"Holy shit… he's dead!"
They stared at Tyler's body in stunned horror. His skin had turned the color of burnt coal, veins blackened beneath it. His eyes hanged from their sockets, lifeless and glassy.
"Fuck," Jake muttered. The reality of it finally crashed down on him.
They could only afford one more wrong answer.
None of them could move. If the giant broke free, they would be slaughtered where they stood. Worse, anyone who answered incorrectly would most likely share Tyler's terrifying fate.
The next riddle appeared.
{I separate everything, yet connect all things.
I am empty, yet full.
I cannot be touched, but nothing exists without me.
What am I?}
{30}
{29}
{28}
{27}
{26}
{25}
The others stood sweaty and nervous. They knew they had to answer but none was willing to take the chance. The timer continued to mercilessly count down till the final seconds.
{05}
{04}
{03}
"Space," Damon answered with an expressionless face. In the midst of all this, he was the only one not losing his mind.
Another seal on the massive door shattered and fell away. A new riddle replaced the old.
"Mind."
Another seal released itself from the door and the riddle changed again.
The others didn't bother answering, partly because they didn't want to die and partly because Damon seemed to know what he was doing.
"Time."
Ding!
"Reality."
Ding!!
Damon continued to answer correctly causing more seals to be released. When the 7th riddle appeared, all eyes were on Damon. If he got this right, the door would open and they could leave.
"What the fuck?" Richter cursed, seeing the riddle.
{I command armies, yet have no soldiers.
I break the strong, yet strengthen the weak.
I am feared by rulers and worshipped by the desperate.
What am I?}
Whatever was in control had brought back the only riddle they had failed at the time they needed an easy one.
"I'm sorry for everything," Jake said hoarsely, looking at Damon. "Get this right, Damon and I'll make sure you never return to those mines again."
Of course Damon didn't believe a word he said. Numerous buyers had shown interest in him, but the agency had turned down every offer.
Whatever part of him they found valuable sealed his fate as their slave.
"Power," Damon said with a confident grin. "The answer is power."
Instantly, the riddle disappeared leaving the screen empty. They heard the final sound of the seal on the door give way and watched the door open.
Relief washed over them as the door opened and they saw a brown portal on the other side of it.
That was their way out of this nightmare.
Buttt….Sadly, there's always a but.
When Lila tried to step out of the circle, a new message appeared on the screen.
{One for all
OR
All for one.}
Once again, the hunters were faced with an impossible choice, but deep down, the decision was obvious.
"I'm not staying. I have kids that need me," Lila affirmed, her voice shaking.
"Me neither. I'm too young to die," Eryx seconded.
"We didn't come here to die, Captain," Richter reminded turning to Jake. "We are more important than a disgusting Human slave."
{One for all or All for one.}
{Decide}
Jake's message was the only one with the 'decide' instruction. He alone could determine who gets left behind.
"You promised to set me free," Damon said to Jake, hoping he would prove him wrong. "I don't want to stay here."
Jake's jaw clenched. "I promised you wouldn't return to the mines."
His voice hardened.
"This is me keeping that promise."
Without a second thought, Jake shouted.
"The Human stays. Let the rest of us go!"
"No!" Damon shouted. "I don't want to stay! I want to live!"
In a moment, the force keeping the four hunters in place ceased and they could move their legs again. The holographic screen disappeared, but the door began to slowly close.
It was just a matter of time before it went shut again.
"See you outside, Cap." Richter waved before heading off to the portal.
The other three waited for a few seconds to see what would happen after Richter went through.
"What are you guys waiting for? Let's go," Richter called back, his head popping through the portal from the other side.
Without hesitation, Lila and Eryx rushed to the portal and crossed over leaving Jake with Damon. The door was two meters away from going shut.
"No hard feelings, Human," Jake said turning his back to Damon. "In another life, be powerful."
Those were Jakes last words to Damon before walking into the portal. Immediately, the portal disappeared and the door went shut. Damon fell to the ground, free from the dungeon's force.
Damon had been abandoned in a dungeon with no way out.
Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, he heard the sound of heavy metal hitting the ground.
Ching!
The chains lay broken at the giant's feet.
The creature was monstrous, twelve feet of scarred muscle and ash-gray skin, iron brands burned into its flesh. Its eyes burned like dying embers.
Its teeth were too many, set in a mouth made for tearing.
Instinctively, he turned to the giant. His eyes went wide in terror as he saw the giant standing with no chains holding him down.
Damon tried to remain calm, but fear had taken hold of his body.
He couldn't tell if the giant was awake, but the thought a single move would make him a target kept him frozen as he knelt on the floor.
The giant lifted his head and when his gaze fell on Damon, his muscles tensed.
"Uoy!" the giant yelled, causing the ground to tremor. "E'vi neeb denosirpmi rof sdnasuoth fo sraey esuaceb fo uoy!"
The giant's voice was heavy and carried an aura of its own. With his vision fixed on Damon, he walked forward, his every step shaking the ground. Damon couldn't make sense of what the giant was saying.
'Come on. move,' Damon thought, trying to use his hands to lift his legs.
With each step the giant took toward him, more tears gathered in Damon's eyes. A pace away from him, the giant stopped. A few minutes passed, and all the while, one thought repeated in Damon's mind.
'I don't want to die.'
When the giant finally moved again, it was his right leg. It pulled back and with intense force, kicked forward. The intensity of the kick was aimed at Damon, forcing him to fly into the air and hit a wall with crushing force.
"Arrgh!" Damon howled as pain swallowed him whole.
He landed on the ground twenty meters from the giant. More than ever, Damon wanted to flee from the abomination in front of him, but he could only move his eyes. He couldn't command any other part of his body. Like they were disconnected from his brain. He couldn't even speak.
Tears flowed down his cheeks as Damon watched the giant march to him with closed fights. Reaching Damon, the giant picked him up with one hand, holding him like a doll by the chest.
His grip got tighter and tighter, until Damon felt his ribs begin to break under the pressure. Bones shattered and pierced into his organs and Damon could feel every moment of it.
The giant other hand picked up Damon's left arm and pulled on it. In seconds, it was freed from the shoulder joint and came off causing blood to violently spray out of the open wound.
Damon wanted to shout but he couldn't. The giant did the same for his other arm and both legs. In all his time as a slave, Damon had never known such pain as he did in this moment.
When the giant was done, all that remained of Damon was his head on his mid body. His clothes had been ripped off.
The giant's hands were covered in Damon's blood and his mouth from eating the parts he had ripped off Damon. Any other human would've long died, but whether by sheer will to live or something else, Damon was still breathing.
Even under the weight of a mountain of pain, he refused to let go of life.
"I dluohs reven dah detsurt uoy," the giant spoke as he gripped Damon's head and pulled it against his chest.
Damon's eyes burned red as his neck broke, causing his head and midbody to separate. Just like the others, the giant munched on Damon's mid-body. Damon's head rested on the palm of his bloody left hand.
A small trace of life remained in his eyes.
'I don't want to die.'
'I don't want to die.'
'I don't want to die.'
As the giant threw Damon's head into his mouth, that same thought continued to repeat itself in Damon's mind. Damon closed his eyes, expecting the end.
His grip on life was getting weaker by the second as he flew into the giants mouth. A few inches from the giant's throat, Damon felt the sudden urge to open his eyes.
A golden holographic screen materalized in front of him and time seemed to stand still.
{Demon Blood Detected}
{The Goddess of Desire requests your presence}
~ {Accept} {Decline}~