Round 21

Varrika’s vision was compromised by magical backlash—her world had gone blurry and her ears were still ringing from the explosion. She staggered, trying to regain balance, but her grip on the mace remained iron-tight. "We don’t have a choice," she growled, her voice low and determined. The thought of hesitation made her skin crawl—this was no time for caution when Merrin was in danger.

The ancient rune-covered gate had shuddered open at Varikka’s charge, revealing a dark corridor beyond. The runes on its surface now glowed with an eerie blue light that seemed to leech the warmth from the air. The sound of scraping and scuttling echoed through the opening, growing louder by the second—something was coming.

Jeane felt a surge of fear mixed with admiration as she watched Varikka’s bravery. Her own terror was a cold knot in her stomach, but the thought of following her into whatever hell awaited made her nauseous. The runes pulsed hungrily, their dark light painting everyone in shades of despair and hunger. “We can’t go through that gate—whatever’s on the other side, it wants us.” The words tumbled out before she could stop them, a desperate attempt to halt Varikka’s reckless charge.

Merrin dug her fingers into Varrika’s arm, her nails biting through the dwarf’s heavy leather bracers. “Wait!” Her voice was a harsh whisper, barely audible over the groaning stone and pulsing runes. Are you mad? Do you want to feed us all to whatever that thing is? She shot a glance at Jeane, her expression showing both fear and grudging respect for the succubus’s rare show of initiative. I thought demons were supposed to be smart about these things.

Seraphine tore her gaze away from the shifting walls, her face pale in the flickering torchlight. “N...” The ground beneath them had begun to tilt dangerously, the ancient magic of this place finally reacting to their presence. The runes on the walls seemed to writhe before her eyes, their patterns twisting into new, more sinister shapes.

It was a trap, just as Seraphine had warned—but they’d blundered right into it anyway. The thought of being expelled deeper into the tower’s unknown depths filled her with a primal terror. She stumbled, trying to maintain her balance on the sloping floor as the world around them shifted and groaned.

Halie was already on her knees, fingers digging into the stone floor as she poured every ounce of concentration into re-establishing the barrier spell. The magic crackled around her, fighting against the unholy aura that seemed to seep from every crack in this cursed tower. "Damn you and your recklessness!" She shouted through gritted teeth, not at Varikka but at whoever designed these wards to fail so catastrophically.

The barrier flickered back into existence with a painful jolt, like trying to breathe after being submerged. But Halie knew it wouldn’t hold forever—not against magic this ancient and powerful.