The tension in the chamber materialized into the cold gleam of steel. Liam, with surprising speed, lunged at Sebastian, the dagger in his hand tracing a deadly arc. Sebastian, though he had nocked his bow, wasn't prepared for such a direct attack. He barely had time to react, twisting on his heels to avoid the blow. The dagger grazed his arm, tearing the fabric of his tunic and leaving a thin red line on his skin. A sharp pain shot through his arm, but Sebastian ignored it, quickly backpedaling to gain distance.
Liam, with a ruthless smile, advanced again, pressing Sebastian with a series of quick and precise attacks. His daggers moved like vipers, searching for any opening in the botanist's defense. Sebastian, aware of his disadvantage in close combat, tried to maintain his distance, moving agilely and using his bow as an improvised shield. However, Liam was too fast.
A second attack, even faster than the last, forced Sebastian to roll on the ground to avoid being hit. As he got up, he felt a sharp pain in his knee from the impact. Liam seized his momentary vulnerability and lunged at him, the dagger aimed at his throat.
Sebastian, his heart pounding in his chest, reacted instinctively. He raised his bow and interposed it between himself and the dagger, stopping the attack just in time. The wood creaked under the pressure, and Sebastian felt the cold steel grazing his neck. With a desperate effort, he shoved Liam away with the bow, gaining a few precious seconds to get back on his feet.
Sebastian's breathing was ragged, and the pain in his knee and arm was becoming intense. He knew he couldn't keep this up for long. Liam was an experienced warrior, a ruthless killer. He, on the other hand, was just a botanist, a man of peace who had never wielded a weapon with the intention to kill.
Liam, with an expression of contempt, watched Sebastian stagger. "I told you," he said in a cold voice. "You were always soft. You don't stand a chance against me."
Sebastian gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain. He knew Liam was right. He wasn't a warrior. But he couldn't give up. He couldn't let him hurt the girl.
With a cry of rage, Sebastian threw his bow at Liam's face, surprising him for a moment. Taking advantage of the confusion, he retreated a few steps and drew one of his arrows. With a trembling hand, he smeared the tip with a fast-acting poison, a poison he had prepared for hunting wild animals, a poison he never thought he would use against a human being.
Liam quickly recovered from the blow and looked at Sebastian with a mixture of surprise and fury. "So you're going to use poison, huh?" he said with a sarcastic smile. "A desperate last resort. Pathetic."
Sebastian didn't answer. His gaze was fixed on Liam, his face tense and determined. He knew this was his only chance. If he failed, the girl would be in danger.
At that moment, as Liam prepared to deliver the final blow, a faint glow began to emanate from the girl huddled in the corner. A glow that grew in intensity, flooding the chamber with a warm, golden light.
Just as Liam prepared to deliver the final blow to Sebastian, the faint glow emanating from the girl huddled in the corner began to intensify. It was no longer a warm, golden light, but a cold, bluish radiance that flooded the chamber, tinting the walls with a spectral hue. The air grew sharply colder, as if an icy wind blew from the depths of the abyss. A sepulchral silence, even deeper than before, descended upon them, drowning out any other sound.
Then, a sound began to resonate in the chamber. It wasn't an audible sound in the traditional sense, but a deep vibration that was felt in the bones, in the chest, in the very core of their beings. It was the sound of a heartbeat, a slow, powerful heartbeat, like that of a gigantic heart beating at the very center of the earth. Thump… Thump… Thump… Each beat resonated with an oppressive force, as if the weight of the entire universe was concentrated in that single instant.
Liam froze, his face paling under the bluish light. Fear, a primal, visceral fear, seized him. He felt as if something ancient and terrible was watching him, judging him. The dagger trembled in his hand, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
Sebastian, still on the ground, felt the change in the atmosphere. The pain in his knee and arm intensified, as if the cold penetrated to his bones. But the fear he felt was even greater. A fear that wasn't rational, a fear that came from the depths of his instinct, a fear of something that transcended his understanding.
The heartbeat continued, Thump… Thump… Thump…, growing louder, more oppressive with each pulse. The bluish light intensified even more, casting grotesque shadows that writhed on the walls. The air smelled of ozone and ice, an odor that froze their lungs.
The girl, oblivious to everything happening around her, remained huddled in the corner, her eyes closed and her face expressionless. Her body trembled slightly, but it wasn't a tremble of fear, but a vibration that seemed to emanate from within. It was as if she were a conduit, a vessel for a force that vastly surpassed her.
Suddenly, a burst of energy shook the chamber. It wasn't an audible explosion, but an invisible shockwave that rippled through the air, making every atom in the room vibrate. Objects trembled, the walls creaked, and the adventurers felt as if their own bodies were about to disintegrate.
The heartbeat reached its peak, a monumental THUMP that resonated throughout the entire universe. And then, silence returned, an even deeper silence than before, a silence that spoke of an immense and ruthless power that had just manifested. The bluish light slowly faded, leaving behind a cold, heavy air and a lingering smell of ozone and ice.
In the corridors of the dungeon, miles away, the monsters, from the smallest rats to the largest ogres, felt the heartbeat. A primal, inexplicable fear invaded them, causing them to flee in terror, seeking refuge in the deepest parts of the earth.
The silence after the monumental THUMP was deafening, a void that resonated with the magnitude of what had just transpired. The bluish light slowly faded, revealing the chamber under the original dim red glow. But nothing was the same. The air felt heavy, charged with a cold that chilled them to the bone and a lingering smell of ozone and ice, as if they had opened a gateway to winter itself.
Liam was the first to react, staggering backward with a lost look in his eyes. His face was pale, almost white, and his lips trembled. The dagger he held fell to the floor with a metallic clatter, forgotten in his shaking hand. What… what was that? he thought, his heart pounding in his chest. Fear, a fear he had never experienced before, gripped him. It was a fear that didn't come from a physical danger, but from something much deeper, something that resonated with the cosmic terror he had just witnessed.
Markus, his breathing ragged, leaned on his shield to keep from falling. His body trembled uncontrollably, and a cold sweat covered his forehead. It was… as if the whole world had held its breath, he thought, his mind clouded by terror. As if we had stood at the edge of the abyss… and seen what lies on the other side. The memory of the heartbeat, that deep, oppressive THUMP, echoed in his head, making him feel small and insignificant before the immensity of what he had just witnessed.
Roland, however, experienced something different. Fear also gripped him, a fear that froze his blood and paralyzed his muscles. But above all, he felt an overwhelming urgency, a visceral need to act. Eldoria, he thought, his heart pounding. I must get to Eldoria. I must warn them. This… this isn't natural. It's… something else. The memory of the heartbeat, that THUMP that had shaken the very foundations of the dungeon, resonated in his mind, searing itself into his memory. I must tell the king. I must warn everyone.
He looked at his companions, at Liam trembling like a leaf and Markus with a lost look in his eyes. He saw the same fear reflected in their eyes, a fear he shared. But Roland knew he couldn't stay there paralyzed by terror. The fate of Eldoria, perhaps even the world, might depend on it.
With renewed determination, despite the pain in his arm and the fear that gripped his heart, Roland stood up. "We have to go," he said in a firm voice, though it trembled slightly. "We have to warn Eldoria."
But as he turned to look at Sebastian and the girl, he realized that something even more terrible had happened. Sebastian lay on the ground, his gaze fixed on the girl, his face as pale as a ghost. And the girl… she remained huddled in the corner, her eyes closed and her face expressionless, as if nothing had happened. But she was no longer trembling. She was completely still, like a stone statue.