NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 8: Chapter-8
The reedy voice chuckles, a dry, rasping sound. ´Price? Oh, the price is always… interesting. The Labyrinth demands… ingenuity. Cunning. And perhaps… a sacrifice.´ The vortex shimmers again, this time revealing a single, skeletal clockwork hand reaching out from its depths. The hand is impossibly long and thin, its joints clicking with a sickening precision. It points towards a seemingly innocuous patch of ground, barely distinguishable from the rest of the corrupted landscape.
"A sacrifice?" I repeat, my tone flat. I find the theatrics of this world amusing. "You speak in riddles. Be more specific. What sort of sacrifice?" The voice hesitates, the swirling vortex momentarily stills. ´The Labyrinth hungers, traveler. It feeds on… ambition. On… desires.
To pass through, you must offer something of yourself. Something you hold dear. Something you are willing to… relinquish.´ The skeletal hand twitches, its bony fingers tapping impatiently. I study the indicated patch of ground. It appears unremarkable, a slight depression in the earth covered with the same twisted, gnarled vegetation as the surrounding area. Yet, there is a subtle difference. A faint pulse of energy, almost imperceptible to the untrained eye, emanates from beneath the surface. I suspect it's a magical trap of some kind.
My enhanced senses confirm my suspicion – a network of arcane energies woven into the very fabric of the soil, a protective barrier woven with dark magic. The Labyrinth´s hunger, the voice's warning... are they real or merely manipulation? The amulet against my chest throbs insistently. The choice is mine. What will I relinquish? And what hidden dangers lie beneath the seemingly innocuous ground?