Flame of Disparity

by Cinders of War

Chapter 28: Primordial Grotto - Part I

There was a cool breeze down in the cave, but it smelled horrible, as if someone had left a rotten carcass soaking in sewage for a week and then had lit it on fire for good measure. Sunset Shimmer covered her mouth and nose with a scrap of cloth from her armor, mitigating the smell somewhat, but it still made her eyes water.

She followed the path ever downwards. How deep did the tunnels of this strange world go? Maybe right to the core.

There was a message on the floor. Sunset found that strange, since for someone to leave a message, they would have had to make it down here too, and so far, she was sure she was the first. Posey had mentioned that people with some ring could survive down here. Still, she shrugged and squinted at the orange words on the ground.

Illusory wall ahead, therefore time for treasure.

“Hmm, illusory wall, huh?”

Sunset looked around. It was just a straight path down, with walls to either side of her. Was one of them fake?

Sunset slowly trod down the path, tapping her sword on the walls as she passed them. If any of them were illusory, her weapon should just pass through. As for what treasure this message spoke of, she had no idea, but she hoped it would help her down here.

Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.

Suddenly, a portion of the wall on the left vanished before her eyes, revealing a square tunnel ahead.

“Oh, cool.”

It was a short tunnel that banked right after a few meters. It was dark, so Sunset held up her pyromancy flame to see better. Then she jumped.

There was a skeleton on the ground, wearing a suit of rusted and dented armor. Its spear lay nearby, broken into pieces and missing the metal point. It was covered in dust and cobwebs, indicating that this must have been here for a long, long time, Sunset figured before this place had been swallowed up by the Abyss.

There was a small wooden box clasped in the skeleton’s hands. Sunset knelt down and gently pried the bony digits off, and soon the box came free. Opening it, Sunset expected something grand, like a new weapon, but instead, all that was in this box was an old and rusted iron ring. It even looked like it was going to fall apart in her fingers as she picked it up.

“This is it?” Sunset said incredulously. She examined the rest of the chamber carefully, but there was nothing else noteworthy in here, except for the dusty old skeleton.

She put it on her finger, but she didn’t feel any different. Without an explanation, she didn’t know what it was supposed to do at all. So she took the ring off and slipped it into her pocket. She didn’t feel like giving herself tetanus right now.

Shrugging, Sunset left the tunnel and arrived back at the main one, leading further down into the earth.

The evil smell grew stronger, and Sunset had to breathe through her mouth to keep from being overwhelmed by the stench.

“Oh man,” Sunset mumbled as she staggered along. “I won’t be able to smell anything for a week after this!”

The tunnel began to even out, opening out into a cavern that was dotted with tall pillars of stalagmites and stalactites, and the floor was covered in a veritable lake of gunge. So this was where the smell was coming from. There were things moving in the muck, but Sunset could not see far enough to make out what exactly they were.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me…” Sunset said, every sense in her body fighting against the idea of having to wade through this foul gunk. She searched the surroundings, hoping to find a bridge or a raft or something that would keep her from touching that dreck.

One short search later, Sunset was frustrated to conclude that there was nothing helpful to be found. Not even a plank of wood.

Sunset swore quietly. It looked as if there was no choice but to walk into this smelly sludge.

Sunset shuffled to the edge and peered into the murk. She couldn’t see how deep it was. The smell alone was about to make her throw up and she didn’t see any other alternative. She would have to traverse this gunk to get to where she needed to go.

“Let’s do this…” she said very unwillingly.

Holding her breath through the cloth around her face, Sunset took one step in, needing to know how deep it was. If she had to swim in this, she was going to die. Maybe literally. She didn’t know if it was relief or disappointment when her foot touched the bottom, the sludge reaching up to her thighs. With all the willpower she could muster, Sunset dipped her other leg in as well.

The grime she now stood in was uncomfortably warm, but at the same time, cool against the skin like slime.

It was slow going, pushing through the muck, and Sunset didn’t know which direction to go in. The cavern seemed to stretch out to both the left and the right at the end, but being in the Abyss, she wasn’t able to see very far.

As the fiery haired girl pushed forward, she was unable to hold her breath the whole way and inhaled a bit of the fumes. That was more than enough for her and she removed her cloth to throw up. Only now, with the cloth off her mouth, Sunset realized the smell was so much worse when she was standing in the sludge. She didn’t know how that worked, but she could feel her life force slowly fading away the longer she stood here inhaling the toxins of this lake of muck.

“Land… Need to get to… land…!” Sunset trudged on, looking for anything to climb onto.

She grabbed ahold of a large rock and hauled herself up, legs coming out of the grime with audible pops.

“Phew,” Sunset gasped. She still couldn’t see where to go, but at least she had made a little bit of progress.

She heard a soft clicking noise, like a ratchet being spun. She looked around the cavern, but could not see anything that might be making the noise. Then she looked up.

The ceiling was covered in long, white strands of web, stretching from stalactite to stalactite, and crawling along this webbing were huge, ghastly spider-like creatures. They only had four legs, but they had arms like that of humans, and their heads ended in elephant-like trunks, which were extremely grotesque. One of them was quick to spot her and its red beady eyes trained on her as it descended from the webs above, its human-like fingers reaching for her head.

“Gross!” Sunset threw a fireball at it, watching as it struggled to put it out. The spider failed and fell into the gunk below, twisting and turning as the fire was extinguished “Great.”

When it was satisfied, the spider creature approached her again, wading slowly through the lake toward her. Above, another two spiders had caught on to the fight and began descending as well. Throwing her sword into one, Sunset teleported to it and pushed the sword deeper into its chest, watching black blood drip down her arms and her chest. The spider squealed like a pig, then grabbed at her back with its human-like hands, trying to claw through her armor. Pushing her sword deeper into it, Sunset felt it come out its back before ripping it out and throwing a fireball at the other descending spider. As it was set of flames, Sunset dropped down onto the one down there and pierced her sword through its head, its trunk flailing up and about as it screeched with pain.

The spider tipped to the side and Sunset found herself falling into the gunk, the drop so sudden that she didn’t have time to shut her mouth. Sunset swallowed a mouthful of the disgusting sludge, before pushing herself back up to her feet, scurrying back out onto her rock. Standing in it had felt like her life force was being drained, but now after swallowing it, her insides felt like they were melting.

The girl instantly felt woozy and she had to struggle just to pull herself back up on the rock, her head spinning as though she had just sat through one of those gyrating rides at a theme park. The final spider creature approached her slowly from behind, its fingers twitching as it slowly reached out towards her. Sunset scooted up her rock and hauled her legs up, shutting her eyes to help with the motion sickness.

She knew the spider was approaching her, but there was no way to fight disoriented like that. Waiting for it to get closer, Sunset readied her pyromancy flame in her left hand. Using her ears, Sunset threw up a combustion right as the spider was on top of her, launching it up in a small explosion. When she heard the creature’s shrieks, she thrust her sword up as hard and fast as she could. There was a squelch, followed by something warm and wet dripping down on top of her. The spider’s shrieks were stifled and it fell on top of her in a burning mess, which Sunset quickly pushed off, a part of her arms catching fire. Quickly downing an estus flask, Sunset was relieved to find her bearings coming back to her and the sickening feeling in her stomach disappearing, though there was nothing she could do about the smell of this place.

“I hate this place…” Sunset groaned and stretched her arms out to her side for a quick rest.

When she was ready, she got up and scanned her surroundings. Without being able to see far, Sunset couldn’t see any other rocks for her to climb on just yet, and the webs above seemed to spread across the entire cavern. It was likely there were going to be more of those spider creatures ahead.

Swallowing hard and then holding her breath, Sunset pulled her arm back and tossed her star sword forward as far as she could, watching as it disappeared into the dark distance. With a nod, she teleported to it, instantly drenching herself in the foul sludge, meters away from her previous rock, which she couldn’t even see anymore.

She had to be fast.

With the sludge sapping away at her life, Sunset threw her sword again and again, passing through the air each time she teleported to ber weapon. She had to make sure to hold her breath each time to avoid taking in any of the foul liquid as she splashed down into it.

There were many spiders on the way, each of them picking up on her presence and descending, but Sunset didn’t stop for any of them, each time zipping further into the cavern, looking for any safe ground she could rest at. It felt like hours before she finally found a piece of land against the right side of the cavern wall. By then, there was already quite a mass of spiders behind her and they were slowly moving through the toxic sludge towards her, unfazed by it.

Using those few seconds to catch her breath and let the sludge wear off, Sunset waited for the spiders, sword and pyromancy flame in hand, ready to deal with them accordingly. The first of many arrived at her rock in a short span of time, her dizziness not fully cleared yet. Watching as it swirled and churned in front of her face, Sunset swung her sword wildly, feeling its metal connecting with flesh. The spider shrieked as one arm was tossed high, sliced off at the elbow. Readying her left hand, Sunset released a combustion, followed by a fireball, watching as the blurred shapes before her suddenly caught on fire.

As her vision got better, Sunset diced up the first two spiders who still approached through the fire, then turned to look further down the cavern. She could just make out another rock in the distance.

Letting loose another fireball, Sunset used the explosion of fire to stall the spiders, while she flung her sword towards the next rock. She teleported to it before it landed and angled herself to land right on it. She scraped a cheek on the rock’s rough surface, but at least she had avoided going into the foul muck this time. She didn’t know what it consisted of, but it was extremely ghastly; she’d probably die just by standing in it for too long.

The spiders that were on her tail continued to pursue her, while new ones above picked up on her presence and began to descend.

“Gotta keep moving…” Sunset eyed the space ahead. Once again, she couldn’t see land, meaning she would have to wade through the toxic gunk until she could find somewhere to rest on, or to fight spiders on.

Sunset threw her sword just as one of the spider creature’s grabbed her from behind, clawing into her thigh. She gasped in pain, but was soon where her sword had landed, floundering in the muck to keep her face above the foul liquid. The spider creatures continued to come after her, slowly making their way through the muck.

With another throw, Sunset got herself further, holding her breath again as she came splashing into the sludge as she teleported to her sword.

Is there no end to this sickening lake?

Her question was answered when she saw actual land on the other end of the darkness. Not just some random piece of rock in the lake, but actual cavern floor, where the sludge seemed to end.

“Yes. Yes! Just a little… more!”

Two more spider creatures landed in front of her, blocking her path, but Sunset was not to be denied her rest. The girl waited till they were close enough and jumped. The first spider reached out for her, but Sunset thrust herself backwards, spinning a slash up at the same time as she did a sort of somersault, cutting through its midsection and throwing a fireball at the other spider creature before landing in a crouch. It flailed around and fell from its web, landing on top of Sunset’s star sword, which went right through it and out its back. Its arms swung around wildly, trying to claw at her face, but eventually, it stopped moving and fell off to the side.

With one last throw, Sunset was through the toxic lake of sludge, and on solid ground once more, though the smell didn’t go away for at least another kilometer ahead. She took a sniff at her arms and had to hold back her bile. It was absolutely disgusting. After this, she really needed another bath. The last time she had one was all the way back at the Lake of Silence.

Hearing the skittering of the spider creatures behind her, Sunset wasted no time in hanging around and thinking. She wanted to be as far away from them as possible. Perhaps if she distanced herself enough, they’d just give up and go back to waiting for the next poor unfortunate soul. Sunset scoffed at that idea. Not many people could come down here, so those spiders would be waiting a long time.

As she followed her path, Sunset noticed the foul stench had returned, almost in full force. Her suspicions rang true when her tunnel opened out into another cavern with a lake of toxic sludge.

“Oh, come on!”

This one had a higher ceiling, so she couldn’t see if there were spiders waiting for her, but she could see strange hunched beasts patrolling the lake. She couldn’t quite tell what they were, but they looked like large humanoid mosquitoes with tentacles. Instead of two compound eyes like normal mosquitoes, these creatures had more than two, maybe more than ten. In fact, it almost looked like a garden of eyes.

“As if things couldn’t get any weirder…” Sunset remembered the last time she met something with so many eyes. She hoped these ones weren’t like that.

Once again, there was no way ahead besides stepping into the muck and Sunset dreaded doing so as much as the next person, that is, if there was ever going to be a next person here.

Taking a few breaths to steady herself, Sunset nodded and threw her star sword ahead, watching as it sailed off further towards the darkness. When she was good, she reappeared at her weapon in a flash of sparks, holding her breath as she crashed down into the lake. Immediately, the life sapping effect made itself known, working at taking away her will to live. It was a strange feeling, almost as though she was running a five day marathon in a few hours. But Sunset did her best to fight it, knowing she needed to press on and find something to climb on for a rest.

One of the mosquito monsters turned its garden of eyes to her and flapped its spindly wings, lifting off out of the gunk and heading towards her.

Sunset swiped at it with her sword, but it vaulted to the side and spun around, aiming its tentacled mouth at her, each of them housing rows of tiny spines. Not wanting to be touched by any of its tentacles, Sunset ducked low and spun around its body, trying her best to move faster through the gunk. One of its arms managed to latch onto her shoulder, but with a quick cut across its chest, Sunset sent it falling back into the foul liquid, finishing it off in the head before it could get back up.

Rushing ahead, Sunset found a piece of rock, climbing onto it to take a break as she decided to down an estus flask to quickly restore her strength. A shimmer in her pack caught her attention and Sunset’s eyes were drawn to the rusty old ring, which was now glowing a faint white.

“Hmm?” Sunset took it out and examined it. It didn’t feel any different, but it was glowing for some reason.

Not sure of what to do, Sunset put it on and waited for something to happen. Nothing changed.

Lifting an eyebrow, Sunset turned her arm side to side, trying to figure out what this ring was supposed to do, but she still had no idea.

“Huh.”

Before she could examine it further, one of the other mosquito creatures picked up on her presence and began flying over on its tattered wings.

“No you don’t!” Sunset lobbed a fireball at it, but these creatures were surprisingly agile, dodging out of the way and reaching its long fingers out for her neck.

Sunset leapt to the side, but there wasn’t enough room and one of her legs dipped into the foul sludge. It was then that Sunset realized something. Instead of sinking all the way in and getting slowed by it, she found she was actually standing in it without actually touching the ground beneath the sludge.

“Huh?” was all she had time to say as the mosquito lunged at her.

Sunset dodged back, then spun around under the mosquito arms before facing it with her weapon up. She was now standing in the sludge, the substance slowly poisoning her with its lifestealing effect, but she was no longer slowed by it. Somehow, she was moving through it like she was walking atop the rocks.

Something had changed.

Looking at the rusted iron ring on her finger, Sunset could still see the faint white glow emanating from it.

So this is what it’s for…

The mosquito creature spun back around and jumped at her, its tiny wings carrying it in the air for a few seconds. Sunset ran to it and sliced its facial tentacles off, then took a step forward and jammed her sword right through its abdomen, pushing her sword deep in, feeling it come out its back.

The creature screeched and thrashed, trying to grab her, but throwing her sword high, Sunset teleported up to it, then slashed down before she landed, splitting its large head in half. The mosquito fell into the sludge with a thud, then sank into it, with only its bulbous head of eyes still sticking out.

Moving on, Sunset ran through the sludge, looking for somewhere to rest. No longer hindered by the foul muck, Sunset could move faster, but she could still feel it seeping into her bones, weakening her the longer she stood in it. And then there was, of course, the smell. There wasn’t much she could do about that, but she resolved to appreciate air more once she was out of here.

A third mosquito creature had flown over from the darkness, but Sunset dealt with it with a combustion and a slash, though she finally got to find out how those tentacles sucked her blood. She didn’t like it.

Downing both an estus flask and an ashen estus flask, Sunset ran through the disgusting lake of sludge, stopping at points to rest. She silently wished for a ring that could help her be immune to the lifestealing effects of the lake.

At the very end of the lake, there was a sudden drop, leading down further into the Abyss, where the bottom could not be seen.

Wooden platforms consisting of poles and planks had been built along the edge of the drop, leading down, the only signs of civilization Sunset had seen since the skeleton with the ring. Whoever had built this must’ve done so long ago, before this place had been consumed by the Abyss.

Sunset Shimmer recalled the Primordial Grotto being the birthplace of the beasts. True, she had encountered some weird creatures here, but with a name like that, she had actually expected more.

Not that I’m complaining…

Sunset stepped onto the wooden platform as soon as she was ready, but as soon as a foot rested firmly against it, it gave way and Sunset found herself falling through a new hole in the platform.

“Aaah!” she shouted in surprise, before her brain resumed its thought processes and she threw her sword over to another part of the platform.

She teleported to her weapon in a flash, but seeing as one part of the platform had shattered, she hadn’t expected the rest to be. She was soon teleporting from platform to platform as the wooden supports began to break under her weight. It wasn’t like she was fat or anything, but after so many years of just staying here, surely the wood had worn down till the slightest touch could break it. It was a wonder none of the creatures here had broken them already.

Sunset steadily began to make her way down, flinging her sword from platform to platform, throwing it again as soon as it shattered. Unfortunately, the next one groaned under her weight and the entire support began to collapse, sending the whole stairway down into the darkness below.

The girl began to freefall, unable to see another platform to send herself to. With no more ideas, but one super crazy one, Sunset spread her arms outwards, slowing her descent slightly as she tried to peer through the gloom beneath her.

She only had a single chance at this. If she failed, well… at least she would be back at a bonfire again.

The ground was up to her in an instant. Letting go of her sword, Sunset teleported to it in a burst of sparks, slowing her descent just enough to land against the ground with a crunch, knocking all the wind from her chest. She hadn’t died on impact, but it still really hurt.

Drinking up an estus flask to heal herself up, Sunset was quick to her feet, not knowing what to expect down here. At least for now, there were no lakes of disgusting muck in sight. Actually, there was a very welcoming sight just ahead.

“Bonfire!”

Sunset rushed over to it and lit it, basking in the light of the flame as she sat herself down to take a short break.

The area ahead seemed to just be rocky cavernous floor, spanning across a pretty large area; Sunset couldn’t even see the edges or walls on any sides. There were boulders and even broken pillars around, signs of more civilizations of old.

There came the sounds of hoofsteps out there somewhere. Sunset listened carefully, not knowing what else to expect down here. Whatever it was walking around, it sounded big, with each step a few seconds after the previous one, echoing across the cavern and shaking the ground under her.

Sunset knew that whatever was out there, it wasn’t going to let her walk on over to Gravewing so easily.

Once she checked her pack to ensure all her flasks had been filled, Sunset got up and traversed the darkness, looking for the source of the hoofsteps. The cavern was much larger than she had anticipated, spanning much more ahead of her than she perceived. Shattered walls of derelict buildings stood on her left and right, forming a path between them, leading deeper through the Abyss.

The hoofsteps were getting closer now, and Sunset could even hear the groans of something big. Bodies of people lay around the ruined buildings. They had regular bodies, but their heads were alien-like, bulbous and full of eyes, likely warped by the darkness of the Abyss.

As things would have it, one of them stirred and rose to its feet as Sunset was passing them.

Of course.

It spread its arms wide and charged Sunset, its humongous head swinging left to right as it charged at her. Sidestepping, Sunset tumbled into a roll as the humanoid thing swung one arm at her, its clawed fingertips just missing her nose as she covered the distance again, spearing it through the throat with her star sword. The creature hissed at her with an unseen mouth, then went slack, all its eyes still open and looking right at her.

Before Sunset could take a breather, more of the humanoids with large heads began to rise, their freaky eyes all turning to face her before they swarmed for her like frenzied bees.

She cut down the first one almost immediately, then rolled under one’s arms and released a combustion into the face of a third humanoid. It screeched and tried to put out the fire, but Sunset kicked it back into another monster and impaled both of them with her sword.

More of the humanoids began to rise up around her, forcing the girl into a sprint. With the partial walls around her, it made it a little too narrow to fight so many monsters, so she resolved to keep going to find a good place to stand her ground.

Past two more buildings, more of the humanoid creatures had risen, wobbling their huge heads as they tried to grab her. Sunset kept going, cutting down those she could on the way. She had been pushed down at one point, but she had escaped with a crafty throw of her star sword, lodging it into the head of another humanoid and teleporting to it.

The smell of blood began to fill her nose as she cut more and more of them down, desperately trying to stay away from them to avoid being overwhelmed. It was then that Sunset felt the thud of a hoofstep.

A really large and heavy hoofstep.

The ground shook as the creatures chasing her stopped in their tracks, as did she.

Just ahead, a large beast had turned its head to her, or more accurately, its many heads. What stood in the cavern ahead was a bull of sorts, standing at least four storeys high, sporting four heads, each one having two horns too large for its head. Orange eyes glowed back at Sunset through the darkness, radiating madness and violence.

“Uh oh.”

The bull beast scrapped a hoof across the rocky ground and blew fire from its nostrils.

Before Sunset could even complain about the situation, the beast charged, its thundering hooves echoing across the entire cavern like a continuous crackle of a thunderstorm. Its four heads were lowered, with eight large horns ready to gore her. If she got hit by any one of them, she would probably just burst into a bloody mess. She needed to get out of here.

Aiming her sword to the left, Sunset tossed it, then tossed it again, this time past the bull’s legs. Once her sword was clear, she disappeared in a flash, just narrowly avoiding its charge as it plowed into the ruins and the mass of humanoid creatures.

There was the sound of exploding bodies as Sunset looked in the opposite direction, searching for a way out. The cavern continued on into the dark with no exit in sight, but Sunset decided to take her chances.

Running on, she had already heard the bull begin to turn around, its snorts of rage sounding out behind her. She kept her sword at the ready, knowing it was the only thing that would keep her away from the bull’s charge.

And then came the thunder of hooves again and Sunset braced herself. The bull soon appeared out of the gloom, its four heads bellowing as it tried to kill her.

Sunset went high this time, watching her sword spin in the air before bouncing against one of the bull’s heads. Teleporting to her weapon, Sunset immediately threw it again, lodging it in the bull’s back and reappearing to it to continue doing damage. She pulled her weapon out and slashed at the beast’s back repeatedly, hoping to at least slow it down so she could go on in peace.

It roars were deafening in the cavern, with one head snorting out fire, trying to burn her off its back. Sunset also had to fight to stay on, grabbing on to its skin folds to stop herself from being flung off as the beast shook itself.

When she was in the clear again, she kicked off against the bull’s back and ran for its nearest head, holding on one more time as it tried to shake her off. Ending in a slide, Sunset grabbed the fold right above one head’s left eye and drove her sword into it as deep as it could go. At first, it didn’t seem to do much, but after three more stabs, the bull shut its glowing eye and screamed, this time managing to throw Sunset off. The girl landed on the rocky ground too quickly, feeling something in her back break on impact.

She crawled on her side and very quickly drank from an estus flask, feeling her strength return just in time to avoid a stomp from one of its hooves.

Sunset cut at one hoof as she ran by, drawing blood, but not much. She aimed her sword for the other end of the beast and teleported to it, at the same time, clinging onto its back leg. The girl began to make her way up the creature, holding still when it tried to shake her off again. She finally made it to the top after a while, and this time, starting from its rear, Sunset fired a combustion, setting a small portion of its skin on fire, before slashing along its back as she ran.

The bull continued to bellow and snort in pain and anger, but it didn’t seem like it was going down any time soon. Sunset really just needed a way to disable it and then make it a run for it before it could give chase again.

Remembering hurting its eye was more effective than anything she had already tried so far, Sunset pushed to the front of the bull, sliding down the snout of another head, stopping once again at one of its eyes.

The bull glared her down with its orange glowing discus, but Sunset didn’t give it time to look at her much. She jammed her sword into its eye repeatedly and threw a fireball. This time, Sunset knew what to expect and threw her sword up. She teleported into the air just as the bull creature tried to shake her off.

It was up here that Sunset saw something rather peculiar. On the third head from the left, Sunset could see some kind of mark between its horns. It was round and dark, but its center seemed to glow a dim red, so faint that she almost couldn’t see it. She didn’t know exactly what it was, but it looked important.

Throwing her sword back at it and just dodging a blast of flame from one of the bull’s heads, Sunset grabbed ahold of the third head’s eyebrow fold, then clambered her way up to the dark spot. Closer now, she could see the faint light was some kind of pulsating growth and it almost looked like it was alive, breathing like any living thing.

It looked like it was meant for stabbing. And so Sunset did just that. Standing over it, she held her sword high with both hands and plunged it down with all her might, right through the growth. It popped like a balloon and the bull roared, rearing up on its hind legs as it swung its head from left to right. Sunset took this time to throw herself clear, getting to safety with the use of her star sword.

Black ooze began to erupt from its head, spilling all across its form and with one final roar which shook the entire cavern, the bull creature collapsed on its side with an equally deafening thump. It had begun to melt, the black liquid being some kind of acid, slowly dissolving the bull and leaving a disgusting odour.

Sunset immediately recognized it as the same smell as the toxic lake and held her nose shut. “Agh, gross…”

But now that her path was clear, the girl wasted no time in getting away as the bull’s body began to fade from sight. She didn’t want to wait around for the humanoid creatures to come back after realizing the bull was dead.

That hadn’t been an easy fight and that made Sunset think of just what to expect ahead. Gravewing was in here somewhere and judging from his name, he was a dragon. Sunset had never really seen a dragon up close back in Equestria, but she had heard the tales from Princess Celestia. It was safe to say she had never wanted to get a dragon angry, but here she was now. If she wanted to get home, she had to face Gravewing. He had the final Flame of Death, and that was all she needed to get home. She was so close she could almost smell it, though at this moment, she didn’t want to smell anything.

The cavern eventually narrowed as Sunset explored on, meeting only two more of those humanoid creatures. She supposed the rest of them had been congregated before the bull, either unable or too afraid to go any further. Only a few stragglers stayed on on this side, but it made Sunset wonder just why all these human-looking monsters were all just lying around here, pretending to be dead.

Do they have nothing better to do?

She thought about it and decided it was probably true. What else were they going to do down here in the Abyss? Rarely anything living would ever come this way, much less someone for them to kill.

At the end of the narrowing cavern was an archway, somehow still mostly in one piece, though the rest of the structure seemed to have been destroyed long ago. There were a series of unlit torches leading down a dark tunnel, going even further into the earth.

Sunset guessed she must’ve been well below the Cataclysm Hollows by now. It had made sense that the Underisle had been hot, seeing as the deeper she got, the closer to the world’s core she was supposed to get. It made sense when it was cold in the Hollows, seeing as Sisha had destroyed the place with her Flame of Death, but here? If this place was so deep underground, surely it would be hot, or at least cold because of Gravewing, but right now, it was mainly just stuffy and smelly.

The Abyssal darkness didn’t help in nullifying any of that. Everywhere around her was dead silent, with the exception of her footfalls and occasional cough.

The end of the tunnel led out into a circular man-made area, with bricks forming quite the perfect circle around her, with a bonfire smack in the middle. Sunset wasted no time in lighting it to get a good rest, making sure all her estus flasks were refilled; she needed all she could get up ahead.

Sunset was quite enjoying the bonfire’s warmth, when something groaned from within the tunnel on the opposite side of her circle. The ground shook as a foul stench wafted out from it, followed by the sound of something slithering about.

Sunset gulped, not knowing what else was lying in wait ahead, but after that fight with the giant bull creature, she knew it wasn’t going to be simple.

Feeling ready, Sunset got to her feet and walked along the tunnel, peering inside before venturing in. It was a straight man-made structure, leading further into the darkness. Now in an even more enclosed space, Sunset could hear the rumbles and bellows ahead. Something big was just on the other end of the tunnel and it probably wasn’t friendly.

Suddenly her foot stepped against nothing and Sunset found herself waving her arms wildly in the air for a second before plunging straight down, a gap in the floor she had failed to see.

“Waaaaaagh!” Her sword was quickly in her hand and she threw it back up, but it bounced off the side of the hole and fell, with Sunset only managing to teleport a foot up.

The hole sloped at the bottom and Sunset bounced off the top of it, jarring every bone in her body as she slid down the rest of it, coming to a stop against a well-sized rock, hitting the side of her face against it. Her neck would’ve broke if not for her armor, which she was very thankful for at the moment.

Drinking an estus, Sunset scooted up to one foot and readied her weapon, keeping her eyes peeled. She was in a new cave, and she hadn’t noticed it with all the blood in her ears, but the slithering sound here was louder than ever.

And then a giant eye opened on the rock’s surface, glowing bright orange like the bull creature from earlier. The ground beneath Sunset began to rumble as a giant serpentine head burst from the ground beneath her feet, its voice low and guttural, booming across the cavern. The sound of the slithering had been coming from its body, which had been moving across the cavern. It was about as thick as five trees tied together.

“Great. Just great…”

The snake opened its mouth, which had a second jaw inside, and Sunset only had enough time to raise her sword as it shot out of its maw, grabbing ahold of her. Sunset somehow kept its jaws from crushing her, using all her might to press her sword against the roof of its inner mouth. Two fangs had pierced through her arm, dripping blood down on her face, but there was no time to inspect it at the moment.

Raising up, the snake growled at her, a foul stench wafting up from its belly, making Sunset gag in her mouth. It’s maw crushed down harder, and in an act of instinct, Sunset threw her sword to the side, out of its mouth, at the same time, falling to her back and sliding down its throat to avoid its rows of fangs.

It was all sticky and gross inside, but she only had to deal with it for a second. With a flash, Sunset was out of the snake and at her sword on the cavern floor, wiping slime from her hands. The snake had seen her flash of light and turned to her, its orange glowing eyes burning holes through her soul. With a guttural growl, it pulled its body back, then lunged at her almost faster than the eye could blink. Sunset threw her sword up and teleported to it, barely avoiding the snake’s enormous head. Falling, she positioned herself on top of it, grabbing ahold of some kind of fur growing out from the top of its skin.

The snake, like the bull, tried to shake her off, but Sunset held on strong, even as it thrashed its body against the walls. Sunset was very thankful she had gotten some enhancements from Twilight. They were definitely being put to use right now.

Making her way forward, Sunset assumed the snake would have a growth, just like the bull did. She didn’t know for sure, but it was worth a check.

The snake monster would tire at times and that gave Sunset a few seconds to advance, getting closer to the center of its head. Otherwise, she had to hold on for dear life as it swung about. One time, it even spun around, trying to crush her against the ground, but Sunset had teleported herself to its underside to avoid it. It had been a very close call, but she managed to make it out with only bruises on her right side.

A fin of sorts stuck out from the center of its head and in front of it, Sunset spotted the pulsating growth.

“There you are!”

She let go of its fur, but at that moment, the snake coiled its body and sprung up, launching Sunset from its back. In that instant, its head swiveled around and opened its mouth, ready to end it, but Sunset was not ready for it to end here.

Using one combustion to slow her descent, Sunset aimed her sword to the right of the creature’s head. Throwing as hard as she could, she let herself fall towards its mouth, readying a fireball as she kept one eye on her spinning sword. She only had one shot at this and she needed it to work.

When she was close enough, Sunset released a fireball downwards, sending it sailing into the snake’s maw, and with a blaze of red, fire exploded within its throat, startling it and making it flail around, trying to put it out. Now teleporting to her blade, Sunset wisped beside the snake’s eye, just in time to dig her sword into the center of its black iris.

Black blood splashed over her face and armor, and the snake roared, shaking the whole cavern as Sunset used the distraction to climb up its eyelid and back on its head. Arriving at the snake’s growth, Sunset spun her sword in her hand and then raised it high. With all the strength she could muster, she drove her blade down and right through the growth, feeling the soft flesh tear beneath her attack.

It glowed bright orange for a second, then went dark, with the snake rearing high and roaring with enough force to break parts of the cave ceiling, sending debris tumbling down.

Sunset ran and threw her sword, teleporting to it a few times to get away from the falling snake and falling rocks. Once safely back on the ground, Sunset ducked and weaved through the raining debris, teleporting occasionally to get a little more distance.

Spotting another tunnel just ahead, Sunset aimed for it, rolling forward as a rather large piece of debris landed just where she had been standing. With one last kick, Sunset threw herself clear of the collapsing cavern, stopping in the tunnel, finally having time to catch her breath and assess the situation.

Whether the snake had died or not, she didn’t check, but judging from the collapsing ceiling, she wouldn’t have to worry about it.

The next area was a rather swampy place. Moss hung on the walls of the tunnel and there were little puddles of foul-smelling water here, but at least it didn’t smell as bad as the sludge from earlier. Mud started to gather up around the sides of the path as Sunset went deeper in, not knowing what to expect next.

She really wanted to be done with the Primordial Grotto, but at the same time, a part of her dreaded facing Gravewing. With the last two foes being gigantic creatures, she didn’t know what to expect when she were to finally come across the final Flame of Death.

The swampy look of the tunnel continued to grow, with the floor now slightly mossy as well, making it slippery. There was the faint sound of trickling water somewhere ahead, but since she was still in the Abyss, it was quite muffled, like her ears were blocked.

The tunnel soon widened out towards the end and brought Sunset into a vast cylindrical cavern, man made with stone blocks, but nature had grown to reclaim the area, with moss and weeds growing out across the ancient stones. A waterfall fell from somewhere above, splashing into a lake on her left, the sound somehow not as loud as it was supposed to be.

“Oh wow.” Sunset walked to the water and gave her face a splash. It was cool to her skin, so she dipped both hands inside and gave her face a good old rub. It was an understatement to say it was refreshing.

There wasn’t much else to do here but admire the scenery, something she hadn’t been able to do since entering the Abyss. And then she saw it, on the other end of the cavern, just beside the waterfall, almost hidden by it.

A fog door.

“Ah, crap. Here we go again.”

Comments

[Jaxxon Markus Citadel]

“Ah, crap. Here we go again.”

media.tenor.com/images/b8b3cdf2f219982ba08ec8548449b8d1/tenor.gif

[Edguy0009]

“Waaaaaagh!” Her sword was quickly in her hand and she threw it back up, but it bounced off the side of the hole and fell, with Sunset only managing to teleport a foot up.

Okay who let an Ork in this fanfic?

[Undeadking243]

I can see the Shadow of the Colossus references there.