Beneath the Dark Crystal

Chapter 23

All the animals of Thra slither, fly, and hop around Jen's body in curiosity. Fizzgig whines and nuzzles Jen's head, attempting to wake him up. Large shadows of the skeksis looms over them, scaring away all the animals, except for Fizzgig, who barked at them loudly.

"Of all the filthy gelfling, this is the one I most want to kill," skekUng says, chuckling darkly.

"The one who vanished us," skekNa states.

"Wear its skin!" skekShod exclaims.

"Eat its flesh!" skekAyuk coos hungrily.

skekUng grins wickedly, stepping closer and closer to the Elder. "Crush its bones and--"

"--Get. Away. From my husband!" Kira shouts from high above, glaring daggers at the skeksis.

The scouts aim their spears and arrows at the skeksis before finally firing. The skeksis cry in pain and scurry away from Jen, trying to deflect the many spears and bolas being throw at them. Kira swoops low with one of the scouts that helps her pick up Jen. He groans and weakly asks, "K ... Kira?"

"Shush, love. And think light thoughts," She reassures him, letting Fizzgig bite onto her dress and get carried away to the castle. skekUng watches them leave with hatred. "Flying vermin! Come back!" He growls and lets out a frustrated scream, stomping back to the castle with the other fretful skeksis.

skekUng slams open the door to the laboratory. "Gelfling!" He shouts in frustration. He looks over to the Eminence and lifts him up by the neck. "Time to fulfill your purpose, worm!"

He drags the frightened Eminence and slams him down onto the draining chair, locking him into place. The Crystalline Eminence hyperventilates, realizing where he sat. He tries to squirm and jerk around in his seat, but to no avail. skekUng grunts while pulling down a lever.

"Crystal's Master, are you? Hrr? Let us see."

The Eminence can only stare wide eyed at the Dark Crystal's light, feeling his life being whisked away from him. His skin wrinkled and his body shriveled. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as his jaw dropped. skekUng watches the bottle of essence fill up and grins. He takes away the bottle and laughs, drinking every last drop of it.

"Yessss ... essennnce! Ahahaha! Young again! Strong!" skekUng yells, feeling his smooth skin.

He scoffs at the Eminence and exits the lab, leaving him for dead.

~

"Do you feel any stronger, Thurma?" Mavra asks, walking beside her, "I was sure you'd have more energy being this close to your world."

"I don't know. I-It's just ... my fires are so low. And everything's colder than when I left. I hope there's enough flame at home to--"

"Whoa!" Kensho yelps, sliding down the side of a rocky path, and accidentally dragging Mavra down with him. Her eyes widen and she tightens her grip around his hand, spreading out her wings to make their landing more gracefully. Once they do reach the bottom, Mavra immediately folds her wing in and winces. "Ouch ..." She mutters, rubbing between her wings.

Kensho frowns and rubs her back softly. "Sorry," He apologizes sheepishly.

Thurma giggles a little and gently slides down the slope, landing right next to Mavra. "Be careful. The path's going to get steeper as we get closer to the Great Divide," She says, walking ahead of them.

Kensho tilts his head in confusion. "The what now?"

"The Great Divide. It's a place where directions come unstuck. They flow like lava. East and west, north and south, up and down," She explains, leading them out to a clearing and gesturing to a wide and jumbled mess of rock and wind. The whirring of the many tunnels and holes deep within the void of light seemed to come from every which direction.