A Timber for a Wolf (Comment-driven)

by Solarkness

Arc Of Other Part Two

APonyReadingFanfics' Comment

You realise that it would be an unnecessary risk to enter the ominous hole.

You also realise you wouldn't have needed to get new water, since you don't have to drink considering the Afterlife doesn't want you (makes dehydrating pretty hard), and you never have seen Dalekarian drink.

You wonder how the water-reserves got so low, seeing how you now consider all those good points.

You decide to leave the cave. Why take an unnecessary risk? Sure, this whole journey could be called one, but that was because you forgot to think before doing something.

The roof collapses right in front of you, keeping you from leaving the cave.

If you knew you were in a story, you might think: 'Couldn't you have thought about a better way to do that? I mean, perhaps a huge horde of Post-Apocalyptic Cockatrice met in front of the cave, and stayed there.' However, this is purely hypothetical and not at all something applyable to the current situation.

You turn around and sigh.

"Into the rabbit-hole we go", you mutter to yourself, even tho it is only you who is going into a hole, and it definitely is not a rabbit-hole.

As you go through the hole, which is revealed to be a long tunnel, you take notice of the special conditions of this tunnel:

Firstly, the walls, floor and ceiling of the tunnel are coated in slime.

Secondly, it is creepily symmetrical. No nonsapient creature would ever do this.

This is pawmade. Something has built this. While your first impression was that a giant worm dug it, you now realise that something else refined this. That means it most likely lives here, and if it lives here after the apocalypse...

You hope it is friendly, because you are tired of fighting all the time.

Fighting verbally, fighting physically, fighting psychically...

You have had enough of that for another million years. You are sick of neverending conflict, you are furious about everyone's incapability to get along.

Sometimes, you wonder if it would be better if you just laid down and left it all behind...

But you cannot. The Afterlife does not allow you to do that. You cannot leave it behind. You cannot leave anything behind.

The tunnel reaches a crossroad. Lustlessly, you decide to turn the right way. It's just... why? Why keep pushing others away? The survivors could have built up a colony, if they would have just... listened. But no, they kept tearing eachother apart, in a senseless scavange for useless objects.

The original survivor-count? Over tenthousand.

The survivor-count now? You are not sure there are any other survivors besides you and Dalekarian.

You arrive at yet another crossroad. This time, you turn left, to avoid possible walking in circles.

Heck, those ruins in the cities? They were much more intact before the survivors came along. In their greedy, selfish need to possess everything, they destroyed the tiny hope that was left.

They destroyed all possibility of rebuilding society.

A third crossroad comes into your view. This one does not have three tunnels including yours, like the ones before, but rather five including yours. You take the second from the right, and follow it for a while.

The tunnel leads into a big cave with only one other tunnel leading out. This cave, too, is creepily even.

On the right wall (from your view), you could see a graffity-picture. It was a black sphere surrounded by two more black circles, which are separated into eight different parts each.

One has the symbol of a leaf, one of a tear with a grey leaf in it, one of a bloodred wing, one of a monocle, of a scythe, of a purple cloud with stars in it, of a badly drawn snowflake, and of... your friend, Dalekarian.

You look at it confused, wondering why such a thing is here. You do not understand what it is saying, but you realise that it probably is important to whoever inhabits the cage, especially considering all the colour that went into it.

Seriously, you look at it, and instantly know it is much too bright for your eyes. That shouldn't be in a cave.

You can see that the whole rest of the wall is filled with messages, obviously from two different persons. While one writes very orderly, the other one always tends to... 'enhance' his / her words. He / she always had to correct mistakes.

However, there is one message that seems to be from a different person. And it is glowing.

fmrevihv

exytexgnouefitoskubhyzer

ubk bppoj hw b hofluggqi ubk vmoa or e mck slf nkzv jm zgi myge xiy ybcubk get vkdr tykm xiy snrpwrd mu cy trlhuvr ubk rrpqlkely nzw cykm qfhzhsoyj slf nomgbh or hjmgqqfx

You stare at it, wondering what it could mean, when a roar echoes through the cave, from the direction you came from.

Startled you jump up, before realising that you are wasting your time. You should be looking for an exit, not staring at some nonsense writing at the wall. Or pictures that are hurting your eyes.

As you decide to leave the cave, the roar is to be heard again, right before an Evolved Tatzlwurm breaks through the wall in front of you.

---

Evolved Tatzlwurm; Also called: New Tatzlwurm / Tatzlwurm
Appearance: It looks pretty much like the old Tatzlwurm, with the addition of a dozen insectoid legs. You personally believe that they actually are the hybrids between a Tatzlwurm and a giant centipede.
Powers: Exceptionally strong vines / tentacles from its mouth, and high speed. It can live with the loss of most or all legs, and still move. However, its speed would be strongly impaired then.

---

You jump back scared, and while you do, something falls out of your cape.

It's a... sword. A sword that looks a lot like the one your counterpart in the healthy universe uses with his knight-disguise.

You remember him having a cape like yours too. You are just about to ponder about the implications, when you remember the Tatzlwurm. You look around, and see it on the ceiling, with its head turned to you.

It roars again.

What do you do?

Author's Note:

So... This chapter is a thing that happened. Pretty sure it didn't or just barely made the 1k-wordcount I always try to go for at the very least.

So... What can I say?

So... So.

So... this is the last so, I swear.

So... I lied.

Comments

[APonyReadingFanfics]

Great chapter. It had a sense of mysteriousness and some great backstory and I just loved that. 10/10

[Baraka Obama]

6960303 no. it deserves 11/10