Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

The End of the Line

Tulip's eyes were fixed on the ones above her, and the horrible, pointed teeth that curled up in a grin and looked too big for the tiny beady eyes that looked down on her. The darkness in front of her had formed something, but Tulip couldn't say what. As she looked, she saw shapes in the darkness. Claws. A wing, maybe? Horns. Sometimes, eyes, and they all bared down on her, transfixing her like they were physically holding her down. Tulip couldn't move, even if it had occurred to her to do so.

Impossibly, the smile widened even more.

"Tulip!" someone was yelling. Kai! Tulip's head snapped to the side just as she felt a hand on her arm pulling her to her feet. A sharp pain shot through her leg, and Tulip nearly tripped and fell, but Kai pulled her with him as he ran through the fake wall and down the tunnel. Tulip's lantern jumped and shook in her hands, so she tightened her hold on it, making sure it wouldn't fall. The metal cut deep into her already burned fingertips, and she felt the cuts on her palms reopening.

Together, she and Kai raced through the tunnels, taking random turns at each junction they came to. The darkness followed, enveloping them all over. The jumping like revealed and then hid the things in the shadows, and Tulip could hear whispers emitting from the walls. They hadn't gotten away from Nacht at all, in fact, it was still here, all around. The presence that Tulip had always felt, but now she had a name to it. They couldn't escape it, and Tulip could feel it pressing down on her as she ran.

Footsteps, many footsteps, from all directions ran after them and with them, and sometimes Tulip thought she saw people with those sounds, but they weren't really people. They were horrible monsters with bloodied faces and mutilated bodies that had terrible eyes fixated on her and Kai as they ran. The monsters were faster than her and Kai, she knew, and they would catch up. Soon.

She and Kai turned another corner, and then jumped back as something reached for them from the darkness: a pale white hand. They turned around, rushing the way they came, and heard a cruel laugh from behind them, in front of them, and all around.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tulip thought she saw a face peeking out from behind a pillar as they ran past, but as she looked back, she saw she was wrong. There was nothing there. Or so she thought.

Suddenly Kai tripped, and they both went sprawling down, and Tulip let out a scream as she felt her leg bend horribly, almost feeling like it had snapped clean off. Her arms slid on the rock floor as she came to a stop. Kai wasn't so lucky, and Tulip watched through wet eyes as he crashed into the wall, colliding painfully. She heard him screaming as he jumped away, clutching his face. In the flickering light, she saw his face was wet and his hands were tightly pressed against his eye as he hollered in agony. Tulip watched, horrified, as he jumped around, before falling to the floor, shaking.

Eventually, Tulip got her senses back. "Kai..." Her throat was scratchy and sore. Tulip swallowed, and tried again. "Kai!"

Finally, Kai looked up, and Tulip flinched. His face... the hard rock wall, lined with the flowery crystals he had been looking at earlier, had gorged into his face, tearing out chunks of it, and... well, Tulip couldn't see what happened to his eye, but she could guess. Tulip gulped again, and then shakily forced herself to her feet, ignoring the bite of pain in her leg. She could feel the exhaustion overwhelming her, but still she reached out a hand to Kai anyway, letting him lean on her as he got up, one arm around her and the other pressed tightly to his eye. The flickering lantern light was still on the floor, and Tulip glared at it. Before she could attempt to get it though, she realised something.

They were in the exact same tunnel they had been in before, where they met Nacht, just further along it. Tulip could see the pieces of the lantern she's left behind off to the side.