Weakness (Buryoku Book 8) by Aaron Oster

Author:Aaron Oster [Oster, Aaron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: GFS Publishing Inc
Published: 2022-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

38

It had taken them longer than expected to reach this place, though in truth, Kaeru wanted to be anywhere else at the moment. Rain pattered down around them, sheeting off the slab of white marble that covered the ground for nearly a hundred yards in every direction.

Massive runes lay inscribed all across its surface, glowing faintly in the dim lighting of the Darklands. They’d been weakened, Kaeru could tell, though they would still function as they were supposed to. What exactly they were supposed to do, though, was completely unknown to him.

“So,” Kaeru said, staring at the slab of marble. “What now?”

As far as he could see, they were as close to the Ancient Beast as they could possibly get. He had no idea why Hermit had wanted to be led here, and the man had refused to tell him over their week of travel.

Another thing to keep in mind, he reminded himself, was that for every day that passed in here, only half as much time passed in the rest of Safaia. In a single day out there, two would pass here. So, they’d technically only been here for three-and-a-half days.

“We go down,” Hermit said, causing Kaeru’s heart to do a backflip, then pull a knife and stab itself.

Well, not literally, but Kaeru appreciated the metaphor.

“What?!” he exclaimed as Hermit crouched, hooking his fingers beneath the marble slab. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Maybe,” Hermit said. “But if I’m right, the Beast won’t be the only thing down there.”

Kaeru swallowed nervously as Hermit shifted the slab away, moving the gigantic multi-ton stone as though it weighed nothing. He moved it only enough to allow them to enter.

A wave of overpowering Light Reiki blasted out of the gap as Hermit moved away, lancing into the sky in a twisting pillar before slowly fading, leaving the image burned into Kaeru’s retinas.

“Someone’s been down here,” Hermit said, lying on his stomach and peering into the hole. “But the seal hasn’t been tampered with, which means they found another way down.”

“That’s bad, I take it?” Kaeru asked as Hermit moved back from the hole.

“Only if the Beast wakes up,” Hermit said.

Then, without so much as a warning, the man leaped straight into the hole.

“Oh, sure,” Kaeru muttered, as he walked up to it. “Go hunt down a Beast that can squish us in our sleep. What could possibly go wrong?”

Taking a deep breath, he dropped into the hole as well. There was a rush of wind, and just a couple of seconds later, he landed, knees flexing to absorb the impact of his fall.

“Not bad,” Hermit said, looking to the mountain of fur and scales sound asleep just twenty yards away.

Kaeru made a point of not looking for very long. The creature was quite disturbing to behold. When he did glance in its direction, all he saw was a wall of fur and scales, as well as a fleshy mess that he assumed to be a wing. Simply looking at the Beast sent a chill down his spine and a worm of dread deep into his very soul.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.