Pearl spun around as fast as her reactions allowed. She had her spear pointed out in front of her, taking on an offense stance. Her eyes darted around in the dark, but her attempts to see what could have possibly made the noise were futile. Her eyes couldn't pierce through the thick shadows that trailed behind her.
She froze; weary of a possible enemy following her, but no sound was heard aside from her own quivering breathing. She slowly backed up, jumping as the cold, damp surface of the wall collided with her back when she had met yet another split of the hallway. She allowed one hand to trail away from her spear as she used it to guide her along the direction she chose.
Amethyst trailed slightly behind Garnet as she looked at the wall around them. They had been following a long, torch lit hallway for quite some time, but the stone walls around them had progressively become dirty with an unknown sticky, tar-like substance as they progressed.
"Hey, Garnet?" Amethyst looked at the back of Garnet's squared-shaped head.
"Yes?" the taller gem replied.
"You have noticed the walls, right?" Amethyst questioned.
Garnet simply hummed.
Amethyst took that as a 'yes' and continued as she touched the black substance dripping almost lethargically down the wall from the ceiling high above them, "this gunk seems to be getting worse the further we go. What the heck do you think this stuff is?"
"I'm not sure, but it's probably best if we don't touch it," Garnet answered as she peered over her shoulder to see Amethyst touching the unknown substance. She pulled her hand away, leaving a stringing trail of black goo between her hand and the source. Amethyst saw Garnet watching her and smiled coyly as she whipped her wrist back and forth to get the clinging stuff off of her.
Garnet stopped walking and turned around, placing a hand on her hip as she smiled at the purple gem. She watched as Amethyst struggled to get the goo off herself with much zeal before the black substance was sent smacking onto the floor between them by the shorter gem.
"Geez, that stuff wouldn't let go," Amethyst laughed, but was cut short by a warbling noise coming from the substance on the ground. Both gems looked down, dumbfounded, when they noticed that goo was moving around spastically and growing in size.
"What the-"Amethyst shouted as the black slime shot off from the walls around them and collectively gathered together with the bit Amethyst had left on the ground. Both gems had to move back to avoid the substance.
The warbling noise the goo was giving off had grown in noise as it took shape. A minute or two had passed before it took form of an odd, extended, tar drenched wildebeest-like creature with two sets of arms instead of forelegs, two glowing red slits for eyes, and red, dimly glowing crystals jutting from its lower back. The creature raised its long face, black slime dripping down and off its neck onto the ground, and roared loudly, shaking the walls around them. Amethyst and Garnet had struggled to keep their balance before Garnet summoned her gauntlets to attack the beast, but it had already reared its head back, and charged forward toward Amethyst.
"Amethyst! Look out!" Garnet warned as she ran after the beast.
Amethyst pulled out her whip from her gem, her eyes wide with shock. She quickly lashed her whip at the face of the beast. The whip embedded itself across the creature's face, leaving a deep slash in the black tar, but more slime dripped over the wound and healed it almost instantly. Amethyst quickly tried to reel her whip back, but the beast had actually begun to absorb it into its body. Amethyst quickly summoned another whip, still holding onto the other, but it was too late. The creature's head crashed into Amethyst with great force, capturing her in the sticky blackness. Amethyst struggled to free herself as she felt the slime drip across her face. Most of her body was stuck helplessly in the creature's large head, and she panicked as she felt herself beginning to sink slowly further into the creature.
"Garnet! Garnet! Help! It's sucking me in and I can't get out!" Amethyst cried out, but the last bit of her sent coming out garbled due to her face getting covered by the goo.
"Amethyst!" Garnet cried out as she leapt into the air and crashed down on the beast's back, gauntlets first.
The beast staggered and slime expelled in all directions from the impact. Garnet had thought she inflicted some damage on the beast and was going to send down an assault of punches, but was shocked to find that she couldn't move her hands from the spots that they had made contact with the monster's body. Slime crawled up and in between every crevice of Garnet's gauntlets, as it began to absorb her into its body, as well. Garnet dispersed her gauntlets and quickly retracted her hands before the slime could wrap around them. She tried to move, but she had already sunk ankle deep into the creature. Garnet quickly tried to see if Amethyst was still at the surface of the beast, but she could only see Amethyst's disheveled hair from her position; she had to sunk too far in to even cry out anymore. Fear crossed Garnet's face, adrenaline filling her out of fear for her friend.
"No!" Garnet yelled as she used all her strength to pull her one of her feet out from the beast's back. Sticky, black goo dripped down from the foot she had managed to free. Hope had sparked within her.
The monster let out another thunderous roar and bucked wildly. Garnet tried her best to stay balanced on the creature's back, but the she fell forward.
Garnet couldn't move as she was sucked down into the inky blackness.
Pearl was now running down the path she had chosen. She had heard- and felt- what sounded like some kind of creature roaring. Though it had sounded as though it had come from somewhere above where she was, she didn't want to stick around to see whether or not she was right. She was at a disadvantage in the complete dark. She needed to find a way out, or at least a more well lit area, and soon.
Pounding noise reverberated in the hall she was in as she heard the sound of crumbling stone.
Pearl ran faster, running smack-dab into a wall in the dark. She fell backwards, her spear dispersing from loss of concentration. She quickly placed a hand over her now bleeding nose. She saw stars for a second and felt tears rise to her eyes from the impact, but quickly got to her feet again. She had obviously had run into yet another split in hall. She looked in one direction to decide which way to go, but was scared almost witless when she saw four, red glowing eyes staring at her in the distance.
Not hesitating, Pearl dashed down the hall opposite of the eyes. She heard the sound of panting and huffing as she ground shook from the creature pursuing her. Her mind raced with random, panicked thoughts as she tried to come up with an idea. The monster was getting closer, she could feel it. She let a small, desperate cry to herself when she could think of nothing. She felt helpless as she ran.
She considered stopping and trying to fight the creature before it got any closer, but she knew that was foolish thinking. Whatever was following obviously big by how it shook the ground as it ran and it was possible that it could see in the dark, unlike her. She was also uncertain whether she would be able to summon her spear in her state of panic.
She prayed to Rose for help, seeing nothing more that she could do, and as if her prayers were heard, she could see a red speck of light in the distance. The closer she got, the more she could tell that the red speck was actually some kind of rectangular opening. Relief washed over her and she almost yelled out in gratitude, but was too preoccupied with running. She tried to run faster toward the light, the monster behind her close on her heels.
She ran straight into a red-lit room with large pillars and some odd alter with a depiction of an event involving three diamonds rather than some kind of deity. Everything in the room seemed preserved and intact, unlike most things she had witness thus far in the temple.
Not having any time to dawdle on the state of the room she entered, she quickly spun on her heels, kicking up a bit of dirt in the process, and got ready to face whatever was following her.
Sorry this is short. I might post another chapter tomorrow to make up for this being so short, but it's 4 a.m. and I'm too tired to keep writing.
Thanks for reading and sticking to my story! I really appreciate it!