Chapter 72: Shadow Fen Meshes Mission 4
With their beasts at their sides, Xerion’s flames, Salaris blended into the shadows, Rhoam’s bulk grounded their steps as they ventured into the marshes.
The ground was supressed beneath their feet, a mix of mud and hidden sinkholes that threatened to swallow them whole.
Kelvin led them probing the path with his staff, while Lyra’s keen eyes scanned across the terrain, and Darius guarded their rear with his soulstone gauntlet humming.
The marshes were a sensory assault. Distant wails pierced the fog, sharp and mournful, while unseen creatures were splashed in the murky water.
The mist became thickened, ceasing their footsteps and wrapping them in a suffocating embrace. Every snap of a twig or rustle of leaves set their nerves on edge, the group moved in a tense silence.
Hours into their trek, they reached a perilous obstacle: a wide swamp, its surface a deceptive sheen broken only by tufts of solid ground. A rickety bridge, its planks were warped and rotting it offered the only way of crossing. Kelvin tested a board with his foot; it groaned and splinted under the pressure.
"This won’t hold us all," he muttered, Lyra stepped forward, with her mind already racing. "I can reinforce it with shadow runes. It will take a moment, but it should hold." "Do it," Kelvin agreed, trusting her skill.
She knelt beside the bridge, Lyra traced the intricate patterns in the air with her fingers weaving threads of shadow that snaked around the planks, binding them with dark strength.
Her gauntlet glowed, the runes pulsed as she worked, sweat flowed down on her brow. "It is ready," she said, rising, though her voice carried a hint of strain.