Round 87

The stones beneath Merrin's hands feel wrong—cold, yes, but alive with a malevolent energy that crawls across her skin like insects. The tower's silence is a lie; it's listening. Every scrape of boot leather against ancient rock echoes too loudly in the still air. She pauses at the wall, scanning for weaknesses and potential entry points. Her hands twitch at her sides, eager to scale the crumbling "

Jeane's eyes never leave Merrin, calculating angles and trajectories for potential disaster. The succubus shifts her weight subtly, mace ready, wings half-spread for quick response. She knows "

Seraphine's quill scratches across parchment with frantic energy, documenting every twist and curve of the runic script. This isn't "

The ground beneath Merrin's feet begins to shake violently as the hidden trap fully "

Jeane doesn't look back as she runs, but she can feel it—the thing inside is faster than they are and far more dangerous. She pushes "

The creature surges forward with "

Merrin tackles Seraphine into a hollow just as the tentacles nearly catch them mid-fall, both women grunting as the impact drives the air from their lungs. They lie there for a second, stunned and winded, before Merrin scrambles off his friend with a muttered apology.

Jeane rolls to her feet with surprising "

Merrin brushes himself off, wincing as "

Seraphine watches Merrin's internal struggle with understanding and no small amount of sympathy. She knows "

They're alone now—trapped underground, separated from their friend, and facing a monster that makes skeletons seem like playful puppies by comparison. But they're alive, and they have each other, and that's something.

Jeane staggers to a halt in a clearing several hundred yards away, chest heaving, wings drooping with "

She listens for pursuit but hears only "

Jeane sinks to her knees among the ferns, adrenaline "

She knew what she was doing when she led "

At least I bought them time, she thinks grimly as she pulls her mace "

The clearing around her is peaceful in a way that "

She takes a deep breath, steadying herself for what comes next—either "

Either way, she thinks with grim amusement as she pulls her mace "