Cale's gaze swept across the chamber. The floor was scarred; there were claw marks deep in the stone. But there were no creatures. In fact, there was no movement, just the noisy silence of the nest, slow and patient.
"Why aren't the fallen beasts attacking?" Val whispered.
"The question is, where are all the Fallen beasts?" he asked, crouching and touching the floor as if examining it.
Everyone went silent. He was listening to Revenant, who stirred in his shadow.
"The beasts seem to know you."
Cale's grip tightened on his blade. He stood, and he kept walking.
They descended deeper into the tunnels. The tunnels twisted, sometimes narrowing so tight they had to turn sideways, sometimes opening into wide caverns large enough to swallow the academy's main hall. In one such cavern, they saw them: Fallen Beasts.
Dozens of them clustered around a pool of black liquid that bubbled slowly. They were the same creatures that had attacked the surface, damn annoying things with too many legs; there were larger ones with thick carapaces, and some that flew on leather wings. They drank from the pool, their forms seemingly indistinct in the dim light.
*Oh, this was where you guys decided to stay,* he thought as he glanced at Valerie. Her face was filled with surprise and curiosity.
Cale's muscles were all tensed; he was ready to fight.
But the beasts did not move. A few raised their heads, red eyes fixing on him. He felt their hunger. Then, as one, they all turned back to the pool, ignoring them.
Val let out a shaky breath. "What the hell?"
Cale didn't answer. He moved carefully past them, toward the far end of the cavern.
One of the beasts, larger than the others with ugly scars across its carapace, raised its head again. It watched him pass. Then, it moved.
It was fast, way faster than the ones on the surface. It lunged, its claws extended, jaws wide.
Cale sidestepped. Soul Drinker came up, though not to cut, but to block. Trying to cut through that monster was stupid; its carapace was very sturdy. The beast's claws scraped against the blade, and the weapon hummed, hungry. It zapped Mauri from the large creature. Cale's free hand shot out, pressing against the creature's carapaced throat. Necrotic Touch.
Its Mauri drained. The beast shattered its focus, its claws scraping on the floor, its strength ebbing. It tried to pull away, but Cale held on, drawing more, feeling the life force flow into him, into and through the blade.
The beast's red eyes flickered. It stopped struggling. For a moment, it just simply stared at him.
Then it turned and scuttled away, disappearing into the darkness.
Cale lowered his hand. His Mauri was fuller than before. The blade danced with newfound energy.
Behind him, Valerie was silent.
The next chamber they found was different.
It was vast, the ceiling lost in the gross darkness. The floor was smooth, polished, and worn by something that had paced here for a long time. With the help of the light from Valerie's cloak, they were able to see clearly in the darkness. At the center of the chamber was a raised platform of black stone, cracked down the middle.
Cale stopped at the edge. He could feel it now: the presence of the beast that had lived here, hunted their very souls. The air was thick with its presence. He knelt, touching the stone. It was cold and dead.
But not dead for long.
He traced a claw mark on the platform, his fingers following its depth. It was still fresh, a few hours old. The beast had just left recently.
He looked at the walls. The patterns there were not just decoration; they were a record. Lines marked the days, cycles, and seasons. The beast had kept time. It had stayed here for quite a long time; it had been here for months, maybe years.
The markings changed near the far wall. It was more frantic, jagged. Something about them had changed. Something had drawn it away.
He stood, turning to follow the markings. They led to a crack in the wall, a fissure that glowed with dark light. Beyond it, he could feel something like the tide, like gravity.
A portal!
He was about to step forward when a tremor ran through the floor.
Val grabbed his arm. "What was that?"
Another tremor struck, stronger. The walls were shaking, the light in the vines brightening, dimming, and brightening again.
From deeper in the nest came a sound, a low sound that rose in pitch, vibrating through the walls, through their bodies.
He turned, facing Valerie. "Run!"
They picked up their pace.
The tunnels were shifting now; the walls were closing in, the floors cracking. They ran through the cavern of the fallen beasts, but the creatures were fleeing too, scrambling over each other, ignoring the intruders. The sound was a roar now; it was deafening.
They burst into the chamber with the portal. The tear in reality was wider now, swirling and pulling at them. The air itself was moving toward it, a wind that grew stronger with each second.
Val grabbed a jutting rock, her hair whipping. "What's happening?"
Cale braced himself against a pillar, his eyes fixed on the portal. The pull from the portal was strong, far too strong.
The portal was calling them.
Behind them were voices. Apparently, some other students had followed to check out the nest. He saw a boy in the Koinos uniform, a girl with brown hair, and two others he didn't recognize. They were being pulled too, their feet sliding on the cracked floor.
Val's grip on the rock was slipping. "Cale!"
He lunged, grabbing her hand. His other hand held the pillar, but the stone was crumbling. The pull was too strong.
He looked at her. Her face was pale, her eyes wide. She was scared. She was holding on to him, and he was holding on to nothing.
The pillar shattered.
They fell into the light.