“What are you talking about, Gennen?” Whisper asked the Emerald fae.

“Gennen Feinn,” Kiev said through Telluris. “Yep. Former GASP agent. Went missing a week ago from the Emerald, along with a few other people suspected of being cult members.”

“GASP is here,” Gennen said. “And we can’t let them get away.”

That was why he had a red garnet lens. Why his hands were glowing that hostile green. He was about to attack us, and he was coaxing the others into assisting him. Quickly moving past this “holy crap” moment, I realized we still had an advantage.

Gennen was the only one who could see us, for the moment. We had to move extremely fast now. If the guardian Fire Hermessi had learned a thing or two from Brendel’s encounter with Taeral on Cerix, then they were bound to have the knowledge and magic needed to cancel out our invisibility spell. We were seconds away from a potential disaster, and Gennen needed to be silenced ASAP.

Taeral

For about ten minutes, we tried to come up with an idea for Riza’s safety. She’d stepped on what was probably one of many pressure plates in this room. There were traps in place, set up by the Soul Crusher as part of his challenge for Zetos. We’d barely gotten out of the first room, and we were facing yet another hurdle ahead.

“Having trouble there, kiddos?” The Soul Crusher’s voice echoed through the hall-sized room.

Looking around, there wasn’t anything to indicate a door. The walls were neatly built from perfectly polished stone bricks, which we’d already tried to break. They didn’t even budge, and we’d agreed that there was some type of kinetic energy at play.

“So, what’s this about?” Riza asked, remarkably calm despite her uncertain predicament. “Huh? Some sick game you’re playing while pretending it’s all meant to prove we’re worthy of claiming Zetos? Is that it?”

“Honey, don’t pout. It’s not a good look on you. You don’t want to die pouting,” the Soul Crusher replied dryly. “I simply did what I’m best at in order to make sure you deserve Zetos. Pardon me if it’s an uncomfortable experience. It’s not supposed to be nice and easy, like a walk in the sunshine.”

Eva chuckled bitterly. “Yeah, not a good reference for some of us.”

“Ah, right. You’re a vampire, among other things. No more sunlight for you,” the Soul Crusher said. “Nevertheless, I stand by my words. Get through, and Zetos is yours.”

“You said that in the previous room,” I shot back. “How many more are there?”

The Soul Crushed laughed. “As many as needed to fully assess what you’re made of.”

Herakles raised a hand, politely demanding our attention, while his gaze was still worriedly fixed on Riza. “I think I know what to do,” he said. We literally forgot about the Soul Crusher, turning our heads to focus on Herakles, instead. Riza’s wellbeing was top priority. “This part of the room where we are… it’s safe. Remember, we fell down here. Had there been traps, we would’ve triggered them.”

Glancing down, I did a quick count. There were twenty tiles, in total length and width, on this side of the room. Riza was literally one tile away from the safe zone, if we were to follow Herakles’s judgment.

“We don’t know what will happen when Riza moves off that pressure plate, but we do know that these twenty plates are safe,” Herakles added.

“So, if we pull her back, at least none of us stumble upon other booby traps, right?” Raphael replied, looking down.

“Exactly,” Herakles said.

“What happens once I step back, though?” Riza asked. “My legs are a tiny bit numb, and I can’t exactly shift to a misty lower body without triggering the damn thing.”

“I don’t think it matters, if we all duck,” Eira suggested. “We get you back, and we all hit the ground hard before anything gets fired at us. Pressure plates are universally used to shoot something at people. This has to be the case here, as well.”

“You guys are taking forever…” the Soul Crusher moaned.

“How about you shut your trap for once?” Herakles snapped, pointing an angry finger at the light-beam ceiling. The Soul Crusher giggled but obliged, much to my surprise. Content with this result, Herakles reached out to Riza. “Come on, Riza. On the count of three, okay?”

She gave him a nervous nod.

“One… two… three!” Herakles continued, and Riza jumped back. The pressure plate clicked back up. A split second later, we were all on the floor, reunited with Riza. Small, square holes opened along both long walls, as if the bricks had been made of nano-sized pebbles posing as bricks. Darts were shot at different heights.

Most of them missed, hitting the opposite walls and falling to the floor. Goosebumps raided my skin as I listened to the metallic clinks they made as they dropped. Silence settled over the room. Raphael groaned.

Instinctively, I raised my head to check him out. A dart protruded from his right shoulder.

“Too slow,” Raphael sighed.

One by one, we got up and gathered around him. He didn’t move an inch, and I had a feeling it wasn’t his intention. “Are you okay?” I asked him.

Amelia touched the feathery end of the dart, prompting Raphael to hiss from the pain. She pulled her hand back.

“No. It’s bad. It’s really bad…” he managed.

“Before I touch you with Eirexis, I need you to tell me what’s wrong,” I said. “We have to understand what kind of warfare he’s using against us.”

“Oh, screw you!” Raphael blurted. “I’m friggin’ paralyzed. It’s some kind of neurotoxin. I can’t move, but I can definitely feel pain. It’s burning through my shoulder.”

“I’m so sorry,” Amelia whispered.

“How were you too slow?” Herakles asked. “You’re one of the fastest creatures I know.”

I pressed one end of Eirexis against the back of Raphael’s neck. The symbols lit up white for a moment, as it healed him. As the seconds passed, Raphael regained his ability to move. He pulled the dart out himself, flinching. Tossing it aside, he gave Amelia a soft, gentle squeeze and served me with a smile.

“Thanks, buddy. Loving that nifty stick more and more,” he said. “As for your question, Herakles, I don’t know. I’m feeling a little sluggish, and it might have something to do with the agony we endured earlier in the previous room. Physically, we may be healed. Mentally, however… I’m honestly tired. It might be playing a role.”

“It’s not like you to admit such vulnerabilities,” Herakles replied.

“Gah, enough with the psychoanalysis, please!” Raphael retorted, rolling his eyes.

Lumi cleared her throat. “It’s not exhaustion of any kind,” she said, her gaze darting around us. “Can you not see them?”

“See what?” I asked.

Lumi’s eyes were slightly more sensitive, but once we all focused and looked around, we were able to notice them. And once we spotted them, we paid attention. There were tiny particles that hovered in the room, sparkling discreetly whenever the light caught them at the right angle. No wonder we’d not seen them straight away, given how they moved.

“What the hell are these?” Amelia wondered, watching as some of them gathered in clusters and stuck to her upper legs. They vanished as soon as they touched the leather suit. But I had a feeling they weren’t really gone.

“Nothing in this place is harmless or mere coincidence. Or natural, for that matter,” I said.

“So what are we looking at?” Varga replied, still confused.

Lumi moved her arms slowly. “I think they’re some kind of freezing particles,” she explained. “I can feel myself slowing down, much like what Raphael described just now.”

“And I don’t see it stopping anytime soon,” Nethissis added, looking around the room.

There had to be trillions of these particles in the air, and they were all drawn to us as soon as we reached their vicinity. Whenever I raised my hand, it inadvertently gathered more clusters, making my wrist feel old and crunchy. The effects were real and getting worse as time went by.

Dread rammed into me in cold waves as I realized what this meant. “The longer we’re in here, the slower we’ll get.”