Chapter 65

  Landryn lifted his torch again and motioned for the group to follow. “There is one more place,” he said.

  He guided them away from the Brimstone chamber and deeper into the mine. The passage curved southward, narrower than the main shaft they had entered earlier. The smell of rot faded behind them as they moved through the stone corridor. The air here felt different, cooler and cleaner, almost fresh, as though something was drawing it in from below.

  Their boots scraped softly against the stone floor. The torchlight danced along the walls, revealing smooth surfaces interrupted by the occasional tool mark where miners had tried to widen the passage. The deeper they walked, the more the carved stone gave way to raw earth and untouched rock. Water dripped somewhere ahead, the slow rhythm echoing through the tunnel.

  They reached a rough, freshly broken section of wall. Landryn pointed to a jagged opening just wide enough for one person at a time. “We widened this crack yesterday. The air coming out was too steady to ignore.”

  Riley nodded. “Go through. Carefully.”

  One by one they slipped through the opening, shoulders brushing the rock. The two soldiers raised torches as they emerged on the other side.

  The tunnel opened abruptly.

  They stepped out into a cavern so large the torchlight barely touched its edges.

  The floor stretched outward in a broad sweep of smooth basalt. The walls curved gently upward in long, sinuous arcs before vanishing into darkness. The ceiling remained hidden, but faint drafts suggested high, open space above. The cavern swallowed sound, yet every footfall carried a soft, clear echo, no muffling dampness, no oppressive closeness.

  Riley stepped forward slowly, her boots tapping against the stone. The floor felt worn and polished in places, as if water or something heavy had moved across it many times. Her gaze lifted toward the walls.

  “This reminds me of the lava tunnels in Hawaii I saw in that documentary,” Riley thought.

  The surfaces carried strange patterns, shallow ribs that twisted across the stone in flowing lines. The grooves curved and overlapped in long arcs that ran across the cavern walls.

  The group paused while the torchlight flickered across the smooth ridges and rounded surfaces.

  Valrik slowly turned in a circle, studying the cavern. “This was not made by miners,” he said quietly.

  Landryn looked at Riley. “This doesn’t look like any mining I have ever heard of,” he said.

  Zelgra stepped forward and took a torch from one of the soldiers. She crouched near the floor and ran her hand slowly across the stone. Her fingers traced the shallow grooves where dust gathered along the edges of the ridges. The grooves curved in repeating waves that stretched across the cavern like the pattern left behind by something enormous sliding through soft earth.

  She muttered quietly to herself as she stood and began walking the perimeter of the cavern. The torchlight followed her movements as she examined the patterns in the walls and the wide channels carved through the rock.

  No one interrupted her.

  Riley watched.

  The soldiers shifted their weight quietly while they waited. Landryn held his torch high and slowly scanned the darkness above them. The light flickered across stone ribs and deep shadows that hid the ceiling.

  Zelgra continued her slow examination. She paused at several places along the wall, pressing her palm against the stone as if measuring the depth of the grooves.

  After several long minutes she completed the circuit and returned to the group. She held the torch low now, her expression thoughtful.

  Riley stepped forward. “What is it, Zelgra?”

  Zelgra looked around the cavern again before answering. “I have never seen one,” she said slowly. “I've seen their lair once before.”

  Her voice carried softly through the chamber.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Zelgra stepped forward, torch held low, her voice steady but hushed in the vast chamber.

  “Giant burrower from the north. The Clawborn have a name for them: Koovrah. They feed on minerals, carving tunnels as they go. Those shallow ribs and twisted grooves on the walls? That's the mark of its body sliding through rock, slow, relentless, eating as it moves. The wide arcs are its feeding paths; it follows veins of minerals, widening them into passages.”

  She swept the flame across the floor. “No eggs here. This nest is abandoned, long abandoned. The creature moved on, possibly years ago, deeper or elsewhere. We should be safe from it now.”

  She pointed to the pale crust in the side chamber. “That white layer? Its waste. Thick sludge when fresh, heavy with minerals from the rock it digests. Over time it dries, hardens, reacts with the stone, turns to chalky veins and brittle powder.”

  Across the cavern, one of the soldiers had wandered toward a smaller opening near the far wall. He crouched near the entrance and called out, “The ground is crusty white in here.”

  He pointed toward the narrow chamber.

  The group crossed the cavern to join him. Their footsteps echoed as they walked.

  Inside the slightly smaller chamber, the stone floor was coated in a pale crust that cracked faintly under their boots. The white layer spread across the ground in uneven patches. The smell here was different, sharp and dry.

  Zelgra knelt and scraped a small portion loose with the edge of her knife. She brought the powder to her nose and inhaled. Then she touched a tiny bit to her tongue.

  Her face twisted instantly and she spat it out onto the floor. A faint acrid smell lingered in the air.

  The soldiers exchanged glances.

  They searched the chamber carefully but found no tunnels leading outward. The walls closed in on every side. No burrows. No hidden passages. Just the white crust across the floor.

  Riley crouched and scraped a small sample of the white crust into her palm. She pressed a bit to her tongue.

  Salty.

  But not like food salt.

  The bitterness followed quickly after, drying her tongue and leaving a sharp aftertaste that made her swallow hard.

  The sensation stirred a faint memory somewhere deep in her mind. Something from long ago. A smell. A taste. A place she could not quite reach.

  Her thoughts drifted briefly toward her father. The feeling slipped away before she could grasp it.

  Then Zelgra’s voice pulled her back.

  “It is not salt for food,” Zelgra said. “Mushrooms sometimes grow on this, but they are not for eating.” She gestured to the crust along the floor. “This is where the Koovrah made waste.”

  Riley coughed once and spat onto the ground. “Thanks for the warning.”

  Zelgra wiped her hands against her trousers. “We should not stay here long,” she said. “It is said it can cause head sickness. Pain.”

  Landryn stepped closer to Zelgra and began speaking with her quietly about the chamber. Their voices stayed low as they discussed the cavern and the tunnels around it.

  Riley left them and walked back into the larger cavern with Thorne and Valrik.

  Their voices rose behind her as they began discussing soldier formations.

  “If the space is this wide,” Valrik said, “we could run drills in two lines.”

  Thorne nodded. “Spacing would need to change if the ground shifts underfoot.”

  Their words faded as Riley stepped further into the cavern. She turned slowly, studying the vast chamber from one end to the other.

  Her gaze moved from the smooth floor to the ceiling where the darkness swallowed the torchlight.

  Something enormous had once lived here.

  The thought settled heavily in the silence.

  Riley stood alone in the center of the cavern, boots planted on the smooth basalt floor. She tilted her head back, eyes tracing upward from the wide sweep of stone beneath her to the unseen ceiling lost in shadow. The space felt endless, silent, waiting.

  A faint shimmer flickered at the edge of her vision. She opened the HUD with a thought. The translucent interface unfolded before her eyes. She flipped through the menus until she reached the building queue, the timer ticking down and upgrade in progress. She studied it quietly.

  From across the chamber, Landryn's voice cut through the stillness. “Riley, you might want to have a look at this.”

  She blinked the HUD closed, the shimmer vanishing. Without a word, she turned and walked toward the small side chamber where the others had gathered around the soldier's discovery.

  The pale crust cracked faintly under their boots as she joined them.

  “Riley.”

  Thorne’s voice cut gently through her thoughts.

  She turned.

  “Do you think we should head back?” he asked. “This area seems secure.”

  Riley nodded. “Landryn.”

  Landryn left Zelgra and approached. “Yes?”

  “Get a sample of the white powder from that chamber,” Riley said. “And the yellow rock from the other area. Have them delivered to me.”

  Landryn nodded. “We will meet again to decide next steps with these areas soon.”

  Riley turned to Valrik. “Post an armed guard at the main entrance of this cavern,” she said. “Rotate them every few hours.”

  Valrik inclined his head. “It will be done.”

  Torchlight flickered across the vast hollow as the group began walking back toward the tight passage and the main mine shaft. The return was steady, the air remaining clean and moving.

  By the time they slipped back through the opening into the familiar tunnels, the torches were low but steady.

  Riley paused at the junction, looking back toward the cavern.

  Silent.

  Still.

  That was when the faint shimmer appeared at the edge of her vision.

  Invisible to the others. The translucent interface hovered quietly in front of her eyes as a message began to form.

  ? Warning: Group detected approaching perimeter.

  Riley slowed slightly, her boot catching for half a step on the uneven path.

  More text appeared.

  ? Intent unknown.

  Riley felt a cold tension settle deep in her chest, her breath shallowing as the chill spread to her fingertips.

  The message faded slowly as the group continued walking toward the mine entrance. But the warning lingered sharp and insistent in her mind.

  "Raiders?" she thought. "No, they wouldn’t have the numbers to register as a large group."

  Something was coming and only one name flashed through Riley’s head:

  Clawborn.