Then the remaining Bone Dogs erupted.
Their howls rose to a fevered pitch, raw and furious, as if Lina's attack had only confirmed their hatred. They surged forward, slamming their hammerhead skulls into the coral pillar with renewed ferocity. The structure shuddered under the impacts, flakes and splinters raining down with every strike.
Above them, the pillar trembled—and the sinking sun continued its slow, merciless descent.
Lina clenched her jaw and reached for another loose fragment of coral, her fingers brushing its rough edge. Before she could pull it free, Oscar's hand closed around her shoulder. His grip was firm, steady, grounding.
"Save your energy," he said quietly, but with unmistakable authority. "We need to move higher, and fast. We move in ten minutes. That should give us fifteen to gain another couple of meters." He lifted his chin, eyes tracking the jagged formation above them. "See that ridge there? That's our next stop."
Lina hesitated, then let her hand fall away from the coral. She nodded once, swallowing hard.
"Easy for you to say," Varkass muttered, wiping saliva from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. His breathing was still uneven, his chest rising and falling too quickly. He was lanky to the point of looking fragile, all sharp limbs and narrow shoulders, and his mouth never seemed to stop running. Yet despite the crassness, despite the constant complaints, there was a reliability to him that had proven itself again and again. More than once, his Aspect—the ability to unleash blinding flashes of light—had dragged them out of certain death, buying precious seconds against Centurions and Scavengers when nothing else would have worked.
Jahness shifted his weight uneasily, glancing southward where the reef stretched out toward the dimming horizon. His voice dropped, almost swallowed by the wind. "Is this… even the right way?" he asked. "Petier and Douglas said safety was in the south. But they're both dead now. And they were the only ones who had that Memory."
For a moment, no one answered.
Then Varkass spat over the edge of the coral pillar, his expression twisted with bitterness. "I say it's bullshit. A sword that points in the direction of whatever you want most? No way. That doesn't fit. Not at all. And even if something like that did exist, there's no chance it'd be just an Awakened Memory."
Lina rounded on him, eyes sharp despite the exhaustion etched into her face. "They said it only gave vague directions," she shot back, "and that it couldn't point to anything above Awakened rank." Her voice hardened. "Petier and Douglas saved me when they could've left me behind. I trust their words."
The argument hung in the air, unresolved, as the coral pillar shuddered beneath another heavy impact from below. Somewhere beneath them, the Bone Dogs howled again, maddened and relentless.
Above, the white sun continued its descent.
Whether the path they followed was right or wrong, Jahness realized grimly, they no longer had the luxury of doubt. Only movement. Only survival.
The next ten minutes stretched on in oppressive silence. Oscar's warning had been taken to heart; no one spoke, and no one wasted breath. Each of them focused inward, forcing their bodies to recover what little strength they could. Jahness sat with his back against the coral, eyes half-lidded, regulating his breathing while the gelatinous scab on his palm slowly hardened. Lina lay flat on her stomach, arms trembling faintly as exhaustion seeped out of her muscles in reluctant increments. Varkass leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at nothing as he waited for the nausea to fade. Oscar remained standing, watchful, eyes never leaving the space below.
At the base of the pillar, the Bone Dogs prowled.
They paced in loose circles, claws scraping softly against coral as they sniffed the air and growled at one another in low, territorial rumbles. Occasionally, one would rear back and snap at the pillar out of habit rather than hope, before slinking away again. Their earlier frenzy dulled into something colder, more patient.
Five minutes in, hunger overtook restraint.
Four of the Bone Dogs descended upon the fallen companion Lina had struck. The creature was still alive. Its body spasmed violently as its packmates tore into it, bone claws and jagged maws ripping through flesh with wet, obscene sounds. Its screams were high-pitched and shrill, echoing unnaturally across the reef as it squirmed and tried to crawl away, only to be dragged back and dismembered. Black blood sprayed and pooled between coral ridges as the monsters fed, tearing chunks free and swallowing them whole.
Three of the Bone Dogs did not join.
They remained apart, heads tilted upward, unmoving. Their empty eye sockets were fixed on the humans above with an unsettling stillness. They no longer battered the pillar; they had learned that lesson. Instead, they waited, coiled with intent, as though certain their prey would come down eventually.
When at last everyone felt steady enough to move, the white sun hovered just above the horizon, its light thin and sickly. Time was nearly gone.
Oscar drew in a deep breath. His Aspect surged to life. Muscles swelled visibly beneath his skin, veins standing out as his flesh flushed red and tight, power compressing into every movement. Without ceremony, he bent and hoisted Varkass up, slinging him over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing. Varkass let out a brief grunt of protest but did not resist.
Lina and Jahness exchanged a single glance. No words were needed.
Together, the four of them leapt.
They pushed off the top of the coral pillar and plunged toward the adjacent ridge, bodies cutting through the air in a desperate arc. For a heartbeat, the world seemed to hang suspended.
Below, the three watching Bone Dogs froze.
They stared upward, stunned, as if their prey had violated some unspoken rule. Then their hesitation shattered. They howled as one, sharp and furious, snapping the four feeding monsters out of their grisly feast. Black gore was abandoned mid-bite as the pack surged forward.
With powerful bounds, they launched themselves after the fleeing Sleepers, claws digging in, bone heads lowered.
The chase had begun—just as the sun dipped toward the Dark Sea's embrace.
The four humans hit the ridge hard.
Lina grunted sharply as impact drove the air from her lungs. Something cracked in her side—she felt it clearly, a sharp, ugly snap somewhere along her ribs. Pain flared white-hot, then dulled beneath a surge of adrenaline so intense it bordered on numbness. Fear drowned out everything else. She forced her body to move, ignoring the warning screams from her own bones as she clawed for purchase on the coral.
Oscar landed next. The ground shuddered beneath him as his enhanced mass struck, a small shockwave rippling outward. Varkass jolted violently where he was slung over Oscar's shoulder and let out a startled yelp of protest, swearing as he clutched at Oscar's back to keep from being flung off.
Jahness touched down almost gracefully by comparison. Years of acrobatics guided his body through the fall, knees bending just enough, hands brushing coral to bleed off momentum. He was already moving before the others fully recovered, fingers finding holds, feet searching for balance.
They began to climb.