Chapter 9 The Thing Thay Never Misses

Chapter 9 The Thing Thay Never Misses
Lyra kept walking even though her legs felt heavy, even her chest hadn’t filled and calmed down yet, with the tunnel stretched long and dark before them stopping would be a big mistake. She could sense they were not alone, like they were being watched in the dark.

Valerius walked quietly behind her, his body still recovering but he was more focused and at alert, after the unexpected attack that had occurred earlier.

Suddenly his deep voice lowly rang through the silence, “Something is wrong “ he said.

“I know “ Lyra responded, continuing her movements ahead, also fully alert.

“No, this is different “ he continued, this time he abruptly stopped in his tracks making Lyra stop and turn around to him confused.

“How so ?” She asked, her brows furrowed as her eyes dart around then back at Valerius who just stood still his ears twitching as he listened to every tiny sound the tunnels carried. His gaze is now focused on the deeper part of the tunnel.

“It’s too quiet.” he murmurs still staring ahead.

This made Lyra frown a bit, “It’s always quiet down here “ she says still confused.

“No…not like this, this is the kind of quiet that comes before something ends.” he explains quietly still looking ahead. This alone made a cold chill run down Lyra's spine as she hesitated for the first time done they started moving.

“What do we do?” She immediately asked.

“We don’t run.” he responds without looking back at her, which makes her more confused.

“That’s new.“ she mutters.

“If we run, we will walk into it without seeing it first.” he explains, Lyra stares now a bit shaken by this.

She swallows the lump that's hard and firm in her throat before speaking up again, “So we wait?” She asked

And Valerius nodded once and said, “We wait.”

In the next few second the air around them immediately changed, it became strangely cold, the warmth around them draining away and Lyra's breathing became faintly visible as she wrapped her hands around herself without thinking.

Suddenly a sound came from the distance, it was a single step that echoed through the tunnel then another followed, it was slow and careful. This made Lyra's heart jump, she finally realised whatever was coming wasn’t searching blindly because it seemed to already know where they were. Immediately valerius moved in front of her unconsciously, his whole being now in protective mode as his tails slowly rose behind him, ready for attack.

“Stay behind me.” he orders softly and this time Lyra didn’t argue as she stepped back, her eyes locked sharply on the darkness ahead.

Then the steps stopped and a figure suddenly appeared, it casually walked forward. Lyra watched the figure approach them her breath held as she stared at what was approaching. It didn’t look like a soldier or what had attacked them before, it looked simple and clean, almost human but something about it felt wrong in a way she couldn’t explain like he instincts are screaming at her.

This time Valerius' body tensed up as his voice dropped lower than before, “Don’t move.“ he said.

Lyra froze as the figure stopped a few steps away and tilted its head before smiling but the smile was kind, then it suddenly spoke, “You survived”.

Her stomach twisted at his words, while Valerius simply stared fiercely without saying a word. Then, the figure's eyes moved slowly from him to Lyra and said, “So this is the variable.“

Immediately valerius stepped forward, blocking its view of Lyra, “leave.” he grits out

But the figure's smile widened just a little as it responded, “That’s not how this works.”

Lyra swallowed hard then spoke up without thinking, “What are you…?”.

The figure's smile widened looks at her again then said, “ I am the correction”.

She was confused by its response which made it somehow worse, in a blink of an eye it moved. It wasn’t fast or explosive but simply gone and then it was right in front of them.

Unlike Lyra who didn’t see it move, Valerius already reacted, his tail striking forward but the figure shifted instantly and avoided everything with unnatural ease, as if it had already seen the attack before it happened. Then, it struck once causing Valerius to go flying backwards into the wall.

Lyra gasped, “Val!” as he hit the ground but forced himself up immediately, his breath heavier now as anger burned in his eyes.

The figure tilted its head slightly and said, “Still functional”.

Lyra whispered to herself, “This isn’t normal”.

Valerius stepped forward again more carefully this time and said quietly, “It doesn’t fight”.

This made Lyra frown as she asked, “What do you mean?”.

He replied, “It ends things,” and that made her chest tighten even more.

Valerius attacked again, faster and harder, but the result was the same because every strike missed and every movement was countered like the figure already knew what he would do, like it was always one step ahead, and then another strike came and this time Valerius didn’t fully dodge as the hit landed and he staggered.

Lyra felt her chest tighten painfully as she shouted, “Stop!” and the figure paused again just for a second.

Its gaze shifted to her as it said, “Interesting,” and Valerius used that moment to move again, but the figure simply stepped aside and struck him again, sending him crashing down harder this time.

“Valerius!” Lyra ran to him without thinking as he coughed slightly and tried to push himself up again.

He roughly said, “Stay back,” but she replied immediately, “No,”

The figure watched them both calmly as none of it mattered and said, “You are inefficient”

Lyra looked up at it as fear slowly turned into something else and she demanded, “Why are you doing this?”

It tilted its head again as it replied, “Because you are not supposed to exist together” his response was blunt and sharp making her stomach twist

Lyra’s breath hitched as she asked a single tear running down her cheek “What does that mean?”

“You disrupt the system, so you are removed” it continued.

Valerius growled lowly as he forced himself to stand again and said, “Try,” and this time the figure didn’t smile as it simply moved again, and Lyra couldn’t follow what happened clearly as everything became flashes and motion.

The sound of impact as Valerius fought harder than before, pushing beyond what his body should allow, but it wasn’t enough because the figure didn’t hesitate, and then Valerius fell again and this time he didn’t get up immediately

Lyra’s heart dropped her eyes widened as she whispered, “Val…”

The figure stepped closer, but Lyra moved in front of him, her body trembling but refusing to step away as she said, “You want to remove something, then take me”.

Instantly Valerius’s eyes snapped open slightly as he tried to speak, “No—”

But the figure stopped and looked at her longer this time as it said, “You are the source”.

Lyra swallowed as she replied, “Then I’m the target”

For a moment nothing happened thrn the figure stepped closer until it was right in front of her. Lyra couldn’t breathe or move but she didn’t step back as its hand lifted slowly toward her, and Valerius moved faster than before, faster than he should have been able to, as he grabbed her and pulled her back just as the strike came down, hitting the ground instead and cracking it open.

Valerius stood in front of her again, barely standing but still there as he said slowly, “I said… stay behind me,”

Lyra stared at him with wide eyes as she whispered, “You can’t win this”.

“I don’t need to win!” He said quietly without looking back at her.

This made the figure tilt its head and said, “explain “

Valerius tail rose behind him, gliding faintly then he said, “I just need,.. to buy her time “

Her breathing instantly stopped as she realised what he meant, “no”

“Run!!” He yells at her not looking back, his whole body weak but still alert.

“You don’t get to choose that right now” she says shakily.

“Yes I do” he immediately responds firmly.

The figure watched them both in silence, and then it moved again, and this time there was no pause and no warning, only the end rushing toward them. Lyra felt something inside her chest break open, something she didn’t understand but couldn’t stop, as the air around her shifted violently, reacting to her fear and her refusal and her choice all at once.

Valerius’s eyes widened slightly as he felt it too, something different. The ground beneath them trembled as the figure paused for the first time.

Lyra didn’t move she simply stood there, her heart frantically racing as something awakened deep inside her.

Valerius turned his head slightly toward her, his voice low and strained but filled with something that sounded almost like disbelief.

“Lyra…” he whispered slowly, “what… did you just do?”.