Chapter 72 - Tentacle mass
As Ariel climbed higher, toward the broken crown of the ruined temple, the world slowly opened beneath her.
From there, she could see Lilia and Ryn walking out into the field below. They seemed to be talking about something, two small figures framed by fading light and drifting ash.
It was strange how much had changed.
She thought back to the first time she’d met Ryn. Back then, when she’d still been trying to force her power to awaken. When desperation had ruled every prayer. She would have done anything for her blessing then, anything to feel useful.
Who would’ve thought that the quiet, frustrating boy would become this person?
The one supporting her without question.
The same boy who couldn’t dance to save his life.
Ariel huffed a weak breath that might’ve been a laugh.
But forget Ryn, look at lilia…
She climbed higher, fingers scraping against cracked stone, as a familiar voice rang through her mind, distant and absolute.
[Second challenge begins.]
The wind caught her hair, tugging at loose strands as the words settled deep in her chest.
Lilia, the maid who used to stutter through every line, who spilled tea and apologized too much. Even though she was older, Ariel had always thought of her like a little sister.
And now she was walking straight into a fight.
One that could very easily kill her.
Compared to them, Ariel felt painfully out of place.
That was familiar territory for her.
What was she now?
A princess who destroyed her own kingdom.
An apostle who barely understood her own power.
She was supposed to protect Lilia.
And instead, she’d dragged her here.
Ariel brought a hand to her chest, fingers pressing lightly as if she could still her thoughts that way.
It was strange.
She used to despise castle life. The routines, the rules, the walls that made the world feel small. She used to dream of leaving, of seeing what lay beyond the gates.
Now…
Now she’d do anything to go back.
Back to how things used to be.
To a time when wanting more didn’t feel like a mistake.
She hadn’t realized how privileged she’d been. How sheltered. She’d wanted power so badly—but she’d never understood the cost of it. Never understood how much would have to be given up.
She was the embodiment of Solvara’s weakness.
Sheltered.
Untested.
As much as it hurt, she would have to live with that—for now.
What mattered was surviving the next night.
Then the next.
That is what she was fighting for
Maybe one day— when things returned to normal—they’d talk about this. The three of them. Sitting somewhere warm and safe.
And they’d laugh.
Together.
Maybe she’d even ask Ryn about his past.
About who he’d been before all of this, before the armor, before the quiet certainty. She was sure he'd changed. A lot.
***
Ryn ran.
He knew every aberration was unique, he’d prepared himself for that much, but this…
What the hell was this thing?
The ground beneath him ruptured.
A loose tendril exploded upward, tearing through stone and dirt. Ryn stumbled as it grazed past him, teeth clenched as he forced himself forward.
Behind him, the creature surged into view.
It wasn’t a single form so much as a mass of writhing tendrils, made of some material Ryn didn’t recognize—dark, slick, constantly shifting. It reformed as it moved, unraveling and pulling itself back together in a desperate attempt to reach him.
Ryn ran faster.
Every step burned, lungs screaming as he pushed his body harder than it wanted to go. The temple loomed ahead.
Even if we weren’t expecting this, he thought, the plan can still work.
Another tendril lashed out from behind.
It struck the back of his chestplate with a sharp, jarring impact, the force rattling through his ribs. Ryn ducked instinctively and broke into a full sprint, legs pumping as he tore toward the temple entrance.
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He didn’t look back.
But he could feel it, not just behind him, but below. The ground trembled with every surge.
The temple rose ahead of him, broken columns and fractured stone cutting against the sky. The entrance yawned wide and dark, just as they’d planned.
Another tendril burst from the ground to his left, missing him by inches. The earth screamed as it tore free, stone splintering under the force. Ryn swerved hard, boots skidding across loose rubble.
The thing behind him surged.
He could hear it now, not footsteps, not breathing, but a wet, grinding sound, like something being dragged across itself over and over again. Tendrils slapped and scraped against stone as it pulled itself forward.
It was incredibly fast.
Ryn forced more speed from his legs.
The temple steps rushed toward him.
A shadow flickered across the ground, reaching—
Ryn threw himself forward, clearing the first broken step just as a tendril slammed down where his foot had been. Stone exploded outward. He rolled, came up hard, and kept running, chest burning, vision narrowing.
The entrance was right there.
“LILIA!” he shouted.
Another tendril snapped past his shoulder, close enough that he felt the air ripple. He didn’t look back. He couldn’t.
The temple swallowed him in shadow as the creature surged after him, tendrils clawing at the threshold, stone cracking under the weight of its charge
“NOW!”
As Ryn shouted, a sound answered him.
The stone cracked.
A deep, splintering groan rolled through the temple walls, ancient rock giving way under sudden force. Dust rained down in thick sheets as fractures spidered across the entrance.
Ryn didn’t hesitate.
He lunged forward just as the archway above him collapsed.
Stone thundered down behind him in a violent cascade. Chunks of marble and fractured pillars crashed into the threshold, sealing it in an explosion of dust and debris.
A tendril shot through the falling rubble—wild, grasping—
Then it vanished beneath the collapse.
The creature’s sounds were muffled instantly, swallowed by stone.
The entrance caved in completely.
Silence followed.
Only drifting dust and the ringing in Ryn’s ears remained.
Footsteps rushed up behind him.
“Ryn—are you okay?” Lilia asked, worry threading her voice.
Ryn pushed himself up and nodded once.
“You were right,” he said, brushing dust from his armor. “This place is barely standing.”
He glanced at the collapsed entrance.
“Didn’t take much.”
Lilia looked down at the sword in her hand.
It had split clean in two.
Lilia laughed—thin, brittle. "Too bad the sword didn't survive."
“Do you think it’s dead?” she asked.
Ryn’s gaze followed hers.
He shook his head.
“No.”
A beat.
"Not yet."
He lifted his rusted blade and struck it hard against a jagged piece of rubble.
Sparks burst into the air, brief and violent against the settling dust.
***
Ariel stood at the highest point of the ruined temple, the broken stone cold beneath her feet.
The night had deepened. The six suns were gone, leaving the sky stretched wide and merciless above her.
Then—
The ground trembled.
A low, violent shudder rolled through the temple walls, dust slipping from cracks in the stone. Ariel steadied herself, heart lurching.
What was that?
Silence followed.
Minutes later—
A spark cut through the darkness.
Then another.
Small. Brief.
But against the black of the trial’s night, they burned bright.
Ryn’s signal.
Ariel narrowed her eyes.
That was faster than they’d planned.
He was supposed to let it chase him longer. Let it commit. Let it exhaust itself.
Had something gone wrong?
Her fingers tightened.
Not that it mattered.
Ariel drew in a slow breath, letting it settle deep in her lungs. The wind tugged at her hair, carrying the scent of dust and shattered stone. Below her, the temple entrance lay buried in rubble, shadows pooling thick around it.
She raised her arm.
Light answered.
It gathered first in faint threads beneath her skin, the golden cracks flaring to life,
Her jaw tightened.
Not everything.
Not enough to fall.
But enough.
The glow intensified, coiling around her forearm, condensing at her palm until it hummed—a contained sun, trembling against the edge of release.
Ariel exhaled.
And fired.
The beam tore through the night in a blinding arc of white, striking the rubble in a violent explosion of light and force.
Stone vaporized.
Shadows fled.
And then silence.
That's weird, Ariel thought
Something about it felt off.
***
Ryn lowered his hands from his eyes as the dust from Ariel’s attack began to settle.
Even weakened, the blast had made the hair on his remaining arm stand on end.
Behind him, Lilia straightened slowly, brushing grit from her sleeve. She exhaled, shoulders easing just slightly.
Ryn nodded once and let out a breath, scanning the collapsed entrance.
He stopped.
Something felt wrong.
The air had gone still.
A faint vibration ran through the soles of his boots.
Lilia turned to face him. “Ryn?”
The stone beneath them shifted.
Like something enormous was turning over beneath the temple floor.
The vibration deepened, spreading outward in slow, rolling waves. Dust trembled. Loose pebbles skittered across the ground.
Ryn’s stomach dropped.
“Get ba—”
The floor erupted.
Stone split apart in a violent surge as something tore upward from below. The force launched both Ryn and Lilia off their feet, hurling them across the entrance and into the main chamber of the temple.
They slammed hard against fractured pillars, air driven from their lungs.
Dust and debris rained down.
And from the shattered floor—
Something rose.
The aberration.
The same mass of writhing tendrils.
Only this time, most of them had burned away. Blackened fragments hung loose, curling and shrinking in on themselves. Through the gaps, Ryn caught sight of something at its center—
A pulsing mass.
Glowing.
Not bright like Ariel’s light.
But alive.
Ryn’s breath caught.
Then the tendrils moved.
The burned remains split apart and regrew in violent, twisting bursts, new strands knitting over the glowing core in seconds. They layered over it protectively, sealing it away beneath fresh, slick coils.
As if it knew exactly what needed to be hidden.
The mass shifted toward them.
Whole again.
