The fall of a deity

Blinded

Sorry for the absence guys, under a new head teacher at school and he's putting crushing amounts of homework on us. Also, my cat was unfortunately put to sleep, so I'm a bit torn up about it. Uploads might be infrequent, I'm pretty overwhelmed.

"Shit!" Ajax cursed aloud. He heard the sludge squelch and skid as Leukos quickly turned around to face him.

"What? What's wrong?" He said, his voice tight with panic at what the outburst could be about.

"The torch went out? Duh. We'll have to make our way in the dark." Ajax retorted, the hint of a fearful snarl evident on his face. For a moment, Leukos made no response. "Leukos..?" he called into the dark, suddenly afraid that he was now alone in this disgustingly unnatural place.

"Ajax, you moron, the torch is fine. I don't think the torch is the problem here. Once again, I told you not to touch that rabbit..." Leukos's exasperated, teasing tone gave way to anxiety at the end of his sentence. Ajax opened his mouth to retort that obviously the torch was out, everything was dark, then clamped his jaws back together with a jolt of ice-cold dread as he realized the numbing sensation had now spread far enough down his face to reach his eyes. The thought of making the rest of the way as blind as a newborn pup left him breathless. Another thought hit him, no more pleasant than the rest; His snout was now the only part of him not covered in the viscous liquid. They needed to find what would put a stop to this, and they needed to do it soon.

The pair hurried onward. Ajax found himself holding onto Leukos's long, thin tail for guidance, though by this point it was basically a straight line. The atmosphere of the cave was stifling, and Ajax was panicking more and more as the numbing spread. He was thankful that his ears, while covered, remained functional, especially when the roaring in his chest that he had thought was panic became steadily louder. They stepped into a space where Ajax noticed that the air felt more empty around them. The roaring was now doubled with a loud squelching noise that echoed all round them.

"Ajax..." Leukos reported shakily, "There's a waterfall of it." Suddenly, the roaring made sense. Strangely, hearing this was comforting rather than disturbing. This must be the source. If they'd found the source, then surely they'd find the solution. "There's another part to the cave at the top of it," Leukos continued, "But we'd need to find some way up. The walls are covered with that weird goo, and I don't feel like ending up looking like you even at the best of times, let alone now."

Ajax ignored the insult and stepped forward with an arm outstretched, walking cautiously until he felt the slick, wet surface of a goo-covered cave wall ahead of him. He kept moving until he could dig his claws into the rock below, and followed suit with his other arm, feeling around until he had a firm grip. He did the same with his back legs, grateful that the rock beneath was jagged enough to have a good hold, despite the bruises he was sure to receive.

"I could carry you up there," he called out, "but don't get used to it." It was a last resort to get up quickly and not something he would do any other time, but his fear overpowered his pride. He heard Leukos's footsteps, and then felt arms wrap awkwardly around his neck. Without hesitating he pushed upwards, heaving himself and his burden up the wall. The going was tough as everything was slick and slippery, and the rock beneath jabbed into his claws painfully, but he ignored it and struggled slowly to the top, keeping his snout as far away from the goo as possible. Eventually, he heaved himself over the top with a grunt of effort and lay for a moment, panting rapidly, as Leukos rolled off his back.

A few moments later he lifted his head, swivelling his ears around to see if anything was different. He heard the usual squelching footsteps as Leukos looked around, and the overpowering roar of the thick, black waterfall. Nothing new. He lifted himself carefully to his feet, aware of how easily he could fall here, and moved away from the edge, further into the cavern. He flinched as something brushed against his hand, but relaxed again when he realised that Leukos was offering his tail as guidance again. The two continued along the murky river, away from the waterfall. Their journey this time took barely a few minutes before Leukos stopped dead, putting his hand out to halt Ajax, too.
"It's a dead end here. I'm, uh.. not sure how to describe what I'm looking at here.. It's like a pillar. I'm not sure if it's made of the stuff or covered in it, but either way, it shouldn't be here.." Ajax was surprised by the barely contained terror that trembled through Leukos's voice as he continued. "It's evil. Whatever it is, it's pure evil. I couldn't for the life of me explain why, but something like this, something so.. so unnatural.. it shouldn't exist."

Ajax swallowed hard. He could hear a deep buzzing noise, as if something within this pillar, as Leukos described it, was vibrating intensely. It seemed almost as if it was excited..? But that didn't make sense. It couldn't be something alive in there.. Could it?