Even if I say so myself, this chapter is awesomely ominous...
CHAPTER NINETY-THREE
Deep down in the darkness, far underneath any perceivable, conceivable, or believable depth of Glukkon mining, in the black pitch of emptiness where existed nothing but the Dark—
Something moved.
Deep down in the darkness, where the quakes and tremors of Oddworld were nothing but delightful massages for the blind, twisted monsters that inhabited the darkness, down where the fire lacked any color—
Something moved.
Deep down in the darkness, where the only sounds were the dripping of drops of emptiness into the sea of emptiness, and the rumbling of fiery Oddworld-core storms a short way beneath—
Something moved.
This something had moved before, but not for any great distance and not for any length of time. Its mind had been completely shut down and its body processes slowed down to complete suspended animation to prevent its death while it slept.
It slept, and waited.
It waited in the blackness as the Great War against the Ninth Chieftain raged. Waited in the blackness as the War of Tears terminated the Oktigi and nearly destroyed the Mudokon race. Waited in the blackness as Glukkon empires rose, dominated, and fell. Waited in the blackness as Abe was born, lived, and triumphed.
But no longer.
That something stretched blood and life back into its veins for the first time in several weeks; only a few weeks ago, its mind had momentarily slipped free of its bounds and encountered the mind of a Gabbit. Upon touching that mind, the something’s darkness had corrupted the mind of the Gabbit, and with some glee the something had impressed upon the Gabbit the importance of restoring the Dark to the land.
Now the Gabbit – under the name the Bringer of Pain – would clean the land for the something’s arrival.
It was time to rise again.
It was time to show Oddworld just who was the most powerful being of all time, just who deserved to be the total ruler of the planet.
It was time to show them how powerful the Dark was.
With a mighty roar of power that shook the core of Oddworld and tore it free of the shackles of suspended animation, the something lifted its head, bent its muscles beneath it, and then leapt high. The white-hot spikes atop its head gouged easily through the earth as it plowed up toward the surface at alarming speed.
Deep down in the darkness, the Keuja was returning.
* * *
|