Page 13 of Sy (Alien Berserkers of Izaea #2)

13

T he ground crumbled, and Lila’s world tilted sideways. Her stomach shot into her throat as gravity grabbed her, yanking her down into nothingness. The scream that ripped from her felt like glass in her throat, raw and burning. Wind whistled past her ears, drowning out everything except the thundering of her own heartbeat. She couldn’t tell up from down in the pitch darkness. Her arms windmilled uselessly, her fingers grasping at empty air that seemed to go on forever.

Kal slammed into her from behind, his chest hot against her back even through their clothes. His arms locked around her ribs, squeezing so tightly she could barely breathe. The heat of him was the only real thing in the void as they plummeted. His breath came harsh and fast against her neck, his heartbeat a wild drumming she could feel through her spine.

The impact stole her breath and shattered her world into fragments of sensation. One second she was falling through air, the next, needles of ice stabbed every inch of exposed skin. Water rushed up her nose, burning like fire in her sinuses. The shock of cold made her gasp reflexively, and mineral- heavy water flooded her mouth—sharp, metallic, with a bitter earthiness that coated her tongue. Her clothes ballooned out before plastering against her skin, dragging her deeper into the frigid darkness.

Which way was up? Her lungs seized, desperate for air. The cold numbed her fingers as she clawed at the water, each movement sluggish, like swimming through honey. The weight of her waterlogged clothes dragged at her limbs as spots danced in the darkness behind her eyes. Her chest felt ready to explode.

His hand clamped around her arm like a burning brand against her numbed skin. He yanked her upward, and suddenly her face broke the surface. The first breath felt like swallowing knives. She retched, cave water burning its way back up her throat. Her teeth chattered so hard her jaw ached, the sound clicking in her skull.

“Hold on to me!” A hard arm banded around her waist, hot as a furnace against her frozen skin. More rocks crashed into the pool around them. Each impact sent shockwaves through the water that rattled her bones and set her teeth on edge. Spray stung her eyes, tasting of limestone and fear on her lips.

A boulder hit the water feet away, and the wave that followed created a wall of force that drove them under. Water rushed up her nose again, stealing her ability to breathe. She clung to him, her fingers digging into his biceps hard enough to bruise. His muscles flexed under her grip as he fought to keep them both alive, his body radiating heat that was instantly stolen by the icy pool.

“Almost there,” he gasped when they surfaced again, his breath scorching against her frozen ear. Her water-logged clothes tried to drag her down, each stroke a battle against their weight. Her muscles burned with effort, already stiffening from the cold. Every splash of water felt like tiny daggers against her face.

Her numb fingers scraped stone, sending jolts of pain through her frozen hands. The rough surface scraped her palms raw as he boosted her up. Her waterlogged clothes felt like they were made of lead as she dragged herself onto the rocky shore. Each breath burned in her lungs, tasting of cave dust and mineral-laden water.

Kal hauled himself up beside her, his usual grace gone, replaced by desperate urgency. His hand closed around her upper arm—blazing hot against her chilled skin—and he pulled her away from the edge. More rocks crashed into the pool, sending up sprays that felt like ice shards against her face. Her feet slipped on the wet stone as they scrambled back, sharp edges cutting into her palms as she caught herself.

They pressed against the cavern wall, his chest heaving against her back. The heat of him made her frozen muscles ache with the contrast. Water trickled down her spine in icy rivulets, each drop making her twitch. Her clothes clung to every inch of her like a second, freezing skin.

The impacts slowly ceased, leaving behind a silence that pressed against her ears like cotton wool. Her own breathing sounded harsh and ragged, echoing off unseen walls. Every inch of her shook—violent tremors that started in her core and radiated outward. Her teeth wouldn’t stop chattering, the sound sharp and painful in her jaw. Water dripped from her hair onto her shoulders, each drop a fresh shock of cold that made her flinch.

She pushed her hair back with fingers that felt like icicles, the strands tangling and pulling painfully against her scalp. The darkness wasn’t complete here. A weird, directionless light let her make out vague shapes. Her shoes squelched with every tiny movement, the sound obscenely loud in the quiet as water squeezed between her toes with each step.

The reality of their survival hit her like another wave of icy water. They should be dead. If Kal hadn’t been there, if he hadn’t wrapped himself around her… Her breath hitched, catching on the raw spots in her throat where she’d screamed and swallowed cave water.

“Where’s Tor?” The words scraped past her raw throat. They bounced around the cavern, multiplying and distorting until a dozen voices called his name, each echo more desperate than the last. His silence hit harder than the fall had. When she looked up at him, water dripping into her eyes, his face was tight with fear. He shook his head, droplets flying from his hair.

“We have to go back.”

“We can’t.”

She turned toward where they’d fallen, but the walls stretched up into darkness, smooth and impossible. The faint light that filtered down from above barely reached them, turning the wet stone into a slick, gleaming barrier.

She tilted her head back, trying to see the top. “There has to be a way.”

“I’ve never been in this part of the tunnels before.” His voice was rough, like he’d swallowed gravel. “These walls…” He ran his free hand over the stone, and she heard his nails scrape against the surface.

The cold was settling into her bones now, making her muscles clench and spasm. Each shiver sent new aches through her body. She pressed closer to his warmth without thinking, feeling the heat radiating off him even through his soaked clothes. His arm slipped around her shoulders, but the comfort of his touch couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering.

“Let me try something.” His voice rumbled through his chest. He turned her to face him, water dripping between them. “Get on my back.”

The stone was treacherously slick under her feet as she climbed onto him, her numb fingers struggling to find purchase on his shoulders. Her waterlogged clothes made every movement a battle. When she finally locked her arms around his neck, she could feel his pulse racing against her forearm.

His muscles bunched under her as he approached the wall. The first leap took her breath away. One moment they were on the ground, and the next they were flying upward. Her stomach dropped as his fingers scrabbled against the wet stone. His nails scraped loudly, seeking any crack or crevice. They slid back down, landing with a wet slap that echoed through the cavern.

“Again,” he growled and launched them upward once more. This time he found a tiny ledge. They hung there for a heartbeat, her pulse thundering in her ears. Water trickled down her back as he tensed, preparing for another jump. His skin burned hot against her frozen limbs.

They made it perhaps twenty feet up before disaster struck. His fingers slipped on the wet stone, and suddenly they were falling again. Her scream stuck in her throat as her stomach lurched into her mouth. They hit the ground hard, his body twisting to take the impact. The landing knocked the air from her lungs and sent pain shooting through her legs.

“The walls are too smooth, too wet.” His voice was tight with frustration as he helped her up. Her legs trembled beneath her, her muscles burning from the impact. “We’ll have to find another way out.”

She stared up at the impossible walls, at the distant promise of escape above them. Her chest felt too tight, like the weight of all that rock was pressing down on her. Water dripped steadily somewhere in the darkness, each splash a reminder of how deep underground they were. Of how alone they were.

And somewhere up there was Tor.

The thought made her throat close up. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the sodden fabric of her shirt squish unpleasantly. Every breath tasted of damp stone and copper, the mineral tang of the cave water still coating her tongue. Her hair hung in heavy ropes against her neck, sending rivulets of water down her spine that made her shudder.

“This way.” His hand found hers in the gloom, and he tugged her gently away from the pool, deeper into the tunnels. Their shoes squelched against the stone, the sound echoing back at them like mocking laughter. “We need to keep moving. It’s the only way we’ll stay warm.”

The darkness ahead seemed to swallow their silhouettes as they walked, and she found herself pressing closer to his side.

“Tor!” His name tore from her raw throat, bouncing off the tunnel walls.

“ Tor! ” Kal’s voice cracked beside her, higher than usual, almost frantic. When the echoes died away, she felt him take a shuddering breath. “Come on, you stubborn draanthic. Answer us!”

The wet clothes sucked the warmth from her body with every step. Her teeth chattered so hard her jaw ached, the sound clicking in her skull like tiny bones breaking. He must be just as cold , she thought, if he’s still ? —

No. She couldn’t finish that thought.

But her mind betrayed her, conjuring images of Tor’s body crushed beneath the rockfall, of him drowning alone in some other underground pool. She’d never seen Kal without his strange shadow, always lurking at the edges of her vision. Now the thought of Tor gone felt wrong, like missing a step in the dark.

“He’s here somewhere.” Kal’s voice was steady, but she felt the tremor in his hand where it gripped her shoulder. “He has to be.” Another breath, less steady this time. “ Tor! Stop hiding, you idiot!” The call echoed back at them, mocking. Just like all the others had.

A violent shiver racked her body. Kal pulled her closer, sharing what warmth he could, but even his Izaean heat couldn’t stop the cave’s chill from seeping into her bones. Their footsteps splashed in puddles they couldn’t see, each step sending icy water into their already-soaked shoes.

“He would have heard us by now.” The words slipped out before she could stop them, small and broken in the vast darkness. “Wouldn’t he?”

Kal’s arm tightened around her shoulders. She felt him swallow, heard the click in his throat. When he spoke, his voice was rough. “Maybe he’s just further in. Sound… sound does weird things down here.” But his fingers dug into her shoulder, betraying his fear.

“ Tor! ” he shouted again, and this time she heard the desperation he was trying to hide. The way his voice caught on the name. How it shook at the edges.

She pressed her fist against her mouth, trying to hold back a sob. They’d been walking for what felt like hours, calling until their voices grew hoarse. The tunnels seemed endless, branching off in all directions like the veins of some massive, stone creature.

Her next breath came out as a hiccup, tears burning hot trails down her cold cheeks.His thumb brushed across her shoulder.

“We’ll find him.” But his jaw worked silently, and his hand trembled where it held her. Each time the echoes died away without an answer, his breathing grew more ragged.

Because what else could they do but keep searching, keep calling, keep hoping that somewhere in the darkness, Tor was still alive to answer?

They kept going for what felt like hours. Her feet had gone numb, and her wet socks squelched between her toes. Her shoulder scraped against the stone as she stumbled.

He caught her before she fell, his hand burning hot against her frozen skin. “Careful.” His whisper bounced off the walls, coming back distorted and wrong. Everything echoed wrong down here, like the tunnels were eating their voices and spitting them back out twisted.

The air felt different too—thicker, harder to pull into her aching lungs. Each breath tasted of wet stone and something else, something organic and musty that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Her clothes had started to dry in patches, creating a clammy map of discomfort across her skin. The fabric rasped against her with every step, already starting to chafe.

A drop of water landed on her neck, sliding down beneath her collar. She shuddered, pressing closer to Kal’s warmth.

Something skittered in the darkness ahead. She froze, her fingers digging into Kal’s arm. “What was that?”

The sound came again, a dry scratching that reminded her of dead leaves sliding across concrete. Except there were no leaves down here. The noise multiplied. Dozens of tiny clicks and scrapes echoing off the stone, getting closer. Getting louder.

Her blood froze as a familiar shape emerged from the shadows. Eight legs. Multiple eyes like drops of black oil. The spider was bigger than the ones from before.

And it wasn’t alone…

“Run!”

Lila’s legs wouldn’t move fast enough. The cold had stiffened her muscles, making each stride feel like running through deep water. Kal’s hand clamped around her wrist, pulling her forward as more skittering sounds erupted behind them. The noise bounced off the tunnel walls, multiplying until it seemed like hundreds of spiders pursued them through the darkness.

A sob caught in her throat as her foot slipped on the wet stone. He yanked her upright before she could fall, but the stumble cost them precious seconds. The clicking sounds grew closer. She could almost feel the vibrations of countless legs tapping against rock, could almost sense the weight of those oil-drop eyes watching their desperate flight.

The tunnel forked ahead. He jerked them left without slowing, and her shoulder slammed into the wall as she struggled to match his pace. The impact sent needles of pain through her frozen arm, but she couldn’t slow down. Couldn’t look back. The memory of those armored bodies, bigger than she remembered, made her stomach heave.

“Keep going!” His voice was tight with fear. He never sounded afraid, not even when they’d fallen. But he was afraid now.

Another fork. This time right. The tunnels were getting narrower, the ceiling lower. Their footsteps echoed differently here, sharper, closer. Or maybe those weren’t their footsteps at all. The clicking sounds seemed to come from everywhere now—ahead, behind, above. Her chest burned as she gulped the thick, musty air.

Something brushed against her ankle.

The scream tore from her raw throat before she could stop it. She stumbled again, but this time her waterlogged shoes betrayed her completely. Her knee hit the stone hard enough to send shockwaves of pain up her leg. He tried to pull her up, but her muscles had locked, frozen with terror, cold, and exhaustion.

“I can’t—” The words came out as a gasp. “I can’t?—”

He didn’t wait for her to finish. Strong arms scooped her up, and suddenly she was pressed against his chest as he ran. The movement jolted her with each stride, but she buried her face in his shoulder, unable to look at the darkness behind them. His heart hammered against her side, his breath coming in harsh pants that echoed off the stone.

The clicking sounds surrounded them now, sometimes so close she could hear the scratch of legs against rock and sometimes fading only to surge back louder than before. They were being herded. The spiders were driving them deeper into the tunnels, away from any chance of finding their way back.

Kal skidded to a stop so suddenly she nearly flew from his arms. A dead end. Smooth walls rose on three sides, too high to climb, too sheer to scale. He set her down but kept her behind him, backing them both against the far wall.

The first spider appeared at the tunnel mouth, its abdomen gleaming in the faint light. Then another. And another. They moved with terrible purpose, their legs clicking against the stone in an awful rhythm that made her want to scream. But the sound stuck in her throat as more emerged from the shadows.

Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds. They formed a living wall across the tunnel entrance, blocking any hope of escape.

She pressed back against the cold stone, feeling the rough surface bite into her palms. Kal’s arm shot out, keeping her firmly behind him as the spiders began to advance. The sound of their movement was like falling gravel now, a cascade of clicks and scrapes that made her teeth ache.

This was how they were going to die. Trapped in the dark, frozen and terrified, with only the gleam of spider eyes to light their final moments.

“Stop.”

A familiar voice cut through the darkness like a blade. The spiders froze mid-step, their clicking falling silent. Her knees nearly buckled with relief, but Kal’s arm kept her upright, his fingers digging into her shoulder.

A figure emerged from between the spiders’ motionless bodies. Even in the dim crystal light, she could see how different Tor looked. Black material covered more of him now, spreading across his chest and down one arm like spilled ink. It caught the light strangely, almost seeming to absorb it.

“Tor?” Kal’s voice cracked. “Is that you?”

The sound shattered something in all of them. They crashed together in a tangle of limbs and desperate embraces. She found herself crushed between them, her face pressed against Tor’s chest while Kal’s arms wrapped around them both. The black substance covering Tor felt strange against her cheek—harder than skin, almost like armor, but radiating an impossible warmth.

Tears burned her eyes, hot against her cold cheeks. She couldn’t tell whose shoulders were shaking, whose breathing came in ragged gasps. Maybe all of theirs. Tor’s heart thundered under her ear while Kal’s arms tightened until it was almost hard to breathe, but she didn’t care.

“We thought—” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Didn’t need to.

“I know.” The words scraped out of Tor’s throat like gravel over stone, his already damaged voice even more ravaged than usual. His hand came up to cradle the back of her head, surprisingly gentle. “I know.”

Kal made a sound that might have been a laugh or a sob. “Don’t ever?—”

He broke off, pressing his forehead against Tor’s shoulder. “We looked everywhere.”

“I couldn’t answer.” Tor’s chest rumbled against her cheek as he spoke. “I was busy… not dying.”

She pulled back enough to look at him properly. The black substance covered nearly half his torso now, creeping up his neck like vines. In the crystal light, she could see the texture of it—overlapping plates that shifted with his breathing, almost like the spiders’ exoskeletons.

Kal noticed too, and his hand hovered over the armor-like coating. “What happened?”

“The rockfall.” Tor’s expression tightened. “Would have been crushed, but…” He glanced at the spiders. “They saved me. Three of them. Made a shield with their bodies. They… didn’t survive.”

The words hung in the air between them. She shivered, and both boys tightened their hold around her. She could feel the difference between them now—Kal’s familiar heat and Tor’s new warmth, which was somehow deeper, steadier.

A drop of water fell from her hair, sliding down her neck. Tor’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her wet clothing and then Kal’s. Releasing them, he stepped back and stripped off his top layer, the movement making the black areas on his skin gleam. “Here.” He draped it over her shoulders, his hands lingering to tug it closed.

The fabric was warm from his body and chased away some of the bone-deep chill that had plagued her since their fall. She clutched it closer, breathing in his familiar scent.

“You’re hurt,” she whispered, reaching out to touch the edge where black met skin. The armor felt smooth under her fingertips, warmer than she expected.

His expression softened. “I’ll heal.” His hand covered hers where it rested against the black plates.

One of the larger spiders chittered at them and then led them through the winding tunnels, its legs making a softer clicking now, almost gentle. The sound no longer sent shivers down her spine—maybe because of how Tor walked beside the creature, his hand occasionally brushing its back like one might pet a cat.

The tunnel widened into a cave that made her catch her breath. Luminescent moss carpeted the floor and crept up the walls, casting everything in a soft, blue-green glow. The light caught in the moisture beading on the ceiling, creating a false star field above them. The air felt different here—warmer, somehow alive.

“It’s safe,” Tor rasped, his damaged voice echoing in the space. “The spiders… they showed me. Nothing else comes here.”

She took a tentative step onto the moss. It gave slightly under her foot, springy and impossibly soft after the hard stone of the tunnels. The texture reminded her of thick carpet but warmer, almost like it was alive. Maybe it was.

Kal moved past her, dropping to his knees to examine the moss more closely.

“We can use this.” He pulled up a small handful, and a sweet, earthy scent filled the air. “I’ve seen something like it in the forest. It burns slowly, gives off heat without much smoke.”

He was already gathering more, forming a small pile in a natural depression in the stone floor.

The spider that had led them settled near the cave entrance, its legs tucked underneath it like a guard dog. Other spiders filtered in, taking up positions around the edges of the cave. Their presence should have been terrifying, but something about the way they arranged themselves felt more protective.

Within minutes, Kal had a small fire going. The moss burned with a blue-tinted flame, radiating a warmth that seemed to seep into her bones. She sighed as steam began rising from their wet clothes while they huddled close to the heat.

But it wasn’t enough. The cave’s warmth couldn’t reach the deep cold that had settled into her core. Her teeth started chattering again. Both boys looked at her and then at each other, some silent communication passing between them.

“Come here,” Tor said softly, settling back against a moss-covered wall.

She found herself tucked between them. The contrast was striking. Kal burned like a fever while Tor’s heat was deeper, steadier, radiating from the black armor that now covered so much of him. She turned instinctively toward that steady warmth, pressing closer to Tor’s side.

He tensed and she started to pull away, but his arm came around her, holding her in place.

“It’s okay,” he murmured with a smile, the words rough but gentle. “I won’t hurt you.”

“I know.” She surprised herself with how much she meant it. “You don’t scare me anymore.”

Slowly, hesitantly, she reached out to trace the patterns in his armored skin. The black plates shifted under her touch, smooth and warm. They reminded her of snake skin but harder. Each one fit perfectly against the others, creating a seamless protection that still somehow moved like living tissue.

Kal draped his arm over her shoulders, adding his heat to their little cocoon of warmth.

The moss fire crackled softly, its blue flames casting dancing shadows on the cave walls. The spiders clicked quietly among themselves, a sound that was becoming almost soothing.

Her eyes grew heavy as the warmth finally began to chase away the bone-deep cold. She felt safe here, surrounded by boys and the strange guardian spiders, and slowly she slid into sleep.