‘It’s okay, Merc. I got him,’ Jeremy says, hauling him to his feet. ‘That priest tried to kill us with whatever’s in that tube. I took him out.’
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‘Okay... okay,’ Merc gasps. The air feels thin, metallic. He forces his mind to anchor itself, knowing he has to process the reality before the encroaching terror swallows him whole. ‘You knocked out an armed priest with your bare hands?’
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‘Well... he didn't exactly fight back,’ Jeremy says and considers. ‘I mean... maybe he didn't see me coming? He did, but... I don't know, man.’
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The two boys turn their gaze to the winding path ahead, where the steps vanish behind a towering crystalline bulkhead. They share a silent, heavy look.
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The winding staircase dissolves into a sprawling, subterranean terrarium. The air here is heavy, humid, and entirely unfamiliar. They haven't merely climbed the Diamond Hill; they have descended into its belly. Before them lies a primordial jungle, but it is a flora of petrified light. Trunks of pale quartz bear leaves of thin, translucent mica, catching the ambient light in a dizzying lattice of refractions.
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They exchange a look: Food first.
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Moving with agonizing caution, they navigate the glassy undergrowth, the crystalline leaves chiming faintly against their clothes. Nestled within a patch of milky-white ferns, Merc spots a cluster of vivid, crimson spheres.
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‘These look kinda like mini tomatoes,’ Merc whispers, examining the strange fruit. ‘Wanna try one?’
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Before Jeremy could answer, the air vibrates.
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‘Diamond Hill, Live and thrill...’
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The litany echoes, not from human throats, but reverberating through the crystal walls themselves, a synthetic, omnipresent playback of their morning ritual.
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A shrill, agonizing human scream suddenly shatters the hymn. Then comes a low, guttural roar, followed by the unmistakable, wet sound of flesh tearing. The crystalline floor shudders beneath their boots, and the surrounding quartz suddenly flares with a deep, pulsating blue.
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Tiny obsidian specks pour from the jagged crevices, forming frantic, multi-lane highways across the pale ground.
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‘Ants!’ Merc exclaims. ‘These are ants! They can lead us to food!’
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‘Those are ants? How?’ Jeremy's confused. ‘No, no, no... They aren't looking for lunch, they're running away from whatever just made that noise and the earthquake. We need to move!’
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The tremors spike into violent convulsions. Glassy branches whip and shatter as the boys sprint blindly, chasing the black rivers of insects through the blinding maze. Lungs burning, they scramble over jagged mineral roots, diving into a narrow fissure in the rock wall just as a massive, suffocating shadow eclipses the canopy. They hold their breath in the cramped hollow, bodies pressed against the cold stone, until the beast's guttural breathing finally fades into the deep.
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Night falls inside the cavern. As adrenaline gives way to a creeping dread, the crystalline walls around them begin to throb with a faint, icy blue luminescence in the dark.
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‘This is insane,’ Jeremy breaks the silence, his voice barely a tremor. ‘That priest this morning... whatever that thing was just now... This hill... and where did everyone else go?’
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‘I don't... know,’ Merc mutters, staring at the coins still in his pocket. ‘And Kate... I barely knew her. Why was she with us... and that poison in her neck, and her coins out there. Was she in the ritual? She didn't spend them.’
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Jeremy looks up, realization dawning. ‘Neither did we!’
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A prolonged silence settles between them, interrupted only by the hollow grumbling of their stomachs. Hunger is becoming a sharper pain than fear. Merc pulls the crimson berries from his pocket. He crushes one and carefully nudges the glowing pulp toward a stray ant lingering on the cave floor. The insect’s mandibles twitch, and it begins to feed eagerly.
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‘Well,’ Merc sighs, taking a hesitant, microscopic bite of a whole berry. ‘If we die, at least we won't die starving.’
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They wait in tense silence through the suffocating night. When the crystal walls slowly catch the golden reflection of the morning sun, and they find themselves still alive, they finally devour the rest of the berries.
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‘I have lost the measure of time. Jeremy and I have scoured this abyss. The "shade" is still out there, hunting, yet we have seen no living soul. I can feel it—something vast, silent, and sacred, watching us from the very edge of my vision.’
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Merc and Jeremy drag themselves up the opposite ridge, stepping through a jagged archway into a sprawling, subterranean sanctuary. It is entirely devoid of the Diamond Hill's flawless geometry, a crude space mortared together by desperate human hands. Deeper within lies a basin of perfectly limpid water. Slumped against its edge is a skeleton, its lower half already swallowed and petrified by the creeping quartz. The surrounding walls pulse with a faint, dormant blue luminescence.
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and then Add to home screen.