Chromium Rise: A Misplaced Adventures Novel (invasion of the chromium Book 1) by William LJ Galaini

Author:William LJ Galaini [Galaini, William LJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cursed Dragon Ship Publishing, LLC
Published: 2024-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Eighteen

Arvin

While violent death was a common part of life in Vastard, Arvin had never seen it happen in front of him before. Such death was something that happened to someone else in some tribe, a parable of caution related to him through Uncle. And a bloody end was often between men enacting their grievances upon each other.

But this was a slaughter. Guards and laborers, men and women all lay with their eyes blank. The entire room was awash with blood as if the dais in the center was an island in a red, still sea. The orange light from the glimmering copper inlay brought out the brilliance of it, making the reflections on its sanguine surface even more vibrant. It was as if there were two rooms, an upside-down version to this one. In both stalked the chromium horrors, tails high and swishing rhythmically, as they patrolled in circles around Arvin.

Why aren’t they killing me?

He had wedged himself between the chairs, still easily seen. What got him there in the first place was crawling low. While everyone else was screaming and fighting and being a target, Arvin had chosen a low profile. But it only got him to here. Trapped, with the dead Evrick leaned against his arm.

While being as still as he was able, Arvin evaluated the carnage. Evrick’s words echoed within his skull.

They are a puzzle.

Calming himself, he remembered just how good he was at puzzles. How much he enjoyed them. How much he fed off them.

Arvin clamped his eyes closed, intent to reset his brain as best he could. When he reopened them, he was going to be an observant alchemist, a naturalist of the world around him. This would require all his resources, prior knowledge, and insight. He would solve whatever this was.

In the dark, he heard the things moving about.

Chromium. Identification based on apparent composition.

He listened to the slow patter of their flat hands on the stone as they shifted about the room. There was a slight thrumming sound in the air, like the fluttering of desert hummingbirds surrounding him. He could barely hear it, but it was there.

Vibration. Sound. Emanating from them, but hard to discern.

He opened his eyes. Focusing on one of them, he eventually found the pattern that it followed. It would raise its head with its horns high and slowly drift it side to side while walking. At the same time its tail would swish arrhythmically, the prongs on the end dipping about.

Next, he examined its head. It was shaped like a man’s, but without any features at all. No eyes, no ears, no nose, and no mouth. Its smooth surface only reflected the orange world around it.

No vision. No olfactory. No taste or visible consumption.

Arvin went back to the tail. And then the horns.

It moves the horns and tail like sensory organs. But how?

One patrolled over several sundered bodies, the tributaries of their blood merged on the stonework between them. As it walked through it on its hands, he saw the entire puddle rippling.

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.