"Sure this thing isn't gonna…you know?" He asked worriedly.
Blimpo waved his hand, "It'll be fine! You have to trust the machine or she won't trust you back."
"That sounds unbelievably sketchy," he muttered in response.
Either way, it was too late to have his doubts as the elevator was already descended far enough that looking up only allowed him to see darkness above, just as there was below. There was no doubting the far reaches of the chasm as the elevator ride lasted multiple minutes, leading to depths even deeper into the pits of the After.
–Then, it finally stopped.
"Looks like we're here," Blimpo noted.
As the elevator touched down onto the ground floor of the enigmatic chasm, the wooden doors released for the two to leave. The moment they stepped off of the rickety transport, it hummed as the gears began grinding again, allowing it to ascend back to the top.
He looked up briefly, watching the elevator leave as more came-and-went. It was disheartening to see the method of traveling up-and-down from the chasm leave.
CHK. CHK. CHK.
It was noisy; the sound of pickaxes smashing against the walls of the deep-down territory echoed against his ears as he looked forward.
There were a dozen miners, all monotonously slamming their tools against the rock, collecting material as they filled their wheelbarrows. The only light present were a few sparse torches by the miners themselves.
"Talk about bad working conditions," he said, coughing at the fumes present in the chasm.
"Can't say it pays well either," Blimpo joked.
It was unsettling just how lifelessly the denizens of the After swung their pickaxes, holding no life in their eyes, only moving their arms up and down like soulless machinery. The two slowly marched on by, though to him it almost felt like he was on a tour through the miseries of what existed beyond life.
…This is bad. It's like Blimpo said…I can't linger on anything or I'll be on a fast track to becoming just like these people, he thought.
The chasm was vast, but hardly of many notable features but its veins of coal and colossal walls of blackened rock. However, one thing stuck out as odd to the young man as he continued forward down the initial path of the mining area.
"Huh."
"What is it?" Blimpo looked at him.
Emilio looked around briefly before glancing back, seeing and hearing the miners back where he came from, still slamming away with their pickaxes, "Why aren't any of them working down here?"
"Hmm, good question," Blimpo considered, "Maybe they just haven't gotten this far yet."
"Maybe. What if there's some sort of limit to how far they're supposed to go?" He asked.
"Limit?...I don't know anything about that. Let's just be on the lookout, then," Blimpo responded.
It was somewhat unnerving to only hear the monotonous mining in the far distance behind him as he ventured deeper into the chasm, no longer aided with the light of torches, however, a small bit of light did exist in the form of glowing ore in the walls.
The deep caverns stretched out into a large territory, though there was a vague path "forward" that the young man still knew as the proper path from his earlier gaze with his right eye.
The air was bitter, every gust in the deep depths howled like the shrieks of forgotten souls, leaving Emilio wary, prepared to respond to any threats at a moment's notice.
"...Creepy," he muttered.
"I would say you get used to it in the After, but…This chasm really is on another level of spookiness, I'll agree to that," Blimpo remarked with a nervous smile.
Far enough in, the sounds of the miners no longer reached his ears with their echoing pickaxes, now leaving the two in silence for all but their footsteps.
An upward slope came, forcing them to climb upward in a tiring effort, though mostly for the elven tinkerer, who used a rope-firing gadget to drag himself up to the summit of the rocky hill.
"...Huh."
After climbing the slope deep in the chasm, a sight laid before both of their eyes that could only be explained as "wondrous"; a nonsensical existence, yet one that was beautiful and unsettling in one package.
"What is this?" He asked in shock.
"Dunno. This is my first time seeing something like this too," Blimpo responded, just as enamored with the scenery before the two.
It was a large, open space deep into the cave, though filled with a subtle glow of azure waves that rippled through the empty space, though that void was filled by the creatures that existed in it: marine life.
Though they were clearly marine animals such as schools of fish, squid, and even whales, they swam through the air itself in the mystical chasm.
He led the way into the mystical environment, walking on the ground as he watched a school of clownfish "swim" right past him as if they were darting through water.
"They're swimming…in the air?" He audibly wondered.
"Seems so," Blimpo responded, "Maybe fish come to the After, too? I always thought some level of sentience was required…but, well, thinking about it–I guess if objects can arrive here, everything is game, huh?"
"Makes sense. Still, you'd think they'd be sent somewhere with water," he remarked.
Nonetheless, it was a fascinating experience as he looked up, watching a great, blue-skinned whale casting a large shadow over him as it floated on by. Something of such gargantuan size simply and elegantly swimming through the air itself was certainly a sight.
Still, there came a problem with this discovery–
"Shark!" Blimpo called out.
A great-white shark swiftly rushed in from seemingly nowhere, able to swim through the air at a vicious speed as it spread its deathly jaws towards the elven man.
"--!"
Emilio was quick to react, intercepting the massive predator's path as he clenched his left fist, allowing the draconic strength within him to flood through his arm before he slammed his knuckles against the nose of the large shark.
[Dragon Strike]
FWOOM
The superhuman impact rippled through the predator's slippery body before the shock wave itself tore through the shark, reducing its solid form into nothing but a red mist.
"...Nice save…" Blimpo breathed out, "Dontcha think you went a bit overkill with it, though?"
Looking at his own fist, Emilio then noticed the schools of fish fleeing after the loud impact, "Maybe a tad bit. Now we have to worry about sharks on dry land? This really is Hell."
"Ha-ha! How do ya think I feel?! I'm glad I've got you by my side though–you punch as hard as a Stone Giant!"
As Blimpo spoke excitedly, he mimicked Emilio by shadow boxing the air, though was forced to catch up to the young Dragonheart who already began to continue on.
"Let's just keep moving–"
Attempting to finish his own sentence, he was completely frozen by a realization before him, staring at the darkness that laid on the path he walked.
Blimpo looked confused, "What's up?"
The elven man lifted his goggles, squinting as he looked northward just as the Dragonheart did towards the darkness. What couldn't be seen purely with vision just yet could be felt–
RUMBLE
All of the fish that swam naturally through the air dispersed, leaving the two young men standing in the open space of the deep, dark cavern.
"What's causing that…?" Blimpo asked.
"You don't see that?" Emilio asked, "--What the hell is that?!"
In the vision of the young man, he could perceive what laid in the dark, or rather, that far-spanning mass of darkness that made up the entire other half of the cavern was something else entirely.
The darkness seemed to move, shadows stretching before it finally became comprehended to the elf's eyes, "Ya gotta be kidding me…! That's a shark?!"
RUMBLE-RUMBLE
It felt as though everything was shaking as the lifeform revealed itself; its skin as a jet-black, matching the shadows themselves, only discernible from the glowing, crimson streaks that ran along its body.
Its mouth parted with a width capable of swallowing entire houses, revealing countless rows of teeth each capable of skewering a grown man on their own.
Naturally, the two began running, aiming to the left where Emilio had called out a hole in the wall that the colossal shark wouldn't be able to reach.
"Just what kind of shark is that?!" Emilio asked.
"Dunno, but I'm not trying to get a closer look!" Blimpo said.
Though there was hardly a chance of the elven man outrunning the monstrous creature as it swam through the air fiercely despite its gargantuan size.
Shit! Blimpo won't make it! He realized.
–There was no other choice but for him to meet the creature that dwarfed him one-hundredfold in battle as he spun around and stomped down.
"Are ya actually going to fight that thing?!" Blimpo asked.
"I'm going to kill that thing!" Emilio corrected him, manifesting sparks and embers around his artificial arm.
That fiery confidence originated from the Dragonheart blood he pumped through his veins, rapidly spurring on a transformation.
[Dragonheart System Activated]
[Current Stage: 2/10 | Dragon Son]
If I resort to magic, I could end up toppling down chunks of this chasm right on top of us–for now, I'm going to need to keep things "controlled"! He planned.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺