Violent ember flashes lit up the now pitch-black cavern.
Erupting into sparks that spontaneously dug deep into the stitched abominaton before disappearing and appearing elsewhere. Like a sparks constantly flying off a welding ingot.
Naren's eyes only faltered for a second taking in the sight, before he began surveying for anywhere to run off to.
He was still holding onto Vera tight. Her eyes shut and her grip still holding the broken katana tight. She had objected to the sudden event at first but by now realized that Naren was only trying to help her.
"Shrimpy, we gotta crawl in there. You up for it?"
Vera shifted in Naren's hold, looking just as another ember flash resounded.
She shook her head at Naren without thinking.
"Great."
Naren's matter of fact tone didn't match the situation at all. Instead, he sounded exhausted. He'd breathed in so much smog that he just wanted to go and relax for a little bit.
As the sparks continued flying, Naren edged closer to a tunnel. Bits of white pebbles falling loose from the cavern walls as their fight grew more and more intense.
Peeling Vera off his shirt, he placed her at the edge of the tunnel. Right before going in first.
"You keep watch alright."
"W-what! Why is it you-"
Before Vera could finish her complaint, Naren already had half his body cramped through the tunnel. Going as fast as he could while he still had a useful distraction.
As he slithered through, it grew more and more cramped. The white rocky walls bending and stagnating into jagged configurations that shook momentarily with each impact of either Cairo or the beast being slammed into the walls.
Nevertheless, he squeezed through, his shoulder screaming in pain from the constant pressure.
'I promise you'll get to rest shoulder. I'll even get you a treat later so calm down.'
Gritting his teeth, he continuing edging through the tunnel. Wiggling his head through, using his good hand to brush out jagged edges. The further from Cairo he got, the colder it got. The stream of water under him only elevating that factor.
Then, he finally broke through, catching a glimpse of light through the tunnel.
"Finally! Shrimpy come through quick!"
Jutting his arm through and pulling himself through with one finally grunt of effort, Naren popped right out of the hole...
Right into a free fall.
"Great."
SPLASH.
A second later he fell into a pocket of water gathering from the stream. So this is what the sound of running water was from. Thankfully, the fall was only a meter at most. But man was it cold.
Naren shook his hair as he broke through the surface to get a better look at where exactly he ended up.
"Naren, what was that noise?"
Looking up at Vera's sudden voice Naren watched as the girl entered free fall just as he had a minute earlier. His eyes immediately flicked down, getting ready to teleport away...
SPLASH
He was a second too late. Getting plunged deeper in the water as the little girls body landed right atop him.
Naren surfaced once more, holding the little girl's collar, a side of his lips raised higher to reveal his gums.
"Should I just throw you back?"
"I'm terribly sorry, but maybe you should have been more clever and moved."
Naren tilted his head.
"Right."
He grabbed Vera into a headlock, bringing her closer with one hand as he dug his knuckles into her scalp.
"Here's a little trick I learned. I heard it'll make you smarter Shrimpy."
Vera squirmed in his grip, splashing the water.
"Ow! Ow! Halt! Stop! Please!"
Naren finally let go after having his fun. Her hair all ruffled and wet by now along with a deep scowl present on her face. She stuck her tongue at him momentarily before covering her mouth.
The two of them were in a pond carved into the white stone ledge after what must've been hundreds of years of corrosion.
Well a pond would've been an understatment...So would the time frame.
The two were floating in a vast lake of green shimmering waters, one that seemed to stretch for a kilometer in all directions still carving away at the white rocky formations around as it expanded its reach.
Dangling green foliage decorated the ceiling. Yellow glowing fruits grappling right off the stalactites, casting a vibrant amber glow among the whole space.
Vera was held in awe by the view while Naren, on the other hand was already climbing onto the closest ledge he could find. He had no idea how Vera was able to stay in that cold green water, but he was out.
For a moment, he drew his breath, before his gaze fell on something strange before him while Vera climbed ashore.
A pair of human skeletons laid against the white rock walls. Their bones rattled with wear. Something that had to take several decades to get that bad. One was sitting facing Naren, while the other laid on the ground, it's head a few meters away.
The hand of the headless skeleton held a shard of sharpened white rock. Similar to those that seemed to makeup the very cave they sat in.
However, what was peculiar was what was in between them. Carved into the wall, was a message:
Hail Atlas. The calamity that which conquered the skies...Hail Goldilocks. The calamity that which struck down death...Hail cinder
It seemed like before they could finish their message the two were killed. Though, even still Naren could tell what they were going to write.
Hail Cinderella.
But wait. Wasn't Atlas just the name of a city? Naren did find it strange that they would constantly refer to it as the Tomb of Atlas, while Vera only called it Atlas. The tomb would signify that Atlas was somewhere in there. While Vera never seemed to acknowledge a calamity being stashed in her home city.
Just then, a huge explosion resounded across the cavern, the walls shattering and tearing open as a stitched beast barreled into the emerald waters. Quickly following it, a man flew through the opening as well.
Then an even greater tremble occured as the great cracks began forming along the pale white walls. A ten meter hole tore open with a symphony of arms stitched together pummling through bringing an avalanche of loose boulders chipping off and crashing down with it.
A beast as grand as a whale made up of various limbs and parts from anything and everything that seemed to have a pulse was stitched together into one hideous snake-like beating lump of flesh.
Naren's eyes continued sliding across it's body, stray limbs jutting out into what looked like a psychotic man's assumption of wings.
Beside him Vera immediately slithered behind him, cowering as she tried to hide behind the sprawled out boy.
Cairo slid through the waters, his body in worse shape than it had been before, the gash torn open once more along with several new bruises. The bubbling agitating under him as he slowly sank deeper and deeper into the water in a constant lateral movement.
For a moment, the bubbling died down before the emerald waters fizzled once more rushing into one distinct point until...
"I'LL KILL YA FUCKIN CHIMERA!"
Cairo exploded through the waters, jutting straight out on a stream of concentrated pressure. Right into what must've been the artificial maws of the beast.