The skittering, crawling sound grated against my every nerve. My stomach twisted. Bile rose in my throat. My heart pounded. Dread built within me.
This was the right place; of that, I was certain. But this was a path of death. How could the compass have led us here?
Every single second dragged on as that awful sense of trepidation grew.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Maiela muttered. “Should we—”
Her words were cut off in a gasp as the skittering came to an abrupt stop. For one long, terrible moment, nothing happened.
And then the floor shifted beneath our feet. A sound like the gnashing of teeth filled the air. Rocks peeled away from the wall. A black mist pooled on the ground.
I saw them.
Horror and revulsion ran through me.
This was worse than the wolves.
This was worse than anything I could have ever imagined.
Bad Feelings and Aberrations
RYLLAE
Iwasn’t sure what was worse—the black mist rising from the ground or the creatures making their way towards us. With every single second that passed, they drew closer. I supposed it didn’t matter which one was more awful than the other. They were both the things of nightmares.
“For Kydona’s sake, run!” The dragon shifter’s voice echoed through the massive underground city. Moving his sword into his left hand, he grabbed Aileana and pulled her behind him. Green ribbons slipped from Aileana’s palms as she ran after her mate. The magic slammed into the creatures, buying us all a few seconds.
Kysha and Maiela quickly followed suit, running after the mated pair. Soon, the four of them disappeared into the dead city.
Not me.
No matter how much I urged my body to move, it wouldn’t listen.
Time slowed.
The mist crawled up my legs. My heart pounded. I was frozen in place. I told my mind to run, but my treacherous body ignored me.
A hand landed on my arm. “Come on, Ryllae,” Daegal urged. “We need to go.”
I knew that. I understood the problem. But I couldn’t… I couldn’t move. Red threads of magic swirled around my palms, but I didn’t give them any direction.
Worthless. Useless. Awful. Good for nothing.
My feet danced over the ledge of insanity. I could feel it beckoning me. Calling me. So close.
“Ryllae,” Daegal said again. “Come.”
“Do you see those?” I asked, my voice at once too loud and yet so quiet, I could barely hear myself. Spiders, but not spiders. Skulls, but not skulls. Whatever they were, they steadily made their way toward us. I shivered. “They’re…”
“Aberrations,” Daegal finished for me, shuddering.
That was a good way to describe them. Their bodies, if you could call them that, were white skulls. They crawled on long, black spindly legs that ended in pincers, clicking on the ground. That wasn’t the worst part, though. It was their eyes that would haunt me for the rest of my days. Mossy green bulbs looked out through the holes in their skulls as bits of black vines wove through their bodies.
These skull-spiders were Life and Death come together to form one horrific being. Some were small, others were the size of small dogs, while some were even larger still.
They were coming for us.
“Come on!” Daegal yelled, pulling on my arm as more of them swarmed towards us.