CHAPTER 99: THE GROTTO OF ECHOES

Camp was quiet in that dangerous way that meant Korvo was planning something horrible.

The man stood over his map, marking positions with the kind of focus usually reserved for planning invasions. Which, knowing Korvo, was probably exactly what he was doing. Just with students instead of soldiers and monsters instead of enemy nations.

Aegis pretended to organize her pack while actually staring at the map. The topography was familiar—too familiar. They were maybe half a mile from...

[Holy shit. The Grotto of Echoes.]

In the game, it was an optional miniboss location with a guaranteed rare drop: the Pendant of Silent Steps. Plus ten to stealth, minus fifty percent to detection radius. The kind of item that would make sneaking around the academy infinitely easier.

And it was right there. Just through those trees.

She glanced around. Scarlett was teaching Darius how to properly maintain a sword, which mostly consisted of her insulting his technique. Kanna was meditating, still as stone. Korvo was lost in his battle plans.

Perfect.

Aegis stood casually, stretching like she was just working out camping stiffness. Nobody looked up. She took a step toward the tree line.

Another step.

Almost there—

"Where are you going?"

Aegis’s soul left her body. She turned to find Serilla directly behind her, having appeared from literally nowhere.

"Just... bathroom."

"The latrine is that way." Serilla pointed in the opposite direction.

"I prefer privacy."

"From trees?"

"Trees are very judgmental."

Serilla tilted her head. She was still wearing that barely-there outfit from last night, though at least it was dry now.

"You’re going somewhere interesting."

"No."

"You’re a terrible liar."

"I’m an excellent liar."

"Your cock gets hard when you lie."

Aegis actually looked to check.

"No it isn’t."

"So, you are lying?" Serilla grinned.

"..."

[Fuck! She got me.]

"That’s not even—"

"So where are we going?" Serilla asked, already walking past her into the forest.

"We aren’t going anywhere."

"Sure we are. You’re scheming something and I’m bored." She glanced back. "Besides, those pants I lent you make your ass look fantastic. I want to watch it move."

"That’s harassment."

"That’s honesty."

Aegis weighed her options. Go back to camp and miss the pendant. Try to explain and have Serilla definitely tell everyone. Or...

"Fine. But keep quiet and don’t touch anything."

"I make no promises about the touching."

---

They slipped into the forest.

The trees grew denser immediately, older and more twisted. The cheerful morning sounds faded into something heavier. Darker.

"This feels cursed," Serilla observed.

They followed what might have been a path or might have been random deer trails. Aegis navigated from memory, remembering the game’s layout. Left at the white rock. Right at the fallen tree. Straight through the suspicious flowers that were definitely poisonous.

"You know where you’re going," Serilla said.

"Lucky guesses."

"You haven’t hesitated once."

"I’m very confident in my guessing."

Aegis stopped. They’d reached it—a cave mouth carved into a hillside, decorated with bones and other things that suggested entering was a terrible idea.

"The Grotto of Echoes," Serilla read from a conveniently placed sign that definitely shouldn’t exist. "Warning: Death Inside."

"Cheerful."

"You brought us to a deadly cave?"

"It’s not a deadly cave. It’s a... very challenging cave."

"With things that could kill us in it."

"... Potentially."

Serilla studied her for a long moment. Then she shrugged.

"Sounds fun. Lead the way."

The cave was exactly as creepy as advertised. Every footstep echoed, bouncing back distorted and multiplied. The walls were wet with something that probably wasn’t water. Bones crunched underfoot—small ones at first, then increasingly human-sized.

"This is where you murder me," Serilla said conversationally.

"If I wanted to murder you, I wouldn’t walk you this far."

"Good point. This is where you ravish me?"

"Also no."

"How disappointing."

The cave opened into a large chamber. Phosphorescent moss provided just enough light to see the really important details. Like the pile of skulls in the corner. The suspicious bloodstains. The figure standing in the center.

Level 20 Echo Wraith

HP: 750/750

[Higher level than I remembered. Great. That said, this is still manageable. Thank god for all that training!]

The Wraith looked like someone had tried to make a human out of shadows. It wore tattered robes that moved without wind. Its face was a void with pinpricks of white light for eyes. Around its neck hung the Pendant of Silent Steps, glowing softly.

"Ah... so that’s what you’re after," Serilla said.

"Maybe."

"You dragged me to this deadly cave for jewelry?"

"You’ve got to admit, it’s nice jewelry."

The Wraith noticed them. Its scream was like nails on glass while someone played a violin backwards. Both of them winced.

"Can you fight?" Aegis asked.

"Better than you, probably."

The Wraith charged. Or floated aggressively. Hard to tell with incorporeal enemies.

Aegis went left, Serilla went right. The Wraith, confused by having options, hesitated for exactly one second.

Aegis’s daggers passed right through it.

"Oh, come on!"

"It’s incorporeal, you idiot!" Serilla shouted. "Use magic!"

[Right. Magic.]

She knew that from the game, too. But, something

was distracting her.

Aegis summoned an Aether Whip, lashing out. This time it connected, leaving a line of light across the Wraith’s form.

Serilla’s ice shards did better, each one disrupting the Wraith’s form and forcing it to reconstitute. But it was fast, phasing through attacks and countering with shadow tendrils that definitely shouldn’t exist.

One caught Aegis across the ribs, tearing through her shirt and leaving freezing burns on her skin.

"Fuck!"

Serilla quickly added:

"Shit!" A tendril nearly took her head off.

They danced around the chamber, the Wraith always one step ahead or behind or occasionally inside the same space they were trying to occupy.

"This isn’t working!" Aegis panted.

"Thank you for that brilliant observation!"

"We need a plan!"

"Hit it until it dies is a plan!"

"A better plan!"

The Wraith screamed again. This time the sound had weight, slamming into them like a physical force. They both went down, ears ringing.

The Wraith loomed over Aegis, raising one shadowy hand that elongated into claws.

[This is going to hurt.]

Ice erupted from the ground, encasing the Wraith from the waist down. It shrieked, trapped for a moment.

"Now!" Serilla yelled.

Aegis didn’t think. She wrapped the Aether Whip around the pendant’s chain and pulled. The Wraith grabbed for it, but Aegis was already rolling away, pendant in hand.

The Wraith’s scream this time was different. Wounded. Furious. It shattered Serilla’s ice and lunged—

Straight into the combined attack they hadn’t planned. Serilla’s ice spear from the left, Aegis’s Aether Whip from the right. The Wraith convulsed, form flickering.

It fled. Actually fled, streaming toward the cave entrance like smoke with commitment issues.

[Huh... I guess, because this is real life, it isn’t confined to this boss arena.]

They stood there, breathing hard. The pendant dangled from Aegis’s hand, warm and humming with power.

"We did it," Aegis said.

"We almost died."

"But we didn’t."

"My standards for victory are higher than ’not dead.’"

"Your standards are too high then."

Serilla laughed, breathless and genuine. Then she tackled Aegis.

They hit the cave floor in a tangle of limbs. Aegis’s "oof" was cut off by Serilla straddling her, hands pinning her wrists.

"What—"

"You used me as bait."

"I didn’t—"

"You knew that thing was here. You knew what it could do. And you brought me anyway."

"I didn’t—"

"It was brilliant." Serilla’s grin was wild. "Absolutely insane, but brilliant."

She was pressed against Aegis completely, her barely-there outfit leaving nothing to imagination. Aegis’s cock, which had no sense of timing or propriety, immediately stood at attention.

The worst part was, Aegis genuinely didn’t use her as bait (though, maybe she should have).

"You’re insane," Aegis said.

"Takes one to know one."

"That doesn’t even make sense in this context."

"Your dick is poking me."

"Your fault for tackling me."

They stared at each other. The cave was silent except for their breathing and the distant sound of water dripping. Serilla’s grip on her wrists loosened but didn’t let go.

"We should go back," Aegis said.

"Probably."

Neither moved.

Serilla shifted slightly, grinding down. Aegis bit back a groan.

"This is a bad idea," Aegis managed.

"The worst."

"Korvo will notice we’re gone."

"Definitely."

Serilla leaned down until their faces were inches apart. Her breath was warm on Aegis’s lips.

"But you’re not pushing me off."

"You’re stronger than you look."

"Liar."

For a moment, Aegis thought Serilla might actually kiss her. The tension was thick enough to cut with those daggers she’d dropped somewhere. Serilla’s eyes were dark, pupils dilated. Her lips parted slightly.

Then she stood up suddenly, leaving Aegis cold and confused on the cave floor.

"You’re right. We should go back." Serilla smoothed down her outfit, which didn’t actually cover enough to need smoothing. "Korvo’s probably planning to make us fight bears or something equally stupid."

"What just—"

"Come on. Unless you want to explain why you’re covered in cave dirt and Wraith burns."

She walked toward the entrance without looking back. Aegis lay there for another second, cock throbbing, completely baffled.

[What the fuck just happened?]

She grabbed the pendant and followed. Serilla was already at the cave mouth, posture casual like she hadn’t just been grinding on Aegis thirty seconds ago.

"For the record," Serilla said without turning around, "those pants really do make your ass look amazing."

"Thanks?"

"And next time you want to drag me to a death cave, just ask. I like adventures."

"I’ll keep that in mind."

---

They walked back through the forest in comfortable silence. Well, comfortable except for Aegis’s persistent erection and the Wraith burns that stung with every movement. And the confusion about what had just happened. And the pendant burning a hole in her pocket.

[Okay, so not comfortable at all.]

As they approached camp, they could hear Korvo yelling about "PROPER SWORD MAINTENANCE" and someone—probably Darius—complaining about blisters.

"Act natural," Serilla said.

"I don’t even know what that means anymore."

"Fair."

They emerged from the tree line. Nobody looked up. Scarlett and Kanna were sparring with sticks, both trying very hard to look like they weren’t enjoying it. Darius was wrapping his hands and whining. Korvo was drawing more incomprehensible battle plans.

"Where have you two been?" he barked without looking up.

"Bathroom," they said in unison.

"Together?"

"Aegis is afraid of trees," Serilla said smoothly. "I was emotional support."

"Trees are very judgmental," Aegis added.

Korvo’s good eye twitched.

"I don’t want to know. Get ready. We’re moving out in ten."

They separated, Serilla heading to her pack while Aegis went to hers. The pendant seemed to pulse in her pocket, begging to be equipped.

[Later. When no one’s watching.]

She caught Serilla looking at her from across the camp. The pink-haired girl winked, then went back to packing like nothing had happened.

Serilla Frost: +1 Affection(❤️❤️🤍🤍🤍)

[Seriously, what is happening with this girl?]