Darkness enveloped Luke completely. His senses—which had sharpened ever since he came to Aethereon—were rendered almost useless. The pitch-black void was impenetrable to his sight, and the still, oppressive air carried no scents or vibrations to guide him. Only his hearing remained functional, but even that was limited to the sound of his own labored breathing and the faint, wet squelching that accompanied each step he took.
Clara said the Heart Nexus is deep in the labyrinth, where there's no light. Luke pressed onward, his grip tightening on the femur in his hand. Well, I've made it… but what exactly am I looking for? His gaze, though futile in the suffocating darkness, swept forward instinctively. Not that I can actually see anything.
He moved cautiously, one hand gripping the femur while the other reached out into the void. He kept his pace slow and deliberate, the femur extended ahead of him like a blind man's cane. Every step felt endless, the disorienting blackness tugging at his sense of balance. Walking like this was eerily similar to keeping your eyes shut for too long—a sensation of floating unmoored in space.
I wonder if I can make a light source, he thought, his mind grasping at solutions. Clutching the femur tightly, his lips pressed into a determined line. I mean, my essence should work for this, right?
As if answering his thoughts, a soft glow began to emanate from the femur. The binary code etched into its surface pulsed faintly, its bluish light shifting the contours of the bone. The femur's shape began to warp, reforming into the vague outline of a shield. Luke scowled.
"That's not what I was going for," he muttered, but his frustration gave way to relief as the dim glow illuminated the space around him, however faintly.
The light wasn't strong—it barely pierced the darkness beyond a few feet—but it was enough. Better than nothing. He sighed, muttering under his breath, "Alright, let's see how far this takes me."
He pressed forward cautiously, the light flickering slightly each time the femur changed shape. Each transformation sent a ripple of energy through the weapon, the binary glow adjusting its form again and again. His fingers traced the contours of its shifting surface as it reshaped itself, moving through configurations he hadn't intended. Despite the inefficiency, it kept him oriented in the void.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of walking, a faint hue of red pierced the darkness in the distance. Luke's heart leapt at the sight.
Finally! His pace quickened, his breaths sharper with anticipation. He stopped expending advent on the femur's transformations and instead focused on running toward the faint red glow. The wet sound beneath his boots grew louder as the floor subtly softened, but Luke didn't care.
A huge clearing replaced the hallway as he got closer to the light's source. He felt the stifling humidity that stuck to his skin as the air grew thicker. Luke halted, absorbing the scene in front of him.
The space felt entirely different from the rest of the labyrinth. Where the halls had resembled flesh and skin, this chamber was more like the labyrinth's inner organs. Massive, pulsating bulbs protruded from the walls, their membranes stretched thin to reveal blood—or something eerily similar—pumping through tangled tubes of flesh. The walls throbbed with a steady rhythm, the noise overwhelming compared to the unsettling quiet of the hallways.
From above came a booming, guttural howl that shook Luke's chest. Squinting at the source of the sound, he craned his neck, but the heavy steam coming from the chamber floor made it impossible to see.
He wiped the perspiration from his brow and mumbled, "What the hell is this place?" Waves of the oppressive heat radiated from every surface in the room.
His attention was drawn to the center of the room, where his breath caught in his throat. There, towering above him, was a colossal spine. Its vertebrae were massive, each one the size of a house, their serpentine structure coiling across the entire ceiling. The spine pulsated slowly, stretching and contracting like a living creature.
Luke stared in awe, his body frozen in place as he watched the labyrinth shift in response to the spine's movement. The massive structure elongated slightly, and with it, the entire labyrinth seemed to groan and ripple. Hallways twisted and shifted, the walls reforming as though the spine was actively controlling the labyrinth's movements.
This is it, Luke thought, his heart pounding. It has to be. What else could qualify as the Heart Nexus of the labyrinth if not for this?
With a trembling breath, he took a tentative step forward. The closer he came, the more intense the heat from the enormous structure became, and more drops of sweat trickled down his face. His emerald eyes focused on the spine, which humbled him in a manner that few things ever could.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the chamber, the sound reverberating like a thunderclap. Luke spun toward the noise, his body tensing. In the distance, he spotted a faint figure, shrouded by the haze of the room. A flash of motion caught his eye—a projectile slicing through the air with precision.
An arrow?
As the realization struck him, a second, smaller crash followed the first. This time, he heard the distinct whistle of an arrow cutting through the air before it shot upwards, disappearing into the heights of the room.
"That has to be Kuro and Eleanor!" Luke exclaimed, his voice breaking with a mix of relief and urgency.
His feet splashed on the slippery, meaty ground as he ran without hesitation toward the source of the disturbance. The suffocating presence of the maze and the oppressive heat of the chamber slowly vanished from his thoughts.
Kuro, Eleanor… hold on. I'm coming.