As soon as Laryn’s feet touched down on the mat of roots that formed the floor of the arena, the massive sepal walls grew up out of the ground, closing over their heads and locking them in. The bloom shone as starlight fell upon it through the central oculus.

  The other four men moved in sync with Laryn, jumping over the fast moving walls. Nobody was caught in the formation of the arena.

  A burning torch in Laryn’s hand was their only light in this dark cavern. The voidlord screached, trumpeting loudly and charging across the space, barreling toward them.

  “Spread out!”

  The men scrambled away, hoping to draw attention as the voidlord moved to defend the bloom. When Laryn had fought the creatures before, they had aways been careful to keep themselves between him and the void bloom. He hoped that spreading out would force the void lord to retreat, moving closer to the bloom and keeping an eye on them all.

  Laryn guessed the void lord to be water-type, or perhaps life-type. Life would be weak against fire. Water… that depended on how much fire they could create. Otherwise it would easily extinguish the flames.

  The huge crab did not retreat. It barely seemed to notice Laryn’s companions. It came straight for him. Toward the fire.

  Laryn ran. He moved to his left, the direction Thallon and Widan had gone, sprinting after them. He was almost too slow, feeling the woosh of air as pincers snapped where he’d been standing. His torch flickered.

  He kept running, but the void lord was faster. Strange, hair-like antennae brushed over Laryn. He brushed them away with his hand, but the creature came on.

  It reached a massive arm out and blocked off his retreat. He backed up against the hard outer wall of the arena, pressing against the rough, woody grains of the sepals.

  Thallon appeared from the darkness, bringing his heavy hammer down hard on the crab’s claw. Carapace cracked, and the voidlord screamed. A dozen long antennae brushed over Thallon. With a flick of the claw, Thallon tumbled away, out of Laryn’s view.

  Laryn took a chance.

  He sprang up, and kicked off of a ridge of the void lord’s shell, sending him higher. Groping antennae brushed over him, and a massive claw swiped through the air. He kicked against the arena wall, sending him higher still.

  His torch guttered, and a thick weave of probing antennae reached out for it, searching out the flame.

  Laryn landed on the voidlord’s back and slashed his sword through the thick antennae sprouting there. The thin strands offered no resistance, falling like stalks of wheat before the reaper.

  The huge crab bucked, and Laryn fell backward to the ground. He hadn’t cut away all the antennae, but maybe he’d partially blinded the thing.

  The beast plunged forward, its bulk about to crush Laryn into the ground. White foam frothed and sprayed.

  He threw the torch. It arced up over the demented crustacean, a burning streak of light in the black arena. The void lord’s attention followed the flame. It reached out, snapping at the torch with its claws.

  Laryn seized advantage of the moment and ran forward, searching for a weak point on the monster’s underside.

  The creature’s mouth gaped, a black cavernous pit ringed with spikes. White, frothy foam bubbled around the teeth as the void lord whirled, chasing after the torch.

  Laryn slashed at the maw, but the bug’s speed carried it away, and he landed only a glancing blow. A current of air carried a stale, rotting stench to Laryn’s nose as the crab skittered atop the flaming torch and extinguished it with a geyser of foam.

  The arena plunged into darkness.

  Laryn backed away, his eyes adjusting to the pitch black as he reached out behind him, searching for the wall.

  Dark shapes moved in the dim light.

  He hoped that the men outside were sticking to the plan.

  “Stay spread out!” Laryn shouted into the darkness. “Remember, we just have to distract it!”

  He hoped his voice would attract the creature to him, and give him another chance. His sword was their best chance at killing the beast.

  If one of his men was mortally wounded, was it the right thing for him to time skip? Or would that be playing into the plans of the void bloom?

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Chitin clattered in the darkness nearby. Laryn crept to the side, wondering how the creature sensed things. Maybe if he could destroy the antennae atop the void-spawn’s back? Or were those just some kind of strange hair?

  Cloth rustled to his left, along with heavy breathing, the sounds amplified as Laryn’s ears worked overtime to compensate for his blindness. He smelled sweat and dirt in the air, a familiar, human smell, compared to the rotting decay of the bloom.

  “Gall?” he whispered, approaching slowly.

  “No, I’m Widan,” came the reply.

  “I think it’s weak spot is it’s mouth,” Laryn whispered. “A hole underneath its body. Where it shoots the foam. If you get the chance, a good spear thrust might end it.”

  “Okay,” Widan said. He sounded scared. “How are we going to see it, though?”

  “Shh… Just listen.”

  They stood still, listening. The faint sound of whispers from somewhere across the arena reached them, the sounds of the other men communicating. A clatter, wood on wood. A boot scuffing against a root. The rustle of clothing.

  Where had the voidlord gone? Laryn’s mind didn’t match any of the sounds to the massive, crab-beast. Then again, it could probably move quietly when it wished to, gliding across the gently twisting ground as it shifted to ease the Voidlord’s movement.

  Laryn was glad he’d entered the arena with friends. His muscles already shook from the exertion of moving around in a high influence tile. The distraction they offered provided him a bit of respite.

  Creeping forward, away from the wall, Laryn reached out with his senses. If the void lord was blind, like them, maybe he could reach the stalk and destroy the bloom.

  Then he froze, as the strong scent of decay spiked in his nostrils. A tang in the air, bringing images to his mind of the looming void lord, gaping maw open.

  Laryn slowly extended a hand, and touched cold carapace. It shifted slightly beneath his touch. Overhead, stars twinkled through the oculus, partially blotted out by a slowly unfolding bloom filled with spores.

  They were running out of time.

  The Void lord had moved to the center of the arena to protect the stalk.

  At that moment, a flaming arrow plunged in through the oculus, lighting the scene. In the brief flash of light, Laryn saw that he’d cut away most of the void lord’s antennae. Only a half dozen remained.

  Clearly still capable of some sense, the crab sprang into action when the fire landed in the arena. Laryn grabbed hold of a huge spike and was carried along on the back of the crab. He hauled himself higher up onto the beast as it extinguished the arrow.

  Keeping an eye on the oculus, Laryn crept up to the bulge where the remaining antennae sprouted. The archers would be trying to rain more arrows through that hole. A challenge for them, since they couldn’t see it, but Laryn had assured them it was there. And even if they missed, it was possible they’d be able to light the sepals enclosing the arena on fire.

  Plunged into darkness again, the arena once more became a terrifying hole. But now, Laryn held firmly to a sharp spine on the back of the crab-void-lord. The bug trundled around the arena, antenna whisking around in the air, but none of them came near Laryn. He shifted himself higher on the beast, searching for the point where the antennae sprouted from the shell.

  He’d slice the rest of them off. Or stab his sword straight down; that seemed a likely place for the monster’s brain.

  In the darkness, someone tripped and cursed. The voidlord’s gentle, rocking gait shifted, and Laryn nearly fell as the creature galloped to the sound.

  Thallon shouted, and his hammer rang. Carapace cracked.

  Thallon cursed loudly, then cried out. Laryn’s heart raced, and he sprang into action.

  “Over here!” Gall yelled.

  “My leg!” Thallon gasped.

  “Where’s Laryn?”

  Another flaming arrow breached the arena, casting an orange light over the scene. Thallon lay on the ground, leg caught in the grasp of the crab’s pincers. Long antennae draped over Thallon, and the claw tightened.

  A loud snap reverberated as Thallon’s thigh broke. The blacksmith screamed.

  Laryn hauled himself up and grasped the remaining antenna, then sliced them clean from the void lord’s head.

  Time reset? If he moved a little bit faster, could he save Thallon’s leg?

  If he reset time, he risked losing more ground to the void.

  Gall ran through the darkness and grabbed Thallon’s arm, dragging him away. The void lord, partially blinded, ignored the burning arrow and followed the two men, staggering oddly without it’s antennae to guide it.

  Sound. It had to be tracking them with sound.

  Laryn began stabbing with his sword against the thick carapace beneath his feet. The clanging steel barely scratched the hard armor, but it was loud.

  “We need more fire!” Laryn shouted.

  The disoriented void lord stumbled around. Flames from the burning arrow took. Roots and woody sepal cracked and popped as the fire spread.

  Light filled the arena, and the other Vallorians realized that Laryn was on top of the void lord. He held tightly to a sharp spine. A dozen more smaller spines threatened to stab him through if he fell the wrong way. That seemed more and more likely as the void lord lurched around, confused by Laryn’s pounding.

  He tried to stab his sword down into the cluster of antennae stumps, but at this angle was unable to penetrate.

  The flames grew. Lit from beneath by light from the fire, the massive void bloom opened, the petals having undergone their transition to spores. The surface of the bloom rippled and undulated. A handful of spores were caught by a gentle breeze and floated softly off into the night.

  Thousands more remained. If they didn’t destroy the bloom soon, all those spores would float across the land, raining down blight and destruction everywhere they landed.

  Widan ran across the arena, spear extended. He ducked between the sporadically flailing legs of the void lord, disappearing from Laryn’s view.

  The creature reared up. Laryn swung from a carapace spike, scratching his legs as he fought to stay atop the void lord.

  He had seen this move before. It was about to drop down, trying to use its weight to crush Widan.

  With one arm hooked around a spike, Laryn stabbed his sword into the antennae stubs, slashing at what he guessed were sensitive parts of the bug.

  The creature shuddered and roared, then tilted forward. The movement allowed Laryn to get the angle he’d been seeking.

  As it plunged down to the ground, Laryn rammed the sword down through the tuft of antennae and directly into the void lord.

  It slammed down to the ground, shaking the arena. Widan did not emerge.

  Flames roared and billowed as the arena walls crumbled, dry dust feeding the flames.

  Laryn dropped down from the back of the crab, bloodied in a dozen places by sharp carapace spikes.

  Thallon, Hober, and Gall struggled out of the arena as it fell apart, trying to avoid the heat of the fire.

  Laryn searched for Widan, afraid for the worst.