Chapter 17. Final resort.
Ethan shoved the boulder aside, his muscles straining with the effort. He stepped out of the fireplace and into a scene of terrifying destruction.
The temple was collapsing around him. Walls crumbled, reduced to piles of rubble. Everything, except for the nine imposing statues, lay in ruins. The air was thick with dust and the stench of death.
The sounds of a fierce battle echoed from somewhere deep within the temple. The clash of steel, the roar of mutants, and the desperate cries of the combatants sent shivers down Ethan's spine.
He'd experienced hardship before, of course, but nothing like this. Seven years ago, when he was only ten, his parents had died in a mining accident, leaving him and his younger brother in the care of their frail grandfather. He'd been forced to grow up fast, taking to the streets to try and help provide for his family. That's how he had met Kyoji.
He'd tried to steal from the kind, handsome young man, but Kyoji had caught him. Instead of anger or punishment, Ethan had found unexpected kindness. Kyoji, for reasons Ethan still didn't fully understand, had taken pity on him and taken him and his brother in.
Ethan had always been sheltered, protected. He'd never experienced real danger before, not really. Even his parent's deaths, while tragic, had happened at a distance. He was too young to truly grasp the loss.
But the raw terror that permeated the air now, the tangible sense of danger, was something he couldn't ignore. He wanted to scramble back into the fireplace and hide until it was over, but he knew he couldn't. Kyoji was out there, somewhere in this nightmare, and Ethan had to find him.
Taking a deep breath, he plunged into the heart of the ruined temple. It was a vast space, made even more confusing by the destruction. Finding Kyoji would be almost impossible, but he was determined to try.
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"Damn it!... Damn it all!" Kyoji cursed, narrowly avoiding a falling chunk of stone. His once-expensive white suit was now stained crimson with his blood.
His plan to kill the mutant had failed. Spectacularly. Now, escape was all he could hope for. But the creature was relentless, herding him back towards danger with every attack.
Kyoji realized, with a growing sense of dread, that this was no mindless beast. The mutant was intelligent. Its attacks, while seemingly chaotic, were designed to trap him, to cut off any avenue of escape.
"This is it," he thought, despair threatening to consume him.
"This is where I die."
"No!" He snarled, rejecting the thought. He'd been given a second chance at life, and he wasn't about to give it up without a fight. He would survive, even if he had to crawl out of this hellhole with broken bones and severed limbs.
His eyes fell on a pair of unused throwing spears lying on the ground. An idea, a desperate gamble, sparked in his mind. If he could use the spears as a distraction, he might be able to create an opening, a chance to put some distance between himself and the relentless creature.
He didn't hesitate. Moving with surprising agility for a man so badly injured, he darted toward the spears. Spikes of stone rained down around him, forcing him to duck and weave.
It didn't take long for Kyoji to reach the fallen spears. He snatched one up and sprinted away just as a massive spike slammed into the spot where he had been standing, missing him by mere inches.
The thirty kilogram spear was heavy, slowing him down, but Kyoji didn't dare waste precious seconds looking back. He bolted around a corner, his heart pounding in his chest. He could hear the mutant roaring in the distance, getting closer.
Soon, he was within reach of the creature's terrifying tentacles. They lashed out with blinding speed, aiming for him with deadly accuracy. Kyoji ducked and weaved, his movements a desperate dance of survival.
To a distant observer, it might have looked like a macabre ballet, a young man twirling and leaping between whipping tentacles. But to Kyoji this was no performance. Every move was a matter of life and death. One misstep, one miscalculation, and it would be over.
He spotted an opening, a brief window in the relentless assault. Leaping high, he hurled the spear with all his might, aiming for the creature's one remaining eye. A searing pain shot through his injured back, but he ignored it, focusing on putting as much distance between himself and the monster as possible.
Surely, the mutant would focus on protecting its eye, giving him time to escape. But Kyoji had underestimated the creature's fury, its single-minded desire to crush him.
Ignoring the spear hurtling towards its face, the mutant lashed out with a tentacle, slamming into Kyoji's shoulder with bone-shattering force. Kyoji was sent flying through the air at the exact moment the spear found its mark, burying itself deep in the creature's remaining eye.
The spear embedded itself deep, but the force of the impact had stopped it midway. Still, the pain was enough to make the monster roar in agony. It ripped the spear free, its injured eye contorting grotesquely. In a matter of moments, the wound healed, the eye as good as new.
It reached for the second spear, ready to remove any threat, but a terrified cry interrupted it.
"KYOJI!"
The voice, high-pitched and filled with fear, was unmistakable. Ethan.
Kyoji, struggling to rise from the rubble, felt a surge of terror. He turned to see Ethan, frozen in place, his gaze fixed on the monstrous creature before him.
"Ethan, run!" Kyoji screamed, scrambling to his feet. But Ethan just stood there, paralyzed by fear. He wanted to run, to escape, but his legs wouldn't obey.
When he first arrived, he saw Kyoji being hit on the shoulder by the mutant's tentacle.
He felt a strong urge to go forward and help when he saw Kyoji in such a bad condition. But he overestimated his own bravery. As soon as he got close enough to feel the mutant's terrifying presence, he felt himself stiffen with fear. A sense of dread took over his body, and he was unable to move from his spot.
The mutant roared again, its attention now divided. It had been so close to breaking through, and now these insignificant insects dared to interfere. It opened its maw, its tongue shooting out like a viper, aimed at the terrified Ethan.
At the last possible second, Kyoji slammed into Ethan, knocking him aside. They tumbled across the ground, narrowly avoiding the creature's tongue, which slammed into a nearby boulder, shattering it to pieces.
The monster retracted its tongue, frustrated. But in that moment of frustration, Kyoji saw an opportunity. A flash of anger, of defiance, blazed in his eyes. He lunged, grabbing hold of one of the spikes protruding from the creature's tongue. This wasn't over. Not yet.