The pale light of dawn streamed through the rents in the roof of the cavern, casting soft, golden rays that lit up the walls, now free from the evil shadows they had long contained. The air was thick with the remains of the combat; the smell of burned earth and the acrid taste of blood blended, an ominous reminder of the beast they had just defeated.
Kaiza emerged in wheezing gaps of breath, as agony from the wound burned his body at each movement. He continued going with this burning pain on the side, a feeble feeling creeping up slowly and surely from all sides; after all these centuries long and years long, struggling for something and yet returning to that again, being haunted, cursed, and so always bound up in a circle, with no hope of rest ever before him.
By his side, Mina walked in determined silence, her gaze tracing the path ahead while keeping her hand on the pommel of her dagger. She was stronger, more resolute, than she had been on the day Kaiza had discovered her and saved her from the fangs of the same beasts they had just vanquished.
Innocence had been replaced by resolve, but Kaiza could see the burden of their shared experience in her eyes. She was not the same happy-go-lucky girl she had once been. The atrocities they had seen, the endless fighting, had toughened her into someone who could endure anything, even the blackest darkness.
We have to keep going," Kaiza whispered, shattering the silence. His voice was a rasp, the words heavy with fatigue.
Mina nodded but remained silent. She knew Kaiza's silence usually spoke volumes, and she recognized what troubled him within. The curse that shackled him, the years of isolation, the loss of the people he loved—it all crushed him, even now.
But she had learned him in ways that were unspoken. She understood the weight of immortality, the never-ending quest for forgiveness, and the heartache of realizing that however hard they struggled, the ghosts of their past would always haunt them.
They had navigated through that to arrive at the boundary of the unknown, ready for what lay ahead. But both understood that the labyrinth they had recently navigated through was only one piece of the bigger puzzle they had to find.
The ancient prophecy, the cursed mermaids, and the mysterious force that had manipulated them—it was all connected. And Kaiza's past? It was catching up with him.
With every single step, their footsteps echoed down the narrow corridor, and there seemed to be a haunting voice saying they were not alone. The wall whispers were not forgotten; the stone began to vibrate with some sort of abnormal energy, and it felt like the earth below had many secrets locked in its bosom that they had not yet discovered. But Kaiza had no option but to proceed. They could not turn back now.
"We're getting closer," Mina said, breaking the silence with a hint of apprehension. "I can feel it."
Kaiza looked over at her, his eyes dark with an intensity she had come to recognize. "You're right," he said, voice low. "This is where it ends."
At his words, a shiver ran down Mina's spine. Where it ends. This was a phrase Kaiza had repeated over and over in the course of their journey. Today, it was somehow different. The air seemed to get colder; the shadows crept deeper into all around them. She felt a weight settling on her as his words dropped onto her head, like a shroud.
It was along a corridor, however, that terminated in a huge open area. The room's center had a huge stone altar overgrown with moss and ancient runes. The runes glowed with a soft light. The energy was dark and ominous, and Mina could feel her hairs stand on end on her neck. This was it. The very center of the labyrinth. This was where the curse had originated.
Kaiza clamped his hand harder on the obsidian shard as he stepped forward, his eyes burning at the altar. It was an object, after all, but a symbol of power that had afflicted him. The runes, the dark power emanating from the altar, all seemed too familiar, a memory long lost tugging at the edges of his brain.
"This is it," he muttered. "The source."
Mina tilted her head to glance at him. Her expression is a combination of fear and resolve.
"What do we do now?"
Kaiza paused, his mind whirling. He was beginning to put the pieces together, but there was something more. Something inside of him, a gnawing feeling that someone was watching them. That the walls of the chamber itself seemed to be alive, anticipating something. A shift. A moment.
He moved yet another step toward the altar, and with every movement, the air grew thicker. He raised the obsidian shard, its light dancing as if it were reacting to the energy in the room. The runes on the altar glowed brighter, pulsing in rhythm with Kaiza's own heartbeat.
And again, the ground shook.
This time, it was not a rumble but a force, a ferocious quake that knocked Kaiza to the floor. Mina screamed as the ground they were standing on creaked apart, and they saw a hole of darkness below them that appeared to have no end. A shadowy form rose out of the hole, a silhouette of monstrous size.
It had emerged from the shadows now, all of it, and was not human and not even a mermaid. It was worse than either of them. Its form was distorted, a mixture of flesh and darkness.
Its eyes burned with unnatural light, and its jaws were a mouthful of teeth. It was the real keeper of the labyrinth. The mastermind who had been manipulating everyone all along.
Kaiza leaped to his feet, his breast pounding in his chest. He could sense the power of the creature's stare against him, something that could penetrate all the way to the center of his soul. As if this thing was aware of everything that happened within his body and within his mind: the curse, the agony, and all these long years of suffering.
"You shouldn't have come here," the voice of the creature boomed with a menacing low tone. "You disturbed something far beyond your understanding."
Kaiza stood his ground, despite the terror that clung to his every nerve. "We've come for the truth," he said, his voice steady, though a cold sweat trickled down his spine.
The monster laughed, the sound shuddering the walls. "Truth?" it mocked. "The truth is what has held you to this destiny. The truth is why you will never be free."
Mina's grip on her dagger tightened as she moved forward, the fierce determination burning in her eyes. "We will end this," she declared resolutely.
The beast laughed, and its eyes flashed with mirth. "End it? You can't. You are already a part of this tale, a part of the cycle. It's too late for redemption."
Kaiza's heart fell as the words of the beast rang in his mind. Was it true? Was there no escape from this curse? Was it all his for eternity?
He never got to answer. The beast leaped towards them, claws extended, tendrils contorted in the air. Kaiza and Mina did not have time to act before light erupted into the air, assaulting the very fabric of the atmosphere about them with ancient evil.
The last that he saw were the eyes of the beast glowing with watchful patience. After that, darkness.