Servitude: The Hydrangea Chapters

Chp 2: The Rescue

There was only a moment to see the gapping teeth-riddled clamp of a maw before she was trapped in darkness. From the rumbles of growls, sounds of shifting, and wet, slimy squelches as she attempted to navigate. Her only guess was that she was inside of whatever had just decided to swallow her. She couldn't see anything. She couldn't feel anything around her. All she had was sound; it told her what she already knew. Attempting to move around blindly, all she would hear was the sounds of the inside of the creature's stomach. 

Could this be something that could kill her? Most things that most people die from, she seems to be immune to, such as drowning and illness. In her distress, she pushed her arms out as much as she could. At least she knew she was. But with her inability to feel anything physically, she couldn't tell that the inside of the monster was gradually constricting around her to crush her. She couldn't tell that the beast was thrashing about, but she did hear its pained cry, and some light was let into the beast when it had opened its maw to bellow in rage. It had an elongated maw that opened into four sections, lined with dozens of jagged teeth. If someone was trapped between those segments, they would be bitten to pieces. Was it her odd body that had saved her from being cleaved in two? In those few moments of vision, she tried to crawl toward the light but could see she couldn't get a grip due to the fleshy walls. Looking down at whatever she could see of her own body, she would watch as small patches of her form were browning and deteriorating. When the creature closed its mouth and enveloped Marlina in darkness once more; there was a moment of panic.

"No! Open your mouth now! Let me out!" Attempting to push her arms out once more to give herself some space, the light returned, but with an even greater roar of pain that followed. Looking back up at the light, part of the mouth of the beast had been removed, the creature thrashing around as mud colored blood would rush down its throat and cover her. What could have done that? If Marlina had any sense of smell, the stench of the beast's blood would be overwhelming. Marlina had to take a moment to think. 'Sharp... sharp things harm flesh... I need something sharp...' There was a groan of frustration from her, and no matter how hard she pushed, she could see the walls closing in on her more and more around her. 'But I don't have anything sharp... It's my only way to get out...' Pointing out her fingers, it was a small attempt to make her 'sharper' and penetrate through the constricting walls. 'Please... please be sharp enough... I need you to be sharp!'

As if a prayer was answered, the beast's blood began to gush from where her hands were pressed into the flesh. Shifting her arms as well as she could, it seemed like she was carving deeper into the beast which its bellows would keep going. Then the fleshy walls would pulse and some liquid was coming up from deeper down within the creature, which the pulsing would shove Marlina out through the cut maw and into a now muddy puddle in the sand that formed. Now able to see, she shifts herself to get onto her feet, and finally gets a good look at her now bloodied hands. At least what they were now. They certainly weren't her hands anymore. If anything, they had both become short and stout blades, her fingers no longer there. 'What... happened to my hands?' However, there wasn't much time before she was grabbed by her arms and pulled away from the creature.

As she was pulled away, it was a creature that Marlina had never seen, which isn't much since she only began learning about the world in just a few years. Urush was home to a variety of unique creatures that she encountered during her travels. This one was certainly the most frightful-looking. It was a reptilian creature with a long maw and covered in scales. With four eyes that had what looked to be large projectile bolts protruding from them. With a bulky torso that gradually narrowed to a long slender body, and only two front claws with curved nails that it used to pull itself on the surface of the sand. Marlina looked up at who had grabbed her, it was two people. From their layers of clothing to protect them from the impending sandstorm, it's challenging to distinguish them. With the creature roaring once more and using its claws to try and chase after them, one of the two let go of Marlina's arm.