On the crashlanding site, there sits the metal colossus, unmoving, battered following the one-strike defeat from the hunter's strike. This war machine, this mechanized devil, bested by one attack to the head. Granted, the assassin has never shown an amount of power close to this outburst of lightning in his lifetime. Alister is unable to take in his thunderous victory, for he is unconscious.
The fact that they survived the landing is a miracle, so Riley stands neutral towards his companion sleeping. The scientist pulls the body of the hunter and drags him towards the garden, slowly and painfully.
The doctor has been cursed with mediocre physique and pulling somebody's weight is making him feel dizzy. As soon as the doctor is confident of the ground they sit on, he lays the assassin down so he can rest. He goes to get rid of his coat so the assassin can use it as a blanket, but doing the motion makes him realize he forgot said blanket a few thousand landmarks ago.
This makes him chuckle, at a loss for words. They have reached the end. They have touched grass. They fell on one insane shortcut after another, defeating the odds stacked against them. The sacrifices they all made we're not in vain. The choices they made lead to this. Yet the doctor is thinking about a coat? This makes him laugh so hard he coughs a few times. At least he still has his pouch on him. This somehow stuck by him but not his coat.
"Putain de merde... I can't go one place without losing something, can't I? Had a lot of proteins I could use to cure his upcoming blindness too...Fantastique." States the scientist.
He looks at Alister. He didn't quite see the impact of his tears on his eyes. From the looks of it, he has improved the assassin's fighting capabilities. Riley is more so worried about the side effects. He reaches down to inspect Alister.
The doctor's plans are halted when he hears a noise behind him.
It's the machine.
It's rotting away.
As if in an act of defiance, the metal beast transforms into disappearing particles, akin to a glitch escaping the program. leaving no trace of itself behind. The cold-hearted voice from beforehand gives no comment on the vanishment of her mech. Riley suspects this is on purpose.
This garden. It doesn't seem fake.
The grass is natural. The plants playing the role of entourage are welcoming, like any beautiful garden. Still, the torches, the returning light orbs bathing the place, and the fact that the walls remain the same, violet drenched color, contrasts unpleasantly. This can't possibly be it.
To add insult to injury, the doctor finds a sign near the pot of grass that says, in a comical fashion…
You shouldn't be here… but first checkpoint.
"That mech. I bet it's the one who put those landmarks all around the Bottomless Pit. Ridiculous." Says Riley, abhorred.
Misguidance. It reeks of poor taste. A pathetic trick at best, a slap in the face at worst.
People died for more than this.
Adventurers travelled at the cost of their lives to discover the wildlife, the journey, the power.
The mystique of this world brought in hundreds of thousands of humans to this place.
And that grand number of individuals, brave souls, warriors from different cultures and backgrounds, powerful people both in terms of strength and politics, as well as those who faced their fears of the unknown to understand the cause behind this.
They abandoned their hopes, their dreams, their families, their place in the world, their status, and the security of the world above…
for a garden.
"Humanity... has never been as close as I am to-no, as close as we are to the finish line, only for this? The fall, light orbs, a dead giant tortoise, spikes, checkpoints, an elevator, a whole village, an entire country, over 40 years of suffering and a god forsaken atomic bomb. This was all... For this!?"
With a fist full of rage, Riley stomps on a violet in front of him, looks up in the sky and screams at the top of his lungs:
"Whoever you are, we will not stand defeated! I came from the surface all the way! Now I want answers! GIVE ME WHAT I WANT, YOU TWISTED MANIAC! MAUDITE CRÉATURE! SALE-!
"Doc! Shut... fuck up... please! Thank you!"
Alister wakes up from his post-victory coma. He's still laying on the ground, only able to move his head around at the pace of snail. Riley stops what he's doing and dashes at the side of his companion.
"Got...more vitamins??" Asks the hunter.
"Sadly no, I lost my coat during our last fall.
"Oh fuck... Can't see shit."
Riley breathes in heavily. Indeed, the eyes of Alister morphed into something bizarre. For the moment, the side effects seem to be that his brain and nervous system must adapt to his new eyes.
"How much is the lack of vision getting? All dark?"
"Spots of colour... Can see a red shape in front of me…Probably you. That's about as much."
"Right." Sighs the scientist. It's already getting better. "I'll move you to a spot that is secure. Being on the open like this is going to cause us unwanted problems from you know what."
"No way. Killed it, remember?"
"Heh, I wish it was that simple. Seems like the lion's got a few more tricks waiting for us in its den." States Riley.
"...Don't break my fun, bitch ass scientist." Retorts Alister.
"Glad you still enjoy my company." Mocks the doctor before grabbing Alister and placing him on his back. As little physical strength he has, Riley refuses to abandon his comrade, although an easier solution to safely carry the hunter would be welcomed.
He finds a spot, a small corner that seems to bend in the wall, an open-air shelter in the form of a capsule. He isn't confident when it comes to hiding from imminent danger, but it will be better to let Alister heal in such conditions, rather than in the wilderness.
As he's walking however, he notices that the ground shakes in a rhythmic pattern, as if someone was slowly tapping his foot to a song.
The quacking gets progressively more violent by the time he reaches the corner.
When Riley turns around, he sees two red dots in the sky where the brutal footsteps come from. More orbs are evading the upcoming predator by hiding inside the walls themselves, as in fading inside of the wall.
Riley J. Smith is a smart man. His mental state is in a far better position than at the start of the bottomless journey.
He knows this is Nil.
He doesn't want to believe it's Nil, but knowing how this place operates, his first theories usually stand to be correct.
This is another occasion of that.
This version of Nil is overwhelming, a titan walking in this domain like it is conquered territory. He is the king of the jungle, and the king wants to feast on someone specifically.
"Okay, Alister, you can move your head, you don't need to try and get up. We are staying here until the threat leaves." Whispers Riley to alister
Alister's brain is slowly starting to get acclimated to the new eyes again. It's blurry, but he's able to differentiate shapes. When his eyes fall on the ginormous slime golem, his heart skips a beat.
"Doc, this is no threat. That's the fucking end of us right there." Shouts Alister in dramatic fashion.
The beast stops dead on its track. It switches gaze towards the doctor and the assassin. It seems angry.
Very angry.
"Do-dOcToR…"
It's voice is sick, like the sounds went through hell back-and-forth just to come down slightly audible. Every word is covered in slime, every move from its mouth expresses a plea, a begging for liberation.
To the rest of the Bottomless Pit, it's a destroyer.
To Riley J. Smith, the scientist, this creature is…
"MeL-MeLvIN. mY-mY nAmE iS... MeLvIn. BoDy BAaACK... GiVe... GiVe... GiVe me...!!"
The request, unable to come out of its throat, angers the creature. Alister and Riley are both pale like chalk. The foul smell of death coming from Nil reeks from miles away. Riley especially is shattered.
The beast lets this earth splintering roar that shakes the entirety of the pit with such lonesome power, it scares Riley and Alister back. The adrenaline kicks in and the assassin desperately does his best to get up, planting his katana on the ground and using it as a standing stick.
"Ar-Are you serious!?" Interjects the scientist.
"What do you think, idiot!? I am about as serious as I can get! There's a target, and I gotta kill it!" Responds the hunter
"You are almost blind, you have little energy left, you're supposed to rest, and instead you get up to throw your life away! For once I do something for your sole benefit and this is how you repay me!?"
"Riley, I don't wanna die, and if I don't fight this thing, we are going to die! Do you wanna die!?"
"Of course not!"
Their chat is rudely interrupted by the roar of the goliath.
"DoN't iGnOrE mE!! I cAn... sQuAsH yOu... AnD aSsAsSiN fRiEnD... lIkE bUG!! So nOw...GiVe mE bAcK fRiEnDs!! GiVe mE bAcK liiiiFe!!"
There's a brief pause between the scientist and the hunter while Nil roars again.
Alister looks like he's seen a ghost, and it's a ghost he's ready to incinerate. He grimaces with both disgust and animosity.
"Doc, when he said his name. Melvin, as in Melvin Whitewood. We're talking about one of the kids you took for experiments!?"
Silence.
"Answer me!!"
"Yes. Yes, I remember him. Number 20, out of the batch of kids I used for my experiments..."
Alister grunts
"My goodness, I wanted to forget you were behind that, but it seems your bullshit decided to hunt us back! Here's what you're going to do, Riley J. Smith! You're going to help me kill that thing, some way somehow, because if we go down in hell and I hear you haven't done shit to help me, I'll REALLY cave your head in, you understand!?"
The scientist can do nothing more than look towards the culmination of his dirty deeds, agreeing with the hunter with a nod.
"Good! Then let's get to it!" Responds Alister without skipping a beat.
Riley never believed in karma. The metaphysical theory of it never made sense to him.
It makes sense, now that he looks at this angry mutation.
It's as if judgement day came to his door in protest, demanding the costs of his choices, the consequences of his actions. He's indeed at the finish line. His work is done. The sins are as enraged of the results as he is, and are now seeking answers as to why all the sacrifices for so little in return.
Riley, in the back of his mind, knows what to do.
Riley, in the wholeness of his heart, knows he has no choice but to kill that beast.
Riley, at the bottom of his stomach, wants to crawl in a ball and cry to himself, pretending all of this is an intricate and elaborate nightmare. He knows that's not possible, however. He made a vow that he would see it to the end. The road might be over, but the lasts stretch is in front of him. Riley must answer to his sins,
for they have returned to hunt him.