V1 Incline 13: Nin

Opening my eyes, the lack of mist surprises me. I'm not dead. Undwote isn't looking for me. The nightmare's still ongoing...

Standing up, I somehow shoot upwards towards the roof of the chamber, slamming into it. Falling down, I hit the pile of debris I broke free of with a snapping crunch. No whimpers of pain leave me and I freeze up. Checking my surroundings, I see that it really was the chamber's ceiling I just hit.

What just happened...? What's happening to me!?

The bug is gone and so's the blue light that erupted around me and I feel strange. Every time I try to move just an inch, just ever so slightly, I go flying. My body feels foreign and I am struggling to move properly. Everything is breaking too easily...

Moving an arm forwards, I pick myself up. Suddenly finding myself against a wall, I freeze up as I fall down it. Blinking and breathing, I look into all the corners of my eyes. I slowly get up to my feet as if the ground is going to shatter under me.

Putting my arms out, I balance myself as my muscles quiver powerfully. Why do I feel so strong right now...? I shouldn't be any stronger than I normally am... Did the stuff the bug injected me with do something!?

"HUH!?" I let out as I pick myself out of the wall, shooting into a fresh crater as a result. Spreading my right hand apart, I lift myself up with it until I hear a crack. Forming a fist, I move the hand to my face and open it up. A crushed stone dribbles out of my palm...

Shaking my head, I get back up to my feet the same way as last time. Gulping as a strong breath comes out, I cough and watch as the ground trembles. Nodding to myself I look at where the breeze is coming from. I inch my way through the shredded ground methodically until I reach a wall.

I am moving so slowly, but, what am I supposed to do right now? If I move too hastily, or rather like I normally would! I just go flying... I can move now, there are no more bugs for now, but if I can't even run...

Their claws will just grab me again...

"I should keep moving..." I say as I rub my face with a filthy palm. Creaking forwards, I slowly shuffle my way through the dirt whilst my hands dig into the walls so I would stay still. Every flinch and twitch, however, makes it seem like there might as well have not been a wall. It all feels like a clump of sugar that just crumbles the moment someone touches it.

I want to figure out what has happened to me, but right now, I want to get out of here. Lingering's not going to benefit me in any way, I have to escape, I need to. Strange as everything is right now, I'd probably have an easier time now. This oddity bothering me, it is a blessing for the moment...

I am moving slowly, too slowly, taking my sweet time is not an option! This is just tempting fate in all the worst ways imaginable. This power makes it so that I cannot move fast, I am barely making any progress. All I have is my busy mind and I have no way of telling it to shut up...

"W-What's happening to me!?" I think out loud as a shiver nearly sends me flying once again. Freezing up, I cling to the wall and stare at it. I'm scared, I can feel the adrenaline flow thoroughly throughout my body. How am I supposed to keep calm when my body demands I run but I can't!?

I don't know what to do...

Looking off into the darkness I am heading towards, I try to focus on the breeze. I just have to make it up this slope and then get across the next chamber. I have no way of telling where I am, but out there is still better than in here. I just need to get moving...

Taking another step, I spot light, emerald light as I saw before I... I move a hand to the collar of my overalls. Tearing it off, I stop completely and look at the ruined fabric. It should not have been that easy.

A slight tug...

"I've seen this not tear when its legs get caught on loose spikes and poles... So how in Clohniq's name did I just tear it so easily!?" I ask myself before sighing frustratedly into my hand. Wiping my tired eyes as planned, I throw the piece of fabric away. Returning my focus to the light, I watch it and start moving again. It's a fool's idea to not do anything, I have to keep moving.

I start to hear a noise, an awful terrible noise yet I am thankful that I can. There's someone up ahead, there is someone else! It sounds like a woman and while I am unsettled by the sound, I pick up the pace. The breeze's getting stronger!

The exit is this way, right, it has to be...

But, why is she crying? What is causing her to cry? I can hear bugs in the distance... Is this a trap...?

Yet, as I take the final step up the ramp-like tunnel I find nothing. The chamber is a gore-covered mess with blood and bug parts all over the place. At the centre of it, is the crying woman hunched over into her palms. Strange wisps of emerald light dance about her and they whistle like the wind...

Are these wisps related to the gale that freed me prior? If they are, I want to avoid them. They tore up that chamber I was in and this one completely. I am only alive because I got buried in the backend corner of the place...

Watching as some start to drift towards me, my tongue clicks. Swatting at them, I watch as they effortlessly roll around my attempts before just floating by. Getting a move on, I try to escape them instead, but they follow me. Trying to swat them away again, I surprise myself with how much wind blows back at me.

Pressing up against a blood-soaked wall, I ponder the distance I covered and the sounds. I'm barely making any progress here and the echoes are getting louder. The voice inside me telling me to 'move' is now screaming and roaring the same line. But, I can't, I cannot move properly at all...

Looking back at the distance I have crossed, I frown at how there is only a few metres worth of trails. I came up here to find the exit but I found someone else instead. Looking around, though, I am lucky to even find someone up here. My stomach feels like a paper bag...

The chamber has been utterly demolished and its walls are soaked in all kinds of gore, blood, bone and bug carapace... I shiver in disgust at it and tighten my mouth. I have seen blood before, wet shrapnel and horrible burns before. All kinds of lacerations!

But this is something else...

Choking suddenly, I endure the contractions in my through as to not be sent flying by vomit. The soft, torn-up, corpse-soaked mud taunts me. It is eager to see just how powerful my legs are right now. Holding most of it back, I spit out what I can't and pant.

Seeing the wisps react suddenly, I turn to the woman, "WAHAGH!?"

Burying me into the wall, the dirt goes as far as my ears as an explosion bounces about the ruined chamber. With violently contorting insides, I stare down at the woman as a pair of armoured hands grind me into the wall. Oddly, they are all that I can truly feel. The dirt and loose stones are just kind of there, but these hands are strong and firm...

Feeling their grip weaken, I focus on her gaze as she starts to twitch as the wisps light up her face. Her skin seems to be naturally dark or shaded, but the mud makes it hard to tell. Her hair and eyes, however, act oddly in the dark. I can see trace lines of green in her iris' and hair and they glow independently of the wisps.

Seeing the lack of a collar and the exposed skin, I look down no further, assuming the trend continues... Looking at her arms, I see how what remains of her armour just stops near her limb joints. Whatever she was wearing before, it's been torn off violently. Though, clearly, everywhere shows how she got her due in return...

Watching the anger in her eyes, I focus on the mysterious light and the terrifying strength she restrains me with. Raising my arms as best as I can, I make it clear that I am not a threat. Her gaze follows my hands and she deteriorates into a sobbing mess. Her grip vanishes and she falls against me, her arms wrap around tightly and mine fall down to her.

"Th... There, there..." I quietly say to her uncertainly. Clearly, she needs the support and someone to just be there for her but...

Going into the wall slightly more. I watch as she reappears in the centre of the room, an invisible force washing over me. That sound I heard when she grabbed me just now, I hear it again. Explosive, sudden, very annoying sound...

Whatever that was, her posture strikes me as a bit odd. Whatever she is hoping to do, she suddenly remembers that she cannot do it. Despair seems to smother her and she stops moving. Taking the opportunity, I try to move out of the wall.

But, forgetting my strength, I pop out and skid through the mud towards her. Pushing myself out of it with a grumble, I adjust my overalls as they have caught more mud. As I do so, though, I start to take them off for her. I unbutton it carefully and with even greater care, I slip them off.

However, I tear the legs trying to get them around my work boots...

"H-Here you go. Take it." I tell her, holding it up in a bundle. Hearing her mutter something I cannot understand at all, she takes the overalls. Oddly, I swear her voice sounds like it has the wind mixed in with it. Hastily, she gets herself dressed and I look around at the fluttering lights around us.

They seem to follow a breeze coming from this woman.

The wisps twitch and roars come from tunnels on all sides of the chamber. The bugs are everywhere, they are coming for us and I can't escape... I'm too slow as is! Feeling the woman wrap an arm around me, I look at her.

"Waionr-" is all I understand her say, the name of the God of War. The ground we were on is suddenly far away and debris flies around us. Roars follow us through the hole she just made and we start to fall. Escaping her grasp, I hit the ground and spread out across it without the slightest ache.

"I should be hurting right now..." I moan as I am reminded of all the strange things that are happening to me. Getting back to my feet, I give the woman a scowl as she looks up. Hearing the chitters and roars with her, we move. Hopefully, none of these creatures will follow us...

The bugs can stay up there...

Putting too much force into a step, I bounce into the roof of the small tunnel and come to a stop. Slapping my face with a deafening crack, I sigh into the hand as my mind drowns in confusion. These aren't questions I can just ask this woman either... I can't understand her and she can't understand me, I have no idea what I can do!

We cannot, I can not linger here, the bugs will get me otherwise! But, what am I supposed to do!? I have this strange power now and there are monsters everywhere! Everything is completely messed up...

Leaning forwards, I collapse against what should be a solid boulder and slip down it. Watching as the cracks form and the shards fall, I put my eyes against my forearm. Trembling at first, my head starts to hurt and my eyes water. Sobbing, my eyes and body twitch with growing anger.

"Why did I have to let my curiosity get the better of me...? I should've stayed near the haulers... No, I shouldn't have come at all! Now I am stuck in some monster nest and nothing... IS MAKING ANY SENSE!" I let out as I push against the rock some more, breaking into its core.

Feeling a tender hand touch my shoulder, I look away from my arm and turn around. Looking at the woman as she tries to comfort me, I look at her arms and remember those booms. This woman has these powers too, but, unlike me, she clearly knows how to use them. She is someone who can keep us, me, safe, maybe?

Assuming I have done enough to justify her protection...?

Meeting her eyes briefly, I look down at her now-covered body. At some point, she tore the legs and arms off of my overalls. But, at least she is covered up properly, now. Noting the awkward smile she gives, I look away.

"Waionr-" is all I understand once again and I conclude that she must be a soldier because of it. Her armour gives it away as well, I suppose, but hearing the God of War's name means more. Please, by the gods, let her be a soldier! Please, be a soldier, someone who knows what to do...

Whatever the case may be, she is willing to head on ahead for now. Doing my best to follow her, I steadily trail behind as I shuffle across the deep earth. She is, thankfully, aware that I am slower than her because of my awkward and often destructive movements. She stays ahead of me, but she is willing to stay within eyeshot, it means a lot as it's nearly pitch black...

These wisps are our only light and they only follow her...