Falling Skyward

Chapter Forty-Six: Blackened Eyes

Lana could see nothing, only feel seeping dampness on her skin, chilling her bones. Gailen's hand still lay beneath her own, but she could neither see nor hear Gailen. Instead, all she heard was a rustling crash that kept rising and falling. The sound was familiar, one Lana had known growing up. It was the distant sound of waves dashing against the rocks.

The sound would have lulled Lana into complacent nostalgia if the strangeness of her surroundings had not been so absorbing.

How did they get here? And more importantly, where were they? The unpleasant sensation she had felt in her stomach moments before felt much like traveling from the upper world to Brevishaven. Could her belt have malfunctioned? Had she experienced another jump?

A blackness deeper than the shadows moved in Lana's periphery, looking like ripples of black velvet and silk. Then, the whole walls began to shift and contour and move, shadows upon endlessly deeper shadows appearing until presence and vacancy undulated and blurred.

Even while her eyes adjusted, Lana did not need to rely on her senses to know what filled the chamber, a cave cut like a jagged scar into the earth—high, endless, and narrow. The frigidity, the silence, the almost human inhumaneness of the creatures in front of her told her what they were—nightstalkers.

The darkness gained depth and perspective the longer Lana looked. An entire swarm descended on her as Lana clutched Gailen's hand harder than ever. She could feel the multitude of consciousnesses and their horrid thoughts pressing upon her mind, but she focused on the fragile hand in her own, letting that grip form her connection to sanity.

Lana instinctively took a step back as the nightstalkers pressed closer, her foot slipping, only her toe finding purchase. Behind Lana, a precipice gaped, jagged and narrower than the space before them, with no way to gauge its depths.

When Lana turned back, uneven mouths full of teeth leered at her, blindingly white amidst so much black. One look at those sickening smiles and Lana acted on instinct, thoughts of protecting Gailen blotting out any other sense of fear or self. Lana grabbed Gailen, wrapping her body around his, and jumped, falling deeper into the subterranean world.

A split moment of sheer, unknowing terror gripped Lana, more painful than the rock that caught her shoulder, tearing skin with the jarring landing. First Lana felt her right ankle twist beneath her as scarlet flashed behind her eyelids, then her tailbone hit, followed by her spine as Galen's body pounded into her own.

Breath refused to fill Lana's lungs as the pain tried to push past the adrenaline, overwhelming her nearly to the point of losing consciousness in this deeper, darker pit.

But then, the shapes began rustling from crevices and dark corners again, further away but moving quickly. Pulling herself to her feet, Lana couldn't help but scream out as her right leg touched the moist stone. Lana could feel Gailen's hand move to her arm and the pain ebbed, allowing her to think more clearly.

They had to get out.

The pounding of the surf continued, a minor hum in Lana's subconscious. She instinctively moved toward it, like an insect drawn to the light.

Ghostly faces and dark bodies emerged in a swarm, and Lana felt as though she had been plunged into a hive swarming with life-sized insects.

Lana staggered forward, grasping at her belt and the dagger that hung there. She managed to rip the weapon free of its sheath just as skeletal hands closed over her arm. Slashing indiscriminately, she plunged the knife into soft flesh before wrenching it free and striking again.

The converging bodies recoiled for a moment, and Lana surged forward, clinging to Gailen. The respite was fleeting.

Lana could feel dozens of minds pressing in upon hers, prodding, grasping, clawing at her individuality and sanity, seeking purchase in her mind. Inexplicably dark and gruesome emotions filled her brain, tearing it at the seams, filling it with images that could never be escaped, never be erased.