Falling into the Abyss

Ethan lost his direction in the darkness. He didn't know where he was going. The rugged and intestinal ground under his feet seemed to have a slight slanting angle, and the invisible gravity was pulling him towards unknown places little by little.

Those grotesque and weird babbles still entangled every breath of his breath, and he was not even sure whether those sounds came from the outside world or from his own head.

"Where is this?" he murmured.

Those voices paused for a while, and then said in chaotic, childish voices again:

"At home, at home."

"On the planet."

"It has been hollowed out by us."

"It's almost full."

Ethan swallowed his saliva in his throat that was dry and painful from his illness, "What do you want to do to us?"

This time the silence is longer than before. Ethan simply wondered if these dark voices were discussing something in a language he couldn't hear.

Then, in front of him, a beam of light appeared in the distance. The ominous scarlet light called him from a distance like a siren song, and it seemed to be beating like a heart pulse. He turned his head hesitantly, and there was still darkness behind him.

Has lost his way, where is Weiyu going.

He had to strode towards the direction of that beam of light.

**********

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Samus looked uncertainly at the laser gun that Schneider had just adjusted in his hand. "I never heard that a laser gun can be used as a knife."

Schneider whispered, "I've only seen someone do this once, but it should be fine. It's better to suffer less than with a dagger." He looked at the sergeant, "Did you think about it?"

"How can I think it over?" The sergeant smiled bitterly, "I would have flew a few more flights to say goodbye to him."

Although it was a joke, the other three couldn't laugh, especially Stan lying on the ground. His legs are not optimistic either, and they are lying on the ground like bones. He hasn't opened the gauze to see it, and he doesn't know what it has become now. He also didn't want to know.

Stan's festering wound was covered with white granular buds, and it still feels nauseous when I think of it.

Samuel supported the sergeant and lay on the ground, straightened his right arm to the ground, and then pressed his whole body tightly on the sergeant's body, holding down his shoulder to prevent him from moving. Schneider pressed the trigger on the laser gun, and a hot beam of light sprayed out like a flame, continuously burning in the air. It succeeded! He glanced at Samuel, and the latter nodded at him.

The sergeant closed his eyes.

Schneider crossed his heart and slashed the laser beam downward. In an instant, the screams of the sergeant resounded throughout the empty temple, echoing among the pillars with strange sharp corners.

The whole pitted arm that had started to turn black was kicked away by Samuel, and he quickly sprayed the antiseptic hemostatic agent onto the neat cross-section of the wound, and then wrapped his shoulder with the last bit of bandage. The sergeant's body was soaked in cold sweat, and he passed out.

Samuel wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a long breath. Schneider also sat down against the nearest pillar and threw the gun aside. He asked Samuel, "How long has Eldridge been away?"

Samuel estimated it slightly, "It must be at least four or five hours."

"After so long, will something happen?" Schneider turned his head and looked at the holes in the high wall that would make people with intensive phobia crazy. "If he doesn't come back in another hour, we will go in and look for him."

"Do you want me to find him? Are you waiting here?" Samuel asked.

"No." Schneider categorically cut the railroad, "From now on, all actions must be together and can't be scattered anymore."

**********

The red light spot got closer. Ethan finally saw clearly that it was a hole.

The disturbing red light cast deep and shallow shadows. The corridor he was on was very wide and nearly circular. From the ground to the ceiling, they are all ring-shaped folds that smoothly reflect red light. This regular texture, like a pattern, pushes forward layer by layer, forming an uncomfortable vortex. At the end of the whirlpool, the space suddenly opened up. Ethan stopped on the steep cliff at the entrance of the cave, his green eyes widened from the shock.

It is a huge space, just like an underground city. The cliffs are pushed apart like islands. In the misty abyss, many huge pillars with thick ends and thin middles rise to the sky, supporting the distant dome above the head. When you look closely, you will find that those pillars are coiled around many huge pillars. Worm. Although they are far away, they still appear so thick and long, with the top fluttering in the red mist, making a naive and meaningless moan. Ethan was almost certain that the worms were the horrible worms that rushed out of the underground cave during the Hornman Sacrifice.

However, if you look more closely, you will see that the tails of the worms are connected to a thin purple-red strip, which has been hanging down. Ethan followed those things and finally fell into the abyss. Then he held his breath.

The red mist gradually dissipated in front of his eyes, and he saw something that covered the ground vertically and horizontally, which had almost filled the entire field of vision.

If the giant worm that I saw before was as huge as a subway or even an underground train, then the huge chunks of meat that twists and turns on the ground and stays still are almost a city.

Ethan could not see its head and tail, but could vaguely distinguish that it was extremely softly bent and twisted and entangled, and he was not even sure whether one or several were entangled. Its skin seems extremely soft from a distance, almost just a thin film. Beneath the gray membrane, countless blood streaks spread densely, emitting a hot red light. When you look closely, you will find that its body is moving slowly and rhythmically, like a beating heart.

All the thin purple-red threads at the end of the giant worms are connected to this ancient, primitive, super worm beyond human imagination. Those purple-red silk threads formed a big net in the air. The whole space was filled with the sour and rancid smell that Ethan was familiar with, but by now, he no longer felt sick.

Ethan stared at the terrifying and magnificent sight in front of him, vaguely realized that these worms had a hierarchical system similar to bee colonies and ant colonies. The "small" worms that hang down from the trees and attack people are equivalent to worker bees. Those coiled on the pillars are likely to be male worms, transporting their own sperm through the purple-red siphon tube organs, and the huge city in the abyss The red worm is their queen.

It turns out that this is the meaning of the existence of this temple, which is why the horned people say this is the "mouth of the earth". Suddenly, Ethan seemed to have been ignited, and he understood everything.

These giant worms are the "sacred races" worshipped by the horns. They are parasitic inside a planet and swallow the core of the planet. When a planet is about to be hollowed out, they will spread their eggs into the universe to find the next one. The parasitic planet. They worship the **** of entropy, and it is they who passed the belief of the so-called "great wise man" to the fashionable and obscure horns. They are evil and chaotic people.

**********

Schneider first heard a sticky sound, like the sound that a snail might have when crawling across the ground. He hurriedly sat upright and shot the surroundings with the light that was not as bright as before.

I didn't see anything suspicious, I just felt that the surroundings were much darker than before. Darkness was pressing around, filled with an ominous smell.

He turned his head and saw Samus sitting up vigilantly, as if he was listening to something with his ears up.

"Did you hear that too?" Schneider asked.

Samuel frowned and nodded.

The tearing-pulling-tearing-pulling-the sticky voice continued, and it became clearer. Now even Stan suddenly opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground and opened his eyes, but his expression suddenly froze on his face. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't speak, just stretched out his hand and pointed at the top of his head.

Schneider turned the spotlight towards the top of his head.

I saw that the distant dome seemed to have many waves ups and downs, and the vault that originally exuded a faint fluorescent light was completely covered at this moment, covered by the gray-white worm. They piled on top of each other like the maggots wriggling on the sergeant's arm just now, and slowly crawled down the pillars. The front ends were greatly opened, revealing blood-red circles of fangs.

Samus lifted Stan on the ground, and Schneider also pulled the sergeant up. Several people wanted to run towards the incoming road, but found that many worms on the far column had already touched the ground, facing them. The direction spreads.

They turned around again, only to find that the dense holes in the high wall were no longer empty. Strips of worms are squeezing out of the hole like toothpaste strips, creeping down the stone wall, leaving a translucent trace. With their appearance, the stench occupies all the sense of smell, and it makes people sick to smell. What frightened Samus most was that he saw a worm as huge as he had seen at the altar before, opening and closing a huge black hole-like mouth, coming out of the hole that Ethan had entered before. The blood sticking to the teeth made his chest tight.

In other words...Ethan... may have become a pool of flesh and blood in his belly...

Strangely, he didn't have too much heartache. Probably because he knew that he would soon become excrement in the stomach of these disgusting creatures.

The four of them stood back to back, surrounded by bugs that suddenly flooded from all directions. Schneider fired the gun in vain, and the brilliant flame of the laser lit up the suddenly crowded temple again and again. But it was useless. Those bugs seemed to have no dead spots. The places burned by the laser quickly healed intact, just like clouds, it is impossible to suffer real harm.

The encirclement became smaller and smaller, and so many disgusting front ends waved in the air, making a sharp neighing sound. That is the song of death from hell, and the song of fear that is more desperate and darker.

The heavy gasps of the four were clearly audible, and Samuel felt his heart beating wildly in his chest, even breathing hard. Obviously he has faced death many times, but he can never get used to the fear of facing the end. He turned his head to look at Schneider, but it happened to meet the same desperate and scared gaze.

Is his luck finally running out?

When the energy of the laser gun finally dried up, and when the nearest worm raised its front end to them, Schneider suddenly turned his head and stared at Samus deeply, then took the initiative to move forward and kissed his lips desperately.

**********

Everything was clear like the lost memory that was originally engraved in his mind, but it was just remembered again. Ethan hated this feeling, as if he had been forcibly poured into a lot of memories that did not belong to him.

He was sure that the voices in the dark just now were these "sacred races" communicating with him.

Obviously, these worms can understand his language. So he asked loudly into the abyss, "Why are we trapped here? Answer me!"

For a long time, a childish voice similar to the one just now echoed in the abyss, booming like thunder, "We want you to take us to a new world."