The Desert is Cold in the Dark [Dark Data]

[Jim Raynor]

The floor before Jim tumbled into an impenetrably dark abyss, its base stuffed with flesh-piercing spikes. He clutched Sun Ogong in one hand, his pistol instinctively in his right. The maniacal four-armed skeleton danced away down the hallway, somehow sticking to the roof while he cackled like a lunatic, the sound of its voice echoing in an unsettling way.

"Anyone gettin' the feelin' we're just walkin' into one trap after another?" Jim said as he dropped Ogong onto solid tile. The monkey boy instantly yelped at the scalding floor and scrambled onto Jim's shoulder. "Woulda been nice of the doctor to let us know just what we were gettin' into."

"He probably didn't know," Somerled replied. "I wouldn't have predicted two stone statues would come to life, let alone this."

"There's no going back now," the monkey boy said. "Well, there is ... the portal's still open. But we're here to stop the bad guys!"

Somerled peered into the spiky pit. "Sure, but we have to get past this first."

"Heh, no problem. I got this," Jim said. "Kid, hang on tight. You too, Somerled."

Somerled grabbed onto Jim's free shoulder. "What are you planning?"

"Adjutant, activate jump jets!"

The orange flames flowing calmly from the two exhaust ports on Raynor's back angled down and exploded in ferocity. The three blasted into the air in a huge jump, arcing over the spiked pit with ease. Jim landed in a crouch on the other side, the impact shaking his companions loose.

"Aw! You could've told us you were doing that!" Sun Ogong said, scrunching up his countenance. "I would've held on tight!"

Jim raised his visor and cocked an eye. "Isn't that exactly what I told you to do?"

Something cracked behind their backs. Somerled was the first on his feet. "Guys, the floor's collapsing! Move!"

Jim fired a glanced behind him. The tiles were snapping off with loud crackle and plummeting into the ever-widening spike pit. The next two came loose and Jim bolted to his feet, sprinting as the floor collapsed behind him.

Sun Ogong had already taken off, moaning with every step on the red-hot floor. Somerled kept up a surprising pace, and Jim lumbered in last place. The booming of his metal footsteps blotted out the cracking of the tumbling tiles, and he wasn't about to stop and take stock of his progress, so he had no idea how close the tiles were to being literally ripped out from under his feet.

Somerled was the first to reach the divide in the corridor. He spent a fraction of a second deciding before dashing into the left side. Ogong screeched in after him.

"Come on, old girl, show me what you got! Jump jets!"

Jim felt the familiar shudder in his back as the temporary jetpack activated, but his next step landed on a tile already slipping loose. His breath stilled in his lungs as the terrifying sensation of falling wrapped over him. He went to shout, but a great force threw him forward and he sailed over the tiles. He watched as each individual square broke off and plunged into the pit, cracking and splintering on the spikes below. The pace was roughly keeping up with Jim's flight.

"God damn it, don't I have any steering in this thing?" Jim yelled as he headed straight for the hallway on the left. Sun Ogong and Somerled saw the airborne marine and darted inside. Jim crashed and rolled at the doorway's entrance, sparks flying from his suit. The inertia ran out and he came to a halt.

"Jim! Are you OK?" Ogong asked.

Jim grimaced as he stood up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Landin' was a bit on the heavy side."

"Let's go. We don't need that skeleton creature ambushing us again," Somerled said.

Jim's orange visor clinked back down, revealing the painted white skull. "I got the feelin' we'll see him again whether we want to or not."

The trio entered the next room. Still the air shimmered with an impossible heat and a luminance that made no earthly sense. Ogong quickly hopped back on Jim's shoulder, likely foreshadowing his mode of transportation inside the temple.

The room was empty except for a row of obsidian statues against both walls on either side of them. The sleek rocks were identical matches for the singular black menhir that crackled with creepy energy and shocked the sword-wielding statues to life, though they were many orders of magnitude smaller and no black lightning zapped around their surfaces.

"Heh. Functional and for decoration," Jim said as they marched through the room.

"Guys, something's not right," Somerled said.

Sun Ogong spoke up. "Yeah, I feel it too."

A polarising chill suffused the air, chasing the scorching heat away for a split moment, and returned in full force. Each obsidian rock had morphed into a four-armed skeleton, each hand gripping a grimy revolver. That hideous, empty chuckle reverberated off the featureless walls.

"Guys!" Sun Ogong shouted. "I see dead people!"

Each skeletal gunslinger aimed their barrels at the trio. Jim's hand hovered over his right leg, ready to draw his Impaler rifle from the cavity within, but it wouldn't matter. Five sets of four pistols on the left and the right would mean that if he was lucky, he could mow down three or four before he and his allies were peppered with bullets from all angles. His shield could only block from one direction too.

"I think we're in a tight spot," Jim said, eyes darting between each enemy.

Bony fingers curled on the triggers and pulled. A cacophony of bangs boomed inside the room. Jim waited for the lead to sprinkle through his flesh, but nothing happened. He frowned as each skeleton laughed hysterically and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"It was ... all a mirage?" Sun Ogong said.

"What kind of sick joke was that?" Somerled added.

Jim seized his Impaler rifle and cradled it in both hands. "Let's go, boys."