Imps have no desire to grow things. No eye for beauty. No mind for the future. They live and breathe pain, strength, fire and iron. The Obituary Pits are an obliterated landscape. An absence of hope. A hell on earth.
They levelled the city that once had been - leaving only broken shells still standing, parts of walls now leaning and weathered like colossal tombstones in an eerie cemetery. With greed and cunning the imps dug deep, sinking their warren far from daylights rays.
Anniina fidgeted her feet. The ground was hot, soil and dust flaking away beneath her melting trainers. She had a scarf wrapped around her head, protecting her nose and mouth from the ash and embers that rose through cracks in the debris. Amongst this grey, bleak landscape were cracks of orange - firelight from the flames burning continuously in the pits below.
Anniina struggled to follow after Lakhee. The imp was a light creature, its slender feet barely disturbing the ground - its tough scaly skin immune to the broken tarmacs heat. Anniina however sank and stumbled, her palm blistering every time she had to catch herself from falling.
Lakhee led her to one of the mineshafts. Scarred and starved imps (serfs in their hierarchical society) operated the shafts. Their little arms struggled to push the levers and the great chains groaned in protest. Anniina tried to make herself as small as possible - hard when she was twice the size of everyone else. The narrow shaft began its juddering descent and Anniina grimaced as hot air assaulted her eyes. Blinking back tears she looked down in horror at the pit laying vast beneath her.
Imps swarmed the walls and crisscrossing bridges - like ants. Waves of heat washed over her as liquid fire plummeted from the falls into a vast cauldron below. The cavernous walls amplified the imps' frenzied shrieks until the sound seemed to be beating against the inside of Anniina's skull. She put her hands up over her ears, cringing in terror and revulsion. Sweat slid down her forehead and dripped from her chin. How quickly could imps procreate? She's seen hunting swarms before - dozens overwhelming grown men but this wasn't dozens of imps...this was thousands.
The shaft came to a rickety stop on one of mid-levels. Craning her neck, Anniina could no longer see the sky. Lakhee led the way, sure to create a path wherever she chose to tread. The imps shrank down around her, hunching their shoulders to sink their servile chins upon their chests - scurrying with their large lamp-like eyes averted. Lakhee didn't wear bone armour today - instead she wore a thick bulletproof vest - once owned by the human police - but altered with spikes on her shoulders.
Anniina followed Lakhee into a smaller chamber - they walked along a swinging platform that circled the outer edges of the room. Anniina pulled her scarf off her head and pressed it up against her nose and mouth. They were in a giant chimney. Fires burnt furiously below and a column of thick black smoke rose beside them. Anniina stooped over, hacking and spluttering uncontrollably. The smoke seemed to attack her eyes and throat and smelt fouler than a latrine.
Lakhee was swift to lead the way out of that chamber and into the next. Anniina had no idea how large the next cavern was for there was very little light. She had one hand touching the rough stone walls - keeping her from feeling completely lost in the obsidian abyss. The ground sloped beneath their feet plunging even deeper underground. Anniina licked her dry and cracked lips nervously. Her legs felt heavy, wobbly and weak beneath her and she couldn't escape the feeling that she meekly walking to the slaughtering block.
Anniina lost her footing, a startled cry of alarm escaped her as she fell. She flung out an arm and her elbow scraped against the jagged cavernous wall as she fell. Her stomach jolted as she registered a lack of floor beneath her. Lakhee's hand seized Anniina's wrist and Anniina yelped as her arm socket wrenched in protest. She'd fallen over the edge of the narrow slope and now her body dangled over the chasm, only the tiny clawed hand keeping her from falling. Tears shone in Anniina's eyes as she stared up into Lakhee's large glowing iris'.
"Pl-please."
Grunting Lakhee started to heave, dragging Anniina back up. Anniina was in tears by the time her stomach was resting upon the sloped ground. Breathing heavily, she rested her cheek against the stone. Lakhee was out of breath also and sat back on her legs at Anniina's side. Anniina stared up at the imp. Dread made her stomach writhe like a belly full of worms. Just what were they keeping her alive for?
Lakhee led Anniina into a manmade underground bunker. Anniina's legs seized up in fear as she stared at the equipment that dominated the room. She thought they meant it for her. Her sob ripped through her chest and she scrunched her eyes up shut as she cowered in a corner of the room. But Lakhee and the one other imp in the bunker ignored her. They gibbered at one another - competing for volume. Lakhee won.
It was Lakhee that clambered into the mechanism. Confused, Anniina opened her eyes in time to see the smaller imp strapping Lakhee's arms. She was being tied down on what was once a dentist's chair. The mechanism was humming, a bulging monstrosity that mushroomed over the chair, pressing up against Lakhee's chest. Anniina cringed as the imp thrust dirty needles into Lakhee, wiring her up to the machine. Anniina had to put a hand over her mouth, gagging slightly as two devices were shoved with brutal force into Lakhee's temple.
A device inside clanked loudly, making Anniina flinch, and the top started to emit puffs of smoke. The imp added cruel looking clamps to Lakhee's fingers and toes. Anniina edged closer, peering at the machines other side. Fluid was rushing through a set of tubes, thick bubbling fluid. The smaller imp stepped back and bounded over to a large switch. With a feral little grin, it wrenched the lever forward. Anniina gasped as the machine came to life.
Lakhee's head snapped back and her tiny back arched as she shrieked in pain, the horrific sound going on and on... Anniina stared, stunned at what she was witnessing. She watched Lakhee's skin bulge where the inserts broke her skin, her veins darkening and standing on end. Grunting with effort Lakhee stopped screaming, her gaze focused directly above. Anniina wondered at the willpower that was stopping Lakhee from begging for her freedom.
Anniina looked down at the imp standing at Lakhee's feet. The little creature's eyes were bright with excitement as it watched the machines progress. Anniina backed a couple of steps away. What was happening here? She knew that imps carried out horrific experiments on humans (she'd seen the human chariots and heard rumours of worse) but she'd never considered... that they did it to themselves too.
Lakhee clenched her tiny, razor-sharp teeth. She was practised at this. This was why she was bigger than the rest of her kind. Like she did every time, and had done for many months now, she focused on the picture above her head. The fan above had come from a piece of human technology, on the metal were bright yellow letters (human origin so Lakhee couldn't read it) but she could stare at the picture that accompanied them. The depiction was of a human woman with blonde hair and a pretty face, softened by a sweet smile.
The veins in Lakhee's forehead were bulging now and Anniina watched the whites of her eyes turn steadily blood red as the vessels burst. Anniina bent over and heaved up the meagre contents of her stomach. She produced very little but still her body tried, trembling with the effort as she heaved up little more than yellow phlegm. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand she looked up in time to meet the small imp's hungry gaze.
Anniina had only enough time to hold up her arm in an attempt to shield her face when the little monster sprang at her. Anniina stumbled back, her back colliding into the door and the creature hooked its claws into the front of her clothing, slicing her abdomen as it sought a firm foot holding. Anniina screamed as the creature bit into her arm, gnawing viciously at it sought to tear meat from bone.
Anniina's screams worsened as she thrashed about, trying to wrench the little devil off her. She lost her footing and crashed to the ground, her back still against the door. She gripped hold of the imp's ears and tugged and yanked at them. Then suddenly the imp was being prised off her. Anniina gaped at the sight of Lakhee, blood trailing down her face - a torn wire still sticking out of her head. She'd wrenched herself free...
The little imp gibbered frantically but Lakhee didn't hesitate. She shoved the imp against the door above Anniina's head. Anniina clamped a hand over her mouth and groaned inarticulately. The small imp was dropped in an unmoving heap beside her - chunks of brain took longer to slide down the door.
With wide fearful eyes, she met Lakhee's gaze. Anniina held her breath, waiting. Lakhee inclined her head to the side. Shaking, Anniina dropped her hand from her mouth and instead held her injured arm against her chest. Blood was soaking through the fabric of her clothes and Anniina's vision was beginning to blur as she attempted to staunch the bleeding.
Lakhee stared across at Anniina. The resemblance really was uncanny, between this human and the one on the machine. It was the same sweet mouth and narrow chin, the same beckoning eyes. It was a face Lakhee had been staring at, for hours on end. A face she'd examined every last inch of in a desperate bid to avoid the pain. Now it was a face brought to life in front of her.
Anniina's eyelids were beginning to droop sleepily as Lakhee bound up her injured arm. The large imp worked in silence, her gaze fixed on the task. Anniina watched her, her head slumped to the side.
"Th-thank you..." she managed, weakly. Lakhee looked up at her.
"Yank-queue..." Lakhee attempted to parrot. Anniina managed a weak smile before her eyes finally gave way to sleep. "Yank-queue..." Lakheee repeated softly.