Page 10 of Alien Guardian's Vow
The field stabilized momentarily, the chaotic energy coalescing into pure white light. Then, with a thunderous implosion that sucked the air from my lungs, it collapsed inward. The energy dissipated in a flash of heat and light that left spots dancing in my vision and the smell of superheated air sharp in my nostrils.
Before I could catch my breath, before I could process the echo of Varek's mind against mine, a deafening crash shook the chamber from outside the now-open alcove. The entrance tunnel, the one Varek had used to enter this section, gave way completely. Rocks, ancient debris, and tons of earth cascaded down, sealing the passage utterly.
When the dust began to settle, Varek stood in the main chamber with me, no longer separated by a field but by a mountain of rubble blocking our only known exit. His chest heaved with exertion, golden lifelines still pulsing bright against his skin from the energy discharge.
We stared at each other in shocked silence, the only sound the settling of dust and the distant drip of water. The warrior who'd come to stop me, to contain me, was now trapped alongside me, deep within the ruins neither of us fully understood.
My legs trembled violently with adrenaline crash. I slid down the alcove wall until I sat on the floor, cradling my burned arm against my chest, the skin already blistering.
"You're hurt," Varek said, his voice rough. The first words either of us had spoken since the field collapsed.
"So are you." I nodded toward his hand, the one that had touched the outer node. It was raw, red, blistered where he'd reached through the field.
He examined the injury with detached interest, flexing his fingers. "It will heal." Nyxari arrogance, or just fact? I couldn't tell.
The silence stretched between us again, thick with unspoken accusations, fear, and the undeniable fact of our shared predicament.
"We're trapped," I said finally, stating the obvious, my voice raspy.
"Yes." Varek turned to survey the collapsed tunnel, assessing the damage with a warrior's eye. "No way back through there."
I closed my eyes, trying to process what had just happened—not just the collapse, but that terrifying, intimate moment of connection. When our energies, our markings, had merged through the field, I'dfelthim. Not physically, but somehow deeper. The sensation lingered like an echo, a resonance I couldn't shake.
"What was that?" I asked, opening my eyes to find him watching me intently, his golden gaze unreadable. "When we touched the nodes. That... connection."
Varek's expression remained carefully neutral, betraying nothing. "A resonance between your markings and my lifelines," he stated flatly. "An unexpected side effect of the energy discharge. It shouldn't have happened."
"But it did," I insisted, pushing myself slowly to my feet, wincing as protesting muscles screamed. "And it stabilized the field long enough for it to collapse safely instead of exploding."
He didn't respond, instead turning his attention back to our surroundings, examining the chamber walls with methodical attention, already shifting back into survival mode.
The reality of our situation settled over me like the dust still hanging in the air. We were trapped together, deep in unstable ruins, with no immediate way out. I'd felt the Nyxari warrior's mind brush against mine, however briefly. And now, whether I liked it or not, we had no choice but to rely on each other.
"We need to find a different way out," I said, forcing practicality into my voice.
"Agreed." Varek's tone remained cool, formal, but something had shifted in his posture, in the way he looked at me. The raw antagonism had been replaced by something else—grudging recognition, perhaps, of our shared, dangerous fate.
I glanced at the blocked tunnel, then at the imposing warrior I was now dependent on for survival. My markings still tingled from the energy surge, from that unexpected, terrifying moment of connection.
Trapped. Together.
This was going to be complicated.
VAREK
Dust filled my lungs, thick and acrid, tasting of pulverized stone and decay. I forced down a cough, waving away the worst of the particles dancing in the erratic beams of the emergency lights. The roar of the collapse echoed in my ears, slowly fading into a heavy silence broken only by the drip of unseen water and the settling of smaller rocks.
The human—Rivera—stood across the small, debris-strewn chamber, her back pressed against the wall of the now-deactivated alcove she had foolishly entered. Dust coated her dark hair and salvaged clothing, and she held her burned arm protectively against her chest. Her eyes—that strange amber hue I found unsettlingly expressive—were wide with shock, fixed on the mountain of rubble that now completely blocked the passage I had used to enter this chamber.
"That was..." she swallowed hard, her voice emerging raspy and thin. "That was close."
An understatement. The entire tunnel had given way. I moved toward the rubble pile, ignoring the throbbing pain from the energy burn on my hand and the deeper ache in my lifelines caused by the ruin's instability. I ran my hand along the fallen stone, testing the weight, the interlocking positions of the largest boulders. Moving this would require a full warrior team and likely structural supports we did not possess.
"We're trapped," I stated flatly, turning back to face her. Confirmation was necessary, however grim.
"Yeah, I figured that out." Her typical human sarcasm surfaced even now, a flimsy shield against fear. She pulled out her damaged scanner, tapping at the cracked screen. "Energy readings are stabilizing, at least," she reported, avoiding my gaze. "No immediate danger of another containment failure from the alcove."
The danger now is being buried alive,I thought grimly. I scanned the chamber, assessing our immediate surroundings. The air tasted metallic. Dust hung thick. The emergency lights flickered, threatening to fail entirely. Her presence felt like a physical weight in the confined space, her scent—human sweat, fear, the underlying tang of her markings—sharp in my nostrils.
