SMASH.

SMASH.

SMASH.

Closer and closer, the crushing tunnel loomed. There were now only two sections of floor remaining before the one we were on would raise. Freya pressed her hands against the blank wall of the dead-end and made a frustrated growl.

“I can get through here with my Pass Ability, but I can’t take you with me,” she said, scowling, “I can take objects with me, but not people.”

I didn’t have to think about it.

“Go,” I said, “I’ll figure something out!”

Freya looked like she was going to argue, but then she dropped her head with a sigh.

“Don’t die, thick-head,” she said, and in a flash, she phased through the blank wall, leaving me alone in the hall.

Alright, now, what are you going to do?

I watched as another panel rocketed upward, striking hard against the ceiling. My options were limited.

Devour Strength. Maybe I could use it to stop the pillars from smashing me?

It was worth a try. I quickly summoned the Talisman’s display and wheeled it to my Devour Spells page.

“DEVOUR STRENGTH!”

At that moment, just as my body was engulfed in the flame, the panel in front of me, and the one I was standing on shot upward, sending me crashing to the roof of the tunnel. I fell backward, and I was only just able to get a hand up in time to stop myself from being smashed against the rough stone above. However, as I pushed, I noticed I was losing ground. Even with my back against the floor, it was inching me toward the roof with an alarming finality.

I twisted slightly, pressing the palm of my left hand against the rock beneath me, and struggled to raise myself up, straining against the force of the magically induced vice. Pushing down with my legs, I lifted my other hand to the ceiling to support the crushing weight being directed up at me.

It was still too much.

At my level, I didn’t think I’d be able to withstand the force for long.

I have to save myself somehow!

I couldn’t see anything save for the walls of stone around me, and the rams head at the top of the blank wall that was still a third uncovered to my left.

I have others…

I hadn’t used anything but Devour Strength. Still, as I trembled there, struggling to restrain the crushing demise, I conjured my memory of the Giant I’d gleaned a different power from.

It had been small, for its kind, and upon our first approach, we’d thought it was a young creature. We entered the canyon where it dwelled and immediately saw it climbing up the side of the rocky crags with hands and feet, the limp carcass of a full-grown bull dangling from one arm.

We’d scaled the wall of stone with our climbing gear, and found its… I suppose, nest, butted up against the rocks high above the wood in the center of the canyon. Its back had been turned while it feasted upon the bovine in its clutches. Even with a quiet approach, it had heard us,turned immediately and shot its hand out and…

Flashes of pain, screaming, blood… so much blood.

I shook my head. I didn’t have time for it. It wasn’t a good memory, but it reminded me of the capabilities of the Giants. I focused on the blank wall beneath the rams head and rolled my shoulders back. I wasn’t able to cycle my Talisman display, so I’d have to hope this worked.

“DEVOUR REND!”

It was as though a ripple of pure force barreled from my throat, twisting my windpipe and blasting forth with such power that the only thing that kept me standing was the strength of the crushing pillar. A sonic blade of compressed air flashed in front of me, as wide as the corridor itself and struck the blank wall, and cleaved it to pieces. The rubble tumbled down, spilling on to the platform I was currently fighting against, and allowing a few feet of open space. This was my opening.

Summoning all the strength I could muster, I took one hand down, slipped the climbing hook from my back, and wedged it between the two sections of rock. I hunkered down as the fortified steel trembled from the pressure. It wouldn’t hold long.

I slid out from between the two slabs, and into the next dark tunnel. The flame around my body shed a little bit of light, casting illumination along the dirt floor of the stretch beyond. I grasped the end of the rope tied around my torso and traced its unspooled length with my eyes up to my climbing hook. I took a firm hold. Using what was left of my Devour Strength, I gave a mighty yank, snatching the hook from the clutches of the pressure, and caught it. The platform, now unhindered, smashed against the roof, sealing off the exit.

I released the mana I’d been using for my Abilities, and the green flame surrounding me went out, plunging me in darkness.

I took a breath.

“That was close,” I said aloud.

However, though I’d thought I was alone, something in the shadows responded in a hissing, unfamiliar tone.

“Oh, child. That was just the beginning.”