The Crystal in the Chasm

chapter 21

We had been walking for what felt like forever, Death Bringer leading the way as I trailed silently behind him with five feet to separate us. My hands kept flexing and  releasing, desperate to relieve the tension in my bones. Death Bringer quietly strolled ahead, a new torch in hand that he had taken from the wall. My brain was too foggy to even remember where the last one had ended up. I couldn't think of anything but what had just happened between us.

He paid me no mind, as if it was just another day and I was just another one of his many "casual hook-ups," as he had once said. Was he like this with Cordelia? I wouldn't convince myself this was anything more than us being friends with a mutual attraction. I shook my head and tried to scramble the thoughts together, desperate to focus on the task at hand.

The darkness around us gave way to fallen ruins of some kind of ancient building within the cave system, a small hole at the top of the cave revealing a beam of moonlight glow. It didn't look like a hole I could fit through but perhaps if Death Bringer needed to escape, he could shape-shift into something small enough to fit through it.

The ruins scattered around the cave, like the bones of whatever structure was here was the only thing built to last. It looked like war had passed through. Dread built in my stomach when I glanced at the ceiling high above. Hanging from the ceiling by nooses were countless dead bodies of all kinds of creatures, swaying in the midnight glow. Their eyes were plucked from the sockets, their mouths torn from cheek to cheek. Their hands were bound behind their back and their feet bound together as well in tight knots. Some had already rotted enough that they were mostly bone, others had changed to various colors and sagging skin. I felt the bile rising in my throat as I returned my gaze to the ruined floor. Collapsed and shattered stone builds littered about, the ghost of whatever once was.

Death Bringer was several feet ahead, holding the flame atop the torch close to something on one of the remaining walls. I was making my way to him when I felt the hair on my neck rise. It felt like someone was watching us. Perhaps more than one set of eyes. I glanced around the dimly lit cave, sharpening my sight with a suspicious squint. Nearly blending in with the shadows, an unintelligible figure hunched over atop one of the standing pillars. My blades instantly found their way into my hand. I was stuck between running to Death Bringer or shouting for his attention, certain that no matter what my reaction was, it would trigger the creature to attack.

The creature tilted its head to the side revealing the shape of its face. It had a long snout and jagged horns protruding from its forehead, its limbs unnaturally long and human-like. When it sniffed the air, its jaw sagged open slightly to reveal rows of teeth dripping with saliva. Glancing over my shoulder, I faintly caught a glimpse of what Death Bringer was staring at. Written in dried blood on the wall read "Even the mind does not see the truth." I shivered as a low growl began to creep its way through the air. My head snapped back to the creature right as its bones rippled under its taut leathery skin. Its long fingers wrapped around the edge of the pillar just as it began to crawl down on all-fours. I stepped back slowly, my eyes only leaving the creature when I sensed more movement ahead. My stomach twisted when I saw three more of the same species rise from the shadows on their hind legs, realizing they were less human-like than I thought. Their hind legs bent like that of an animals, their snout close to resembling some kind of dog. The only human-like feature they had were their five fingers, perfect for grabbing.

Flashes of memories snuck through my mind like a knife stabbing me repeatedly with flashes of webbed fingers dragging me deeper under the waters surface, tearing limb from limb. A small noise escaped my throat as I retreated beside Death Bringer, only for another two creatures to leap onto the wall above us, sending small chips of stone crumbling to the ground. Death Bringer pushed me away from the creatures, his magic flowing from his palms and creating a barrier around us. We stood back to back as more and more of the creatures emerged. Some slowly sauntered over on all-fours, others raising to their hind legs. The closest one revealed its rows of milky-white eyes. I realized that they were much like the demon I killed in the woods. Dread pooled at the base of my abdomen when I realized why their eyes felt so familiar. They had the same eyes as Blix.