Thatch heard the pained, wheezing, whisper in his head.

  “You felt it too, did you not?” Asked the Firstborn, allowing a moment of reprieve for Thatch from the mental onslaught. “The difference between that mental attraction to the cavern and the force that keeps us out?”

  Thatch was too exhausted to answer. His whole body ached and his mind was numb. However, when the Firstborn mentioned it, he did recall a drawing nature that seemed to call him closer. Why then would he be barred from entry with such tenacity?

  “It is the helm that keeps us from coming closer.” The Firstborn began, “I don’t know how, but the tricks of a weaver are many and varied. As to what draws in, I have a thought.”

  Thatch thought about attempting to wrestle himself free from the grip of the Firstborn, but the moment he tried to, it was as if a chain wrapped around his mind and bound him to the crippling weight of the Firstborn’s mind. The first member of the Slain seemed hardly to notice the attempt and barely lost a beat of focus in subduing his captor. Thus he was forced to listen to the ramblings of this sadistic creature.

  “The power that created the armor is so connected to the fabrics of the world that it is naturally attractive to all sorts of creatures. Being here, I can tell, that is what draws so many beasts to the base of this tree. But that attraction would not be felt by us. So what is it that seems to be drawing us in?”

  Thatch was thankful for the moment of peace this monologue afforded but was growing distracted by the fear of it soon picking up again. So great was the fear that he was hardly even hearing the words of the horned beast in his head. However, when the Firstborn asked what was drawing them in, Thatch’s mind began to construct an explanation.

  Finch, or rather the husk of a body that the Firstborn was puppeteering, loosed a chuckle and said, “I see you aren’t as stupid as you look. Yes, something else has been drawn to the helm.”

  Suddenly, an image formed in Thatch’s mind. A horrible image that sent his mind into a spiral of crippling fear. His mind was racing at the implications of what he had seen and what it meant for his friends. Just when the fear was reaching a breaking point, The Firstborn resumed his onslaught, adding pain to fear. A cry of agony and terror ripped through the air and echoed into the clearing. Thatch was holding on, but only just, grasping tight to a mere thread of hope that was slipping away.

  He gave a silent plea to the Great One but was soon lost within the torrent of the Firstborn.

  A dim light revealed itself in the distance after Diago and Aylah made it past a

  bend in the tunnel. They had been feeling their way through the darkness for but a few moments before they took note of the spiraling nature of the tunnel they followed. It traveled continually downward yet made little variation in direction. It seemed an odd choice for miners to make. What was more curious was the size of the tunnel. Diago didn’t think about it before, but now that they had followed the path for a while, it seemed odd for it to be so big. Diago was convinced that if he were three times his own height he would still fit comfortably in the space the tunnel allowed.

  It wasn’t this wide at the threshold, but it had quickly widened into the space it was now after but a few steps. Every so often they would pass a small deposit of Tarrin that had been revealed by previous mining. When they would, it would allow just enough light to see the next steps to take. When they had the light, Aylah had noticed markings in the rock that she was trying to convince herself had come from mining implements.

  Conversation had been nonexistent during their walk into the depths of Tunaan. Deposits of Tarrin stone became more and more frequent and the air grew ever colder, forcing the pair to huddle underneath their cloaks. The glow grew steadily brighter in the face of the many newly mined Tarrin reservoirs. But the brightest glow came from the end that had now been revealed as they rounded the final bend in the tunnel

  When they saw the light, they both froze. A large deposit of Tarrin was at the end of the path they followed. In it, there was a sizable hole that had been mined through it. From that came the glow.

  They both realized that whatever they had come for was likely to be found resting underneath that distant light. The tension that permeated the air at the mouth of the tunnel had only grown since they had traveled it and it was now reaching a boiling point. Aylah worked to steady her breathing, there was a foul scent in the air that set her hands fiddling with the fletches on her notched arrow. Diago’s breathing was heavier. He was feeling an all too familiar tug in his gut, but this time it felt much more like a warning than a driving force. The feeling set him on his toes and caused him to fiddle with his ring with a greater nervousness than he was familiar with.

  They came near to the dim blue light they both were suddenly aware of a strong desire that must have been building for quite some time. It was as if the light, or whatever lay within it, were reaching into their will and shaping it to want nothing less than to draw near. Neither had a clue as to when this feeling had started, but they both assumed it must have been quite a while ago and had been steadily building ever since and they were only now realizing its presence. After interacting with Thatch and the attacks of the Firstborn, they both knew better than to trust a sudden urge that seemed to come from outside themselves. However, they had no other choice than forward.

  “You ready, Sunburn?”

  The question sounded genuine and filled with concern.

  “As always. Are you Tantoos?”

  The question did not sound genuine. Aylah sighed and began to walk forward. Diago caught her by the arm. She turned to face him. Her sky-blue eyes reached his like an arrow shot, piercing through his many exterior layers. A pebble dropped in his chest and rippled through his core. He met her eyes with a gaze of his own, “I- I got your back.”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Aylah held his stare and met his words with a firm nod, before saying,

  “Together?”

  “On three”

  They counted off, “One. Two. Three.”

  They rushed through the space between them and the source of the blue light and entered into a domed cavernous space.

  The moment they passed through the threshold, they stopped dead in their tracks. Their feet would take them no farther as their brains were controlled by the power that writhed in the air. That same feeling that drew them in, contorted into a petrifying terror that held them firmly in place. It was a mental attack, much like that of the Firstborn. However, his felt like a darkness whose crushing weight was unbearable. This felt more like a sap trap, a trick Hult had shown Diago long ago. A line of thickened tree sap mixed with sugar, or food of some nature, placed wherever flies were most a nuisance. Once drawn in by the sugar or food, the sap would seal the fly’s doom.

  They were in the sap. Their minds held fast. They were so fixed that neither felt lucid enough to even grasp their surroundings. Their vision clouded and to them, it looked like trying to see through murky water. All that was clear was a great, single pale grey eye that was oval-shaped. It transfixed them as it hovered in place. The lone eye was placed in the center of a slender head whose opened mouth revealed many large fangs that twisted in odd angles. Around the head, a main of tendrils like vines twisted and shook. The movement only adding to the bewitching nature of this foul creature. The body that held up the horrifying head was equally hideous. It was long and broken into many segments, each holding a pair of slender limbs that ended in a singular point, like that of a centipede. However, the segment just behind the head was fully surrounded by these limbs. Other segments had two, this one had eight. These limbs were long enough to reach over the creature's head and they had a spade-like end.

  All this was terror-filling as it was, now make this creature’s head bigger than Diago’s house and it wouldn’t need a mental attack to fixate prey in fear. The creature had locked onto Diago and Aylah. Its gaze was hypnotic. It aroused both dread and desire. The creature slowly approached, mouth slowly opening and closing. Its forked tongue swaying. The lower portion of its body disappeared into the depths of one of the many tunnels that were to be found in various places in the incredibly large cavern that the beast must have made for itself. Thus, its full length remained a mystery.

  Both Aylah and Diago’s minds were far too hazy to make out any further details concerning their surroundings, addled as they were by this creature of nightmare. It continued to move forward, low to the ground. The great eye moved ever closer and Diago felt the panic rise. It was now only a few yards away. Its tongue flicked out and wafted a terrible odor across the space that separated the beast from its desired meal. Diago’s gut was on the fritz, he couldn’t tell if it was telling him he was supposed to fight or flee. Either way, his mind was too taken in to act on either impulse. Out of sheer physical habit, he felt his hand twitch toward the ring on his finger. The beast saw the movement and arched its neck to lunge forward. However, when it did it clipped something on the ceiling, causing a loose Tarrin stone to fall and hit Diago on the head.

  Painful though it was, the rap on the head caused Diago to rouse from his stupor. His vision cleared in an instant. Diago remembered Thatch saying something about a sudden change in the mind can break a mental attachment loose. Diago praised the Great One for his good luck, but that was all he had time to do. That disgusting beast was ready to pounce and Aylah was still locked in place. He whipped his Kurigan around and had no time to aim, so he once again used his favorite “please, for the love of all that is good in Tunaan, let this work” method. He sent the knife point hurling toward the beast just as its fang-riddled mouth had begun to strike at them. The knife missed the beast's head entirely but managed to sever one of its tendrils. It fell to the stone floor still writhing.

  A wail of pain ripped through and echoed around the glowing cavern. The shriek shook the stone and raddled the roots that peaked through the ceiling. This allowed for a small space of time where the beast was too distracted to lunge again. Diago caught Aylah’s wrist and rushed toward a nearby boulder to hide behind. Aylah was already free from the mental snare but did not resist Diago’s leading as she was still gathering herself. They crouched behind the boulder and were able to recollect themselves. The beast had done the same but had lost sight of them. Its many legs clacked against the solid floor as it writhed about the cavern.

  “Aylah, are you okay?” Diago whispered, still holding her wrist.

  She nodded, rubbing one of her temples, “I think so- Are YOU okay? You are bleeding!”

  Sure enough, there was a line of blood flowing from where the rock had struck him.

  He didn’t feel too much pain from it, which could just be the adrenaline that was coursing through him, causing him to ignore it. He chuckled a little, “I guess even luck can have its price. I’ll be alright. We have bigger problems right now”

  Aylah looked around the boulder to spy the creature that was still searching for them, “really big. What is that thing?”

  “I don’t know-…”

  Diago trailed off when they were both able to look about the cavern with untainted eyes and un-addled minds. It was an incredibly large space with massive deposits of Tarrin stone laced throughout. The creature must have dug it out over a long period of time to use as a lair of sorts. Much like the mine above, there were Demon Tree roots that coursed through, only there were far fewer. There was one root In the center of the cavern that was as thick around as a normal-sized tree. It had smaller shoots coming off of it, giving it the look of a large black tree that hung upside down from the ceiling.

  The sight was a marvel. The dim blue light that shimmered through the space gave it a haunting atmosphere.

  They also managed to get a better look at their foe. It continued to crawl about the cavern, occasionally crawling up the wall to check behind a root. It’s full length yet still concealed within a tunnel. The creature turned it’s head and as it did Aylah noticed something.

  “Diago look. Weren’t those tentacle things moving before?” She asked

  Diago craned his head farther to catch a better look. The tendrils had become limp. However, while he was watching, they began to move again. When they did move again, that same sudden urge to get closer to the creature arose in both Aylah and Diago, with great strength. However, neither Aylah nor Diago were frozen like they were before. Something else must cause the paralyzing. Diago had a suspicion,

  “I don’t know for sure, but I think if we look it in the eye, we’ll be stuck like a moment ago”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Just a feeling. If it’s not the body or the smell, then either it’s the eye or how close we get to the thing. That’s my guess anyway.” He shrugged

  Aylah nodded, “We’ll work with that then…Diago something doesn’t make sense… I still don’t know why the Fades sent us here. I thought it would become clear after we entered here, but I still don’t get it.”

  She looked and sounded frustrated. Diago understood though he was more worried about the nightmare of an obstacle they now had to deal with. However, considering Aylah’s quandary, he built his own frustrations. Why WERE they here? What was the point of all this runaround? As he considered the injustice of being placed in such a frustrating and life threatening situation for little to nothing to show for it, his ring finger started to itch. His rumination was interrupted.

  A glint caught his eye in the center of the cavern.

  Hanging from the Demon Tree root was a circlet of fine metal. Or at least it looked like it was hanging from the root, but when he really focused on it he saw that it was not hanging on anything but air.

  Electricity shot through him and his hands started to shake. All his guessing turned to answer when he laid eyes upon the faintly glowing object. How had he not seen it before? Why didn’t Aylah? He didn’t have those answers, but he was unbothered. This is what they had come for.

  They had found the Helm of the Ariochmar.