The creature was the size of a car.
It had three eyes open on its wolfish face.
It tried digging out the prey, but its claws couldn’t pierce through the strange rock.
Sparks flew from its attempts at breaking through the rock.
Lucian breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it couldn’t get through.
They’d made it, somehow; he had survived his first encounter with a Tenebrian beast.
He’d survived it and also saved two other people.
Lucian slowly slid to the ground, breathing heavily. He grabbed his trembling arms to steady them.
" You’re alright," he quietly whispered.
" I’m ok, I’m fine. I can get through this."
The creature snarled and growled one last time before settling down just outside the hole.
Its claws gleamed in the fading light with a promise of pain.
Lucian glanced at Cassius, checking that he was still alive, then turned to see the other person.
In his haste, he hadn’t even checked to see who it was. Her face was somewhat familiar, despite the dirt and bruises.
Lucian took in a few measured breaths to calm himself.
"If we’re truly in Tenebris, then what are two Talented doing here? What the hell is going on?"
He sat in silence, contemplating their situation.
After a while, he gave up on trying to understand what was going on and instead glanced around at their surroundings.
In the heat of the moment, he hadn’t bothered to check where they were.
"It looks like a burrow of some sort."
Judging from the interior, it hadn’t been made naturally.
A cold feeling sank through his gut when the realization hit him.
" Something lives here."
He explored the burrow, glancing around for any sign to confirm his suspicions.
A few bones lay scattered deeper in.
" These are quite old. Could whatever lived here have left or died?"
He silently prayed for that to be the case.
Otherwise, the burrow that had become their salvation could very well become their grave.
Lucian slowly crept back to where he’d been sitting.
The wolfish creature was still outside, and it would poke one of its eyes into the hole from time to time to make sure they were still trapped within.
" What a proper mess." He inwardly snarled.
"Would this thing leave already?"
At this point, night had already come, shrouding the cave in darkness.
Lucian sat quietly listening to the soft breathing of the two Talented.
" Must be nice. To sleep so obliviously with death literally at your doorstep." He sighed and began to clean his glasses out of habit.
Just then, the ground quaked violently. Something was approaching their location with tremendous speed.
Lucian froze, listening keenly. The three-eyed giant wolf roared its challenge.
The tremors increased in intensity, then a terrible roar shattered through the silence of the night.
" Why does everything keep going from bad to worse?" ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel★fire.net
A split second later, the new comer was upon them.
The two creatures clashed violently, the ground quaking and then shattering from the furious onslaught.
Lucian silently prayed for the burrow to hold.
From the sound of things, the new beast had the upper hand.
Lucian silently crept toward the burrow’s entrance to take a peek.
What he saw made him shook him to his core.
The new creature looked like a leopard, only it had two heads, and it towered over the wolfish beast.
It attacked with both its heads, worrying the wolf from either side.
The giant three-eyed wolf was fast darting back and forth, time and again in the nick of time, just barely evading the larger beast’s attacks.
The intensity of the fight increased with both beasts biting at each other and snarling ferociously.
The leopard staggered back, shaking one of its heads in a daze after the giant wolf delivered a particularly strong blow with one of its paws.
Without missing a beat, the wolf lunged at the other head, baring its fangs with a savage, gleeful howl.
A split second later, the injured head of the leopard slammed into the wolf’s neck, biting down with alarming finality.
The three-eyed wolf yelped in surprise, realizing its mistake too late.
Both heads ferociously bit into its neck, ripping and tearing through it with primal savagery.
A second later, the leopard’s two heads clamped down brutally, snapping the wolf’s neck.
Lucian gasped at the intelligence in the leopard’s eyes and the ruthlessness with which it dealt with its prey.
He was witnessing the most ancient law of survival.
" Survival of the fittest."
And in this case, superior cunning and might allowed the giant creature to triumph over its smaller but faster opponent.
Lucian quietly crept back into the silence of the burrow, feverishly contemplating how the battle had played out between the two creatures.
The two-headed creature had lured the wolf into thinking it had been injured, lulling it into a false sense of security.
That’s when the trap had been set.
The three-eyed wolf had become overconfident, thinking that victory was already within hand.
"The hunter became the hunted."
That’s why it had lost, and that’s why it was being devoured.
" Interesting." Lucian thought.
" Scary but interesting."
Outside, the leopard roared in triumph.
It ripped into the wolf with a chilling efficiency.
Loud chewing sounds filtered through the silent night with the occasional snapping of bones.
After what seemed like an eternity, the leopard silently crept away.
Lucian waited for a while to make sure the creature had truly gone before creeping back to the burrow’s entrance.
He warily peeked through the hole, eyes feverishly darting around his surroundings.
After some time, he peeked out again, then crept towards the carcass.
" It looks like it’s gone, but better safe than sorry." He inwardly thought.
He quickly cut off several strips of the meat, the darted back into the burrow.
The meat was tough, but the knife he was using was a special gift from his father.
It had been forged with Silviric, which gave it’s edge an uncanny sharpness.
Most of the aspirants had received tools of the sort from their parents, depending on how well connected they were in the Brotherhood.
But the academy also provided for those who weren’t as well off.
After some time had passed, he darted out again, gathering more meat.
Cassius slowly stirred back to consciousness, looking at his surroundings in confusion.
His eyes widened in surprise when he noticed the pretty brunette on the ground next to him.
He instinctively rolled away, putting some distance between them.
" What the actual hell?!"
She was wearing the black academy uniform.
On closer inspection, he realized who she was.
He slowly observed his surroundings.
" Where are we? How did I even end up here?"
A strong scent of raw meat and blood pierced his nostrils.
He quickly glanced in the direction of the scent. It appeared to be coming from outside and from within the burrow they were in.
Lucian silently stepped out of the shadows, with his hands covered in blood.
" Cassius, welcome back to the living."
Cassius was startled.
He shot to his feet and warily scrutinized him, taking in his rugged appearance.
" Lucian, is that you?"
Lucian calmly nodded.
Cassius’ eyes narrowed.
Lucian looked like he hadn’t slept a wink.
His hands were covered in blood, and his hair was roughly tousled up.
He had dark circles under his eyes but appeared alert.
" What’s going on? Where are we?"
Lucian walked up to him and sat down.
" Let’s wait for Samantha to wake up. I’m quite tired as it is; I don’t want to have to explain myself twice."
A few moments later, Samantha woke up.
The unfamiliar surroundings were quite surprising.
" Samantha," Lucian called.
She yelped in surprise, jumping to her feet.
" What the hell? Where am I? What’s going on? Where’s Emily?"
Lucian lunged forward and grabbed her mouth, silently raising a finger to his lips.
" Shut it," he whispered furiously.
Cassius’ eyes widened in disbelief.
" Since when is he so fast? Come to think of it, I’ve never seen him do anything except follow Morgan around."
Samantha nodded her head rigorously, her eyes darting around frantically, widening when she noticed Cassius standing behind Lucian.
He waved calmly and nodded at her.
Lucian released her mouth and took a few steps back.
" I apologize for that; it was completely necessary. You could have summoned unwanted attention to our location," He nonchalantly said, then sat back down.
" If you try anything, I’ll scream. I’m warning you." She stuttered.
Cassius also sat down, then turned to Lucian.
Samantha warily sat down, looking at the two boys.
"Now that she’s awake, care to explain? Where the hell are we?"
Lucian sighed tiredly, then took off his glasses and began cleaning them.
" What I’m about to tell you should not be possible, but lately it seems everything is going to shit and nothing makes sense anymore."
He put his glasses back on the stared at both of them.
" You both have the pleasure of being in Tenebris."