The Gatekeeper filled the passage ahead, a massive form of shifting stone plates and burning eyes. In its hands, it carried a pillar of rock ripped from the labyrinth itself, a blunt column that it swung in slow, crushing arcs. The floor around it was littered with bodies, fighters who'd tried to push through and failed, their crumpled forms against the walls. Their chests rose and fell. Alive. Unconscious. None of them had made it past.
The golden light of the Sanctuary pulsed behind the creature, close enough to feel.
Dominic slowed as he entered the chamber. The heat was still at his back, the lava somewhere in the corridors behind him, still coming. He scanned the bodies, the Gatekeeper, the narrow gap between its legs and the wall.
Lysandra stood at the edge of the chamber, her iron club held low. Her shoulder was bruised dark, the skin swollen and purple. She'd been here a while. When Dominic stepped up beside her, she startled then relax when she saw him.
