Felix stared at the tower looming on the horizon—far, impossibly far, yet still so sharp against the sky it felt closer than it should. Cold sweat clung to his skin, his breath hitching in uneven pulls as the memory gnawed at him.
The workshop. His workshop—no. Not his. The Coward's. He had been there, hadn't he? Lanterns, tools, the falcon of brass and gears… It unraveled in his head like smoke through his fingers, the details dissolving no matter how hard he tried to hold them. Only one truth lingered, jagged and undeniable.
That tower.
It was tied to the Coward. Somehow.
Felix dragged in a long breath, forcing his heartbeat to slow. Whatever that dream—or vision—had been, it had left him rattled in a way even the Mist Stalkers hadn't managed.
His fingers closed around the pendant at his chest, drawing it out into the open. The black needle swung once, then steadied, its point unwavering. Always toward the tower.
He exhaled hard through his nose and let his head tip back, glaring up at the endless sky.
"Of course. Yep. Perfect. Let's march straight toward the ominous death-spire in the middle of nowhere."
His mouth twisted into a grimace that was halfway to a smirk.
"Yay."
Having said his piece, Felix slung his bow over one shoulder, tightened the strap on his quiver, and slid his dagger firmly into its sheath. With a grunt, he hopped down from the ruin, boots crunching against glittering sand, and set off toward the next jagged silhouette on the horizon.
The walk dragged long, every dune stretching farther than it looked, but slowly the outline sharpened into something distinct—a broken steeple, its spire cracked and half-buried, leaning as though the desert were slowly drinking it down.
"Almost there—" he muttered under his breath.
The words died halfway out of his mouth. His body stiffened. Without thought, his bow was already in his hands, string taut as he ducked low, one knee sinking into the dune.
He'd heard it. Faint, but there. A movement beneath the hush of the wind.
Felix crept forward, careful, each step measured, keeping his body low to the slope. The setting sun painted the dunes in bruised violet light, long shadows creeping like claws across the landscape. At the crest, he pressed himself into the sand and slowly, carefully, raised his head to peer over.
Nothing.
The steeple lay ahead, jagged and solemn against the horizon. A scattering of smaller ruins leaned like broken teeth around it. The desert was still. Silent.
His eyes narrowed. Something wasn't right.
Closing his eyes, Felix reached outward with his threads, weaving them like feelers across the crystalline surface. They brushed empty sand, brittle stone, open air. Nothing cloaked, nothing hidden above. No wings overhead, no cloaked shape waiting.
But his gut screamed otherwise.
And then he felt it. Not with his threads, but through the ground itself—through his feet pressed into the sand.
The dune shivered beneath him.
"Shit!"
Felix hurled himself sideways, rolling down the slope. Sharp grains bit into his skin, stinging with shallow cuts as he tumbled to the bottom. He hit the ground hard, bow clutched tight against his chest, and scrambled upright just in time to see the dune convulse.
The sand rose in waves, churning and collapsing as something massive forced its way up from beneath.
The desert erupted.
A jagged shape burst free, scattering crystal shards in every direction. Felix's eyes locked onto it, heart hammering. The creature hauled itself out of the earth in a cascade of glittering sand, its body long, segmented, armored in overlapping plates of pale crystal that caught the dying light and gleamed like blades. Each movement clicked, like stone grinding against stone.
Its head reared high, a spear of jagged chitin tapering into a sharp point, ridged and cruel. Two sunken eyes glowed faintly in the hollow sockets, cold and alien, burning with a predatory hunger. The creature's mandibles scraped open, spilling a hiss that reverberated through its armored shell.
It was like a centipede forged from the desert itself—long as a carriage, thick as a tree trunk, and armored in jagged crystal that shimmered with deadly sharpness.
The sand shifted again as its body coiled, segments rippling with grotesque power.
Felix froze, bow half-drawn, his pulse drumming against his ears.
"Yeah…" he whispered, his voice tight, dry. "…Knew this place couldn't stay pretty for long."
The abomination swiveled its jagged head toward Felix, mandibles clicking in a slow, deliberate rhythm like blades snapping shut.
Felix drew in a sharp breath, then loosed an arrow straight at its glowing eye. The shaft flew true, striking dead center—
Followed by a loud CLANG!
The arrow ricocheted off the crystalline plate with a metallic screech, tumbling uselessly into the sand. Not even a scratch.
Felix's throat bobbed. His lips stretched into a thin, nervous grin.
"Would… you believe me if I said I was sorry?"
The beast shrieked, mandibles snapping wide as viscous spittle flung in arcs across the dunes, sizzling faintly as it hit the crystalline grit.
Felix winced, voice breaking as he backpedaled.
"Yeah. I'll take that as a no!"
He spun on his heel and bolted, boots tearing through the sand toward the steeple in the distance. His lungs burned, his quiver rattled against his back, every step dragging like he was running through broken glass.
"I'm getting real sick of cardio!" he wheezed, voice hoarse and ragged.
Behind him, the creature reared high, its segmented body undulating with terrible force. Then, with a guttural screech, it slammed its bladed head downward. The earth exploded in a storm of shards as its armored frame bored into the dune. The sand convulsed around it, devoured violently as if the beast was tearing a tunnel straight through the desert.
In seconds, the monster was gone—submerged, but not vanished. The ground rippled in its wake, a jagged scar racing toward Felix with terrifying speed. The dunes bucked and shuddered as though something was tunneling beneath him, fast enough to overtake him any second.
Felix risked a glance over his shoulder, his stomach lurching at the sight of glittering dunes collapsing in the creature's pursuit.
"Fantastic," he spat, pushing his legs harder. "It's a homicidal crystal torpedo."
The ruined steeple loomed ahead, a jagged silhouette of stone and fractured glass. It wasn't close enough—never close enough. Every step Felix took seemed to drag him through molasses while the tremors beneath the dunes gained on him with terrifying speed.
The sand convulsed under his boots, pitching him forward. He hit the grit hard, crystals biting into his palms as the ground erupted a few feet behind him.
The abomination burst free, armored plates glinting in the dying light, its head lancing upward like a spear. Mandibles clacked shut on empty air, inches from his leg, before it screeched and dove again, slamming into the earth with an impact that sent shards pelting Felix's back.
Felix scrambled upright, his chest heaving.
"Yeah—nope, we're not doing that again!"
He tore off at a crooked sprint, veering sharply as the dune to his left buckled, the beast tunneling parallel to him. The steeple was closer now, its arching stone ribs jagged like broken teeth. If he could reach it—if.
The ground directly in front of him bulged. Felix threw himself sideways, rolling down the slope as the creature's head burst from the surface where he would've been. Its crystalline armor shredded the dune apart, sand spraying like shrapnel. The monster screeched, then plunged down once more, faster, angrier.
Felix coughed through grit, forcing his legs to move. The steeple was right there—fifty feet, maybe less—but the ground was alive with tremors, the monster circling, hunting.
Another swell in the dune—this one right at his heels. He jumped, legs screaming, as the armored head tore upward behind him, slicing the air where his spine had been. He landed hard, stumbling into a desperate run, dagger slipping in his sweaty palm.
"Almost—almost there!"
The abomination was right on his heels.
The ruined steeple rose like a jagged fang in the dying light, its shadow stretching long across the dunes. Felix's eyes locked on a stained-glass window clinging stubbornly to the ruin. No time to think. No other choice.
He hurled himself forward.
The impact shattered the window in a spray of razor shards. Splinters of crimson, green, and violet light burst around him before the glass slashed his arms and shoulders, leaving burning trails of blood. Felix hit the floor hard, rolling through the debris, but he didn't stop. Pain didn't matter. He was inside.
Gasping, he staggered to his feet and froze.
What remained of a spiral staircase wound upward, but it wasn't just broken—it was gutted. The steps coiled around a vast hollow shaft, plunging downward into a black void that swallowed the light. One slip, one misstep, and he'd vanish into the endless dark.
A thunderous crash snapped him from the sight. The monstrous centipede slammed into the window frame, crystalline armor grinding against ancient stone. Its mandibles gnashed, its body bucking violently as it forced itself through. The steeple groaned in protest, dust sifting from the rafters.
Felix bolted up the fractured stairs. His boots scraped over cracked stone, some steps missing entirely, forcing him to leap from fragment to fragment. His pulse hammered in his ears as he stumbled, caught himself on the railing, and dragged himself forward.
The beast's screech reverberated through the hollow, a jagged sound that rattled Felix's teeth. Shards of stone rained down as its armored head battered the wall again. It was getting in.
Light flared faintly above. The top. He was close. Too close.
Felix burst into the upper chamber and nearly collided headlong with a massive bell suspended from a rusted iron beam. The thing dominated the room—an ancient, tarnished relic etched with curling runes and intricate carvings, its bronze surface catching stray light like a dying sun.
For a heartbeat Felix hesitated, awe flickering through his fear. But there was no time. The steeple shuddered violently as the abomination smashed through the window below, its screech tearing up the shaft as it fixed on him.
Felix spun toward the open chamber, breath ragged, hands trembling as he gripped his dagger. The centipede's head snapped upward into view, crystalline armor glittering in the thin light, mandibles slick with drool as it began to climb the inner wall toward him.
And Felix stood frozen, staring down at it, his heart beating a frantic drum in his chest.
Felix's chest heaved as the centipede's armored bulk scraped up the wall toward him, crystalline plates screeching against the stone. Dust rained down. Mandibles clacked, drool hissing as it struck the broken steps below.
His eyes darted around the chamber, frantic, until they landed on the bell.
It loomed above him like a great sentinel of bronze, its runes dull with age, its frame groaning under its own weight. The thought struck him like lightning. His gaze flicked from the bell to the beast clawing its way up, then back again.
"Alright… bastard," Felix muttered between shallow breaths, "let's see how you like this."
He rushed to the beam, scrambling up onto the platform that supported the massive bell. His fingers worked furiously, tugging at rusted bolts, sawing at rotted ropes with his dagger. Each creak of wood beneath his feet made his stomach twist—if he fell, the void below would swallow him whole.
Below, the centipede dragged itself higher, its head snapping up as its eyes—those two glowing pits of hate—locked onto him. It shrieked, the sound stabbing through the air like jagged glass. Its armored body tore chunks from the wall as it surged upward.
Felix's dagger finally cut through the last rope. The beam gave a tortured groan.
The bell shifted.
"Come on, come on…" Felix hissed, shoving his shoulder against the massive shape. It rocked, swayed—then gave way all at once.
The world seemed to hold its breath.
The bell plummeted, a monstrous weight of bronze and rune-carved fury. It struck the centipede square across its crystalline carapace. The impact was cataclysmic—stone shattering, metal ringing so violently the air itself seemed to quake.
The beast shrieked as the bronze crushed through its armor, splitting the crystal plates like glass. Its scream rose into a deafening pitch as it tumbled backward into the black void, its body thrashing violently before vanishing into the depths below.
The sound of its screeches echoed for a long moment… then grew faint, fainter still, until only silence remained.
Felix stood trembling, clutching the railing, his breath sharp and uneven. He glanced down into the void where the monster had fallen, the bell shattered against its ruined body far below—lost in the dark.
"Yeah…" Felix panted, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I'm definitely sick of cardio."