Tales of the Oracli - (almost) COMPLETE EDITION

Said the 10 to the 11 Part 2: The Tunnels

(This chapter was never finished, although I thought it was worth including!)

When Lilly finally woke up, the scene around her was very different. Instead of the quaint, medieval village, they had entered at the beginning of the day, they were now in what seemed to be a high tech lab of some sort. Below was a thick, metal bench, with laser-like restraints holding her down. Beakers of gases, liquids and strange rocks lined the shelves on the far wall.

She silently struggled against her restraints, for fear of bringing any unwanted attention to the fact that she was awake. She had seen a LOT of movies, she knew that if whoever took them knew she was awake, they'd begin interrogating or probing or dissecting her right then and there.

It was too late, however, as someone walked through the archway on the other side of the room and stood beside Lilly, crouching so as to take her restraints off. She looked up at her and smiled. "My apologies," said the strange woman. She had purple skin with a twirl of silver from her jawline to her nose on each side, she wore a lab coat with a name plastered on that Lilly couldn't read.

"Wh-Where am I...?"

"A research facility in the heart of the planet."

"The heart of the planet?"

"The direct centre of the planet, where the core should be."

"Should be?"

"Do I have to keep answering your questions all day or would you like to get the hell out of here?"

"Well I mean if you're in the neighbourhood I suppose."

The woman finally finished taking off Lilly's restraints, when Z and X sat up, their restraints shattering as they looked at them. "What in the name of-" Z remarked, looking around the room and aiming two of his fingers at the woman, as they glowed a bright purple colour.

"Relax Z! I'm here to get you three out!" she replied to this, she took off her lab coat, and underneath was a suit of black plated armour, with what appeared to be silver chainmail beneath. She pressed a button on her wrist and a helmet crawled from her neck and over, to cover her face entirely from view. Before they knew what had happened, Z, X, and Lilly had all been covered in the armour, which felt like it was attached to their skin.

An alarm sounded somewhere outside followed by screams of panic. Something burst through a wall just outside the room they were in. It was very similar to the creature in the sky from before, only this creature didn't have wings or large teeth. It had hundreds of long, slimy tentacles, and millions of tiny, sharply ground teeth. "It's out! It's released!" a guard screamed as he ran down a corridor near them, a tentacle shot out and clean through his gut, pulling the remains of the man into the creature's mouth, and he was devoured.

The woman looked at the three and yelled, "Run for your lives! Follow me, I know an exit!" as she bolted out through the door and jumped straight at the creature. The three shrugged dismissively and ran after her, jumping directly at it. It moved into another corridor right as they jumped, leaving a small gap for them to fly through. They landed on the other side with a thud. "This way!" she screamed again, seemingly enjoying the chaos.

The creature turned, spotting them finally and deciding to take chase. It used two tentacles to move along the metallic floor, the others were frantically reaching out to them as it ran.

They bolted from corridor to corridor, following this very unusual girl, turning left and right at top speed, barely able to remember the way they came.

A corridor in front of them collapsed from the roof, scattering fragments of metal and rock across the corridor and blocking their way forward. They came to a screeching halt before the pile of rubble. With a groan of annoyance filling the corridor, the woman twisted her head back and forth between the two objects, both moving and stale. Pursing her lips, she then looked at the lot who had followed her.