Nightshift 62: South Hall

[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

As soon as the southern door opened, a draft started blowing through it, and Taura almost hauled the door shut. This wasn't a station, or a ship, though, and drafts didn't mean certain death. It wasn't reassuring, though, given what little people had said about what was waiting at the end this hallway.

She took one step into the hallway, which was nearly pitch black. She extracted her flashlight and flicked it on; just a short area, and then another set of doors, which, from a distance, looked as equally ornate as the last set. "All clear," she called back.

Comments

[monkeyboy]

"Aww yeah!!" With Taura's assurance, Goku jumped ahead of the women. He was feeling a lot more chipper after his unexpected upchuck of his stomach's contents. Birdy, of course, griped about it and Taura had shown concern for some reason, but the young boy hadn't been phased by it in the least.

You had to have a sense of shame to feel embarrassed and the monkey boy had never been burdened with something as useless as that. It did nothing for him in battle!

So, oblivious to what may lie at the end of this dark tunnel, Goku ran down it as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him. Most of his senses were blinded by the dark, but his sense of smell was as keen as ever. The first thing that assaulted him was blood, but it wasn't just blood. It was sort of old, maybe fade, he couldn't quite tell. Whatever it was, he could feel a strange power and that was always a good sign for him!

"C'mon, guys! Hurry up!" he called behind him, so excited to get to the end.

[overlimit]

After once again pricking her hand to recharge the portal ring, Rita followed the others into the hall. The twerp seemed to have recovered quickly, which Rita supposed was a good thing, since it meant he wasn't going to slow them down.

It wasn't long before they came across another pair of massive doors at the end of the hall. Rita pointed her flashlight at it, illuminating the engraved images and words. "Only those two who offer their blood will be allowed entrance," she read aloud in case the others couldn't see clearly. Her eyes narrowed. "Does that mean only two can enter...? And does everything on this place have to run on blood, or what? That's sick." She'd only just given a drop to her ring. Now the door wanted her blood too?

A moment passed, and she let out an annoyed sigh. "Fine, whatever. I've come this far. Let's see what stupid tricks they've put ahead of us." The inscription made the purpose of the pointed snake fangs apparent, and so Rita reached out and pricked her finger on one of them. If indeed only two could enter, she wasn't going to be left out.

[ninelivesonce]

Taura could read it herself, and had finished long before Rita got to the end of the recitation.

She hadn't anticipated Rita's reaction, though, and she was too far away to grab her hand before it hit the fang. "Wait!" she shouted, but that was too late, too. "Aren't we going to talk about this? I didn't come down here to watch you get yourself killed." Sacrifices. Two slots. And she had to decide whether or not to take the second herself, or be the one who would post their names to the bulletin in the morning. Though there hadn't ever been two names, had there? Would only one of them die?

She reached out a hand, and froze. It was one thing to cheat death and to invite it with every mission. It was another to guarantee it, if that's what she was doing, and her hand trembled in mid-air. "I..."

[monkeyboy]

It was a little sad how easily those snakes snuck up on him in the dark with his terrible eyesight. He let out a warning cry, his hand going for the staff strapped to his back, before he realized they weren't moving. Whether they were actually alive or not was hard to tell. he had never seen a sleeping snake before, but he supposed everything had to sleep eventually, right?

Birdy didn't seem scared of them, which was strange. Bulma had been afraid of anything that crawled or slithered on the ground. In fact, the redheaded girl was poking them in the fangs (which kind of seemed like a bad idea, but who was Goku to stop someone from having a good time). Surprisingly, she came out no worse fo the wear. There was a spot of blood on her finger now from the puncture, but she didn't die from any kind of poison.

"Hey, I wanna do that too!" Without thought, Goku raised his finger, practically shoving Taura's poised arm out of the way, and mimicked Birdy. His stubby finger pressed against the sharp snake's fang. The sharp prick was painful, but it was over in a split second. The young boy brought his finger up close to his face to see a drop of his blood holding onto its spot atop his finger.

"Whoa..." Goku began to feel light-headed and his overheated body grew even more stuffy. His first thought was that they had gotten poisoned and the only solution was to suck it out! He tried to focus and bring his finger to his mouth, but it never made it.

[overlimit]

[warping everyone to here]

[fonichymn]

[From here.]

There was something about absolute darkness that evoked discomfort, disrupting logic just enough to fracture familiar rules. Tear spent a second wondering if they hadn't made a mistake, if they shouldn't turn back before the worst occurred. The soldier in her instantly denied the thought; as long as they exercised caution, they should overcome most obstacles, including a plethora of dark.

A set of doors on the other end of the hallway was noted, and she narrowed her eyes in an attempt to view them properly. "There?"

[survives]

Leanne watched silently as the two girls opened the door, amazed despite herself. It really was like something out of a movie, something she'd have watched late at night with Zephyr and Vashyron. To actually be living it, hidden keys to doors and all, was somewhat unreal. (Then again, what hadn't been unreal since waking up in this place?)

She couldn't quite see what Tear was talking about, but she thought she could almost make out something at the end of the hallway. Another door? Hopefully it'd be a little brighter on the other side of it.

"It looks like that's the only way we can go..."

[strayfag]

The hallways were always dark, but it was like pitch in here, and Badou shifted his grip on his gun unconsciously, trying not to imagine twin points of light closing in. It was just a dark hall like all the rest, right now.

He would have thought his eye was playing tricks on him if the other two hadn't spoken, and as they got closer... yeah, that looked like another door after all.

"Hopefully there's something worthwhile on the other side."

[diamondstorm]

A dark hall, with little to nothing for light. She peered forward; it seemed, despite the pomp, it was a short hallway, with something at the end. Tear and Leanne pointed the opposite door out, and Badou commented. Renamon nodded at him. "Hopefully...," she added, then moved past to stare at the door.

There was writing there, and it wasn't thick with clarity. “Only those two who offer their blood will be allowed entrance.” Symbolism or literalism, there was no way to say. The Digimon reached out to touch the snake-head, finger grazing along one of the fangs. Sharp. Was it literal blood, then?

[fonichymn]

If the set of doors before them was the only option available for forward motion, Tear distrusted it immensely. Ornate decore was one matter, but decore that included a snake's head was quite another. Especially when it asked for an offering in blood. The Melodist stared hard, eyes flitting between the head and the writing, and wondered exactly what was worth everything at the end of this path.

What are we getting into?

She closed her expression and braced herself for what was to come. Without another word, Tear reached for the opposite fang and pressed in, wincing lightly as the tip forced into her skin. Red dripped from the hole, dripping twice before the world turned black. Before everything became lost in sight.