Terrex: the rise of Toni Limitless

The heavy iron lid vibrated beneath my palm, the cold metal pulsing in perfect, terrifying rhythm with the beating in my own chest. Beneath the heavy, rune-engraved bindings, a muffled, rasping giggle slipped through the seams.

Inside the cramped, dark box, her voice dropped low—a dry, raspy Australian murmur that felt like ice water creeping up the back of my neck.

“Aww, don’t be like that, darling,” Dark Lord Toni drawled, her breath practically fogging the iron plate inches from my fingers. “You can tell me to shut up all you want. But every time that chest in your ribcage gives a little thud... mine gives one right back. We’re a team now, you and me.”

I gritted my teeth, pressing my body weight down against the latch. A slow, metallic scratching sound echoed from inside—the sound of sharp nails dragging uselessly against the inner walls.

“How long do you reckon you can keep this up, mate?” she whispered, her voice echoing directly behind my eyes, untouched by the stone walls of the vault. “Ten years? Twenty? You get a cold, your pulse spikes, and I feel every bit of it. You can’t outrun your own heart.”

“Shut up,” I muttered to the chest.

The purple glow of the binding runes flared brightly beneath my hands, reacting to the spike in my pulse. The citizens of Terrex celebrated in the streets, believing the dark age was over and the Supreme Dark Lord was defeated.

They didn’t understand the truth.

She wasn’t dead. As long as I was alive and breathing, she couldn’t die. I hadn’t destroyed the ultimate evil of the continent—I had only become her living jailer. And if my heart ever stopped, the chest would open, and Terrex would fall.