Lux’s

Amid the tangled coils of the maze, Lux and the guardian are locked in their deadly dance. Minn flies overhead, shouting encouragement to Lux – and insults that the guardian can’t hear. Each swipe by the monster fails on Lux’s blade. Cut by cut, it’s **** further on the defence.

But the tendrils reform as fast as Lux can cut them – their severed mass oozing back into the body. This will only end if she can strike at the body. Her darting attacks won’t get her much further.

Shifting her posture, she makes as if to fall back. Then, she seizes her opening – lunging in, slashing away a frantic defensive grab – aiming for the core of it. And when she does, it’s then – not with a snaking mass of pseudopods, but with its great, lumbering bulk – it lunges.

Lux’s eyes go wide as she sees the thing loom up around her. It’s trying to engulf her, trying to drown her, to eat her, to fuck her – it could be any of those things, and all are terrifying. Suddenly, her courage feels very brittle – she can sense the yawning abyss of terror that awaits if that thin ground should break. Maybe it’s that fear that makes her step falter – just enough – to make all the difference…

The world goes dark. Surrounded by its mass, trapping her. She isn’t even aware at first that she’s frozen up – the fear winning out. Why was she stupid enough to fight this thing again? What made her think to even try – ?

Its pseudopods snake over her body. The curve of her hip, between her legs – grabbing and squeezing her breasts. A thrill of unwanted arousal, some deep-buried instinct remembering the pleasure she felt as it bred with her, and the urge to let it happen again. The strangest sensation as she realises her tits have been just waiting to feed the child she gave birth to. This monster really has taken everything from her – her whole body belongs to it now…

No. The voice of defiance is quiet at first, but it rises to a roar in her chest. “No!” she yells, drawing deep on the power in her blood – Sylvia’s magic giving her that extra push. She channels raw magic through the dagger in her hand, no spell, just power – and with a slash, it cuts, driving back the ooze, letting the light in.

Without hesitation she hurls herself to attack. She barely hears her own scream, her battle cry, only noticing afterwards how much her throat hurts. The dagger glows silver-blue as she slashes away tendrils, stabs at the monster’s body. Again and again until she realises she’s stabbing into dirt, that the thing has melted down to a slick of black-green on the floor of the maze.

Blood still rushes in her ears. She has to wait until her pulse steadies itself to know she’s not going to be sick. She becomes aware of a hand at her back, supporting her, holding her up.

“Is it…dead?” she asks quietly.

“Dead enough,” Sylvia replies softly. “You did well, Luxara. Time for us to go now.”