Page 1 of Whispers of Ruin
CHAPTERONE
Kaylia’s hairstuck to her cheeks as she used her small sword to hack through the endless jungle of Doomed Valley. She’d known coming to this place of lore, where few survived, would be difficult, but she hadn’t considered that she’d be constantly surrounded by dense, green foliage shrouding her like a warm blanket.
The thickness of the jungle also blocked her view of nearly everything more than a foot away from her… including her allies on this trip. Even worse, it prevented her from seeing the countless enemies lurking in the vegetation.
And though she couldn’t see them, she felt eyes following her every move. Somewhere in this land of green, humidity, and bugs, something was salivating over the idea of eating her; she was sure of it.
Glancing nervously at the trees overhead, she expected to see some beast crouched there, waiting to pounce, but the limbs remained barren of anything more than leaves and vines. Kaylia slapped at a bug buzzing around her ear before using her sword to cut through more vines.
Brokk, who was somewhere ahead of her, had already slashed through this area, but the jungle had closed around him after he passed to block the way for the rest of them. Brokk’s sword thwacked against the plants as he hacked at them.
Only a few feet separated them, but she couldn’t see him. If something happened to him, she wouldn’t know until either the noise stopped or she encountered his remains. She shuddered at the possibility and swallowed to get some moisture into her parched throat.
She’d never suffered from claustrophobia before, but as the vegetation crowded her, it felt like the jungle was determined to bury her in its verdant tomb… just as it had so many before her. Kaylia swatted at another bug before tugging at the collar of the green tunic cleaving to her.
She could be walking through her graveyard right now. She tugged a little more at her collar.
This is not the time. Get it together, or you really will die here.
That was so true, and since she had no intention of dying in this place, she wouldn’t let her imagination run away with her… no matter how many monsters it conjured. There were plenty of real monsters to be concerned about in this place.
She would give anything for some armor, but after the first hour here, she’d learned wearing her lightweight protection and not dropping from dehydration were two things that could never go together here. She’d peeled it off and left it behind. Packing it into her bag wasn’t an option; the last thing she needed was more weight slowing her down.
Kaylia lifted her tired arm to cut through more vines and leaves but froze when she spotted the symbol carved into a tree trunk at least fifteen feet in diameter. She lowered her sword and stepped closer to the tree.
Her fingers traced over the symbol of a circular snake eating its tail. She recognized the ouroboros and had seen it before entering this realm, but she’d seen it far more since entering here than elsewhere.
The symbol didn’t feel anywhere near as innocuous in Doomed Valley as it did in other realms. She didn’t know why someone or something had put it here, but nothing waseverinnocent in this realm.
But it didn’t matter; she couldn’t stand here and stare at the thing. She had to get moving, or the lycan behind her would cut her in two before realizing she was here.
CHAPTERTWO
Wipingthe sweat from her forehead, she lifted her sword and carved through the vines blocking her way. Every part of her ached, and she was as wet as if she’d jumped into a lake with all her clothes on, but stopping wasn’t an option.
As she worked through the jungle, she tried listening for anything hunting them, but it was impossible to hear much beyond the thwacks of those surrounding her. Anything could be tracking them through the foliage, and they would never know until it pounced.
Just like they’d never known about the beast who stole the dwarf from their campsite shortly after arriving here. That creature came in and dragged the dwarf into the night before they ever saw their foe.
She didn’t have a chance to put up a protection spell before the beast attacked. The dwarf’s fingers had left deep gouges in the earth as it tried to keep from being torn away, but none of them had seen it happen.
The reminder caused the hair on her nape to rise, and she glanced nervously overhead again. Nothing was perched there, but it could happen so fast that she might never know a creature was there until it landed on her back and tore out her spine.
Stop it!
Her mother used to say her big imagination, with all its fantastic ideas and stories, was a blessing. It felt like a curse in this place.
Kaylia absently rubbed her neck before scratching a bug bite and continuing. Not only did they have to worry about the unseen beasts at night, but also the whispers.
Those incessant mutterings had etched onto her brain, where they haunted her days even though they only came when the sun set. She couldn’t make out what the whispers said other than their names on occasion, but deep in her soul, she knew they spelled ruin.
Kaylia wiped the endless sweat from her brow and resisted the urge to sit down as she continued through the jungle. It would be easy to open a portal and leave this place, but they were here for crudue vine to save Lexi.
They couldn’t turn back without it, but they could send someone back to Dragonia to see if anyone else had found the vine. It would have to happen eventually, but no one had mentioned it yet.
Probably because leaving here and returning to the exact spot would be difficult. Not only did everything here look the same, but she swore the jungle changed around them.
This place was a living, breathing entity hell-bent on destroying all who came here. Returning to the same location in this place of endless green, trees, and humidity could prove impossible if they left. She hadn’t seen anything to differentiate one spot from another.
