The cave greeted them with a wave of stale, humid air, saturated with a sweetish smell that instantly made Nox's head spin. He shook his head, dispelling the dizziness, and focused on Shadow. It responded immediately, swirling around him, ready at any moment to take the form of a weapon. Lin stayed behind him, and he could feel the Abyss on her wrists pulsing faster and faster, as if anticipating the battle.
The crawlers did not notice them immediately. The glowing mist filling the cave distorted movements, warped sounds, made everything around hazy and unreliable. Nox used this, creeping along the wall where the shadows were thicker. His servants, the shadow goblins and the centipede, spread out through the cave, ready to strike on his command. The rats were already scurrying among the rocks, looking for weak points in the crawlers' defenses.
The queen lay in the center of the cave, on a mound of some organic material resembling hardened foam. Her chitinous armor glowed with a soft, greenish light, and in that light, Nox could see waves rippling across her body, as if she were breathing with her entire massive bulk. Around her, smaller crawlers bustled, dozens, perhaps hundreds, crawling over the walls, the ceiling, the floor, creating a living, writhing carpet. Nox stopped behind a large stalagmite and signaled Lin to freeze. He closed his eyes and reached for his new power, the essence of the goblin he had already tested in the chamber. The changes came faster than the first time: his eyes sharpened, the skin on his hands grew rougher, and the world around him filled with sounds and smells he had not noticed before. He could hear the scrabbling of crawlers' legs on stone, the queen emitting a low, vibrating sound like singing, water dripping somewhere deep in the cave. He could smell the fear emanating from the smaller crawlers and the hunger emanating from the queen.
«I will distract them,» he whispered to Lin. «Wait for my signal. When the queen focuses on me, strike her belly with the Abyss. The armor is thinner there. I can feel it.»
Lin nodded, and silver sparks danced in her gray eyes. The Abyss on her wrists condensed, ready to burst forth. Nox stepped out from behind the stalagmite and whistled. A sharp, piercing sound echoed through the cave, and all the crawlers froze at once, turning their heads toward him. Dozens of pairs of murky, whitish eyes stared at him, and in those eyes, there was nothing but hunger. The queen stirred. Slowly, with a grace unexpected for such a massive creature, she raised the front part of her body and looked at Nox. Her eyes, unlike those of her children, burned with a dull, greenish light, and in them, Nox saw something more than mere hunger. Intelligence. Ancient, alien, but intelligence. She was not merely hunting. She was thinking. Assessing. Deciding whether this daring intruder was dangerous or just another meal.
Nox gave her no time to think. He lunged forward, using the speed granted by the goblin's essence. Shadow in his right hand condensed into a dagger, in his left into a chain with a hook. He hurled the hook at the nearest crawler, pierced its chitinous armor, and yanked it toward him, using the creature's body as a shield against its onrushing brethren. The goblins, obeying his mental command, struck from the flanks, distracting some of the crawlers. The centipede crashed into the mass of creatures, crushing them with its enormous body. The rats darted underfoot, biting at delicate joints, making the crawlers stumble and fall.
The queen watched. She did not move, only her eyes tracked Nox, assessing every movement. He felt her gaze, heavy, oppressive, and that feeling was worse than any physical threat. She was waiting. Waiting for him to tire, for his servants to fall, for him to be alone. And then she would strike. Nox was not going to give her that chance. He broke through the line of crawlers, leaving hacked and torn bodies behind him, and found himself directly before the mound. The queen towered over him, huge, glowing, and her maw, lined with rows of small, sharp teeth, slowly opened. From deep within her throat emerged a sound. Low, vibrating, it struck Nox like a physical force, throwing him backward. He slammed into a stalagmite, the air knocked from his lungs, dark circles swimming before his eyes. The goblin's essence he had summoned began to fade, draining from him like water from a cracked vessel. He was himself again, ordinary, tired, and the queen felt it. She moved forward, slowly, inexorably, like death itself.
«Lin! Now!»
The Abyss struck. Not as a sphere, not as a beam, but as a wide, all consuming wave that surged from Lin and engulfed the queen. She screamed. A high, piercing shriek echoed through the cave, and all the crawlers, as if on command, rushed at the girl, forgetting Nox and his servants. Lin stood with her legs wide apart, and the Abyss flowed from her palms in an uninterrupted stream, enveloping the queen, seeping into the crevices of her armor, devouring her from within. It was both terrifying and beautiful. An eight year old girl, heir to an ancient power, fighting a monstrous creature and winning.
Nox sprang to his feet, ignoring the pain in his back and the dizziness. He could not let the crawlers reach Lin. He called on Shadow, and it responded, condensing in his hands, taking the form of two blades. He charged at the creatures, slashing, hacking, tearing. His servants fought beside him, and for a few seconds, the cave became a chaos of shadows, chitin, Abyss, and blood. And then it was over. The queen collapsed. Her massive body, emptied of the insides burned out by Lin's Abyss, lay still, and the greenish glow of her armor faded. The crawlers, left without a leader, panicked, losing formation, and Nox and his servants quickly finished off the survivors. Within minutes, not a single living creature remained in the cave but the two of them.
Nox stood, breathing heavily, and looked at the queen's body. From it, slowly, as if reluctantly, a shadow detached. Thick, dense, it pulsed and shimmered, and in its depths, Nox could see echoes of the power the creature had possessed in life. He reached out his hand, and the shadow flowed toward him, absorbing into his palm, becoming part of his army. The queen's echo. The strongest he had yet acquired. He could feel her essence sleeping deep within, and he knew that when the time came, he could summon it. And become, for a time, what she had been. An ancient, patient, all consuming hunger.
Lin walked over to him. She looked tired but happy, and the Abyss on her wrists, usually pulsing, now flickered with a steady, calm light, as if sated.
«We did it together, Nox. We did it.»
Nox looked at her, at her light hair smeared with dust and some kind of slime, at her gray eyes in which the silver sparks still danced, at her tired but proud smile. And he felt something inside him release. She was right. They had done it together. And they would do everything together. Because they were family. Because they were Endragons. Because their path was only beginning, and many battles lay ahead, but as long as they were together, they would prevail.
«Let us go home,» he said. «To our chamber. We need to rest. And try out what the queen's essence can do.»
They walked back, leaving behind the dead cave, drenched in blood and littered with bodies.