This sucks I still have so many questions and it doesn’t seem like Ifrit is going to be telling me any time soon.  She’s kept me alive this long, and we seem to have become closer? My homes ******, not that I think I’ll be able to go back, even if I don't, no-one would miss me, I have no-one, I am alone.

What if she’s evil and that god she killed was a good god? What if I have all this backwards! Everything I have learned has been from her, so, what if this is all manipulation? He starts to spiral into a panic.

Thomas sits there, on the wet ground, seemingly being swallowed up by a tendrilled darkness, engulfing his soul.  Ifrit, who a second ago, was joking around, and making light, grows concerned, she can feel his soul becoming darker, hallow.

“What’s wrong?” She asks, touching his shoulder.  Her face displays concern, a familiar worry for Thomas, could someone so concerned really be evil? Could she really?

Even if she is evil, deep down he doesn’t want to care, she shows concern for a guy like him? No-one has ever done that except his mother.  He’s always been a burden; he’s always been an eye sore

“Ah! Oh, no- nothing Ifrit, nothing’s wrong.” “I’m sorry, I just.” Thomas can’t seem to complete his sentence.  His depression, his self-doubt, he has always been like this, of course a cool world of magic wouldn’t change him.

“Don’t get all down in the dumps now dude!” She yells, the darkness she feels isn’t going away, she can feel it.  “Look that was all really cool back there, and I get your tired, and the penalty sure didn’t help, but we need to get out of here!”

“Where is here, exactly.” Thomas asks.

She takes a minute, hesitant to answer.  “I got to be honest, I don’t really know, these beasts, they are of the Great Chasm, but the Chasm I know, isn’t like this.” “So, we really need to find a way out, pronto!” She says.

“Hey, let’s go! This way, down this narrow passage.  Those big monsters can’t fit through these so they must be semi-safe” she says.

“Oh right... let’s go.”

Thomas doesn’t know for sure yet, whether she can truly be trusted, whether she’s evil or what, but he hopes his concern doesn’t cause a rift.  He needs her to get out of here.

What’s up with him? Is he mad about the penalty? He’s acting weird, like he’s thinking horrible things, his soul is covered in a depressive darkness, like he’s dying on the inside.

Ifrit, can you make some more light?  It’s super dark here, I can’t even see my hands. I say holding my hands in front of me, I think.

"Orbis lucis et sapientiae, da mihi luce mut tenebras in hac via quam ambulamus illuminem"

“That didn’t sound the same as the last spell, what was that?”

“Nothing much, it was just a follow spell, I put the spell on the fireball, see?”  She flies ahead of me, and sure enough that ball of fire followed her down the tunnel.

“That’s really cool Ifrit, it sounds really familiar to me, what language is it?”

“It’s magic script, we have to say the spell in order for it to activate, how is it familiar to you though?”

“It sounds like Latin, it’s a really old language from my world, older civilizations wrote in it, but no one uses it today.”

“Latin?” she asks curiously.

“Yeah, its just an old language, people wrote poetry and historical documents in it.”

“Maybe your world remembered more than we give it credit.  It could be that they tried and tried to recreate magic even after the separation.” “I’m guessing, over time it was adapted to be a separate language?” She says.

“Your guess is as good as mine Ifrit.”

“Hey, can we name the ball of light?” Thomas asks.

“Your funny for a Thomas.” She says laughing.  “Sure, you can name It, but it’ll fizz out and “die” in like an hour” Grabbing her stomach with her forearms she lets out a laugh louder than her body should allow.  “It wasn’t that funny “I blurt out.

“It’s not that, it’s just… you literally just got done massacring beasts in that chamber, and now you act as soft as fluff” “HAHA it’s just like what!? Haha ****** humans’ man.”

“What do you mean?”

“Humans are killing machines! didn’t you know this?!” “Your capacity for cruelty is gargantuan then you turn right around and talk in a baby voice to a puppy” Sounding exacerbated she holds her head in her hand.

“And?” I say, not seeing the point.

“Forget it, it’s just funny, like you’re trying to deny your true nature.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing? I mean sure, they sounded horrible but that was five hundred thousand years ago. It was kill or be killed! What’s so wrong with bringing it back? I mean not the experiments and abominations, I mean “Might makes right” I could have gotten so much done, had such a better life.

Ifrit listens with intent, nodding every now and again. This one-way conversation lasted until the end of the tunnel and into the new chamber.

Both Thomas and Ifrit spoke very passionately towards violence.  Maybe they are one in the same? Maybe Thomas’s cruel past and Ifrits certain predilection to violence is a bad choice? Maybe they will help each other grow? Out of the fires or cruelty and pain maybe a new partnership will form.

At this point Thomas had completely spaced his prior notions toward Ifrit, and himself, as the conversation had gotten deep.  Even though his life had been full of pain and betrayal he still has an overly trusting nature.  Since this was such a lively conversation between the two, Ifrit too had become less suspicious, however she is still looking for any shift or change in Thomas.  Something, anything, that will tell her; her suspicions were correct.

Beneath the surface of it all, however, they want to trust one another.  Especially Thomas, if he can’t trust her, he’s likely dead, he must trust her, his life depends on it.  Even with that looming over his head, he wants to trust her, truly.

With the dangerous first room cleared, the two had moved on from the room by narrow tunnel, it was wet, warm, and grotesque.  The faint smells and nauseating textures were enough to halt the conversation every now and then as they navigated through to the room on the other-side, same darkness and smell, with…. something sweet?

The moment we get into the new chamber, I feel eyes on me, dark eyes, something intent on killing us.

We went silent.

Within the darkness, a great loud roar screams across the area.

Ifrits arm extends in front of my brow, “What, was that?” I whisper.  Her face looks back at me with curled brow.  Got it, I’ll shut up.

I’m not going to be one of those people that says, “what’s going on” and have whatever were trying to sneak past, hear us.  I always hate that trope in tv, like oh yeah, smart, pant super loud or repeat please when a monster that goes by sound is around, like you did it to yourself.

“Were in the second chamber, we just need to be quiet, and we’ll be good” She whispers.

The room goes silent, you can hear gargling and the footsteps of beasts around us.  This room... the echoes are all wrong.  “Hey Ifrit, what’s up with this room? The sounds all wrong” I whisper; “The chamber here is sensitive to sound, don’t touch the walls and don’t stand still.  This isn’t just a room, it’s another kind of beast.” She says, but the words weren’t out loud, they resonate inside my head.

“Don’t be scared, it’s me” she says within my head.  Telepathy? She has this ability too?! That’s insane!

“This would be better for us to speak back and forth instead of whispering and risking being heard” “Try it, just think hard about your next sentence and I’ll hear it”

“Balls” …

Ifrit shoots me a glance, her reactions all over her face, her face is red and puffy; she’s trying to hold in her laughter, maybe a joke wasn’t the right move, given the circumstances.  Still, I hold by my decision. “Seriously?! Ha-ha-ha-ha! That’s your first word? First time you ever try telepathy, and you say “Balls” ha-ha-ha, seriously you’re so stupid!”

"I figured you’d laugh, I know if I were you, I’d die of laughter.” “Were you expecting something serious? ha-ha-ha!”

I absent-mindedly touch the wall close to me, this “wall” surrounding us…… its ****** wet! “Eechk!” I let out a sound of disgust.  Wiping the goop from my hand with my pants.  “I. Just. Told. You not to touch anything!” Awaiting for the proverbial shoe, to drop; we wait.

And wait.

And wait.

“OK! Enough! Nothing’s happening.  Let’s hurry up and get the hell out of here”

**Grumble** **Rumble****Moan**

“Was that his stomach?”

“Stomach? I ask, “what the hell do you mean by that?”

“I thought something was off since we dropped in here, this isn’t the Chasm I know.  Its wet, and stinks, we must have been teleported into a beast, a huge beast.”

“Yeah…sure…sounds about right, huge monster, and were inside of it.  That’s my luck alright.  So, is it hungry? Unlucky for us but good timing for him I guess.”

“I don’t think were inside its stomach though, there’s no acid, and there’s other beasts in here, its all wrong.”

“So? What do we do?”

“Run.”

“Lux, explodi magnitudine ut melius videre possimus”

Ifrits small fireball explodes growing one, two, three, four times bigger!

I feel the heat on my skin, it’s like I’m on the beach during a record heat wave!

Ifrit pats me on the back and yells “Domini venti et spatii, levia et celeria facite pedes meos, ut persecutores meos praetercurrere possim”

From my feet upward a green sheen of wind and light, surrounding my feet and rushing through my legs, green veins traveled up my legs under my skin.  This rush of power, I felt like I had taken adrenaline straight to my legs.

Ifrit can see a slight grin on Thomas as he kneels into a sprinter’s position.  I go to step forward and I shoot forward, “RUN!  THOMAS!”

With explosive force I sprint, faster than a leopard, cutting through the wind like a missile.  I was unstoppable.  I scream in enjoyment.  I’m going too fast I can’t even keep the saliva in my mouth, I’m feeling such a rush, I completely forgot the fact that I’m in danger. 

“What can hurt me!? Nothing can touch me!!” I scream.

Ifrits trailing behind me at a safe distance, the same magic she used on me, she applied on herself.  We, both, were running at breakneck speeds.

Tendrils shoot from the walls to bind me, trying to keep me from escaping.  They were soon burned to ash, thanks to Ifrit, seems she is looking out for me, I can focus on getting the hell out of here before I become beast chow.

Although…

Hey! Ifrit!

Yeah?!

Can I fight this?

HA! You just got here, just felt magic today and are in a dangerous place.  All this, and you want to Fight this thing? Haha I really did luck out with you! Seeing as how you destroyed a Guardian and a significant number of beasts yes you probably could fight it, but no you’re not going too.”

“We need to focus on getting out, you’re still riding that high from the massacre.”

“Follow the veins!” Instructs Ifrit

“Got it!”

We follow the veins, until they start to intersect and mingle with one another.  It’s so trippy… even going this fast I can still see; I can practically see the blood flowing.

We converge on a hole in the wall, it looks coiled up or something, what the **** is that… I touch it and it quivers, ******* gross! I curl inward with the most intense cringe.  “Ifrit…what…the…. **** did I touch.”

“I…think you know….”

Ek, ****, glegh, hmmph, errge, bleh. Vomit shoots out of my mouth, I touched, I touched, oh men, I can’t say it.

“Absolutely gnarly, what the hell did you eat for breakfast?!, It looks like ****!”

“Maybe I had my mouth open for too long in here…”

We both joined in laughter; I think the stress of it all just finally wore through.

“OK, let’s get through this hole!” “Actually, hold up.  Do you have some kind of spell that can cover us from head to toe? Like a barrier spell? Like that bubble?”

“I totally can, I have a bunch of different kinds; matter of fact.”

“Ok, so, can you? Or would you like the moment to brag further ha-ha” “As much as crawling my way through a sphincter sounds like a day at the World Fair, I’d rather not get dirty” I say with a disgusted look on my face.

“Yeah, yeah, your no fun; of course I can.” “Amplectere nos, o orbis, tege nos tua protectione” “See?”

“Ok, so this is too large” I say extending my arms out to my sides; “I won’t be able to get through there like this, is there a way to mold the barrier to my body?” “Like some kind of suite?

“Sure, I can, it’s just going to take a minute” 

“Do we have time?”

“I don’t feel anything coming at us?” “It should be fine” She exclaims.

Ifrit makes a traditional barrier; It’s like a light green-blue mesh only a couple inches thick, but totally see through, like fine glass.  This world is something else, truly, and magic is incredible! This, this is what I’ve been waiting my whole life for!

She strained for a minute; she looks like she’s molding clay in her hands but there’s nothing there but empty space.  I hadn’t noticed, but the barrier was already starting to shift; I look down at the floor as I feel the barrier start to wrap around my feet.

Slowly and with precision, the glass-like barrier flowed upwards, moving like ferro fluid, wrapping around me; every nook being expertly covered in barrier magic.  “Hey this is cool! The air is different here too!”

“It’s magic, of course the air inside is different, it’s part of the spell.  Usually it’s a big bubble, but since we can’t do a bubble, and had to mold it; it wouldn’t hold any air.” “Since its skintight to make maneuvering easier, I had to put in another spell to provide oxygen magically instead of naturally, you know… cuz you’d die otherwise”

“Wow, how did you come up with that?”

“I didn’t, unfortunately, it was done before my time; someone else discovered it way back, wrote it down, and now it’s in The Library”

Was it just me or did she say library with some form of reverence?

“Ok! Let’s pry er open!” I think.

With both hands I grab the top of the sphincter and the bottom and I spreeeaaad it open.  It’s truly a disgusting scene, the strings of what I can only assume is anal jelly stretch and pop the more I spread it.  It’s unbelievably wet, and hot, as I open it steam can be seen from the folds.

I wish there was mind barrier magic or something because this is going to stick with me till the day I die.

I get the sphincter open wide enough to crawl through, and I gesture Ifrit to go through, I follow behind her.  After we exited, I turned around to check my suspicions, yup.  “It’s a ******* bootyhole!” I yell to Ifrit; she erupts into laughter.

Rolling on the floor in the air grabbing her stomach, “I wasn’t expecting you to say that ha-ha-ha” “bootyhole” Her laughter continues.

To be fair “bootyhole” is pretty funny.

I end up joining her in laughter, the fact, we were, oh man.  Then it hit us with what seemed to be simultaneously.  Were now in the Great Chasm, we couldn’t let our guards down.  “This, this, is the Great Chasm.” Says Ifrit, disappointed.