Kale exhaled slowly, shaking his head to clear the lingering thoughts of gods and impossible choices. He couldn’t afford to dwell on them now. Whatever came next would require his focus, not his doubts. He’d deal with the weight of those decisions later… if they survived long enough to worry about it.

  The air was thick with dust and the stench of decay as Kale and Liliana stepped into the next chamber. Rows of towering stone statues lined the walls, each one a monstrous figure clutching a massive axe. Their faces were twisted into grotesque snarls, frozen in place. There was something about them that made Kale uneasy. The statues were too lifelike, too ready to move.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Kale muttered.

  The stone door at the far end of the room loomed over them, etched with symbols and ancient runes. Kale wasted no time, walking up to the door and pressing his hands against it. It didn’t budge.

  “There has to be a way through,” he said. His eyes landed on the four buttons placed beside the door, two on each side. They were too obvious, placed on the wall at just the right height to be pushed by hand.

  “Looks like it takes two people.”

  Liliana scoffed. “Oh sure, two people. And I’ll just push the buttons with my... oh wait, I don’t have any hands. Brilliant, Kale.”

  Kale frowned, staring at the buttons. “How are we supposed to open it if—”

  Before he could finish, curiosity got the better of him. He pressed one of the buttons. The stone beneath his fingers shifted slightly, sinking into the wall with a soft click.

  “Kale, wait!” Liliana yelled.

  A low, ominous rumble echoed through the chamber. Kale looked up as one of the statues near the door began to tremble. Its eyes now glowed a sickly green, and cracks spiderwebbed across its stone surface. The cracks deepened, chunks of stone falling away, revealing a hulking, monstrous figure beneath, a creature of flesh wrapped in the remnants of its stone prison.

  Liliana growled, “You idiot!”

  Kale grimaced. “Is this... bad?”

  The last of the stone crumbled to the floor, and the creature, now free from its prison, stood at its full height. It was massive, far larger than Kale had expected, with glowing eyes and an axe that looked like it could split him in two. Slow but menacing, the creature took its first step forward, the ground shaking beneath its weight.

  “Yes, Kale, this is bad,” Liliana said.

  The monster, no longer a statue but a living, breathing thing, lumbered toward him, raising its axe for a devastating blow. Kale’s heart raced, his mind scrambling for a plan as the creature swung low, aiming for his legs. He jumped out of the way, barely dodging the strike. The axe slammed into the stone floor with a deafening crash, sending cracks splintering through the ground.

  “Even the statues are trying to kill us now?” Kale yelled.

  Liliana snorted. “Well done, genius. You’ve just triggered the ‘let’s-get-killed-by-monsters’ button.”

  Then it swung again, faster than before. Kale twisted to avoid it, but the sudden movement made him lose his grip.

  “Whoops,” he said as Liliana’s head slipped from his hands and hit the ground with a dull thud, rolling a few feet.

  Silence, just for a second.

  "Did you just ‘whoops’ me?"

  Kale barely dodged another swing. "Not on purpose!"

  Liliana huffed. "Unbelievable. If you keep this up, I’m going to develop trust issues."

  "Kind of busy here!" He snatched her up just as the creature roared, adjusting his grip before darting back out of reach.

  The creature was slow, but its sheer size and strength made every swing dangerous. As the axe swung again, Kale ducked under it, his reflexes sharpening with each dodge. He slashed at the monster’s legs, severing a tendon. The creature’s leg buckled, its movements slowing as it staggered forward.

  Another blow came, this one aimed higher. Kale rolled out of the way, feeling the rush of air as the axe sailed past him. His instincts took over, he slashed again, this time cutting deep into the creature’s arm. It roared, the tendons severing as its grip on the axe faltered. The massive weapon dropped to the floor with a heavy thud.

  Kale’s confidence grew with each strike. He darted around the creature, severing more tendons at its knees and ankles, watching as its towering form became clumsy and unbalanced. The creature swung wildly, its movements sluggish and erratic, but Kale dodged with newfound ease, striking with precision.

  Finally, the monster fell to its knees, and its body trembled as the last of its strength faded. The creature let out a final roar before it collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

  Panting, Kale took a step back, his chest heaving. Relief washed over him as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “That was... intense.”

  “Well, congratulations. You just managed to kill the slowest monster ever... and without getting sliced to pieces this time. I’m almost impressed.” Liliana said.

  She wasted no time drawing in the creature’s blood, swirling it around her in a familiar red mist. “Valtharion, I offer this blood in your name. May it strengthen us both.” The blood vanished, consumed by her god.

  Kale raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t I be offering that to Aeloria?”

  Liliana sighed. “Aeloria’s not interested in blood sacrifices. She’s a goddess of blades, not mindless slaughter. But I’d bet she noticed how you handled yourself, brave, a little more competent... and for once, you managed to dodge instead of getting yourself sliced open.”

  The dagger in Kale’s hand pulsed with a faint blue light, a silent acknowledgment of his progress. He glanced at the blade, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Looks like she’s impressed.”

  “Don’t get cocky,” Liliana said. “You’ve still got a long way to go.”

  Kale chuckled, stepping toward the door. “So... I guess you know how to open this?”

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  Liliana rolled her eyes. “Obviously, you need to press all four switches at the same time. Otherwise, more of those statues will wake up, and while they’re slow, I doubt you can handle three at once.”

  Kale frowned. “That’s going to be a problem. I’ve only got two hands, and you’re... well...”

  Liliana sighed heavily. “Do I really have to spell it out for you, Kale?”

  Kale paused for a moment, then his eyes lit up with realization. “Right...”

  He gripped the dagger tightly, but the confidence quickly faded. “There’s just one problem... I don’t actually know how to use it.”

  “Well, you better learn fast. If you mess up, we’ll have more statues to deal with.”

  Kale swallowed, glancing at the switches, then back at the dagger. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

  The dagger pulsed with energy, and Kale’s eyes began to glow a soft blue, the words forming in his mind: Echoing Blades.

  With a shout, Kale slashed the air, and four ethereal versions of his dagger shot out, striking all four switches at once. The room trembled as the mechanisms inside the stone door groaned to life, and slowly, the massive door began to slide open.

  “Hey... that actually worked,” Kale said.

  “Look at that, you survived, and managed to use a level one skill. Truly groundbreaking stuff.”

  Kale shot her a look, wiping sweat from his brow. “You know, I don’t care for your negativity. You’re just lying around most of the time. Maybe instead of criticizing, you could, I don’t know, actually help?”

  “I did save your life, in case you’ve forgotten.”

  Kale shrugged. “And I’ve been carrying your big head around. More helping, less complaining would be nice.”

  Liliana huffed. “Big? My head is perfectly proportioned! Besides, you need all the practice you can get. I’m doing you a favor by making sure you don’t get too comfortable.”

  Kale shook his head. “Right. Glad you’re so invested in my personal growth.”

  ***

  Kale and Liliana stepped cautiously into the next chamber, their eyes scanning the room with the wariness of survivors who had been through far too many close calls. The air was damp and filled with the scent of rot, the walls and floor covered in a thick, tangled mass of decaying vines. Unlike the previous chambers, there were no statues, no eerie shadows moving in the corners, just silence, broken only by the soft crackle of dying plants beneath their feet.

  Kale’s eyes darted around, half-expecting something to lunge at them from the darkness. But there was nothing, just a faint, eerie light shining through the cracks in the door at the far end of the room. It was different from any door they’d seen before. It seemed... brighter, more hopeful.

  “I don’t see any statues,” Kale muttered.

  “No monsters either. Doesn’t mean it’s safe.” Liliana said.

  Kale stepped forward, his eyes still sweeping the room. “It’s quiet... maybe too quiet.”

  The chamber stretched out before them, seemingly empty except for the mass of rotting vegetation that covered the walls and floor. Still, nothing attacked them. Kale’s gaze settled on the door, and a spark of hope flickered in his chest.

  “I think we made it,” he said.

  The faint light spilling through the cracks in the door seemed to confirm it, this had to be the exit.

  “Maybe.” Liliana said.

  They took a few more cautious steps forward, the eerie silence hanging over them like a shroud. Every sound seemed to echo, but nothing moved. No creatures appeared, no traps sprang to life.

  “Finally,” Kale said. “A room that doesn’t try to kill us.”

  “You just had to say it, didn’t you?” Liliana said.

  Kale took another step toward the door, but his foot wouldn’t move. It was as if something had caught on his boot, holding him in place. A faint resistance at first, barely noticeable, then stronger, pulling tight around his ankle.

  He frowned and looked down, expecting to see his boot tangled in one of the many vines scattered across the floor, and it was, except the vine around his foot wasn’t just lying there.

  It was moving.

  A massive, writhing mass of vines surged from the ground, each one covered in thorns. They whipped and coiled through the air, their movement fast and unpredictable. They tightened around Kale’s leg, the thorns biting through fabric, digging into flesh, pulling him back with terrifying strength.

  “Come on!” Kale shouted. He glared at the vine wrapped painfully around his leg, tugging against its grip. “Even the plants?!”

  Kale struggled to free himself, but the tentacles tightened, more of them rising from the ground and slithering toward him with alarming speed. They lashed out, aiming for his arms, his torso, any part of him they could wrap around.

  “Liliana, a little help here!” Kale cried, as he slashed at the nearest tentacle with his dagger, attempting to free his leg.

  The blade sliced through it, but two more quickly took its place. The vines seemed to grow stronger, more aggressive with every strike.

  “I’m a blood mage, not a botanist! Stop hacking at them, you’re just making it worse!” Liliana yelled.

  Kale paused mid-swing, glaring at her as the vines coiled tighter around his leg. “And what exactly am I supposed to do? Let them strangle me?”

  Kale gritted his teeth, feeling another vine coil around his arm. The vines constricted tighter with every passing second, their thorny tips digging painfully into his skin.

  “This won’t work,” Liliana warned, her eyes fixed on the writhing mass of vines tightening around him. “There are too many of them!”

  Kale’s mind raced as the vines slithered up his body, their grip tightening around his arms and legs. He had to think fast, but panic clawed at the edges of his mind. Another vine lashed out, wrapping around his waist, pulling him off balance.

  “Then what do I do?!” Kale shouted, struggling against the growing mass.

  “Focus. You need precision, not brute force. The source, there has to be a source. These things are like weeds, cut off the root, and they’ll wither.”

  Kale’s eyes darted around the room, desperately searching for something, anything, that could give him an advantage. Among the rotting vines he noticed a thick, pulsating mass near the far wall—its heart, or root, pulsing with a sickly green light.

  “There!” Kale yelled, pointing with his dagger. “That’s where it’s coming from!”

  “Then stop flailing around and do something useful for once!” Liliana snapped.

  “I can’t move!” Kale shouted, desperation creeping into his voice. “Liliana, do something!”

  Liliana’s eyes flicked toward him, assessing the situation. “This is going to hurt,” she said, her tone leaving no room for argument.

  Before Kale could respond, a sharp pain flared through his body as Liliana worked her magic. His blood began to surge, seeping out of the wounds the thorns had created. He cried out in agony as the blood, now under Liliana’s control, flowed faster, gathering and hardening into a sharp crimson shard.

  The blood shard hovered in the air for a split second before flying toward the pulsating heart of the vines. It struck true, burying itself into the core. The vines shuddered, their grip loosening just enough for Kale to gasp for air. But the reprieve was brief. The heart was damaged, but not destroyed, and the vines quickly tightened again, squeezing the breath from him.

  “Liliana!” Kale gasped, his voice weak.

  “Hold on,” she growled. Her eyes narrowed as she pulled more of his blood, forming another shard. Kale grunted, the pain almost unbearable, but he had no choice. Liliana sent the second shard into the heart.

  It wasn’t enough. The heart still pulsed, its sickly glow dimming but not extinguished.

  “Last one,” Liliana said.

  A third shard, sharper and deadlier, formed from Kale’s blood. He could feel his strength draining with every drop, his vision starting to blur. With a final thrust, the blood shard shot forward, piercing the heart of the vines. The chamber trembled as the vines convulsed, their tight grip finally unraveling. One by one, the tendrils dropped, withering into lifeless husks.

  Kale stumbled forward, the last of the vines falling from his body. He was free, but the victory came at a cost. He was dangerously weak, his limbs trembling from the blood loss. His head spun, and the edges of his vision darkened.

  “I... I can’t...” Kale swayed on his feet, his legs threatening to give way.

  “Stay awake, Kale,” Liliana ordered. “We need to get out of here. Keep moving.”

  Kale forced himself to move, dragging his feet toward the door. Every step felt like a monumental effort, his body screaming for rest, but he pressed on, leaning heavily on the doorframe as he pushed through to the other side.

  The harsh light of the outside world greeted him, blinding and overwhelming after the darkness of the dungeon. He stumbled out, breathing in the fresh air, though his vision was a hazy blur. Kale swayed on his feet, barely managing to stay upright.

  “Finally... outside,” Kale muttered, weak but relieved. He glanced around, squinting as he tried to take in his surroundings. The world spun around him, everything swirling in dizzying circles. “I have no idea where we are... but at least it’s not a dungeon.”

  His legs gave out beneath him, and as he crumpled to the ground, he groaned, “Well... I’m just gonna nap here for a sec...”

  And then everything went black.