Within the deep dark

Chapter 12-Ruins of the past.

"Ahhh!" shouted Izuku, falling backward. The lantern crashed onto the soft ground, but the top lid fell out, rolled off the platform, and fell onto the hard floor below with a thud. 

The figure in front of him, mere inches away from him, shook at the sound as the sound of clicking from a far barely heard. Its dark body illuminates with a dark-greenish glow. Its bone-white hands begin to move, twitching at first but beginning to grasp the empty air. Its heart in the center of its chest, begins to beat, slowly at first, but it begins to accelerate. Dark moss climbs the antlers on his head, slowly consuming the white areas. Its jaw begins to open and close. Soon, a growl was released from the once-still creature now awake. 

It raises a heavy foot and slams it down onto the wooly cushioned floor, right between the legs of a helpless, terrified Izuku. The creature lowered its featureless face nearer to Izuku, a low growl escaping from its fang mouth. 

Izuku could only stare in fear from the ground as the figure's jaw slowly close whatever distance from his face. From inches to an inch, to several centimeters,  its mouth slowly opening...

Before the stops approached and froze. Izuku could only stare at the hidden fanged mouth, centimeters away from him. 

'W-what-t is it doing?' thought Izuku. 

Suddenly, roars and shrieks from his left fill the cave. The figure in front of him rose back to its maximum height and looked toward the sound, before jumping off the platform, followed by the sound of glass shattering, and quickly replaced with the sound of heavy footsteps stomping towards the source of the commotion. 

Roars sounded from the other side of the cave. One seemingly different than the many others. 

Izuku slowly stood up, still, shocked by his earlier encounter with the figure. He was confused by the commotion, and why the figure seemingly left, like the situation there was much more important than dealing with him, not that he wanted to be dealt with.

'Could that commotion, be caused by the villains that are here? WAIT! DOES THAT MEAN THERE ARE VILLAINS HERE!? No, it couldn't be caused by villains. Why would their quirk or defense systems attack them? Unless the quirk they used gave the moss sentience that attacks anything, including them, hence why the floor is covered in wool. But that possibly could still be too low. And that roar that seems to stand out from the rest, maybe one of the villains has a quirk that turns them into a beast? Or could it be somebody else?! An explorer?! Or maybe somebody who came to help! Maybe a... ERRRRR!'

Izuku suddenly felt a wave of pain wash over his head. He flinched and grabbed his head. The roars blurred into the background as Izuku fell onto his knees, his eyes shut, as he battled against the pain and resisted the urge to scream in pain. 

And soon, after what could have been hours, the pain subsided. Izuku panted, took out a can of water from his bag, and emptied the contents of the can down his throat. He let out a sigh of relief. Before placing the can back into the bag and taking out a glow berry. 

'I should continue looking around.' Izuku thought the roaring had already died down as silence filled the cavern once again. 'And maybe investigate what on earth was going on over there.'

Izuku walks along the platform, the glow berry wasn't as bright or clear as it was in the lantern, so Izuku kept a task in mind to find another lantern to use. 

Izuku continued to walk down the platform, soon reaching a T-junction, splitting the platform into two directions. Izuku decides to take the left turn.

'Man, this place is large.' thought Izuku, soon coming across what seemed like several rooms. At the entrance of one of the rooms was an empty lantern sitting on the floor. Izuku picks it up and places the glow berry in his hand into the lantern and shut the small door. The glow from the berry drastically increased after that.