The stone structure pulsed again.
Riven's eyes lingered on it, his thoughts were spiraling. 'Why does it feel so strange?' It wasn't just the light that felt weird, it was the rhythm itself that make it strange. A pulse that seemed to echo inside his ribs.
'It almost feels like a living heartbeat.'
The light kept on pulsing through the chamber, and he stared for too long, entranced by it, until the roar shattered his focus again. It ripped through the air, tearing dust from the ceiling. His head whipped toward the entrance with his eyes going wide and breath stuttering.
'No, no, no, shit. Where do I fucking go now? Where do I hide in here?'
His gaze swept the cavern. There was nothing that could help. Only the boulders scattered around, the jagged walls, and shadows that felt thinner with every heartbeat. Panic clawed through him, making his broken fingers throb like fire. He lurched toward the nearest boulder pressed against the wall, the stinger-staff slipping from his grasp and It clattered across the stone floor.
He shoved the pickaxe between his teeth. The metal reeked of rust, rancid blood, and salt, but he didn't care. He needed his hands. He braced himself.
His gaze dropped to his mangled hand, looking swollen after being bent in the wrong way. 'I need to take care of this…' He didn't have time to properly care for it. But desperation forced him and with a grunt, he tore a strip from the tatters of his trousers, winding the fabric tight around his fingers. His breath hissed through clenched teeth as pain flared white-hot, stars bursting across his vision.
Another roar came from the tunnel and this time it sounded much closer.
He froze.
Sweat poured from him as though fever had gripped him. His stomach churned, bile clawing up his throat. His knees almost buckled. He wanted to vomit, but even that sound might kill him.
He dared a glance toward the entrance. His eyes widened.
The chamber pulsed with light again, ghostly brilliance spilling across the stone just as the deviant forced its way inside.
It filled the entrance. Nearly twenty-five feet tall, its bulk bent grotesquely to squeeze through, body grinding against the rock. Its hide gleamed, plates along its back shifting as if alive on their own. Its jaw split wide, strands of black saliva drooling, and the hiss that followed sounded like bone being sawed apart.
One clawed limb hooked into the floor, dragging deep furrows as its head lowered. It moved toward the discarded staff, nosed it with a rattling sniff, then growled a low reverberating sound. The beast turned its head slowly, scanning the chamber, jaws twitching open and shut. Its massive tail dragged behind it, scouring the stone room.
It prowled in a slow circle. Then it halted near a boulder, it bent lower. Its bear-like eyes narrowed at something small on the floor and the growl deepened.
The chamber pulsed again. Light spilled from the suspended stone above, bathing its hide in a shifting red gleam. The deviant shuddered, head snapping upward. It snarled at the structure. But when it turned back, the boulder it had chosen hid nothing.
On the far wall, however there was a little movement.
Riven clung to a jagged outcrop, muscles trembling violently due to the strain of maintaining his position. Every part of his body screamed in protest. He'd been pushed from one nightmare to another since stumbling into this cursed place. His shirt was long gone, his skin slick with sweat and streaked black from the deviant's blood. Shadows clung to him, making him a part of the wall.
He pressed flat against the stone, lungs locked, terrified even his breath would betray him.
'God… why the hell does my luck have to be so damn bad.That bastard is too damn big.'
His eyes, wide and frantic, stared at the monster now directly below him. He could see every twitch of exposed muscle, every bead of saliva sizzling as it hit the stone.
'Don't look up. Don't… just don't.'
The deviant prowled directly beneath him.
He forced his body higher, inching toward one of the great support structures. His fingers scraped and slipped. He bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to taste blood. His broken fingers nearly gave way. A stone shifted beneath his foot and he slid, his heart seized up, vision going white with panic. Somehow, he caught himself, clinging like a rat in a trap. He pressed his forehead to the rock and squeezed his eyes shut.
Then came the crack.
The ledge beneath him gave way and a fragment of stone tumbled into the dark, striking the floor with a sharp clack!
Riven froze.
The deviant's head snapped toward the sound. Its jaw split with a click. It turned slowly, agonizingly slowly. First toward the fallen stone… then upward.
Its eyes locked on him.
Riven's stomach dropped. His chest clenched tight and every nerve screaming. 'Oh shit, I'm fucked.'
The growl rumbled out of the beast, deeper than before and vibrating through the walls. Its jaws opened wider, strands of black saliva stretching, swaying in the glow.
It had found its prey.
'…shit.'
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