Round 238

The fluid rose with each breath of the walls, climbing past their knees now in slick tendrils that caressed the stone floor like living oil. The air grew heavy with decay and ozone, something ancient and hungry feeding on their fear. Hera's grip tightened around Halie's hand, her jaw set as she watched the walls begin to secrete a thick, viscous fluid—translucent and alive, flowing across the stone in slow waves that pooled deeper with every passing second.

They could feel it spreading again, ice crystals forming in their bloodstreams as the paralysis crept up their thighs. The carvings above pulsed in sync with the walls' rhythm, faces contorting into expressions that spoke of hunger and something worse, something that fed on desperation and fear. She could feel it spreading again, ice crystals forming in her bloodstream as the paralysis crept up her left arm.

Ten seconds. Twenty. She'd...