05-21-2015, 03:57 PM
As Nealaphh walked deeper and deeper in to the lava tube, it became increasingly more and more concerned that this tube perhaps did not empty out into an above-ground area. Still, seeing how the walls had been scoured free of any sort of texture was fascinating. Even with the bright light it had conjured, there was everything was still extremely dark, since the volcanic rock was almost completely black. Suddenly Nealaphh came across a sharp down turn in the tube, where the lava had apparently encountered some sort of very dense bedrock. Nealaphh considered its options. Either it could travel down the steep tunnel that now wound away from its current path, or investigate exactly what it was that had resisted such a large volume of molten rock.
There was a small ledge that Nealaphh could traverse to the far wall, and so it edged along this precipice slowly, keeping its three eyes on the mysterious wall. When it got closer, Nealaphh could make out small silicates and crystals that had somehow survived the lava flow. Or perhaps they had grown out of the wall since the volcanism had stopped? There was no easy way to tell, as Nealaphh did not have the means to date the stony walls surrounding itself. As the shadow peered closer at the grain-sized crystals littering the wall, it heard a noise behind it. A slight scuffling. The god-mind whirled around, careful not to lose its balance on the narrow ledge, and came face to face with a bizarre looking creature.
It was of equal height with Nealaphh, and walked on four stubby legs. It had mottled green skin, no visible appendages, and a large, toothless jaw that hung wide open. Its eyes were soulless black pits, and Nealaphh could not hear any sort of breathing noise. A tense moment passed before the creature began to radiate a pale light and expand rapidly.
HSSSSSSSSSSSS
Nealaphh's eyes widened, and the god-mind was barely able to raise a bubble of warped space between it and the monstrosity before it detonated in a glimmer blast of radiance. The sound was deafening, Nealaphh stayed crouched for several seconds after the blast, as hefty chunks of pumice and obsidian rained down from the ceiling, making a sound akin to leaden rain. Nealaphh began to get back on its feet, and being the scientific mind it was, immediately turned around to see what effect the explosion had had on the wall behind it. The blast had snuffed its conjured light, and bits of phosphorus were scattered all over the lava tube, providing only hazy illumination. What Nealaphh could see was that a large hole had been blown open in the crystal-specked wall, big enough for Nealaphh to crawl through if it so wished. First, it would need better light, so Nealaphh began to try and pick the motes of phosphorus that remained off of the walls and mash them back into a cohesive torch.
That was about the time the god-mind felt the ground beneath its feet shift slightly, sinking down a few inches. A splintering, cracking sound vibrated as a muffled omen in the cave around it. Nealaphh froze. A large boulder came crashing down from the ceiling, rumbling off into the smaller tunnel that ran deeper into the the Steppes. More rocks fell here and there, and this was the point when Nealaphh began to grasp the frame of the hole that had been opened an hoist itself through. The god-mind hurled itself through the aperture not a moment too soon, as the entire lava tube behind it began to collapse, sending gut-turning shockwaves reverberating throughout the stone in every direction. Thick, glittering dust rose from the hole, and as Nealaphh pulled itself through, it stumbled and fell on something...many somethings...that were agonizingly sharp.
Once the cave-in had ceased, Nealaphh spent a few minutes conjuring a new source of light, and was immediately awed by what it saw.
Points of light gleamed in every single direction in a vast sphere, with purple crystals as large as Nealaphh lining the walls, ceiling and floor. The bright light that Nealaphh wielded caused this entire crystalline cavern to light as if it were on fire. Nealaphh had just found its way into a massive, castle-sized geode. The question now was...where was Nealaphh supposed to go? Despite its impressive telekinetic powers, it was quite sure that it was incapable of tunneling straight through volcanic rock, no matter how porous it was. But even then, the walls here were made of solid amethyst; many times more dense than the usual stone of the Ashen Steppes. And so, Nealaphh resigned itself to wandering the geode, taking in the magnificent brilliance of the place. It wasn't until an hour later that it caught movement out of the corner of its eye.
The god-mind turned its head quickly to catch what else was in here with it, but it saw nothing amidst the towering crystals. Perhaps it had been a trick of the light? It was hard to tell the distance between objects in this place since the light was bouncing off of practically everything. Nealaphh turned back to observing the formation it had been scrutinizing a moment before, when it felt a vibration nearby. This time there was no mistaking it; something in here was stalking the shadow. Nealaphh focused its mind outwards and felt around for any other thoughts that were wandering around the cave. Nealaphh caught on to a small stream of violent emotions and followed them back to their source.
It was an evil, sadistic mind. Animalistic in nature, but it delighted in tormenting lesser beings, which it considered Nealaphh to be. Nealaphh could not pinpoint where the creature was, but it took on a defensive stance. A rock hit it on the head. Nealaphh's eyes shot up to the ceiling and it beheld a truly magnificent sight.
The beast was seemingly made entirely out of amethyst; its body was semitransparent and the light from Nealaphh's orb danced around inside its structure. Bright purple, predatory eyes gleamed out from a head that was bedecked with sprawling horn-like crystal growths, and great wings laid furled up against its sides. The beast seemed to be able to cling to the amethyst as if it shared cohesive properties with the mineral. There was little doubting that the creature relied on this crystallin appearance for ambushing prey such as Nealaphh. Both beings remained absolutely still. Nealaphh was unsure at first if the beast knew that Nealaphh could see it, but as it began to suck in a deep breath, the god-mind ran for cover. The uneven footing was a nightmare to navigate, however, and Nealaphh resorted to raising a field of hyperbolic space in front of it. The crystal dragon launched a large lozenge of amethyst at Nealaphh, that after ricocheting off of Nealaphh's defense, impacted the far wall of the geode and exploded into a shower of razor sharp crystal shards. Several off these needles tore through Nealaphh's flesh and embedded themselves in the shadow's body. Nealaphh hunkered to the ground in pain, and it felt heavy shockwaves of movement as the beast dropped from the ceiling of the geode down on top of the god-mind.
So, was this to be Nealaphh's first death within the Omniverse? Devoured by an amethyst dragon at the end of a foolhardy journey into the harshest of the verses?
No. No it was not. Nealaphh was quite tired of being the whelp of this land, picked up and dragged around, shot at, and ambushed at every turn. Nealaphh was the god-mind. It was the shadow of the ultimate. Nealaphh would not be treated as if it were some plaything of the Smiling One's whims. Nealaphh turned to see the crystal dragon's face nearing it's own, a sparkling maw stretched wide and ready to devour. So...this beast wished to feast upon the god-mind, did it?
Then sate yourself!
Nealaphh's eyes erupted into a blinding white glow as the god-mind crammed as much knowledge into the crystal dragon's mind as possible in as little time as possible. The reaction was instantaneous; the crystal beast recoiled in agony, reeling and staggering sideways as its neural pathways were flooded with impossibly complex mathematical equations and visions of that which took place within a black hole. The great roaring sound of a dying multiverse, and a taste of what it was like to ride upon the currents of time. Infinite power focused into a single point, expanded and warped...the ability to snuff out stars like candles...the exact equation needed to convert dark matter in to normal matter...it was too much. The primitive intelligence of the amethyst dragon could not fathom what it was being forced to comprehend.
As the dull creature staggered and wobbled around clumsily, smashing amethyst spires in every direction, the shadow slowly rose to its feet. Nealaphh looked down at the amethyst shards embedded in its body and wrenched them free with sharp, telekinetic pulls. Tossing them aside, Nealaphh approached the crystal dragon, who was beginning to regain its composure. The beast let loose a deafening roar that reverberated through the crystal tomb like a bomb going off and leered at its erstwhile prey. It coiled up on itself and launched at the god-mind, rage coursing through its luminescent muscles. Nealaphh squinted. There may be a limit to what it could heft with its mind, but any force could be multiplied exponentially if applied correctly.
As the dragon charged at Nealaphh, the shadow levitated a nearby chunk of stone and flung it at the beast's right foot, right as it was about to take a stride forward. The beast had its leg taken out from under it right as it was putting its weight there, and as such, toppled to the ground, sliding forwards along the razor sharp crystals and digging a trough into the pristine geode. It ground to a halt directly in front of Nealaphh, where the god-mind let loose another mental blast, causing the crystal dragon to flinch away in agony. Nealaphh took this opportunity to look up at the ceiling where it had been laying in wait. There was indeed a large tunnel at the very center-top of the geode, likely the route through which this unique organism came and went. There was Nealaphh's objective. The god-mind's eyes flicked to a large amethyst stalactite that hung precariously next to the opening.
The crystal dragon was pulling itself to its feet, roaring once more, the rage inside of its mind building. The dragon lunged with a claw, and as it did so, Nealaphh bent the space behind itself to bubble outwards. The shadow took the blow head-on, and as it flew backwards, the bent space turned the lateral momentum into vertical momentum, sending Nealaphh shooting up towards the ceiling of the geode. As it did so, it mentally grabbed a shard of amethyst to take with it, and as it began to lose upwards velocity, the god-mind drove the spike into the softer volcanic rock within the escape shaft. Nealaphh reached out with a black hand and grasped the jagged hand-hold, dangling precariously above the glittering ground. The crystal dragon followed Nealaphh's movement, a look of dull surprise on its face. It moved directly beneath Nealaphh, beginning to inhaled another deep breath doubtlessly to launch another crystalline bomb in the shadow's direction.
Just as it did so, Nealaphh used a telekinetic blast of force to smash the giant amethyst stalactite next to it. The razor sharp spike, as large as a truck, plummeted towards the crystal dragon, and with just a slight shove of guidance, Nealaphh sent the stalactite straight down into the dragon's mouth. Death was instantaneous.
As the crystal dust and debris settle, Nealaphh took one last look at the geode; it's previously pristine beauty was demolished, with formations that had taken millions of years to form smashed to pieces in a relative instant. Pitiable, but necessary. The god-mind turned its attention to the tunnel above it, and began to slowly climb up into whatever new darkness awaited it...
There was a small ledge that Nealaphh could traverse to the far wall, and so it edged along this precipice slowly, keeping its three eyes on the mysterious wall. When it got closer, Nealaphh could make out small silicates and crystals that had somehow survived the lava flow. Or perhaps they had grown out of the wall since the volcanism had stopped? There was no easy way to tell, as Nealaphh did not have the means to date the stony walls surrounding itself. As the shadow peered closer at the grain-sized crystals littering the wall, it heard a noise behind it. A slight scuffling. The god-mind whirled around, careful not to lose its balance on the narrow ledge, and came face to face with a bizarre looking creature.
It was of equal height with Nealaphh, and walked on four stubby legs. It had mottled green skin, no visible appendages, and a large, toothless jaw that hung wide open. Its eyes were soulless black pits, and Nealaphh could not hear any sort of breathing noise. A tense moment passed before the creature began to radiate a pale light and expand rapidly.
HSSSSSSSSSSSS
Nealaphh's eyes widened, and the god-mind was barely able to raise a bubble of warped space between it and the monstrosity before it detonated in a glimmer blast of radiance. The sound was deafening, Nealaphh stayed crouched for several seconds after the blast, as hefty chunks of pumice and obsidian rained down from the ceiling, making a sound akin to leaden rain. Nealaphh began to get back on its feet, and being the scientific mind it was, immediately turned around to see what effect the explosion had had on the wall behind it. The blast had snuffed its conjured light, and bits of phosphorus were scattered all over the lava tube, providing only hazy illumination. What Nealaphh could see was that a large hole had been blown open in the crystal-specked wall, big enough for Nealaphh to crawl through if it so wished. First, it would need better light, so Nealaphh began to try and pick the motes of phosphorus that remained off of the walls and mash them back into a cohesive torch.
That was about the time the god-mind felt the ground beneath its feet shift slightly, sinking down a few inches. A splintering, cracking sound vibrated as a muffled omen in the cave around it. Nealaphh froze. A large boulder came crashing down from the ceiling, rumbling off into the smaller tunnel that ran deeper into the the Steppes. More rocks fell here and there, and this was the point when Nealaphh began to grasp the frame of the hole that had been opened an hoist itself through. The god-mind hurled itself through the aperture not a moment too soon, as the entire lava tube behind it began to collapse, sending gut-turning shockwaves reverberating throughout the stone in every direction. Thick, glittering dust rose from the hole, and as Nealaphh pulled itself through, it stumbled and fell on something...many somethings...that were agonizingly sharp.
Once the cave-in had ceased, Nealaphh spent a few minutes conjuring a new source of light, and was immediately awed by what it saw.
Points of light gleamed in every single direction in a vast sphere, with purple crystals as large as Nealaphh lining the walls, ceiling and floor. The bright light that Nealaphh wielded caused this entire crystalline cavern to light as if it were on fire. Nealaphh had just found its way into a massive, castle-sized geode. The question now was...where was Nealaphh supposed to go? Despite its impressive telekinetic powers, it was quite sure that it was incapable of tunneling straight through volcanic rock, no matter how porous it was. But even then, the walls here were made of solid amethyst; many times more dense than the usual stone of the Ashen Steppes. And so, Nealaphh resigned itself to wandering the geode, taking in the magnificent brilliance of the place. It wasn't until an hour later that it caught movement out of the corner of its eye.
The god-mind turned its head quickly to catch what else was in here with it, but it saw nothing amidst the towering crystals. Perhaps it had been a trick of the light? It was hard to tell the distance between objects in this place since the light was bouncing off of practically everything. Nealaphh turned back to observing the formation it had been scrutinizing a moment before, when it felt a vibration nearby. This time there was no mistaking it; something in here was stalking the shadow. Nealaphh focused its mind outwards and felt around for any other thoughts that were wandering around the cave. Nealaphh caught on to a small stream of violent emotions and followed them back to their source.
It was an evil, sadistic mind. Animalistic in nature, but it delighted in tormenting lesser beings, which it considered Nealaphh to be. Nealaphh could not pinpoint where the creature was, but it took on a defensive stance. A rock hit it on the head. Nealaphh's eyes shot up to the ceiling and it beheld a truly magnificent sight.
The beast was seemingly made entirely out of amethyst; its body was semitransparent and the light from Nealaphh's orb danced around inside its structure. Bright purple, predatory eyes gleamed out from a head that was bedecked with sprawling horn-like crystal growths, and great wings laid furled up against its sides. The beast seemed to be able to cling to the amethyst as if it shared cohesive properties with the mineral. There was little doubting that the creature relied on this crystallin appearance for ambushing prey such as Nealaphh. Both beings remained absolutely still. Nealaphh was unsure at first if the beast knew that Nealaphh could see it, but as it began to suck in a deep breath, the god-mind ran for cover. The uneven footing was a nightmare to navigate, however, and Nealaphh resorted to raising a field of hyperbolic space in front of it. The crystal dragon launched a large lozenge of amethyst at Nealaphh, that after ricocheting off of Nealaphh's defense, impacted the far wall of the geode and exploded into a shower of razor sharp crystal shards. Several off these needles tore through Nealaphh's flesh and embedded themselves in the shadow's body. Nealaphh hunkered to the ground in pain, and it felt heavy shockwaves of movement as the beast dropped from the ceiling of the geode down on top of the god-mind.
So, was this to be Nealaphh's first death within the Omniverse? Devoured by an amethyst dragon at the end of a foolhardy journey into the harshest of the verses?
No. No it was not. Nealaphh was quite tired of being the whelp of this land, picked up and dragged around, shot at, and ambushed at every turn. Nealaphh was the god-mind. It was the shadow of the ultimate. Nealaphh would not be treated as if it were some plaything of the Smiling One's whims. Nealaphh turned to see the crystal dragon's face nearing it's own, a sparkling maw stretched wide and ready to devour. So...this beast wished to feast upon the god-mind, did it?
Then sate yourself!
Nealaphh's eyes erupted into a blinding white glow as the god-mind crammed as much knowledge into the crystal dragon's mind as possible in as little time as possible. The reaction was instantaneous; the crystal beast recoiled in agony, reeling and staggering sideways as its neural pathways were flooded with impossibly complex mathematical equations and visions of that which took place within a black hole. The great roaring sound of a dying multiverse, and a taste of what it was like to ride upon the currents of time. Infinite power focused into a single point, expanded and warped...the ability to snuff out stars like candles...the exact equation needed to convert dark matter in to normal matter...it was too much. The primitive intelligence of the amethyst dragon could not fathom what it was being forced to comprehend.
As the dull creature staggered and wobbled around clumsily, smashing amethyst spires in every direction, the shadow slowly rose to its feet. Nealaphh looked down at the amethyst shards embedded in its body and wrenched them free with sharp, telekinetic pulls. Tossing them aside, Nealaphh approached the crystal dragon, who was beginning to regain its composure. The beast let loose a deafening roar that reverberated through the crystal tomb like a bomb going off and leered at its erstwhile prey. It coiled up on itself and launched at the god-mind, rage coursing through its luminescent muscles. Nealaphh squinted. There may be a limit to what it could heft with its mind, but any force could be multiplied exponentially if applied correctly.
As the dragon charged at Nealaphh, the shadow levitated a nearby chunk of stone and flung it at the beast's right foot, right as it was about to take a stride forward. The beast had its leg taken out from under it right as it was putting its weight there, and as such, toppled to the ground, sliding forwards along the razor sharp crystals and digging a trough into the pristine geode. It ground to a halt directly in front of Nealaphh, where the god-mind let loose another mental blast, causing the crystal dragon to flinch away in agony. Nealaphh took this opportunity to look up at the ceiling where it had been laying in wait. There was indeed a large tunnel at the very center-top of the geode, likely the route through which this unique organism came and went. There was Nealaphh's objective. The god-mind's eyes flicked to a large amethyst stalactite that hung precariously next to the opening.
The crystal dragon was pulling itself to its feet, roaring once more, the rage inside of its mind building. The dragon lunged with a claw, and as it did so, Nealaphh bent the space behind itself to bubble outwards. The shadow took the blow head-on, and as it flew backwards, the bent space turned the lateral momentum into vertical momentum, sending Nealaphh shooting up towards the ceiling of the geode. As it did so, it mentally grabbed a shard of amethyst to take with it, and as it began to lose upwards velocity, the god-mind drove the spike into the softer volcanic rock within the escape shaft. Nealaphh reached out with a black hand and grasped the jagged hand-hold, dangling precariously above the glittering ground. The crystal dragon followed Nealaphh's movement, a look of dull surprise on its face. It moved directly beneath Nealaphh, beginning to inhaled another deep breath doubtlessly to launch another crystalline bomb in the shadow's direction.
Just as it did so, Nealaphh used a telekinetic blast of force to smash the giant amethyst stalactite next to it. The razor sharp spike, as large as a truck, plummeted towards the crystal dragon, and with just a slight shove of guidance, Nealaphh sent the stalactite straight down into the dragon's mouth. Death was instantaneous.
As the crystal dust and debris settle, Nealaphh took one last look at the geode; it's previously pristine beauty was demolished, with formations that had taken millions of years to form smashed to pieces in a relative instant. Pitiable, but necessary. The god-mind turned its attention to the tunnel above it, and began to slowly climb up into whatever new darkness awaited it...
And, we dream of home I dream of life out of here Their dreams are small My dreams don't know fear I got my heart full of hope I will change everything No matter what I'm told How impossible it seems We did it before And we'll do it again We're indestructible Even when we're tired And we've been here before Just you and I
Don't try to rescue me I don't need to be rescued
Don't try to rescue me I don't need to be rescued