The Forgotten Sibling

Chapter 14

The Underneath was Sam's least favorite place.

After Carlos revealed that the mysterious gem was down under, Sam was faced with her greatest fear: going to the place that she grew up learning was called hell.
This time, however, she had a purpose: retrieve the gem and bring it back to Star Tail, hopefully ending all of this mayhem and confront Jhaufyther for the chaos he's caused.
That part... she always paused at the 'confronting' part. It was hard for her to think about confronting Jhaufyther. Not only had he saved her life so many times, but he also sacrificed himself for her sake.
She felt those familiar claws of sadness clutch her heart. Jhaufyther's gone now, and she had to face life without a large, overgrown feline by her side.
She shook herself. Both Jhaufyther and Star Tail needed her help, and sitting here won't do anything.
"What is the Underneath?" Marissa asked, looking at her with confusion.
"It's..." How could she explain it? It was hell but not hell at the same time.
"Think of the worst place to ever live," Carlos said, helping her come up with the words. "Then multiply that by one billion. You're not even close to experiencing the pain the Underneath gives you."
"Is it really that bad?" Tommy asked, his eyes wide.
"Yes," Carlos and Sam said in unison.
Tommy and Marissa shared a fearful glance. Sam didn't blame them; the Underneath was where all evil originated from. It was filled with pain and death, and it was also swarming with Khrillin.
"I know that you're scared," Carlos said. "But we'll be with you every step of the way. We've BEEN there before; we know every nook and cranny." He made a sour face. "That sounded cheesy, but you get my point."
Marissa nodded. "Okay. I trust you two."
"I do too," Tommy agreed.
Satisfied with their answers, Sam turned to Carlos. "Let's go then."

The journey wasn't that eventful. At all. They saw a few squirrels and skittish deer that bounded away the moment they saw them. They ducked under low hanging branches and avoided being gored by bison. Other than that, the journey was fine.
At last, after a billion years, they arrived. The cobblestone path had cracked with age, and the flowers growing on the sides almost seemed to say: "Come enjoy a fun time being tortured!"
The lava ate away the rest of path, leaving blackened patches of grass on either side of it. Recent charred grass still steamed, making Sam cough.
She glanced at Carlos, who was gazing at the lava burning everything in sight. "How can you stand all this smoke?"
Carlos frowned. "This? This is nothing. I grew up around smoking relatives and grilling pollo."
"Riley would relate to that," Sam joked.
He nodded. "She would."
She could tell that he was in another galaxy, so she let him have his thoughts. "Let's go inside then," she said.
Heat crackled near her feet as she walked toward the towering entrance. It loomed over her, well over twenty feet tall with obsidian posts that had intricate carvings of eyes and the Khrillin process. They wove around the poles likes vines, eventually reaching the top where the worst art seemed to compile together. There was art of the Triplets killing humans, another one of Khrillin in their final stage, lying in agony and screaming. There was one showing Jhaufyther, his claws unsheathed behind someone. But the biggest one; the one that stood out to Sam the most, was the Massacre. The tornados and hurricanes seemed to be moving in the obsidian, villages of terrified people screaming as the huge Triplets destroyed and devoured their whole town.
Sam was so lost in the carvings that she didn't notice Carlos nudging her. "Sam. It's time to go."
She shook herself and looked at him. "Oh, okay."
Sam looked up at the carvings one last time before she stepped into the glowing orange doorway.

The first thing that hit her was the heat.
Her throat dried up and her lips cracked. She felt her skin blister and sweat dripping down her body. This was all too familiar; she could see the cliff where the Contaminite talked to her and revealing the big thing.
"You told us it wasn't that bad," Tommy panted, his hair slick with sweat.
"I told you it was a billion times worse," Carlos corrected. "And the ground is also littered with junk, so try not to step on that."
"Also ALSO," Sam added, "uh... there's a bunch of Contaminite swarming around. Try to avoid them."
"What are those?" Tommy asked as they started walking down the red path.
She looked at him, shocked. "Really?"
"What?"
"They're literally the lower, younger Khrillin," Carlos said. "The 'Khrillin' is the Contaminites' true name, but because people always butcher names that aren't from their language, they started calling them 'Contaminite.'"
"I like Khrillin much better," Marissa said.
"Thank you."
As they walked further, Sam noticed that the number of Contaminites had gone down drastically. They only saw a few that milled around, their eyes gray and empty. Their clothes were more tattered and stained than usual, but they still held those dagger sharp fangs for teeth.
Carlos suddenly stopped in front of the cliff. "I hate and love this place so much," he muttered.
Marissa looked at him, confused. "Why?"
"This is where we were met by a swarm of Contaminite," Sam explained. "But this is also the place where we became friends with all the Catwings. In a general sense."
"Wait... it was here?" Tommy looked completely baffled, and in spite of their current situation, Sam laughed.
"Yeah, I assume you heard from other people on the island that the Triplets just became friends with us out of the blue," she said.
"No, it's not that. It's just..."
"Tommy, what's the matter?"
His eyes became unfocused, staring at the cliff. "Why make such a... happy and cheerful announcement in a place like this?"
Sam asked herself that question so many times. Why would they do that? This place; it wasn't known for its happiness. It was called 'the Underearth' for a reason. It was the opposite of the beautiful Earth, with none of the gorgeous plants and flowing it rivers Earth possessed.
However, the more time Sam was on the island, the more she realized that the Earth was completely corrupted.
That said, all the new people who were either washed ashore or summoned here had some sort of trauma. There was one person who started screaming and sobbing as soon as she saw the island, and Sam later found out one of her family members was killed in an island very similar to this one-without the giant, people eating felines.
She also realized that Earth and hell-as she usually called it-were identical to each other. Leaving Earth to go here wasn't escaping the torture above; it was the same thing amplified by a lot.
Carlos was still zoned out. It took her a whole lot of pushing and nudging for him to come back. His eyes sparked with fire, which meant that he was talking with Lhrioun.
"You go on ahead," Sam said to Marissa and Tommy. "We'll catch up."
They nodded and continued down the path without a word. Sam turned to Carlos. "What did he say?"
"They're having no luck whatsoever. They are currently in the desert with Littefhur. Riley's also with them, and she says that Jhaufyther's getting worse."
The emotions Sam had were extremely conflicted. On one hand, she was glad to hear that Riley was alright. She was having her own adventures in the desert, and Sam didn't want to interfere her own situation with Riley's.
But on the other hand, she was worried about Jhaufyther. If he got worse... then that means he was getting closer and closer into going completely insane. He already went insane in the Abyss, but all this pressure that he'd been dealing with was clearly not good for his mental health.
"I wish we can give her a call right now," Sam said.
Carlos tilted his head. "Actually, we can. Jhaufyther mentioned to me that the island has some sort of signal, which will give us full wifi and be able to contact her."
"Another reason why I love this island."
"Same," Carlos agreed.
She reached out her arm and felt an immediate magnetic field surrounding her hand. A couple seconds later, her phone flew into her hand as clean and shiny as ever.
Carlos smiled. "What are you waiting for? Go give her a call. It'll be projected up above so our friends can see it."
Sam turned on her phone, logged into it, and opened Facetime.