Fourteen Little Cephalopods (Splatoon fanfiction) [Cancelled]

Chapter 3

The seven of them moved down the corridor, Fjord in front, Mia and Irina following right behind her, Richie and Luna moved after them, and finally Opal, who was leading Camo. The floor creaked and the walls groaned, making it look like the building would collapse on top of them. "I don't like this place," Irina said. "It gives me the creeps."

"Agreed," Opal said from the back. "The sooner we get out of here, the better. I mean, do you see these walls? They look like it would only need a gust of wind to blow this whole place over!"

"Not really, but I can feel it," Camo said behind her. Fjord looked back. "In any case, Opal is right. This place is old and rusty, we shouldn't stay here for longer than we need."

The others nodded and Fjord opened a door at the end of the hallway. They came into a big room, an old, broken chandelier on the floor. "It looks like it fell down long ago," Fjord said. Luna bent down and picked up one of the crystals that were all over the floor. "Can you hand me one of those crystals?" Camo asked Opal. "I want to feel it for a second."

"Uh, sure," Opal said and handed one to him. Fjord looked around the room and shouted in delight. "There's a door that leads straight outside!" she said. "Come on!"

The group hurried over to the boarded up door. "This isn't glass," Camo murmured. Opal looked at him. "How do you know that?" she asked and examined the little shard in his hand. Camo ran his fingers over it. "This is heavier than glass would be," he answered. "And this is smoother than glass. This is crystal."

Opal looked back at the smashed chandelier behind them. "You're telling me all of that is made of pure crystals?"

Camo nodded and threw away the little shard. "Cod," Opal murmured. "They must've had to use so much crystal. How much do you think that would've cost?"

Camo shrugged. The others had been able to break open the door and rushed outside, glad to be out of the stinking, foul air. When they were outside, Fjord took a deep breath and frowned. "Weird," she said. "The air is thin. It's like we're really high up."

The others looked at her. "What are you talking about?" Irina asked. "I feel nothing different."

Fjord frowned again. "I... I don't actually know," she said after a short silence. "Or at least I don't remember it. It feels like I've felt this kind of air many times before. It's thinner than usual, maybe it's not thin enough for you people to notice, but it feels different for me."

The others looked at each other. "Are you sure?" Richie asked. Fjord looked uncertain, but Camo spoke up. "She's right. The air is different."

"In any case, let's get out of this forest," Richie said. Mia stared into the trees. "I don't think this is a forest," she said. "It's a circle of trees. Look, you can see a clearing just beyond those bushes."

She pointed. Through the trees, you could just about see the trees clear out, and moonlight shine through the leaves. "Great!" Irina said enthusiastically. "Let's go!"

The group walked through the forest towards the clearing. "Hey Richie, you said you thought that it was raining, right?" Opal asked. "Yeah?" Richie said and looked behind him, kinda struggling with Luna, who was kinda dragging him forward in her enthusiasm. "Well, the ground is completely dry," Opal said and smiled. "There's no rain!"

Richie ran his fingers over a tree and found the bark completely dry. "Huh," he said. "Must've been imagining things."

"The forests are always so nice!" Camo said all of a sudden. "The smell is great, the sounds of the trees are so relaxing and everything looks so pretty!"

Richie looked behind him. "How can you say something is pretty if you can't actually see it?" he asked. Camo looked into the direction of his voice. "I can imagine, okay?" he answered. "I'm pretty sure it's better to imagine it than to see it. The world probably looks a lot worse than I imagine it. Something I've always wondered, what do trees look like?"