Flaxseed sucked air through his teeth and growled, “This pace will kill us. Nine Serpent Mountain commands too many blades, keep bleeding power like this, and they’ll grind us into dust before nightfall.”
Jared wiped a smear of ash from his cheek, mind racing. They needed a place to vanish, replenish their strength, and resume the search for the Flaxseed clan’s killers before the mountain’s hunters boxed them in.
Through the ragged vapor ahead, a yawning canyon mouth emerged, its entrance wreathed in cloud like a gateway to myth. Shattered pavilions and toppled columns clung to the cliffs, hinting at an empire swallowed by time and silence.
“That’s... the Fallen Immortal Valley?” Flaxseed breathed, awe cutting through his fear. “Perfect,” Jared replied, eyes bright with hard resolve. “A maze of ancient wards, no sane hunter will follow us in.”
In a heartbeat they shared a look and plunged into the silver mist. Behind them the bounty hunters skidded to a nervous halt, none daring to tread past the valley’s invisible boundary.
The moment they crossed, the air thickened, humid and heavy, as though the valley itself wished to crush intruders.
Ruined halls ghosted in and out of the fog, rust-stained weapons and sun-bleached bones strewn across the moss like offerings to some forgotten god.
“This place is anything but simple,” Jared murmured. “Step softly; one wrong move and the valley will eat us alive.” Flaxseed gave a terse nod, knuckles whitening around his blade as an unseen pressure crawled across his skin.
They crept on, tracing a path between shimmering sigils and sinkholes masked by lingering illusion. Scattered skeletons in fractured armor told of a cataclysmic war that had once burned through this vale.
A passage to the fifth level, hidden here all along?
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance)
Josephine's first time seeing Jared kill isn't with Leyton but with Falcon. Pay attention to your work....
You need to correct yourself,dear author. Josephine was in the City of Herbs when she was a kid, so why is the city's smell surprising to her?...
I need more chapters...
When can I get the next chapter...