Chapter 356: Closure (2/2)

I wasn’t sure why the absence of half of the local fauna made me nervous, but it did I reinforced the layer of aether cladding my body and moved on

We reached the entrance to the den without seeing any signs of life at all Caera knelt down and peered into the dim tunnel She sniffed and wrinkled her nose “What is that foul stench?”

I copied her and nearly gagged on the sross enough just by reading your thoughts I’ll just wait this one out’

“Maybe it’s thea few tentative steps down the steeply descending tunnel

The tunnel radiated faint purple light, like before, but it felt larger than it had, and the churned dirt of the floor had a red tinge to it below the purple glow

Wethe tunnel until it widened and opened to our left Aether crystals were scattered across the tunnel floor, so This eventually opened up into the huge cavern where we’d fought the first millipede

Caera put a hand over her mouth and nose We had found the source of the smell, and it wasn’t the millipede we’d killed

Aether crystals carpeted the ground, no longer in piles but spread out and s, half-eaten rotesque chaff It was like sohtht be sick, but I didn’t think it was just froht before us

“It wasn’t like this before,” I said gently “Nothing so grueso to avoid the worst of the mess Cracked and broken aether crystals crunched underan unco for the bowl-like nest where I’d originally found thearmor and weapons—all that reone

Where the nest had been, the ground was dug up and trampled, the only spot devoid of crystals and corpses As I approached the barren pit,beneath the crystals, and I pulled out a broken sword handle It was the one I had ier and cloak I tossed it back into the clutter

“Sorry,” I said as Caera caht this would be more…sentimental”

Caera’s hand ca, but she didn’t need to

Walking gingerly down into the center of the barren pit where the nest had been, she kneeled Her fingers co her work through whatever thoughts she was having I i her adoptive parents had never really given her the opportunity to do

My ht of my father I wished I had done reatain, Caera probably felt the same way about Sevren

“Grey?” I looked down into the pit at Caera She frowned “Did you hear that?”

I’d let myself beco noise It sounded like an entire ar, like a thousand arle above

“shi+t, it’s here,” I said, giving her is!”

‘Do I have to?’ he grumbled, but the wolf appeared beside itation

We quickly arranged ourselves for battle I stood near the center of the cavern, prepared to draw its attention Regis crept around to the left, staying close to the far wall Caera stayed well back, her sword drawn and the two silver spinesobting her defensively

The sound of its hard exoskeleton scraping along the tunnel wallsdown from the roof It slowed as it ca in a ain Then it would scrape forward a little more Clack clack clack

Then its head inched into the cavern

‘Oh shi+t’

This e as the one we’d killed Its body had turned a rusty red color, now only slightly translucent Eachand broad as a man and serrated like a bone saw

It froze It’s head lowered a few feet The mandibles clacked

Then it burst forward in a rush of speed that should have been ied back as the mandibles snapped shut just ahead of rabbed the very front leg With a sharp twist, the leg ripped free of the body, but the giantdoard, the body bucking and coiling, every inch of it inaround the back end, biting and snapping at whatever he could Fro into the hard carapace like ballista bolts, but the flames only left dark scorch marks The entire exoskeleton was covered in a thick layer of aether, which was shrugging off even the soulfire

I with aether, I tried to thrust up into theslammed into my shoulder and the blow skated off the aether-coated chitin

Throwing down the severed appendage, I conjured an aether blade instead and slashed out at the closest leg My blade chipped it, then broke Cursing, I willedon its forer swelled into the rough size and shape of a spade, then burst apart

Caera braced herself as the millipede shi+fted its attention on her It let out a whistling screech and surged toward her

Gathering as ht up The chitinous underbelly cracked, and theat the crystal-covered dirt I punched again and again, creating a series of broken craters along the underside of its body, but it wasn’t enough to slow it down or reclaim its attention

The silver shards of Caera’s artifact were spinning rapidly in front of her, no longer firing projectiles Instead, a steady bea a thin barrier in front of her As I prepared to grab the s in a last ditch effort to hold it back, a third satellite broke loose from the bracer, then a forth, and they joined with the others

The thin barrier bloomed into a wall of black fire an instant before the millipede struck it Caera’s eyes sharpened as she leaned forward, focusing on holding the defensive barrier in place The impact shook the den, and the millipede's body crumpled up like a derailed train as the front end suddenly stopped, but the back end kept churning forward

The es of the soulfire shi+eld Black-purple sparks fleherever the aether-cladthey landed on The dark light reflected off the sweat clinging to Caera’s face, highlighting her features Her teeth were bared in a gri like they too had been set afla it back, but I knew she couldn’t hold it for long

A sudden swelling pressure from the other end of the cave made is picking higed, his form less obviously wolflike as his features es of the hard spikes that were growing out fro fro to take tiht

There wasn’t ti flashed aroundhead Infusing aether into my fists, I slaain, creating a spiderweb of cracks in the thick chitin

Theout fro on my feet The head shook back and forth and the le breath, things in the cavern were nearly still

Caera was breathing hard behind her shi+eld, but when Iiant is The shadowsthe full extent of his Destruction forainst the so-called “Wild Things,” he was huge His chest and forelegs grew thick with corded ed, unnatural purple fla ra ers

When he spoke, his deep voice reverberated through the den,this out, bitch!”

Regis leapt half the length of the den to crash into the coiledHe ripped off legs and tore huge gashes in the carapace, through which a thick, reddishback Despite Regis’s size, the giant beast was stillits bulk to crush hi off the hardened fur

Burning black bolts of soulfire pelted the creature, firing even faster than before The thick barrier of aether was fading, and for every ten bolts that dissipated against it, onethe chitin to pop and hiss as the soulfire burned it away

Suddenly theainst its body Caera’s artifact flashed back into defensive ainst the wall

Taking a deep, steadying breath, I conjured an aether blade ina clear picture in , thin blade, translucent purple instead of blue I had the aether required—I knew I did—it was only the understanding I lacked Soht into how aether could form a solid shape—a weapon—continued to escape thened, but the edge grew indistinct The for like theall around es shi+vered and danced, efire than tempered steel, but the form held

I tracked the path of theframe It was chaotic,the blade with both hands, I split my mind With one part, I held the sword’s form With the other, I focused aether into every muscle, joint, and tendon My head ached with the effort, ainst the tension

Burst Step pulled the world beneathon the other side of the den, nothing left in my hands but a faint wisp of aether Behindnoise as the e poured froround into a gory soup of crystals, half-eaten reht to Regis, who I couldn’t see a the folds of the millipede’s corpse The pressure put off by his Destruction for to lie here in this stanky death soup for a ht tiredly back

With a weary chuckle, I turned ainst the far wall I had pro her on these ascents in return for her help in stealing the Co the Alacryan noble hold her own in these last few zones, having her as a teaenuine partnershi+p

“Caera,” I called out as I saw her pushi+ng herself back up to her feet “Nice wo—”

So closer to my blue-haired companion as she hobbled toward the center of the den

Regis appeared around ato his fur He came to stand beside me, and atched silently as Caera found a relatively clear space near the center of the den Soulfire suddenly burst out of her, for a sphere of black flames that faded as quickly as it had appeared

Now standing at the center of a bare ring of earth, she withdrew soed it into the ground Her brother’s dagger

Dropping to her knees, she leaned forward and rested her forehead against its poan to treround

“Cois followed, allowing her a rieve The half-choked sound of broken sobs resounded in the silence