Tharon

THARON

T he last thing I wanted was to hurt her. My lips still burned from our kiss, the taste of her lingering like sweet poison. My beast howled for more, yet I kept the fire between us as Niam held up the device.

“Well?” She stood, determination written in every line of her body. “Are we going to find out what’s down there?”

I wanted to grab her, pull her back into my arms. Make her forget about the device, about the Temple, about everything but us. The urge sang through my blood like lightning.

But that wasn’t what she needed. What she needed was my strength, my protection while she completed her mission. Nothing more.

“Let me go first. The villart should stay here.” I gathered what remained of our supplies, shouldering the heaviest pack. “Besides, I can see better in the dark.”

“How much better?”

“Enough.” The beast’s gifts had their uses. Even in the deepest shadows, shapes remained clear, though colors faded to shades of gray and silver. “Stay close behind me. The floor’s uneven.”

She nodded, one hand gripping the device while the other reached for my arm. The simple touch sent fire racing through my veins. Focus. I needed to focus.

The passage narrowed as we left our camp behind, walls pressing closer until we had to walk single file. Water dripped somewhere ahead, each splash echoing off stone. The device’s blue light carved strange shadows across the rough walls.

“Tell me what you see,” Niam whispered.

“Rock formations. Mineral deposits.” I ducked under a low-hanging stalactite. “Watch your head here. The ceiling drops.”

She followed my warning, her fingers tightening on my sleeve as she navigated the obstacle. “Anything unusual?”

“Define unusual.” The beast’s senses picked up something... wrong about this place. The air carried traces of metal and ozone, growing stronger as we descended. Not natural cave smells.

The passage curved left, then opened into a larger chamber. Frozen waterfalls of stone draped the walls, glittering where the light struck them. But my attention caught on the ceiling - a roughly circular section where the rock patterns changed abruptly.

“Look up there.” I pointed. “The stone’s different. Newer.”

Niam studied it, the device’s light steady on the anomaly. “Like something crashed through?”

“Maybe.” I inhaled deeply, sorting through the scents. “The air’s changing too. Metallic.”

She pressed closer to my side, whether from cold or nerves, I couldn’t tell. The urge to shelter her with my body nearly overwhelmed me. I gripped the strap of my pack instead, letting the leather bite into my palm.

“The floor drops ahead,” I warned. “Looks like part of the cave collapsed.”

We edged forward together until we reached the break in the stone. A black void gaped beneath us, at least twenty feet across, too deep for light to reach the bottom.

“Any way around?” Niam asked.

I studied the walls, noting hand and footholds in the rock. “We can climb down one side and up the other. I’ll go first, test the route.”

“And if you fall?”

“I won’t.” The beast’s strength would see me through. “But you might want to close your eyes. It’ll be easier if you can’t see how far down it goes.”

She grabbed my arm before I could move away. “Wait. What if... what if you carried me?”

My pulse spiked. “What?”

“You’re stronger than me. Faster. And you can see in the dark.” She squared her shoulders. “It makes tactical sense.”

The beast roared its approval at the thought of holding her close. I swallowed hard. “You’d trust me that much?”

“I already do.” The words set my blood on fire. “Besides, you said it yourself - the beast wants to protect me.”

I couldn’t argue with that. The very thought of her attempting this climb alone made my blood run cold. “Alright. But you’ll have to hold on tight.”

She nodded, tucking the device securely into its pouch. Then she stepped into my space, arms circling my neck. I lifted her easily, one arm under her knees while the other supported her back. She weighed almost nothing - had the Temple fed her at all?

“Ready?”

She buried her face against my throat. “Yes.”

The first step onto the wall sent loose pebbles skittering into the void. I ignored them, focusing on each handhold, each placement of my feet. The beast’s strength made it easier, but the precious burden in my arms demanded absolute concentration.

Niam’s breath warmed my neck, her heartbeat a rapid flutter. Halfway down, her grip tightened. “Still okay?”

“Trust me,” I breathed.

The climb up the other side proved trickier, the rock face steeper and more unstable. But the beast reveled in the challenge, in the opportunity to prove its worth to our mate. I pushed that thought aside. She wasn’t ours. Couldn’t be ours.

Finally, I pulled us over the edge onto solid ground. Niam’s arms stayed locked around my neck for several heartbeats before she slowly released her grip.

“Thank you.” She smoothed her clothes, trying to hide how her hands shook. “That was... impressive.”

I shrugged, missing her warmth already. “The beast has its uses.”

She retrieved the device, which pulsed stronger now. The blue light seemed to bend strangely, like it struggled to illuminate the passage ahead.

My weapons began to hum, their metal surfaces vibrating on my body. Something pulled at them, an invisible force that grew stronger with each step forward. The air pressed heavier against my lungs, charged with energy I didn't understand.

“.” Niam’s voice held wonder and fear in equal measure. “Look.”

The passage opened abruptly into a vast chamber, its ceiling lost in darkness above us. But it wasn’t the size that caught my attention - it was the wrongness of it all. The walls bore rippling patterns I’d never seen in natural stone, like waves frozen in mid-motion. Debris littered the floor, some of it clearly not from any rockfall.

And the air... the air shimmered like heat waves, but in impossible patterns. Shadows fell where no shadows should exist. Light bent around empty space as if something massive occupied the chamber’s center, something my eyes couldn’t quite grasp.

“What is this place?”

Niam moved forward, the device’s pulse now a steady rhythm that matched the strange energies in the air. “It’s here. Whatever we’re looking for, it’s right here.” She turned slowly, studying the device’s readouts. “We just have to figure out how to see it.”

I followed, fighting the urge to pull her back to safety. My weapons pulled harder now, straining against their sheaths toward the chamber’s center. Even the metal buckles on my clothes responded to the invisible force.

“The device is changing.” Niam held it up, showing me how new symbols appeared across its surface. “I recognize these patterns from the Temple systems, but they’re different somehow. Clearer.”

She took another step forward, then stumbled as the device jerked in her grip. My hand found her arm, steadying her. “Careful.”

“It’s trying to tell us something.” Her fingers danced across the symbols. “If I could just...”

A high-pitched whine filled the air. The device’s light flared brilliant blue-white, then projected a complex grid of lines across the chamber. Where the lines intersected, the air rippled like water.

“There!” Niam pointed to where the patterns converged most densely. “That’s where we need to be.”

We moved together toward the spot she indicated. Each step made my skin crawl, every instinct screaming that this place wasn’t natural. The beast pressed against my control, unhappy with forces it couldn’t fight.

Niam positioned herself carefully, adjusting her stance until the device’s projected lines aligned perfectly. “Now we just need...”

The words died as a low hum built beneath our feet. The light pulsed faster, brighter, until I had to shield my eyes. The air itself seemed to vibrate, reality bending around us like cloth in the wind.

Then the impossible happened.