kpwu
long
tale
Esgol had been opposed to bringing the unconscious Yedor qnd Feaser with them, but Devan insisted. Yedor was on Esgol's back, and Feaser in Devan's. They were currently going down a creaky wooden staircase. It was solid enough for now, just inconvenient.
Occasionally, Devan would stop and use psychic healing abilities on the two of them. Thanks to that, they would have less scars than they would otherwise.
The staircase had widened, and now they could walk side by side. The walls were covered in tapestry, all in black, red, and gold, depicting scenes of nature and forests. If they looked inward the square spiral, they could see the well of the staircase stretching down. But it wasn't infinite. Far, far below, they could guess a floor- a final one, hopefully.
Seeing this, Devan started to slowly speed up, and had to wait from time to time for Esgol to catch up.
Feaser stirred. Devan stopped, and lay him on the ground. Slowly, he woke up, painfully opened his eyes. Esgol lay Yedor down next to him.
"Where... is Brend ?" Esgol and Devan looked at him puzzled. "Who ?
-Good..."
He turned his head, and looked over Yedor. "What happened to us ?"
Despite Devan's healing, her face was still burnt. Some charred bits of flesh stood out, creating grimy dark black and dark red mountain ranges across her face. Her mouth was slightly open, her breathing unsteady. The rest of her face was dotted with aimless stripes, congealing into each other, forming masses molded in an amorphous non-shape.
Slowly, with both his hands, he touched his face, recoiling when his fingers passed over a sensitive area. He felt the bumps of his own face, passed it over, then, still as slow as before, looked at his own hands.
"What... happened to us ??" He repeated his earlier question, this time with horror in his voice. Yedor stirred next to him. He turned to look at her, scared.
She woke up. She looked at Feaser, and sighed of relief. "You're fine... thank god.
-Yedor, what happened ?
-Brend... took you. He ran away. I managed to corner him, and then used a circle to engulf the room in flames... It was the first thing I thought of...
-And Brend ?
-Brend... Esgol... was there anyone when you found us ?"
Devan shook their head before Esgol could answer. "Yeah, you were alone in there. Who's this Brend guy ?
-He came to us... He was friendly to me... but I think his goal was to stop us..."
Esgol looked uneasy. "Well, now that you're feeling fine, can you walk ?" Feaser rose on his elbows, then slowly sat on his knees, then, helped by Devan, put a foot on the ground, and stood up. He took a few steps. "I should be fine..."
Yedor tried the same, but didn't even manage to get on her elbows. Her burn had been more severe than Feaser's.
"Well, we'll uh, we'll let you recover here, and we're going to go scout ahead some more," said Esgol, tentatively. "Good for you ?"
Devan shook their head. "We can't let the injured behind," they said. They crouched down in front of Yedor, who climbed on their back. "I'm sorry for having you carry me..." Devan shook their head, and the whole group started going down, slower than before.
After an hour or so, they arrived on the bottom floor. In front of them, a great black door was standing. Devan put Yedor on the floor, and pushed it open with Esgol.
Behind it, a bridge of smooth stone extended over emptiness. They went on, and found that the bridge was linked to a circular platform. They looked around them, and saw that the space they were in was a giant spherical cavity, with the round platform in the middle. Countless other bridges went from the platform to other doors embedded in the cavity.
They advanced to the center. A small park lay innocently in the center of the earth, with a fountain in the middle, surrounded by benches, and a few plots of grass, flowers, as well as two trees.
On one side of the platform, constantly opposite to where they were, a black wall rose. On the wall, a strange relief had been carved, shaping out a creature of indeterminate shape engulfing and devouring stars.