The ground trembled under their feet.
The silhouette on the horizon straightened, towering higher than the surrounding jagged spires. Two blazing embers lit up where its eyes should have been. When it took its first step, the sound was like mountains grinding together.
"Tell me that's not coming toward us," Seris muttered.
Lucas didn't answer — which meant it was.
The creature's form sharpened as it closed the distance: a giant wrapped in blackened armor fused with shards of glass, every movement leaving fractures in the ground. From its back sprouted blade-like appendages that shimmered with red light.
"Run," Lucas said. Again. And they did.
---
The plains were endless, a sheet of smooth black glass stretching toward a distant ridge. Every footstep rang sharp against it, their reflections warping beneath them. The air was thin and dry, each breath cutting like frost.
Behind them, the giant moved faster than anything that size should. One of its blade-arms slammed down, shattering a massive chunk of the glass plain — the shockwave almost knocking them off their feet.
Martha yelled over the roar, "We can't outrun that thing!"
"Then we make it miss," Lucas snapped, veering sharply left. The giant's next strike carved a deep fissure where they had been seconds before, molten red glowing from within the crack.
Seris leapt over a rising shard of glass, landing in a roll. "Pretty sure it's not the missing I'm worried about — it's the catching up!"
---
The fissures spread like spiderwebs, forcing them into a zigzag path. The air around the giant shimmered with heat, and each swing of its blade-arms sent shards flying like meteors.
Lucas's instincts screamed — he shoved Martha aside as a shard the size of a cart embedded itself in the ground where she'd been standing. She scrambled up, staff blazing with defensive wards.
"I can try to blind it!" she called.
"Do it!"
She turned, slamming her staff into the glass. Light erupted upward in a pillar, refracting wildly across the black surface. The giant staggered, its head jerking back — but it didn't stop.
---
They reached a series of jagged spires jutting from the plain. Lucas motioned them into the narrow gaps between the glass teeth. The giant tried to follow but the terrain slowed it, its massive frame scraping sparks off the black spires.
"Alright," Seris panted, "plan time. Tell me you have one."
Lucas glanced at the giant, then at the Orb thrumming at his side. "I might."
Seris eyed him. "You mean the kind of plan where you blow something up and hope we're far enough away not to die?"
"Exactly that kind."
---
They climbed higher into the spires, the glass beneath their boots cracking under stress. The giant tore through obstacles, but the tighter spaces forced it to maneuver awkwardly.
Lucas picked a spire near the center — the tallest, sharpest one — and slammed his chaos blade into its base. The crack widened instantly, red light spilling out.
"Uh, Lucas?" Martha said, pointing at the widening glow. "What happens when—"
The spire exploded. Shards of molten glass erupted in every direction, cascading like a volcanic eruption. The shockwave slammed into the giant, knocking it backward with a guttural roar.
"Now we run," Lucas said, already sprinting.
---
They darted down the far side of the ridge as the giant struggled to rise. The molten flow from the shattered spire spread across the plains, cutting off its direct path.
For the first time since it appeared, they had breathing room.
"Think that bought us some time?" Seris asked.
Lucas didn't look back. "If we're lucky… minutes."
On the horizon beyond the ridge, a jagged black tower rose, glowing faintly with the same energy as the Orb at Lucas's side.
Martha followed his gaze. "Something tells me that's where we're headed."
Lucas tightened his grip on the blade. "And something tells me… it's worse than what's chasing us."