Chapter 15: 14: Cavern Of Ruins [II]

The flying snakes gleamed at the scared Lindley as he turned in different directions, brandishing a longsword like a fang of his own. They were about to cover him in bone-melting toxin, when a deep bellow came from the other side of the tunnel. Two large red eyes glittered in the cover of the tunnel's darkness.

The hairs on Lindley's arms stood erect. Everything about the new threat screamed danger. Threat of extreme violence. Threat of agonizing death.

Not another one. Lindley thought aloud, looking around in fear. He was becoming totally disoriented when an orange-red whirlfire swept towards him.

Screaming, Lindley tried to escape the inferno but stepped on a floor trap. An opening appeared underneath him and he plunged downward into a pool of mucus. Above him, the raging inferno covered the whole tunnel, sending tongue of flames through the narrow opening.

As the trapdoor was sliding close, Lindley heard the agonizing hisses of the snakes while they burn to ashes.

That could have been him. Too close for comfort, Lindley reckoned. Twice, he could have died in different painful ways in the last few minutes.

Way too close.

Lindley looked at his body and grimaced again. The fire had slightly damaged the right part of his face and body, charring his outer garment. But the satchel on his back was still intact, making him heave a sigh of relief.

His herbs and food were stored inside it.

As the yellow slime covered his body, his pain was slightly soothed. He tried cleaning the mucus on his body as much as possible, but it still covered him like a green cloak.

A quick glance around, and he discovered he was in another tunnel. Another underground passage, was that not another impending danger? Lindley knew he couldn't survive another encounter of creatures like the ones he had already encountered.

He contemplated laying down to rest, but in the end, he decided to proceed down the tunnel. After walking for a time, he came to a halt before a high basalt archway shaped like a gaping mouth.

Whether the gullet was open in laughter or a scream was impossible to tell. Yellow mold clung to the stony lips, and black water dripped from jagged teeth. It was a sight. Distant sounds drifted through the archway; grunts, snarls, and high-pitched howls. They were almost like the sounds of animals.

Almost, but not quite.

Beyond the mouth lay darkness. An uneasy feeling gathered in his stomach. He glanced down at the flaring seal in his palm and grimaced. He was to enter the passage way and find a way out of the underground.

He walked down a twisting tunnel with walls strangely curved and ridged. The dark, glittering green mucus covering him, dripped onto the floor, which was spongy under his feet.

The further he walked, the more of the eerie feeling he had. It was as if the whole tunnel was not made of stone, but was alive. The feeling was as if he had been swallowed by an enormous creature, and he was now moving down its stomach. Hot bile rose in his throat. He tried to force the image out of his mind, but to no avail.

He had gone only a short distance when the tunnel divided into two. He paused and checked the right tunnel. Seeing that the tunnel was sealed off, he retraced his steps, Then walked down the left-hand tunnel.

Filled with uneasy expectations, Lindley moved down the slime-covered passage. Before long, the tunnel split again and curved upward.

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Soon he found himself in a massive place where tunnels joined together, branching and rejoining several times in a strange way. He began to wonder if he wasn't moving away from the exit or not. He swallowed hard and continued on his way.

A distant thrum vibrated in the air, making his legs falter slightly. It was so low that he felt it more than he heard it. It reverberated beneath his feet, almost like the sound of a beating heart.

Apart from that, the winding tunnels were utterly silent. The grunts and howls that had drifted out of the abyssal arch had ceased. The silence was even more disturbing to Lindley. There was nothing he could do but to keep moving.

The tunnel opened up before him, and he found himself inside a smooth-walled chamber. Glossy shapes were embedded in the wall, livid and throbbing, like huge mortal organs. Sickened, he hurried across the squelching floor and moved through a circular opening in the far wall.

Lindley rounded a sharp bend, then skidded to an abrupt halt. Something was embedded in the tunnel wall, something alive. It writhed beneath a translucent sheath of tough mucus, like an insect inside a spider's web. From afar, it resembled a goblin, or perhaps a kobold.

In curiousity, Lindley approached. It was a reptilian humanoid with sinewy legs, black scaled skin and burnt orange eyes. A kobold.

It struggled vainly against the viscous bonds that held it within the wall. Its eyes bulged when it saw Lindley. It pressed its face against the clear foil that covered it, stretching it further.

It opened its mouth as if to scream or screech, but no sound came out. Slick tendrils snaked out of the wall and plunged into the kobold's body. They pulsed like veins, pumping it full of dark fluids. It screamed, convulsing violently. Then all of a sudden, it fell still.

While Lindley watched in revulsion, the kobold's body began to change. Its skin dissolved, revealing glistening muscles and organs beneath.

As if of their own volition, its body parts began to move in waves, rearranging themselves into hideous and strange new shapes. The kobold twitched and shuddered. It was still alive, but it was transforming into something else.

Realizing the need to leave the area urgently, Lindley careened hastily down the tunnel. He had only gone a few feet when a tendril got hold of his leg. Thanking the knight for the gift of the stainless blade, he raised the sword and slashed at the glistening sheath.

The tendril was tougher than he initially thought. He cut harder, and at last the edge of the blade penetrated the membrane. Slimey yellow fluid oozed out.

Clenching his jaw in determination, he slid the blade down, cutting open a large slit, and more ichor spilled out. And with all his strength, he pulled his leg.

At first there was resistance, but then, with more powerful grunts, he freed his leg from the grip of the tendril. At the same moment, livid tendrils sprang out of the wall, searching blindly for the flesh that escaped.

Quickly, Lindley rolled out of reach of the waving tentacles and increased his pace. He passed more kobolds embedded in the moist, fleshy walls. All were in the process of being transformed.

A few steps forward, the tunnel opened into an area where thick yellow liquid bubbled in a pool at its center. A mordant reek hung in the air, burning his eyes and nose. With great discomfort, he managed to inspect the place.

The ground was littered with skeletal remains of what appeared to be those of mortals and animal-like creatures. It was once a battleground, albeit a small scale.

On the other side of the large tunnel were different coloured doors, lining the wall of the cavern.

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