“No. We must go deeper in,” said Qu’l-Nia, voice filled with both shaking and unwavering resolve.

"Are you insane?" Alma struggled to steady herself through the intermittent quakes. "What could possibly be down there that isn't trying to eat us?"

"I do not have all the answers yet, but you must trust me." The eldritch woman walked through a dark passage that had been obscured by a rotting wall of stone. Her voice called soothingly from the dark. "Our journey here is not over. There are still things to be done.”

“Q? Where are you going?” Alma followed behind cautiously. “You’re lucky this ancient place is so fucking sturdy. I’m surprised it hasn’t come down on us already. W-Wait up!”

The hidden pathway opened up into a cavernous room connecting to the back of the temple. The area was lit beautifully by an array of dazzling crystals. The luminous rocks surrounded what appeared to be a calm, silvery lake that extended far beyond where their eyes could see. As Alma's curiosity pushed her to the edge of the dazzling pool, Qu'l-Nia called out to her in warning.

"Step away from that lake, Alma. I can assure you that the liquid it is filled with is quite poisonous and even the fumes alone could burn out your insides."

"I'll be carefuuul," whined Alma. The sniper's tone of voice mimicked that of a child.

"Instead of lying to yourself, you should come and assist me with this." Qu'l-Nia was standing in front of a strange passage off to the side that was blocked off by elongated strands of a thick, sticky red substance. The alien woman pulled one of the strands out of place and watched as it rubber-banded back to its original position.

"Gross," remarked Alma with a sneer. "What the fuck is this is stuff and what is it doing back here?"

"Remnants of some unknown lifeform indigenous to this part of the planet. Help me dislodge it. I sense something irregular beyond it."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Alma asked despite already starting to yank at the tough red strings. "Irregular sounds bad to me. Won't this just lead to more danger?"

"That is a risk I am willing to take."

The passage somehow led deeper into the planet. And they deeper they traveled, the darker it once again became. The quaking had gradually died down and again, the only light to guide them was the luminance from Qu’l-Nia’s hair. The eldritch woman had remained completely silent while Alma’s mind raced, trying to figure out how they were going to get back out.

Alma squinted her eyes at the dark around them. Her brain fizzled, invisible gears screeching and sparking in the depths of her mind. She hoped she would somehow gain the ability to see in the dark with the arbitrary enhancements she kept gaining from her eyes. Imagine, her sniping ability would increase tenfold. Sadly, her efforts availed only a simple headache. The powerup of her dreams yet eluded her.

"Q," Alma finally broke the languid silence. "You've been acting strange ever since you came here to rescue me. And I mean strange even for you. Is something bugging you?"

Qu'l-Nia stopped walking. Without turning around, she spoke into the darkness ahead, "I know not what you mean. I am as I have always been. You should be more worried about saving your planet than my mental well-being. It is a waste of energy to try to understand me. You should know this better than anyone. It is a useless endeavor."

"I— don't believe that." The ex-soldier followed as Qu'l-Nia started to march again. An uncomfortably warm and wet sensation caused her to pull her fingers away from the wall of the passage that now seemed to pulse gently. "You were acting really differently when you arrived. Despite your hysterics, the way you were talking felt weirdly relaxed and I don't know how to explain it, but you just seemed more comfortable. More… human? It didn't last long but I think traveling here might've had a weird effect on you.”

"Alma, I may consider you a friend but we are not close. My problems are not of your concern." Qu'l-Nia broke off into a sprint. “Focus! We must search!”

“Hey! Where are you going?! You wait until now to act like a normal teenage girl?” The ex-soldier called out to her runaway friend. Down the endlessly long corridor, the farther Qu’l-Nia ran, the dimmer her light became. Alma ran after her. “Come back, damn it! I need your hair to know where I’m going!”

As the two raced down the dark tunnel, the air around them quickly grew warm and moist. Temperatures rose and it began to feel almost as uncomfortable as it did on the surface when they had been near the desert border. Alma’s fears grew as she wondered whether the sun’s eldritch rays had started penetrating the rock above them.

“Doesn’t it feel strangely warm down here?!” Alma called out to her.

“That is normal when you are this far underground!” Qu’l-Nia called back to her.

“Come on, Qu’l-Nia! Where do you even expect to go? This is getting us nowhere and I swear it feels like this tunnel is suddenly getting smaller!” Alma dug her feet down and came to a halt before screaming as loud as she could into the gradually fading twinkle of her friend’s hair. “Can you just stop for one second and tell me what’s going on?!

A few seconds of silence passed as the twinkle faded out of view. Alma had hoped her words reached the ear of the eldritch women before she trapped herself in total darkness.

Alma staggered around in the darkness, wallowing in sweaty confusion. She cursed herself for stopping, but she was hoping to make a point. She reached for the wall of the passage to grip onto, and remembered why she avoided doing so in the first place. The surface was covered in a disgustingly hot mucus that almost seemed to burn at her touch. The stuff pulsed beneath her fingers as she tried to wipe it off. Before Alma could puzzle out what strange microbes might have lived in the walls, the sound of rapid incoming footsteps snapped her out of her thoughts. It was Qu’l-Nia. She was running back towards Alma.

“Thank goodness,” said the ex-soldier, sighing in relief. “I was getting a bit scared you weren’t gonna stop running away. You ready to tell me what’s going on now?”

Qu’l-Nia stopped in front of Alma, subtly trying to catch her breath. Her indecipherable expression glowed eerily under the light of her bangs. “Run,” she whispered.