Teeth and Chase

The darkness was all-consuming, somehow different to the transitory darkness that stretched across the long tunnel between the crossroads and the mossy room.

This darkness seemed to smother even what little light was produced from Emio's glowing form, as if declaring that the presence of any illumination was not welcome.

Even the ever-present fungi shied away from the depths, the few mushrooms that lived down there, piddly and shrivelled.

However, the lack of mushrooms, though it harshly reduced what little beauty the area had, did benefit them. The deeper they went the more intact the once non-existent support beams became, it started with rotted lumps of dirt, little more than compost, yet gradually it evolved into full, yet unstable, supports of wood.

This gave a spot of hope to the party, all of whom were dreading the descent down into the deeper mines, for fear of a cave-in.

As they sank deeper a faint sound reached the edge of their senses, a sound that grew until it was constant static in the background, emanating from strange uniform holes that peppered the walls.

It sounded like the clicking of insect legs on stony ground, combined with the occasional sound like the distant crack of a whip.

The trio had been crawling forward in the darkness for some time when the Vessel’s Spirit drew their attention to a point in the darkness.

There was a moment in time where Wanderer could not see Spirit's focus, the dim pink light that Emio gave off leaving little to look at.

Yet slowly a small shape, about half the length of one of Wanderer's arms, came into their vision.

It resembled a centipede and it moved in starts and stops, the creature lacked a defined head or tail, as well as the eyes and mandibles that would accompany them, instead having a pair of antennae on both ends of its body, which consisted of a solid black shell.

Hundreds and hundreds of legs went down the length of its body, moving in waves as it drew closer to the Golem.

When it drew within a meter of the Vessel, it hesitated for a moment, then attacked, leaping high onto Wanderer.

Its leap revealed a new, grotesque side to the simple creature, underneath its rows and rows of legs lay an even more numerous set of teeth.

Teeth that went all the way down its body, each tooth hollow, and leading into one long, gaping mouth that made the whole creature feel as if it were empty.

Before Wanderer could react the monster let out a sound like a whip cracking, before latching onto one of Wanderer's four arms and biting.

The moment the teeth latched onto the Golem's body a sound like popcorn began to emit, as bursts of air and sound exploded through its teeth and into Wanderer's soft arm.

The monster had only managed to latch on for a fraction of a second before Emio slammed it into the ground, turning it into a dark-coloured paste on the floor, yet the damage was done, Wanderer's arm had been mutilated and ruined.

The pain was the most intense Wanderer had ever faced, even beyond the green lightning from the temple, mere burns could not compare to the pain of having their body imploded from the inside out.

Wanderer's arm had practically bubbled from the attack, their clay body containing the air until it grew too powerful and the bubble popped.

Instantly they went to fix the injury, the pain allowing little other thoughts to go through their head.

By the time their arm was healed enough for rational thought to resume, Emio was tugging them to start running and their Spirit was stewing in terror, and it only took a moment for them to realise why.

The once quiet murmuring of clicks and snaps had risen in volume, until it became a deafening cacophony that was only growing louder, closer.

The Golem didn't need a second warning, heeding the call of their comrades they sprinted down the tunnel as fast as their horse-like legs would let them.

Emio had little trouble staying ahead, almost leaving the group behind before they realised and slowed down a little, a necessary action as their pinkish glow was their only source of light.

The sounds only grew louder as Wanderer began to see black antennae and eyeless bodies stick out of the small holes that covered the walls, a fact they had hardly paid attention to before.

It wasn't long until insects of all sizes began nipping at their heels, some half their height in length, others barely reaching the size of their finger.

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Yet their size didn't matter much, they were catching up and deep inside, Wanderer knew that not even Emio could save them if they were caught by the stampede.

For some time, their Spirit had been yelling with their usual urgency, to escape in some way, yet their directions only repeated the thoughts the Golem was thinking, and Wanderer had paid them little mind.

Yet now the Spirit's voice cut through even the deafening calls of the approaching horde, the urgency behind it making it obvious that they believed their directions were the only hope of survival.

It was a simple message, to turn left.

It didn't take long before Wanderer saw what they meant, as out of the gloom was revealed a crossroads.

To the right the tunnel continued, the wooden supports marking it as a man-made shaft, yet the tunnel to the left was different, its very existence causing a pit of dread to form in their stomach.

It was practically identical in form to the many small holes that covered the walls, the same that the centipedes originated from, yet there was one critical difference, while the mining shafts could barely fit their height, this tunnel was big enough to fit two of the Golems on top of each other.

“Terrifying”, Was the only thought that forced its way past their chase-induced panic.

The Vessel's interactions so far had been limited to centipedes no larger than half their height, yet to be large enough to make a hole this wide, the insect would have had to have been big enough to swallow their entire group whole.

Instantly, their mind rebelled at the mere thought of entering the tunnel, the very chance of running into such a creature causing a simmering panic to rise in them, yet their Spirit was determined, this was the only way.

They had little time to think it through, the swarm hot on their hooves, yet in a show of trust for their lifelong guide, they turned and sprinted down the left path, grabbing Emio as they went.

As they turned the corner the Vessel immediately saw the escape their Spirit proposed. just a few hundred steps in front of them, lay a beam of light from the surface, easily recognisable as the blue light of the moons.

Yet this same light revealed a horror that brought far more dread than the exit gave hope, as the tunnel opened into a chamber.

The walls of this chamber were smooth and curved, indicating that it had been made by the same massive centipede who had made the burrow they were currently in.

Yet it went beyond that, holes of many sizes covered the walls, each one housing its own insectoid resident, and anywhere these miniature tunnels were not, tiny, sickly-coloured eggs covered, engulfing both the floors and walls.

In their haste, one of Wanderer's hooves made the mistake of crushing one of the egg sacks, the following verdestry doing the same.

At the death of their children, the monsters fell still and silent, as if their primal brains were only just managing to comprehend the extent of the offence the intruders had caused.

Yet before the Golem had managed even another step, the cavern had exploded into a new cacophony of mind-melting sound of such extant that, if Wanderer had ears, they would have been deafened long ago.

If Wanderer had been running before, they were flying now, dashing out of the chamber and down a smaller tunnel that led to the exit, chased by a tide of carapace and black chitin, crawling and scrambling over one another, each attempting to exact revenge and claim their meal.

Yet even with the new level of effort the Golem put into their escape, their attackers were gaining, all the while screaming threats of violence in their primitive language.

Not even a fourth of the way to the exit, Emio decided that the Vessel wasn't running fast enough, wrapping two tendrils around Wanderer and yanking them through the tunnels.

Yet the insectoid threat came not only from the pursuing tide, the walls of the monster-made tunnel were filled with smaller holes, holes which centipedes poured out of like water.

One of the insects pounced at the quickly passing verdestry, before being quickly turned into a paste by one of Emio's many limbs, yet it set a precedent for the oncoming attackers and soon Emio had to slow their speed in order to free more of their tendrils, so that they could slay the oncoming enemies.

Somewhere inside of themself, Wanderer knew they should be deterring the verdestry from their extermination, yet against the unlimited horde and their current panic, they couldn't truly bring themself to do so, knowing that any attempt would surely bring their doom.

By some stretch of unimaginable luck, the exit appeared before them, and looking into it, they came to realise that the shaft to the surface, and their saving grace was an abandoned well.

Moonlight lit intentionally placed stones that led to the surface, no more than a hundred steps above, Wanderer could just piece out the limbs and branches of a tree, just peering over the rim of the waterhole.

Without even a moment of hesitation, the party clambered up the shaft with all the speed they could muster, heedless of caution or safety.

But it was this recklessness that cost them, as the well walls were not built to handle the weight of a Golem and verdestry, and one of Emio's tendrils latched onto a loose stone, slipping off as the rock fell.

The setback was momentary, yet costly, the slight dip in speed caused Wanderer, who was being hauled by the glowing creature, to fall just within the range of one of the swarmlings.

A centipede took the chance given, gaping mouth closing like a vice around a horse-like leg.

White hot pain lanced up the Vessel’s entire body, as sonic explosions were injected inside their body.

At that moment, Wanderer didn’t think of their oath, the pain prevented any chance of that, instead, they slammed their leg into the wall with all the blessing-given strength they could muster, causing the armoured bug to let go and fall to the bottom of the pit.

For a dreaded instant, Wanderer feared they had broken their oath scarcely a day after making it, yet even with their new blessing, their strike did not equal that of Emio, and the injured centipede followed with renewed vengeance.

But before they could even begin to feel some twisted relief at their almost murder, they burst out of the well and into the glorious open air, hoping to all hope that the monsters would not follow.