The sky above the Blighted Woods was no longer a void; it was a swirling vortex of violet lightning and metallic screeching.
"Don't move," Jarin hissed, his hand hovering inches above a moss-covered pressure plate. "The ground here is wired to a gravitational trigger. If we shift our weight too fast, the earth will literally flip."
Elara looked up, her emerald eyes narrowing as she notched a silver arrow. "We have bigger problems than the ground, Delver. The sky has eyes."
A shadow, broader than a tavern and sharper than a razor, eclipsed the moon. It wasn't a creature of flesh. As it dove, the moonlight glinted off brass feathers and obsidian talons. It was a Sky-Sentinel, an autonomous construct forged in the age of the Great Union to prune the forests of intruders.
SCREE-CLANG!
The construct let out a mechanical cry that vibrated through Jarin's teeth. It tucked its wings and descended like a falling star, its talons glowing with the same corrupted purple energy that infested the rift.
"To the hollow oak! Now!" Elara commanded.
"No!" Jarin roared, grabbing her cloak. "That tree is sitting on a steam-vent trap! Follow my line—three steps left, then jump over the rusted pipe!"
Jarin took the lead, his mind a chaotic map of ticking gears and pressurized bronze. He could "feel" the tension in the springs beneath the dirt. To anyone else, it was a forest floor; to him, it was a loaded crossbow waiting to fire.
They leaped over a half-buried gear just as the Sentinel's talons slammed into the earth behind them. The impact didn't just crater the ground—it triggered a chain reaction. A series of hidden flamethrowers, fueled by ancient alchemical oil, erupted from the surrounding trunks.
"The corruption has short-circuited its targeting array!" Elara shouted, firing a volley of frost arrows. The projectiles bounced harmlessly off the Sentinel's reinforced brass chest. "It's not guarding the mountain anymore; it's just killing everything that breathes!"
The Sentinel pivoted, its neck joint hissing with pressurized steam. It locked onto Kaelan, who was struggling to keep pace. The construct's chest plates slid open, revealing a glowing core of concentrated mana.
"It's charging a pulse!" Jarin realized. He looked at the ground, then at a massive, protruding bronze lever hidden under a pile of blighted leaves. "Elara! Hit that lever with a blunt arrow! Now!"
"That will trigger the main collapse!" she protested.
"Just do it! I can feel the counter-weight! It's our only shield!"
Elara didn't hesitate. She flipped her bow and fired a heavy-tipped bolt. The lever snapped back with a metallic thud.
The ground beneath them groaned. A massive slab of reinforced stone—part of an ancient, buried fortification—swung upward like a giant trapdoor. It rose just as the Sky-Sentinel unleashed a searing beam of purple heat.
The beam slammed into the stone slab, the heat so intense that Jarin felt his eyebrows singe. The stone held, but the force of the blast sent the Sentinel spiraling backward, its wings clipping the mutated trees.
"The Iron-Peaks," Jarin panted, pointing toward the jagged silhouettes of the mountains rising just beyond the forest edge. "The Sentinel can't follow us into the narrow canyons. Its wingspan is too wide."
"Then we run," Elara said, her respect for the Delver growing. "Because it's coming around for another pass."
They scrambled toward the rocky incline, leaving the screaming woods behind. As they reached the first canyon of the Iron-Peaks, Jarin looked back. The Sky-Sentinel was circling the forest, its glowing eyes searching for the prey that had escaped its mechanical wrath.
Jarin gripped his pickaxe. His hands were shaking, not from fear, but from the raw energy he had absorbed through the stone. He wasn't just sensing the mountain anymore. He was starting to understand it.
Author's Note:
The Sky-Sentinel proves that the ancient defenses are just as dangerous as the Shadow Stalkers. Jarin's 'Delver Sense' saved them this time, but as they enter the Iron-Peaks, they are entering the territory of the Dwarves. What remains of the Stone-Singers? Keep reading to find out!