Stage 2: Truth
The bronze stairs ended at a solid brinstone wall. When Samus turned back she saw the stairs wind down a sloping incline with the far turn appearing to lead right back to the archway and effigy. Distance did not seem to be a fixed attribute in this place. She felt as if she had been climbing the stairs for almost an hour, but instead of going anywhere, the world had simply morphed around her.
What had started as a wide open incline had now been compressed into a tight hallway. However, Samus did not feel trapped. Instead, she felt almost relieved to reach an obstacle that she understood. A single missile was all it required to blast the wall of brinstone apart.
There was an ominous groan as the rubble revealed a small dark tunnel. Samus had to crouch to look inside. Without her visors, it was impossible for her to piece the darkness and see where the tunnel led. Samus stepped back. The size and shape of the hole was immediately recognizable. It was as if it had been specifically constructed for her morph ball. However, that revelation did not inspire confidence. Delving deep into some unknown darkness was the last thing she wanted to do. The feeling that some sinister will was calling her forward had taken root inside her mind, making her even more cautious than usual.
Samus turned back. The stairs would take her back to the effigy, and she refused to go near that thing again. Damn it…With a sigh of exasperation, Samus curled into her morph ball and rolled into the tunnel. She cringed as she rolled over a surface slick with some mysterious dark fluid.
Within seconds she reached a sharp left turn. Taking this meant blocking out the light from the room before, which left Samus rolling in complete darkness. The further she delved the more the walls compressed until, at last, she was nearly crushed by surrounding metal. Without a means to press forward, Samus decided to drop and bomb and see what happened.
Pop! The explosion destroyed the tunnel floor and Samus dropped into a low ceilinged room. She uncurled and rose cautiously to her feet. Samus stood at the entrance of a forlorn chapel. There was an altar on one side of the room set before a series of benches. The main sanctuary branched off into a series of darker corridors. A crystal lantern hung from the ceiling and filled the room with a soft blue light.
Samus looked up and saw that the tunnel she had come through ended at an air vent in the ceiling. She followed its progress back to a set of iron doors that sealed the chapel. The iron doors were barricaded with rubble and upturned furniture. Two Chozo corpses knelt in front of the doors. Their rotted hands were folded upon their knees as if they had been in prayer right before they died. Each of the Chozo wore huge gray robes which Samus had never seen before.
Samus walked around and knelt beside the bodies. In the lap of each Chozo was a long serrated knife. Dried blood rusted on the edges of both weapons. There were long gashes cut into the arms. However, neither of the victims had seemed to put up any kind of struggle or showed any sign of distress. Their peaceful stillness was incredibly unnerving.
Did they kill themselves? Samus stood up and inspected the door. By all accounts it seemed as if the Chozo monks had barricaded themselves inside their monastery. But why? And if so, why would they have taken their own lives? Samus left the door and went over to inspect the altar.
A plain black slab was set up in front of the row of benches. It didn't look like anything Samus had seen in a Chozo ruin before. The metal was dark and though it looked smooth, when Samus ran her hand against it, she felt thousands of tiny ridges. Touching the metal sent a cold rush through her finger and down the base of her elbow. Samus had the sudden vision of herself being placed naked upon the altar. The cold metal froze her skin, and the tiny ridges cut open her back. A hooded figure towered over her and held up a serrated knife. The altar drank Samus' blood, taking it into its black nothingness without leaving so much as a stain.
Samus drew back and the image faded. She looked down at the altar with that same sense of curiosity and revulsion she had felt when she saw the effigy. At that moment, Samus noticed the mist. It was faint and difficult to see in the harsh blue light given off by the crystal lantern. However, once Samus noticed it, it was impossible to ignore. The low hanging mist covered the floor of the monastery. It was a whitish vapor that seemed to drift and change as if it was pushed by a wind that Samus could not feel.
Samus followed the direction of the vapor and saw that it grew thicker and stronger towards the further corridors. With a final glance back at the altar, Samus headed in that direction. More lanterns illuminated the deeper passageways. However, the lights struggled to dispel the atmosphere of gloom that hung in the air like a physical barrier.
Halfway down the first hallway, Samus found a third Chozo body. The skin had dried and rotted. Its hands were curled as if it had died holding onto something very tightly. Samus knelt down beside it and saw that it held a small iron key.
The body had died at the threshold of one of the rooms. Samus pushed open the door and was assaulted by a parade of dust. She wiped her visor clean as she stepped inside. The monk's room consisted of one bed and a single desk. Upon the ground, Samus caught a glint of red. She knelt and saw words scribbled in dried blood. Impermeable. Impermeable. Imper- The last word ended as a jagged line of blood.
Samus stood and searched the room for something that the Chozo's key could open.
At last, Samus noticed something out of place. Upon the solid walls of stone, Samus noticed a large crack. A charge shot shattered the stone and revealed a hidden compartment in the wall. Within was a locked black box.
Samus hurried back over to the body. Prying the key out of the monk's hand was no easy task however. In the end, she had to break off the rotted fingers in order to take the key. Resisting the urge to vomit, Samus returned to the box and fit the key inside. The lid opened with a soft click. Inside, Samus found one of the serrated daggers. What? The discovery filled her with disappointment. Why would one of the monks need to hide such a weapon? What were they used for? As far as Samus knew, the Chozo had never been involved in sacrifices of any kind.
She took the knife and started to close the box, but then she noticed something scribbled onto the base of the lid. "Truth is sealed. Doubt passes through the lie." What did that mean? Samus turned away and left the room. A set of stone steps led her up to what had to have been the monks kitchen and cafeteria. There was a large hall set up with rows of dining tables. Samus was not surprised to find more bodies here. The mist on the ground was thick as Samus walked up the center aisle
Though there were bodies everywhere, Samus did not see any sign of a battle, nor of damage to the area. It seemed as if the Chozo had simply dropped dead. Yet even that was not quite accurate. Four Chozo had positioned their bodies to barricade the door leading further into the monastery. Though Samus knew she could blast them apart with a missile, she felt very hesitant to do so. Instead she looked up and found another air vent.
A charge shot broke open the vent, and then it was a simple matter of placing one of the tables at an incline and using a well timed boost ball to launch herself into the ceiling. Staying in her morph ball, Samus navigated a series of tight turns and twisting passages until she felt she had gone far enough. Another bomb served to break the vent and bring Samus back into the monastery proper.
She now stood in a library. Only, all the books had been removed. All that remained were the dusty covers of tomes that had their pages ripped apart. Runes in the Chozo language were carved into the walls. These were not so dissimilar to the ones on Tallon IV. They spoke of a group of exiled Chozo who had left their home planet on an expedition of spiritual enlightenment. Their journey had led them to the founding of this monastery and to the endeavor of collating as much knowledge as possible.
However, these were not the only messages written on the walls. Samus looked down and saw more scribbled writing, etched just above the baseboards, a few inches above the low hanging mist. Rot festers beneath truth. Decay cannot be hidden behind a mask. She followed the line of messages as they led towards a door leading out of the library. Most of them were similar to the first.
The cryptic reflections ended halfway through the last line. Knowledge itself is deception, there is no enlightenment without forsaking truth. The book itself reads the reader and the words mutate to fit the mind. Ignore the false teacher, heed the call of-" Here, Samus found the remains of the writer. The Chozo had died with its long finger still touching the wall. It had carved its messages into the walls by scratching at them. Samus could see the erosion on the Chozo's hands.
She searched the Chozo for one of the daggers but found no weapon, nor any obvious cause of death. Samus rose and faced the door the Chozo lay in front of. Its body was set almost like a barrier, silently warning any intruders not to venture forth. Samus was not frightened so easily however. She stepped over the body and pushed the door open.
As soon as she stepped inside, the door behind her slammed shut. Samus had entered a narrow study. It was far more comfortably furnished than the one before. Two lanterns hung from the ceiling. One was illuminated by a black stone that gave off a harsh white light, the other a white stone that expelled an almost physical darkness. The effect of both was to make the room washed out with shadows and heavy contrast. The mingled mixture of light and color reflected off the thing in the middle of the room. The Chozo's corpse swang from the rope that connected it to the ceiling. It moved eerily, as if pushed by the same wind that moved the mist.
Samus inched deeper into the room. The Chozo was facing away from her, and she could see that something was covering its face. She paused by a desk and looked down. Several books lay open with their pages torn out. In place of the parchment, someone had sewn strips of rotted flesh. Words were etched neatly into the skin. Samus could only make out a few words because of the condition of the rot. The inner teacher speaks not with the voice. Be as the unstained altar. Revulsion settled in her stomach as she gently turned one of the rotted pages. Corruption. Maggots fill their mouths and they spew forth lies. The words are stolen, the pages are rearranged.
Samus turned away from the books. Beyond the hanging Chozo was a cracked and heavily tarnished silver mirror. Samus looked into the glass and saw her distorted reflection. Her heart thumped heavily as she stood rooted to the spot. Behind Samus, through the reflection of the mirror, Samus could see the hanging Chozo slowly turning towards her. The corpse's head was covered with a mask. Goosepumps crawled up Samus' skin. It was like looking at a Metroid infant from the bottom, just before its tendrils and teeth wrapped around your head.
Samus turned around to face the body. Compelled by an almost primordial instinct, Samus reached out and ripped off the mask. The head beneath lurched onto its shattered neck. Samus held up the mask and realized that it was not really a mask at all. The thing in her hand really was a dead Metroid. She looked back at the Chozo. Its eyes had been sucked out of their sockets and its mouth sewn shut. But that did not mean that it could not speak. A final message had been etched into the Chozo's forehead. Doubt is the Decay of Faith.
No sooner had she read these words then Samus felt the ground lurch beneath her. There was a loud grinding sound and deep groaning in the stone walls. Samus stumbled as the ground began to shake. The walls of the room trembled as they started to close in. Samus immediately rushed to the door, but it was now locked and frustrated her attempts to break it open.
Panicking slightly, Samus stood back and fired a missile. The seemingly wooden door absorbed the blast without leaving so much as a dent. Samus spun around, searching for some other means of escape. The stone walls were pushing the desk and furniture to the center of the room. Within moments, Samus, and the hanging Chozo would be crushed by tons of heavy stone.
Samus retreated to the center of the room. She fired a few desperate charge shots into the stone walls, but only managed to leave black scorch marks. Fuck it! Samus switched to super missiles, but even her most powerful projectiles were useless. The desks and furniture crumbled as they piled up beneath Samus. She fired all of her weapons in every direction, focusing now upon the glass mirror. However, like the door, the mirror seemed to absorb her weapons.
Samus climbed onto the broken desk. She was pushed up against the hanging Chozo. In less than a minute, the walls would consume the room, squashing Samus inside her suit. No! Samus pushed the dead body aside so she could fire off more of her weapons. At that moment she noticed something. When she looked into the mirror, the words on the Chozo's forehead changed. Faith is Impermeable.
Something clicked inside her head. Samus switched to her wave beam and directed it at the mirror. She fired and the pulsing purple waves passed directly through the glass. They reappeared in the reflection, and Samus watched in amazement as the beams struck the Chozo in the chest. Its broken neck lurched as its eyes lit up. At once, the ground stopped shaking.
Samus released a hiss of held breath. The walls shuddered to a slow stop. The room had condensed to the point where Samus was pressed right up against the hanging corpse. She watched the mirror as the Chozo's head moved. Samus could hear the bones crack behind her, but she was too terrified to look back. The dead Chozo's mouth opened in a silent scream. A blast of light shot out of the mirror just as the ground beneath Samus opened.
She covered her face to block the blast at the same time that she fell through the opening. Samus landed about a dozen feet down with a heavy thud. The broken desk and ruined books collapsed on top of her, driving her to her knees. Samus looked up just in time to see the hatch above her close, the last thing she saw was the swinging outline of the dead Chozo.
For a moment there was complete darkness, then a dim grayish light slowly filled the void. Samus stood in a nondescript chamber in front of a cracked brinstone wall. It looked nearly identical to the one she had found at the top of the bronze stairs. Only this wall was heavily eroded. Samus approached the wall and placed her hand against the surface. To her surprise, the metal felt warm and almost cushioned. Samus pressed harder and her hand broke through the wall as if it were made out of worn fabric.
Samus stepped back and fired a charge shot. Instead of crumbling into pieces, the wall seemed to deflate. It dropped like a ruined tent into a bundle at Samus' feet. Like the first wall, this one also revealed a small tunnel. Only this time, the mouth of the entrance was slightly curved. A slimy, mucus like texture coated the lining of the tunnel. Samus crouched and saw that this continued deeper into the tunnel. There was a faint reddish tint to the hole that made Samus' skin crawl.
She was even less willing to travel down this passage than the one before. The more she looked, it seemed as if the tunnel was pulsing slightly. In fact, that sense of movement seemed to generate from the entire space around her. Samus closed her eyes and listened intently. Is that…breathing? A morose dread slid down her back and settled inside her stomach.
She looked down at the tattered remains of the wall. While it had looked solid at first, when she looked closer she saw that the brinstone had the consistency almost like dried parchment. It was gray and covered in black and green splotches. Samus held it up and then felt her stomach turn. She dropped the thing with a cry of disgust. It was exactly like the skin she had found sewn into the Chozo's books.
Samus stared down the tunnel again. It felt as if it was the entrance into a living thing. Impermeable…She thought. What could not be passed through, Samus would have to delve inside. Summoning what remained of her nerve, Samus rolled into her morph ball and entered the tunnel.
The slick mucus stuck to her armor and attempted to hold her in place. Several times the viscous liquid nearly trapped her, but Samus was able to use a boost to keep herself moving. The temperature inside the tunnel grew hotter, and the humidity spiked to the point where Samus was sweating inside her suit. The walls around her moved more and more the further she went. A deep horrible breathing sound echoed from somewhere deep within the tunnel.
Eventually, the tunnel walls started to close in. Samus was soon engulfed in the thick mucus to the point where even her boosts could no longer free her. She dropped a bomb, but it was absorbed into the thick paste. Slightly panicked, Samus switched to a power bomb. This time her weapon was stronger than the obstacles around her. The tunnel exploded and Samus dropped to the floor below.
She was back at the start of the chapel. Only something had changed. The crystal lantern that illuminated the space was now filling it with a faint red, almost pinkish color. Samus held up her arm cannon as she inspected the area. The stone inside the walls had been replaced. Now every wall looked to be made of that thin, parchment like substance. There were long dark stains upon the walls, deep ripples that looked like rotted wallpaper.
Samus looked back and saw the two dead Chozo. They were kneeling like before, but something had happened to them. Their rotted flesh had turned from gray to black. Huge sores covered their bodies. Samus looked at the knives and saw that the blades had rusted so badly the metal was breaking away. She felt movement to her right and Samus flipped backward, ready to fire. The rubble that had been set before the iron doors was gone. The doors were broken open, revealing a long, empty walkway.
Samus stepped towards the dark entrance. Far away, she could see two faint yellow lights. They were steadily getting larger. Samus held up her weapon and switched to her super missiles. Second by second, the lights drew nearer. Samus could hear faint squishing sounds as vague shapes appeared in the darkness. Samus pushed her leg back and took a defensive position. Samus cringed as the squishing grew louder. Something horrible was coming towards her. The vague shapes became more focused. Samus could make out huge white masses steadily approaching.
Instinct made her take a few steps back. Part of Samus urged her to turn around and run in the other direction. But Samus was not one to run away from an enemy. The yellow light dimmed. Whatever was coming had reached the very edge of the light given off by the lantern. Samus waited, she could feel her heart racing. They came slowly into the light. Samus' scream died in her throat. Her shock was so great she was temporarily paralyzed.
Two huge maggots squirmed into the room. Their milky white bodies writhed and contorted in order to propel themselves forward. They had no eyes, nor any distinguishable body parts. Samus' combat instincts finally overwhelmed her disgust. She fired a super missile and it struck the one on the right. It made a horrible squelching sound as it exploded into pieces.
Samus made to fire another missile when she noticed that the scattered pieces of the maggot were still moving. She retreated back towards the sanctuary as the throbbing pieces of rot started to form into small, worm-like creatures. Now there were dozens of them moving steadily towards Samus. She switched to her power beams to fire off a rapid barrage, but each one she killed spawned a dozen more.
Samus clamored over the broken benches as she was pushed further and further back. She dared not fire at the remaining huge maggot, lest it spawn even more copies. The small worms were getting nearer, and Samus despaired at the idea of them touching her. For reasons she could not explain, Samus felt she might die of actual disgust. The things were so grotesque, the only thing she could think of was to burn them.
She switched quickly to her plasma beam. The little worms were only inches away when Samus jumped into the air and sprayed down a line of plasma. The worms immediately burst into little flames, disintegrating on the spot. With a sort of savage pleasure, Samus turned the weapon on the rest, until all the little maggots were dead. Lastly, she fired at the huge maggot. To her surprise, its body was able to take the hit and move forward.
Samus retreated to the very back of the sanctuary, until she was only a few inches away from the ebony altar. What could she do? If she used a missile she would only create more of the monsters, and it was too close for her to kill them all with her plasma beam. Samus took a final step back. Her leg touched the altar. Samus felt a cold that went straight through her armor. There was a wet, sucking sound and Samus turned to see huge black tendrils erupt out of the altar. They swept down upon her, striking her in the chest and pinning her arm cannon to her breast plate. Two more seized her around the ankles, while a fourth took her free arm and hoisted her into the air.
Samus let out a cry of shock that was immediately expelled out of her lungs as the limbs smashed her onto the altar. The tendrils pulled at her limbs until she was stretched out against the cold slab. Samus felt the tiny ridges prick through her armor and stab her in the back of her arms and legs. She tried to pull herself free, but the tendrils were as strong as steel, holding her firm to the point where she felt her bones might snap.
There was a low growling sound at her right. Samus tried to turn, but another tendril wrapped around her helmet and pressed her head back, forcing her to look straight up. The pink and red lantern swung above her for a second before being replaced with the paralyzing view of the maggot. Its upper torso leaned over her. Samus wretched.
She tried to turn away, but the tendril held her with such force her neck almost snapped. Samus was forced to watch as the smooth milky head of the maggot unzipped, revealing a layered, toothless mouth. It was the culmination of a thousand nightmares. Fuck this!
SNAP! Samus twisted her arm until the tendon broke. This gave her half a second to slip her hand free, which she used to fire her grapple beam. It lassoed around the lantern above the maggots head and Samus pulled with all her might. The lantern broke free and the crystal within exploded onto the maggot's head. Red and blue flames erupted all over its body. Boiling strips of milky flesh dropped onto the cold slab of the altar. The tendrils writhed in pain and released Samus. She rolled to her left, dropping onto her injured shoulder.
Samus scrambled to her feet, firing plasma beams wildly behind her. The tendrils did not attempt to seize her again. The boiling maggot fell onto the altar and both monstrosities seemed to melt against each other. The white flesh of the maggot, mixed with the black ink of the altar, forming a grayish paste. Samus watched in disgust as the entire sanctuary drowned beneath the gray bog. The blue and red flames flickered above the marsh, their light casting huge shadows upon the ceiling that looked like the death throes of a dozen headless worms.
She turned away and stumbled towards one of the chapel's pillars. The pain in her shoulder had been temporarily dulled by adrenaline, but it was starting to burn. Samus clenched her teeth and braced herself for more pain. She flung herself shoulder first into the pillar. Pop! The impact snapped her shoulder back into place. Samus dropped to her knees and stifled a scream of pain. She inhaled deep gulps of air, filling her lungs with the contaminated air inside her helmet. Samus pulled it off and scooped out the vestiges of bile she had spat up.
She took a moment to catch her breath and clean the inside of her helmet. The flames burned until the gray mixture steadily hardened and then broke into flakes like dried pieces of dead skin. The fire gave off no heat, nor produced any smoke. Instead, Samus saw a hazy white mist gradually rise into the air and settle near the ceiling. When the fires finally died out, the altar had been consumed. In its place, was a basement entrance and a descending set of stone stairs.
Samus put back on her helmet and rose to her feet. She knew that she must descend the stairs, and enter the heart of the monastery. A cold wind greeted her at the basement mouth. The sound of deep breathing echoed out of the chamber below. Samus put her injured arm atop her arm cannon to support it as she cautiously began the descent.
The stairs led down to a narrow, dank hallway illuminated from afar by a row of torches. Samus could hear the faint drip of water, along with the slow, rhythmic breathing. She continued forward, and it wasn't long until she realized that the underground chamber was an exact mirror of the chapel above. She found the room where she had taken the key from a dead Chozo. It was not furnished, but she could see the outline of a hidden door in the ceiling of the room.
Samus ignored this and pressed onward. Eventually, she reached an open courtyard that mimicked the chapel's mess hall. The room was situated in a wide circle with a dozen torches along the walls. Each one burned with a white flame. In the center of the room was a tall black pedestal, and around it were thirteen dead Chozo. The Chozo were arranged in a series of four triangles, with the thirteenth laying dead at the foot of the pedestal.
Samus strode forward apprehensively. Her eyes darted to the dark corners of the room. She felt she could hear faint rustling. The breathing sound was stronger here. The closer she got, the more she was certain it was coming from the pedestal. It was an artifact the likes of which Samus had never seen before. It was shaped almost like a fountain, but far more narrow. Instead of water, the thing seemed to emit petrified stone. At the top of the pedestal was a shimmering silver orb.
When she was a few feet away from the artifact, all the torches suddenly died. The orb flashed and filled the room with silver light. Samus paused, and readied a charge shot. Suddenly, the orb inverted itself, its silvery skin reversing inward to expose a pink, fleshy eye. It blinked before turning its gaze upon Samus. Immediately, Samus felt herself seize up. It was as if her body had suddenly become locked inside her armor.
"Welcome." The voice generated from within Samus. It was simultaneously male and female, human and alien, understandable and completely unintelligible. "Are you another that seeks for truth?" Hearing the voice caused Samus physical pain. It felt like white hot nails were being screwed into her skull just above the ears.
"Truth is impermeable. It passes through doubt like a sword through rotted flesh. You may not survive."
Samus did not answer. She closed her eyes and tried with every ounce of will power she had to regain control of her body. "Why do you resist? I can give you everything you've ever wanted."
The ground started to slant forward. Samus opened her eyes and felt herself start to slide towards the pedestal. The eye widened in hunger. "Come to me, let me teach you." The incline steepened and Samus slid forward even more.
There had to be a way out, a way to resist. The inner teacher speaks not with the voice. Doubt is the decay of faith. It wasn't real. Samus seized that thought and made it her entire world. It isn't real. The pedestal was lying. Ignore the false teacher, heed the call of-
Samus' injured arm moved on its own accord. Compelled by the demonic force, it withdrew the serrated dagger Samus watched in terror as the blade spun around until its point was directed at her own neck. It isn't real. It isn't real. I am in control. Instead of allowing her fear to control her, Samus forced her mind to bend to reality. She was standing upright, her body was her own,
In an instant, the ground leveled. The white torches reignited. Samus stood in front of the pedestal. The eye looked at her almost curiously. Samus flipped the blade around and threw it forward. Its point pierced the eye and it popped like a bubble before dissolving into nothing.
With this last obstacle defeated, the room seemed to expand. The back wall vanished into a huge open space. Samus saw a bristone arch and a gateway set in front of a row of stairs leading up and out.
She approached the gate and found a familiar looking console. It looked exactly like a missile recharge station. Samus ran a self diagnostic and sure enough, she was out of missiles. She could not break down the brinstone gate without any, yet she had a feeling that the missiles would come at a price. Samus checked the console and found words scribbled at the top. The Sword of the truth is the only weapon that cuts through the fog of lies.
Was that the riddle then? Would she have to give up her own weapons in order to move on? She hesitated for a moment before placing her arm cannon into the station. Samus grimaced as she felt mechanical pincers lock her in place. There was a loud blaring sound and then she was released. Samus' arm cannon crackled. All of her beams except for her power beam had been removed. However, her missile capacity had been restored. Frowning, Samus used a missile to break down the gate. She did not look back as she ran through and up the stairs.