DEEP INTO THE UNDERGROUND

A bolt penetrated the black beast head, as he planted himself into the metal neck it exploded sending a shock wave to all others. As they move toward the direction of the bolt a trap was activated, a tick was heard and three of them had their legs blow up by an anti-tank mine. The others retreated somewhere. Pxan finally had the way free and he hoped that it was worth it. He had spent far too many credits in order to buy those traps and bolts.

As he entered the temple a headache subsided. It was strange, he had the sensation of having been here before...a long time ago. Now that he could see the statues in full calmness he noticed strange details: not all faces were suffering, those who were not suffering had all the same face and expression. The colloumns were organized in an arch, and at top of that arch, there was a red gargoyle watching all the temple. On the sides, the walls were made of strange white materials that might be bones.

He passed a long time observing all those things. Trying to understand what they might mean when his eye was caught by the black egg. The statue of what looked like a councilour was impressive, yet it couldn’t be a councilour. He had far too many hands and feet, under his mask he had a strange insect-like mouth and, if one looked closely, all through his body he had strange scales like those of a scarab.

He looked more closely at the black thing. Is surface had not a scar and not an erosion, it was a perfect ball. Yet its reflection appeared strange, it was too definite, too clean. But it couldn’t be, objects don’t reflect this way because of the Fresnel effect. When Pxan touch it the surface felt so warm and organic, like some sort of animal or pet. A thrilling headache subsided, he begun vomiting uncontrollably, his leg couldn’t bear his weight anymore. Things started moving and the reflection became even more anomalous. He saw a strange being in a black clock watching him, he had long black hands and a small torso, he watches over him as sleep subsided.

He wished to have had the strength to fight, to stand up and go away. Yet all energies had left his body, his mind was absurdly quiet. His body relaxed. “Is this catharsis?” his muscles became even more relaxed and his thoughts quieter. The black figure appeared so peaceful, the black egg so beautiful, the temple so welcoming.

He closed his eyes and saw a small bird flying over a lake of total darkness, grabbing that of this piece to build his nest. One day though his wings became wet and he fell deep into the abyss. At first, he was afraid of the quietness of the abyss but the quietness turned into a sound, a voice. He told him things which he couldn’t imagine. When finally his wing and legs grew enough he swung outside the abyss. The surface of the water finally reflected his image after all of this time, in it he saw a strange blackbird. He had changed himself.

When he woke up he couldn’t open his eyes yet still saw...he couldn’t see colours only contours and shapes. His legs felt weird and weak, the hands were even worse. He couldn’t stand up. He tried to crawl towards something, a column perhaps and with his support stand up. His legs felt so weird when he stood up, his posture so alien. When he looked at the black egg there was no reflection. Only a perfect sphere. Pxan began slowly to walk towards the exit only to discover that there was none. It had disappeared. He looked back and saw that the temple expanded far beyond what it used to be. “Is this hell, isn’t it?”