The road was paved stone, and a rusted chain sat near her, leading back up. There was also an old sign by the chain, the letters worn away by age. Whisper stared at it, then sliced it down with her staff. It felt fun, although there was no soul to be gained.
She looked at both ends of the tunnel. It appeared she was at a crossroads, and had to choose a path. Her choice was made pretty quickly.
After all, only one tugged at her essence.
She trotted down that tunnel, slicing down a small white bug climbing the wall. It hardly seemed a threat at all.
Then she heard slow footsteps plodding closer, and a pair of orange lights in the darkness.
Brandishing her staff, Whisper prepared to face the new bug as it walked into her sight - a large, gray bug, one that appeared to have once been intelligent like Elderbug. But the orange light in its eyes had drained that away, and with a low groan it lunged for her.
She darted around, swinging her staff around and cracking its shell. The bug seemed to feel no pain, simply groaning as it turned and lunged again. There was no mind behind its movements, only a desire to grab her and crush her carapace.
She struck it again, breaking more of its shell. But it did not seem to notice, and she realized this thing was dead. Or at least, supposed to be.
It felt wrong, irrational. Dead things should not move. But the light, that horrid light…it did not seem to care.
Whisper knew she needed to kill that light. As the husk hurried for her again, she brought her staff down upon its head, crushing it and causing the light to vanish.
The bug fell to the ground, dead as it should have been. Whisper kicked it away, feeling somewhat disturbed. How many more dead were walking again, driven by that light?
She had a dark suspicion that it was far more than she would like.
She reached an archway at the end of the tunnel. The tugging sensation was stronger now, and she mindlessly followed it.
It led her to a colossal round building, which resembled a truly colossal fallen bug. A soft light came from within, and the tugging sensation was strongest from here.
She walked in through the open doorway, and looked around.
The center of the room was taken up by a giant black egg, the source of that mysterious pull. It seemed to be attached to the wall, and there was what looked like a door in the front of it. Three masks were embedded in it, high above her reach.
Whisper then spotted another bug, pacing around the egg and thinking to himself. He was tall, considerably taller than her, and a long nail was strapped to his side. A white mask was perched on his head, sheltering his eyes. It looked similar to one of the masks on the door, but she wasn't sure.
She stepped closer, and he turned, startled. His eyes widened as he took her in more thoroughly.
"Another one, so soon?!", he exclaimed, "Truly, this is a most curious sight!"
Whisper was confused. This was the second time she had encountered a talking bug. And what did he mean by another one…?
"Oh, but you're certainly different, I can tell. Your cloak is unusually colored and you wield not a nail but a weapon of another sort.", the bug continued, "How fascinating! But if you're anything like the other, I doubt you can say a word of how you came about. How perplexing!"
He nodded. "Oh well. My name is Quirrel, and I'm quite fond of old ruins and mysteries. And look at this! By far one of the greatest mysteries to lie in this forgotten kingdom. A great black egg! It seems to give off some strange, warm air, but I cannot figure out what exactly it is."
He placed a hand to his chin. "I came here just recently, you know. And what a time to appear! All the creatures are stirring and the earth trembles. Something is happening, and I am excited to see what that is! I imagine you are here for your own reasons. It is hard to tell, though, looking into those empty eyes of yours. I see nothing, nothing there at all."
He shivered. "Frankly, it is quite unnerving. I have never seen a bug quite like you. Or the other one, really. Oh, what an exciting mystery!"
He looked towards her staff and nodded. "There are many dangers in this kingdom too, you know. But I am certain that weapon has some unknown properties I can only dream of. I am sure we'll meet again. Perhaps we could learn something from each other!"
Then he walked out of the temple, drawing his nail as he went into the darkness. Whisper stared after him, before realizing she had forgotten to test if he could die.
Oh well. Perhaps they would meet again.
She stood inside the temple for a while, the egg tugging at her presence. But it was sealed tight, and Whisper had no way of knowing what it was within. She wondered how she'd open that egg.
Questions, questions, questions…
She then slowly trotted back out, looking around at the darkness. The road continued past the temple, she noted. So she followed that out into another cavern.
This one had multiple exits. There was a small tunnel tucked away at the top, and the road led down towards a large gateway with several empty barrels and a broken cart. Pink light shined through the archway, and Whisper felt her scepter hum with interest. On the other end of the room was a passage leading deeper into the main tunnels.
Whisper also heard distant singing from the pink room. But first, she wanted to check out that top tunnel. It was trying to hide from her, which meant there must be something good there.
She nimbly clambered up there and slipped in.
The air was cold and musty here, and dusty racks of clubs and nails littered the room. There was a large jar in the back, but before Whisper could look there was a loud yell.
Stomping towards her was a truly massive bug, holding one of the clubs. It swung it at her with massive force, and she barely rolled aside. The club cracked the floor where it struck, and Whisper had no doubt it could do the same to her body.
It charged towards her, but she rolled under it, causing it to slam the wall. It yelled again, and she immediately leaped up, slashing her staff against its shell. It did not do much damage, which she was not pleased with.
So began a dangerous dance of beast and fighter, with her dashing in, slashing, and dodging. The giant bug kept smashing the room around, leaping at her, sending painful shockwaves, and trying to bash her with the club. Slowly, though, it weakened, until one final blow sent it collapsing to the floor.
Whisper felt relieved, and sat down for a moment. She was distracted though by something softly tapping glass.
In the jar there was a small, green worm-like bug, with zero sharp things and a bright spark in its eyes. It tapped repeatedly at the glass, staring at her with that bright spark. A happy, bright spark, nothing like that hideous orange light of death.
Whisper walked over and struck the jar with her scepter. The glass shattered like nothing, and the little bug jumped for joy before wriggling into a hole in the ground. Whisper stared as it vanished, unsure what to think or do.
In the end she decided it wasn't particularly anything of interest. Such a small weak bug would probably be something's victim soon enough. What was the point of doing anything about it?
But there was some small, light emotion wriggling in Whisper's mind. What could it be, what did it mean?
More questions…she was sick of questions.
She left the room in a hurry, dropping down to the pink gate. The singing continued, and Whisper followed it in, entranced.
Inside there were metal rails along the floor, and pink crystals grew from the walls. The singing was accompanied by the clinking of a pick against crystal, and Whisper felt intrigued. She whacked her own scepter against the crystals, listening to the melodic sound that followed. It was strange and eerie, but also attracted Whisper.
She did it a few more times, then decided to see where the singing was coming from. There were more barrels around, filled with crystal shards, and Whisper delightfully knocked them over. The light danced off the shards, sparkling in a thousand little ways. Whisper was entranced by the beauty in the chaos, the mismatched piles of broken shards each their own chorus of beautiful light.
Then she reached a large hole in the earth, the singing rising out from in it. Whisper silently dropped down, where she saw a small bug with a pick and a helmet whacking away at a large crystal formation.
"Oh, bury my mother, pale and slight!
Bury my father with his eyes shut tight!
Bury my sisters, two and two;
And then when you're done, let's bury me too!"
The bug then spotted Whisper.
"Eeyipe! Um, hi.", the bug said, "D-did you like the song? It's one of my f-favorites! We can sing something else if you'd like. You start singing and I'll join in. I bet you you have a b-b-beautiful singing voice! Ha ha…"
Whisper couldn't speak, she had learned that with Elderbug. But maybe she could try again? The song had been so smooth and sweet, sounds more beautiful than even the crystals. She strained to make a tune come from her body, to create her own beauty.
But try as she might, there was only the whispering. She strained and strained until it felt like her mask would crack, but not one note left her.
The realization felt crushing. Her cloak seemed to full with cold, heavy emptiness, worse than anything she had felt before. She could not speak, she could not sing. She would add no beauty to the world that way, and it hurt worse than any spike.
Sadness, her mind told her. That was what this was. But a name did not make it feel any better.
"Are you okay…?", asked the bug.
Whisper felt her body trembling, felt dark wisps of sadness leak down from the eyes of her mask. She turned and fled back into the tunnels, leaving the miner alone with her song and her work.
***