The walls dim light felt suffocated by the encroaching darkness that Charlie made his way through. The deeper Charlie ventured, the weaker the light became, almost as if the thickening darkness devoured all it touched.
After slithering for over ten minutes, Charlie had yet to see any signs of the humans approaching. Not only could he not hear or see the humans, Charlie couldn't even detect their scent, it was like the hallway had been sterile.
The worryingly simple plan to fool the humans had been a success, clearly, but it didn't solve the issue. Charlie had some additional breathing room, certainly, but they would eventually come in search of him.
It would not be enough time to get the required rest - being forced into one stressful event after another started to truly exhaust Charlie. He wasn't quite sleepy, but started to feel lethargic - he would need to rest, and soon.
The hall Charlie ventured down was not a straight line as it initially appeared, as there were winding tunnels and sharp turns every few minutes. The halls walls were littered with exposed rooms, filled to the brim with tools and supplies. Though naturally curious, Charlie ignored the itch to see what the boxes and rucksacks contained, and pressed onwards. Allowing his curiosity to go wild down here would lead only to getting caught, and probably his demise.
Eventually, Charlie finally had come to what seemed the end of the long worm-carved hallway. The dim light that emanated from the surrounding stone had been almost extinguished at this point, but still barely bright enough to see the floor below him. Until he came across a wall of darkness.
Much like the exposed rooms containing the supplies, this room lacked a door, but somehow contained the thick dark that threatened to spew out like an ocean from within.
Whatever it was that devoured the light seemed to originate from behind the doorway, consuming all light that came into contact with it's presence and creating it's dark boundary.
Charlie halted for a moment, unwilling to plunge himself into the total darkness, especially now that he had seen something similar pour out of the pedestal the robed woman somehow controlled. But there was no choice, the humans were surely not stupid enough to be incapable of figuring out where the stones were thrown from - they were sure to be on their way. Steeling himself, Charlie took the metaphorical first step and made his way into the lightless room, crossing the boundary between light and dark.
It was like wading into thick and murky waters - the shadows adhered to his scales and tried to resist his movements. Undeterred, Charlie pushed through and set off to search for a place to hide. It would simply not be enough to be in the room, as Charlie doubted the humans did not have a way to deal with this - the woman controlling the flood of shadows had come to mind. Charlie was certain he needed to somehow escape and find shelter.
[Devour] roared back into life the moment Charlie crossed over the dark boundary, igniting deep in the pit of his being. It longed to be used, to consume and Devour all before it. It was just like when the woman used the pedestal, [Devour] sensed something that it wanted. Charlie didn't know what to do, but there was nothing to [Devour] just yet, so he pressed on and tried keeping its ravenous itch at bay.
The room was peaceful, utterly silent, yet it felt claustrophobic. Unable to see the true size of his environment, the darkness clung uncomfortably and restricted his world to the small space his body inhabited.
The lack of any visual or physical stimuli intensified the situation for Charlie, it had been too quiet for too long - it felt different, and wrong. Even stranger, Charlie had yet to come against anything - not even a simple pebble seemed to cross his path. It was like the room was completely empty.
That was until Charlie finally sensed something change in the air. Though his eyes and ears failed him, his enhanced tongue allowed him to keep track of the one thing that was yet to be completely robbed - scents.
Everything and anything had a scent, whether or not most could perceive it. Though the unnatural darkness seemed to dull even that.
There was someone else here with him. Charlie was certain that he was not alone, but something was wrong - why did he only perceive it now? Surely the dark did not affect his heightened sense of taste to this degree, or could it? Was Charlie actually far more blind than he thought?
It didn't smell human, really, nor did it smell of a creature. It was hard to put a finger on it, but it smelled like both at the same time yet, somehow, neither.
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The strangest part, though, was that no matter which was Charlie slithered, the foreign scent only intensified.
An inkling of fear wormed it's way into Charlies heart, as the more he tried to get away, the closer to the source he got. Unable to understand what he was going through, even Charlie found it difficult to stay calm.
Did... I fall into a trap? Is no one following me because they knew I'd fall here?
The more he thought about it, the likelier it became that Charlie simply lacked information and fell for a trap meant to keep people out. Yet, if it were meant to keep people out, why could he only delve deeper?
"%=&&... €3" a voice whispered from somewhere in the utter darkness.
Charlie quickly spun around, searching for the source of the strange voice. Charlie had failed to understand the meaning, but he definitely heard something. With fear coursing through his veins, Charlie could feel his heart rate skyrocket, and remained perfectly still - hoping to hear something, anything, or find an excuse to chalk it up to hearing things again.
"%=...%=&& €3..." the voice echoed from seemingly all directions, distorted into a mere whisper by the impenetrable darkness.
Charlie heard it again, this time it felt more powerful, closer, but he still couldn't understand what was being said. He wasn't certain, but the voice... Almost felt pitiful.
There was a sadness in the voice, sadness that transcended language, deeper and more profound than what words could portray. Hesitantly, Charlie continued forward, hoping to find a way out as soon as possible, but... There was a part of him that also wanted to approach that saddened voice.
Charlie threw the thoughts of pity to the side, unwilling to be swayed by a disembodied voice - no matter how much it played on his desiccated heart strings.
The dim light of the floor finally penetrated the thick dark, unveiling the floor that Charlie stood atop. With each movement forward, the darkness parted like a velvet curtain, making way for the morning light, yet Charlie was rewarded with a strangely grim sight.
Before Charlie, there stood five pedestals surrounding a small, but shadowy cage. Lines of multicoloured light and wiring connected from the walls to the pedestals, and finally back into corpse contained within the cloaked cage.
Yet, even through the shadowy cloak, Charlie could clearly see what was inside. It was some sort of decrepit creature, mangled far beyond recognition. It's chest had hundreds of those wires and multicoloured lights pouring out of the open cavity, connected to the barely beating heart and translucent gem. There was no skin, no fur, and it's body, or whatever was left of it, was chained down by heavy steel cuffs.
What the fuck is this?
Charlie didn't care that the creature, if it even was one, barely clung to life. What he cared about was whether or not this would be done to him too if he were caught.
Charlie approached the mangled creatures cage and gazed upon its rotting corpse. What was left of the head would barely constitute a face - half of the head had been cut off, leaving only the already ancient bones in the crumbling shape of a skinless mouth. The creatures body had no skin, muscle, fat or blood left - just a somehow still-beating wrinkly heart that sat in a bed of bones, alongside a gem.
Yet, the gem was nothing like the ones he had seen before - full of vibrant colour, radiating energy that even Charlie could feel.
Was it human once...? Maybe a creature of some sort...? Could either of them have a gem like this inside of them?
Charlie felt strange, the fate of this creature was in no way related to him nor did a single death mean anything, but he couldn't help but feel... Pity. Life and death were one thing, and clearly whatever this had once been, had been robbed of that simple fact - unable to take it's own life, the creature had lost the final modicum of control it had over its own fate.
Maybe I should put it out of its misery...
Charlie turned around and traced the paths of the wires and lights with his eyes back to the five pedestals. They looked a lot like the pedestal that the woman used to unleash all of those shadows, and Charlie doubted they were unrelated.
A sudden sound from behind Charlie brought his attention back to the pitiful creature.
Flesh, muscle and blood spewed out of the heart, crawling their way up the bony chest and neck as if possessed by worms - eventually knitting into a bloody mouth.
The fleshy and grotesque head turned towards Charlie with an audible crack, and spoke through bloodied teeth.
"%=&& me"
The words were raspy and phlegmy, but each syllable sent shivers down Charlie's spine.
The creature was trying to bridge the gap, trying to be understood. Somehow, someway, the creature was succeeding.
Bone started to regrow atop the creatures fleshy jaw, tearing through the freshly woven muscle and sinew. Blood spurt out in great quantities as each new fragment pierced through, yet none fell to the floor, marring the spotless surface - staying somehow suspended in the air, before returning to the source.
The nerves and muscle crawled up the new bone towers until eventually it formed a face. Eyeless for the moment, but Charlie could see that, even now, there was muscle writhing and twitching like disgusting worms, slowly taking shape.
The lines of multicoloured light exploded with intensity, sending a sudden burst of energy through the heart of the creature. The energy shot through the creatures still-forming flesh, and corrupted all of the gruesome work. The bone crumbled away into ash, taken to air by the slightest breeze, the blood evaporated like boiling water and the muscle decayed like rotting leaves.
Before the corruption could take its mouth and tear through its vocal chords - it screamed.
"KILL ME"