Mario Sunshine? Never played it, so I'm not entirely sure of the significance of eyeless things and statues.
I originally planned for this chapter to be longer, but it broke 3k words and I cut it short. You'll get the rest in the next chapter.
Callie was in shock- she knew the signs, rapid breathing, difficulty thinking straight, an adrenaline rush. She collapsed onto her side, fingers digging into her head.
"She's gone..."
She didn't know how long she lay there for, the cameraman standing above her, utterly at a loss as to what to do next. Deciding on a course of action, he removed his jacket and lay it over Callie, who barely even reacted. He turned to the rest of the crew, who were just as confused and worried as he was.
"Um... Ambulance?"
Someone immediately took a phone out and began dialling. Meanwhile, Callie argued with herself, serving to confuse the cameraman even more.
"She might not be gone, she could just be staying at a friend's... she's gone and you failed her... No, she's still out there... out there in the eyeless thing's clutches..."
She was snapped out of her internal argument when a shrill ringing filled her ears, and it took her a few seconds to stop staring into the distance and pull her phone out if her pocket, answering when she saw Vytus' face on the screen.
"V-Vy?"
"Callie. It's about the dig site."
"Marie's gone."
"I figured, since beneath the site we found caves, and we were just chased out of it by some tall eyeless freak. It..." Callie heard Vytus sigh. "It was carrying Marie."
"Were there any others?"
"Yeah, there were. Didn't get an exact count though."
"Right, right, just give me a second to think... You said this was in that Cameroon place?"
"Yes, but if you're thinking of bringing the forces here, don't. These things to not take aggression well, especially the tall one."
"Wait, tall one?"
"Yeah, there are two Inklings and a really tall one. It looks like a skeleton, covered in this tar."
"Not another one..." Callie turned to anemone that had given her the missing persons list. "Where did you get this info?"
"Erm... Judd. He said he was watching the last match of the night, a three on three match, and watched as the fighters sank into some sort of black ink."
"Vy? Can you add to it?"
"Not really, but- hold on."
Vytus suddenly went silent, and Callie's screen suddenly turned on, a view of a dark lake showing. It was difficult to make out, but Callie could just see three shapes stood in the mouth of the cave, slowly approaching. Vytus backed away, and Callie could see several other Inklings and research staff stood around in a wide arc, giving the eyeless creatures a wide berth. She watched as someone ran forward, an Inkling carrying a Tentatek Splattershot, against the protests of the group. As soon as they brought the weapon to bear, the skeletal thing simply pointed, black spears erupting from the ground and skewering the Inkling's legs. Another lance went straight through his hand, forcing him to drop his weapon. He struggled visibly.
"What the hell?" He shouted. "I can't change! I'm stuck!"
He watched as the skeletal creature approached and placed its bony hands on either side of his head. He immediately started screaming, his eyes rolling back in his head as his entire body shrivelled, desiccating as the skeleton dug its fingers into his head. His scream suddenly cut off as his vocal chords snapped, his breath just leaving in short whimpers as the last of his life evaporated. The skeleton dropped his body, and all three locked their "sight" on the camera Vytus was holding. The Inklings moved to the body and propped it up, its face facing the camera.
"We are the Culus. You will see as we see."
The Culus Inklings each tore an eye out, and the golem spread its arms and rose into the air, brimming with tar before it slammed down, its hands disappearing into the ground. Vytus super jumped, the earth banking away. Just before he flew, he caught sight of grasping arms rising from the ground, ensnaring the researchers who were physically unable to super jump and those that were too slow. Callie also saw the arms, and almost threw up. When the sound of rushing air no longer erupted from the phone, she moved it back to her ear.
"How many got away?" She asked quietly.
"Me and two others."
"What do we do?"
"I don't know, Cal. I don't know."
Drowning. That's what it felt like when blackness had spread across Bluefin Depot, crawling from the dark corners between walls before it surged across the rest of the arena. Marie had watched the tar take its first victim, dragging the poor soul down and under. She and another boy had taken each other in hand and ran, the tar slithering toward their ankles. They had escaped what Marie swore were fingers reaching from the surface for a few minutes before a second wave appeared in front of them, cutting them off. The boy with Marie used a Bubbler, to no apparent effect- the darkness dragged them down regardless, pulling the sphere of protective energy with them. When it gave out, Marie lost sight of the boy, and was immediately covered in tar, the foul liquid physically prising her mouth open and forcing its way inside. She soon passed out, her struggles ceasing as the lack of oxygen got to her.
When she awoke, she was in a different environment altogether. The walls were of jagged stone, as was the floor and ceiling. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, and Marie realised she was in a cave. She could not smell the familiar smells of Inkopolis. As she woke up more, she saw that tar covered the floor, and that she was knelt in it. It came halfway up her thighs, and her arms were rooted in place with tar as well, preventing her from standing. She attempted to pull her left arm in experimentally, wincing as the tar became razor-sharp, digging into her flesh. She quickly dropped the pressure, and the liquid relaxed again, reverting to a fairly loose, but firm hold.
The Inkling then made the shocking realisation that she was naked. She screamed out in the darkness, trying to pull her legs together and ending up with hundreds of tiny stab wounds for her trouble. She huffed, grimacing as the tar seemingly sensed her discomfort following her attempt to preserve her dignity. She screamed again when the tar began to pull her limbs in opposite directions, the darkness creeping up the side of the cave, hoisting her arms as it did so, leaving her suspended in a star shape. She began to sob, tears rolling down her face and dripping into the tar. Moments later, an emaciated creature, bent double, emerged from the tar in front of her, stretching to its full height once it had clearance. Marie saw that it was barely more than yellowed and fractured bones with tar coiling around the dead flesh that rested on them. It looked like a human skeleton, but on closer inspection, she saw no eyes sockets or a tell-tale hole where the nose would be. Instead, it had a featureless plate of bone above its lower jaw. She glared at it, and it glared back.
"What the hell are you? Why are you doing this to me?"
It didn't respond, and instead it raised both arms, folding them across its ribcage, as if it was wearing a straitjacket. The tar immediately shifted, following the golem's movements and yanking Marie's arms across her chest. She looked up as it approached, tears in her eyes.
"What do you want?"
"Soon, you shall see as we see."
The tar moved, spreading across her body, covering it completely. This time, she kept her mouth firmly shut, not giving it any chance to get inside. She glared as it finished spreading, leaving only her face uncovered. The golem tilted its head to the side, and Marie smirked.
Hah, not this time.
Her cocky smirk faded when the tar crawled across her face, tapping her face, her ears, her eyes. One tendril tapped her nose, and the fear came rushing back all at once. She screamed as it forced its way into her nostrils, and her scream was cut off as it clawed its way into her throat and mouth, her vision blurring as she choked on the substance for the second time.
"Marie!"
She started awake, in her own bed, Mira sat beside her, her face teared with worry. When the Octoling saw that she was awake, she gasped and embraced her.
"I was so worried..."
Marie frowned, rubbing her head. She remembered something, something like a dream. It faded from her mind and she hugged Mira back.
"What happened?" Marie mumbled through Mira's tentacles. The Octoling released her and sat back.
"It looked like you were having a really bad nightmare."
"Well whatever it was, I can't remember it now. Any news?"
"Well, Callie's gone to do it. You probably have time to catch her if you get up now."
"Thanks."
Marie went to sit up, but in one swift motion, Mira moved on top of her and held her arms down, leaning in so that her nose barely touched Marie's.
"Hey, come on, I have to go to work..."
"No you don't..."
"No, really." Mira leaned back as Marie looked off to the left. "Something's bugging me, something that I can't quite remember, like a dream."
"Well, you did just wake up from one."
"No, no no no, it was important, like my life depended on it, like I was in danger."
"What do you think it could be, Marie?"
The Inkling frowned; Mira's voice sounded different. She looked up at her and screamed as her love's face decayed, her eyes becoming dark and liquid, streaming down her face and onto Marie like putrid tears. The rest of her features vanished, leaving black tentacles and a mouth full of razor-like teeth.
"What could it be?"
"Marie!"
She snapped her eyes open, slowly looking up at Mira, who looked close to tears.
"Are you sure you're alright?"
Marie looked around, panicked. There was no tar, and Mira's face was still intact. She took a deep breath.
"...No..."
"What do you want to do?"
"I think... I think I'll go for a walk. Take my mind off things."
"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry, I have a phone."
Marie dressed herself and left, breathing deeply when she got outside. Something felt off about the air, like it had a stale quality to it, and it felt too heavy for the winter. She shrugged it off and blamed it on tiredness, heading into the trees, feeling the few remaining leaves slide under her feet. Marie took care where she put her feet- she didn't want to slip up. She didn't know why, but she found herself drawn to the clearing where she had found the first group of dead Inklings. She hadn't visited it since that day, but now she felt the need to inspect. Breaking from the treeline, she stood behind the bench, looking closely at where the eyes had been. There were no bloodstains in the wood. Marie frowned. She swore that blood would have at least left some sort of mark. She looked up at the trees, seeing that the branches were perfect, and not shaped into spears like they had been when Inklings had been hanging from them.
Something definitely isn't right.
Turning away, she headed towards the plaza, deciding that she would meet Callie in the studio. Pulling her coat a little tighter in the frigid wind, she made her way out of the clearing, a bloodstain appearing on the bench as she went.
When she did eventually reach the plaza, she was caught off guard by the sheer amount of laughter there- everyone was smiling and laughing at something, even those emerging from the lobby partially covered in ink- the losing teams were all laughing. Many other inklings were pointing towards the centre of a circle that had formed around one of the walls. She caught the attention of one of the boys stood at the edge of the ring.
"Excuse me? Why is everyone laughing?"
"Is there a reason not to? We won today and two people are banging over there, why not enjoy the show and laugh about it?"
He pointed to the inside of the ring. Pushing herself into a position in which she could see, Marie discovered what all the fuss was about- two Inklings were indeed going at it in the plaza, the boy on his back and covering his face while his partner bounced up and down on top of him, clearly enjoying herself despite the public spectacle. The boy to whom Marie had spoken tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned.
"See? Pretty funny, isn't it?"
"Come on! I know you love it, all this attention! Hands out of the way!" Yelled the girl from inside the circle. The Inkling in front of Marie burst out laughing anew. Marie rolled her eyes when another boy joined the two inside the ring, followed by two more girls and another boy. Marie pushed herself out as the situation devolved, trying to block out the sounds of slapping flesh and lust-filled screams. She shuddered and stepped into the studio, Callie's head shooting up from the table when she heard the door close.
"Marie! You're here."
"Yes. I missed the news, didn't I?"
"Yep. Though, we didn't really say much."
"Why not?"
Callie arched a brow and jerked a thumb to the orgy happening below them in the plaza. Marie gagged when she saw that it had pretty much tripled in size between her leaving the circle and reaching the studio.
"That's gross."
"Yeah. That lot aren't complaining though, and the police don't really feel like stopping about twenty naked people."
"Well I wouldn't want to either."
"And because of that, the show goes on."
"Gross."
The pair lapsed into silence for a few seconds before Callie spoke.
"So are you alright? Mira tells me you were having a pretty bad dream."
"I was. I can't remember what it was though."
"She also mentioned how you suddenly screamed and recoiled from her. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I... Think so?"
Callie's eyes narrowed.
"You tell us if there's something wrong, okay? We have to take care of you."
"Alright, alright."
After sitting at the table for a few hours, more and more fans started appearing at the window. Looking over them, Marie saw that the orgy seemed to have stopped, as various Inklings were pulling clothes off the ground and dispersing. Marie cringed as the last one left, and a man with a power washed began spraying the ground.
Worst job ever.
Marie stretched and stood up.
"Well, I'm going to go home, since there's nothing to report."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Go and do what you need to do, if you know what I mean."
Marie glared as Callie snorted with laughter. Scowling, she walked out into the plaza, taking care not to stand in any of the cleansing gel being spread across the Tarmac. As she walked out of the plaza, she didn't see the one Inkling in the entire crowd who wasn't smiling.
That night, while Mira slept hugging Marie's arm, the Inkling herself couldn't sleep. She knew she should be tired, but her body felt wide awake. Not even the sound of Mira's rhythmic breathing could do anything to dampen the energy that was currently coursing through her. She sighed and turned over, looking towards the tell-tale white glow of the moon through the thin curtain. She stared absentmindedly, feeling the minutes pass agonisingly slowly while her body refused to shut down. A shadow passing by the window caught her eye, and a tapping caught her attention. She dismissed it as just a sound of the night, but when it came again, she disentangled herself from Mira and went to the window, hastily throwing a shirt on as she did so. She pulled back the curtain, a flash of blue dragging her attention to the right. She arched a brow when she saw that an Inkling had made a path all the way up the wall, and was now hanging from Marie's window, his hand extended. Catching the hint, she took his hand in her own, her colour changing almost instantly. She jumped, travelling down the blue stripe on the wall until she hit the ground, the Inkling stood in front of her. A boy. He looked familiar, the memory of his face hovering at the edge of Marie's mind.
"Do I know you from somewhere?"
"Yes. Really think about it."
Despite her efforts, she could not place his face.
"I'm sorry. I don't remember."
"That means their trap is working."
"Trap? Whose trap?"
"What do they call themselves? The Culus?"
"Those eyeless things?"
The boy smiled.
"So you remember something. Yes, the eyeless things."
"I remember them. And now I remember you, I saw you and the eyeless things in a nightmare."
His eyes widened.
"What happened in the nightmare?"
Marie frowned, trying to remember the details.
"We were... Battling, and then there was a wave of... Black? Then you used a Bubbler... And..."
"And?"
"...I can't remember."
"That's fine. Oh, I'm Raaz. I never told you my name, Marie."
"I guess you know my name already. So what? I had a nightmare. Why have you come here?"
"What if I told you that the nightmare was your only chance to survive?"
"That makes no sense."
"What if I told you that I had the same one?"
Marie stopped, looking at Raaz.
"What?"
"Unfortunately for us, even though we feel awake, this," he spread his arms and spun. "This is the true nightmare."
"I don't understand."
Raaz hummed, before his eyes lit up.
"The plaza today. Before the... Well, you know, kicked off. What was strange?"
"Well, there was an orgy, and... And everyone was smiling."
"Good. Even the ones who came out of the lobby beaten. Why?"
"Well, they did get a free show."
"I don't know about you, but I get pretty salty when I lose. An orgy wouldn't cheer me up that much."
Marie folded her arms, a scowl on her face.
"Alright then. Why is it strange?"
"Because they're not real. All of them, apart from you, me, and four others, the rest are fakes."
"How can you say that?"
"Because they miss small details." Raaz barked. "Mind you, they missed a huge detail with my brother- he can't feel emotion, and I walk home and he's laughing his ass off! This can't be real. After that, I kept noticing things. Slip-ups, like a mirror not showing an exact reflection."
"How?" Marie questioned. "If this isn't real, how can you be talking to me?"
"Do you remember the wave of black that swallowed us?"
"Yes."
"We're all sharing the same dream. Six of us, you, me and the other four who were on the battlefield at the time. It's the tar, it's alive and all connected. We... We're inside the tar. I bet it's eating us alive or something. But for the dream to be shared, our minds must be linked. Hence why I'm talking to you now."
"Alright. If this is a dream, how do we wake up?"
"I don't know. I think when you're dreaming, the more "normal" it is, the less likely you are to wake up. Obviously, nightmares aren't normal which is why you can be scared awake."
"So look for mistakes? Is that it?"
"No." Raaz winced. "If that was true, I'd have woken by now. Also, there are four more who believe the dream is real. There was the one in the plaza, who won't be leaving any time soon because of his "girlfriend" and there's three more who I don't know." He checked his watch. "Crap. I need to go back, or I'm going to pass out here. You need to get back into bed, otherwise you're going to fall asleep right here."
"But I-"
"Do not argue! Find me tomorrow by the lobby."
With that, he super jumped away, and Marie turned and swam up the ink back into her room, closing the window quietly. She had barely taken her shirt off when overwhelming fatigue hit her, and she collapsed onto the mattress. As she sank into sleep, she swore she heard the faint sound of laughter.
