3. Labor

What is fear?

Is it the feeling of me taking a step back, step by step?

Is it the feeling of my eyes widened?

Is it the feeling of me sweating?

Is it the feeling of my heart beating faster?

Is it the feeling of my blood rushing all over the body?

Is this a negative feeling like shame?

…That’s not it, right? I mean, like Jevannah said:

“...Such emotions do not exist in the presence of the light..."

Fear should not exist. Then, why? Is this not fear, perhaps?

…

They’re coming… the darkness. They move as if they are consuming the light… slithering left and right slowly…

Why? What for? What do YOU want from me? Get away from me!

I kept taking steps back, trying to go back to the stairs, but then a tap on my shoulder interrupted me. I turned my head, it was Jevannah. Jevannah is looking at me. Jevannah looks tense, just like me, but Jevannah stood still. I turned my head.

Jevannah: “Are you afraid? Do you fear what’s in front of you? Do you doubt my light?”

Huh? What kind of question is that?

Me: “Of course I do! Why don’t we go back to the stairs” I insisted.

Jevannah: “We won’t go back to the stairs. Thorne is waiting for us in this layer.”

Jevannah then looks at the darkness in the front.

Jevannah: “As expected, you were different from the others.”

What does that supposed to mean? That’s not the point…

Jevannah: “Listen, to doubt my light is to reject my protection. To fear is to let the negative emotion flow into you. Steel yourself! Believe in us, and we will protect you, with our lives!”

As soon as Jevannah spoke that, I heard a slapping sound. I turned back to see a stick with a curved sharp end seemingly stuck in a darkness.

It was Oskar wielding that stick.

Shortly after that, I saw Regan rushing forward to that darkness that was struck with Oskar’s weapon. Regan then draws something from their left waist, then swings their RIGHT hand from up on their right shoulder to their left knee in a swift motion, releasing a loud ‘SCHWING’ noise. Regan seems to be wielding a blade with sharp edges at both sides. It looks rectangular, and it’s carved with that very same strange drawing I saw a while ago.

The darkness that tried to threaten us, has been split into two. Its upper body knocked out to the left, then fell on the floor. I can now see them. The upper body was pitch black, has a size similar to a man but smaller, and has shapes that are difficult to discern. It was… disgusting. The lower body too has this strange shape, and it’s beginning to bend downwards, like a wilted flower. This is as good as dead.

I began to question that thing.

Me: “What is that thing?”

Jevannah: “That is Undeath. They are our enemy. They lurk in darkness.”

Me: “So, this thing… appear in the dark? And is trying to hurt us? Why does this thing appear ‘now’?”

Regan: “You get to see them more often the lower we go.”

Still, this does not quite add up. Why does this Undeath appear when I can see the surroundings clearer compared to the layer above? Before I could ask, Regan interrupts.

Regan: “We need to go now. Jevannah, give way to Oskar.”

Jevannah: “Alright. Oskar, lead the way.”

Oskar: “...Sure.”

After that, Jevannah’s conical hat began to shine brighter than usual, causing the area to lighten up more. Actually, Oskar’s robe seems to shine brighter too. Is this the power of a torchbearer perhaps?

We then move, increasing our pace to jogging speed. Oskar leading the way, then Regan, then myself, while Jevannah watches our back.

I glanced back at those splitted Undeath. Their size becomes smaller, as if they are ‘melting’, and they release an unpleasant smell, a smell often coming from the dead.

It seems my sense of fear won’t go away for a while.

***

I’m not sure how far we’ve jogged from that place. All I could remember is we started from that large floor with disgusting Undeath, then we jogged through a corridor, and now we are at the ledge with a narrow path.

I couldn’t really get a proper view of the surroundings, as the only thing I do is jog and breathe. The more distance we’ve covered, the harder my breathing is.

Before I knew it, my foot started to feel pain.

Oskar: “That’s Thorne!” Oskar shouted, as we stopped our movement.

There, at the ledge, I saw a small blinking light not far from here down there at the ledge at the front of us. I saw it blinking three times, then it didn’t blink for a while, then it went blinking again three times.

Conversely, my right eye noticed blinking light from behind. I turned my head to see Jevannah, with their right arm straightened, then Jevannah moved their thumb open and close in quick motion three times, releasing a blinding blinking light to my eyes everytime Jevannah opened their thumb.

I asked Jevannah while I was huffing.

Me: “What does that blinking do?”

Jevannah: “It’s a signal to communicate with each other. We’re getting close to the exit, but it’s going to be tough.”

As soon as Jevannah said that, I smelled that unpleasant smell again downstairs. As I walked forward, this time, alongside dead Undeath which covered the floor with black gooey puddle, I saw even more Undeath. Dark as black, blurry, and they keep changing their shapes. Even with this bright light coming from both Jevannah and Oskar, I still can’t discern them.

There seems to be only one downward path leading to that ledge in front. On the left side, it’s a wall. On the right side? An abyss, a certain death. Going back is possible though, but…

Jevannah: “There is no turning back, we’re so close. CHARGE!!”

Jevannah lets out a screaming cry, signalling out what seems to be an order to fight as Regan and Oskar rushes to the enemy.

Jevannah then tapped on my left shoulder.

Jevannah: “Let’s get moving. Stay close with me, and watch your step.”

I nodded my head as I watched Regan and Oskar battling the Undeath, one by one they came, on a narrow ledge. First, Oskar at the right lunges their long weapon to the upper body of Undeath, while shouting ‘HYAH’. That attack pins them, making them unable to slither.

Then I saw what the Undeath do in response. Its right body part began to take the shape of something sharp in a curve, like a scythe. As I am about to scream to warn about Undeath's next attack, Regan steps in at the left side, swinging their weapon horizontally from left to right, splitting that Undeath in two while shouting ‘RAAH’. The Undeath’s upper body fell to the abyss at the right side.

They keep doing this as we descend downstairs, chopping Undeaths one by one, Oskar pins them, then Regan finishes them. They do this efficiently. With a narrow path like this, the Undeath size and erratic movement prevented them from grouping up together. I even saw an Undeath fall to the abyss on its own. With each Undeath defeated, they paint the floor and the wall with black color.

Their appearance also changes. The more they chop the Undeath, the more black gooey stain their brown robe, weapon, and their faces. I keep walking downstairs as my bare feet touch the remains of Undeath. It was black gooey. I stepped on that dead Undeath body. It’s body texture is mushy like a meat, and it smells reek! There is barely enough room for my feet to take the ‘safe step’!

I feel like everytime I step on this black goo, my mental state declines further…

When we finally reached the bottom floor of a ledge, I saw two paths. On the left, a dark passageway with blurry Undeaths. I’m not sure how many of them are there, it’s best to not know at all. On the right, I saw a couple of Undeaths already limping down, seemingly dead. At the end of the right path lies a closed large looking yellow gate or some sort.

Regan: “Tch, what the hell is Thorne doing? Why is the gate not open yet?”

Regan, already looks unhappy with half of their face covered with black goos, turned around and say:

Regan: “I’ll open the gate. You guys distract them.”

We then nodded as Regan ran towards the gate. I’m not sure why I nodded, as I clearly didn’t do anything, at all.

Am I holding them back?

…

As we reach the gate, Regan then pulls their blade, then strikes at the ground, and then Regan lowers their blade as if they are inserting their blade. Curious, I looked at the floor tile Regan struck…

It’s the drawing at those square tiles! The drawing is like an arch line carved in a circular tile, and the middle of it is a small hole. Regan’s blade fits perfectly with the hole size. Regan then turn their blade with the grip, rotating the tile. It looks like to be the mechanism of this place. Perhaps by turning the arch line to the correct direction, the gate in front of me would open.

Behind me, there is Jevannah and Oskar, standing still with their weapons on hand, waiting for the Undeaths to come close. This time, there are three Undeaths coming this way.

*They should be able to tackle this.* I thought. We were doing well before. Sure our clothes are dirty, but no one’s hurt at the moment.

I was wrong. Jevannah and Oskar struggle against the Undeaths.

Jevannah attacks the Undeaths at the left and middle. The rock at the end of Jevannah’s weird long stick lands a blow to the Undeath body at the left with a ‘WHACK’ sound, then Jevannah swings the stick to Jevannah’s right, hitting another Undeath. These blows knocked the Undeaths back, and caused them to stop their movement briefly, before they slither again, indicating that these attacks are not very effective.

Oskar, as usual lunges their weapon to the Undeaths upper body, pinning them. However, this time, there is no one to finish the Undeath as Jevannah is battling two Undeaths at the same time. The Undeath make a similar shape like a scythe at the right side of their body, then it swings towards Oskar. Using their shoulders, Oskar deftly dodges the scythe attack before Oskar pushes them back.

This is not good. We are not beating the Undeaths. We are just distracting them at this point. I saw even more Undeaths coming from further back there. It won’t be long before we are overwhelmed, unless Regan can open the door…

The feeling of doubt began to cloud my thoughts…

What am I doing here? Why do I only watch them fight? Why am I standing still in the middle?

Regan: “Hang in there! I’m almost done!”

… My heart is pounding fast…

The noises of weapon blows… the screaming noises from Jevannah and Oskar… My feet, covered with black gooey… This awful smell that lingers…

“SPLAT!”

!!!

A black gooey thing splashed onto my face!

A…Aaaahhhh… No, no, no!

I desperately tried to wipe away the black gooey with my hands erratically, but it didn’t get off my face, instead I accidentally scratched my face and hit my nose so hard it started to bleed.

Oskar: “I can’t hold them for much longer!”

Jevannah: “Ack! They’re getting through!”

I saw two Undeaths getting through, and it’s coming for me fast!

Ah, No! What do I do? What do I do?

Then I heard a loud noise from behind. I turned my head, and I saw the gate is now open.

Regan: “The gate’s open! Baldy, Run!”

That’s right! I must run! I ran towards the opened gate and try to move my legs as fast as possible.

*Finally, I’m getting away from this mess* I thought, until the worst thing happened.

I tripped my feet, and I fell down to the ground hard. I can sense pain almost all over the body. My face, my teeth, my hands, and my legs…

I look back and see the scary looking Undeath is coming for me.

I screamed in fear, while desperately crawling forward. Despite my efforts, I cannot get away from this Undeath. There is no escape.

Now, I’m just a mere arm away from the Undeath. The Undeath bend backward, then stretch its left and right part of their body into a sharp scythe. The only thing for the Undeath to do is to stab my body with its scythe.

My hands and my legs freeze. The only thing I can do is scream, and watch as I am about to die.

…Is this the end? No! No! No! Not like THIS!!!

Just as the scythe is about to stab my body, suddenly I saw two fast moving lights, in an arrow shape. It glows bright with a greenish color. Above them, I saw another two lights. Its shape is like a star… No… not that. It’s more like an animal eye, an eye of a hunter, stalking the prey, before it pounces them.

“SLASH!!!”

A loud noise is made as the green arrows tear through the Undeath like a cake, splitting them into two. The upper part of Undeath’s body fly to the air before it landed just short above my head.

Then, I saw it. A man is standing. They seem to hold a small circular blade in their hand. They are wearing a green cloak. They have short curly black hair.

Then the man turned around to look at my face… No, this is not a man, this is a woman. A woman with a menacing face…

Woman with a menacing face: “Hmph.”

I met Thorne for the first time.