Izari stood there, between the entrance to the chamber and the staircase that would lead them all out of this hellhole. He knew with clarity what he had to do; he couldn't leave yet. He had to save Lorian, Cassia, and the stubborn old Rona. Just a few hours ago, he didn't want to help Rona or Cassia, he was willing to give them up to their pursuers. But here he was now, ready to do anything to protect them. He took a deep breath as he turned to face Cassia.
"Cassia, you and the old man need to get out of here as soon as possible," Izari said, his voice firm.
Cassia replied with a resolute "no," surprising Izari a bit. He didn't have time for this, he thought. He didn't want anything to happen to her. But before he could say anything more, Rona cut in.
"Cassia has already made up her mind," the man said, his voice steady.
Izari reluctantly agreed, knowing that he didn't have time for this. He ran back into the chamber to save Lorian. The abomination, seeing him, quickly threw Lorian at a wall. Izari cursed as he realized he wasn't going to be fast enough to save him. But just before Lorian could come into a devastating collision with the wall, a purple force field manifested around him, preventing him from getting badly injured. Cassia, who had manifested the force field, slowly brought a relieved Lorian down as Izari muttered a thanks to the core.
But Izari was unsuspecting of the abomination, which had taken advantage of the distraction. It kicked Izari with so much force that it sent him into the chamber walls. The abomination started running at him as the chamber continued expanding, reality warping as the ceiling started moving upwards. Izari tried moving his arms, but the walls began molding onto them, shackling him to the walls. The wall solidified all around him, back into metal. The abomination began clubbing at the wall, turning it into rubble.
As the dust cleared, there was no sight of Izari in the rubble. The abomination growled in anger as Izari emerged through the wall, rendering himself tangible, and began running away from the abomination. It quickly turned and began throwing the rubble at him. The projectiles began to warp and increase in size. Izari quickly rendered himself intangible as the projectiles fell all around him and through him. Once he'd gained enough distance, he turned and began charging at the abomination full speed, increasing his density. The abomination began thrashing at his direction, sending ripples through reality, but Izari kept pushing through. He launched himself at the abomination, landing his blow at what he assumed was the torso, sending it reeling backwards several feet before it lashed out, grabbing him. But Izari rendered himself intangible, escaping its grab.
As soon as he landed, he grabbed one of the rocks on the floor before hauling it at its knee. The rock barely injured the abomination before it jumped atop him stomping him repeatedly. Suddenly, a projectile exploded right in front of the abomination's face. It slowly looked up to where the explosive had come from. Lorian was charging up another stone rubble. He shouted at the abomination, as he threw two more glowing rocks at it, which immediately exploded upon contact. These attacks, however, didn't do much damage as the creature brushed it off before unleashing another guttural scream through the numerous mouths all around its body.
The floor began to ripple like water, the veins on the floor ripping out as they spewed the dark fluid, which began to rise up in globs and coagulate. The force of the screams sent all of them flying across the chamber. It stopped its attack and began walking towards an injured Cassia. It let out low guttural screeches as it stretched out one of its dozen double-joined arms to grab her. It grabbed her, bringing her close to its face, the three massive monolith machine shards with the faces on them falling silent, their mouths shutting and their eyes closing. The joints between the shards began to glow as they split open, revealing more of the bright green light, the small shard of the womb mind, which had managed to enter that reality using this amalgamation of flesh.
Cassia struggled, pulling against the telekinetic grasp, trying to get away from the womb mind as tendrils of its bright light essence began to move towards her. She unleashed a powerful purple psionic blast on the tendrils approaching her. Her skin glowed a dim purple as she repelled more tendrils trying to entangle her. She screamed, "Get off me!" as she blasted a powerful psionic blast at the womb mind essence in between the shards, sending the ten-foot amalgamation reeling back, screaming through the numerous faces. She fell down on the rippling floor, got up, and immediately continued blasting at the abomination. The blast ripped pieces of its flesh apart, some of its arms falling on the floor, the flesh ripping out as it tried to use its remaining arms to block the attack. It then picked up a large sheet of metal plate and threw it at her. The plate moved at her at sonic levels of speed. She tried to block it, pulling off her left arm and firing a psionic blast at it, but she didn't react in time. Just as the plate came into contact with her, Lorian appeared from behind her, grabbing the plate with both his hands, and using its momentum to swing it around, charging it with explosive energy before launching it at the abomination. The massive explosion shook the whole chamber, ripping off a large chunk of its abdomen. It let out guttural screams of pain through the remaining mouths it had left. Then everything went silent as it slumped down, its limbs twitching.
"Cassia, are you okay?" he asked, his voice rough but clear, cutting through the fading echoes of the collapse.
She winced, dropping to one knee as she clutched her head, her knuckles white. "Just... a slight headache," she murmured, the word "slight" belied by the grip she had and the tremor in her voice.
A small, almost imperceptible smile touched Lorian's lips. "A slight headache? After that collapse?" He extended a hand, helping her back to her feet with a surprising gentleness. As she straightened, her eyes, wide with sudden realization, fixed on him.
"Your ears!" she exclaimed, her voice concerned.
Lorian touched the side of his head, a wry grimace turning the slight smile. "Not fully, no. But at least I can hear now."
A scraping sound drew their attention, and Rona cautiously emerged from behind a shattered stone wall, dust clinging to his tattered coat. His face, trying to mask the pain he was in.
"Rona! You're alive!" Cassia breathed, a hand flying to her chest.
Rona nodded. "I clearly know I wasn't supposed to be the one saying this, but we have to make sure that creature is fully dead before it becomes an even greater problem." His eyes, held a glint of genuine fear.
"I can handle it." Lorian replied and without another word, he turned, his strides purposeful and swift as he headed towards the direction of the abomination.
"Be careful!" Rona called after him, then turned sharply to Cassia.
"And Cassia...get Izari out of there." Rona pointed out behind her.
Cassia helped an injured Izari from the rubble he was lying in as he mumbled some incoherent words as he tried to get on his feet. Meanwhile, at a distance, Lorian squatted several feet away from the abomination as he charged the whole diameter of where the abomination was laying with explosive energy. Suddenly, something moved underneath the abomination's skin as one of the mouths on it began trying to mutter something incoherent. A hand tore out of the creature's back, another hand followed suit. Both began tearing the skin around the mouth, and soon enough, a face emerged - Amara. Lorian let out a scream of disbelief as Amara continued tearing her way out of the abomination, which had now begun to stir back to life again. Both Cassia and Izari stopped to look at what was scaring Lorian. Izari quickly dropped to his knees in shock. Amara's eyes were full of fear and pain; she still couldn't process what was happening to her. Her mouth was finally able to croak out a desperate plea, "Help me." There was a moment of silence as Lorian, Cassia, and Izari glared at Amara, their expressions softening to a slight sympathy as she tried to outstretch her hand towards them