Page 102 of Unleashed

The chamber doors closed suddenly, their slam echoing up along the rounded walls before drifting back down again, greatly diminished in volume. A low hum filled the air, vibrating through the floor.

Vortok’s hackles rose again as the sound and sensation coalesced into a ball of dread in his gut.

Balir wove through the crowd to join Aduun and Vortok just before the room shifted. Vortok’s stomach sank as the floorrose, moving past the banded patterns on the wall with increasing speed. He spread his legs a little wider and lifted his gaze. The darkness overhead solidified into a circle; the shaft was sealed at its top.

“We’ll be crushed,” Vortok said, bending forward to shield Nina with his torso.

“We will not,” Aduun replied. “She showed me images from Kelsharn’s mind. We will be fine.”

“We cannot trust anything from Kelsharn!”

“But we can trust Nina,” Balir said. He stood with his head tilted down, features drawn with discomfort.

The darkness above dissipated as the platform neared its apex, revealing a dark, smooth stone surface. Vortok had no doubt of its thickness. Even if he survived the impact, his body alone would not be enough to protect Nina from harm.

He braced himself.

The ceiling split apart suddenly, receding into the surrounding wall in at least six wedge-shaped pieces. The moving platform leapt into the opening with a final lurch, its momentum coming to a jarringly abrupt halt. A groaning tremor rocked the floor, and then the sound and motion ceased.

The walls had similar banded patterns here, but they terminated overhead in a domed ceiling rather than an impossibly high shaft.

Vortok released a slow breath.

The doors ahead were identical to the ones they’d come through below, save that these opened without any apparent prompting. Aduun moved forward. The crowd of bewildered valos shifted to allow him passage, and Vortok hurried to follow in his wake. He knew Balir was close behind without having to look.

They walked through the doorway and down a short hall. The chamber on the other side was much smaller than the circular room they’d left behind, but its contents gave Vortok pause. Several large tables, all as tall as his chest, were arranged around the room. Each one displayed a landscape in miniature — a forest with increasingly larger trees, a snowy mountain valley, a desert with reddish rocks and sand. Even a dark, foreboding city.

Every place Vortok and his companions had traveled through since being released from their cages was represented here.

Aduun swung his arm at one of the displays as he walked by. His hand passed through the tiny trees without resistance, without disturbing anything. These were only ghosts, only images.

Vortok strode forward to catch up with Aduun. “He meant to watch us.”

“He meant to do more than that,” Aduun replied. “I do not doubt our journey would have been far more difficult had he not been imprisoned.” Though his voice seemed confident and controlled, Vortok heard the merest hint of unsteadiness in Aduun’s words.

“How do we exit this chamber?” Vortok asked; they’d gain nothing by lingering here in speculation. “I see no other door.”

Balir walked past Vortok, producing soft clicking sounds in his throat. “There is an opening on the wall, but I can detect only the tiniest of gaps in the stone…”

Aduun stepped forward and raised the helmet again. The wall rumbled, and then a large section of it slid aside, receding into a hidden alcove. Vortok, Aduun, and Balir walked through together.

They found themselves in another hallway, this one with ornate decorations and carvings throughout. Aduun wasted no time in turning and hurrying along the passage, and Vortok did not hesitate to follow. Despite the terrifying slowness of his mate’s heartbeat, Vortok’s veins were hot, his chest tight, his breath ragged. They turned again and passed through an archway.

Vortok squinted against the sudden brightness. He slowed to a stop as his eyes adjusted.

They were in an area identical to one they’d passed through below, save the sky overhead here was bright, sunny blue rather than black and scattered with stars. For a moment, Vortok’s mind reeled in confusion. Had they somehow circled back to where they’d already been? The daylight was meaningless; Kelsharn could control every aspect of the world he’d created beneath the surface, and day and night could change almost instantly. But something else was different, too.

He drew in a deep breath through his nose. He knew this air of old, this crisp, clean mountain air, though he’d not breathed it for a long while. It bore no taint, no subtle, indefinable hint of wrongness.

“Almost there,” Aduun said. He hurried into the long, high-ceilinged passage to the left. It was quite similar to the entry tunnel they’d walked underground.

“Almost there, Nina,” Vortok echoed as he followed Aduun.

“I would rather she was whole and well, to enjoy our first taste of open air together,” Balir said quietly, voice barely audible over the footsteps of the dozens of valos behind them.

The huge doors at the end of the tunnel swung open in front of Aduun, spilling blinding sunlight into the passageway.

Aduun kepthis focus on the visions Nina had granted him and pushed forward. To dwell on anything else for long would only slow him down.

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