CHAPTER8: “Into the Darkness”
The settling dust played for hours on the shattered remnants of the dark cities fallen towers and jagged crystalline structures. wisps of forgotten winds echoed through the gloom, playing horribly and terrifying figures through the darkness. Pain burned across Tharne’s eyes as he woke, disoriented and exhausted, his mind raced through a myriad of burning thoughts as they coalesced into formed memories.
Thoughts of endless falling and echoing screams reverberating and piercing his soul as they fell together, thousands of tonnes of rock threatening to destroy them, jagged shards piercing the sky as spears of darkness envelop their hope.
Hopelessness builds to a crescendo of determination as the others struggle desperately to evade the pummelling debris around them.
Falling together they he reaches to his limit to shield them and as the darkness devours the light from above, the deafening force breaks him, suffering into sleep.
Reality rushes forward through emotions of fear and dread and Tharne brings his aching body to bear against the dark cold of the stone beneath him. around him lie the forms of his friends, new and old, strewn in a circle with him at the centre. A radius of blasted stone and crystal lies around them in a perfect circle, as though some monstrous force had burst and cleared everything but base earth from the vicinity and beyond that, the dark city, crumbling in places where meteoric projectiles had penetrated deep to within its core.
Turning to see his companions lying there, a memory flashes back to him, strong yet blurred, of a great battle against a greater force. as he grasps for the memory, trying to understand it , the strands of remembrance drift between the reaching fingers of his mind, drifting back into the eternity of his mind.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he moves to them, checking their crumpled forms for any signs of life. His gentle hands raise them from their dream worlds, bringing them back together into the darkness surrounding them.
“how have we survived this” Blake murmured, surveying the razor cut edge of the clearing.
“was this your power Tharne?”
“I’m not sure” Tharne replied.
“I saw it Tharne!” exclaimed Nima, “It was amazing”
“We were all falling and scrambling to get away from the falling stones and just when we were about to hit Rock-Bottom here” She Paused, her eyes and mouth playing together in the beginnings of a smile. “No pun intended” she added chuckling. “And then there was an almighty glow from you and a blast so intense that I watched the rock shear away in a million directions and all of us were pulled in to you and under that blue shieldy thing that you do”
chuckling she sauntered over to Him and clapped him on the back hard enough to almost double him over. “looks like Ivy has some competition in the raw power department after all!”
Moving back to the group, Ryan and Mia were discussing something fervently between them.
“what did you find?” asked Blake hopefully.
“welllll” said Ryan, a sheepish grin creeping into his expression, “we found a way up, we think, but there might be a problem.”
“That central spire there grows right down to the cave floor here although you cant see it this far away in this choking blackness” said Mia, holding her shoulders and shivering a little at the mention of the Darkness. “but i think there are things moving in there”
Turning with the others to stare frozen at the great spire, its structure twisting in a horrible dark spear, protruding and erupting menacingly throughout the enormous cavern as the city below it birthed from its rocky tendrils, Tharne was too filled with an unknown feeling of dread in the Darkness that surrounded them and the spire itself.
“i am afraid we may not have a choice” he said, and solemnly, with as much caution and drive as they could muster, he led them cautiosly into the gloom.
Rocky towers now fallen around them spoke of eons without the touch of life. Unlike the towers above which harboured strange plants and animals even in their deepest recesses, these towers almost felt as though they drank the life from the air, provoking the darkness to spread into every corner like a feral creature, always looking from the corners of their vision.
Blustering gales of Icy winds spurred clouds of dust and ash into foreign mists of grey against the dark canvas, playing tricks on their minds and souls as the walked, ever vigilant forward into the depths of the dark, towards the spiraling tower, their only hope, their greatest fear, their salvation or destruction. as they drew ever closer, they could feel it, like a growing weed, choking the life further from the air and strangling hope. Something familiar yet altogether wrong and lifeless in its design. Fear clung to them in webs, pulling their minds into its inky hollows and wrapping their feelings with its pulling threads of possibilities.
Tharne rounded a broken tower and stopped dead. There ahead of them stood the base of the central spire itself. Cruel and vicious, its roots stabbed deep into the earth below them, the ground split and fractured by its passing. Great arches and staircases spiralled around its length as they all stood and stared up at its twisting form climbing back through the cavern, and to their hopes of freedom.
“we should check around first before we start to climb” whispered Blake, “I dont fancy anything taking us by surprise in this place”
All nodded in agreement and they all split into pairs to search. Nima and Ryan, still as always trying to outdo each other, both vanished quiet as shadows themselves into the darkness without any noise, Blake motioned to Mia to follow and with a nod to Tharne disappeared into the Inky swirls which surrounded them, leaving Tharne and Ivy alone in the shadow of the spire itself.
“I am sorry” came the soft voice of Ivy from behind Tharne. “If i was more careful this would never have happened” and her soft sobs echoed silently through the air.
Turning, Tharne strode forward and caught her in a tight embrace. “I am so glad you are safe” he cried. “Without you, I would be lost”
And they stood in each others arms for a long moment, feeling the warmth of each others hearts beating against their own, unable to express in words what their feelings told to each other through their embrace.
Finally turning and wiping away a tear, the two moved close to each other and began to search the area around the staircases for any signs of danger.
The darkness faded as they approached the stone, for even here the structure appeared to emanate a pale blue light, sinister and unsettling in its frosted glare. The stairs themselves were grey and lifeless, like bleached bone or rotten driftwood long since soaked of any of the colour of life it once had. Running his finger across the lower steps, Tharne left a trail in the dust settled there.
“If anything passed this way” he said, “It was a long time ago”
A soft noise and a puff of pale blue smoke shocked Ivy enough for her to release a muffled scream as she clutched Tharne’s arm as tightly as she could, leaving Tharne to look questioningly at the form of Blake as he appeared with Mia in close tow.
“Sorry” he said awkwardly, avoided the scolding looks he was receiving from the now furious Ivy.
“It looks like this place is empty” said Mia, her musical voice holding strong even in the gloom of this place.
“yes we couldn’t find anything either” said Ivy, a pouting face and Crossed arms across her chest signaling that she was indeed unimpressed by Blake’s lack of consideration with his vanishing trick.
“Yes, as soon as Ryan and Nima return we can begin climbing up there” he said pointing to the tower.
“I want to leave this place as soon as i possibly can”
“we’re here, we’re here!” muttered Ryan, waving his hand in a non-committal gesture “ are we climbing up here or what?”
After a short rest and preparation at the base of the stairs, they all took a deep breath as the stepped single file up the narrow staircase. First Tharne then Nima, followed by Mia, Ryan, Ivy and finally Blake holding the rear. The winding staircase was darker than outside and they all fixed lights of energy to their wooden Totems in an attempt to see where they were going. Hours passed as they climbed staircase after staircase, weaving and spanning divides which dropped into nothingness below, great arches and crossroads which seemed to have been grown from living stone now stood as decaying monuments to the life which first gave birth to this place. However hard they looked they never found anything living except for themselves in this dark place and the foreboding atmosphere was beginning to take its toll on their minds and bodies.
Suddenly Tharne stopped and everyone, after a second, stopped their objections and stood motionless looking to the side at the same place which Tharne was looking. Something strange was beckoning to him down that hallway, something intoxicating yet familiar and foreign all at the same time. It was a feeling they all felt they had to follow yet were scared to do so.
“Lets look down there” said Ivy, Immediately striding down the tunnel towards the great stone doors at the end.
“No Ivy wait!” yelled Nima, “I’m not sure about this”
“Its ok” She smiled sweetly “ I know what this is” and with a great heave, she pushed the doors open wide as everyone exclaimed with awe and delight at the sight that met their eyes.
Shattered Cosmos 
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