Unable to even look to the dark roof stretching above him in time, Midas and Graf were pounded by a shadow, falling onto their heads from the void that stretched out above them. The ground crumbled, ash being kicked up in the air, as their enemy collided with the cocoon, the blow extinguishing the little light of the candle.
Midas rolled himself away, hearing the light tapping noises the creature made as it began to roam the room. "Don't let it sting you!" Graf exclaimed, his shaky voice sounding through the darkness, unable to defend himself, his dagger lost in the void blinding the two.
Unsheathing his rusty sickle, his rows of teeth heavily pressing against each other, the boy reached one of the room's walls, holding the rusty metal out into the dark. His throat clenching as the boy was unable to tell when and where the enemy would strike from, possibly even able to attack from above.
The drumming roaring filled the room, its sound reaching every corner of the walls. Before Midas saw himself being flung to the side, his lower back aching, as his shaky body tumbled on the ground, falling onto the ashy mud slabs making up the floor. Groaning, he used his now free left hand to somehow get up to his feet again, his head turning to all the possible directions and angles the creature could possibly emerge from.
"Find the door, Graf!" I'll buy you some time...! Midas shouted dryly, holding onto his left hip, aching as the effects of the attack began to show, his eyes twitching from one place to another, the enemy struck once more, now from behind. Seemingly toying with the boy, it watched as Midas struggled, not minding Graf as he took slow steps, his back tightly laying against the wall, flinching at the light tapping of the creatures' legs.
Breathing became harder as the boy got up once more, his throat clenching up as the stinging pain began to spread. Unable to tell with what he got hit, his ankles became more shaky, making him fall on his knees again. The ground he rested uneasily on vanished quickly, as he was thrown against one of the walls, his back colliding with the sandstone, his feet giving up the idea of somehow standing up again.
"Midas… I can't find it…!" Graf yelled, his voice only able to reach his ear in a muted manner; the boy tried his best to focus his eyesight onto the dark silhouette of his fingers, crouching as the boy began to rapidly blink, slightly feeling his torso tumble, unable to find any stable position as his vision began to zone out. Clenching at his stomach, his lips parting to show clenched teeth, he tried his best to stay awake, his fingers clenching onto the skin covering his exposed lower torso.
Mumbled and congested sounds of Almas yelling faintly reached him, telling him to stay awake, shouting his name, trying their best to reach the boy. Barely touching the dusty ground, the creature seemingly looming over his near-completely numb body, tears escaped his closed eyes; his lids became heavier with every moment he spent looking for a way out, his situation dire, as the creature flung him to the side again, making his weak body collide with a wall. His sharp scream in pain resounding from the room's walls as his right arm collided with the stone.
Forced on his knees, his heavy head now on the floor completely, Midas closed his swollen eyes, unable to hear, unable to think, or move, as his body or mind wouldn't allow him to. All the boy was able to do was hold onto his useless arm, his fingers unable to grasp anything, as the hand was still swollen by the inserted stone; even now it hurt, as his left hand grasped his right arm.
Unable to find any answer as to why this was the only thing Alma left for him behind, unable to accept the possession of this cursed piece of rock being his only use as a prisoner to him, Midas let out a dry gasp, his throat reaching for air, unable to accept such a meaningless end. His eyes finally flashed open again, water still flowing out of it, as he gazed at the suffocating void filling the room.
The stone slab brought great, numbing pain with it, but it also offered him a slot to insert a sun shard into. The same man who had pushed him down the seemingly same dark corridors he had found himself wandering through to find Graf had granted him a way of using a resource only distributed to the highest members of this region's society, his death gifting him the same stone he had never found a use for.
Balling up his aching, swollen fingers, the flesh surrounding his ankles squeezing itself to the side as his fingers formed a fist, the boy closed his eyes, his shaky right arm expending itself out into the darkness with loose posture as his lump body found the last bits of strength to somewhat rise up to face the unknown creature. Closing his eyes, his numbed hearing aided him in forcing his mind to find momentary peace, a quick contract to live on, as his usage of the shard determined if he got to live on or die in this room.
His arm began to drain his energy, the warmth of his limbs seemingly escaping, being funneled to the right hand he fed into the darkness. As his numbed sight eventually lost its color completely, Graf ducked instinctively, hugging the sandstone with his back, as he heard heavy cracking noises emerge from the ceiling above them. Dust that flaked down from the roof was eventually followed by deep cracks in between the many stone bricks holding up the stone above, some of the bricks loosening up completely, colliding to the ground at the same time as Midas' completely drained body.
Merely escaping the flying pieces of bricks and stone, the bald man shrieked lightly at the raging roar the creature emitted; slim blades of sunlight fell onto the ancient ground as sand grains found an entrance into the room. The roof busted into shards as a giant chunk of it collided with the ground. The creature tried to escape the fragmenting stones, weaving through the pieces of rock, before eventually falling victim to one of them, as its many limbs were crushed by the colliding sandstone.
It didn't take long, as the roof completely crushed its body; masses of sand quickly found their way into the room, completely immersing the numb body of the creature as it was suffocated by the grains. A small trail emerged from above, the sand forming an unstable slope Graf could use to escape the chamber. The sky was riddled with shades of pink, red, and purple as some of the early morning light shone onto the shocked face of the driver. His breath was shaky as he slowly leaned against the stone wall, unable to keep his eyes off the sky.
"Oh, wait... right, Midas...? Where are you...?" Unable to enjoy his newfound view, his alerted eyes wandered from corner to corner, his question slightly mumbled, as the driver was already used to the nonexistent answers the boy gave back to him. Going around the collapsed pieces of rock towering in the middle of the room, he found the boy, his body hiding in one of the remaining corners untouched by the sun's light, motionless, his weapon close to being emerged in sand, laying right next to the dagger Graf had dropped.
Slowly turning to his tiny sword, holding it to his face for a short while, until strapping it under his belt, Graf tried his best to somehow get the numb body of the boy around his shoulder, carrying him with, crouching to get his sickle, barely able to hold onto him without falling. Groaning, as the sun came closer into reach, the bald man did his best to climb up the steep tunnel that had formed due to the collapse of the room. Barely able to resist the weight of the boy on his weak shoulders, Graf finally emerged from the hole.
Pushing himself to somehow reach the surprisingly near tent, in which the rest resided, he loaded the boy onto the hay, letting him rest on the ride while placing his sickle beside him. Hiding his dagger in the same location as always, he massaged the skin covering his head, mumbling to himself as he sat down onto the front of the sleigh. "Why, of course something like that lingers in there... cursed land." He muttered to himself, his head sinking to his fingers, counting his ways of passing the desert, the need for food and water beginning to weigh heavy on his mind.
"Just get me out of here... Let me finally see you, Philia..." The bald driver mumbled into his palms.