Garen had been wandering for what seemed like hours. Following the path that he believed to be the route into the deepest part of the ruins, Garen struggled along with Cero close behind. The pain in his chest and head persisted and he continued to feel slightly drowsy, but he knew that he couldn’t give in to the temptation of rest. He had no idea how to track down Cassandra or the gallovine, but guessed that he would find one or both eventually, so he continued even deeper into the ruins.
He’d worked in the passageways for the past two days clearing away rubble and debris, but even so, the layout of the ruins was confusing to him. The ruins seemed like a maze built for giants. The ceiling loomed nearly twenty feet high and the corridors were easily as wide as they were tall, leaving him feeling insignificant as he slowly plodded along.
After rounding several corners, he became aware that the damage to the surrounding corridors was steadily increasing. More rubble had fallen across the passageways, and cracks along the walls and the ceiling became more and more frequent. With every step, the violent scars of battle were made more obvious. Along with the growing number of cracks, the walls also contained a growing number of glowstones. The deeper that they travelled into the ruins, the more the corridor was filled with light, until the shadows were all but gone.
“We must be getting close to the place where the battle between Gormum and Orlon Rin took place,” Garen said painfully, voicing his thoughts aloud. “That means we also must be getting close to where he died and to the gallovine that he left behind.”
Garen tried to ignore the aching of his head and to some extent was successful, but the pain of his chest was even more difficult to deal with. Shallow breathes were all that he could manage with his wounded ribs and the pain still caused him to grimace. Plagued by dizziness as well as pain, he was forced to keep his movements slow and had to continue to use his left hand to brace himself against the wall.
Garen no longer worried about trying to clear away debris from the passageways as he and the other slaves had been doing since the discovery of the ruins. He walked past growing piles and clusters of shattered rock without the slightest interest. Some of the piles were collapsed across the entire corridor, but Garen and Cero climbed up and over them as they made their way deeper and deeper into the ruins.
Garen began to grow concerned as he realized that they'd been walking for hours and still had not found any trace of Cassandra, the other slaves, or the gallovine. A faint rumble reached them every so often from somewhere distant, but, though he strained to hear it better, he couldn’t figure out what it was or where it was coming from.
Finally, Garen turned a corner and found that the damage was too extensive for them to continue along their current path. A few hundred feet ahead of them, he could see that the passageway was blocked. From floor to ceiling, the corridor ahead of them was entirely filled with shattered chunks of rock and glowstone that had collapsed down.
Great; what are we supposed to do now? I don’t think I’m in any condition to try to dig through that.
Suddenly, a tremor surged through the passageway. The stone floor beneath them began to vibrate violently, and Cero immediately stepped close to him and clasped onto his leg in fear. A loud, thundering sound accompanied the vibrations and grew more and more rapid.
What's happening? It sounds like something is trying to hammer down the mountain.
Garen stood frozen for a moment in shock. The fact that he could feel the tremor so acutely meant that it was extremely dangerous to remain in the corridor any longer. His stomach sank as he realized that the source of both the hammering sound and the violent vibrations was somewhere behind them. He quickly spun in a circle and scanned the corridor for any obvious measure of safety.
A quick glance showed him that he had very limited options. Cero and Garen stood in an already half-shattered portion of the corridor. The path ahead was completely blocked and the way through which they had come sounded far too dangerous to risk; rock had already begun to break away from the ceiling and crashed down around them.
Garen looked around desperately, but there was nowhere safe to be found. A ramp not far ahead on the right side of the corridor appeared to lead down to a lower area, but it was already completely full of rubble. There wasn't nearly enough time to clear a path down the ramp, so he quickly dismissed it as an option.
That only left an open doorway up ahead on the left. They'd passed many doorways exactly like it as they'd made their way through the ruins, so Garen knew what to expect within. The doorway would likely lead to one of the many empty rooms that seemed to serve no purpose in the maze-like ruins, but it was better than nothing and far safer than remaining in the crumbling corridor.
“There; it’s our only chance!”
Grabbing Cero’s hand, he dashed toward the open doorway. He ignored the pain in his chest, his dizziness was forgotten, and his stiff, tired legs were suddenly filled with the strength of desperation. Small cracks began to form along the floor and rock continued to fall down in chunks from above. Dragging Cero behind him, Garen managed to weave his way through the falling debris, most of the way to the doorway.
A final intense vibration shook the entire corridor, and Garen stumbled. The floor beneath his feet sagged and cracked in countless places. Garen glanced at the boy. He instinctively knew what he had to do. Without hesitation, he used all of the strength that he had left in his body to fling the boy around his body and into the safety of the doorway. Cero landed with a soft thud, just as the floor beneath Garen buckled and collapsed downward. Unable to move or react in any way, Garen tumbled downward with the shattered floor; down toward a brilliant, white light.
Devouring Darkness Page 29
