Cel's fingers locked around the crystal ridge. The creature shifted beneath him - muscle rolling, bone creaking - and his body lurched sideways. He flattened himself against warm hide, cheek pressed between formations while his stomach climbed toward his throat.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE46nl19gvz
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAd9CE1DJU
Ahead, something pierced the sky.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPkQEIbVig
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQkjiVWKUP
Cel's breath caught.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcl1S1DBo7J
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1f0dWRFnan
The spire rose like a blade thrust through the heavens. Violet light radiated from its core with such intensity his eyes immediately watered. The formation seemed to pulse with the maze's heartbeat, each throb sending ripples through the air that made his teeth ache even at this distance.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYp7DGwzXB
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEW8E3qh6H
The creature's course shifted. Its massive head swung left.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaNm2SPX4Z
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUBIAHtO3H
Away from the spire.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQvBKjLMmv
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7WHT2tO7p
Cel's exhale shuddered out. His hand almost moved - absurdly - to pat the creature's flank in gratitude. The impulse died as quickly as it came, leaving him hollow. This thing wasn't a companion. Wasn't even a mount he'd chosen. It was just another piece of the maze that happened to be carrying him instead of killing him.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwp6cOFOwg
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopxwR72SRY
The creature navigated the crystal maze with unsettling precision, its body bending and twisting as it squeezed between formations. Each turn gave Cel new angles, new glimpses of its form. He'd been searching for wings - the sketch had shown wings, fairy-like and delicate. But he saw none. Just the serpentine body stretching endlessly ahead and behind, thick as a cottage wall, covered in dark hide between the crystal growths.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TkbPqJBXG
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHzuDcfh5u
This wasn't the creature from the parchment. Or if it was, the illustration had been wrong.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQBPBNAWXm
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcx0RFOQXQ
Around him, the maze opened into wider passages. Cel forced his head up despite the weight of exhaustion, scanning crystalline walls for anything useful. Water. Shelter. Some fragment of knowledge about where the moon had gone or how to find it.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwo2s5oOvi
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2U2fXPKFOR
His arms burned. Fingers had gone numb sometime in the last hour, blood from torn palms making his grip slick against smooth crystal.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhgwVSzyWw
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzEv27lJ7Sa
Movement caught his eye between formations - a glint that wasn't violet light on crystal.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5iKInaz1N
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqsUYT346C
Dark wood. Weathered gray. Standing wrong against the endless sea of razor edges.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzGEl7nsvhy
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEC1cd3H1ev
He blinked hard, certain thirst had finally broken his mind. But the shape remained solid, growing clearer with each of the creature's plodding steps.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQlQa6bzjn
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5PqOMbtkt
A structure. Man-made.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiYfjvWgBa
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuj8WNtDTBn
His pulse hammered against his damaged eardrums. Something built by hands, not grown from the maze's twisted logic.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaezuF5Wx4m
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRnLs7dbC9
The structure resolved as they approached. Not one building - dozens.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUicLaVRgs
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCScC9Cav1Q
A village. Or what the maze had left of one.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnau4EldJ4O
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFgTNoG41e
The first home they passed stood fractured, its walls ruptured outward by violet growths twisting through wood and stone. The roof sagged beneath crystalline weight, beams splintered and rotting. Empty windows gaped like hollow eye sockets, their frames lined with glass shards that glittered among crystals.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl2aLqwK41D
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRE4AnN08V
More buildings pressed close on either side. A marketplace sprawled ahead, overturned stalls half-buried where crystal formations had erupted through cobblestones. A well stood in what might have been the square, its stonework cracked in spiderweb patterns, violet veins climbing its sides like frozen lightning.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dmPg6YRJm
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The creature pressed deeper into the ruins.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnAkogRF9oz
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCw36s1eddE
Cel's gaze tracked across the devastation - homes collapsing under relentless growth, shops with their goods turned to dust, public buildings reduced to frameworks. The ground was chaos beneath the creature's feet, cobblestones and crystal shards mixed in uneven terrain that made each step a grinding crunch he felt through hide and bone.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85cnmEpQ8P
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pF2OAU8X5
No movement. No sound beyond the creature's breathing and the haunting melody of the maze.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPwfqXTN7X2
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ursFZGWQZ
The formations changed as they moved through the village center. Less random. More deliberate. Shadows within the violet depths suggested curves that shouldn't exist in crystal - rounded edges, angular joints. Then Cel saw what the shapes truly were. 61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJhEwenxPnj
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhmlDQa065
Faces.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmKXH0PpMR
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Cel's breath shortened.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRW4ujmf4lA
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdVnGF2dei
A crystal formation rose beside a collapsed doorway. A woman's face stared out from within the violet structure, features preserved in perfect detail. Her mouth was open. Eyes wide. The expression carved into crystal was terror so pure it made Cel's stomach clench.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzH51gFTY05
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His fingers tightened on the ridge until his knuckles cracked.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGkgHJXYnn
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMSrkZLIhLa
More faces appeared as they moved further. A man reaching toward what might have been his home, his arm stretched forward, forever frozen mid-stride. A child pressed against a wall, small body curled tight. An elderly figure collapsed near the well, one hand extended as if grasping for water they'd never reach.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mR46WicCd
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlg3NJkOm0Q
Some wore agony. Some wore shock. All wore the moment of their death like a mask they could never remove.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQeVc9YSxKc
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmoegts58oq
Cel's throat worked in a dry swallow. His mind reached for logic, for the certainty this was merely a trial, divine illusion meant to test him. A fake village populated by fake people, given faces only to measure his reaction.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuW8gHKEsVr
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdsa1rXvXyH
His mind reached for logic, for the certainty that this was merely a trial - divine illusion meant to test him.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU3MIbxestF
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YBiOi2Qru
But when he forced himself to look again - truly look - doubt crept in. The woman's expression captured the precise moment comprehension became despair. The child's fingers were bent from clawing at stone. The elderly figure's robes had blown in wind that no longer existed, fabric caught mid-flutter and turned to crystal.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBZ9aBp9DS
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmw1h7I2kA
The details were too perfect. Too specific.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsVcLhFCiM
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wIoKleQQd
Either the Moon Goddess had crafted an illusion so flawless it captured individual moments of death, or the village had been real. Had held voices. Laughter. The smell of cooking food and the sound of children playing in streets now choked with violet growth. People who'd built lives here, loved here, died here when the maze decided to expand its territory.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLeIcLyPDzK
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tTPXClEiL
Now only crystalline perfection remained - terrible and complete, preserving their final moments in violet stillness.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgmi2mXkLP
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CfaUtAxDN
The creature moved forward, massive feet crushing shards of former homes, indifferent to the graveyard stretching in every direction.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTF7mDQdgIY
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorL5RzCH9j
Cel forced his gaze away from a frozen family - mother, father, three children pressed together near a doorway, their expressions identical masks of fear. 61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJI6Vwr5mU8
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybtGW5KSfe
'They stayed together. At the end, they stayed together…'61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiucl4AiS8i
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJ7vwUnNet
His chest tightened. His own family had scattered like roaches when his father raised his fists. His mother had turned away. Darian had chosen politics over blood. But these strangers - these dead strangers - had faced oblivion holding each other.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zsqgwiJLD
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtz4z86SrqR
'You were better than them. Better than all of them.'61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0h8qUQFAS
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8chY3Nc4a
The thought burned worse than any cut.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJhXOGuSlKe
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcwMqnXrtys
The creature's next step jolted him, nearly tearing his grip loose. Pain flared through his arms.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXtyIBpK8Y
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNgyLBBcYL
He dragged his mind back toward survival. Even if this was all real, it changed nothing. He was still trapped on this beast's back. Still dying of thirst. Still searching for a moon that had abandoned the sky completely. 61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbUjWs9tzx
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRUbi6DOx1
It shouldn't matter at all. 61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06DQniSOMO
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWyb2zdus6
But it did. And he hated that it did.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHxHNJYK3Ic
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBRE5XuJWf
‘You don't know them. They're already dead. You have your own death to avoid’61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJY93k7zMtE
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkafKLTs77t
The logic was sound. Survival didn't have room for grief over strangers. He'd spent a year learning to cut away everything soft, everything that made him weak.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOO8I0M0c8
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4PUjyCKZL2
So why did his fingers still shake? Why did the child's bent fingers keep flashing behind his eyes?61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bs0tuRSX2
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TvgVGl0xz
The creature moved deeper into crystallized ruins, past more frozen faces, more shattered dreams. Cel held on and watched in silence.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5VKYtXSMd
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tduFAp9kw
Eventually, the crystallized dead disappeared behind them. The creature carried him past the village's edge, where crystal had consumed the final remnants of roads that once led somewhere. Led to other villages, perhaps. Other people who'd built lives before the maze decided otherwise.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxglZyzXqZ
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5diikWcWvT
The sky shifted overhead.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLZiqTetSy
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYgOOkowss
Violet blurred into heat shimmer. Morning's cool gray bled toward gold. Light caught on crystal edges, throwing sparks across his vision.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAABoUEUkga
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WvqMjliaN
Cel's throat clicked on another dry swallow. His skin prickled - not from existing burns, but from new heat building in the atmosphere like pressure before a storm.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWC5qhVdfz
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU8iwN1lUwr
The creature's pace never changed. Its breathing remained steady and unconcerned. Ancient power moved through muscle and bone beneath Cel's body, indifferent to the assault gathering overhead.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtj0XvYl0WW
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmXanKLljo
The four suns climbed higher.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBMdOYO7sT
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeroXxmGKIN
Light intensified until Cel had to squeeze his eyes shut or risk permanent blindness. Even through closed eyelids, the world glowed red. Reflections multiplied through crystal formations, each surface catching and amplifying until the maze became a furnace of concentrated radiance.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TLZtNfPKC
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLfaMOeRBI
His lips cracked further. When his tongue scraped across them, fresh blood wet his mouth.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgN3oTS912
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSoulBxmkAu
Breath came in shallow sips. Each inhalation scraped his throat raw, the air sharp with heat that dried his airways before oxygen could reach his lungs.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfaUL040AqY
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtW6UF3RTN
Sweat stopped forming. His body had nothing left to give.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1v7HEbm41D
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8JOxFyI58E
His head throbbed in time with the haunting sound of the maze. The ringing that never left since the first crossing intensified, building from background noise to dominant sensation that drowned everything else.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorNsKNgfJK
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsNcAUKJkq
The world tilted.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNxveTwDKD
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyhbiHlMj5
Cel's fingers slipped half an inch before he caught himself. His grip was failing - palms slick with sweat and blood, muscles trembling from hour after hour of sustained tension. 61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxIQ7WZd7z
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoG888lodEx
His breathing stuttered. Stopped. Restarted with conscious effort. Time fractured. Seconds stretched into minutes into hours into infinity. The suns kept climbing. The heat kept building. The hum kept drilling deeper into his skull until thought became impossible.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6Y1dXOPJp
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9CPYKb4pk
The world went black.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4ZnvjuDnS
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzr3KsJFet3
His right hand moved without conscious command. Dragged across a crystal edge beside his ribs.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOosaBUokJS
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4utkiMT48b
The surface bit deep. Blood welled up along the cut - bright and immediate. Pain flared through his arm, sharp enough to cut through the suffocating blanket of exhaustion.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijnl5Ikktw
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSbAp3EjLXS
His eyes snapped open. The world swam back into focus - blurry but present.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXl3dZGlU6
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjJZM3udhC
But the pain was already fading again, heat swallowing it whole. He needed more.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotQegNcHok
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqIO0O39plv
Cel dragged his palm across another edge - deliberately this time, watching the crystal bite into flesh. Fresh blood dripped onto the dark hide beneath him.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyWx9wSVdAk
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBmUVtmpDT
Again. His forearm this time. The crystal opened shallow channels that wept blood.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwzsK3cbou
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCKFYJPVe0
Each cut bought seconds of clarity. Moments where his mind surfaced from the gray fog threatening to drown him completely.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtO5vPbRkeF
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYxSxi7Kb8
But the heat swallowed pain as quickly as it appeared. The cuts faded into background sensation, meaningless against the greater agony of suns that wanted to burn him from existence.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLyKTk2J6j
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJ6zcaK89Y
His vision darkened at the edges. His grip loosened another fraction.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM76q4AuThQ
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72CsoXVjlb
‘No. Stay conscious. You have to—’61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡci3KZCYoPB
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJTMN74GAHM
He pulled his hand back… and slammed it down onto a crystal spike jutting from the creature's spine. 61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPaqtb4BXN2
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jmi1c2lKd
The crystal punched through his palm.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZi6sBOsVKh
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZ69NcYKcn
White light detonated behind his eyes. His mouth opened - throat tearing around a scream his damaged ears couldn't hear. The spike emerged from the back of his hand, its tip dark with blood that ran hot down his wrist, down his arm, dripping onto the creature's hide in steady rhythm.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgq78DgXBc
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMhtXqtQxC
The world collapsed to a single point of agony.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqEzYSyrr2
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHpmRZn8iUl
Then vanished completely.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7OgRsoxzE
1234 copyright protection57ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLAyDFk336 尼

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