Nightblade (Darkest night)

The mountain was tearing itself apart from the inside.

​Dust, coarse and thick enough to choke on, rushed through the narrow subterranean pass like smoke from a furnace.

Massive slabs of jagged ceiling crashed around them, shattering into jagged fragments and fine powder that blinded the eye and burned the lungs.

Valerius led the sprint, his heavy boots crushing fallen rock, his broad sword drawn in his right hand to deflect the smaller fragments plummeting from above.

Behind him, Sye moved with precise, fluid steps, his other hand clamped tightly around Raven’s collar.

He practically lifted her off her feet each time a section of the tunnel floor buckled, vaulting her forward over opening fissures.

Despite all the hellish, near inhuman training the great Houses put their scions through and the umbralis coursing through her veins, Raven felt truly helpless.

Angel was a blur of silver-grey leather ahead of them, moving with an uncanny grace, stepping nimbly on tumbling debris before it even hit the ground and leaping clear of the collapsing bits of the cavern.

Her uncanny awareness was truly frightening to watch in person.

The exit loomed—a jagged tear of harsh, natural daylight breaking through the suffocating gloom of the tunnel.

​Angel reached it first, diving through the opening and rolling across the loose, dusty mountainside.

Sye burst through a second later, dragging Raven out into the cold mountain air just as a massive overhang collapsed behind them, sealing the tunnel mouth in an avalanche of shattered granite and roaring dust.

Valerius threw himself through the shrinking gap a split second before the rock slide slammed shut, tumbling down the steep slope before digging his blade deep into the frozen earth to arrest his momentum with a burst of inhuman strength and dexterity.

For a long, agonizing minute, there was no sound save for the ragged, violent coughing of four people gasping for oxygen in the icy, high-altitude winds of the Zeregran Ranges.

​Dust billowed from the sealed cavern entrance like smoke from a chimney.

The mountain beneath them continued to groan—a deep, resonant vibration that made the frozen dirt beneath their knees quiver.

​Sye remained on one knee, his chest heaving, his dark eyes locked on the mountain face.

Raven coughed violently, dragging her sleeve across her mouth, leaving a smear of dark grey mud across her pale skin. He threw a furtive glance at the other members of the group.

Strangely enough, they all seemed as much affected as she had been. It seemed the Zeregran Ranges were as insidious as they were nefarious in their nature.

The trio of superhuman creatures was gasping for breath, same as her. Of the three, Valerius was the least affected, but his pale face spoke volumes.

"How..."

She tried to stand then promptly felt the world spin around her. A wave of unrequited weakness washed over her quickly spreading through her body.

Her vision faltered and she gracelessly plopped down on the ground with a gasp.

Angel stood a few paces away, her weapons lowered, her head tilted slightly as she listened to the lingering echoes of grinding stone deep within the mountain.

Raven took slow measured breaths before cautiously lifting her gaze.

Her gaze swept over the rest of the group then her eyes narrowed.

"Morgan?"

Valerius pushed himself up from the dirt, brushing thick grey dust from his black tunic.

He looked back at the sealed tunnel, his breathing heavy, his golden eyes sweeping across the group.

​He blinked. Then his expression hardened into stone.

​He counted...Angel. Sye. Raven. Himself.

​"Where is he?" Valerius’s voice dropped an octave, the gravelly edge giving way to a dangerous, terrifying stillness.

Raven whipped her head around, her eyes widening in sudden, blind terror. She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the blood seeping through her torn trousers where sharp slate had grazed her shin.

"Morgan? Morgan!"

​"He was right behind us," Sye said, his jaw tightening as he stared at the solid wall of crushed granite sealing the tunnel.

"No," Raven breathed, taking a frantic step back toward the collapsed mountain side. "No, no, no! He was right there! He spoke me!"

​"He isn’t here," Valerius growled.

For the first time, the Lord of Moreus usual calmness disappeared. He looked furious.

​A terrible, suffocating aura flared off the golden-eyed Lord, so sudden and violent that Sye instinctively took a half-step back, his hand returning to his sword pommel. The air around Valerius crackled with compressed energy.

"My Lord..."Sye said, attempting to placate Valerius’ rising rage.

"Shut up, Sye," Valerius snapped, swinging his gaze to the ruined entrance. "We are going back in."

We can’t," Angel spoke, her voice flat, cold, and entirely devoid of panic.

"The structural integrity of the outer peak is gone. If you try to clear that rock slide with brute strength, you’ll trigger a secondary landslide that will bury this entire ridge.

There’s something off about this place. Something has changed. You saw it."

She paused, struggling to find the right words to explain the strange phenomenon.

"Even now I can feel my strength leaving my body. I’m sure it’s tge sane for you. In the state we’re in, we could die, and then we wouldn’t find him."

She turned meeeting Raven’s gaze.

"And my liege,you haven’t considered her. Would you forfeit her life in exchange for his?"

"I don’t care," Valerius growled, taking a heavy, deliberate step toward the pile of boulders.

"I am not leaving him down there. My Lord charged me with his protection. I’ll see to it that he returns safely."

"Val, look at the stone!" Angel demanded, stepping directly into his path, her pale eyes blazing with rare intensity.

"Look at the dust! That wasn’t a natural cave-in!"

"If he fell into that void, he isn’t five feet behind those rocks. He’s miles down!"

​Valerius stared down at the smaller woman. His chest rose and fell in heavy, ragged heaves..

The veins on his neck bulged against his skin, his aura pulsing with barely restrained rage, threatening to shatter the very ground beneath his boots.

For a terrifying second, Raven thought Valerius was going to strike her down to get to the rubble.

But instead, he went silent.

A moment later, a wave of raw, umbralis infused force exploded from his body, displacing the swirling dust clouds above them.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!!!!"

Raven sank back to her knees, burying her face in her hands, her shoulders trembling silently.

Sye stood motionless, staring at the avalanche of rock with a grim, hollow expression.