...So I Found What Lurks In The Dark

A long time ago, Sera and I used to play down by the river in the middle of the forest. I hated being there so much. But I never let Sera catch on, since she once told me it was one of her favorite places to be. I think it was one moment in particular, that I glanced towards her. She sat on a smooth rock, dipping her pale feet into the water while she toyed with a reed in between her slender fingers. It wasn't a moment different to any other, really. But it was that moment when, for the first time… I felt my heart burst aflame. It's like suddenly everything clicked into place, like the world and the passing of days made just a little more sense as I stared into Sera's passive beauty. For the first time… I realized that I was in love.

So maybe it's also love to get hurt. Maybe it's a part of love to feel your heart grow cold as it's ripped from your chest. I don't know why this thought came to me. I don't even know if I'm alive. I'm not awake. Not yet. So I decide to retreat into these memories for as long as I can. And if I don't wake up, at least I can pretend I died never knowing what pain those feelings would bring.

I lay at the bottom of a steep gravel mound that climbs the walls of the ravine. A tear runs down the side of my face. Not sure where that came from. I am alive.

I'm also in pain. But less than I thought for having just fallen off a cliff. I don't know how far I fell, though. Gotta wonder what's happening up there. I think I've just been impaled.

Glancing down at my leg, I see a thick piece of sharp rock protruding from my leg. Yeah, that'd be the source of my pain. And now that the adrenaline is fading away, I can definitely feel it. A lot. Holy shit, it's—

I slowly curl up, gritting my teeth and wrapping my arms around each other to stifle the pain. My hands won't stop shaking. My mind gradually ramps up until I'm in a full-blown panic. Should I leave it in? Should I yank it out? Which is better? Which one will kill me?

After agonizing over both options, I warily settle on removing it. I take in several quick breaths, carefully wrapping my hand around the protrusion.

"A-Alright— One…" I begin. "…Two… And… Th—"

A hand suddenly clamps over my mouth, the weight of their body pressing down on my leg and pulling in out far more quickly than I was prepared for. My body stiffens with pain, but the hand grips my mouth tighter, stifling my screams until I'm just barely able to restrain myself.

Through this close interaction… I'm able to see that it's the girl who fell with me. And due to our sudden proximity, I can see her much better than before.

She's got these alert grayish eyes and thick, dark eyebrows. Her skin is pale, almost gray like the rock surrounding us, and her features are all chiseled in a way that makes it seem like she could easily snap my neck. But most notably is the deep burn scar that runs across her left cheek, leaving a rough texture over her face.

Several seconds more pass before she finally lets go, and I alertly scramble backwards away from her.

"Th— The hell—?!" I spout. But she immediately leaps back onto me with a snarl and covers my mouth again. And… finally I get the message. She's telling me to shut the hell up.

Even though the pain still wells up in my leg, I grit my teeth and force myself down. My leg is bleeding profusely. As she gets off of me a second time, I focus on treating that instead of the pain itself. I tear a long strip off of the base of my pants and tie it as tightly as I can just above the wound. Sera's father taught me to do that if I ever had a serious injury like this one. Came in handy, too… like when Sera and I were in the woods, and—

Dammit, don't think of that now…

I pull it uncomfortably tight, and then tear off another few strips to wrap around the wound itself.

The pain in my leg is still throbbing, sending waves up and down it and all the way into my torso. But the longer the moments drag on, the more I feel myself able to suppress it.

I test my leg by pressing down on it. That sends a jolt of pain up my spine. In other words… I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon.

The girl cautiously crouches in front of me. And she just… watches me. It's a little unnerving. Mostly because she tried to kill me.

"…Y-You know—"

But she's immediately upon me before I can finish, with a knife to my throat. Her eyes are wild, and she gestures warningly with her free hand.

Right. Quiet.

She slowly lets me go. She gestures something again with her hand. It looks like some kinda nonverbal language. But I can't understand what she's trying to say.

I decide to let it go. All I can do is wait for Lasula and Lyra to come and get me. Hopefully they don't think I'm dead.

Come to think of it… that other guy didn't seem to care that killing me would've caused this girl to drop. I wonder if she's upset about that. Not that I can really ask… I don't think she'll give me another warning.

Dammit, this's really frustrating. She's right in front of me. But I can't ask her why they attacked us. Or why she isn't trying to kill me now.

The girl suddenly raises her head. Her eyes begin to dart either which way, like she was alerted to something I wasn't. That gets me somewhat unsettled, and I start to glance around as well.

The bottom of the ravine continues in either way, taking a sharp turn on one end a ways down and continuing beyond sight on the other. But nothing really seems to—

What little color in the girl's face seems to suddenly drain. She scrambles to her feet, desperately turning every which way in search of something. She seems to settle on a small pile of rocks, which she abruptly takes off towards and dives behind.

"H-Hey, w—"

But I freeze in place as a cold chill runs down my spine. Something I hadn't felt just a second before now hangs over me. Without knowing what it is, I feel my hands begin to shake. I don't want to turn around. I'm afraid of what I'll find. But as I gather the courage… I realize just how small I really am.

A lone beast towers above me dozens of times over, casting a shadow across the whole chasm floor. It's almost humanoid, standing on two legs with massive, bulky arms. But its rough, reddish skin is completely covered from head to toe in deep pores each the size of a human skull. It has no eyes, nor head at all…but one massive slit-like mouth in the center of its chest… with teeth each the size of my arm.

Its pores seem to inhale and exhale individually, dilating completely on their own. I think they're smelling for something. I think they can smell me.

I hold my breath as best I can. But it doesn't move, like it's waiting for me to react first. I can't hold my breath for much longer. I strain and grit my teeth, to the point that a black haze begins to creep in from the corners of my eyes. Any second… I'm going to…

From behind the rock pile, a stone is desperately tossed. I watch it as it soars a ways before clattering against the opposite wall.

Immediately, the abomination hurtles itself in its direction with a twisted, deafening wail so loud it causes my ears to ring. It crashes into the far wall, and suddenly begins to claw into the stone, tearing away at it like it was a heap of loose soil.

The girl leaps over the stone pile and bolts towards me. She grabs my hand as she passes by, pulling me to my feet and forcing me to run. My leg screams in pain, but I don't dare slow down after what I just saw. I don't dare look back. I don't know if it's following us. My ears are ringing too loudly to hear. All I can do is blindly run and hope with all my heart that it didn't notice us leave.

I don't know how much time has passed. The girl and I are still deep in the ravine. But right now, we've found ourselves hiding in a small cave, just barely tall enough for us to stand in.

I'm in severe pain. But the fear that hangs over my shoulders seems to keep it at bay. For now, at least.

"I… Think it stopped following us," I mutter. "Maybe… we should—"

I hesitate as I turn towards her.

The girl has one hand wrapped around herself and her other covering her mouth. Her entire body quivers uncontrollably. Her eyes are stuck wide open, with tears pouring down her cheeks. And her breathing sounds like stifled sobs. Like it's all she can do not to break down completely. It makes me feel like I'm not nearly as afraid of that creature as I should be.

I put my back against the wall and slowly slide down it until I'm sitting flat on the ground. After a moment, she does so too. She's still just as freaked.

I unsling my pack from over my shoulder, sticking my hand in to fish around in it for a second. As I do, I notice the sword box that Coot gave me. A mild curiosity grows in the back of my head, but I let it go before finally pulling out two portions of preserves that Lasula and I had prepared. I reach over and offer it to her.

At first she doesn't accept it. But bringing it to her attention causes her to stop, where she balls her fists and takes in a sharp breath. I think that's her way of trying to pull herself together.

She grabs the food from my hand and immediately scarfs it down. Thought she'd be a little more suspicious of it, but whatever.

I lean over to take a bite of my own. But before I can, she grabs it from my hand and immediately tears into it, eating it up in seconds.

I stare for several moments in complete disbelief of this girl's audacity.

Once she's finished, she starts to eye me again.

"What…?" I ask.

"…A-An vas shii k'en."

"…Huh now?"

The girl abashedly turns her head. But she continues to watch me from the corner of her eye. Her fingers tremble.

"…U-U'thu mur… An vas shii k'en."

I don't know what she's speaking, but it's definitely not the same thing I am. At first I thought she just had food stuck in her mouth.

But this reminds me of a certain something the old village elder told me about once. When I asked something about the countries all around us, he went on this super long lecture of tangents on tangents. Most of it was… really boring, but I did glean a few things from it. Namely that the language we speak in the village— something something, Eastern Common, isn't the only one that exists. He said there's thousands. Which sounds… exhausting. For me, it just means I've got even less of a chance to ask this girl what the hell's going on.

"Alright… Well, seeing that I'm stuck with you— might as well introduce myself. I am Marco. Got it?" I pat my chest. "M-a-r-c-o."

The girl watches me for a second. Almost like she's judging me.

"…Vas pel," she comes.

"W—What, is that your name?"

"Pel."

"I don't understand you."

"Vas pel."

"Yeah, you saying it again doesn't help."

The girl balls up her fists. She puts one on top of the other and holds them up to her mouth, tilting her head backwards. It takes me a second, but…

"Oh— water!" I say, fishing my water skin out of my pack. "That it? Does… Does 'pel' mean water or something?"

She immediately takes it out of my hands and begins to guzzle whatever's left in it.

"Hey!" I shout, snatching it back. "Easy, that's all I've got!"

A startled look washes over her face and she reaches over to cover my mouth.

"…Right… Quiet," I mutter from between her fingers.

I just can't catch a break from weird girls.

The girl sheepishly turns away, wrapping herself up in her cloak. I let out a heavy sigh and lay my head back against the stone.

As the moments pass, I feel my eyelids start to grow heavy. Eventually, I find myself drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

The beast isn't anywhere to be seen come morning. That's good. But with how suddenly it can appear, that's not anything to be relieved over. Even so… I need to get into contact with Lasula and Lyra. First step is finding a way out of this black abyss.

My first steps out of the cave are extra careful, mostly minding the throbbing in my leg. Girl-whose-name-I-still-don't-know reluctantly follows behind. I've long since given up on trying to communicate with her, so we're leaving it at the 'she'll just do what she wants and I'll do what I want' bit. I'll trust her. She didn't steal anything from me while I slept, in any case. That's gotta count for something, right?

We, obviously, walk in complete silence. Or, try to. The chasm echoes back every little noise we make a hundred times over. Every footstep… every shift in loose gravel that piles around the looming walls… All that we see ahead is more cliff on either side, winding and dipping with no end.

And what the hell is it with that monster, anyways?! I've never heard of anything that big! Gramps' books never even mentioned the thing! 'All About Monsters Compendium' my ass! That thing's gotta be Demon Lord-grade, and not a whisper from these so called 'professionals'!

As I'm in the process of ranting into my own headspace, my attention is suddenly drawn to something against the leftmost chasm wall. I gradually drift off course to check it out, dropping to my knees in front of it.

There's a pretty obvious symbol carved into the wall, about the size of my head. It looks like a… square, but… spiral? The line of the spiral travels towards the center at even angles until coming to a stop. I don't recognize it in the slightest, but… I guess it's the first sign of civilization I've come across down here. Even if that civilization is long dead. Looks pretty old, after all.

Alright, I've had my fill. Curiosity sated. Interesting, but… time to move on.

With that, I struggle back to my feet, and hobble towards the center of the chasm floor where the girl nervously waits.

"Wonder what that is," I mutter, angled towards her. She doesn't acknowledge me.

We continue on in silence. Hard to tell how much time passes down here without direct access to the sun. It's starting to get colder, too. And still no clue where we're g—

The girl steps out in front of me, prompting the both of us to stop.

I tilt my head, trying to figure out what she wants. I look into her eyes, but come out with nothing.

Suddenly she embraces me, pressing her chest to mine and wrapping her arm over my shoulder. It causes my heart to flutter. She presses harder, and draws a breath right beside my ear, sending chills down my spine. I'm not sure how to act. My body can't seem to decide on a proper response. I don't know how I feel. It's… the warmth of our bodies pressed together. It's…

Pain.

She breaks away from me with a dead expression on her face.

My chest convulses.

Losing the strength in my legs, I drop to my knees.

My vision grows blurry. I struggle to control my breathing. My whole body begins to shake as my eyes slowly drift down to my stomach.

Staining my shirt a crimson red, a long dagger is embedded in my abdomen. Blood dribbles into a puddle, where it pools around my legs.

The girl bends down towards me, once again putting her mouth right up to my ear.

"U'thu an shii k'et," she whispers as a blackness begins to creep in from my peripherals. "Kua'ma a'var."

She unstraps my bag from my back, and starts to pull away with it.

I end up grabbing the bag as tightly as I can muster. She scoffs and pulls harder. My vision fades in and out.

I won't let her take this from me…

Her frustration suddenly turns to fear as she glances up, her fighting against me turning into a desperate struggle. She pulls with all her might. But finally, she lets go. The bag comes flying back at me, knocking me over. The contents of my bag spill out onto the floor. I subconsciously reach for them. The girl hisses before taking off, leaving me completely alone. Only…

I slowly endeavor to crane my neck. But I hardly have the energy to react to what I see.

The monster stands above me now. Its pores are all fully dilated, it's mouth held open.

My hand is still reaching. I don't know what I'm reaching for.

My hand glances something, just barely. I feel cold metal against my skin.

I glance down.

The silver sword is just barely out of its box, but it was enough. A crawling sensation grows underneath my skin, as the blood spills out of my stomach and as my vision fades to black.

And then… it's like my whole body is suddenly engulfed in hellfire.