“Bloody hell,” Sarah continued to curse under her breath as she climbed down the large rock jutting out of the earth. “The place is overgrown with plants, I can’t see a thing.” She shook the dust and dirt off her jeans as she spoke. “Those weren’t there before, were they? You said there was just grass.”

  “Back and crimson grass, but yes.” Victoria pursed her lips. “The spires are terraforming the area around them, aren’t they?” She glanced at Alaric.

  It was a possibility. “We’ll learn soon enough. I saw a good dozen or so pairs of eyes inside the damn thing, so be prepared for anything.” With that, they marched on towards the nesting spire.

  It wasn’t long before the overgrowth came into view. Thick ivy with broad leaves had climbed over the smaller trees, while flowers as large as his head bloomed among them, filling the air with a sweet scent. Had it not been for the clearly visible crimson veins on the flower petals, he would have found them beautiful.

  What is this? Another trap, surely. Another way to die horribly.

  A part of him wanted to turn tail and run. Every fibre of his being wanted him to get as far away from here as possible. But he couldn’t. If they didn’t stop the spire, all this growth was likely going to spread far and wide, drown the world in black and crimson.

  The black grass lay trampled in places. The bushes and broad-leaved plants grew thicker and more vibrant as they neared the obsidian structure.

  Luna suddenly growled, taking a few prowling steps forward. Her tail was still, ears perked. Sol’s gaze followed hers, though the male wolf didn’t step away from Alaric’s side.

  “Weapons ready.” Alaric spoke softly as he unsheathed his blade. The others followed. Ava summoned a bow in her hands, and Victoria stretched her fingers. Black smoke swirled around her palms.

  The Obsidian structure was about thirty meters ahead of them, though a few leafy plants were in the way, nothing seemingly blocked their path.

  Was I mistaken? Was there nothing in the structure? Did I imagine those eyes?

  No, he couldn’t convince himself of that. He needed to trust what he saw then. And he needed to trust Luna and Sol.

  “Be ready for anything.” He stepped forward, and the others followed, fanning out slightly so they weren’t all huddled up.

  They walked on without incident. The tallgrass beneath their feet was trampled badly, most of it snapped and dying. It looked like something had been dragged along towards the obsidian structure. Or away from it.

  Sol sudden growled, while Luna sniffed the ground with an alarmed yelp. Not a moment later, the ground rumbled, it shook beneath their feet, the tremors growing closer each passing second. “Spread out!” Alaric shouted as he ran to the side. Ava dashed backwards, nocking an arrow as she did so. Victoria pulled Clara and Elizabeth back while Edward and Carl stepped in front of the girls.

  The ground burst open, pieces of small rocks and lumps of dirt flew into the air, then rained down on them. A gigantic creature reared its ugly head, and its many centipede-like legs pulled its segmented, lumpy body out of the ground. It’s multipart jaw stretched wide as it swept its head from side to side.

  If I hadn’t moved, I would be dead right now… He couldn’t get that thought out of his head.

  The creature lunged at them. It’s legs trampled the ground as they dragged its large, heavy body towards Carl and Edward, and the three young women behind them.

  “Attack!” Alaric shouted, snapping out of his shock. An arrow whistled through the air, striking the creature’s head. It’s metal point dug deep into its unprotected flesh. Black blood oozed out of the wound, though monster didn’t even flinch. It’s focus solely on the three young women, it rushed towards them.

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  The two wolves ran towards it. Their jaws snapped around its hind end, tearing some lumps of flesh off, and spewing black blood everywhere. The smell of carrion filled the air, nearly making him gag.

  Victoria raised her hands in front of her, both palms filled with swirling black smoke, and red lightning inside it. She closed her eyes, calm as if a gigantic creature wasn’t rushing at her, then slammed her palms together.

  The dead grass came to life, wrapping itself around the creature’s many legs, only to snap and break off as its weight easily carried it forward, with little regard to her spell. Her eyes shot wide open, now filled with fear. “I can’t stop it-“

  “Run!” Clara grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side with Elizabeth’s help as Carl and Edward also leapt aside. The creature ran past them, its many legs trying to come to a stop. It slid on the dead grass, rolled onto its side, and crashed into a tree off to the side.

  Five people rushed after it. Jason and his friends reached it as it turned itself upright again. Their blades cut through its skin with ease, but nothing they did seemed to do much to slow it down, much less stop it.

  Alaric and Sarah reached them as they finally fully drew the creature’s attention. It snapped its multipart jaw at them, catching Avery’s sword as he pulled it out of the side of its head. The metal bent under the pressure of its jaw, then snapped with a loud clang, sending a few small pieces flying.

  Lochlan winced. Blood flowed down the side of his head. “It’ll die eventually!” He hissed, jumping back as the creature lunged at him. The creature’s head crashed against the earth as it jaws caught only the air. The young man slashed downwards, cutting off a small chunk of flesh off of the creature’s lumpy head.

  An arrow struck the creature’s head, just shy of its right eye. Ava clicked her tongue in annoyance, nocking yet another arrow, and taking aim.

  Alaric stepped back as the creature pulled its head off the ground and snapped at Avery’s feet. It’s many legs pushed it forward just enough that had Jason not pulled his friend further back, he would have likely lost both legs.

  How do we kill it? How had they killed anything else? They cut their throat, or stabbed their brains, or pierced their hearts. Where is its heart though?

  If it didn’t move so much… He bit his lip. It was worth a try. Kicking the ground, he circled around the creature, both wolves in tow, and approached its less defended back. “The legs! Pull them off!”

  The wolves lunged at either side of the creature, their jaws closing around a couple of legs at the same time. As if playing tug of war, they planted their paws to the ground, and pulled, growling and shaking their heads as they did so.

  With a rather disgusting, wet pop, the legs came off. The wolves spat them aside and lunged at the creature again. Black, gooey blood spewed as the monster jerked and shook. Alaric swung his somewhat dull blade at the legs at very back of the creature’s body. They cracked under the weight of his swing. The blade cut through a couple of them, prompting the creature to let out a rather disgusting hiss.

  An arrow struck the inside of its mouth. This time, the creature shook visibly. Its body convulsed. “Ava, again!” Alaric shouted as he chopped a few more legs off. Mostly immobilized, the creature writhed with pain. It lunged at Sarah, but she was quick to hop back, and it no longer had enough legs to slide its body forward.

  As its jaws closed on nothing but air, Jason rushed towards it now lowered head and struck down with his blade. The tip of the blade cut through its flesh and muscles with ease. He pushed down, until the guard of the blade touched the creature, and the tip of the blade came out of the other side.

  “Bloody hell…” Sarah stumbled backwards and wiped the sweat off her forehead. “Good job, Jason.”

  Jason forced a smile as he pulled his sword out. It was covered in black blood and stank like carrion. “I can’t say I don’t have any regrets, but at least it’s dead.” He tore a couple of leaves off the nearest ivy and started wiping the sword clean.

  “Let’s get this over with.” Alaric sheathed his sword and waved his hand at the others to follow him. As he passed by, he glanced at Lochlan – his wound didn’t seem too bad. Just an unfortunate scratch from one of Avery’s sword pieces that flew by. Clara could heal him later. It was best to save her abilities for something more serious.

  Sol and Luna fanned out as the group started moving towards the Obsidian structure again. Near the narrow crack that marked the entrance, a dozen crimson eyes blinked to life.

  Victoria pointed her palm at them, her arm outstretched. Black smoke condensed in her palm, then shot towards the check. Crimson lightning burst where it hit, startling the creatures inside. Nearly a dozen small bats flew out in a panic, scattering around as they sought a place to hide in.

  Alaric followed them with his gaze. So that was what he saw.

  We should have gotten this over with then and there…

  His thoughts were interrupted as an ivy lashed forth like a whip, wrapping itself around the neck of the bat, and pulled down towards its large leaves. The struggling bat vanished under the leaves, and the plant returned to normal, only lightly swaying with the wind.

  “Oh.” Jason dropped the two ivy leaves he had torn off the plant. His expression was a mix of horror, fright and disgust. “Oh.” He glanced around nervously.

  “I suppose they don’t care about humans.” Alaric muttered, then turned his gaze back at the obsidian structure. “Let’s get this over with.”