by Ty Arthur
While they were distracted by the abrupt assault from the grotesque infant, Myrr grabbed hold of Casterly and pushed him towards the window, sparing a peek down to see Tala below. She was slowly backing away along the length of the building's rear side as a small group of rioting citizens across the road struggled against a pair of soldiers. While no longer bedecked in the armor of the Knighthood, he saw the mace was still strung through a cloth loop around the edge of her skirt, and hoped she had the courage to wield it if necessary.
Erret was over the sill next, grabbing hold of the inside and pulling himself down to follow after his acolyte onto a street that would likely be no safer than the invaded home they fled. Glancing back at the doorway, Myrr saw the struggling had stopped and the spindly creature feasted on his kills. He held back a reflexive gag while catching sight of a feature previously unnoticed in Tala's bizarre offspring. Within the folds of the thing's rubbery face could be found a maw of tiny, needle-sharp fangs, dripping some foul ichor as the feast was underway.
Hoping the creature could understand the concept of retreat, and having no idea if it would even understand language, he shouted out for it to flee before turning towards the window when several more rioters from the other room approached the open doorway. They called back to their unseen group about another potential victim in their midst before moving in, stopping abruptly at the sight of Tala's feasting child.
With no time for safe climbing and no idea if the others had even reached the bottom, Myrr propelled himself straight out into the darkness and the two story fall below. As panic gripped his guts, he whispered the name he'd come to know, pulling open the gate inside just enough to allow it to begin consuming, swallowing the air beneath him and slowing his descent.
Setting down awkwardly, he found Casterly staring with open veneration on his face at this latest miracle. There would be no time to discuss it, as one of the rioting citizens could already be seen in the window above pointing down at them while more knights rushed to aid their embattled compatriots across the street.
Catching sight of Tala staring up at the window sill where the last member of the group still had not appeared, he grabbed her by the arm and rushed off down the nearest open path, hoping the others would be smart enough to follow. “Trust me, those men are already dead if they don't flee from your son!”
Twisting and turning down any street corner or alleyway that wasn't choked with rioting civilians or murderous knights, Myrr finally skidded to a stop at the edge of an empty inn that hadn't seen visitors from outside the city since the occupation began. Setting his arm against the wall to catch his breath, he turned his head to see the other two catching up behind him, miraculously with no angry mob in pursuit. Perhaps they'd found easier prey, or they were all busy being sliced apart by what Erret had deemed an angelic seraph.
Casterly approached first, winded and clutching his side but clearly not lacking in his ever-present excitement, already babbling on about magic powers and glorious revolution. Myrr tuned him out, checking to ensure no pursuers were close enough to find them. The name of the darkness floated just above his mind, ready and waiting to be let loose with a thought.
Despite the lack of insurrectionists or knights in their immediate vicinity, it was clear they were nearby, as screams and yells could clearly be heard in close proximity, indicating a large concentration of combatants together. Based on the volume of the screams, they would have to be within spitting distance of the mob surrounding the market ward, which he confirmed as he poked his head around the building's corner.
In one direction lay the continuing battle in the former market square, and in the other could be seen a clear path towards the landed obelisk, only a few hundred yards away near the high ward's outer wall. There would be no reason for the rebellion to head there, as everyone in the city avoided that monument, and even the knights didn't typically gather around its base. The chaotic battle consuming the ward would be their distraction to reach freedom.
Checking back to ensure no one was breaking ranks from the sea of bodies attempting to stop the crucifixions, he quickly scanned his sight across the crowd and to the awful, lingering deaths being bestowed just beyond. Those mass crucifixions were only the latest atrocity brought against the people of Cestia, topping the daily indignities of life under the yoke of a hated enemy. He was certain Cestia's last day was dawning and twilight was about to descend on a once-great city.
Myrr had no intention of witnessing that final destruction occur. With the impending rising of the sun, they would be far away from the city's dying moments, seeking some safe haven not yet consumed by war.
It was hard to make out any specifics in the all the struggling forms, some managing to briefly rip a limb or two free before being quickly shoved back into place by a vigilant soldier, but one rounded face in particular caught his eye. Otta, the store keeper who had kept them safely hidden in his cellar, screamed himself hoarse as a spear ran from his gut, pinning him against the rough, ancient bark. When Myrr's eye followed Otta's outline across to the next body, he saw one form that didn't struggle at all.
Casterly's broken sister seemed to not mind her current circumstances, having left the world of the conscious and the living behind. He choked on a scream of his own when he realized the forms on either side were the two younger siblings. Myrr had never even learned their names, yet now he witnessed their ends, both crying out for a mother nowhere to be found, fighting through the pain while struggling to free their nailed limbs.
That stifled shout came out unbidden when the younger one managed to rip a tiny hand out, blood spraying across the ground, desperately reaching out to free her brother. She disappeared from view as a body of one of the soldiers passed by then, but Myrr's outburst hadn't gone unnoticed. Casterly looked to his friend, a question on his face, before turning to survey the crucifixions and what brought on the outburst.
Time seemed to slow for Myrr then, as confusion and then recognition dawned on his friend's face. Before he could make any move to stop the doomed attempt at rescue, Casterly was up and running into the meat grinder of rioters and knights ahead.
Without thinking, Myrr reached his hand out and tried to shout after Casterly in warning, but found himself instead screaming another name he'd become more accustomed to uttering.
He could only watch, powerless, as the line of black spread out from his hand and slammed into the back of his companion. It started with a massive cracking sound, audible even over the roar of the crowd and the cries of the dying, when Casterly's body splintered in two, savagely folding in on itself at his waist.
His legs flew up from underneath him, twisting and contorting to meet his temple as the dead man's central torso snapped neatly in half, his horribly rearranged body slamming into the ground below and skidding to a stop just before the line of screaming citizens. Blood and viscera arced forcefully across the street as Casterly's form unmercifully pulled in on itself again, folding up a second and then yet again a third time, cracking his bones and compacting his muscle as the darkness compressed his form,
Too late Myrr struggled to swallow it back in, slamming closed the flood gate that had ripped open of its own accord when he'd called out the name of the darkness. The line of smothering force cut off an instant later when the gates ground shut inside him, but the damage had already been done.
Erret and Tala were beside him then, looking on at the savagery Myrr had unintentionally unleashed. He stared, unblinking, at the remains of one of the few truly good people in Cestia, knowing he had wrought this with his carelessness, thinking himself master of the darkness within. A scream bubbled up when he caught sight of Casterly's lone eye, hidden within the splattered and cracked mess of his broken body.
When it blinked rapidly, blood filling the socket in the wake of his traumatic wounds, he realized his friend somehow remained horribly alive despite the hideous injuries that should have seen him dead in an instant. He felt the madness rising again, as it had after
he'd first unleashed the darkness. There was desperation in what was left of Casterly's smashed eye, the mess of his contorted body struggling to pick itself up.
Myrr attempted to conjure up the darkness again, demanding it undo what had been done, or that it at least snuff out his own life in recompense. The only response was a sharp, cutting pain, and something akin to riotous laughter. It would not heed his call, no matter how hard he struggled to pull back open the internal gate.
He lurched forward on unsteady feet, meaning to finish what he started and end his friend's life as a mercy with his bare hands if the parasite wouldn't heed his call. When the tenor of the crowd's screams suddenly shifted from hate to terror, he stopped and looked beyond his somehow dead-yet-undying companion.
Sending the crowd scattering in all directions, the massive forms of the scuttlers could be seen cutting a swathe through the mob. Ignoring the citizens beneath them, it was clear they were headed directly towards the one who housed the artifact they'd been sniffing out relentlessly for three years.
21 (High Ward, Early Light Dawning)
She wanted to hold Myrr close and tell him it wasn't his fault, but there was no time in the mad dash away from the crowd and the towering, skittering hounds. The first time Tala had lost control when listening to those seductive whispers had led to an equally grisly death and nearly seen her pitted against the rest of the afflicted as one who was simply too dangerous to survive the training.
Thoughts of the monastery and the callous caretakers were gone when the base of the obelisk came into view ahead as they ran at breakneck speed for their lives. As mind-bending as ever, it hurt to look upon the infinitely flat surface that was darker that true night. Thinking they would rush around the nearest corner and look for some entrance, she was shocked to see Myrr rush directly into the blackness, disappearing from view.
The smooth, pitch-black surface suddenly turned smoky and translucent in Myrr's wake, revealing a rough-hewn stone form more akin to a standard defensive tower, as he pushed through the obsidian vapor to whatever lie within the obelisk. Sparing a quick glance back at the pursuing nightmares, it was obvious the options were follow or be torn to pieces. In an instant she was inside the smoke, pushing through a relentless tide of choking fog that pushed from all angles at once.
Her whispers could be heard, barely, from some far away place, as though being smothered by the oppressive black mist surrounding on all sides. Undeterred, and feeling as though she herself were being choked, Tala pushed forward, holding her hands out in front of her while stumbling forward, hoping to find solid ground somewhere in the disorienting darkness.
Finally pushing out of the haze, she fell to the floor on the other side of the obelisk's wall, finding herself inside a place of utter blackness, only outlined by brief gray flashes nearby. Searching about for something to hold onto or make sense of the colorless world, she spotted Myrr ahead, glowing like a beacon despite the complete lack of illumination.
His left hand subsumed the darkness, so lacking in light that the void practically shined against the surrounding gloom. She could finally make out its form there in the lack of light. The outline of a pitch black gauntlet hovered around his fist, attached by tendrils of void-like smoke trailing through his flesh and into his torso, anchored to another pit of insane blackness.
A muffled shout came from behind as another figure pushed through the smoky veil, shrieking about darkness and eternal damnation. A moment later the smoky haze was gone, replaced by the solid black surface of the wall, which suddenly shifted into a translucent glaze. Looking out, Tala could see the road they'd traveled and the surrounding area of the high ward was superficially discernible, somehow visible through the walls of the obelisk.
Undeterred by the lack of a ready entrance, the scuttlers twisted their joints to push up into their taller forms, leaping through the air and attaching to the sides of the obelisk with their sticky, padded feet. Apparently as blind to the internal workings of the obelisk as anyone else, they began their ascent, racing up the sides and ignoring the trio now trapped inside the dark tower.
She called out then, unsure of herself as even as the relative light of the less-impenetrable darkness spilled in through the walls. She felt, more than saw, the priest shuffle forward uncertainly, throwing his arms towards her. “We are lost child, we are in the darkness now!”
Myrr's internal companion was fully palpable as he approached, much more sure of himself than the hysterical priest. “You might be lost, but I'm not. It's pulling me this way. Grab hold and follow or I'll leave you behind and let your god guide you.”
Grasping Myrr's right hand, avoiding the impenetrable black of his left, she wondered why he continued to mock the priest now, in this of all places, and held her other arm out to be grasped by a trembling Erret. They moved forward slowly, walking across what felt like a stone floor until reaching a flight of steps that necessitated an even more measured pace to avoid falling in the darkness.
Counting each sluggish movement up the steps to determine how far they rose, she noticed an impatient pull from above, as though Myrr were annoyed at those who could not see through the black depths. During the entire trek through the tower's passageways, not a peep issued from the priest below, his rantings and repugnant sermons now silent as he found himself inside the antithesis of all he held sacred.
Ending her count just shy of three hundred, Tala put one foot forward and found solid ground rather than another step, following tentatively after Myrr into some inner chamber of the obelisk. She felt her guide's hand slip away as he called back at the blind and lost, “Hold here, this must be done without us in contact. The way its pulsing, it means to unleash something dangerous.”
She nearly fell to panic then, but instead fixated on the maelstrom of whispers within, now growing again after having passed through the smoky fog. While they screamed words she couldn't understand that undoubtedly meant madness and death, they were a bizarre comfort in the maelstrom of darkness. For the first time she wished their language was understandable, as she dearly longed to ask if they knew of her child's fate. She couldn't hear his skittering around and had no idea if he'd even escaped the mansion, let alone followed them into the dark tower. Having escaped the grave once before, she could only have faith he remained living somewhere in the city.
A rapid tightening around her occupied hand told Tala their other companion wasn't faring as well and was on the verge of complete hysterics. She reared back her left hand and struck him forcefully before Erret had the chance to give into delirium. “Compose yourself, priest. This is no worse than any night living in Cestia.” Remembering an adage she'd heard once from another follower of his faith, she added, “There is always a path to be found, even in the darkness.”
A dim olive glow appeared in a circle around them before he was able to respond, with Myrr at the center, his gauntlet-shrouded arm thrust into some black pedestal at the center of the chamber. Trying to gain a foothold on her bearings, Tala looked around the room, noticing gigantic chains of black steel coming out of the shrouded darkness above. The imposing metallic links protruded down at seven intervals in a circle around the room, reaching all the way from the unseen roof above down to the floor, where they attached with hooks the size of a man's head. The floor beneath indeed appeared to be made of common stone, as though the obelisk's interior were like any man made tower, although it was difficult to focus on the details as her eyes moved across all the blackness.
A sudden shout of “Hold onto something!” was all the warning they got from Myrr as the entire obelisk lurched. Tossed to the floor, Tala crawled forward and grabbed hold of the nearest chain, ignoring the screaming protests in her head that shrieked at her in their unknown tongue. The words were unknown but the meaning was clear: be gone from this place.
Looking to her left towards the wall separating them from the high ward, she could see the roof of the nearest building start to descend, as though they were raising into the a
ir against the very laws of nature. She could hear Erret shouting somewhere nearby, but focused on what she was seeing through the diaphanous wall of the tower, watching the ground disappear while the entire structure raised into the air.
Tala dug her fingers tighter into the cold metal of the gigantic chain links when they shifted forward, moving parallel to the ground and flying away from the spot where the obelisk had been grounded since the first night the whispers disappeared. Holding her eyes closed against the vertigo rising in her stomach, she wretched with a frightening intensity across the stone floor, clutching the chain for dear life and calling out to Myrr.
His voice was pained when he responded, as though each word took an enormous effort of will, “They. Are. Inside!”
Tala's eyes shot open at the odd exclamation, not understanding until she heard the dual howling echoing down at them. Her eyes shot upward in time to catch the beasts descending the walls on their sticky, arachnid legs, coming down from some unseen entrance at the top of the obelisk. They slunk down like shadows against the darkness, barely visible in the pale green light illuminating the bottom segment of the chamber, but their baying was unmistakable.
Seeing Erret still clutched against himself in a fetal position on the other side of the room, Tala let go of the chain lifeline and pushed herself towards Myrr in the center of the room, stumbling across the swaying stone floor as the obelisk continued its unnatural movement through the air.
