Nirro, silent as ever, stepped blindly toward Jex's screams. Using the rigid alignment Ryven had hammered into his muscles, he delivered a heavy, sweeping strike, swatting the skittering weight straight off Jex's leg and sending it crashing into the wall with a wet crunch.
"Climb!" Sapphire's voice boomed across the cavern. "Get to the walls! Climb now!"
The command shattered the stillness, but not everyone could move. Several younger children stood petrified, limbs locked by sheer terror as the sea of glowing, jagged 'M' eyes swarmed closer.
The night critters targeted the frozen first.
Though each creature was small, their bites were sharp, agonizing torment. They didn't just nip; they tore and burrowed into ankles and calves with rhythmic, clicking jaws.
The pain of staying still became instantly worse than the fear of the dark. Screams echoed off the rocks as the children realized hesitation meant being eaten alive from the ankles up.
"Move your feet!" Lucian roared, grabbing a paralyzed boy by his collar and shoving him toward the rock face.
Kira didn't look back. Her fingers clawed at damp stone. Her thighs burned, recalling the three-hour stance hold from the day before, but now muscle memory was her only lifeline. She dug her boots into crevices, pulling upward just as a dozen clicking jaws snapped shut beneath her heels.
She had to get out. Before the swarm dragged her back down.
Her fingers slipped. Every time she reached higher, white-hot fire erupted from her injured shoulder. Her left arm was useless, forcing her to drag herself up with only her legs and right hand.
Worse, the horde below was no longer content to stay at the bottom.
_Click-click-click._
A few split from the main swarm, launching themselves onto the vertical wall with terrifying agility. They were tracking blood. Kira looked down just in time to see a pair of jagged 'M' eyes hurtling toward her exposed ankle.
______
Up on the surface, the yard was dead silent save for wind.
Eoman crouched on the platform, a jagged stone in his long fingers, drawing a sprawling, unnatural web into the gravel.
Heavy boots broke the quiet. Ryven strode in, chest heaving.
"Where are the children?" he demanded.
Eoman didn't look up.
Right on cue, a muffled, agonizing shriek drifted up from the crevices — Jex's panic, followed by distant cries.
Ryven's eyes widened. He closed his eyes, tracking vibrations and acoustics. Within a second, his mind painted the picture: the swarm, the dark, the children clinging to rock.
Furious, Ryven closed the distance in a single stride, grabbing Eoman by the collar and lifting him off his feet.
Eoman didn't fight. His body went limp like a broken ragdoll, head tilting at an unhinged angle. Genuine annoyance flashed across his features.
"Your manhandling is reaching levels, Angry Fist," he remarked idly.
"What's in there with them?" Ryven hissed.
"A little specialty," Eoman said blankly. "They were hungry."
"This is not what we agreed on," Ryven growled, knuckles white.
Eoman's lips stretched into a crescent smile. "Agreed on? Or what you thought we agreed on?"
Ryven had no answer.
"Let's enjoy the scenery while we wait," Eoman purred.
Ryven shoved him away with a grunt. "You're insane."
"A terribly harsh thing to say," Eoman replied, brushing dirt from his robes, and turned his gaze to the cliff's edge. Side by side, they waited.
____
Kira kicked wildly, her boot crushing a skittering shape, but the vertical battle was losing. Her right hand cramped from carrying her weight.
From above, Kealor leaned down riskily, swatting a creature from her collar before a hiss forced him back.
Below, Sapphire and Nirro moved with desperate acceleration, clearing critters from Kira's path before pushing past her to lead.
But they couldn't clear them all.
Two larger critters bypassed her guard, scrambling onto her bandaged shoulder. The smell of fresh blood sent them frenzying. Their jagged 'M' jaws tore through cloth, sinking into her open wound.
Kira screamed — a muffled wail as vision blurred white. Her fingers trembled, consciousness threatening to slip.
And then the true nightmare began.
Up and down the rock face, primal fear broke composure. A younger boy, overwhelmed, grabbed the heel of the girl above him, pulling her off to take her place.
Cries of betrayal echoed as the struggle turned internal.
Kira felt a violent yank on her clothing.
"No!" she choked. A boy below was pulling her down with maddening strength. Her fingers scraped stone, grip failing. Her shoulder slammed against rock — but she caught a lower ridge, dangling by a thread.
A few feet away, Lucian dealt with his own anchor. A petrified peer latched onto his ankles.
"Let go!" Lucian shouted, kicking back. "Let go of me!"
As he struggled, the pressure in the crevice dropped. A chilling wail echoed directly into his ears:
'M-or-ar-c-h...'
Lucian froze. Slowly, he looked up. Emerging from shadows just inches above his grip was a hairless, grey skull-like visage, elongated hands latching onto his wrists, pulling its hollow face almost to his nose.
Lucian squeezed his eyes shut. Expecting an attack.
Instead, a sharp cry erupted below. The creature bypassed Lucian entirely, diving straight toward the boy dragging his legs. The hold vanished as the figure fell back to the dark floor.
Lucian didn't wait. Driven by panic, he scrambled up, hands breaching the lip of the cliff.
He was first to drag himself onto safety.
Ryven and Eoman spotted him. Ryven narrowed his eyes; Eoman watched the boy collapse.
"Death cannot kill Death," Eoman chuckled, a dark expression crossing his face.
_______
Back in the crevices, the scramble neared its end.
Minutes felt like hours. One by one, the surviving children crawled out of the abyss. Sapphire and Kealor rolled onto the dirt, chests heaving, hands bleeding.
Below, only Nirro and Kira remained, climbing side by side.
Kira's strength was gone. Dizzy from blood loss and the fire in her shoulder, the cavern began to spin. Her hand missed a hold. Her foot slipped.
Her body fell backward into open air.
Grab.
Nirro's hand shot out. A low, guttural grunt tore from his throat as her weight nearly yanked him off the wall. His muscles screamed, veins bulging in his forearm, but his grip on her wrist held.
He refused to let go. They were almost at the top. He was not going to let her fall.
Slowly, inch by inch, he began to hoist her toward the final ledge.
Then a long shadow fell over them.
Eoman stepped over the lip of the cliff and looked straight down at the two dangling children.
His gaze was cold. Unreadable.