Page 26 of Alien Hunter's Prize

I subtly adjusted our path, angling slightly leftward as the passage continued its descent, moving towards the source of the rhythmic vibration only she could perceive, while still following the path markers Mateha described.

The deeper we ventured, the stranger the environment became. The walls glistened with moisture and strange, phosphorescent mineral veins that pulsed faintly in response to our lights.

Tiny, sharp crystals winked from within the stone. The air grew heavier, the metallic tang more pronounced, coating the back of my throat. The sense of intrusion intensified, as if the mountain itself resented our presence, its ancient slumber disturbed.

"Something moved in the darkness," Pravoka hissed from the rear, her voice tight with tension. "Beyond the light's reach. To the right. Fast."

I signaled for stillness, extinguishing my fungal light instantly, plunging us into absolute, disorienting blackness. I strained my own senses, relying on hearing and the vibration sense through my feet, filtering out the background hum.

Silence. Then---a faint skittering sound, impossibly fast, the whisper of displaced air, the barest hint of movement from the direction Pravoka indicated. Not just one, but several distinct sources.

"Lurkers," I murmured, recognizing the stealthy approach pattern. Cave predators testing our awareness, our defenses. My hand moved instinctively to the blade at my hip, fingers closing around the familiar, reassuring grip.

I relit my fungal light abruptly, expanding its radius to push back the oppressive darkness. The sudden illumination revealed nothing but empty rock and shadow, but I sensed the watchers retreating hastily from the light's edge, melting back into fissures and crevices.

"They fear the light," Nirako confirmed quietly, his hand also resting on his weapon. "The deep ones always have. Blind, but their hearing is sharper than a Shardwing's. They will return if we linger or show weakness."

We continued our descent with renewed urgency, the knowledge of unseen, sound-hunting predators adding another layer of sharp tension to the already hazardous journey.

After what felt like an eternity of careful navigation through increasingly tight and unstable passages, the narrow tunnel opened abruptly into a vast cavern.

The ceiling soared above us, lost in impenetrable darkness far beyond the reach of our combined lights. Magnificent crystal formations glittered on the distant walls like trappedconstellations, refracting our pale blue light into fleeting rainbow patterns across the immense, silent space.

It should have been beautiful, awe-inspiring. But the cavern floor between us and those distant crystals was a treacherous landscape of devastation.

A massive section had collapsed recently, leaving a chaotic jumble of jagged, newly broken rock. Fissures snaked across the remaining floor, venting plumes of steam that carried the acrid stench of sulfur and unknown, potentially toxic minerals.

One entire side of the cavern had dropped several feet along a clean fracture line, creating a sheer drop into absolute shadow. The air here vibrated intensely with the discordant hum, making my teeth ache, though beneath it, I could sense the faintest thread of the pure harmony Mateha spoke of, emanating from the far wall.

"The harmony stones grow there," Nirako breathed, his voice filled with reverence despite the obvious danger. He pointed toward the far wall, where the densest cluster of crystals gleamed like frozen stars embedded in the rock face.

"Beyond the steam vents. The heart chamber lies beyond that wall, where the mountain's true song originates."The tools Jen needs,I thought.

I scanned the terrain, my mind automatically plotting the safest route across the devastated cavern floor, assessing unstable sections, potential hazards from the steaming fissures.

Before I could voice a plan, a violent tremor shook the cavern, far stronger than any we'd felt near the surface. Small stones and dust rained from the unseen ceiling high above, pinging off our shoulders and the rock around us.

A deep, groaning sound reverberated through the stone beneath our feet, the mountain protesting our intrusion, or perhaps succumbing further to its internal sickness.

"Stay close to the wall!" I ordered sharply, pressing myself back against the solid stone behind us and motioning for the others to do the same. "Move only when I signal!"

Through our connection, I felt Jen's pulse leap, a spike of adrenaline-fueled fear, but it was immediately followed by a wave of focused concentration. Her fear was controlled, channeled into heightened awareness.

Nirako and Pravoka reacted instantly, flattening themselves against the rock face, their warrior instincts honed by a lifetime navigating these treacherous peaks.

The tremor subsided as quickly as it had begun, leaving behind an unsettling, ringing silence, punctuated only by the hissing steam vents. I felt Jen's sharp focus intensify, her senses mapping the aftermath of the tremor.

"The ceiling structure is compromised," she whispered urgently, her gaze directed upward into the darkness. "Badly. I can hear stress fractures forming, spreading rapidly. My markings show them as bright red lines branching through the rock above."

"Can you pinpoint the most unstable sections?" I asked, trusting her unique perception implicitly now. We needed to cross this cavern to reach the crystals.

She closed her eyes briefly, concentrating, her brow furrowed. "There," she said, pointing towards a section of ceiling roughly twenty paces ahead, directly over the clearest path towards the crystals.

"The fracture pattern is critical there. It's about to go. And there," she indicated another area nearer the crystal formation on the far wall. "But the pathbetweenthose two points seems stable... for now."

Her words were barely out of her mouth when another tremor began without warning, significantly stronger than thefirst. The entire cavern shuddered violently. Dust and small fragments cascaded from above.

The section of ceiling Jen had identified as critical tore loose with a deafening, grinding roar that echoed painfully in the enclosed space. Massive slabs of rock crashed to the cavern floor, the impact throwing up choking clouds of dust, momentarily blinding us.

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