NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: The Betrayal Within
Liam and Clara moved forward to enter the awesome chamber on the tenth floor, myocardial anticipation, sensing their next challenges to come. The air felt thick, as if pulsed by the weight of expectation. This space was dimly lit; massive stone pillars stretched skywards towards the ceiling but disappeared into blackened heights. The floor was an ultra-complex mosaic of jagged stones, with strange and shifting symbols failing to be directly looked at.
"Welcome, you chosen ones," the voice had entered the reaches of the chamber, with its deep tones and resonance, though to none could it be seen. "The challenge here is one of unity. You will be split into teams, and only through cooperation will you ever be able to advance. Fail and you will be left behind."
So Liam and Clara instead exchanged cold glances, setting their grim faces in more resolution. They had learned that teamwork is survival within this tower, but trust was a luxury they could not always afford. Clara nodded and tightened her fingers around the bow as if preparing herself for something unseen.
Such a glittering pulse rippled through the air in the space of a heartbeat, and then the floor vanished underfoot. When it rendered itself again, Liam and Clara were alone with other survivors, facing a cold, stark arena. Dust and decay filled the air. High stone walls encircled their surroundings, and above those walls hung an oppressive silence over this arena.
Some organized quite suddenly. Clara was placed in one such band of survivors with a few others, and each one looked more like an armed warrior than just bystanders. Among them was the tall, grim man with the deep and jagged scar down his face, a woman with sharp, calculating eyes, and a quiet man whose movements spoke of hidden power without revealing it.
Liam, meanwhile, was with the group who seemed over-eager and overconfident. They smiled at him with forced politeness, yet their eyes held something other than victory: hunger, not for victory, but something darker.
"You belong to us now, buddy," one said in deep, mock tenor. He was a tall guy-all smiles but had the gleam in his eyes of something sinister. "Oh, we will make sure you're taken care of." His name, as Liam later learned, was Vance, and he appeared to be the leader of this band.
The challenge started without so much as a formal announcement. Before them, the arena split into two - one side thick with dense forests, where greenery thrived; the other was stripped bare and pockmarked with hazards. The rule was quite simple: reach the heart of the arena-a stone pedestal on which a glowing orb sat. Only those who touched the orb would be allowed to pass. But this sadistic trial could not have been so easy, as the way was pervaded with obstacles, monsters lurking in every corner, and traps that could turn deadly at any moment.
"We'll take the long way," declared Vance. "It's riskier, but we'll make it there first. Stick with me, and we'll clear the path."
Liam nodded, but there was a painful unease that gnawed deep inside him. They rushed through, the barren side, heat oppressive and sand cracked underfoot like bones.
Hours dragged past them as they travelled across the rippling landscape, the deep growls and roars echoing in the air beyond. but everything didn't feel right. It was in the way Vance's group moved: that they were by then starting to leave him behind. They went faster and faster, but he was always just a fraction too slow.
Then Vance and his whole crew made their move, just seemingly out of nowhere.
Liam stumbled in his footsteps when one of the members of their group-a woman with black plaited hair and a wicked sneer on her face-used an elbow to bump him. Before he could get to his feet, she raked him down at the back of his legs, and he sprawled out in the sand.
"What the hell-" Liam started to protest, only to be pushed aside mercilessly by another member of the group, a stocky man with a cruel grin.
"You are slowing us down," coldly stated Vance. "It's every man for himself. You'll never make it out of here. Good luck."
The figures of the vanishing group blurred in a haze of dust and shadows, and Liam's heart sank. Betrayed, abandoned, and alone, he managed to push himself to his feet and burn the words into his mind.
But there was no time for that. Distant growling reached his ears, and the danger that prowled close by lurked ever-present within. He brought his fists together in unshakeable anger.
"Fine," he said to himself, shivering with rage. "If they think I cannot do it by myself, they are completely wrong."
Clara had reached the edge of the forest as her group has faced some minor resistance before clearing the path swiftly. The woman with the sharp eyes nodded at her.
"We better hurry. The others wouldn't be far behind, and this place is dangerous," she urged, her voice steady.
Clara turned her head back, a nagging worry in her chest: Liam had not been with her when they split up, and though she trusted him to handle himself, she just felt a tingling in her gut. She knew that the tower was a place of deceit, where trust was a thin and fragile thing.
But on the barren side, Liam fought through all his doubts and the fatigue of his body, for with every step, the terrain became more and more hostile. He met traps—spikes that leapt from the ground, pits that seemed to menace his entire body to swallow him whole—but still, every time, he pushed on, fueled by the need to prove to himself, and to those which had left him in that sense of abandonment, that he was stronger than they thought.
At long last, after what seemed like an eternity of fighting, Liam reached the stone pedestal. His body was sore, his hands were wrapped in dirt and blood, but he had done it. He touched the orb, and an energy wave surged through him, the glowing light surrounding him in its warmth.
He had won.
And now Clara and her team were fast approaching the same pedestal in their own race to the finish. Clara looked around, conscious that Liam was nowhere to be found. Her heart raced faster, thinking that if something happened to him, that would really be a blow they couldn't come back from.
When the orb's light flared brighter, signaling the end of the challenge, Clara let out a sigh of relief. She had pulled it off, but the trouble didn't dissipate easily, and her mind kept drifting back to Liam.
The floor beneath their feet started to shift, and the chamber in which they stood was fading into darkness, every instant reassuring it was about to drop. Clara stood her ground while the rest of her party disappeared into the dark recesses of the tower.
Liam came through on the other side - ragged clothes, bruised face - yet eyes burning quietly with fury. He had made it — but something was amiss in his triumph. He caught Clara's eyes in a lock and nodded grimly toward her.
As they stepped forward into the next chapter, Liam set his resolve hard. Beneath the surface, he had vowed the betrayal dealt him with impunity. Those forsaking him would remember the day they decided to make him their enemy.
To be Continued...