Taken Horizon Origin, volume 1, Duality

Episode 4 ; not the correct crime

Thrashing my arms about in the darkness i made what room i could underneath the piles of icky flesh above me.

My entire body felt slimy as i crawled, pushing away the beetles crushed innards to make a way out in the pure darkness using only the specs of aether inside the corpse to light my way out for me.

I was drenched in blood, guts, and body acids making me feel as if i was being birthed while the smell was stinging my nose with every breath. Smelling worse than any foul fertiliser or rancid smelling corpse i had the dishonour of smelling.

Tearing off more flesh in my path the light from the outside glistened in my face, finally seeing something in the darkness i aimed [invective] to where the light came from blasting a hole open through the pile of flesh as i clawed my way out and i came out gasping for fresh air no longer reeking purely of blood and guts, "that... is disgusting." I exclaimed.

I was absolutely overjoyed as i wiped off the guts on my face for the better air, no longer having to smell the pigs dye that was the inside of the corpse i just squirmed out of like a newborn.

Pulling myself out and onto the spray of guts on the soil beneath me, i laid back, taking a moment to thank my quick wits as i gawked up at the orange sky of the throne-world.

Looking back where i came from I saw the flesh tighten itself after my departure "...shit. Thorn will never let me live this down if i tell him."

My once happy face immediately became etched in despair to how i had quite literally been birthed out by the beetle. Ignoring this though i huffed happily, letting my head fall back down, struggling to believe that i survived.

What little bit of aether i had left had been used to heal my body after the harsh impact had nearly crushed me inside the cockroach's shell. Fortunately though, I got a lot more aether back in return after killing the cockroach. I couldn't sense it before but thats because it was all trapped within its shell hidden by the beasts massive size.

A third of my [ether heart] is full now and I'll have plenty to spare to get to the portal

"Scree!"

Pang!

A griever attacked me but it quickly died as i used my fourth bullet. "Looks like the noise attracted some more annoyances," i grumbled.

Lifting my entire body up I looked over at the mass of splattered flesh seeing Grievers were all over the area eating whatever they could of the cockroaches corpse as they tore it apart to feast on.

Moving steadily and quickly i walked out of the crowd of roughly 17 grievers as silent as a farm mouse and stepped back onto proper dirt instead of squished guts.

Fortunately the sound of them all eating was louder than my footsteps.

Turning my attention to my companion i sent a mental message. Thorn, how you looking?

'Oh my majesty, your alive!?'

Don't sound so surprised, i hissed. Whats happened with Seer?

'I'm running with her to the portal. Grievers that were attracted by the cockroaches final death cry have torn apart a few but most people are still kicking. At best only fifteen are alive still.'

Alright. I got some more aether so i'll make my way to you now.

Filling my legs with aether i broke out into a sprint chasing after the screams and pleas for help. Going past grievers fighting each other for the minced meat of the boss.

Mists of ice came gushing out from a cloud above from where i was headed. The cloud could be seen freezing the grievers to death as they approached, riddling out icicles at the ensuing swarm as it crushed atop others, freezing them in blocks of ice.