Going Deeper

[Nox]

Nox's heart was pounding. His body ached. And he was eternally grateful that Jay stopped. With a flick of air at either end of the passage they were in, Nox tied off two walls of air. He took a deep breath and let go of the power inside. It slide away leaving the cavern murky and dim even.

Jay sat against the wall and Nox dropped their pack in front of him then slid down the wall to join his friend. His head falling back against the stone and taking another deep breath then laughing as Jay finally missed his gun. Nox reached into the side pocket of his cargo shorts and handed Jay the piece, the cartridge was in another pocket. "Not sure why you were using the gun to begin with." He handed both back to Jay. "Picked it up after we cleared the bodies."

The hoard was past the barriers. They were hungry and on edge, the deaths of their companions rained havoc on their hive mind, and Nox had felt each death. It hurt in ways that he couldn't even explain. Burning to death was the worst of the pain. His skin felt like it was on fire, his lungs seared from smoke and flames that didn't exist. But he pushed on. Fought the phantom pain. Fought the inner turmoil as he and his friend tore through the parts of the horde and creatures of the underworld.

They had lost signal hours ago. They were further than Nox or anyone topside had ever been. Nox wondered how many miles they were below the earth. It was neither hot nor cold. And it was not dry or wet. The conditions were perfect and yet the darkness pooled in around them. Night vision was great in the middle of a fight, but there was something about the inky black darkness where the sun had never shone. If he were afraid of the dark, this would be the reason why. There were no shadows except the ones they cast by the floating orb well out of their vision paths.

"I could sleep for days." Not that he wanted to, he wanted to get home... to Raffe. Being cut off from the world only made that draw harder. He'd lost everything to the darkness of the world, and now he might lose himself and no one would morn his death. The pain and the darkness drowned the happiness and breed the darkest fears and issues of his past. No amount of sunlight could wash away the growing madness. Oh little brother, did you miss me. Images of his dead sister floated in front of his closed eyes. He was going crazy and the horde pulled at the madness, pulled him deeper down the darkness. Nox couldn't wait for the hoard to be dead. Their last vestige of pain going down in the depths of hell. He'd follow if he had to. Funny how now he was willing to make that sacrifice, but when he found out he was reborn god -- the bane of the Atharim, their one true purpose, he balked at it. This was different. He'd seen first hand what a creature like Alistair Pavlo could do -- dead was the best way.

Nox laughed, though it wasn't funny. "I'm so tired I think my nightmares might sleep too." There was more to it than that, he knew the nightmares would not sleep. He knew they'd be worse than ever. He didn't want to close his eyes. The images of Aurora's dead body marred with the destruction these creatures put their victims through combined into horrific images -- nightmares Nox didn't want to find in his dreams, specially since the waking ones sent his heart racing and his desire to end it all pulled harder with each breath.