Chapter Seventeen
The path widened, taking the squad out of the crystal canyons into wider terrain.
They kept low, staying near the bottom of a nearby hill wedged between another dense patch of crystal spires. Forty minutes remained until the deadline, the seconds rapidly diminishing in the upper right-hand corner of Jia’s HUD, and they hadn’t encountered any additional Zitarks.
A flat plain separated them from another crystal maze, their navigational marker pointing them in that direction.
Erik scanned the horizon, looking for unusual shadows or signs of movement. The occasional local bird-like creature broke away from a canyon, but other than that, they appeared to be alone. The Zitarks had surprised them before, and whether that was Emma cheating or representative of their true capa
