Paleblood

Paleblood Chapter 0: Prologus

"Can you hurry it up,Mikhaeli? We are going to be late!"

"Quit your yapping,do you want me to trip and fall!?"

A series of voices resonated throughout the  ever darker growing chasm,the illumination providing torches speckled throughout the abyss,now resembling scattered,dying embers. Many of the scholars,along with the architects,thought the usage of open torches a hazard to the excavation. One stray ember would be all it took to undo the weeks required of building the rackety,albeit stable bridges,connecting ivory cliff with ivory cliff,equipment and torches growing scarcer and scarcer the deeper they ascended. This operation,admittedly,lasted longer than any of them had anticipated. The Twilight Gulch,they named it upon discovery,though there was nothing that screamed "twilight" about it,rather,some people would say,something else entirely.

"Yvette,I've been wondering...why is this place called "Twilight Gulch" anyway?" Asked Mikhaeli,a middle-aged member of the excavation crew,clad entirely in a dark grey,full body cloak,a thick,scarf-like cloth wrapped tightly around his neck,his face obscured by an obsidian visor,blemished by a whitish streak,diagonally trough the middle of the metal. Whatever caused it,the visor prevented any possible damage to its user. The coat caked heavily in the ashen dust of the Gulch,several wooden planks under his right arm,a heavy hammer in his left hand,his hands covered by old,tightly fitting gloves of unindentifiable material,but what was clear as day,was the rough texture of the gloves,signifying prolonged and frequent use,a worn belt strapped tightly around his hips,a satchel full of nails dangling and jingling with every step. Though he would not normally show up in such an attire,Mikhaeli,along with his co-workers,was informed,along with the architects,to take safety measures,in case they came across heavy levels of asbestos or other toxic fumes in the deeper depths of the Gulch.

"Why is it called so? When I hear "twilight", I think of a dark blue sky,shortly before it becomes pitch black. This whole place fits better with the description of "jet-black hellhole!" The excavators complaints echoed throughout the weakly lit chasm,his echoing voice drowning out the creaking of the by now weathered bridge. Whatever this Region consists of was not normal dust or ash. Whatever it was,it corroded,or devoured,rather,whatever man made was found within. The College of Izs came upon the Twilight Gulch two months ago,and ever since then,teh College heavily mobilised all its subsidiaries,including the I.E.C., the Izs Excavation Crew,of which Mikhaeli was a part of. One of the many bridges crossed,Mikhaeli's guide,a tall redhead,clad in a thick,winter coat,consisting of a heavy,worn cotton,ridden with ashen skidmarks and signs of singing and burns,which was safe to assume came from a series of experiments the young lady conducted. Her red hair was tied into a semi-long,clean ponytail,the tips blending in with the maroon fur and fuzz that adorned the edges of her hood,a closed,petroleum lamp illuminating the darker corners as the chasm grew darker. With a motion to continue,Yvette stepped aside to let Mikhaeli pass.

"Beats me. It does irk me that the folks at the College aren't better at coming up with names. Just look at the Drundarians and the Bloodfang Peaks. Atleast that name makes sense,since the alexandrite-rich mountains make it look red and bloody-"

"Look,Yvette. I just asked a simple question,in plain english. I didn't ask for a damned geology lesson!"

"Maybe if you studied better,you could've landed a better job than the IEC!" The redhead was swift to bite back,smacking the man on the back with an open palm as he passed,the heavy "BAMF!" sending off a liberal cloud of ash off his back,prompting a coughing fit from the woman,while the man,dressed in what one would consider a poor-man's hazmat suit,scoffed at the gesture.

"I did that out of my own volition,and not because I had no other options. Stop being such a fucking blockhead! And on top of that,its Sunday! What are we even doing here!?" Mikhaeli turned back to Yvette,waiting for the lady to lead the way into the depths,as she was one to brandish the only source of light.

"Now that you mention it,I do not know that either." The redhead spoke,a hint of uncertainty in her voice,yet the slowly looming feeling of dread was something both of them could enjoy.
"The College reported a series of odd anomalies. Think of ropes and planks decaying swiftly..explosives suddenly freezing over...supplies and edibles spontaneously combusting...and now recently,beasts of burned spontaneously developed rabies,and workers became severely ill."

Torches ceased as the pair approached the final excavation point,Mikhaeli sticking closely to the redhead. His breathing spiked briefly in a mild panic,the man struggling to shift the hammer to his more dominant hand. Despite being primarily a toola hammer would do well as a blunt weapon in a pinch. Mikhaeli was a good,smart man,without a doubt,yet he suffered a crippling fear of the dark. This was a sentiment many,including Yvette and Mikhaeli himself,agreed upon. It is not the fear of the darkness itself that is mortifying...

It's what could be hiding within the darkness that is utterly blood-chilling.

"That sounds like some truly bizzarre bull...I admit,Im not the brightest torch out there..but are you seriously telling me there might be a Source down there?"

"Most likely."

"Well,that would explain why we haven't made progress."

The foreboding sense of dread slowly ushered the pair into silence,with only their breathing,their footsteps,the crackle of the lamps flame,and the occasional jingle of nails as their only companions. Upon passing the last bridge,the footing began to grow increasinly more steep,and things were becoming significantly less safe. Though Mikhaeli remained unaffected,Yvette began to suffer frequent coughing fits,with especially heavy fits resulting in disgusting gags.

"Hay,Yvette,hold up! Let's take a short break. That cough doesn't sound good at all..."

Yvette,however,nudged her hand away from the man,trying to hold herself up on her own two legs,however barely.

"Guhkk...Im going to be fine,Mikha! It's just... ukk...the air down here is very...and I mean VERY thick..."

"You think it's the ash?" Mikhaeli's voice grew increasingly worrisome,his arm letting go of the planks,causing them to clatter down the steep slope with alarming cacophany,as his now free hand reached for the chin region of his visor,just in time for the redhead to grasp at his wrist firmly.

"Don't even think about it...if it's just ash,I'll be fine...but if it's asbestos,like the College said,it wouldn't help me much...you'd just screw yourself over,Mikhaeli."

Responding with a solemn nod,Mikhaeli let go of his visor,keeping it firmly on his face,helping the lady up before they continued down the slope.

"Do you think it's very far?"

"No,I don't so...We should come across a somewhat damaged crevice...according to what I heard,that crevice should open into something that vaguely resembles an antechamber.

"Vaguely resembles?" The excavator replied,puzzled,his left hand firmly around Yvette's arm,his right holding the hammer with a vice-like grip,ready to swing at any foreign movement. "So you're telling me it's not man-made?"

"We can't say for sure,as we were unable to breach into it. But from what I know,antechambers do not form naturally...I have a bad feeling about all that..."

Whistling resonated throughout the chasm. The whistling grew in intensity,with the breeze turning into a gust,and the gust turning into a moderate gale as the whistling devolved into downright howling. However...with all it's might...a wind's howl does not sounds so...distorted with hunger...no wind,no matter how strong,sounds so feral...

Despite being on edge,none of the reacted quick enough. Both were a second too late. A large,quadrupedal something leapt out of the shadows,knocking the two off balance as its humonguous appendage flicked at the researcher like an unwanted insect. Losing their footing,the pair tumbled down to the lower levels,losing their source of light and the hammer in the tumult,Mikheali's yelling and Yvette's shrieks piercing though the jet-black darkness of the Gulch,drowned out by the howling of the wind...though if that truly was the wind was now up for debate. A loud thud rocked Mikhaeli's consciousness,as he withnessed Yvette's silluethe tumble down the lower levels,her desperate shrieks now drowned out by a mortifying cacophony of creatures that Mikhaeli did not even dare imagine...countless squeals and shrikes,like pigs being gutted,or elephants being burnt alive,along with roars that sounded like rabies stricken horses...followed by the sound of rending clothes,torn flesh and crushed bones. Barely conscious,Mikhaeli's vision took a last glance at the faintly lit scene before him,depicting a picture of madness.

There was no light. Man made light.  A collapsed,crumbled wall gave way to what resembled an ancient,demolished well,black ooze,alongside thick, vermillion mist emerging out of what Mikhaeli could only describe as a hole,connecting the earth to the star-ridden sky above,weakly illuminating the breached antechamber,along with the monstrosities the sky-hole was birthing. If there was a smell,then,with the corpses of all beasts of burden and the cadavers of the researchers,blood would be the strongest,and most vile scent of them all,with the corpses of scholars and fallen excavators seemingly forming a stairway to the monster birthing well. A spiteful grin crept upon Mikhaeli's lips beneath the steely visor. Of all the things on this world...the last thing the excavator wanted to see in his last moments,was a living...breathing...active Source.