Eryn dusted himself down, making sure he didn't land on the still sticky
remains of the past. He managed to catch a glimpse of Danton before he fell
backwards into the void. He hadn't escaped like he had wanted to but was now flailing
around in mid-air. His ranting was panicked and mostly incomprehensible. The
only details that could be made out, was the name of Eryn, and the phrase How
could you? From far-off , Xera caught the glimpse of Eryn's flame
landing on the disk and Danton falling off straight after. He was now satisfied
that he had every piece of information he could personally gather from the
platform, although this was as much as Eryn had gathered and tried to jump back.
He managed to get caught in the low gravity, much like Eryn had when he tried
to cross over initially. Like Eryn, he too managed to find his way to the
platform. Danton however, had to be rescued by Eryn's flaming hand. Although
Danton was too far for the canister that sprayed a protective coating and was
singed as he was brought back onto the platform.
Jarvi meanwhile, was following the metal beam away from the platform
under the assumption he was leading the pack. His words fell on deaf ears. Soon
enough he was nearing a distance where he too was a speck in the distance much
like the other disk. A wall of heat rose up in front of Jarvi from out of
nowhere, singing the hairs on his head. The wall was slowly pushing him
backwards, and for not wanting to get burned, Jarvi shuffled backwards. He soon
joined the rest of the group, which allowed Eryn to finally dismiss his flaming
hand. Danton had fainted on contact when he was grabbed and had not yet awoken.
Eryn decided this was probably the best time to rest and a briefing. He told
the others about what he had learned from the old man; about the prospects of
visiting a realm named 'Hell' and the possibility that not only does the place
they were currently residing in distort space but time as well.
It took around twenty minutes for Danton to finally gain a semblance of
lucidity, although he was a little unstable on his feet. He was still however,
made to balance on the metal beam. Danton was already prepared for the
aftermath of Nastrond after countless years taking it but it required time and recuperation.
He needed to be able to balance but he didn't have the strength for it, nor the
mental fortitude. It dawned on him however he had 'recovered' something with
magnetic properties. He brought out two metallic strips that he fixed to his
shoes and demonstrated to those that could see, his ability not only to walk
with ease across the metal beam, but also underneath it and at the sides. It
was as though gravity was at his beck and call. With Danton now having a more
secure footing, the group pressed onwards. Eryn was sporadically making sure
Jarvi was not only kept up to date with the situation although his blindness
was a fact consistently forgotten. For safety Eryn had an idea to put in the
middle of the pack to minimise the risks his blindness brought. The dark was unfathomable
and therefore deadly. It was neither cold nor warm, windy nor wet, the absence
of anything unnerved them all. Their constant concentration on their footing
left the void around them unchecked until they were swarmed by flying wingless
fleshy disks with metallic scissoring pincers.
Danton, without a word to the rest of the group, flipped his orientation
so that he was upside down. This, he had hoped, would allow him to dodge the initial
onslaught. His actions were not needed however as the swarm engulfed the group
in its entirety, with one managing to slice at Eryn's leg and another to stab
into Danton's shoulder. In response, Danton lashed out with his karambit
digging into the flying disk's flesh before it struggled and broke free. Eryn
quickly centred himself and shot out a fireball from his halo, instantly
killing one of the creatures. The disk Danton had slashed had also started
flailing around in the air, landing next to Eryn and Xera. The wound had almost
dissected the creature allowing Xera to see metallic webbing acting as a sort
of endoskeleton. It branched like veins, with a hinge in the middle so the
creature could fold itself in half like wings to fly. Xera quickly mentioned
this to Eryn and the disconcerting similarities it had the internal structure
of the Neave clones. If this was a Nibovian construct of some sorts as Eryn
feared, everyone's lives were in now greater danger.
Metallic pincers flashed in the corner of Xera's eye sight, and shot back
with his molecular converter to kill the fleeting creature. This was followed
by kills by all the group, the corpses hanging in the air like a misshapen wind
chime. On the other hand, Jarvi's bird of prey was not having much luck with
these creatures. Although to the naked eye the disks should not be able to fly,
they were out-manoeuvring the bird. It however served a purpose, the constant
attacks by the hawk distracted the disks. This was long enough for Danton
to take off one of his shoes and to start waving it as the diminished swarm
passed. The magnet attracted the metal inside one and was netted. As it made contact with the magnet
there was a small discharge of golden electricity and the creature was
instantly disabled, without Danton's interference or knowledge. He stuffed the
creature into his satchel, glad not to have to do any more work to it, being
careful not to damage the bloodspot like eye, put his shoe back on and returned
right way up to the rest of the group.
For another hour or more, the group travelled slowly along the beam. The
constant darkness, the lack of forms or even a breeze started to cause the
group to slip from their concept of time. The end of this beam was not hell
like the old man had described. In front of them was a planet of dust. It was
as though they were looking down onto earth from the moon. Jarvi pushed passed
those in front to get a better position and perhaps feel for something beneficial.
His senses told him little apart from the smell of dirt, a sensation only felt
when the ground was near. Without hesitation or prior warning he leapt from the
beam, while the rest of the group watched as he fell into a speck in the
distance.
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