"EROS! WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE?"
What am I supposed to do? Eros had already closed his eyes and accepted his fate. Oh well, at least Elise and Mother won't have to incinerate me.
Eros' father quickly scooped him up and threw him into a hole in the roof of the tunnel. Where this hole had come from? Eros had the faintest idea.
His father climbed up just in time as the wall completely broke down and the boiling stream of fire swallowed everyone in their team. Their horrifying screams were soon drowned out by the raging tides.
"ALPHA TEAM, DO YOU COPY?" His father screamed into his comms. "TUNNEL 7 HAS BEEN COMPROMISED! I REPEAT, TUNNEL 7 HAS BEEN COMPROMISED!"
"This is Alpha Team, copy. We're immediately closing the gate. What's your location?"
"We're about 30 kilometers out, near Sector C of Tunnel 7. I was able to drill a hole into the roof in time before the lava fully poured in."
What? How did he manage to do that so quickly? His father had always been known as the fastest driller on their team, but drilling a hole into the roof within a split second was insanely fast. It's not even humanly possible...
"I'd say we have about 20 minutes before the tunnel is completely filled. There's no way back from where we're at, gonna have to keep moving forward and see if we can drill into Tunnels 6 or 8."
"Try making your way to Sector S, it's the only sector in the tunnel that's wide enough to connect into the other tunnels."
"Roger that." His father took a long deep breath, stretching his arms and legs. "Let's go, if we wait around long enough, Shadow Worms might show up."
Eros was still visibly shaking uncontrollably. The screams had not left his mind yet and he doubted it ever would. It was a sound he had spent many nights trying to forget after witnessing Uncle Gero's demise.
Besides the light from the lava in the hole they had climbed through, all Eros could see was an overwhelming darkness. Unlike in the settlement where they at least had some street lights, there was nothing to see but an endless pitch black. The vastness of it terrified him, the possibility of being engulfed by that darkness.
His father rested his firm hands on his shoulders, halting his shaking.
"Now is not the time to be afraid."
"But Father, I'm afraid of the dark."
"If you don't face that fear, it'll be your demise. It's the only way you'll ever grow. Now, let's go."
How many hours have passed? They walked for what felt like an eternity. Their already defective helmet flashlights were running out of battery and soon they wouldn't even be able to see their own pale hands in the dark. Sector S can't be this far? Did we pass it already?
"Father, I think we should turn back. We might have mis—"
His father wrapped his hand around Eros' mouth, whispering into his ear. "Be very quiet. Walk slowly. If they hear you, we will die..."
Had his father not stopped him in his tracks, Eros would have walked straight into a Shadow Worm nest. His helmet flashlight caught one wiggling its way to the corner of the room.
When Eros first started working the mines, his father warned him that they were extremely sensitive to sunlight which is why they lived in these tunnels. They have no eyes or nose and depend heavily on their hearing and touching. A Shadow Worm's size could vary depending on whether or not it has been affected by sunlight. If it had been touched by sunlight, they become smaller in size and easier to kill. But if they haven't been touched by sunlight for a long time much like the one in front of them, they would be about the size of an adult male's leg.
Just my luck, the gods really don't want me to live today. Eros scoffed without making an actual sound. The worse part was that he had no idea just how many there were in the room with them. Standing still was not an option because it would only further increase the risk of a Shadow Worm wiggling by his leg and then tearing it straight off. Okay, just breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Maybe a bit slower. Wait which will make more noise, breathing through my mouth or nose?
Oh almighty gods, should I die here today and should it be part of some grand plan of fate, you WILL have to explain to me exactly why it was necessary that I die in the most barbaric way possible.
Eros slowly walked behind his father, matching his steady pace. They were making good progress, reaching about halfway through the open room until... SQUISH! SQUISH! SQUISH!
Why the hell is there mud down here? But it was not mud. Eros reached down, trying to grasp what he was standing on. Whatever it was, it stuck to his pale little hand... and it smelled vile. It's... vomit? Their vomit made the dirt wet, we can't keep walking this path or else we'll draw more attention to ourselves.
His father was already a step ahead of him, taking off his boots and stepping back onto the dry dirt. He signaled for Eros to do the same but, unfortunately, Eros' flashlight died in this moment. Trying to feel the ground around him to get a sense of his surroundings, he felt something else instead. Something more cold and squishy touched his hand back. Before he could even process what he was touching, the Shadow Worm opened it's humongous mouth to bare its sharp yellow teeth at him.
Crap...
Frozen in pure fear, Eros watched as the Shadow Worm launched itself at his face. It made a terrible, deafening screech as it lunged in the air, nearly causing Eros' eardrums to bleed. Right before the creature's fangs could sink its teeth into Eros' muddy face, the creature was launched twenty feet in the opposite direction, hitting a wall with a loud thud and leaving an enormous crack on it. His father stood in front of him, panting heavily after having punched the monstrosity.
What? How did Father do that? Before Eros could ask him, there were loud screeching noises coming from every corner of the room, almost as if they had set off an alarm.
7? No, maybe 10? There's got to be at least 12 Shadow Worms inhere.
There were 20.
"Listen to me boy, hurry up and keep running. Take my flashlight and don't stop until you find Sector S."
"But Father, what about you!"
"I'll be behind you, now GO!"
"Bu—"
"GO!" Another Shadow Worm launched itself at Eros but his father quickly intercepted, punching a hole into it. Eros stood there, shocked by his father's strength. He never knew it was possible to fight Shadow Worms, he only ever thought it was possible to survive them and even then, that was an extremely low chance. But to fight these terrifying creatures, surely no human was capable of it.
Eros ran towards the path ahead, stopping when a Shadow Worm appeared in front of him. As the creature prepared to lunge itself at him, his father appeared before him, punching a hole into the creature's face. How did he get in front of me? Just how fast is Father?
Calm down. Ask him later, not now. Eros continued sprinting down the ever-growing darkness, his fear being replaced by a sense of safety now that his father was suddenly a Shadow Worm slayer. He laughed psychotically as another Shadow Worm screeched at him, sticking his tongue out at it as his father once again appeared in front of the creature and killed it.
This continued on for another 10 minutes until he finally found a sign:
Tunnel 7 - SectorS
"Father! I found Sector S!" Eros screamed ecstatically, jumping up and down. "We did it! We actually did it! Can you believe it? Father..."
Eros looked around but saw no signs of his father anywhere. He had stopped hearing the screeching and fighting about 5 minutes prior but assumed his father killed them all and was running behind him.
Crap! Did I leave Father behind? Did I outrun him? No! What if they killed Father? Eros took a deep breath. Okay, relax Eros. Relax. You saw Father, you saw what he did. No way they could kill him. He was probably just out of breath after killing them all and will probably be here any second. Like right now!
Eros looked back the way he had come from but still saw no one.
Okay. No problem. Now!
Still, no one had arrived.
Now!
Nothing.
Now! Now! Now!
"DAMN IT! FATHER WHERE ARE YOU? FOLLOW MY VOICE IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!"
No one replied. He heard nothing but his own heartbeat. THUD! THUD! THUD! Resting his hand on his chest, he closed his eyes and took another deep breath to calm down. THUD! THUD! THUD!
Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. You're just having a bad day. No! You're having a TERRIBLE day. When you open your eyes, everything will be fine and you will see Father.
Eros opened his tired violet eyes but not to the familiar darkness. A strange glow emitted from his hand, the one that had touched the Shadow Worm's vomit. He hadn't noticed it until now, but there was a strange, ominous black mask stuck to his hand from the vomit.
He studied the mask carefully, cleaning as much vomit off of it as possible. It had blood tear drops underneath the eye holes, the mouth was stitched closed, and the mask itself seemed to pulse angrily as if it were alive.
Eros decided to put the strange mask on.
Big mistake.
"EROS..."