Chapter Text
Chapter I - Go to Hell
Everything was shades of red, crimson bleeding around the edges of sight, pulsing in time with each throbbing spike of pain shooting through her head. Even with eyes closed all there was, was red.
The world shook, suddenly violent. Explosions filled the air, sending starbursts of pain flashing bright behind her eyelids. Confined, enclosed; not a cage, but a pod, with barely enough room to move. Each violent quake threw the pod's occupant painfully against the interior, whiplashing her around from side to side.
A low hiss whispered around the elf, and a rush of air hit her tender face. There was no longer a barrier to stop her as she fell forward, tumbling out of the pod to the hard floor below. A low grunt escaped her throat as her shoulder connected hard with the ground, sending a shock reverberating through the bone.
“Ugh…” The woman groaned, letting her head fall to the floor as she lay there prone. Pain pulsed through her body, flaring with each beat of her heart, and her head – Gods, her head – pressure seemed to build in her skull, isolated behind her right eye. Throbbing, pulsing pain flared, keeping thoughts at bay, making it hard to focus.
Where was she? How did she get here? And why did it feel like someone drove a hot poker into her head and started swirling it about? She rubbed her eye hard with the heel of her palm, grimacing at the pressure. Think. She needed to think. Her thoughts were incoherent, here and gone, fluttering away before she could grasp them.
Deep breath, more pressure against her eye. Think. Think. Damnit, Ameera, THINK!
Trees towered over her, stars blinking through breaks in the canopy. The fire had long since burned to embers, but still it warmed her back as she faced outward into the darkness. Something caught her eye, and she looked up to the moon and the stars, brow furrowing as a strange silhouette obscured the moon’s face. What in the hells was that…?
Another explosion boomed nearby, swallowing the memory and sending her reeling across the floor, throwing her hard against the base of the pod she had fallen out of. Her back collided against the strange metal, forcing the air from her lungs with a pained gasp. She lay there, tears leaking from her eyes as she forced herself to breathe through the pain.
It didn’t matter where she was, or how she got there. All that mattered was she got out. Rolling to her knees, she pushed herself up with one hand, slowly rising from the floor to unsteady feet. One step at a time. She could gather her bearings as she moved.
Sporadic fires burned around the circular room, acrid smoke filling the chamber, ironically clearing her mind of the pain. Panic started to bloom deep within her chest, drowning out the aches of muscles and bruises that had begun to pool beneath her skin.
Run. The singular thought churned in her mind, and her legs moved of their own accord. Run. Escape.
To where?
Unimportant. First things first, get to where the fire wasn’t.
The toe of her foot caught on something, sending her sprawling to the floor. Ameera rolled across the ridged surface, until she was face to face with… Silvanus protect her…
The mind flayer corpse stared lifelessly at her as dark ichor pooled beneath its bulbous head. Tentacles twitched in the viscous liquid, even though life had long left the grotesque, alien corpse. Its dead eyes bore into her –
The mind flayer filled her sight as it floated, tentacles twisting from its face as it regarded her with burning orange eyes. Long, multi-jointed fingers waved in a fluid motion, and a hiss blew air into her face as the pod opened. Held between its slender thumb and forefinger, a fat worm wriggled side to side, little appendages flailing about, seeking purchase. The mind flayer brought the worm closer to her face, to her eye! No, no, no! The fat little thing clung to her cheek, squirming, squiggling, writhing upward…
Ameera screamed as the memory overtook her, and she clawed frantically at the right side of her face, at her eye. Nails caught flesh, and the sudden pain cut through the horror that threatened to overtake her. She forced herself to stop, even as blood began to slowly drip down her face. Short, staccato breaths barely filled her lungs, nostrils flaring as the sharp, metallic scent joined the burning smoke.
Focus, focus. Need to leave this place; this ship, she finally realized. Soon she was up and running again, only stopping when she reached the thin membrane the spread across what had to be the room’s exit, pink like new flesh, pulsing slightly as if pumped by a beating heart. There was a sickening tearing sound as the membrane opened like an iris, and she ran through, not allowing herself to dwell on it, knowing if she did, she would never make it out.
She ran. Past corpses stretched on chitinous tables, past wandering creatures – she did a double-take – brains? Walking brains! Steps faltered slightly, but she continued on. Blood from where she tore her own skin found its way behind her eyelid, burning, painting half the world with a blurry, crimson haze.
A turn down a path, and the hull of the ship no longer existed. Wind whipped through the space, buffeting against her, burning hot as if the air itself were on fire. Hand in front of her face, she squinted against the assaulting winds. The world below roiled and burned, churning with lava and burning with fire. Smoke plumed upward toward a blackened sky from erupting mountains, ash dancing in the air, peppering her as the ship sailed through.
Where in the hells… the realization hit her like a stone to the gut. That was exactly where.
Large tentacles, a part of the ship, whipped across her vision, breaking her reverie. Shaking away the remnants of her daze, Ameera turned and broke once more into a run.
But why?
Why run when there was nowhere to go? She was stuck on a mind flayer ship. That was bad enough, but at least she had hoped salvation had been just outside the hull of the nautiloid. Now though? Now that she had seen the fires of the hells, felt their heat sear her flesh…
What hope was there?
Doubling over, she braced her hands on her knees. The air weighed heavy in her lungs, each panting breath stinging her ragged throat, coating it in smoke and the taste of death that filled the ship. She had to get it together, collect herself, her thoughts.
Thump, thump!
The sudden sound made her jump straight up, wide eyes searching for the source.
“Help me!” A voice called out, desperate. The thumping sound followed, faster, harder, like a fist on heavy glass.
Her eyes fell on one of the pods lining the room, the occupant’s hands pressed flat against the inside surface. A dark-haired woman stared out at her in desperate terror. “Please,” she shouted, the words muffled behind the glass, “get me out of this thing!”
Was this another survivor, or a mind flayer thrall trying to trick her? Ameera froze in place, staring wide-eyed at the pod. The woman inside slammed her hands harder against the glass.
“Help me, damnit! Why are you just standing there?!”
Angry, fearful words cut through the daze, and the druid moved to the pod, hands pressing against the ridged surface, seeking a latch or something.
Thump, thump. Softer this time, meant to draw Ameera’s attention back to the glass.
“The console. Over there. They did something to it when they sealed me in.” The woman pointed, and Ameera followed her finger.
Whatever it was, ‘console’ wasn’t the word she would have used to describe it. Luminescent tendrils wavered out above a surface that looked more living flesh than machinery. But then, this whole ship was some strange hybrid of the mechanical and the organic; a disgusting, unnatural amalgam that made her feel as if she had been swallowed by some horrid behemoth. Beneath her hands the spongy flesh-like surface dipped; behind her eye, the parasite squirmed - an unwelcome reminder of its presence.
At the insistence of the worm, the console beneath her hands reacted. A strange, delighted feeling surged up through her fingertips to meet with a spark that spiked from within her head. It was as quick as a thought, as easy as a word: open. The machine obeyed, and that warm feeling of delight spread throughout her body, chased by a shiver. The parasite behind her eye stilled as if in slumber, sated.
Ameera slowly pulled her hand back, stomach turning from the sensation. Best not to dwell on what it could have been…
A hiss of air sounded behind her, and she turned in time to watch the other woman tumble out of her pod like she herself had earlier. The half-elf hit the floor with a groan, laying there unmoving for a moment before slowly pushing herself up. Standing still by the console, Ameera watched the other woman hesitantly as she brought herself to kneel on the floor. Chainmail rattled softly as she forced herself up to her feet, grasping at the open pod for support.
From behind dark fringe, the woman gave a sideways look to Ameera. “I suppose I owe you my thanks…” Those same eyes scanned around the room. “But I almost wonder if you’ve helped me out of the cooking pot and into the fire, so to speak. And idea where we are?”
“Hell.” Ameera answered bluntly, though her serious expression barely concealed the fear that bubbled just beneath the surface.
Standing up straight, the half-elf stared at her with wide eyes. “You’re joking.”
“I wish I were. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t believe it. Something’s been attacking the ship, too. Not sure what, though.”
Nodding to herself, the woman reached back into her pod, pulling out some sort of bauble and tucking it away before turning back to Ameera. “Yes, I felt the ship being attacked. Whatever it was, I don’t want to be here when it succeeds in knocking it out of the air. I…” She hesitated a moment. “My name’s Shadowheart, by the way. Thank you for helping me.”
“Ameera,” the druid nodded, “and don’t thank me yet. You said it yourself - out of the pot and into the fire. So unless we can find a way off this ship, preferably not in the hells, this freedom will be short-lived.”
Shadowheart glanced around again. “Everything must be in utter chaos right now. Perhaps if we can fool the mind flayers into thinking we’re thralls, we can take advantage of that.”
“You have something in mind?”
“I do. I think.” Waving her hands, Shadowheart paced back and forth a few steps. “The mind flayers will be too busy dealing with the chaos. That leaves you and I free to roam. If we can find the helm, then maybe we can take control of the ship itself.”
“That’s as good a plan as any. Let’s get moving, then.”
Shadowheart bobbed her head in a nod, her intricate braid falling over her shoulder. “Lead on.” She waved a hand in a gesture that said ‘after you’.
It was like the blind leading the blind. Neither of them knew how to navigate the nautiloid, and it seemed like each corridor led them deeper into a maze. It didn’t help there was still some sort of battle raging on outside, knocking the ship around and sending them stumbling. One such hit knocked their legs out from beneath them, sending Ameera and Shadowheart rolling hard into a wall.
The back of Ameera’s head connected painfully against a sharp ridge. She could feel the skin of her scalp slice and the warmth of her blood mat in her copper hair as it trailed down her neck. Fingers tentatively prodded at the spot and she winced, pulling them back, unsurprised the see them stained red.
“Godsdamnit…” She muttered to herself. Taking a deep breath, she tried hard to focus on her druidic magic. Her other hand started to glow a soft green as the magic coursed through fingertips, ready to be used. Without warning, the light held in her fingers began to flicker before dying away, her concentration on the healing spell fading before she could use it.
“Here.” Shadowheart knelt beside her, the palms of her hands glowing with radiant golden light. “Let me.”
An incantation passed her lips, and warmth flooded through Ameera, coalescing in the wound in head. The warmth seemed to increase almost to the point of burning as the magic knit flesh back together once more. Even the self-inflicted wounds around her eye had healed neatly under Shadowheart’s magic.
A sense of relief filled Ameera, but as the heat of the healing spell faded away, the relief gave way to a twinge of worry. Watching her magic sputter away left her feeling uneasy. “Thank you.” She breathed out, keeping the worry from her voice.
Standing up, Shadowheart offered a hand to the druid, helping her up when she took it. “Of course. Come on, we need to keep moving.”
“Agreed.” Ameera glanced over their surroundings before turning to a corridor branching off to their left. “This way.”
Another corridor, another room. The two women stopped just inside the open membrane, unable to move. All they could do was stare. Pods lined the walls of the circular space, climbing up all the way to the ceiling above, and far down into the bowels of the ship below.
“Gods… how many people have they taken?”
Even as she tried, she couldn’t begin to put a number to what she saw.
“Doesn’t matter. There’s nothing we can do for them, and we need to keep moving if we want to have any hope of getting off this ship alive.”
Shadowheart was right. Ameera knew she was right, but it still didn’t make it any easier to turn away from all those people who weren’t as lucky as her. Hells, if it hadn’t been for whatever was attacking the ship, she would still be stuck like them.
“I know...” The druid admitted, hating it. Maybe if they could take control of the ship, then they could release all those people. “Let’s go.”
They never made it to the helm...
Another attack sent the heavily damaged ship careening through the sky. The two women were suddenly violently thrown around, against walls, against each other. A large, gaping hole tore into the hull of the nautiloid and the corridor they had been in opened to the sky; some part of her mind registered glimpses of blue through the smoke billowing from the ship. At some point Ameera realized she could no longer see Shadowheart. The other woman was gone, disappearing in the chaos.
The ship rolled, and Ameera was thrown through the open hull. As the air whipped around her, she closed her eyes, embracing the fall. At least she wasn’t going to die on that damn ship.
A sharp pain pierced her head as a chunk of debris collided with her skull, and everything went black…