Chapter 20 – The Endless Hunt
The wind screamed as the sandstorm thickened again, cloaking the wasteland in shifting walls of dust and glass. Kael wiped grit from his eyes, his chest heaving as the resonance of battle still throbbed inside him.
But beneath the howl of the storm, another sound grew louder.
A chorus of roars.
Dozens of them.
Shapes moved across the dunes—creatures like the one they had slain, but smaller and faster. Their bodies gleamed with obsidian shards, their veins glowing faintly as if molten rivers ran beneath their cracked skins. Each step they took sent shockwaves through the sand, the rhythm echoing in Kael's bones.
"They're hunting us," Liora said, her voice tight but steady.
Kael forced a grim smile. "Then they'll learn we don't run easy."
But the swarm was vast. The sand writhed as more emerged, some clawing out from beneath the dunes, others dropping from fractured cliffs. Their eyes burned white, fixed on Kael.
The shard in his chest pulsed violently, resonating with them. The voices whispered in unison:
> Join. Merge. Become.
He clenched his jaw, resisting. Not this time.
Liora touched his arm, her expression sharp. "Kael. We can't fight them all head-on. Not like this."
He scanned the landscape—ruins of colossal machines half-buried in the sand, jagged husks of metal stretching toward the bleeding sky. One in particular caught his eye: a towering ribcage of steel beams, hollow but intact enough to provide cover.
"There," he said, pointing. "If we can reach it, we make a stand."
Liora didn't hesitate. "Move."
They sprinted across the dunes, the swarm thundering behind them. The storm made each step treacherous, the sand sucking at their feet. Kael's lungs burned, his shard pulsing harder with every heartbeat.
The first creature leapt from the storm, a blur of obsidian claws. Kael twisted, his blade flashing upward, cleaving through its torso. Shards exploded in a spray of molten glass. He didn't stop running.
Liora unleashed a burst of energy, her strikes carving arcs of light through the storm. Two more creatures collapsed, their glowing veins extinguished. But for each they felled, three more surged closer.
The ruins loomed ahead. Kael dove into the steel ribcage, landing hard on cracked metal. Liora followed, spinning to cover the entrance. The swarm hit the ruins like a wave, clawing and shrieking, their bodies slamming against the beams.
Kael's blade clashed against claws that sparked like blades of glass. He gritted his teeth, the shard in his chest urging him to unleash. He felt the power building, begging to be set free.
> Take them all. Devour. Become whole.
"No," he hissed, swinging harder. "I won't."
But the temptation was relentless. With each strike, he felt the line between himself and the monsters blur. Their resonance was his resonance. Their hunger was his hunger.
Liora's voice cut through the madness. "Kael! Don't lose yourself now!"
Her words snapped him back. He shifted his stance, channeling his will into control, not surrender. His strikes grew more precise, his movements unpredictable, cutting down the creatures that forced their way through the ribs.
Hours seemed to blur into moments. The ruins shook under the relentless assault, but still they stood. Kael's body screamed with exhaustion, sweat and blood mixing with dust on his skin. Liora's energy flickered faintly, her breaths shallow, but her eyes never wavered.
Finally, the swarm began to falter. The creatures hissed, their glowing veins dimming, as if the storm itself was calling them back. One by one, they retreated into the shifting sands, until only silence remained.
Kael slumped against a steel beam, his chest rising and falling like a drum. His shard pulsed weakly, quieter now, but still present. He whispered through ragged breaths, "We… we survived."
Liora sat beside him, her hands trembling. "Barely. If they hadn't pulled back…"
Kael stared into the storm beyond the ruins, eyes dark. "They weren't just chasing us. They were testing me. The shard. The labyrinth wanted to see if I'd give in."
Liora's gaze hardened. "And did you?"
He looked down at his hands, stained with blood and shard dust. His voice came low, almost broken. "I wanted to. Gods, I wanted to. But I didn't."
Her hand brushed his shoulder lightly, grounding him. "Then that's what matters. Every time you say no, Kael, you're still you."
Silence settled between them, broken only by the groan of the ruins in the storm.
Kael finally whispered, "Then we keep moving. Whatever this wasteland has planned, we endure it. Together."
Liora nodded, her eyes steady on his. "Together."
Outside, the storm roared louder, as though mocking their defiance. But neither moved. Not yet.