The thing below moved again.
The sound crawled up the ravine walls, a deep grinding rumble that vibrated through my bones. Dust shook loose from the rock and rained down past my face. Whatever lived down there was big. Big enough that the jungle itself seemed to hold its breath.
I leaned against the stone with my back, fingers gripping the cracks and refusing to look straight down.
The screams above became crazed.
Three of the figures leaned out over the edge, heads tilted at grotesque angles searching for me. The eyes glowed harsher in the dark, penetrating the shadows.
One was raising the weapon.
I moved.
I pushed off the wall and dropped to the next ledge below just as something sharp crashed into the rocks where my head had been. The stone exploded. My shoulder screamed when I hit the ledge with a thud and rolled, barely keeping myself from sliding off.
Pain blazed bright and hot.
The echo of heat answered inside me.
It surged forth, calming my hands and numbing panic. My breathing gradually slowed, though my heart hammered away.
Above, the figures reacted with shrieks of frustration.
And they did not follow.
That told me everything.
Whatever was down there scared them more than I did.
I looked down despite myself.
The darkness shifted, and for half an instant, I saw it.
An eye.
Not glowing. Not insane.
Primordial.
It opened slowly, massive and unblinking, saturating the ravine with pressure so heavy my lungs seized. The pressure from the jungle crashed back to me, full force, like a wall.
This was not a test.
This was a warning.
Walk away or get wiped out.
I hung to the rock, teeth grinding, and saw stars. My muscles were trembling under the weight, trying to force me to let go, trying to make me fall.
I was laughing through clenched teeth.
"Not happening."
The eye below squinted at me.
The pressure increased.
My fingers were slipping.
For one heartbeat, I felt myself falling.
Then something inside me locked.
The heat flared again, spreading through my arms, spine, and legs. My grip became unnaturally strong. I slammed my palm against the rock and felt it crack beneath my hand.
I froze.
Slowly, I withdrew my hand.
My palm was bleeding, but the stone bore deep finger marks, like it had been pressed into wet clay.
I stared at them, dumbstruck.
So that's part of it, I thought.
This is what Stage One means.
The curious presence below shifted and finally put some pressure upon the eye watching me, now almost with the interest of a predator.
I wasn't gonna wait for it to decide anything more.
I climbed.
Every movement burned. Violently protesting, my muscles took order. My body felt heavier and lighter at once as the pain became sharper but more bearable.
Finally, after hauling myself back to the top, I collapsed onto the floor.
Gone were the three figures.
Only their footprints remained, circling the ravine edge before disappearing into the jungle.
I lay there for a long moment with my head tipped back, staring up through the leaves at the sky and listening to my own breathing.
The pressure of the jungle faded again.
Approval.
I slowly pushed myself back up. My entire body hurt, but underneath the pain lay something stable. Like my bones reinforced, muscles tightened, and made finer.
I now felt my heartbeat distinctly Strong Even.
I stood and turned away from the ravine.
To stay near it was like asking death to accompany you.
As soon as I moved deeper into the jungle, the terrain changed again. The trees grew denser, their bark dark and slick, cut with symbols that made me head ache if I stared too long. Attractive litter was all around, made with bones: humans and otherwise, part-buried and gnawed.
I wasn't the first to reach this place.
Might last.
A faint metallic smell filled the air.
Blood.
Fresh.
I crouched low and moved quietly, senses stretched thin. I could hear more now, the rustle of leaves far away, the slow dragging steps of something heavy, the faint crackle of magic humming beneath the jungle's skin.
That hum tugs at the heat within me.
Resonance.
I was following it.
The clearing opened suddenly, wide and circular, the trees pushed back as if something had claimed this space. In its middle stood a stone pillar, cracked and ancient, covered in black runes throbbing faintly.
And chained to it—
A man.
His wrists were kept hanging limp by glowing black chains that bit into his skin. Blood from his arms ran down and soaked into the ground beneath him. His chest rose and fell shallowly.
He was alive.
Barely.
I should have turned away.
People in the Death Jungle never were just people.
But his eyes snapped open the moment I stepped into the clearing.
They locked onto me with terrifying clarity.
"Don't," he croaked, "Come closer."
The runes flared brighter.
And then the pressure of the jungle came slamming down once again, heavier than ever. The air thickened, vibrating, filled with hostile intention.
This wasn't a normal trap.
This is a ritual.
I took a step back.
I was too late.
The chains rattled tight. The man screamed as the runes flashed blazingly. Shadows peeled themselves off from the trees, stretching and twisting into tall, thin shapes with hollowed faces.
Black magic entities.
They were drifting toward me slowly and deliberately.
The man laughed all of a sudden, a broken hysterical sound.
"You are already part of it," he said. "The jungle has chosen you the moment you do not die." "What is this?" I demanded, retreating my eyes, back and forth between the shadows.
"A filter," he said. "It feeds on survivors. On willpower."
One of the shadows lunged.
I reacted without thinking.
I grabbed a bone from the ground and swung. The bone shattered against the shadow's form, but the impact sent a jolt through my arm; the shadow recoiled, hissing.
It could be hit.
Fine.
The heat surged again, moving hotly through my limbs and sharpening my movements. I grabbed another bone and another, charging forward.
I didn't aim for the shadows.
I aimed for the pillar.
The shadows shrieked as I ran past them, claws raking my back. Pain exploded across my shoulders, but I didn't slow. I slammed into the pillar and drove my fist into the runes.
The world screamed.
Black light exploded, sending me crashing backward. I hit hard against the ground, my vision going white.
The chains crumbled.
The man fell, free, gasping for breath.
The shadows froze.
The jungle pressure spiked violently, then --
Stopped.
Silence slammed down.
The shadows dissolved like smoke in water.
I lay there, chest rising and crashing, body protesting loudly against the punishment.
The man crawled up to me, eyes wide with something like awe and terror.
"What are you?" he whispered.
I laughed weakly.
"Someone who doesn't like being put to the test."
The ground beneath me pulsed once.
Deep down, something shifted once again. Not an entire breakthrough, but a reinforcement. Like Stage One settling deeper, rooting itself.
I felt it clearly.
I wasn't just surviving anymore.
I was interfacing.
The jungle didn't like that.
The trees around the clearing creaked and bent inward.
Somewhere far away, something massive roared.
The man's face drained of all remaining color.
"You shouldn't have done that," he said hoarsely. "It noticed you."
I pushed myself up to my feet and turned my back on the pain with my eyes fixed ahead at the darkening jungle.
"Good," I said.
Because whatever was coming next-
I wasn't going to run.