The Cursed Lycan's Beloved

Chapter 12

It wasn’t just Luke who felt the tendrils of fear squeezing his heart. Ariana felt it too, and it felt like her chest was on fire, just from wondering what would happen.
The mere terror that the clanging sound generated made her heart beat faster at every clang. It was too much for her to handle. She looked around repeatedly, and the soft wind whipped her hair into her face, which she brushed back with both hands. Already, her palms were cold and sweaty, and the anxiety was just too much. She needed the suspense to be over.
“What do you think that is?” She asked Luke, still looking around, trying to guess what could be the reason for the weird sound.
“I have no idea.” Luke replied, as the sound grew louder.
“We should… I think we should move on.” Ariana suggested, wanting to make a move. It was so obvious that whatever was approaching them with the weird sound wasn’t single. It wasn’t two, nor was it three. It was definitely a lot.
“I say we wait.” Luke replied, pulling her back. “We should find out what is making this sound, and see it before making a move. What if we go in the direction it’s coming from?” Luke asked, looking towards the loose trees in the distance.
They seemed to be on land with lots of sand, like they were in a desert, but to their far right were trees. Trees placed scantily around each other. They could see within the trees, but it was endless. There wasn’t an end in sight to the trees.
“But standing here seems stupid.” Ariana insisted, tugging on Luke’s arm. They took a step, only to feel like their foot was being moved by an escalator.
They stepped back hastily, moving backwards as far as they could go before the shock paralysed them.
From the sand arose black ants, countless… They could be millions, billions… As countless as the sand. Rising, and falling over themselves.
“Ariana, we have to run.” Luke said, calmly, with his eyes on the ants.
However, before they could take the first step, the ants began to rush towards them, and they could not understand the clanging sound which they made, but it appeared that they had little pincers that made the horrible noise. They were not just normal ants. Those ones were probably poisonous.
Ariana and Luke moved backwards, as the ants came out from everywhere. There was no space for them to even go forward. The only way was backwards, and even then, the ants started to rise from there too.
“No, no, no.” Ariana whispered frantically, as sweat began to form on her forehead. She shook her head, looking at the ants, as they rose to a massive height tumbling towards them.
Then the ants from behind all hit them, and Ariana screamed while Luke threw himself over her. They fell to the ground, and felt the ants squirming over them, but the ants didn’t bite or harm them. Rather, they all joined together to form a giant.
“This is bad.” Luke said, looking up at the giant, which gave a buzzing noise like that of a thousand bees.
It brought out a large black tongue, lashing at them, and they were too slow to do a thing. They stumbled backwards, only for them to feel the leaf burn in their hands.
“Don’t drop it!” Luke warned, as Ariana was about to toss it to the floor.
The giant tongue fell back, and it lashed out again, but withdrew before it came within three feet of them.
“Ouch!” Ariana exclaimed, as she bounced the burning leaf in her palm.
“Don’t drop it.” Luke replied, getting to his feet. He pulled her to her feet, and together, they made their way to the trees.
The giant followed after them, lashing its tongue out, although it was pretty obvious that something was holding it back. The leaf burned like fire, and immediately they let it go, it floated in the air.
They ran quickly, not wanting to be consumed by the giant, as it tried its best to get to them.
In between the trees they went, brushing away leaves, and crushing twigs, as they made to escape from the creature following them.
“The leaf is burning away!” Ariana, who looked back, shouted, feeling like her legs wanted to leave her, and ran faster than she was already doing.
“s**t! We have to run faster!” Luke replied, as they ran dangerously down a slope, which sent them skidding faster than their legs.
The giant began to walk faster, although it was evident that it would run faster if it had the chance to.
Meanwhile, the leaf burned away faster. They were running out of time.
“What do we do? There’s no end to this! Should we climb a tree?” Ariana asked, panicking, as she couldn’t see a way in sight.
“Ants can climb. That’s a giant made of ants. It won’t hesitate to climb, and also I don’t think these trees are any taller than it is!” Luke said, looking back at the monster, which had an arm stretched out.
“Damn, damn, damn, we have to do something! Anything! I don’t think our powers are working here! We’re running at the typical human speed!” Ariana said, with so much concern as they began to climb upwards. It was harder than skidding downwards.
Her heart was pounding, seeming to be seeking to find a way out of her chest. It felt like she could feel death knocking, minutes away. She didn’t know what the ants could do, but she didn’t want to know either.
But it seemed like she’d eventually have to know because the leaf finally burned up, and the monster broke free, with a roar.
“Luke! It’s free!” She screamed, and it didn’t take the monster, seconds to catch up to them in bounds.
But just before its tongue could reach out to them, the ground beneath them opened, and Ariana screamed, as she and Luke were swallowed up.
Into the darkness.