Round 896

The roar that shook the cavern was unlike anything Varikka had ever heard. It felt like the mountain itself was screaming, the sound vibrating through her bones and making her teeth ache. She'd been fighting for years, faced down bandits, goblins, even a dragon once - but this? This thing made her blood run cold. The dwarf woman struggled to maintain her balance as the ground heaved beneath her, her good foot slipping on loose rock while her injured ankle screamed in protest. The fast-moving river below churned and surged, its powerful current seeming to feed off the creature's rage.

The Guardian stood framed in the doorway of the collapsed chamber, its massive frame somehow seeming even more monstrous than before. Its eyes glowed with an unholy light, fixed directly on her. Panic surged through Varikka's exhausted body. She was trapped, clinging to a stalactite while the thing of nightmares advanced. Her fingers ached from gripping the stone so hard. The orb pulsed above her, casting flickering blue light across the scene of impending doom. She needed to move, needed to find Merrin and Elric, needed to get out - but her legs felt like water, and the floor was shaking too violently to trust.

The Guardian took a s...