King Without a Throne

There was no time to think. No time to scream.

Kairan's world narrowed to a pale white flash, razor-sharp claws moving faster than thought, and a hard, brutal impact.

Not on him.

At the last second, as the claws were mere inches from his injured leg, Torvek's solid arm shoved him roughly aside. Kairan crashed onto the cold, slick stone, the impact sending an agonizing wave of pain through his entire body. But that pain was nothing compared to the sound he heard next. A wet, tearing sound of flesh, followed by a deep, choked-off groan of agony from a man who refused to scream.

Kairan turned with difficulty. In the trembling blue light of Lyra's crystal, he saw a sight that would be seared into his mind forever. Torvek stood between Kairan and the creature, his body a shield. The Trench Crawler had sunk its claws deep into Torvek's thigh. Dark blood spurted out, staining the stones around them.

The old gladiator's face was a stiff mask of agony, but his eyes—his eyes burned with a warrior's fury. With his one remaining arm, he swung his throwing axe down, not at the creature's body, but at its long, thin arm joint. There was a nauseating crack, and the creature shrieked, a piercing, high-pitched sound, releasing its grip and staggering back.

"Don't just stand there!" Lyra snapped. She had moved even before Torvek had finished his swing. She darted forward like a shadow, her dagger a silver blur in the dim room. She didn't attack the wounded Trench Crawler. She went for another, one that had just started to crawl out of the water.

Her movements were efficient and merciless. A quick thrust to where a neck should be, a twist, and she was already moving to the next target before the first had even fallen back into the black water. She was a dancer of death. The spiderweb Sigil on her hand pulsed faintly, every vibration in the ground telling her where the next enemy would appear.

But there were too many of them.

Two more leaped out, then three. They felt no fear. They had no strategy. They were just hungry.

"We have to go! Now!" Lyra shouted, her voice strained as she parried another attack.

Torvek ignored her. His eyes were locked on the first creature that had wounded him. He roared, a powerful roar full of pain and fury, and charged forward, his axe raised. A one-on-one fight. A gladiator's duel.

"Torvek, no!" Kairan cried out, his voice hoarse and desperate.

It was then that something inside Kairan shifted. The Voidmark on his chest was no longer just observing. It responded to Kairan's rage and desperation. A piercing cold spread from his chest, not like ice, but like the void itself. He didn't think about it. He just did it. He aimed all his pain, all his fear, all his rage at Lord Valerius, and let it out.

A silent wave of emptiness radiated out from him.

It had no sound. No form. But all the Trench Crawlers felt it.

They stopped simultaneously. Their eyeless heads turned towards Kairan, not with hostility, but with a strange hesitation. Kairan's presence—the void emanating from him—was something wrong. Something that shouldn't exist. It was a dissonance in their simple symphony of hunger. They took a step back, letting out clicks full of confusion.

The pause only lasted for two seconds. But those two seconds were an eternity.

"Now!" Torvek roared. He didn't waste his opponent's hesitation, swinging his axe in a brutal arc that split the Trench Crawler's head. Pale fluid sprayed, and the creature collapsed without a sound.

Lyra didn't waste the opportunity either. She grabbed Kairan's arm. "Get up, kid! For whatever you've got left, get up!"

The pain from Lyra's pull and the adrenaline flooding his body allowed Kairan to stand, though his legs were shaking violently. Torvek, now limping badly with a severe wound on his thigh, returned to their side.

"That way!" Lyra pointed to a narrow tunnel across the room. "That's the way out!"

They ran. A desperate, horrifying escape. Kairan was half-dragged by Lyra, while Torvek hobbled behind them, leaving a trail of blood. The creatures, having recovered from their confusion, now resumed the chase, their angry clicks echoing throughout the room.

They reached the tunnel's entrance just as the first Trench Crawler reached the edge. The tunnel was narrow, only wide enough for one person at a time.

"In!" Lyra commanded, shoving Kairan forward.

Kairan crawled in, sharp rocks scraping his hands and knees. Lyra followed right behind him. Torvek was the last. He turned at the mouth of the tunnel, raising his axe, ready to hold back the tide of pale creatures for as long as he could.

"The pillar!" Lyra shouted from inside the tunnel, her voice echoing. "See the crack! It's not stable!"

Torvek looked up. He saw it. A large crack running along the ceiling, right above them. A crazy idea formed in his mind.

"Lyra, get the kid further in!" he roared. He didn't wait for an answer. He looked at the approaching wave of Trench Crawlers. With the last of his strength, he swung his throwing axe, not at the creatures, but upwards, slamming it with all his might into the weakest point of the crack.

There was a loud grinding sound. Dust began to fall.

He struck it again.

The crack widened. The sound of shifting stone was heard.

One of the Trench Crawlers leaped at him. Torvek kicked it with his injured leg, searing pain shooting through his body, but he didn't stop.

He raised his axe for a third time, pouring all his pain, rage, and the rest of his life into one final swing.

"For Velmire!" he shouted.

The axe hit the stone with incredible force. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, with a deafening roar, the ceiling collapsed.

Boulders the size of men fell, completely sealing the tunnel entrance. The high-pitched shrieks of the Trench Crawlers buried beneath were heard for a moment before they finally vanished, swallowed by the sound of the rockslide.

Thick dust filled the narrow tunnel, making them cough and temporarily blinding them.

In the thick darkness, there was only the sound of their ragged breaths and racing hearts.

They were finally safe.

Slowly, the blue light from Lyra's crystal reignited. The light revealed a horrific scene. They were on the other side of the newly collapsed stone wall. Safe from the monsters.

But the price of this escape was steep.

Torvek was leaning against the tunnel wall, sliding down to sit on the wet floor. His face was deathly pale. His badly injured leg was now trapped under one of the large boulders from the rockslide, pinned at an unnatural angle.

He looked at Kairan, then at Lyra. A tired, bitter smile appeared on his lips.

"Looks like," he said, his voice hoarse and weak, "I won't be going any further with you."