As we walk closer to the village as I notice those house shaped figures seem to be huts. Huh, it really is like a village. Are these people going to be hostile? Could the fact that they established a village here in the first place prove that they're friendly? Everything is uncertain, but we have to take the risk.
"Aiden, have your gun ready just in case."
"Right."
Step, step, one more step…
We step foot into the village. An eerie stillness fills the air. The silence makes us tense. No one is here, outside at least. I turn to Aiden and whisper.
"You think we should check the huts."
"We're already here, might as well. Just peak inside."
I walk to one of the huts at random. Making sure to keep my footsteps quiet. I walk slowly, inching closer and closer towards the one in front of me. Before long I'm directly in front of it… and I pinch the cloth like fabric, pulling it ever so slightly to the right, opening a tiny gap…
Placing my eye to it…
I see nothing. Huh, no one's here. I turn towards Aiden and give him a thumbs up. Everything is fine here, I point towards another one signaling for him to check that one. I turn back towards the one I'm facing and step inside…
Hm, seems just like old junk. There's a bookshelf here. Wonder if it has any of those special books. I should probably think of something to call them. Something simple.
Hm…
Divine books, easy enough. I approach the bookshelf. This entire place is filled with dust. As I stand directly in front of it I can tell this place hasn't been touched for a really long time. I reach my hand out to grab one of the books. The book withers away as I tighten my grip…
Damn, it seems like this place has been abandoned for quite a while. I wonder if the other ones have at least something though.
I walk out of the hut and look around. There's still a lot left. There has to be something useful here, but if this place has been here for a while maybe it's already been checked. Still doesn't hurt to see.
Picking another hut at random, I walk inside…
This hut too was filled with a few personal belongings, most seemed to be old and withered. There's no telling how long this has been here for. Whether this place had more stuff before and if it's been looted or not… But that's not what caught Nones attention, he immediately noticed the writing… the writing painted all over the walls of the hut. Even more Surprising, it was in English.
"Oh Shia, beloved Shia. Your beauty is unmatched. Your gorgeousness is unrivaled. Oh Shia, enchanting goddess. Beloved Shia you offer me so much love so much happiness oh Shia. Shia I'm undeserving. Compared to you I'm filthy. Shia I'm worthless. Shia I'm disgraceful. Shia I'm ignoble. I want your love, I want your kindness, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it. But I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving I'm undeserving undeserving undeserving undeserving undeserving undeserving undeserving undeserving undeserving undeserving undeserving IM UNDESERVING UNDESERVING UNDESERVING UNDESERVING UNDESERVING UNDESERVING
UNDESERVING UNDESERVING UNDESERVING UNDESERVING UNDESERVING"
What the fuck…
The word undeserving covering every inch of every wall. I stand there in shock, unable to even make a movement. Unable to do anything except read the word undeserving over and over until it fills my brain…
Aiden opens the cloth and walks into the hut.
"Hey, None I- What the fuck is this."
"Someone that went insane I guess… but who is Shia? Is she a goddess that we don't know of?"
"Sounds like it, I found something in another hut too"
Aiden and I walk out the hut and he leads me to another. It's similar but not every single wall is filled with writing, but the writing that is there is in a language I cannot read… but this one has a drawing. It's not of great detail, but it's clearly a woman. A woman with long hair stopping at her back, and large wings coming from behind her. Is this supposed to be a depiction of Shia? For some reason, even just this drawing is somehow…
Captivating…
Drawing me in, it's almost a struggle to look away. A part of me, very subtly, has to force myself a bit to turn towards Aiden. And even then, I'm doing this to force myself to look away, giving myself an excuse to.
"This must be a drawing of her. The goddess Shia."
"I guess this village was full of her worshipers, but what happened to them? A god should offer some kind of protection here right? Especially since no one on the surface knows them. Wouldn't it make sense to preserve the worshipers you have?"
"You can't trust the gods Aiden."
"Yeah, you're right."
"Let's check the others."
"Alright, I already checked two. Let's go."
Another one checked… the same, a different language this time
Another one. This time in English again.
"Shia, why did you leave us. Why did you abandon us, what did we do, why cant we see you anymore, why cant we hear you anymore. Why why why why why why why why why why. Please come back, don't leave us alone"
One by one they continue to check every hunt. Being so intrigued by this place they even forgot to check for anything useful. There were so many questions on their minds. Another divine being they've never heard of, how many more gods are there? What happened to the people here? Did turn into those things too and merely wander the abyss? Why did Shia leave? So many questions… and it becomes obvious the more they searched this village that they wouldn't find the answers here…
Except for one…
I open the cloth of another hut and walk inside. There's a split second where my eyes adjust to what I'm seeing…
When I'm fully aware, I drop to my knees and vomit as a putrid stench hits my nostrils…
Bodies…
Bodies bodies bodies so many bodies...
A pile of corpses stacked as high as my knees. Writing in blood all over the walls, several different languages, but I can assume it's just one word. The same word as the writing in English.
"Undeserving"
Aiden comes in behind None, after hearing him throw up.
"You okay- oh my god…"
Having the same reaction as me, he covers his mouth trying to keep himself from throwing up… failing to do so.
"Well, guess we know where all the villagers went."
"Yeah… my god."
I approach the pile of corpses to inspect them closer. All of the wounds seemed to have been done by blades. From the looks of it, the positions of the wounds…
"It looks like a collective suicide"
Doesn't look like any struggle, only a single wound. Some on the wrists, deep enough to reach the artery. Others a single slash to the carotid artery. Others stabbed themselves in the stomach, with their hands still gripping the hilt. Truly an unsettling sight.
"Wanna just leave this place."
"Yeah, it doesn't seem like there's anything useful here anyways."
As we go to leave I look back at the piles of bodies and a thought goes through my head.
"Wait… all the bodies look like they haven't been disturbed. Do you think… there might be something inside the pile?"
"Are you sure you wanna check that? Would anything even be worth checking that?"
"I mean, maybe?"
"You can do what you want. Im not doing that shit."
I walk closer towards the bodies and kneel down. Ugh maybe this is a bad idea… fuck it.
I reach my hand out, and slowly make my way into the pile. The feeling of the cold, soft flesh makes chills run down my spine. So soft and flimsy, its as if I could pinch it and pull lightly and the flesh would come off the bone like tender ribs. A slimy substance covers my arm as I move my arm through the mound of deceased.
I shouldn't have fucking done this, I feel like I'm going to throw up again.
Hm, does the abyss slows the decaying process? All of the personal belongings have withered away, yet these bodies… while they are in stages of decay, it should be a lot worse.
My hand touches something hard, it feels like something metal. I reach in just a bit further and grab it, pulling it out.
It's like a pendant.
"Huh, interesting."
"Oh wow, you were right. You're not gonna… wear that right now right?"
"Yeah I'd rather not wear this around my neck right now… it's odd though. It feels like the old one's presence is coming from it. Or something like it"
"Yeah you're right. Do you think it does something?"
"It might but, I don't have the slightest clue as to what that would be, or to use it. I'll just keep it with me for now."
I take a bottle of water to wash it off and then put it inside my pocket. It doesn't really do much, but I feel like it's better than nothing.
"So back the way we came huh?"
"Yeah."
Step, step, one more step.
…
The long system of different routes is seemingly endless. Traveling down a new route only to meet a dead end and repeat, but slowly they're widdling down the incorrect paths to the one that leads to the exit. They still have yet to encounter anything living here, but something echoes out through the caverns
Raghhhhhhhh!
A loud beastly roar reaches their ears, and due to the structure they're unable to tell exactly where it came from or how close it is.
"What the hell was that!"
"Sounded like something a lot more deadly than what we've been fighting up to this point. It's probably what ate those people."
As we continue to walk the pathway slowly gets more narrow until we reach a fairly large crevice. On the other side the path continues, growing larger in the distance. Although this time there's a significant difference. To our right is a bottomless pit of blackness. It seems to continue for as far as I can see at least, we continue walking almost pretending to ignore it…
The cavern widens even further, resembling how massive it was when he first entered this layer. But now with this bottomless abyss by our side. I walk close to the edge, and peer down into the darkness. Aiden follows behind me and I hear him make a remark.
"Man that seems like a pretty far drop."
"Yeah I can't even see the bottom."
No way to check either, but I guess that's not really that important. Easy enough to assume that falling would probably mean death. Wait no. I remember I picked up some scraps of metal before I even entered the abyss.
"Should I try and toss something down?"
"Yeah, If you have anything that you don't care about. I've got nothing."
I take a decent piece of metal from my bag and toss it down the pit…
…
…
…
Clank!
"Yeah, definitely a death sentence."
"It would be a real pain if the door is down there."
"Yeah it would be, but maybe there's a pathway that leads down there or something."
With how cruel this place is, I wouldn't be surprised if we were forced to jump down there to make it to the door. Let's just hope it doesn't lead to that.
StepStep…
StepStep…
StepStep…
Aiden and I turn at the same time…
Two men appear from the darkness, one holding a club the other a gun…
In an instant, every one of us brandished our weapons at the opposing target.
"БРОСАЙ СВОЕ ОРУЖИЕ!"
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"