Chromatober's Writing

16: Below (Betrayal U)

Sabre raised a hand. "They backstabbed me and Soul." He informed Shadow.

Shadow's grin fell, a hiss falling from his lips. It was more sympathetic than Corruption's angered hiss. "Ah. Can't fight fair, can they?" Shadow glanced around. "So...Soul's...?"

Sabre nodded. Shadow staggered forwards, occasionally using the small stalagmites to help balance before he seemed to get the hand of walking.

"When did you arrive?" Sabre asked once Shadow managed to reach the two of them.

"And where?" Corruption tacked on.

Shadow waved a hand behind him. "Behind that cliff. And not that long ago. Woke up to you two talking."

Sabre and Corruption nodded, and the group fell silent. Each one glancing at the others or their surroundings. "I'm gonna be real here..." Shadow piped up. "I expect this place to be worse."

Sabre snorted, which in turn made Correction give a bark of laughter. Shadow looked at them like they were insane. The laughter ended, and they fell silent once more. They glanced at one another, before looking out around them.

Corruption sighed. "What do we-"

A gurgle sound interrupted him. Sabre looked towards the sounds, only to watch a Steve—for that surely had to be a Steve—, slowly swimming in the lava towards them.

"What-" Shadow deadpanned as they all fell into battle stances. "-is that thing?"

The Steve dragged himself up onto the land, lava dripping from his body. The entire Steve looked to be made up of molten lava and charred rocks, with lava colored eyes boring into them.

The Steve gurgled, stepping closer. The group took a step back, only to hear another gurgled sound behind them. They all blanched when they saw the same looking Steve behind them.

"Uh..." Corruption said. "When did they get there?"

"Whatever these things are, I don't think they mean anything good." Sabre mumbled. "Let's just see if we can run until we get some kind of weapon." Sabre looked back at the one that rose out of the lava, only to groan. Three stood where one was originally. "Oh come on!" Sabre hissed out in annoyance. Today was not his day.

They were surrounded, and the unknown Steves lunged.

— —

He came to consciousness slowly.

Coldness surrounded him, and breathing felt weird. Did he need to breathe? He was technically dead. Wait, did he even have a heartbeat? Sabre was pretty sure the sword went through his heart so...

Sabre shoved those thoughts away. Not the time to question how his body was working. Well, it was, but on where he was and what happened to him.

Tensing his muscles made pins and needles go up and down his body. His body prickled, as if his whole body was asleep.

He heard a noise in front of him, the sound distorted.

Sabre blinked his eyes open slowly as he looked up. The surrounding area was tinted blue, with purple floating up around his chest. Exhaling had the purple moving as if it was blood in water.

Two of the unknown Steves were standing in front of...hold on!

Was he in a test tube?!

The thought dragged the rest of his consciousness towards him as adrenaline filled his veins.

The two Steves stared up at him. One of them gave a hum. "Ä̶̠̈́r̶̟̿̒e̷̮̒̄ ̸̺̾̎y̴͍͊͑o̵̭͋ͅu̶͍̟̓̒ ̶̃ͅĺ̷̹̫u̵̙̠̾̅c̸̞̓i̸̻͖̿d̷͇̔ ̴̢̟̋l̵̡̗̂͘i̶͓̔̈́k̸̼̿ẻ̷̖͐ ̶̭̈́̈͜t̴͈͐̌h̴̛̪͚ȇ̸͎̚ ̸̯̓o̴̯̔t̵̩͈̐ḥ̴̗̈́̽ḙ̷̡́r̷̜͎̈ ̷̢́o̶̯͔̽͋n̶̡̪̎e̴͉̊̈́?̴̘̠̉̌"