In the darkness, time lost all meaning. She felt herself falling asleep and waking, but only the growing cold and all-consuming darkness presented itself. Hunger grew inside her, tearing at her stomach from the inside. Soon after, the headache started. She continued to beg, a litany to the gods that had abandoned her. Tears refused to come when starvation burned in her throat and stomach, adding one more pain to the list of agonies that kept her company.
Then, to her surprise, she saw a flicker of light. Gasping, she closed her eyes and opened them again, praying for a miracle. She opened them slowly, cracking at the dried tears and caked dust. Her good hand brushed at them while she peered up at the top of the pit.
Another flickering light. This one moving slowly. Instead of the bright light of Raban's magic, it was a soft blue-green color. It faded into darkness, then came back again. Sarisin tried to call out, to beg for help, but her throat refused to make any noise. Wordless hissing came out of her tight, dry throat.
Brightening, the light started to spread across the edge of the pit, but not the ceiling. Sarisin, through the headache of starvation, tried to imagine what would cause that, but the light flared over the edge, a brilliant searing light that filled the pit. To her dark adjusted eyes, it was as bright as staring at the sun and being unable to look away.
Something began to crawl down into the pit. The bright light faded and she saw it glowing from the chest of some creature. To her foggy eyes, it looked almost like a bear without hair. There were other differences that worried her as well. Immense claws, each one the size of her hand, dug into the stone and held it there as it shambled down the side, as if the walls were floors to this creature. The green light flashed from its chest, in patches of glowing skin that lit up the wall underneath it.
It reached the ground softly and padded toward her. The scent of its body, a soft musty smell, flooded over her, a stark smell to her own body. From the light on its chest, she could see the blind eyes on each side of the heat. Each was the size of a grapefruit and covered in a milky white. A huge mouth, lined with sharp teeth, hung barely open and she saw a flashing tongue working inside its mouth.
Trying not to whimper, she struggled to lift a hand, to defend herself. The creature froze at the first sign of movement, white eyes blinking slowly.
(You are alive?)
Sarisin gasped at the first thought that cut through her mind. It was deep and masculine, filled with confusion and a basic type of hunger. The thought echoed in her head for a moment as she struggled to find her own thoughts. It took a moment, but she found her own thoughts, amazed at the clarity with which it spoke in her head. Her hand shook as she strained to wave it, to tell the creature she was alive and very much awake.
It stood up above her, the bright light exploding across the bottom of the pit. Spikes stood out as blades of flame against the brilliant light and she got the first good look at the creature towering above her. Its chest was corded in muscles, a powerful being. Irregular patches of glowing skin covered its chest, almost in a pattern of a tortoise. A few small patches covered in the inside of the creature's arm and legs. Only a deep shadow marked the brightness, where a pouch hung out from the creature's body, right between its legs. In the blue-green of its chest, the shadow of its pouch was almost unbearable. Tearing her gaze away, she looked up at the milky eyes that were peering down at her.
With supreme effort, she gasped out words in a thin, dry voice. “Help me?”
Thoughts flooded through her mind, filled with emotions of disappointment, growing curiosity, and the same endless hunger.
(You are alive.) One massive paw reached out for the spike in her leg. Sarisin could only wince as it touched the spike gently, (You are injured.)
She whimpered, hope giving her strength. The creature leaned over her, bathing her in the greenish light. (Can you move?)
Shaking her head, she gasped as the pain from her injuries slashed through her nerves. Blinking back the tears, she shook her head again, this time more slowly. Emotions from the creature turned sad and it reached over to touch her leg. Fear sparkled in her thoughts, but she couldn't move the leg as it pressed a soft, hairless paw near the wound for a moment.
As she winced in pain, it drew back sharply, (Sorry.)
“Is… is o… okay.” Sarisin found it surprisingly hard to speak with a dry throat and weakness sapping her strength.
(No, you are injured. I have no healing, but you will die on this spike.)
Growing accustomed to hearing the creature's rich voice in her head, she shook her head slightly.
“Please… please help me.”
(It will hurt.)
Sarisin tried to snort, to say it hurts anyways, but the words wouldn't come. As if reading her mind, the creature leaned forward, wrapping a paw around the middle of the spike in her leg. She watched as corded muscles bunched up and the metal began to bend. Vibrations shot down the metal and into her leg, flaring up into an intense burning that ripped a scream from her throat.
The creature hesitated for a moment, then yanked the metal back. It snapped in half, ringing loudly in the room, and sent another bolt of pure agony through her leg. The vibrations faded after a moment, but she was panting heavily, begging for unconsciousness.
When the pain started to fade, the creature reached over to wrap a paw around the metal spike impaling her shoulder. Staring up in fear, she felt the metal bend, then bend further before snapping. White flames of pain exploded through her shattered shoulder and darkness finally took her.