The Crack In Heaven [A LitRPG Progression Fantasy] Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Three Steps of Light

Read chapter 59 of The Crack In Heaven [A LitRPG Progression Fantasy] by Adamus_Auguste on NovelPedia.

Chapter 59: Three Steps of Light The light of the small lamp stretched three steps around Marc before dissolving into the darkness of the pit. Even these three steps didn't mean much to Kael. An outgrowth he would have stumbled on, a boulder half his size, stones, rocks, and more damned stones. For hours. Oh, and the stench of decomposition without the corpses. The stench continued to unnerve him. Not an evil spawn. Something worse than an anchor-ghast. If a hierarchy of horrors existed—and if no fool wrote it, he might do it himself—that piece of bastard junk should be close to the top. Anything that made Tonio's hands twitch around his should be close to the top... Els kept glancing at him. Did she think her green eyes could speak? Or had she anchored a new truth that worked as poorly as the flickering lamppost of their shelter? Fine. You're scared. I get it. We all are. But you're making me antsy on top of that! I can't even tell you to stop... He took a sharp breath of putrid air and pointed over Marc's shoulder. Ahead. That was where they should be gazing. Unlike Tonio, who glared in every direction like a broken compass. Look ahead. Too late... Terror clenched his gut as it had in the mines. The thing roaming the burial pit wasn't the worst. The darkness itself was. He clenched his collar, pressing his fist to his throat as his breath stuttered. He needed to see. His legs numbed, and just before he folded on his knees, Marc's voice cut through the dread. "Kraghor's peace is not with us... It's heading our way." He glared northwest, straight into the dark as if he could see or hear something lumbering. The dread worsened. "W—" Before Kael's question fully formed, Marc's thin palms pressed it back into his mouth. His other hand clamped over Els' mouth, muffling her ragged breath. Tonio's lips didn't move. Instead, he pulled Marc's hands from their mouths and replaced them with his own, broad palms. He wrapped his arms around their shoulders, drawing them close. Immediately, Marc pulled back. He shoved his small lamp toward a boulder as tall as Kael, and three times wider. "You're actually the smartest. Hide. Not a noise." It only took Tonio a somber nod to move. No question. No hesitation. Only what his limited mind allowed him to understand: noise meant death. Boulder meant safety. Not to Kael. Forced against Tonio's chest behind the boulder, questions hammered his mind. What's coming? Beside him, Els, and even Tonio grimaced as much as he did... or so he told himself. But Marc? He still stood in the open, the glass protecting the burning wick lifted from the base of the lamp. Why aren't you joining us? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Shadows danced across Marc's pale face for a heartbeat. Then, a blow. Light died. Darkness. Silence. Did he just... abandon us? Els and Tonio's faces turned as pale as Marc's. So did his. That, he was sure of. A whistle, like an arrow, tore the silence. Kael snapped his gaze northeast. Marc's voice reverberated from there, void of its usual stuck-upness. It was guttural, hissed through something sharp. Something that shouldn't belong to humans. "For centuries, you've roamed the depths of your own ruin. Pathetic… yet I'll indulge you. Come, if you dare!" A stench of blood flooded in waves, drowning decay with copper so thick Kael could taste it. As he pinched his broken nose without caring for the pain, whatever had whistled splashed to the northwest. Then footsteps, fading deeper northeast. Did Marc really provoke whatever roamed the pit? He hadn't abandoned them! Somehow, Kael finally found the strength to wipe the sweat dripping from his bandaged forehead. A minute passed in perfect silence. The sweat returned. Two minutes. His stomach caved in, and breathing became hard again. Five minutes... It was torture, like drowning in rot, while the surface receded an inch at a time. If not for Tonio's arm holding him still, he knew he'd be scrambling like a fool... if his legs could carry him. The thought fro