He staggered back to the shack with numb legs and collapsed heavily on the rickety stairs in front of the door. Marie and Xavier both gone. Both disappeared inside of a mountain reminding a chunk of Swiss cheese. Full of holes and tunnels, and he had no idea of where to start looking for. He knew they were most likely somewhere in a shaft named China Men’s Path, but how the hell was he supposed to know which tunnel was the right one? They all looked the same. He’d need that map. And a flashlight. He had no desire to wander the next eternity in those tunnels.
“Fuck!” He grabbed a loose rock and threw it, trying to get rid of his frustration. Soft, squishy thud told him that it had landed on a body. That led him thinking about Marie’s kidnapper. There had been something familiar in that skinny figure, but they had disappeared from his view before he had been able to tell who it was.
“You’re fucking loosing it… You got here yesterday and everybody was dead already…” He had to remind himself from the fact that these people, dead or alive, were complete strangers to him. He rose to his feet and stretched his back, listening the small cracks and pops from his vertebra and let his gaze roam over the gory scenery. Again the body nearest to the tin shack drew his attention.
There was something seriously wrong in it. Of course the man was dead and he knew, he just knew that if he were to turn the body over, man’s features would be so badly distorted that he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between carcasses face and ass. He scanned over the body; letting his eyes wander, guide him to what he needed to see. And suddenly it clicked. He knew who the man was. Or had been, more accurately. He grabbed it and turned it around for the positive ID, and found what he was looking for. A small plastic rectangular attached to the breast pocket of the uniform the carcass was wearing. Name Collie Entragian was carved on it.
If the cop was here, lying face down and rotting, who or what the hell had taken Marie? Who was speaking at them from the dark clouds? Who kept pestering them?
He was beginning to hope that he was more religious. At least he’d have somebody to shout and curse, blame for what happened. Now he had only himself, and carcass of a man that he had thought to be a killer.
“Fuck it…” He let go of the body and returned to the shack in hope to find a map and a flashlight.
He found them easily enough to let him know that the whole thing, him coming here with Marie and her disappearing were arranged beforehand. Both map and the flashlight were sitting on a table in the middle of the room they had already searched through earlier. Somebody had even marked him the right path through the mine with a red marker. Yes. It was red marker, he kept telling himself. Tried not to smell the coppery scent rising from the deep red line.
Dark clouds were starting to evaporate when he entered to the shaft marked on the map. Behind him sun was shining brightly. A promise of warmth and safety. In front of him damp, impenetrable darkness whispering promises of doom and despair.
It was dark. Dark and dry and humid, sticky blackness twirling around him. He could hear water dripping in the distance, but that had to be a hallucination, something his own warped mind had decided to add to create the right atmosphere. He was out on a fucking desert; there was no water in the desert.
Flashlight had broken, fallen to pieces when he had stumbled to a discarded pickaxe, and for the last ten minutes he had been fumbling forward blindly, fingers skimming the wall of the tunnel. He could hear whispers and distant laughter. Voices from another place, another time when Unformed still ruled the earth. He could see a deep dwell in front of him, faint glow coming from it. No matter how fast he walked he wasn’t getting any closer to it. It felt like walking and breathing in syrup, thick mist clinging to his skin. It had already eaten off his clothes, and his skin was burning, burning under slimy, acidic caresses. Sharp edges of stones were slicing the soles of his feet with every step he took, wounds healing over instantly, only to be cut open with next step he took.
Glow from the well was growing brighter. Now he could actually see his surroundings, but he rather kept his eyes closed. The path was lined with statues, Can Toi. He was walking inside of Can Tak, along the rocky road of its tongue, and Can Toi was guarding his every step, guiding his feet to right direction. He had tried kicking one of the statues. It had simply dodged and returned to its rightful place after he had passed it.
Now he could hear voices from somewhere in front of him. He could see the tunnel ending. From this distance he could already tell that there was a large cavern ahead. The tunnel was manmade, but cavern… It had always been there. An Tak. The grand hall, first stage of the Ini, Well of The Worlds, portal for Tak, The Unformed.
He stepped in to the An Tak, feeling the air rippling around him anxiously. Girl stood beside the Ini. There was somebody standing with her. They were both waiting for him. When he entered, the man standing with Marie turned around to face him.
“Finally. I have grown weary of these games, mortal… Your friend is deteriorating fast, his body is brittle… Come, let me in to you, and we can claim our place as rulers of this world!” Tak spoke through professor Xavier.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
The end is near.