The space beyond was more dark, stone corridors. It went straight away from the opening Cass made. She closed the entry behind them so Fioreya couldn’t follow and they set out down it.

They were getting closer.

Her body was shaking in anticipation. Her mouth watered.

A feast was coming.

That thought gave her pause. What was that? Was she hungry? When was the last time she’d been hungry?

Slyphids didn’t get hungry. At least, she hadn’t up to this point. Salos had said they were fueled by storms. So, maybe she would eventually? There wasn’t a storm brewing over the city to feed her here.

Was that all this was?

But then why was she so sure there would be something to eat ahead?

The corridor ended at another seamed wall. Cass opened it to reveal a large warehouse-sized room. Vats of colored glass lined one wall. Tables of tools and crystals took up much of the middle.

“The staff room,” Salos said as a matter of course. Exactly like he’d said. He hadn’t been lying about this.

A dozen seams lined the walls, all passages off the staff room, likely leading to different parts of the cavern. Rogue Script was written over each one. Salos could lead them the right way when they were done here. But first—

“It’s coming,” Salos said, his voice low. His eyes turned on the nearest seam to their right.

“It?” Alyx asked.

But Cass knew. She could feel it coming closer still.

Alyx and Marco’s eyes scanned the dark, their hands on their weapons, looking for what Cass and Salos could already feel.

It was hot. Hot in a way that had nothing to do with the temperature of the air.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Unmistakably excitement, not fear.

Blood pulsed in her ears, loud and pounding and all-consuming.

She could barely hold still, but she knew she needed to wait.

It was approaching. It would come to her.

Salos’s tail twitched.

“Cass, are you alright?” Alyx edged closer to her, concern in her eyes, even as she scanned the walls. “What is happening?”

Why couldn’t Alyx understand? Couldn’t she feel it?

No, of course not. It wasn’t Alyx’s to claim.

To reclaim.

It was hers.

It belonged to Cass. To Salos.

To them.

Alyx couldn’t possibly know. She was whole. She was already complete. She had no room to grow. No edges left unfinished.

A glimmer flickered in the corner of Cass’s vision. Red and dim. A System notification.

Sunder (Lvl ?) (???)

[You could teach her.]

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

A skill? For her? Where had this come from?

Cass reached for it. It was easy to hold. Like it had always been there.

“Cass?” Alyx said again. Her voice was sharp. Angry? Flustered? Scared?

“Shh,” Cass whispered. She was a hunter, wasn’t she? Didn’t she know not to scare off the prey? The prey so quickly coming now.

It was just beyond the seam. She knew it innately. The same way she knew which way was up. The same way she knew her name.

Salos disappeared in a poof of smoke, settling back in her necklace.

Or perhaps not the necklace. Perhaps in their Soul Well.

It’s here, Salos whispered to her.

The seam widened into a passage. A spider-like creature stepped out. It stood on long spindly legs with a small central body, like a harvestman. It towered over them, easily twice her height.

From that central body, a humanoid torso hung off the front, so its skinless skull of a head hung at about her eye level. Its head was craned forward at an unnatural angle, its eyeless sockets glowing with purple fire. Its arms hung limply from its sides, its skin the same slate grey as the spider legs and just as spindly.

Prey

[The object of your desire. Devour its soul. Grow stronger. Grow complete.]

Cass’s stomach growled. She was starving.

When was the last time she’d been hungry? She couldn’t remember. Or had she always been hungry and simply not noticed?

Devour it. Salos hissed. Or was that her thought? Both of them?

But she didn’t need the encouragement. She leapt forward, her staff clenched in her hands.

“Cass!” Alyx shouted after her.

She wasn’t listening. Her staff slammed into her prey’s leg. The spindly leg was sturdier than it looked. Her staff bounced off it. The impact reverberated up her arms and numbed her muscles.

“Blood and abyss, Cass!” Alyx shouted. “Stand down!”

Alyx’s command washed over her. There was a spark of sense in that order. A flicker of recognition.

It was drowned in an instant.

How dare she give her orders? How dare she Command and Compel? How dare she try to separate her from her prey?

Kill it. Devour it! Make it ours!

The creature swung its torso at her, its hands grasping. She Dodged out of the way, her staff flaring with another Wind Blade and slicing after the hands, leaving shallow cuts along the knuckles and over the back of the hands.

Purple ichor dripped from the cuts and splashed across her face. It was cold. Like ice. Like the breath of winter. Like the grave.

But it also sparked with power. With potential. She could feel it at its core.

She could see it already. Its body in pieces below her, ichor pooling around her as she dug through its corpse, her hands ripping that core from its flesh. How sweet would that soul be on her tongue? How filling in her stomach?

“What do we do?” someone squeaked somewhere behind her.

Another voice was cursing. “We’re doing this, I guess. Marco, protect the mage. Pellen, try to keep the worst of its attacks off that idiot.”

“Y-you mean Cass?”

“If you see a bigger idiot, feel free to protect them instead!” the cursing voice growled.

Then there was another sword in the mix, striking at the spindly legs as its owner rushed into the melee.

She drew another Wind Blade, sending it spinning through the air as she dove in again. The blade slashed across its softer sides while her staff pounded after its knees.

The creature screamed, and its hands flexed in arcane and twisted positions.

Suddenly, the air was full of floating crystals. They hovered around its body in a cloud of glowing shards, most no bigger than a finger’s width. All of them were razor-sharp.

The creature swung its arm and the cloud burst forward.

She put her head down and Sprinted into it, throwing more wind ahead as she ran.

Not a shard hit her as a wall of force appeared before her, shimmering dark blue before her eyes. It flashed red with every larger projectile that rammed into it.

She was invincible. The heavens themselves protected her. She threw her head back, laughing.

Kill it!

Her laugh transformed into a snarl and she swung at the monster again, her staff aiming for its demented skull. It connected, ringing loud over the other sounds of battle and resonating up her arms.

More crystal shards whipped past her—around the barrier that had appeared above her—and sliced through her cheek.

She swung again on its knees. On its ankles. At its elbows. Ichor exploded out of the joints as she struck them. It splatted over her skin, cold and sticky and tempting. It buzzed with energy. With Potential.

Crystals rained on her, most blocked by barriers provided by others or the heavens, but many still slicing through her clothes, cutting rend after rend in her skin.

She did not care. Every cut was one closer to laying her prey low. Every slice was one closer to seeing its soul in her hands.

A crystal smashed through a barrier with a splintering crack and didn’t stop. It slammed into her shoulder, sending her flying backward into the wall.

Her head slammed into the stone with the impact. The air was ejected from her chest. Her shoulder was pinned in place.