Chapter 65 - Entertaining the Gods

  Ryn couldn't see anything.

  The darkness was so complete it felt physical—pressing against his eyes, filling his mouth when he breathed.

  But he could hear everything. The creature's scales scraping stone. Its breath, wet and rhythmic. The faint hiss of saliva dripping from its ruined jaw.

  And underneath it all, Lilia and Ariel's shallow, pained breathing.

  They needed light.

  Ryn glanced toward Ariel.

  Her hands were trembling now, her whole body shivering, breath coming apart in shallow, uneven pulls. The glow she’d summoned before had left her hollowed out.

  Every blessing demanded a sacrifice.

  And it was becoming painfully clear what Ariel’s was.

  Ryn looked away just as Ariel met his eyes.

  He gripped his sword tighter in his one remaining arm.

  A sound scraped through the darkness to their left.

  Something shifted to their right.

  How do we survive this?

  Can we even escape?

  And if we can't—

  His grip tightened on his sword.

  How am I supposed to win?

  Ryn had told Lilia not to overthink things—but he wasn’t in any position to talk.

  Ariel’s survival depended on him.

  It was his duty.

  And it had never felt this heavy before.

  Ariel glanced up and caught the tension in his expression, that look he’d been wearing far too often lately.

  She opened her trembling palm.

  A small piece of light flickered to life.

  Ryn heard her groan softly as she bit down on her lip, forcing the glow to hold despite the strain ripping through her.

  The cracks along her skin flared again, brightening beneath the surface.

  Ryn clenched his teeth.

  There was nothing he could say.

  They needed the light—after all.

  ***

  It hurt.

  It hurt so much.

  Ariel had never used her power like this—never this much, never this fast. Before, it had only been short bursts. Desperate flashes when her life,or theirs, was on the line.

  But now—

  In the span of minutes, she’d released dozens.

  And it still wasn’t enough.

  A laugh slipped out of her, thin and unsteady, as she forced more light into the air, brightening the darkness around them.

  She pressed her palms hard against her eyes, as if she could push the pain back inside.

  Her breath hitched.

  “...What was I thinking,” she muttered.

  Her voice sounded distant. Hollow.

  She shifted slightly—and felt Lilia’s broken body beneath her arms.

  “What was I thinking,” she whispered again.

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  This wasn’t courage.

  This wasn’t “Acting”.

  “This is…” Her voice cracked. “This is suicide.”

  The creature stood fully revealed in Ariel’s light.

  Its body was lizard-like, but wrong, scales overlapping backward, some grown thick as armor plates, while others hung loose like diseased skin.

  Its movements came in sharp, jerking snaps, as if its body struggled to obey itself.

  Its jaw hung broken and dislocated, burnt along the edges where it been hit. Darkness clung to its trailing tail.

  And in its eyes—

  There was nothing but clear, burning anger.

  The creature roared, saliva spraying as it lunged forward. The force of the sound made Ariel’s light sputter—flicker—then flare back to life with a strained pulse.

  They didn’t look away.

  There were five known classes of aberrations, at least, five that common knowledge dared to name.

  Hollow. Forgotten. Faded. Lesser. Greater.

  Hollows were the weakest, twisted shadows of belief. A single one could be brought down by a group of unblessed fighters, though they rarely appeared alone.

  Forgotten aberrations were stronger. Their abilities rendered most mundane weapons useless. Facing one without a blessing was suicide for most.

  Faded were worse.

  Stronger still. More intelligent. Each possessed a unique feature, unpredictable and lethal. Even a single Faded usually demanded a coordinated team of blessed to defeat with no casualties.

  Everything above that escalated fast.

  Next were the Lesser aberrations, creatures capable of leveling entire cities if left unchecked.

  And Greater aberrations—

  Calamities.

  Each class splintered further into six subclasses:

  Chimera. Beast. Spirit. Wraith. Curse. Cataclysm.

  The higher the subclass, the more intelligent—and the more monstrously unique—the aberration became. Power didn’t scale evenly.

  It jumped between each subclass.

  Ryn knew this.

  The aberration he’d killed in Solvara had been confirmed as a Forgotten Curse.

  The one that had hunted Lilia and Ariel through the forest—

  Faded, almost certainly.

  The specifics were unclear, but the subclass was likely Chimera.

  And this one—

  His grip tightened.

  This one moved wrong. Thought too clearly. Endured too much.

  A Faded Beast, he realized grimly.

  And what did they have to face something like that?

  Yes, there was a celestial blessing.

  The strongest class of blessing a person could ever receive.

  But its bearer was inexperienced, pushed far beyond her limits, bound by a vow that demanded more than she could give.

  They had a knight, skilled, resolute.

  But he was missing an arm.

  Weaker than he should have been.

  Weaker than the world expected him to be.

  And then there was a maid. She had no place on a battlefield like this.

  It was like a handful of sheltered house cats standing before a lion.

  This—

  This was the difficulty of a celestial’s trial.

  Ryn wondered, distantly, if the gods were entertained.

  The aberration’s claws tore through the space where he and Ariel had been standing.

  They leapt apart at the same time—Ariel twisting midair, cradling Lilia tight against her chest as she landed. The impact rattled through her knees, pain flaring, but she kept moving.

  “Ryn, what do we do?!” Ariel screamed, desperation threading through her voice.

  Ryn didn’t answer.

  Not because he wouldn’t—

  But because he didn’t know.

  He hit the ground hard, rolled, came up on one knee, then forced himself upright again. Ariel landed more carefully, boots skidding as she adjusted her balance to protect Lilia.

  They ran.

  The light shed summoned followed behind, unstable points of glow that barely kept the darkness at bay. Behind them, the creature surged forward, its bulk smashing through ruins and stone alike.

  The ground split beneath its weight.

  Grass shredded.

  White pillars collapsed.

  Ancient stone screamed as it was torn apart.

  Its breath thundered behind them—hot, wet, close.

  Too close.

  Ariel’s lungs burned. Her arms shook as she held Lilia tighter. The cracks along her arm pulsed with each footfall, bright enough that they cast dancing shadows through the cloth

  Ryn stayed just ahead and to the side, glancing back between strides, gauging distance, searching desperately for anything—

  Cover.

  A turn.

  Shelter.

  There was none.

  Then, beneath the sound of pounding feet and ragged breathing—

  A voice.

  Weak. Strained.

  “…Guys.”

  Ariel nearly missed it.

  “Listen,” Lilia whispered, pain threaded through the word. “Please—just listen—”

  Ariel stumbled slightly, heart lurching.

  “What is it?” she gasped.

  Lilia swallowed, pressing her face against Ariel’s chest as if steadying herself.

  “...I have an idea.”