Chapter 89: The Thing Within the Cave

Chapter 89: The Thing Within the Cave

Within a shimmering, nigh-impenetrable barrier, the Great God sat in his mortal disguise, biting his nails. His eyes were bloodshot, and his leg was bouncing in place.

“How!?”

Astrador had sacrificed both his arms to restrict access to this realm, yet that brat was here anyway, dragging several people in before a day had passed and staying inside longer than he should be allowed to.

So how?

Astrador turned, glancing down the mouth of the cave behind him. He could hear faint whispers and echoes.

It was laughing at him.

Astrador stopped biting his fingers. He could move his arms in this realm since this wasn’t his true body, but they still felt numb since he had used that method to seal them.

He turned to the cave entrance and laughed right back, “This was your fault, wasn’t it?” It was a manic, unhinged, and, most importantly, panicked laugh.

This was no joking matter.

How far was that thing willing to go? This was already far too much, but as if it would care about something as trivial as the integrity of the border between existence and non-existence.

No... It wouldn’t stop at anything. Astrador knew it. It would annihilate all in the blink of an eye if it could.

“That thing... It must never be set free.”

He would have to act again. They had far too much time in this place.

So he would have to cut their time short.

Astrador got up and placed his hand on the barrier. He clicked his tongue. As expected, he could only leave if he put the border down, making his sacrifice meaningless. Not to mention, he had made the sacrifice for a reason in the first place.

No matter.

He hadn’t lived this long without picking up a few tricks along the line.

***

It took a step forward and a deep breath.

Then, it turned directions again. Its toothy tentacles pulled it through the thick obsidian growth, allowing it to move completely unabated. The demon paused and dropped to the ground.

It got up again, standing far more firmly this time. It scratched the back of its head and stretched.

The tentacles were retracted back into its body. It walked over to an obsidian brush, breaking off a small branch. It gripped it firmly and felt it crumble beneath its palm.

“ᏔᏔᏔᏔᏔuuuҾҾҾҾҾҾuuuҾҾҾҾҾҾ” It spluttered, spitting black ooze everywhere.

It walked, combing through the thick growth, but it didn’t shift as usual. Now, it just ran. It came across a few thicker bushes. Once it did, it snapped another branch off. It cocked its head as it seemed to be holding up beneath its grip.

Yet, it was to no avail. Soon, this fragile piece had shattered in its palm as well. It walked around, endlessly searching for a branch that would be good enough for its goal.

It finally found it. It gripped the branch of a shrub, and it didn’t shatter beneath its fist. So it broke off a roughly dagger-shaped piece. Then it broke off another. It held one of the daggers in a standard grip and the other in a reverse grip.

Then it turned and sniffed, sensing nothing of importance in a place as large as this.

So it ran.

Eventually, it came across a bit of destruction. It turned in one direction, ran, and found nothing along the path.

So it turned back. It picked another path and, yet again, found nothing.

So it turned back again.

It repeated this several times until it finally found a trail. Then, it followed it.

Eventually, it came across a cave entrance.

A single branch on a single shrub had a bit chipped off. Its gaping maw of teeth stretched out, revealing its nasty innards and several eyes peering from within.

“ҾҾuuᏔᏔuᏔᏔuҾҾҾҾҾ... ᏔååååᏔå... KᏔuҾᏔuҾ... ꃈꃈꃈꃈuҾ... ꃈuååuunDu uҾ”

It ran into the cave.

“No! I’m...!” Hunter frowned and spoke louder than he intended, “I want to know what I did wrong, ok? Because I have no idea!”

“Oh please...”

“What!? I wanted to help her, but I clearly messed something up!”

Dukean stared at him, mouth slightly open, “You messed... Oh, oh... Oh! Oh, I’m sorry. I completely misunderstood you. No, I apologize. I thought you... Sorry.” Dukean scratched the back of his head awkwardly, taking another sip of the water and turning to Hunter, “You honestly want to know what you did wrong?"

Hunter nodded, and Dukean asked him a question, "You like that girl, no?”

“What!? No, I... She is... No, she used to be my betrothed, so I just...” Hunter lowered his head and distractedly twirled a finger around in the dust on the ground.

Dukean shook his head, “Dude, wrong place, wrong time.” He sighed again and touched Hunter’s shoulder, “I’m not sure how much I believe you had no idea what you were doing, but I will spell it out for you anyway. You weren’t offering help. You were trying to seem cool and reliable.”

“No, I really wanted to...”

“You wanted to help her do what? Carry a branch? A twig light enough that a child could pick it up? And you wanted to help her do it? By doing what? Grabbing it out of her hand? Carrying it for her despite there being a room full of twigs you could pick up instead? Simply doing your job better would have been more helpful since we would have finished our task sooner.”

Hunter paused, looking away from Dukean and frowning, “I...” He closed his mouth, deepened the frown, and grabbed the back of his neck, rubbing it slightly, “She could have just...”

“... Said no?”

Hunter froze.

"I'm pretty sure she even told you to piss off." Dukean couldn’t help but chuckle as he could quite literally see the realization set in, “Oh, wow, you really had no idea, did you?” Dukean got up and patted Hunter on the back, “Give up, man. As I said, this isn’t the time and place for romance. Try and look at things from her perspective. She is stuck with five men in a nightmare realm where we are slowly losing our minds. Would you feel safe in a situation like that? If you were a woman, would you really appreciate a man hitting on you in that situation, even after being told to piss off?”

“Well, she didn't have to fucking stab me.”

"I don't think she wanted to do that either, judging by her reaction..."

Hunter didn't have much to say to that. Dukean smiled a bit and put a hand around his neck, "Don't beat yourself up too much. You're a kid, and you're in the same situation she is. This endless, cold darkness isn't particularly conducive to rational behavior. The last thing you need is another thing to drive you nuts. You fucked up, and she fucked up, and now you're even. Does it really matter who is more right or who could have done what better? Fighting about that is likely to get you stabbed again."

That got a small chuckle out of the bigger boy.

Dukean pulled his arm back and got up, "Besides that, you shouldn’t pursue her even after we return outside.”

“Why?”

“She is a strong woman, and you are a weak man.”

Hunter wanted to get angry at that. He tried to retort... Yet Dukean’s words rang true.

Dukean continued, “I don’t mean that she is more powerful than you either, I...”

“I know.”

The green-haired boy was taken aback, “I see... Well, best of luck to you anyway. Work on yourself first, but be warned, while you change as a person, she will too. You will drift apart, and that’ll probably be it. I advise you to give up now. There is no shortage of women in this world. Pursuing childhood crushes like this isn’t worth it. I know from experience.”

Hunter frowned, this time in confusion, “How old are you again...?”

Dukean grinned and winked at Hunter, then walked out of the room and left him alone.

Hunter sat there for a while, absent-mindedly rubbing the wound on his chest. It itched deeply as it entered the final stage of healing.

He thought about meditating a bit, perhaps trying to cultivate to get his mind off things.

ҾҾҾҾ... ҾҾҾ... ҾҾ....

“What was that!?” Hunter lifted his head. He could hear shuffling and muffled whispers from outside the room. He ran out, only to spot Marven standing in the middle of the room, facing a cave with a black branch in his hands.

Harel left her room, peeking behind the edge to try and see what was happening.

Marven kept his eyes locked on the pitch-black cave opening. He got in a stance and whispered under his breath, “Dukean... Go find Neave. Now.”

ҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾ

The noise abruptly stopped.

Dukean got up and started running. Harel, Hunter, and Gabrias grabbed a branch in panic, scurrying to hide behind Marven.

Soon enough, footsteps could be heard coming from deep within the cave.