Graphically disgusting scene in this one, if you see ^^^^ then skip until you see vvvv if you don't want to read something gross.
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In a vast wasteland of pearlescent hail, once unmarred by anything, now lays an eternally dark hole, near a massive cliffface that expands in both directions for a seemingly endless amount of time.
The darkness of that hole, both impenetrable and ominous, is surely naught but death for what ever that falls to its depths…
As the winds pick up, the hail starts to fill the hole, as if swallowing it up, and before long, there is nothing but the prestine veiw of an ivory desert.
Just my favorite grand mana zone~
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'I'm starting to notice a new and unfortunate habit of ours…' one side began
'Oh, What?' Another decided to say, opening up a can of worms…
'Oh I don't know maybe THE GODS DAMNED FALLING!?!' Another exclaims, non existent spittle flying in every direction.
'shut the fuck up!' That same voice said calmly.
'All that effort… only to have it all flushed down the drain.' A voice grumbles morosely
'Well at least we weren't knocked unconscious from the fall this time!' A new side pipes up cheerfully
'Ah yes, a real prize...' that voice responds sardonically.
'They could at least call us something other than 'sides' or 'voices'…' a part said, not realizing that individuality will further the fissures of the mind.
'NAH, fuck that I'm Red!' Said one part, trying to completely rend this brain into shards. (Please stop)
'Ooh color coding? I'd like to be Orange!' Said another rebellious Side of this psyche (I hate it here…)
'I guess that makes me Yellow.?' The side that kicks puppies for fun remarks
'Yay! Green's my favorite color!' The one that would have had such a promising future exclaimed…
'Hmm, couldn't go wrong with Cyan.' The shard that's never touched grass said snidely.
'Ahh… this game… I shall play my part, Purple.. yes... Yes this shall do nicely…' the side that should have been the wisdom spoke.
'Would that make me magenta, or like, pink nah I like magenta…' The one that doesn't talk much whispered out.
'Ooh ohh! What do we call the One in Charge?' One side said-
'Green* said, and I think since the Boss is the fusion of all of us, they should be Black.' One of the sides said, not realizing the problem of that statement, as usual.
'Hmm, maybe not… but dearest Nar Nar doesn't like it so totally! what should we call ol' pain in the ass?' Said the one that started this whole mess.
'Well, since their like the opposite of Black and none of us really know where they came from, how's about White?' Said the one that arbitrarily decided to resonate with the color Orange.
'Why do we even try anymore..?' Said the usually quiet part the chose Magenta over pink.
"Shut." I said aloud.
With that the voices in my head though did not stop talking, did decide to let me concentrate…
So, good news, bad news.
Bad news is. The fall was enough to lift the bone up a bit, that led to it shifting onto my leg.
And in the process of falling the bear itself fell onto it's back.
Good news is, my leg isn't broken! The stomach flesh hadn't gotten the chance to freeze before the second fall, so it acted as a cushion in the landing.
And it is a small mercy that the bear is on its back now, if it instead fell onto its belly, I would have to escape the beast with limited oxygen. And I can see my way out right above me. And the about to start rotting fish carcasses didn't fall on me, so, that's also lucky…
That said, my luck is about to run out, since the beast fell belly up, the hole in the belly is alligned with the hole to the surface… the surface that is nothing but loose hail… loose hail that is rapidly starting to fill the stomach I am in…
Have I mentioned that I haven't had the time to put my clothes back on?
'Oh well… there are still two other holes, that hopefully should have a, less about to kill me path to freedom…'
With that thought I push the slab off my leg, grabbing my still warm, and still very much blood drenched clothes and knife, and rush for the throat.
I slide into the slimy hole, expecting some kind of exit, but am met with the unfortunate truth that the head is stuck on something to the point that the throat has collapsed completely, I could try and dig through it, but I kinda don't have the time…
With dread in my heart and a new goal in my mind I do a one eighty and dash back down the throat, heading for the… other possible exit…
'It either potential death, or guaranteed death, so we fucking, take. The. Possibility.' I reassure myself.
Scrambling out of the throat hole, I find that a small puddle had been formed near the still living but almost dead flame. I tie my bloodied shirt to my chest and wrap the excess into a makeshift pouch, put the knife in the new pouch and try to put my pants back on, but in my haste and their already ruined state, they fall apart at the seams, so I put them in the shirt pouch with the knife, and then I envelope my hands and feet in mana skin claws and climb the walls, as the ground is covered almost completely by hail at this point.
I make it to the other side and before I can start to doubt the effectiveness of this plan, I slide down into the deeper organs.
^^^^
The smell doesn't actually change all that much. At first, it's almost pleasant…
But as I practically slither through the unfamiliar halls of the organ, the smell progressively gets more familiarly shitty.
By this point, I have completely covered myself in the mana skin, thin enough that I'm not burning through reserves, as they still hadn't truly recovered with only the meal and hour of rest I managed to get before this whole situation decided to get so, so much worse.
It was after, I don't know how long, probably only a few minutes at the pace I was at but felt like hours, I reached something new, or rather, the layers upon layers of tissue got slightly, slightly, bigger.
It was then on, for what had to be hours, of twists and turns and in increasing hopelessness that I reached a stopper, it wasn't that the organ had been shut off, like the throat had, but like, there was a far smaller hole…
It was the. I realized that this was probably the butthole….
The other side, of it to be specific. I think…
I tried to wriggle into it, but no dice, it wasn't pinned to anything, it seemed like it froze while the body was still undergoing rigor mortis…
It was only after this did I realize how cold it had gotten… my mind had been to prioritized on breathing through my mouth to not smell the lingering aroma of fishy shit…
Getting desperate, and hoping against hope that there won't be only hail to greet me on the other side.
I disrespect the dead by putting my hand at the puckered hole and sending in a single mana string until it reaches the outside.
I pray to a god I do not believe in as I make eight clones of the string around it and connect those eight strings to the original through several connecting strings.
And I wince in sympathy as I force more mana into the connecting strings, rapidly lengthening them and as the mana exits the connections, having it rest in the the eight outer strings and in so doing have the mana strings thicken into eight walls thaw get bigger the wider the hole gets.
I only make the hole big enough to squeeze through, as that is the amount of mana I can spare while also having enough for the mana skin.
As the hole is big enough I stop expanding it and wait for a moment to see it it would try to rebound back to it's original position, to my relief, it doesn't. At this understanding, I slowly pull the mana back to me, managing to get about sixty seven percent of the original casting back, not the best, but definitely better than nothing
I peer through my sins and out of the bear, and find myself not greeted with more hail, but with, just darkness…
'Well it's better than hail…!' I think to myself, trying to maintain my optimism…
The squeeze is more horrible mentally than physically…
vvvv
But it is with a few moments that try to drag into eons, an audible pop and a wet plop, that I am out of the perverbial frying pan and into the possible fire.
The ground is cold, cold enough to pierce the mana skin… but it's also solid, and not squishy! Filled with elation I just lay there for another moment…
I then hobble up to a sitting position and look around. The darkness around me is impenetrable, I have really good night vision, but I can only barely see my hand, even with the slight glow the mana skin provides…
I cast some mana strings around as feelers, I can't see them, but I'm still connected to them, I can feel them just like I can feel where my limbs are.
But all of this casting is getting exhausting, just the mental load of making that… monument to sin and then this, and the mana skin…
It is as my strings reach what might be a wall of some kind that the control I have over them faulters and I feel them dissipate.
…
It's unfortunate, but I know there is a wall there now, so I get to my feet, and shuffle to it, wary that something might try to come at me in such a weakened state…
I try and call out to the board, and if it appears, I can't see it through the darkness…
But my hand still makes contact with the solid surface of the wall, I make my way to what might have been the right, it takes a while, but I find my other hand coming into contact with the hairy butt of the Dire bear I had killed.
Meaning the only way to go is the left.
I shuffle my way further left, the only way to tell that time had passed in this darkness being the slow diminishing of my mana skin. Sooner rather than later, I would be completely out of mana…
But despite this, I continue on, arm to the wall, holding me steady as I tread further.
The chill increases, my ability to maintain my skin starts slipping, but I continue forward.
…
The cold has a hold of my bones, and my mana skin has fallen…
…
…
When did my legs freeze to the ground…?
…
…
…
Irrigardless of the pain, I move my legs, a few layers of my skin get left on the floor…
The pain of such a thing, brings my mind to focus, so too does the now very present and deadly chill pervading my body…
Remembering something, I shakily reach into my now frozen pouch for my carving knife, I try to gather some mana, the amount that comes is pitiful, but it is all I have left… and with it, I write into the wall a rune, the first to come to mind… and start carving into that wall, using my hand, also frozen to the same wall as a stablizer.
It is with a fraying mind, freezing body, and frantic hope, that I finish the rune and fall unconscious.
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:)
Sorry Shepard~ but you aren't making it back for solstice I'm afraid…
If you have any critiques or concerns, feel free to comment (pretty please~)
Thanks for reading.