If we had our way, that hole would have led somewhere other than the Chasm, but It can’t be helped.

What was that thing that brough us here? Was it the same beast that tried to digest us? Or something more sinister?  Did it mean to throw us into the stomach that thing? Why were there monsters inside that monster? It’s almost to big to look at, like a giant wall of hard flesh.

“Ifrit, now that were out of there.  What the hell is that thing?” I ask, pointing up to it.

“I have no idea, maybe some type of goliath?” “It’s huge, but seems relatively docile, it didn’t even react to our exodus.”  “Just don’t touch it, just get away from it.” She demands.

We need to get out of here, Ifrit looks exhausted, she’s been using magic, A lot of it, and it’s all my fault.  I can’t help but feel like I’m slowing her down, if only I had magic of my own.

“What’s this?” I looked up to the sky, there was a pink sparkly wisp of air, is it dust? For some reason, it seems like it would smell nice, and being overly curious and against better judgment, I inhale from my nose.  This smell’s, wow, it smells amazing, is such a good smell... mmhm. I nee..d..to  find….i..t. 

Seeing Thomas become entranced, she swings around violently, and smacks Thomas repeatedly across his face.

****** dope, stop breathing in so hard! “oh, woooow what a niice smeeell letts inhale it without even knowing what it is!” She says, imitating me; “Moron.”  “Look” she points to the corner of the room, there is a large gathering of what look to be corpse-flowers from my world.  “Flowers?” I ask, not fully convinced they are actual flowers. “Yes flowers, you, no touch.” She says.

“Ok, ok, I’m not a moron ifrit, I get it I touch I die, correct?”

“Correct” she nods, “How the **** have you lived this long?!”

“Cut me some slack! We don’t have this type of **** in my world! Flowers don’t entrance you, there just flowers, give me a break!” I bark, tired of the constant attitude towards my ignorance of this word.

She folds her arms and turns away from me.  “I know you’re new here, but still.  Just assume everything will kill you.”

“So, what horrible **** are these flowers then? Some kind of man-eating plant?”

With a serious look on her face, she looks at Thomas, his ignorance here will definitely get him killed eventually, and having found such a excitingly violent new toy, she doesn’t want him to die.

“What is it?” I say exasperated.

“You ever seen a huge guy? Like with a ton of muscles and such?” She asks. “Like a roid head? Or just like a normal person?”

“What’s a “roid head”? You making up words now?” She says with her hands on her hips.

“It’s slang, it’s used in my word to describe a guy who injects himself with certain growth hormones and drugs to increase muscle gain.  Their big zit covered muscle heads that are quick to anger.”

“So instead of relying on hard work, they cheat? Can’t you just keep at it to grow bigger?” Ifrit asks curiously.

“No, us humans are not the best when it comes to evolution, this is pretty much all you get, otherwise it takes years and years of pain-staking work, steroids make you huge quick, though they don’t last.”

“Ok, that’s stupid, are humans actually that weak?” “Why did…..” She trails off, making it impossible to know what she said.

I look at her with caution.  “What were you going to say?” I blurted out.

“Haha, you nervous? I can smell it on you.”  “What the hell’s wrong with your dumb***.  I was just wondering, if humans are that weak why did we even bother driving you out? Why didn’t we just kill you all?”

“There were probably circumstances, something that was excluded from history, to avoid embarrassment. Stuff like that happens a lot in my world too.  So, us “weak” humans probably had something of value or maybe we were dangerous to your people to a degree.”

I doubt it, but maybe your half right” She says

As we digest that question, a long wisp of aroma reaches out to our noses.

With the both of us on guard, I look at ifrit and she has an “oh yeah” expression on her face, pointing at me. “That’s right, The flowers!” She says as she slams her fist into her hand.

So those flowers have whole bodies under the ground.  Like “roid head” level bodies, and their always hungry, that aroma emitting from them is the smell of their bodies eating themselves, it attracts creatures to them so they can eat.”

“They wait in the ground, and when a creature entranced by the smell come’s over to the flower…. BOOM!.” “In a split second the main body shoots out of the ground, and it rips them apart.”  It’s too bad you’re not an enemy, I really like watching them feed.”

“Is there anything here besides the flowers? Maybe we can entice a creature over there.”  Plotting as I interlock my fingers.

I look around the room or I should say cave, for anything that isn’t a flower.  Off in the distance I see something hop.

“Ifrit.” I whisper.  “Theres something over there… do you think you could direct it to the flowers?” As I laugh quietly.

“Sure! Give me a second.” She says.

“Mentem inimicorum meorum cape et meam fac, auctoritatem mihi da”

The thing starts to shimmer, “Is that your spell Ifrit?”

“Yeah, when the target you entrance starts to glow, that’s when you know the spell was effective.”

The entranced creature is inching closer and closer into view, soon ill know what thing it is, I hope its huge.

“Oh ****, Ifrit, that’s just a bunny? You have bunnies here too?”

I wait, to look at it better, the things small and white, long ears, cute face.  That’s a freaking bunny, what the hell is she on about?  It’s hopping, its cute little body is hopping, how is that not a bunny?  White, with brown spots, it’s adorable.  It’s like those bunnies I would pet when the animal society for conservation came to my school, they had a bunny just like that one.

Wait.

The Chasm is a different world, no, a different beast, something so dark, shadow feasts on light, a powerful world of blood.  This was no bunny; my eyes showed a harmless bunny while my body told me to run.

A noticeably large amount of sweat is dripping from Ifrit’s brow, accompanied by an intense fear in her eyes.

“**** this, this isn’t a bunny.” She says through her clenched jaw.

I thought it was just a bunny? What the hell is wrong with this awful place! How can a bunny illicit so much fear? What the hell is she controlling?

Ifrit, does it, does it know it’s being controlled? Why are you struggling so much?”

“It does, I think it let me.  This, this isn’t a bunny, this is a beast of massively strong proportions.” “I ****** up.”

“Does it know where we are?” I ask sheepishly.  If it knows where we are, were, were ******.  If Ifrit, is this scared, and struggling this much, just how powerful is this thing?

“It might? I mean were hidden behind rocks, so it shouldn’t?” She says hesitantly.

That’s not a very confident answer, we’re in serious trouble here aren’t we.

“Ifrit, could you maybe stop controlling it, just let it go?”

“If I do that it might come over here and find us, we should’ve never even entranced it!”

“What is it though, why has it got you so scared, why is my spine trembling?” “On a danger scale from one to a hundred how bad?”

“Danger scale? This thing is a ninety-seven, these things are born from an unholy mixture of nature and void, a beast of incredible bloodlust.” “Why the hell did I listen to you! ****”  “See how there is nothing in here besides those flowers’ way off in the distance and that monster? It ate everything else.  I believe the reason the flowers still live is because they stay hidden from it.”

“Can you bring it over to the flowers? Maybe they’ll kill it? Or at least we could escape in when they fight?”

“We can try.” She says unconvinced.  We’re out of options, this was a horrible idea, truly.  If this doesn’t work, were seriously going to die.

Ifrit sends the monster bunny over in-front of the flowers, with the hopes that this works, we look to escape.  Leaving too early or too late would mean our doom, the thing would notice us and kill us.

As we run away, my curiosity, my dumb curiosity, makes me look back towards the monster, the bunny’s back was turned away from us, just sitting there, the flowers just stayed in the ground, not wanting to challenge the unholy beast.

As I turn to face front to look for Ifrit, my vision is blocked by two very large bloodshot eyes.

****.

I feel a wall collide with my side with incredible force, the monsters blow had crushed my ribs and punctured my organs, turning my chest cavity into a bowl of soup.

The “Bunny” knew all along their location, it had smelled them the second they opened the goliath’s hole.  It hadn’t eaten in so long it relished the chance at a meal, but its sadistic nature wanted to savor the situation, let them panic, and writhe in fear for as long as possible.

This “cute little bunny” had grown to the size of a large bear, its paws larger than its head, connected by an almost fluid arm to provide the most force on impact.  It’s hind legs long and muscular, allowing it to jump and glide through the air.  They are unmatched and at its mercy.  Only this beast knows no mercy or kindness, it relishes horror and mutilation, born from the black muck it is both real and unreal.

Thomas is thrown into the air from the impact, as his body collides with the wall, Ifrit turns around.  This happened in a millisecond, the “bunny” was there until it just wasn’t.  She had blinked the beast was gone.  Behind her, a large mucus dripping maw behind her, about to swallow her whole.

Just as she was to be chow, a huge fireball spits out of ifrits back, her arms glow with the most vibrant fire, as her automatic defense magic comes into play.  Her figure grows, larger and larger, almost twice the size of Thomas.

Ifrit is rage filled aggression, grabs the monster by the jaws, her eyes bloodshot and crying blood.  Fire shoots from her hands, singing the beast’s fur, as she dislocates and soon rips apart the beast’s mouth.  Hurt, it shoots back, grabbing its mouth in pain.

“Not so fast!” She screams.  Shooting forward toward it, covered head to toe in white hot flames.  Ifrit grabs the beast by the throat, lifting it up into the air, its fur burning due to the heat.  It screams, shrieks in pain, until finally, all that can be heard, is the snapping of its immense neck.  Its body swallowed up, as her immense flames burn it to ash.

Thomas, having been launched into the cave wall by the beast, was still unconscious, his life steadily receding, since his organs were essentially soup, and his rib cage was shattered, he didn’t have long to live.

Ifrit runs over to Thomas, she can feel him, dying, there’s not much time left.  She starts her healing magic in the hopes that she can repair the damage. 

As the intense healing magic does its work, Thomas’s eyes flutter open, unable to move he glances at Ifrit.  He has no control over his limp body, but he can feel sensations return as the magic carries on. 

Thomas, laying there, head on her lap, covered in his own blood, releases his long-forgotten smile.  His true smile.  A smile that invokes fear and panic, ear to ear a gaping black smile full of malice, stretches across his face.  Contorted and vile, his eyes full of pain and terror.

The hairs on Ifrits body stand up as her body reacts to his smile, she can feel the malice, the horror, its enough to make anyone flee in terror, but not her. 

As her magic begins the final touches of healing on his body, he regains his ability to speak.  “Did you see that, Ifrit?” Thomas says menacingly.  “I went flying back there.” “That, was sooo, much fuuuun.” He says creepily singing.  

Ah, this, this feels so good.  The smile I’ve hidden for so long is finally out, how relieving.  How oh how will the little fairy take it, I wonder, will you too flee from me?

Ear to ear…Ifrit greets Thomas with a most heinous smile.  Ahhh. Her smile, it’s so beautiful; he thinks to himself.  With a smile devoid of life and hope, a smile like his, he can’t help but feel aroused. 

A certain connection has been formed between the two, unknown to them.  Ifrits constant use of magic on his body, and the heightened levels of adrenaline within his body, had sparked a process little know about.  With the revealing of their true selves acting as the final piece to the truly terrifying puzzle. 

Thomas’s body begins to contort, as his chest explodes in pain.

He screams out in pain, shrieking and convulsing.  “What the ****!, what the ****! My chest!”

At the same time, Ifrit is clutching the dirt on the ground, wincing in pain, a pain she has never felt.  Being so powerful, it’s been a long time since she has experienced pain.  Could this be a blowback from her overload earlier?

Circles of cutting wind surround the two, as they sit there in immense pain, unable to move.

While Ifrit is seemingly taking it, Thomas, on the other hand, being human, is having a harder time.  “My ******* heart! Its on fire! It’s killing me! I need to get it out!” He yells.

In a panic, I begin to tear open the center of my shirt.  Clawing at my chest, Ifrit can’t do anything but look at him suffer, the winds are strong enough to rend her flesh.

I claw at my chest, if I could just rip open my chest, I can put out the fire.

I’m clawing apart my flesh for an ounce of reprieve, I look down at the bloody mess.  My skin is covered in claw marks, bleeding down my body.

I continue to claw, until I start ripping flesh with every handful, but no relief.  I get to my muscle tissue, But I’m still burning so I claw at the fibers of my chest muscles, as they snap away with every pass.  Still no relief.

Having torn open my chest to the point I can see my rib cage, I can see my heart, it’s still beating, but there’s no visible fire.

There are strips of skin still hanging on across my chest I look as if I fought a bear and lost but I feel like a god, I can feel power flow within me, like a rushing river.

Something within me screams at me to eat my heart, tear it from my chest and consume it, eat it, eat it! As I go to do that very thing, the heart exploded in fire, white hot fire.  Burning my hand.

As the pain subsides for Ifrit, the pain for Thomas has just begun.  Theres nothing, she can do however, as Thomas is still surrounded by the cutting wind.  She can only hope that whatever is happening doesn’t totally kill him, she needs to get her healing magic ready. 

Thomas, in an instant, is engulfed in flame.

The flames grow larger, and larger, until he cannot feel any longer.

After what feels like an eternity, the flames begin to die, and the pain stops, I look down at my mutilated chest, expecting the need to push my organs back in.  Instead, In place of a hollow chest cavity, I have what looks like a tattoo, a symbol, in the center of my chest.  I cannot make out the image, but it looks like fire.