“Let’s continue onwards, once my business is done here, we can arrange for another session...” Azaviel grinned.
Exalt nodded, before taking them through the left intersection of the tunnel.
Then, they simply walked.
Without any form of transportation, the walk to the center had taken hours. And with time, the two could both tell they were getting closer. The walls of the tunnel were becoming... twisted. The darkness became infinently more so, and all three of the corrupted figures walking through the tunnels all felt a great heavy pressure push on them.
There was no more talk. Even breathing was becoming an endeavor. So Exalt and Azaviel could only walk in painful silence, as they finally encountered a blink of light far away in the distance.
Azaviel, Kitty, and Exalt all instinctively move faster, all of them wanting to be free from the darkness.
To be reduced to such a state... Azaviel thought bitterly to himself as he ran.
Eventually, upon reaching the light, they saw it came from a set of stairs going up, presumably to the surface.
The three all felt a soft fresh wind blow downwards through the stairs, giving them some relief although the great pressure still remained.
“This is it, this stairway should lead up to the central plaza of the city, the grand palace that resides in the center should only be an hour away from there.” Exalt panted, resting against a wall.
“How do you know all this?” Azaviel asked.
“I’m a scholar, plus I mainly use the tunnels to move throughout the city, it helps to memorize the routes to key places. “ the latex bat grinned
“Well... shall we go? I’m expecting that we’ll be hit by the curse at full force once we go up?”
“Correct, what we are feeling right now is merely a fraction of the curse’s power and unfortunatly there’s no way to defend ourselves from it, not for long anyway.”
“Well then what can we do?”
“Simple, we have to ignore it and push past it, I’ll be able to create some magical defense for us, though like I said, it won’t last long.”
“And there is no other way to get to the center?”
“Nope.”
Azaviel sighed. Well, he supposed, this should at least be an experience.
“Let’s go then...” Azaviel said, Kitty mewling in acceptance.
Exalt nodded, and with no other choice, the three ascended upwards, all of them fully expecting to see an illusionary hell once they are above.
AN: Hey guys... I know I said I would upload more frequently... but I’m afraid that was a lie on my part. In all honesty this is probably the last chapter I’ll upload to this story for a while. The reason for that is... well, I’m kind of burnt out on this story arc I’ve made. Frankly, I felt kinda trapped by it. This “Cloud Arc” both me and other writers have added chapters towards is basically the first major story arc for Issac’s tale, yet... some parts don’t really make sense to me. I won’t go into full detail and I’m not intending to be pointing the finger at anyone, but in general, I think I can sum it all up due to writer burn out.
When you write stuff, you get burnt out. It happens. When it does, don’t force yourself to continue writing the stuff when it won’t come out naturally.
What do you do? Simple, take a break from it, there’s no rush, watch some movies, read a book, find inspiration and recharge your batteries. Then when you feel ready, take another shot at your story.
Anyway I don’t want this AN to be longer than the actually chapter itself (which I have to admit I really only wrote it because I felt kinda guilty not explaining why I stopped), I do have a planned ending for this story chain don’t expect anything mind blowing but I think it’s an interesting conclusion, even if it only serves as the start of another chapter for Issac’s adventures.
The last thing I want to say is that, I’ve been an Anon writer here for a while now, for at least a year I think. So I’m think of finally setting up an account here and making a new story chain. I already have an idea for a new story that should keep me busy for at least a while. It should come out soonish, either today or in the following week or so.
So that’s all really, shout out to everyone else who added their own story to this adventure, and keep on going. Cya!