Ultraviolet

Chapter 13: Phersine

(Author's Note: In some places, you will see three dashes in a row. Those are meant to resemble an em dash. I just put them there because there's not an actual character on the keyboard for the em dash, so I would have had to go copy one to paste every time I wanted to write. It was easier for me to replace them with three dashes.)

Turo took the first step into the cave. Juxame and Rukni flew in just after. Nopira and I were the last ones to step foot on the cold stone of the cave. Crystals sparkled in the corners. Bats hung from the ceiling. Stalagmites and stalactites covered all surfaces of the cave, limiting our movement. The image of myself getting impaled on one of the deadly spikes could not get out of my head. Every feature of the cave reminded me of the immense danger I was about to be thrown into.

We trekked downward, the cavern getting darker and darker the deeper we went. The sparkling of the crystals and the faint glowing of Nopira and Turo's figures quickly became the only source of light in the cave. We could no longer discern whether we had just entered Phersine's Lair, or if we were safe for the time being. All was silent. The only sound that could be heard was the far-off drip of water.

Our group stepped into a room that seemed to radiate more brightly than the others we had previously seen. Sunshine peeked through cracks in the walls. Precious gems hid in the shadows. Gold, ruby, sapphire, possibly even diamond shined from the depths of the darkness. All in a matter of seconds, a wall of rocks came tumbling down behind us. A hiss emerged from the unknown.

"Oh, no," muttered Nopira.

"Press yourself against the wall!" Turo screamed.

My friends and I squished ourselves against the cold stone. The tongue of a serpent flicked above me. Two enormous fangs, almost as large as me, pierced a patch of moss mere inches from my feet. My eyes adjusted to the brighter atmosphere, and I could clearly see Phersine in all her glory. She hissed again, and and the slits of her vivid, green eyes flashed menacingly. She was at least forty feet long, and her scales were a sickening grey.

"RUN! Never stop moving! If she traps you, you're dead!" Turo cautioned.

I started sprinting around the edge of the room, running my hand along the wall to guide my direction. The others followed Turo's instructions, but all of them set off on separate paths. Nopira and Rukni went the opposite direction that I did, they but still followed the walls. Turo and Juxame took off to the center of Phersine's Lair. Phersine slithered close behind me, clamping her fangs down on the stone every time she thought she was close enough to devour me. I felt like I could not run fast enough, and my legs started to feel weak. She was surely going to catch me! My vision went hazy, and time seemed to slow down. With every second that slipped by, I could feel Phersine catching up to me, and my body being pulled into the huge metal jaws of death. I was only coming closer and closer to my demise. At least my friends were safe for the time being. If the serpent was after me, it would give them time to think of a plan to kill her or find an escape route.

As I ran I cut my legs on the precious gems scattered around the room. Only scratches. They couldn't stop me from trying to buy time for my friends.

"Turo? What are we going to do?" I huffed.

She didn't answer. Maybe I wasn't shouting loudly enough, but I knew that that was the best I could do. I was out of breath, and I could only manage a hoarse whisper. Was I going to pass out? I felt exhausted. How long had I been running? I surely wasn't counting. The flick of Phersine's tongue only taunted me. I was only her next meal, but she wasn't worried about me escaping. There was nothing I could do to evade her. Eventually, I would tire of trying and then, she would catch me. I didn't have the time or energy to look for my friends in the room, to see if they had made it out alive, or were doomed to suffer the same fate I was. What could we possibly do? We had come down there unarmed, but only because there was no time to look for weapons. I had failed. The universe would be destroyed, and along with it, everyone I loved. How could I do this to them?

Blood roaring in my ears, I continued to run, although I felt like I was going to collapse on the ground at any moment. I started to hear a ringing in my ears, which partially drowned out the desperate cries of my friends.

"Dianne! Don't stop ru---"

The voice trailed off. It sounded like Turo, but I couldn't hear the rest of what she said. It was most likely some motivational remark of hers, urging me to keep going. I did not need to be reminded of that. I had considered turning around to fight back a few times, but I knew that I was no match for Phersine. Running was the only option, so I ran and I ran, fast as lightning. Of course, I would die, that was inevitable, as Phersine was bound to catch up some time or another. I did not run for my life, this I am sure of now and was sure of then. I ran for the lives of the others. No matter what happened, I would keep going as long as I could lift my feet off the ground. When I died, my friends would just die tomorrow anyway due to the end of the entire universe, but at least they wouldn't be killed by a horrendous serpent! They would make it out of this terrible cavern alive. As for me, it would be a different story, but at least I could keep my friends safe. No one deserved to die such a brutal death, especially them.

My leg muscles burned, and my eyes watered. Phersine hissed again. I kept running. Her fangs shattered a crystal just a few feet away from me.

"All of us will ma---"

It was Turo again. The ringing in my ears had almost completely consumed my hearing. Phersine's hisses and flicks of her tongue became inaudible, and my friends' voices were muted.

Suddenly, my legs gave in to the pressure. I fell over, and I felt a sharp fang pierce my side. My vision went black. I felt Nopira and Turo grab my arms and hoist me over their backs. They carried me away to somewhere else in the room. I wasn't dead, but why wasn't Phersine chasing me anymore? It was like she sunk her fangs into my flesh but then lost her appetite. I obviously hadn't been eaten, so what happened? I don't know how long I spent unconscious, but I do know that when I woke up, the first voice I heard was Nopira's.

"Dianne?" he called.

I opened my eyes.

"Yes! She's alive, but we need to get---"

Nopira's voice got cut off by the ringing. I was lying on the ground, and everyone was standing above me, but Phersine was nowhere to be seen. I could still feel the stabbing pain in my side that she had caused when she had impaled me. I tried to sit up, but the searing pain forced me back down.

"Where is Phersine? We need to get out, now!" I told them.

"It's okay, Dianne. This will all be over soon, just don't le---"

Turo, with tears in her eyes and a patient smile, was reassuring me about something. The ringing in my ears was starting to fade. My vision had been fully restored, but I could not move my head to look for Phersine. My line of sight only included what was directly in front of me. I saw Turo begin to float, presumably using her powers again. This time, however, she was not using her Healing Wave. A large geyser spouting a liquid that looked like molten gold sprouted from the ground. It crushed the stone above, leaving a hole in the top of the cavern. Turo descended from the air and rushed over to me. She and Nopira picked me up again and carried me over to the geyser. They threw me into the liquid, and I shot upwards. I fell off of the geyser's spout and hit the ground with a thump.