between the Fera’s jaw and his forearm, piercing the top of its mouth and through its brain. The light in its eyes took mere moments to die out, and it slumped lifelessly on top of the boy.

Pain spread across his left forearm like a flame, the flesh bruised with the bones cracked. His vision blurred once the agony set in, and every movement of his fingers sent pain shooting up into his head. He forced the Angicor corpse off of him and proved he could use the arm, but the pain nearly turned his vision white. He could only flood the wound with vitality in an effort to soothe the pain and stand up, the cracked glaive within his grasp.

His energy reserves remained plentiful and he could finally take a moment to properly assess the overall situation. The cleanup crew remained safe, their Ignitio strength keeping them safe against the Unringed Beasts. Lycus and Kievra each seemed unwounded apart from minor scrapes and cuts, whilst each Ringed Angicor had more than a few moderate wounds.

Ryke held the glaive with one hand, allowing his left arm to hang limp at his side. A heavy warhammer suddenly smashed into the ground next to him, crushing the skull of the Angicor that had just leaped out of the ground. The blow sent rock and flesh flying everywhere, a piece of the creature’s skull slicing a thin wound in his cheek. His heart nearly leaped out of his chest. He had no idea something was below him, let alone even knowing Maximus had shown up behind him.

Thank the Mother for that.

A quick nod between the two was all that was needed for thanks, and Ryke moved on to help Lycus. This Angicor itself was already weaker than the one with the lump on its neck and their combined efforts quickly allowed Lycus to slide his blade into its skull; putting an end to it. The process of killing the last Fera went by even faster, leaving the group to slowly clear the normal Angicor from the cave. The stench of blood became thick as it pooled inches deep on the cave floor, slowly pouring down the slope deeper in.

The group took a moment to rest and Lycus took a moment to treat Ryke’s arm. Everyone else took to gathering spoils from the Fera. Their scales were hard and would make good armour, while their flesh would supplement their vitality. Even some organs might have special effects- they simply needed to return to the Bastion and figure it out.

“So.. why did they fight us here?” Lycus whispered as he put Ryke’s arm in a sling, prompting a tilt of the head from the golden eyed boy. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we heard them coming up, right? When we hadn’t even really entered the cave?”

“They were defending the den.”

“That we hadn’t yet entered, or in any way made ourselves known to?”

“I mean, maybe-”

“Ryke, don’t. Admit it, it’s weird.”

“Then what do you think it is?” Ryke grimaced, rubbing his knuckles into the boy's head jokingly. “If they weren’t leaving to attack us, then why did so many come out?”

“Maybe they were.. Running?”

“What from?”

“The Stone Lotus Praetorian mentioned a few things to us. They were being attacked by Devils and Fera, right?”

“Yes?”

“So if this Den, led by Fera, was attacked by something that wasn’t the Centurions.. ”

His expression faltered, his best efforts to remain optimistic quickly dying out. There wasn’t much they could do now. Worst case scenario, they leave and return to the Bastion with less Ignar Peonies than promised. Best case, Lycus is overthinking it and deeper in is just a stronger Fera. Though Ryke didn’t want to admit that whatever led this den was probably way stronger than the Angicor he killed. The question remained, could they even handle that?

A wry smile spread across his face and Ryke looked about the group. With a resentful sigh, he took a deep breath and resigned himself to his decision. Just as he was about to speak, a rumbling shook the cave itself. Panic creeped into his eyes the moment the shaking stopped, and rocks began to fall from the entrance of the den.

“Get down!”

In a hurry, he placed Lycus below him and got ready for the cave in above, not checking to see if anyone else listened. The panicked Lycus remained quiet below him in a state of confusion. When Ryke opened his eyes moments later after not feeling anything but a few pebbles fall onto his back, he saw his party doing much the same as him. Maximus over Ofrir, Caius over Kievra. Only.. no rocks had fallen.

Then he saw the sealed entrance.