Chương 57: Dark Star II

He can't be dead, surely? Nyx thought. If I'm not dead, then there's no way a god — even if little — could have found his end here. The anger of the Eidolon god. The shifting attitude of her little companion. It was obvious she had not been the focus of the immense being's wrath. Something had happened in the weeks since the last Dark Star Event. Little God did something to infuriate the greater god. If Nyx had to guess from his words only moments ago, her Eyeball had been meant to watch; nothing more.

She'd known it was most likely he'd been sent to watch her, but now it was proven. Little God was sent to observe, not help. And help he certainly had. He'd told her when K'tan tried to sneak off with Ari. He'd shown her how to reach the base of the Fleshforge, and kept her safe from observation. He'd led her through the Dark Star. … Something that would be impossible herself. Disregarding whatever reason the Eidolon Gods had to watch her, Little God's overreach angered them. Now, he was to be punished.

Nyx could only hope that the punishment an ageless, incomprehensible being would inflict on a lesser god wasn't execution… or something worse. Nyx wanted to do something to help her little companion. Wherever he was, it was nowhere nice. A deep, bubbling growl rumbled through the pipe-riddled passage, and Nyx was reminded of exactly where she was. As much as she worried for Eyeball, she had to be concerned about her own safety now. She was stuck inside a Dark Star. Only her own strength would allow her to survive.

Finally, the true weight of the situation finally seemed to hit her. Little God was gone. Without him, she had no one to guide her easily out of the Dark Star's malicious corruption. Even the highest creeds found it difficult, if not impossible, to escape. How would she? Without the one being that had always been by her side, how could she break free of the clutches of this disaster? The growl returned, and Nyx's claws slid through the chitinous shell that had become her fingers. Was survival possible?

She didn't know. What she did know was that while she still lived, she would fight. She would fight to keep the past from repeating. She would fight and stay alive until the world itself stopped trying to mess with her. A Dark Star? Ha! I've survived one before. I'll do it again. Nyx didn't wait for whatever beast growled in the dark to attack. She took the aggression first. Her wings beat and her third eye burnt through the cramped space, looking for where it hid.

Leaping over a pipe, and curving around a waterfall of molten flesh, she finally spotted her target. The shark was small. About as long as Nyx's leg. Yet that was the only aspect she could turn up her nose. Made of a twisted combination of flesh and magma, it slipped in and out of the wall without resistance. Molten gouges were the only thing left in its path. Its head was metal; a charred outer skin barely covered the bright glow of the scalding core.

Beyond that, the liquid flesh twirled down the gummy shark's length, mixing with the metal, but never truly combining. Nyx didn't stop. She flew straight for it, claws ready to strike, and eye already burning into its side. She could have been more careful. Honestly, she should have, but Little God had been taken from her, and she needed a way to vent. Chitinous claws crashed into a wall. A gurgled growl sprung free of her missed target as it dove into the piping, bursting it, and nearly searing Nyx's face off.

She swung again. The metal pipes held no resistance against her pincers, and were cleaved through. It was a good thing her hands were so hardy, as they were suddenly covered in boiling steel. The heat seeped through slowly, and with a shake, she was free. The shark that had tried to swim through the molten contents of the pipe flopped to the ground. Along with a pool of said contents. It flailed for only a moment before the liquid metal seemed to deepen beneath it and it dropped below the surface.

In the narrow space of the tunnel — or what it had been twisted into — the scorching pool was difficult to avoid. Made worse, the pipe continued to flow. The flooding only spread with each second. Nyx's claws might be able to shrug off the heat of magma — they'd make good oven mitts — but the rest of her body remained vulnerable. Stepping away from the edge of the growing lake, she considered her luck that while liquid, the metal was still viscous. Once outside the pipe, it slowed down tremendously.

Though the heat didn't seem to dissipate with any haste. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Well, if the small shark was going to hide away where she couldn't approach, then there was no point pushing further. There were surely countless others of these fleshforged lifeforms to deal with. Escaping the Dark Star was her primary goal. She had no need to hunt down every growl she heard.

Of course, it was only when she thought that, the shark burst from the ground at her side. Nyx reacted instantly, clubbing the small beast before it could bite, but the splash of molten metal left her side burning. Droplets of steel ate through her robe. But it was the way it clung to her skin that did most of the damage. It fused with her skin like an ugly weld and burned all the flesh around. She tried to brush it off with the thick backs of her claws, but they wouldn't budge.

Only by slicing off the flesh it had affected could she stop the spread of burns. Cutting off small parts of her skin hurt, but not more than the burning did. The gummy shark rolled a few times, and Nyx beat her wings. She wouldn't let it melt its way out of reach again. Between the still red-hot plates of metal, pink flesh like an intestine squished and distended to allow the creature to flex. And flex it did. Each roll bent the creature one way or the other.

The metal of the creature was still molten, but it was slower to alter its shape than the liquid flesh that held it together. Somehow knowing an attack was close, the shark twisted and spat. A globule of hot flesh shot at her face. Nyx raised her arms to block the spittle, and hissed in pain as droplets of boiling liquid landed along her chest and arms. At least it wasn't as bad as the molten metal. Opening her arms again, she unleashed the full observation of her third eye on the small creature.

It let out something between a chirp and growl, and dug into the earth again. Not willing to let it go, Nyx retracted her claws and shoved her arm into the newly melted hole and latched onto the shark's tail. It fought her. It twisted and flailed, trying its hardest to squirm deeper. Yet even in a semi-liquid state, Nyx wouldn't let it slip from her grasp. Her chitin handled the heat well, but they were warming up rapidly. No pain in her hands or forearms.

It was the rising sting at her elbows that hurt the most with the rising heat. Yanking the gummy from its burrow, she wasted no time bringing her pincer forward and slicing through its head. Each claw slipped their prey easily. Without resistance. Only, Nyx nearly lost her head when the supposedly decapitated shark suddenly swung itself in her grip and took a bite at her. Where her pincers had sliced through, the metal and flesh had already melded together again. Decapitations, it seemed, would not be effective.

Nor any other cut. Nyx retracted her claws and grabbed the still flailing head of the shark as it tried to fight being held off the ground. As soon as she grabbed it, she felt something shift. The plates of steel — albeit not fully solid yet — shifted into the form of spikes that tried to drive into her hand. Like a porcupine. Luckily, her chitin was too hard. Deciding not to waste any more time, she pulled. The metal hardly budged, but the shark's flesh fell apart all too easily.

Even as it was pulled into two parts, the small pools of superheated flesh and steel reached for each other. This shark was tiny compared to the massive fleshforged creatures she'd seen spawned from that massive industrial hammer, yet it was still this difficult to kill. Then, what kind of beast was that whale? Not wanting to let it drag itself back together again, Nyx burnt away all of the flesh that held the shark together. If not for the heat, she wouldn't have had a problem.

It hadn't been particularly fast or strong. In fact, most of the vitiate beasts she'd hunted would be more dangerous than this thing if it didn't hold the heat of the forge itself. But… that last shifting of its metal plating to create a weapon against her hold. She felt there was something more to that. If she was to face more of these beasts while she was stuck inside this Dark Star, then maybe it was a missed opportunity to find out everything the gummy shark could do.

At least she'd confirmed that the creature stopped trying to reform after enough of its flesh had been eaten away. Looking down at the gem in her chest, Nyx found crimson-violet veins stretching outwards already. Much more use, and it would be stretching up her neck. Impossible to hide. Her immediate reaction was to cover it up. To prevent anything that could give her away should she come across any cultist. But that would be pointless.

Without Little God, she needed to use everything at her disposal if she wanted to survive. This was a bloody Dark Star, after all. No amount of hopeful thinking would keep her safe from the dangers that lurked here. Not only did she have to assume she would have to fight, but that there would be no escape. If she held back on using her sternum eye for fear of a few glowing veins… then she might as well give up her life here and now. She turned around and found the small lake of molten steel gone.

All that was left was the labyrinth of pipes, and the occasional molten fall from a burst. A single blink, and that was truer than ever. The walls, ceiling, and ground disappeared, leaving only a nightmarish world of pipes. Nyx brushed her hand through her hair, and came back with a small amount of mould clinging to her fingers. It wasn't just the use of her eye she needed to consider. She hated the idea. Despised the concept of giving in to the mutations that set her on this course of life in the first place.

But she needed to at least consider the option. If she wanted to survive this horrorscape, Nyx might need to accept and welcome more mutations. As much as her fear of being discovered was legitimate, it needed to take a backseat to her survival. What was the point of hiding who she was, if it left her dead? It was all well and good to say she would accept more of her curses, but if at all possible, she wanted to avoid the more obvious ones. Specifically the four stubs that had been at her waist.

Wings were already hard enough to hide. If she had four more — whatever they actually were — she could only imagine an impossible life once she left the Dark Star. Nyx jumped down from the pipe she stood, to another below. The narrow space made flying difficult. All she could do was climb like any other wingless human. A chorus of growls rung through the endless labyrinth. More fleshforged beasts. The first of what Nyx knew would be many. Well, whether she caved and mutated or not, the only way out was to move.

She knew the least obvious path was the best one, but if it was that simple to escape than many more people would. Nyx had lost Little God, but she would not be done in just because she no longer had him at her side. It would be hard. It would be nigh impossible. But she had already overcome much the old her had considered impossible. She would make it through this Dark Star alive. No matter the sacrifice required.