Their breaths, held tight in their lungs.
The thunderstorm outside still raged. Each flash of lightning painted the cavern walls in brief, terrible light like the hand of some distant god trying to glimpse into the dark.
A single drop of water fell from the ceiling and struck the stone floor.
One mistake. That's all it takes.
Tap.
It echoed like a war drum.
El moved first.
Low and silent, her blade barely caught the dim light. She was already a phantom in motion. Leo watched her vanish into the dark, the knot in his chest pulling tighter.
'She's too close. What if—'
El, teeth clenched, tried not to think. Her breath was slow, her movements practiced. No fear. Only the beat of her pulse in her ears. Precision. Calm. Don't rush it. Don't mess it up.
Leo stayed back, crouched behind a jagged outcrop, fingers curled. He whispered beneath his breath not loud enough to wake the beast, but just enough to charge the spell. A quiet wind began to stir at his fingertips, restless and waiting.
They moved in silence.
Each step is calculated. Each breath is controlled.
The monster still slumbered.
Its chest rose and fell in deep, gurgling heaves. Its body, hulking and misshapen, curled like a grotesque shadow at the heart of the cavern. Pale lightning flickered through the cave mouth behind them, casting jagged illumination across its limbs.
They had a plan.
They always had a plan.
-Earlier-
El knelt beside him, checking the edges of her blade. She didn't say a word. Her face was calm but too calm. The kind that meant she was forcing herself not to think.
Matthew stood further back, one arm resting on the hilt of his sword, the other adjusting the explosive pouch at his belt.
"So," he said, voice low, "anyone wanna say something poetic before we enter hell's belly?"
"No," El muttered, still sharpening. "Save it for our tombstones."
Matthew chuckled, rubbing his shoulder. "I'll make sure yours says, 'Here lies El, died stabbing something too big to stab.'"
"And yours will say, 'Here lies Matt—talked too much, died too fast,'" she shot back without looking.
Leo exhaled through his nose. His hands were shaking again, just slightly. He tucked them under his arms.
"Can we not jinx the mission before it starts?" he asked, eyes on the mouth of the cave. "I'm superstitious when we're up against things that look like they crawled out of nightmares."
"Relax," Matt said. "We've fought monsters before."
Leo turned, eyes sharp. "We haven't fought this before."
A gust of wind blew from the cave. Warm, moist, and rancid.
El's blade paused mid-sharpen. "What do you think it dreams about?"
Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Us, probably. Seasoned and sizzling."
"Great," Leo muttered. "Love being the special of the day."
They fell into a brief, uneasy silence.
Rain crackled behind them.
The cave breathed ahead of them.
Leo crouched lower, scribbling the dirt beside his foot just to calm himself
"El, are you sure about the plan? It's making me overthink, you being too close to that thing"
El Leaned in "Yes, it would be a Stealth Kill, quick, clean."
"If", Leo said, voice dry. "You miss?"
"I don't miss"
Matthew coughed "Pff, really?"
El scowled. "You want to try sneaking under that thing's head and breathing in its lovely aroma, be my guest."
Matthew raised both hands in surrender. "No thanks. I'll be at the door. Heroically catching it if it bolts."
"More like getting squashed," El muttered.
Leo forced himself to focus "If El's strike fails, I'm next. Distraction spell. Blinding light right in its face. Maybe fire if needed."
"Definitely fire," Matthew added.
"Then," Leo continued, "Matt throws the shards. Knee joints. Cripple it. If it gets up, if it charges... we go full plan C."
El and Matt answered in unison.
"Brute force."
Leo nodded, then hesitated.
His voice dropped. "This has to work."
El looked at him for the first time. "You okay?"
"No," Leo replied, managing a bitter smile. "But that's normal now."
She smirked, just slightly. "You panic so gracefully."
"I try. It's a gift."
Another silence. A deeper one. This time, even the storm outside seemed distant.
Inside, the monster slept.
Leo looked to the darkness again, then turned back to them.
"If I don't make it—"
"Oh shut up," El said.
"Seriously."
"No," she said. "Not doing this pre-battle death speech crap. You're making it real. Don't."
Matthew crossed his arms. "She's right. Say that again and I'll knock you out and carry you home in a sack."
Leo blinked. "That was... oddly comforting."
"Good." Matt smiled grimly. "Now let's go kill something stupid."
El stood and cracked her neck. "I'll take that as the cue."
She stepped forward, into the cave.
Into the dark.
And the mouth of the cave swallowed them whole.
The path narrowed the farther they went.
a small fire from Leo's finger flickered off walls slick with moss and time. The damp air hung heavy in their lungs, every breath a struggle between fear and silence.
Their footsteps whispered against the stone. Even Matthew, usually the noisiest of them, treaded softly.
"El," Matthew murmured behind her, his voice barely a sound. "You sure it's asleep? And not, you know… pretending?"
She didn't look back. "If it's pretending, it's doing a hell of a job snoring."
Matthew snorted. "Maybe it's polite. Letting us finish our tragic little walk before it eats us."
Leo shot him a look. "You're real sunshine in a cave, Matt."
"Just saying. If I were a giant, man eating beast, I'd let my food tire itself out first."
"I'm not tired," El muttered, her grip tightening on her blade.
"You will be," Matt said. "After stabbing a monster the size of a tavern."
El paused, turned slightly, her face shadowed. "You really want me to stab you first?"
Matt smirked. "If you can find me in the dark."
Leo rolled his eyes. "Please, flirt later. We've got a horror show waiting."
They walked in silence again.
A few pebbles tumbled from the wall beside them. The deeper they went, the more the air shifted, warm, rank, alive. It wasn't just the stench. It was something else. Pressure. The kind that made your bones ache. The kind that told you something bigger was breathing in the dark, listening.
Matthew whispered, "How far till the center?"
"Almost there," El replied. "Feel the cold? That's the heart."
"Smells like rotting meat and sweaty nightmares," Leo muttered.
Matthew gagged lightly. "Why do all ancient horrors smell like dead things? Can't one of them smell like lavender for once?"
"Maybe next one," El said dryly.
A tremor rolled through the stone.
All three froze.
No one moved. No one breathed.
The tremor passed.
They moved again, slower this time.
As they stepped around a corner, Leo leaned in. "You know, I've been thinking…"
"Oh no," Matt groaned.
"Shut up. I've been thinking... What if this thing isn't just asleep? What if it's luring us in? Like, it wants us to get close."
"You're very bad at pep talks," Matt whispered.
"It's a fair thought," El said without turning. "But if it is, we give it a rude awakening."
"Right," Matt muttered. "Because it loves rude guests."
Leo swallowed thickly. "I hate caves. Remind me never to follow you two into one again."
"Noted," El said. "Assuming we live."
"Always so comforting," Leo whispered.
Another silence. Tighter this time. Heavier.
And then they saw it.
The cavern opened wide, the stone floor dropping into a shallow pit—slick with moss, blood, bones and age. In the center, it breathed.