A Star's Descent

Chapter Sixteen: Hierophant

A Star's Descent

By evolution-500

Disclaimer: House of the Dead and Resident Evil are properties belonging to SEGA and Capcom respectively. I do not own any of these characters.

Chapter Sixteen: Hierophant

Music recommended during later part of story: Battle For The Sky - GOD OF WAR 2

The first sensations that it felt was a curious tingling, followed by a sharp spike in temperature, a brief flash of pain, then an all encompassing coldness.

Though blind and incapable of abstract thought, the creature's primitive mind was still able to recognize the change in environment.

For a while, it remained still, letting its body adapt to the cold. As it got more used to its surroundings, however, the creature felt more daring and explorative, allowing itself to drift with the current, guided by electrolocation.

For a time, the drift was uneventful and left it at ease.

That had ended when some of the indigenous species started to attack it.

Some of them seemed slightly similar to the ones back "home", but even then it was still able to tell that these new beings were different in some unexplainable way. Despite all attempts to dominate and capture, their efforts were futile, for the Hierophant was a far superior predator than they were or ever could be.

Unsatisfied with the kills, it turned away and allowed itself to drift.

Down, further down it slid motionlessly with the current, with nothing but the cold accompanying it.

Down, further down it had drifted, blissfully unaware and uncaring for how long; time was irrelevant. The only concern that it had was finding a suitable meal.

For a time it remained stationary, allowing the drift to guide its direction when there came a sudden urge to swim, like its head was being pulled toward a single point in some distant location.

It didn't know why it had to, nor did it try comprehending; it merely obeyed the electrode implanted into its brain and swam mindlessly on.

* * * * *

Rebecca sighed as she looked around.

Where had Star gone this time? The albino always seemed to have a penchant for disappearing, and she was getting really annoyed by it.

After the door closed behind her, she found herself in a tight and narrow stone corridor with a semicircular arched roof that led straight to an upward staircase. At her right-hand side, just half way down the passage, though, was a wooden door. 

Curiosity getting the better of her, Rebecca cracked it open to peer inside. A study filled with lush furnishings and a crackling fireplace, it was a cozy-looking room, but Rebecca knew that it was merely a façade for whatever other horrors laid within. 

Once she was certain that Star wasn't in there, she quickly closed it shut, her attention now placed on the staircase as she began her climb.

'Please God, don't let there be more leeches or leech things,' she prayed.

When she got to the top, Rebecca blinked with surprise at what awaited. 

An ominous contrast to the study's warm and tranquil quality, what lay before her was a massive vaulted room with two pillars at the center. 

At the far corner to her left were four wall-mounted crank levers connected to a collection of chain-operated pulleys, all of which overlooked two slight concaves in the floor with a pair of large steel pipes that lay opposite to them. Letting her gaze trail upward from the pulley chains, Rebecca saw a collection of cages hanging from the ceiling, the torch light making the bars stand out like ribs.