Page 29 of Creatures of Chaos

“Locklyn,” Becks roars, shattering the small amount of peace I’d managed to wrap around me. His voice sounds shredded and frantic to the extent that something inside me wants to soothe his pain.

I start to turn toward Becks, but Talon grabs my arm, staying my movements. He doesn’t say a word, but slowly shakes his head, giving me a look that tells me to ignore Becks, but I can’t. Yanking away from Talon, I sprint over to him.

“Come back,” Becks begs.

There’s a slight shimmer in the air between us, letting me know the barrier is still there.

“I can’t. You heard what the game master said. Once you enter the competition, there’s no backing out.”

“It hasn’t started yet,” Becks says. “You can still back out.”

I don’t know whether or not that’s technically true, but either way I’m torn. Do I try to step back over the barrier and return to Becks, return to how life has always been? Or do I take a chance and maybe my life will change in ways I can’t even imagine now?

One choice is safe. One is dangerous.

“Locklyn,” Becks murmurs my name and holds out his hand. “Come back to me.”

Ten. Nine.

A countdown starts, the numbers ringing clearly through the air, making the crowd in the cavern go crazy.

I stare at his outstretched hand while the countdown ticks down, my heart beating hard enough to bruise my ribs.

Seven. Six.

“Nothing has to change,” Becks says, a touch of desperation in his voice. “We can forget this night ever happened and everything will go back to the way it’s always been.”

Those words make up my mind for me. I don’t want things to stay as they are with Becks. I can’t go back now. I won’t go back. I want more.

Three. Two.

I’ve sat back long enough and let things happen to and around me, seemingly powerless to change my circumstances. At my core that isn’t who I am. I’m a fighter. It’s time I acted like it again.

One . . .

“I’m sorry,” I say, and then take off after the other competitors, disappearing into the pitch-black tunnel.

Ten

I don’t knowthe meaning of true terror until the starting horn blares for the Chaos trial and I plunge headfirst into the darkness. It isn’t long before any light from the main caverns disappears and I’m completely blind, stumbling over the uneven, rocky ground, listening to the shuffling feet and shouted curses of my fellow competitors as they rush in front of me.

Finding the tunnel wall, I make slow progress into the abyss, my muscles tense and senses stretched as I move forward, listening for a potential attack. I haven’t forgotten Jules’ mouthed words before the trial began. It feels like at any moment I’ll be struck down.

I don’t have a plan for how to make it through this first trial. The only things I know about the tunnels are what I’d learned when I came to Deepseat Caverns with my parents years before, which isn’t much. And the factoids that do come back to me in the moment are wholly unhelpful and only scare me more. Like the guide’s warning not to wander from the group because there are over a hundred miles of tunnels that crisscross and zigzag beneath the earth. They cautioned us that getting lost in the labyrinth wouldn’t only be frightening, but also potentially life-threatening. Collapses were common in some of the tunnels, and so they weren’t all safe for passage. And the danger of collapses in certain sections meant that not all of the subterranean paths have been charted, so rescue would be even more difficult.

I do my best to shove those dark thoughts from my mind, knowing the fear won’t help me as I wait for my eyes to adjust, but the more time ticks by I realize that isn’t going to happen. In order for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, there has to be some light, but I’m so deep into the caverns none exists down here. Shifters with night vision and fae with light magic definitely have the upper hand in this challenge.

The tunnel narrows and I have to duck to keep going. Visions of being swallowed by a giant rock monster fill my head, spiking my blood pressure. I never thought I was claustrophobic, but the confined space in the tunnel, along with my blindness, are becoming too much for me. I slow my footsteps, wanting to turn around or sink to the ground and curl into a ball, but I force myself to keep moving forward, even if it is at a snail’s pace.

Eventually I reach a junction. Using my hands as guides I figure out that there are three separate paths I can take. I’ve fallen so far behind the rest of the competitors that I can only hear faint echoes of voices up ahead, but I have no idea which of the offshoots they’re coming from. And even if I did know, that wouldn’t mean it’s the right one. None of us have any context for where these Chaos coins are hidden or how to make it out of the maze of tunnels.

Indecision freezes my limbs, making it feel like I’m encased in a block of ice, unable to move in one direction or the other. The guide’s warnings slither through the cracks in my mental shields, reminding me of the consequences of getting lost in the vast underground labyrinth.

I close my eyes. If I don’t pull myself together I’m not only going to get disqualified from Chaos before it barely starts, butI truly will get lost in these tunnels. I take two slow breaths through my nose and let them out slowly through my mouth.

You’ve got this. Creatures underestimate you.Use that.Talon’s whispered words ring in my head and I latch on to them, letting them wash over me and finding strength in them and myself. With one more calming breath, I snap my eyes open, newfound determination flowing through my veins.

I’ve got this.

---