"I think we're lost," Fate whispered.
"But we can't use the 'stay put' rule with that creature running around down here. Our only option is to keep moving," Cait whispered in response.
Fate had no retort to that, so he kept walking. Beside him, Cait was breathing slightly heavily. He realized that the dirt in the air might've been causing her problems, something he didn't have to worry about because of his mask. Upon having this thought, he took his mask off and wiped it off on his shirt to get the moistness of his breath off of it, then handed it to her.
Cait looked between it and him with a look of befuddlement. "What's this for?"
"This dirt is getting into your lungs. It isn't healthy."
She pushed the mask away, shaking her head. "Keep it, I don't want you to suffer in my stead."
Fate met her gaze with a placid expression, shoving the mask into her hands and turning intangible. "I won't."
"*Sigh*. Fine." She put on the mask, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye. "But if you start coughing, you better take it back."
And so they went through the tunnels, occasionally coming upon another crossroads, upon which they would pick another random direction and go in it. Surprisingly, they didn't encounter any dead ends, and the only hint of hostile lifeforms was the one constantly to their back.
Not used to such prolonged quiet, Fate broke the silence. "Have any ideas on how to handle the living monster castle we're trying to get back into?"
Cait took a while to respond, perhaps taking time to think. "It's immune to my desire domain, as Ythmun said, and we can't use our Divine Reach with Ythmun's overpowering Intent. Your Manifest Power doesn't have any offensive uses, and the only weapon we have is your sword. Honestly, I think we may have to call Autumn in to help."
"Weapons… Did you outfit your Shadow Jumper with bombs, by any chance?"
Her eyes lit up in the red light of their flashlights. "No, but it has the best laser weaponry money can buy. It was remarkably cheap, due to the wide disdain for weapons most other Embodiments have. The seller told me it was the hottest laser on the market, so hot they had to install a big hit sink into the ship so it wouldn't melt."
"Is that what that big box on the power core is?"
"Yep. It can take the excess heat from the lasers and turn it into power."
"So, aerial attack?"
"Pretty much our only option. Unless you want to try your luck against the eye walls and the mouth floors."
"No, thank you. So, I guess we should look for a way to the surface, instead of a way back into the palace?"
"Of course. I just wish we knew where we were going."
Fate smacked his forehead. "The Ex-Ears have a mapping function," he said dully upon seeing Cait's confused stare. "Automatic, too. We can just use that to see where we've been, then cross out the other tunnels by process of elimination."
Cait blinked once, twice. "I need to read the manual on these things."
Fate pulled his Ex-Ear's screen up, opening the mapping app and using it to determine where they've been. "Well, good news and bad news," he said.
"Good news first."
"The good news is, we've only got another four tunnels to check out."
"And the bad news?"
"We've looped back around to the cavern with the door about twelve times. This tunnel is leading us to it now, as well."
"I thought that looked familiar, but I just assumed it was something to do with symmetry. Kind of mad, though. We've been walking for hours. My feet are sore."
"Mine too, but at least the end is in sight."
A chorus of wails rang out behind them, less than a few thousand feet away. They realized at once that the screams had been silent for hours now, and cursed themselves for growing lax. They whipped around, Fate pulling his Miao Dao out and brandishing it in front of him. They stood a few feet apart, knowing based on the rate the screams were growing louder that they wouldn't have time to run.
Down the tunnel came the lumbering form of Griffith, his pustules and the green flesh of his face glowing menacingly in the dark, casting the wrathful faces on his back in dancing shadows. He was fast, bounding dozens of feet at a time. Within five seconds, he went from a barely perceptible wisp of light to a horrifying bear that they could make out every detail of.
The bear slid to a stop ten feet away from them, eyeing them both with the gaze of a predator deciding which prey to pick. It growled, drowning out the screams of the faces on its back, and for a brief second Fate thought the tunnels were caving in before he realized it was coming from the bear.
It opened its bony mouth, forked purple tongue flicking out as voice rang out. Contrary to Fate's expectations, it wasn't a deep, rocky voice befitting a bear. Instead, it was the voice of a typical human male.
"You've made me walk in these dreary tunnels for hours, humans. I could've been using that time to sleep, but because of you my master is angry and has sent me to take care of you. But do not worry, I will kill you swiftly. Then you will join the legion on my flanks and provide me with nourishment and power until the end of time."
"Those things are alive?" Fate asked, startled. "I thought they were you."
The bear growled again. "They are a part of me. And soon, you will be, too." He lunged, crossing the ten feet between them in the blink of an eye and slashing brutally down on Fate with his long, knife-like black claws.