Notes: Gotta credit an RP with WingweaverHope for some of this.
Marik goes rigid at the news that Mokuba has been taken captive. "Rishid, I . . . I didn't even realize he had gone missing!" he screams, looking at me in alarm. "I didn't realize. . . ."
Tenderly I pull my younger brother closer to me, rocking him very gently. "You weren't in any condition to notice," I whisper. "Mokuba knew he wasn't supposed to leave. It was his choice."
"I should have stopped him!!" Marik moans. "I shouldn't have ever even entertained the possibility of him coming along!!!"
"You were never in agreement with the idea," I say firmly. "Kaiba was the one who decided to let him come, though he is not at fault here either." I make certain to say this low enough so that Kaiba will not hear. I can only imagine how he must be feeling so much worse than Marik about Mokuba's abduction. "Please do not blame yourself, Marik. You are suffering enough without adding this burden to it."
Marik shakes his head sadly. "I should have known he was leaving. . . . I should have known. . . ."
"You are not well, Marik," I tell him seriously. "No one could expect you to notice. You are suffering emotionally right now, and whether anyone else realizes it or not, that can be just as deadly or more so than a physical problem."
Marik looks up, smiling at me happily. "I knew you would understand, Rishid," he says. "And Ishizu would too. You both are so good to me. . . . You've always understood me. And you've always known just the right things to say." There is still an underlying sadness in his eyes, however, and I know he is sad that Mokuba did not. I hold him close, praying that the child will overcome his outrageous behavior and treat my dear brother right the next time we see him.
Kaiba has gotten off the phone by now. "He says we have to travel to the edge of the village!" he screams in frustration. "He's toying with us!!!" Then he pauses, looking directly at me. "And he says he's your father."
I do not look away. "He and Halima may have birthed me, but I do not consider them my parents," I reply coldly, standing up with Marik in my arms. Again this tortured boy cannot stand by himself, through no fault of his own. He has been through so much. So terribly much! If only Ishizu and now Mokuba were already free and we could go home! Marik needs it so badly. I do not know how much more he can endure.
Kaiba half-turns. "Well, whatever. We need to find him and get our siblings back. Come on."
I require no coaxing. Neither does Marik. If anything, he is more determined than ever to get the others back.
~Ishizu~
A creaking door awakens me next and I know I still possess my hearing. Maniacal laughter echoes about and then I hear someone being thrown into the room with me.
"Hey! When my big brother gets here, you're all gonna pay!!"
Mokuba! Mokuba is here! I do not stop to wonder how this abomination has happened. I start to pull myself into a sitting position, trying to call to him. My voice comes out very raspy, but thankfully I still possess it.
"Ishizu???!!" He runs over. "Are you okay??"
"Do not worry about me, little one," I answer, reaching out to pat his head but touching nothing. Either my hand is in the air or else my sense of touch is gone.
"I'm not a little one!!!" Mokuba cries defensively.
I narrow my eyes. So he is in another Mood. That is never a good thing, especially in a situation such as this. "How are my brothers, Mokuba?" I ask. "Are they well?"
"Marik's acting stupid." Mokuba kicks at the ground.
A female voice speaks up before I can scold him.
"You know, you've been causing a lot of pain today."
The voice makes my blood run cold. I know that voice. . . . It is so cold. . . . So evil! . . . I recognize it so well.
Mokuba does as well. "Shut up, Portman!!!"
Dr. Alice Portman comes closer. I can hear her high-heels clicking on the floor. "Oh, but it's true," she says smoothly. "I don't think you realize just what a painful experience Marik came through."
Dr. Portman! Of course! That is who Rishid's birth father is working with! She is the one who developed the poisonous drug I was injected with! I do not know why I didn't entertain the possibility before.
She stops in front of me. "And I can see my drug is working well," she says with pride.
I narrow my eyes and refuse to speak.
"What are you talking about??!" Mokuba demands to know, concentrating on her previous remark. "What did Marik go through??! He didn't have any painful experience!!"
"How would you know if he didn't tell you?" Dr. Portman answers.
Now I try to speak, but my throat is tightening for some reason and I find I can't. Dr. Portman laughs at my predicament before turning her complete attention back to Mokuba.
"You thought he was being so childish, didn't you?" she sneers. "You were so disgusted because he was acting like that and you never even stopped to have compassion on him. And that was because you wanted to make it look like you were so much more grownup, isn't that right?"
Mokuba backs up. It is strange. . . . My sight is gone . . . but I can see what is happening, almost as if I am having a vision in my mind. "Shut up!!" he yells.
"You know I'm right. But poor Marik . . . after being attacked by a three-thousand-year old zombie and pinned down to the floor the way he was . . . I think he deserved kinder treatment, don't you?" Dr. Portman crosses her arms and smirks. "Who'd have thought the one he considers his best friend other than his siblings would betray him so cruelly, and especially after nearly being violated!"
Mokuba goes chalk white. "What??! What are you saying???!!"
"Oh yes, Mokuba, you know what I'm saying," Dr. Portman purrs. "He was almost raped." She moves closer. "And the security cameras in the museum recorded it all." With that she presses a button and Marik's recorded screams fill the room. "He looks so terrified, doesn't he?"
I cannot bear to hear Marik in such dire agony, even though I know this happened earlier and he is safe now! The only thing I want is to run to my precious brother and hold him in my arms, comforting him and reassuring him that everything is alright. He must be feeling so confused . . . so scared . . . wondering why such a thing had to happen to him. . . .
But I can't even stand up. I am trying, but I cannot. And it is becoming so hard to breathe! There must be another effect to this drug that I was not told of!! What if . . . what if I cannot ever get back to my brothers?!
Suddenly the pressure on my throat is released and I am free to gulp in the welcome air. I clench my fists tightly, unable to block my younger brother's tormented screams from my mind. "MARIK!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Mokuba stares blankly at the screen, silent tears streaming down his face. He echoes my scream of Marik's name, collapsing to his knees and sobbing uncontrollably. "I don't deserve to be your friend!!" he wails. "You . . . you were in so much pain and I couldn't even see it!! Marik . . . I'm so sorry . . . so sorry. . . ." He curls into a tight ball, rocking back and forth. "Marik. . . ." His eyes narrow in anger and he looks as though he wishes to hurt himself for being so mean to such a tortured soul. "How could I have hurt my best friend like this??!"
Slowly my vision clears and I can see with my own eyes again. The scene looks just the same as in my "vision," only more distinct. "Mokuba . . ." I try again to get up and find that I still cannot.
Dr. Portman turns to look at me, amused.
"It seems," I spit out angrily, referring to the vision and the ability to breathe that I have regained, "that your drug did not work as well as you wanted!"
"On the contrary, it worked perfectly," Dr. Portman replies. "You know me . . . almost, if not everything, I do involves the mind and mental torment. The drug operated completely mentally. Your vision wasn't really gone, nor any of your senses—it only seemed that way."
I glare at her. "You and your associate will suffer for everything you have done to my family!" I declare. "What was done to Marik was absolutely atrocious. I cannot forgive that!! I cannot!!" Angry tears leap into my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I do not care about what they tried to do to me. I only care about how Marik was treated so abominably and how Rishid's father is doing all this simply to get at his son!
"I don't want your forgiveness." Dr. Portman walks up directly in front of me and pushes me down onto the slab. I find that I cannot even resist.
"Oh yes . . . there is something about the drug I neglected to mention." She grins sadistically. "It weakens the body extremely. And that's for real, not just mentally."
I glare up at her, unable to comprehend such evil and uncaring behavior.
"I would give Rishid about . . ." She checks her watch. "About an hour to find you before your body shuts down entirely. And as for little Mokuba. . . ." The doctor shoots a satisfied smile at the utterly crushed child. "I think he's feeling the pain and regret he deserves to. He was so unkind to your brother."
"As if you are being kind to him!!" I retort. Yes, I am very angry that Mokuba would treat Marik the way he must have, but I will address that later. This is not the time.
Dr. Portman only produces a hypodermic needle. "Go to sleep, Ishizu Ishtar," she says, stabbing me in the arm with it. I cannot even fight the injection. "The level of determination and speed that your brothers exercise in the next hour will determine if you will ever wake up."
I try to answer her. I try to assure her that they will come, though secretly I do not know if they will be able to save me in time. I only pray that they will be able to overpower the immense evil existing here. That is my wish. My dying wish, if it must be.
My eyes close before I can fight it.
~Marik~
It is so wonderful to have Rishid's assurance. . . . He tells me again what I have longed to hear so badly, and more. I am not crazy. I am suffering, and I should be treated with kindness and understanding while I recover. He says I am the strongest person he knows, and that I must never think that I am weak because I cannot automatically shove my experience into the past and be done with it.
"It takes time to heal from these things," he tells me quietly. "You are only human, my brother. You must remember that! No one who truly cares about you will think any less of you because of what happened."
I manage a sad smile. "I suppose . . . that means . . . Mokuba doesn't really care."
Rishid narrows his eyes and I can tell he isn't sure himself. "Mokuba is a foolish child right now," he says at last. "But give him time. If he is a true friend, he will realize his mistakes and come to you sobered and solemn. He will realize that he should not have acted so cruelly without even knowing the story."
Kaiba has gone out ahead of us to where the village ends. "There's nothing here!" he says in irritation, obviously having hoped to find the hideout. As much as I long to myself, I know it won't be that easy. And I know Kaiba actually knows that as well.
A part of me still feels so frustrated for not being able to get down and walk by myself, but I know I cannot. Not at this time. But my heart is still in this. I still whole-heartedly wish to rescue Ishizu—and Mokuba, too—and to defeat Rishid's father. And . . . Rishid would tell me that's the most important thing.
"What happened was through no fault of your own," he said earlier. "You did nothing wrong, my dear brother. Do not be ashamed."
Now Rishid's voice in the present cuts into my remembrance of the past. "What is this?" He seems to have stepped on a piece of metal.
Kaiba leans down to look. "It's a trapdoor!" he realizes. "It must lead to an underground base!"
"Then we have to go down there!" I cry.
Kaiba's phone rings then and he answers expectantly. "Kaiba!" he bellows.
The voice on the other end speaks so loudly that Rishid and I can hear as well. "Ah, Kaiba. You and my son have found the entrance, haven't you?" A decidedly unfriendly laugh echoes around us.
"Then it does lead to your base!" Rishid yells.
"Perhaps." The evil man chuckles a bit. "Why don't you pull the door up and find out? I'm certain your siblings would be so very happy if you'd drop in."
"What have you done to Mokuba???!!!" Kaiba demands.
"I wouldn't know. My associate, Dr. Portman, is in charge of his fate."
These words are a horrible blow to us all.
"Dr. Portman??!" Kaiba repeats. "No!!!"
"Mokuba got his just desserts," Rishid's father tells us, "and time is running out for Ishizu. You'd best hurry, Odion! Bring your pathetic brother and come try to save her!"
"MY BROTHER IS NOT PATHETIC!!" Rishid screams in a thunderous voice that I have hardly ever heard him use until today.
Kaiba rips up the door to reveal a metal ladder. "I'm going down first," he says, and does so before either of us can argue.
I stare down into the abyss, which seems endless from up here. Anything could be waiting down there . . . more zombies, even. That is my greatest fear.
No! My greatest fear . . . is that . . . that Ishizu will not be alive by the time we reach her. That is too horrible to even think about. And . . . what was meant by Mokuba receiving his "just desserts"?! He is most likely in terrible danger as well!
"Rishid . . . you can put me down," I whisper. "You can't make it down holding onto me." I can't bear the thought of going down into the darkness by myself, but I know that I must face it sometime. And if I do not face it now, Ishizu and Mokuba could both die!
"I will not let you go, brother!" Rishid retorts. "I know how you are feeling, believe me, I do! But I cannot let you go yet. We don't know what's down there." So even Rishid is unsure! "Marik, you are not physically or mentally capable for this yet," he says very gently. Deep in my heart, I know this, but it's still hard for me to accept. I just can't rest! Not now! Perhaps later, when we're all at home and safe. . . .
Somehow Rishid balances my trembling body with one arm while gripping the ladder's rungs with his free hand. I cling to my brother tightly, realizing that there is no way I could have actually gone down alone at this point. I simply could not have. Rishid is right . . . I am not ready. Already I am feeling as though bony, decaying fingers are trying to grab me! It's horrible . . . so horrible! And so hard to remember it isn't real!! What if it truly is??!
With these unpleasant thoughts and feelings, we descend into the darkness.
Which suddenly becomes very bright as a miniature explosion tears through the very area we are in, knocking all of us off the ladder and into the swirling black pit below!
Marik goes rigid at the news that Mokuba has been taken captive. "Rishid, I . . . I didn't even realize he had gone missing!" he screams, looking at me in alarm. "I didn't realize. . . ."
Tenderly I pull my younger brother closer to me, rocking him very gently. "You weren't in any condition to notice," I whisper. "Mokuba knew he wasn't supposed to leave. It was his choice."
"I should have stopped him!!" Marik moans. "I shouldn't have ever even entertained the possibility of him coming along!!!"
"You were never in agreement with the idea," I say firmly. "Kaiba was the one who decided to let him come, though he is not at fault here either." I make certain to say this low enough so that Kaiba will not hear. I can only imagine how he must be feeling so much worse than Marik about Mokuba's abduction. "Please do not blame yourself, Marik. You are suffering enough without adding this burden to it."
Marik shakes his head sadly. "I should have known he was leaving. . . . I should have known. . . ."
"You are not well, Marik," I tell him seriously. "No one could expect you to notice. You are suffering emotionally right now, and whether anyone else realizes it or not, that can be just as deadly or more so than a physical problem."
Marik looks up, smiling at me happily. "I knew you would understand, Rishid," he says. "And Ishizu would too. You both are so good to me. . . . You've always understood me. And you've always known just the right things to say." There is still an underlying sadness in his eyes, however, and I know he is sad that Mokuba did not. I hold him close, praying that the child will overcome his outrageous behavior and treat my dear brother right the next time we see him.
Kaiba has gotten off the phone by now. "He says we have to travel to the edge of the village!" he screams in frustration. "He's toying with us!!!" Then he pauses, looking directly at me. "And he says he's your father."
I do not look away. "He and Halima may have birthed me, but I do not consider them my parents," I reply coldly, standing up with Marik in my arms. Again this tortured boy cannot stand by himself, through no fault of his own. He has been through so much. So terribly much! If only Ishizu and now Mokuba were already free and we could go home! Marik needs it so badly. I do not know how much more he can endure.
Kaiba half-turns. "Well, whatever. We need to find him and get our siblings back. Come on."
I require no coaxing. Neither does Marik. If anything, he is more determined than ever to get the others back.
~Ishizu~
A creaking door awakens me next and I know I still possess my hearing. Maniacal laughter echoes about and then I hear someone being thrown into the room with me.
"Hey! When my big brother gets here, you're all gonna pay!!"
Mokuba! Mokuba is here! I do not stop to wonder how this abomination has happened. I start to pull myself into a sitting position, trying to call to him. My voice comes out very raspy, but thankfully I still possess it.
"Ishizu???!!" He runs over. "Are you okay??"
"Do not worry about me, little one," I answer, reaching out to pat his head but touching nothing. Either my hand is in the air or else my sense of touch is gone.
"I'm not a little one!!!" Mokuba cries defensively.
I narrow my eyes. So he is in another Mood. That is never a good thing, especially in a situation such as this. "How are my brothers, Mokuba?" I ask. "Are they well?"
"Marik's acting stupid." Mokuba kicks at the ground.
A female voice speaks up before I can scold him.
"You know, you've been causing a lot of pain today."
The voice makes my blood run cold. I know that voice. . . . It is so cold. . . . So evil! . . . I recognize it so well.
Mokuba does as well. "Shut up, Portman!!!"
Dr. Alice Portman comes closer. I can hear her high-heels clicking on the floor. "Oh, but it's true," she says smoothly. "I don't think you realize just what a painful experience Marik came through."
Dr. Portman! Of course! That is who Rishid's birth father is working with! She is the one who developed the poisonous drug I was injected with! I do not know why I didn't entertain the possibility before.
She stops in front of me. "And I can see my drug is working well," she says with pride.
I narrow my eyes and refuse to speak.
"What are you talking about??!" Mokuba demands to know, concentrating on her previous remark. "What did Marik go through??! He didn't have any painful experience!!"
"How would you know if he didn't tell you?" Dr. Portman answers.
Now I try to speak, but my throat is tightening for some reason and I find I can't. Dr. Portman laughs at my predicament before turning her complete attention back to Mokuba.
"You thought he was being so childish, didn't you?" she sneers. "You were so disgusted because he was acting like that and you never even stopped to have compassion on him. And that was because you wanted to make it look like you were so much more grownup, isn't that right?"
Mokuba backs up. It is strange. . . . My sight is gone . . . but I can see what is happening, almost as if I am having a vision in my mind. "Shut up!!" he yells.
"You know I'm right. But poor Marik . . . after being attacked by a three-thousand-year old zombie and pinned down to the floor the way he was . . . I think he deserved kinder treatment, don't you?" Dr. Portman crosses her arms and smirks. "Who'd have thought the one he considers his best friend other than his siblings would betray him so cruelly, and especially after nearly being violated!"
Mokuba goes chalk white. "What??! What are you saying???!!"
"Oh yes, Mokuba, you know what I'm saying," Dr. Portman purrs. "He was almost raped." She moves closer. "And the security cameras in the museum recorded it all." With that she presses a button and Marik's recorded screams fill the room. "He looks so terrified, doesn't he?"
I cannot bear to hear Marik in such dire agony, even though I know this happened earlier and he is safe now! The only thing I want is to run to my precious brother and hold him in my arms, comforting him and reassuring him that everything is alright. He must be feeling so confused . . . so scared . . . wondering why such a thing had to happen to him. . . .
But I can't even stand up. I am trying, but I cannot. And it is becoming so hard to breathe! There must be another effect to this drug that I was not told of!! What if . . . what if I cannot ever get back to my brothers?!
Suddenly the pressure on my throat is released and I am free to gulp in the welcome air. I clench my fists tightly, unable to block my younger brother's tormented screams from my mind. "MARIK!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Mokuba stares blankly at the screen, silent tears streaming down his face. He echoes my scream of Marik's name, collapsing to his knees and sobbing uncontrollably. "I don't deserve to be your friend!!" he wails. "You . . . you were in so much pain and I couldn't even see it!! Marik . . . I'm so sorry . . . so sorry. . . ." He curls into a tight ball, rocking back and forth. "Marik. . . ." His eyes narrow in anger and he looks as though he wishes to hurt himself for being so mean to such a tortured soul. "How could I have hurt my best friend like this??!"
Slowly my vision clears and I can see with my own eyes again. The scene looks just the same as in my "vision," only more distinct. "Mokuba . . ." I try again to get up and find that I still cannot.
Dr. Portman turns to look at me, amused.
"It seems," I spit out angrily, referring to the vision and the ability to breathe that I have regained, "that your drug did not work as well as you wanted!"
"On the contrary, it worked perfectly," Dr. Portman replies. "You know me . . . almost, if not everything, I do involves the mind and mental torment. The drug operated completely mentally. Your vision wasn't really gone, nor any of your senses—it only seemed that way."
I glare at her. "You and your associate will suffer for everything you have done to my family!" I declare. "What was done to Marik was absolutely atrocious. I cannot forgive that!! I cannot!!" Angry tears leap into my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I do not care about what they tried to do to me. I only care about how Marik was treated so abominably and how Rishid's father is doing all this simply to get at his son!
"I don't want your forgiveness." Dr. Portman walks up directly in front of me and pushes me down onto the slab. I find that I cannot even resist.
"Oh yes . . . there is something about the drug I neglected to mention." She grins sadistically. "It weakens the body extremely. And that's for real, not just mentally."
I glare up at her, unable to comprehend such evil and uncaring behavior.
"I would give Rishid about . . ." She checks her watch. "About an hour to find you before your body shuts down entirely. And as for little Mokuba. . . ." The doctor shoots a satisfied smile at the utterly crushed child. "I think he's feeling the pain and regret he deserves to. He was so unkind to your brother."
"As if you are being kind to him!!" I retort. Yes, I am very angry that Mokuba would treat Marik the way he must have, but I will address that later. This is not the time.
Dr. Portman only produces a hypodermic needle. "Go to sleep, Ishizu Ishtar," she says, stabbing me in the arm with it. I cannot even fight the injection. "The level of determination and speed that your brothers exercise in the next hour will determine if you will ever wake up."
I try to answer her. I try to assure her that they will come, though secretly I do not know if they will be able to save me in time. I only pray that they will be able to overpower the immense evil existing here. That is my wish. My dying wish, if it must be.
My eyes close before I can fight it.
~Marik~
It is so wonderful to have Rishid's assurance. . . . He tells me again what I have longed to hear so badly, and more. I am not crazy. I am suffering, and I should be treated with kindness and understanding while I recover. He says I am the strongest person he knows, and that I must never think that I am weak because I cannot automatically shove my experience into the past and be done with it.
"It takes time to heal from these things," he tells me quietly. "You are only human, my brother. You must remember that! No one who truly cares about you will think any less of you because of what happened."
I manage a sad smile. "I suppose . . . that means . . . Mokuba doesn't really care."
Rishid narrows his eyes and I can tell he isn't sure himself. "Mokuba is a foolish child right now," he says at last. "But give him time. If he is a true friend, he will realize his mistakes and come to you sobered and solemn. He will realize that he should not have acted so cruelly without even knowing the story."
Kaiba has gone out ahead of us to where the village ends. "There's nothing here!" he says in irritation, obviously having hoped to find the hideout. As much as I long to myself, I know it won't be that easy. And I know Kaiba actually knows that as well.
A part of me still feels so frustrated for not being able to get down and walk by myself, but I know I cannot. Not at this time. But my heart is still in this. I still whole-heartedly wish to rescue Ishizu—and Mokuba, too—and to defeat Rishid's father. And . . . Rishid would tell me that's the most important thing.
"What happened was through no fault of your own," he said earlier. "You did nothing wrong, my dear brother. Do not be ashamed."
Now Rishid's voice in the present cuts into my remembrance of the past. "What is this?" He seems to have stepped on a piece of metal.
Kaiba leans down to look. "It's a trapdoor!" he realizes. "It must lead to an underground base!"
"Then we have to go down there!" I cry.
Kaiba's phone rings then and he answers expectantly. "Kaiba!" he bellows.
The voice on the other end speaks so loudly that Rishid and I can hear as well. "Ah, Kaiba. You and my son have found the entrance, haven't you?" A decidedly unfriendly laugh echoes around us.
"Then it does lead to your base!" Rishid yells.
"Perhaps." The evil man chuckles a bit. "Why don't you pull the door up and find out? I'm certain your siblings would be so very happy if you'd drop in."
"What have you done to Mokuba???!!!" Kaiba demands.
"I wouldn't know. My associate, Dr. Portman, is in charge of his fate."
These words are a horrible blow to us all.
"Dr. Portman??!" Kaiba repeats. "No!!!"
"Mokuba got his just desserts," Rishid's father tells us, "and time is running out for Ishizu. You'd best hurry, Odion! Bring your pathetic brother and come try to save her!"
"MY BROTHER IS NOT PATHETIC!!" Rishid screams in a thunderous voice that I have hardly ever heard him use until today.
Kaiba rips up the door to reveal a metal ladder. "I'm going down first," he says, and does so before either of us can argue.
I stare down into the abyss, which seems endless from up here. Anything could be waiting down there . . . more zombies, even. That is my greatest fear.
No! My greatest fear . . . is that . . . that Ishizu will not be alive by the time we reach her. That is too horrible to even think about. And . . . what was meant by Mokuba receiving his "just desserts"?! He is most likely in terrible danger as well!
"Rishid . . . you can put me down," I whisper. "You can't make it down holding onto me." I can't bear the thought of going down into the darkness by myself, but I know that I must face it sometime. And if I do not face it now, Ishizu and Mokuba could both die!
"I will not let you go, brother!" Rishid retorts. "I know how you are feeling, believe me, I do! But I cannot let you go yet. We don't know what's down there." So even Rishid is unsure! "Marik, you are not physically or mentally capable for this yet," he says very gently. Deep in my heart, I know this, but it's still hard for me to accept. I just can't rest! Not now! Perhaps later, when we're all at home and safe. . . .
Somehow Rishid balances my trembling body with one arm while gripping the ladder's rungs with his free hand. I cling to my brother tightly, realizing that there is no way I could have actually gone down alone at this point. I simply could not have. Rishid is right . . . I am not ready. Already I am feeling as though bony, decaying fingers are trying to grab me! It's horrible . . . so horrible! And so hard to remember it isn't real!! What if it truly is??!
With these unpleasant thoughts and feelings, we descend into the darkness.
Which suddenly becomes very bright as a miniature explosion tears through the very area we are in, knocking all of us off the ladder and into the swirling black pit below!