The Chameleon Loop

Ruby caught sight of the approaching wyvern and frowned. Her hand flicked and a translucent ramp appeared along the marble wall. An inclined plane for the kill team to ascend.

“Follow me, or get trapped here!” She shouted, dashing across the walltop and casting another spell, this new barrier spanned a nearby corridor with solid blue light.

Creating a path over the Labyrinth’s endless traps. Nox’s shoulders sagged, annoyed that he’d clawed his way up a wall only for Ruby to belittle his efforts with a wave of her hand. Still, he threw himself after her, demonic fox or not, a kill team without talents couldn’t fight a freaking wyvern!

“Ruby! If you get us killed I’ll haunt you for all eternity!” Shouted Nox.

A dozen footsteps told him the entire kill team lay within the demon’s paw. Should it decide to lead them into a dead end, they would be lizard bait. So they ran, sprinting along wall tops, dashing over corridors, and bounding through the Labyrinth. Reminding Nox of the dungeon’s impossible size and width as the overhead wyvern grew larger, approaching them with the unshakeable eyes of a hunter.

Two other wyverns caught sight of the kill team and departed their cavern, only becoming visible to those with daylight blessed eyes. Who witnessed the metallic scales and wings of shadows flare open. Three fanged cruise missiles were about to ram themselves –head first– up their rears.

Yet Ruby didn’t spare them a glance, she only ran forward, her dark ponytail dancing ahead of Nox while her eyes roved across the Labyrinth. Their sprint soon stole their air, leaving the party winded, unarmed, and disoriented.

“Don’t fall behind!” Shouted Ruby, “We’re almost there!”

Whatever strength the hunters had, it was fading fast, stolen by the confusion of exchanged bodies. Lala was trailing behind the kill team, barely crossing each of Ruby’s barrier bypasses before they faded. She would be the wyvern’s first target, and Nox witnessed the wyvern’s head slither towards her. One, maybe one and a half minutes remained for Lala to find safety.

The edge of the labyrinth was approaching as the hunters –still capable of olympian speed– pursued Ruby, forming a congo line where the slowest member would die. After all, even Usain Bolt couldn’t outrun a plane.

A victorious shriek pierced Nox’s skull, the wyvern was closing on Lala, tucking its wings to dive the last twenty feet. Mouth open, leg talon’s gleaming invisible in the darkness. Sabers of teeth salivated at the thought of venatorus flesh. Every single hunter attempted to activate their powers, Jamal tried to summon a protective barrier, Mary-sue attempted to empower her spear, but it was all for naught. The wyvern’s wings flared open, slowing its descent and guiding the dive bomb into a controlled strafing run. Ruby spun, summoning all her remaining mana for a single barrier, but possessed or not, Ruby was running low on mana, and lower on ability. The wyvern was mere inches away from Lala, a thousand pounds of angry avian-lizard about to pick them off, one slow hunter at a time.

A barrier appeared in front of the wyvern’s mouth, two feet long and cylindrical. Incapable of blocking more than a fly, yet that wasn’t its purpose. A dozen spikes, nothing more than pyramids, protruded from the rod, giving it the appearance of a meat tenderizer. One that they wyvern’s entire weight swallowed. The tenderizing barrier slammed down the wyvern’s throat, killing the creature’s momentum like a parachute of sandpaper. Blood geysered forward as the barrier hit the creature’s stomach and stuck. Wyvern wings slammed into the wall tops, shattering the delicate flight phylanges with booming crackles.

Lala hopped forward, too dizzy from mana sickness to even realize how close she’d come to death. While Nox whirled with slack jawed amazement at the possessed Ruby. Only to find her trembling, knees unsteady as she teetered towards the edge. Her hand covered her eyes, dizzy from the total expenditure of mana.

Liam wanted to push her, to slay the demon fox inhabiting his ally. He took two steps, closing the gap between them. It was within his power to remove one variable of this iteration. To delete a fickle ally who might stab him in the back before they ever found the minotaur. Yet, ruby had done him no harm, nor had the demon fox. Twin factoids that dulled Nox’s fists into steadying hands that caught Ruby, picking her up into a princess carry rather than tossing her into a trap.

“More are coming, can you do that trick again?” Asked Nox.

“No, ah, this body is weak. Follow- *ack* follow this wall to the edge…” Muttered Ruby, fading in volume as exhaustion robbed her senses.

One glance forward and backwards told Nox everything he needed to know. Since the labyrinth was situated underground its edge –a wall of stone that extended above to form the cavernous dome– was within sight, as were the twin wyverns. So he ran. Sprinting across the marble runway like a bat outta hell. Gunfire echoed through the labyrinth’s corridors, and still Nox ran. There was nothing his pistol would do to armored wyverns, nor would any of their guns pierce their hides. At best the bullets would distract the lizards, at worst, they would announce exactly how powerless the hunters were.

Delighted shrieks indicated the latter.

“Run!” Screamed Nora’s mouth.

“Don’t stop!” Keep running!” Shouted another hunter. Jamal maybe.

There was no way for Nox to tell, sprinting towards a dead end. Powerful wings beat the air, creating vortexes that whipped the hunter’s ponytails. Ruby’s slapped Nox’s nose, eliciting a dangerous sneeze. Not right now! Just give me a minute! The dungeon’s exterior face loomed in front of him, an impenetrable barrier, or the back wall of Ruby’s trap.

“Jump… twice… Then crawl.” Ruby muttered, her voice so soft that only Nox’s enhanced senses picked it up.

Trusting the demon fox and praying it would be more lenient than the two wyverns, Nox leapt. Taylor’s blood hunter legs launched him and Ruby with ease, sending them sailing over the labyrinth corridor below and onto the walltop. But the momentum was too great, and Nox was forced to kick off again. His uncontrolled bounce sending Ruby tumbling out of his arms as Nox flopped onto the next walltop, cracking at least three ribs if not breaking them entirely.

Ruby wasn’t as fortunate, she crashed face first into the marble wall and fell to the corridor below. Bones snapped and popped, broken by Nox’s tumble.

“Shit!” Said Nox, rolling over the edge.

He rolled to break the fall, rising and picking up Ruby once more.

“Ruby i’m sorry! Where next?” Gasped Nox, already running.

For some reason the traps along this corridor had already been triggered, with mana geoges lingering undisturbed and two pitfall traps hanging open.

“Nnnggg, wall, crawl.” Ruby whispered.

Other hunters caught up to Nox, dashing past him towards the wall. Those with the blessing of daylight saw the demon’s final destination and understood.

“There’s a hole in the wall! We can hide in there! Hurry up!” Shouted Jamal’s lips, but with Mary-sue’s verbiage.

Jon was the first to reach the hole, he dumped his backpack into an adjacent corridor and dove off the walltop. Somehow managing to slide agross the marble floor and into the hole in the wall. His entire six food height was swallowed by the hole, and his glow stone cast a shine that hinted at a cavern beyond. Wingbeats thundered behind the killteam, the wyvern’s weren’t coming, they were already here.

Mary-sue’s suppressed AK plinked away, scoring a direct hit on the wyvern’s face, an eye or nose shot, if Nox had to guess the location of the bullet based of it’s scream. It spun, fleeing the sting of these strange bipedal creatures, but not before it’s venomous tail whipped forward, slashing through Ashley’s thigh.

“Aaahhhh!” She screamed, falling from the wall top and sliding across the polished marble tiles of the floor. Bones crunched as her body hit the tiles, and she was barely saved by Nora’s hand. Otherwise her face would have met the labyrinth’s edge at speed.

Liam shifted Ruby, untangling her from his arms so he could toss her like a curling sledge, sliding her into the crevice at speed. A basketball sized bundle of C4 whooshed past Nox’s head, and a second later the shockwave hit him, propelling him forward –into the wall– with a speed that bounced his entire body and blew the wind out of his lungs. Apparently the explosion had a similar effect on the wyvern, and the kill team narrowly escaped into the crevace, though four backpacks had been abandoned and numerous scrapes and bruises had been suffered.

Ashley’s condition was the worst by far. Her leg quickly began to eject ichor and blood that flowed like jello, clear signs of the wyvern’s potent venom. Not again, I just lost you Ash, why are you always the one to die! And what happens to your soul if your body dies? Do you die? Or does your soul remain in the swapped body? Thought Nox, wishing he had the power to heal. A tourniquet was applied to her wounded leg, a foolish attempt at buying more time by damaging her body further. Though it would buy them time.

The crevice was narrow but deep. Running at least the length of a football field into the dungeon’s wall. Black crystals that absorbed their light lined the walls, and small circular nests appeared at odd intervals. Often near branching tunnels or in alcoves that had been clawed out of the stone by claws sharper than diamond drill bits.

Mana 120%

Mana 119%

Mana 118%

Liam’s mana bar slowly decreased as the kill team fled to the rearmos portion of the crevice. There was one more hole in the wall that they squeezed through, and found it opened into another cavern, though this one was lined with alternating clusters of black crystals and mana crystals, with a handful of blood red protrusions that made Nox’s eyes water.

Entrenching tools were produced and the entrance to their camp was fortified. Anything crawling through the crevance would now only see a ditch and a freshly created wall, while the hunters could stand watch over the wall, able to spear or shoot any unfortunate enemies. They had even dug a six inch hole in their wall, a gun port for one hunter to shoot through the crevice.

“Well, we’ve created a beautifully fortified grave. I’m sure Balin’s folk thought the same thing before they were overrun.” Said Taylor, scowling at the four approaching fireballs.