One Little Spark: Part 1

Chapter 24

          The shrieks have echoed throughout the room of a den where Rachel and her friends have been taken. Stalagmites and stalactites tower and dangle from the ceiling and the floor below. Along with them, dark colored sand dunes are piled all around as well as stacks of remained carcasses of beings who have previously visited the cave and have been tragically devoured. A green haze is floating in the atmosphere, much like the one Rachel and her friends inhaled when they got deeper into the cave. It definitely smells the same and the consistency is much thicker down here. The den is dark all around with no source of light except for the light of the eyes of the creature the tentacle holding Rachel belongs to, to which Rachel felt the need scream at.

          Below her is a horrific creature unlike anything she has ever seen. The eight tentacles that resemble the amount of an octopus' rise up to the ceiling are connected to a giant clump of a purple flesh being. It has eleven yellowy eyes circling around its two-layered mouth. The outer layer holds a 360° row of decayed claw-shaped teeth, white the center of the creature holds a giant squid-like beak as black as obsidian with teeth as red as blood. Out of that beak comes its long tongue that looks sharp enough to whip a person to death in one blow. Underneath the whole thing is its sack-like body. Its purple flesh grosses Rachel out to where she would want to throw up. Green veins pop out in pulses pumping outwardly. Right in between the sack and the mouth are its seven purple spidery legs with black tips. If there is one thing that Yuna has been right about, it is that the creature is much too horrible to say in words.

          Two of the other tentacles aside from the one Rachel is bound in are holding the unconscious Dreamfinder and Figment. For Figment's small body, the tentacle holds him wholly like a boa constrictor catching its prey. That is pretty much what he is at this point anyway. His little face looks more green that royal purple due to the green foggy haze floating everywhere. It sulks droopily with gloom and defeat that he looks sick enough to throw up as well. All that is left visible for Rachel to see him out of the tentacle is his head, shoulders and the tip of his tail with the two little orange rods on both sides. She could not tell if Figment is breathing still of if the tentacle has taken all the wind out of that poor little dragon.

          Dreamfinder, on the other hand, looks more relaxed than sick or worse, dead. Three layers of the one tentacle holding him are covering his torso. The tip of the tentacle rubs all over Dreamfinder's face covering him with the goop that is also seeping through his clothes. The cups attached to it gently press onto his cheeks as they are being mistaken for soft kisses. His head now lies on the tentacle's tip and he turns his face toward the cups. The goop that is gushing from those cups soak through his beard and mustache to every particle of his flesh. Thinking that the cups are something else in his little dream world, the Dreamfinder smiles a bit. It was definitely enough for Rachel to turn away from his view and puke in disgust.

"Aw sick!" Rachel shouted with disgust. "What the heck is that?"

"Abiteth." Yuna said grimly.

"Abiteth?"

"Abiteth the Desert Crab of Deshandjah. Abiteth means devourer."

"Should I even ask what Abiteth intends to do with me and my friends?"

"You could, but it will only sound redundant to do so."

"Dreamfinder! Figment! Wake up!" Rachel screams.

          Neither Dreamfinder nor Figment can hear Rachel calling to them. They must have inhaled too much of that green fog into a deep coma. And there is a lot more of it floating about in this den than back around the swirling cave. Abiteth holds Figment far up towards the ceiling while he starts to slowly lower Dreamfinder towards its hungry beak. Each of them looks lifeless enough to be dead. It is even hard for Rachel to tell if their movements are them squirming in their dreaming or if they are just dangling around with a pulse.

          Frantically, Rachel searches around her for anything she can use to wake up her friends. All there is are the stalactites hanging like a wall of large icicles. One of them looks like it might fall at anytime. With the right amount of force, it can break and fall to the ground. Rachel pulls one arm free out of Abiteth's grip. With all her might, she tries to swing towards the weak stalactite. Her legs wrap around the upside-down pointed rock as she grabs her arm onto another for stability.

"Yuna," Rachel called, "you go see if you can wake up Figment. I'm gonna try break this and throw it down before Dreamfinder becomes fish bait." As soon as Yuna is gone, Rachel mumbles, "I swear, I've been the only one who's saving everyone's asses on this trip. I mean really!"

          Yuna scurries through the air to Figment while Rachel starts breaking the stalactite. She dodges the tentacles that wave at her direction. The sprite gets whacked by one of them before she was able to reach the fainted purple dragon. She spins in tiny circles, dizzy from the creature's hit. Snapping out of her confusion, Yuna continues her dodging and arrives at Figment's side. She tries bouncing on him, pulling his eyelids open, and tickling his nose to make him sneeze. Nothing seems to work.

          Unaware of being lowered to the jaws of Abiteth, Dreamfinder's mind remains numb and his body motionless. His pale face is covered with the beast's ooze as it seeps into his skin. The smile on his face still remained little due to his dreams. It is irritating for Rachel wondering how Dreamfinder could sleep and dream at a time like this. All the more reason to keeping kicking onto the loose stalactite.