NOVEL NEXT X2.6.1 – Welcome to Hell
X2.6 – THE CURE IN THE SICKNESS
X2.6.1 – Welcome to Hell
"Disgusting," gagged Rosso as the putrid fetor of dying flesh entered his nostrils like an invading army breaking a siege.
Elevar glanced around, orienting himself, looking for recognizable features on the horizon. He looked up, noticed an enormous, moving, living, breathing chamber that reminded him of lungs, slowly, rhythmically moving, back and forth. Everything was made of organic matter. The floor, the hills, the mountains, the rivers. It felt as if they had been swallowed by some giant monster.
"It's not that way," he said, noticing something North. "The Sea of Teeth is over there," he pointed. "Sphincter Cave. Bile Falls. The Cartilage Forest of Cartilagora," he pointed East. "Hmmm…" he said, squinting an eye that focused on a distant object. His eyes opened wide when a strong wind coming West caught his attention. "Close your nostrils," he commanded, plugging up his nose. A powerful gust of putrid smells passed them like a hurricane for almost two minutes, uninterrupted. The sounds of gurgling, farting and belching, echoed in the gargantuan, living halls of Carnassia. They inhaled as little as they could, for each breath in was followed by the incessant desire to vomit everything out, so repulsed was the body when it found itself in Meat World. After the ordeal was over, they fell to their knees, breathing heavily the now less-putrid air. "There," Elevar said, pointing South. "The Temple of Bones."
"What kind of place is this? I've never seen a world like it before in all of my travels," said Indigo with her hand over her mouth.
"Meat World is one of the most dangerous realities I've been through—filled with infectious diseases, horrible monstrosities, backwards, hostile tribes, and an environment that will try to digest you and eventually get you sick," said Elevar, "we need to find this doctor and get out of here as soon as we can. The mind eventually breaks down here, but even faster to get sick will be the body—so don't get cut, don't get hurt."
"Promising," said Rosso with Roa on his back. "Is our boy still alive?"
"My sensors indicate a heartbeat and breath. He seems to be in some sort of deep sleep or coma," said Thero, standing behind them.
They walked up a pile of bones that acted as stairs. Before them towered a temple, also made of skeletons.
"I like what they did with the place," said Rosso, as they entered.
"Wakkana-ta-ha!" screamed a shaman on the other side of the hall, prompting a bunch of locals to swarm around the travelers, branding their spears and weapons.
"Wakka-wa-jo-sa," said Elevar, speaking their language.
The locals lowered their weapons and allowed them to speak to the holy man.
"What kind of—people are these?" whispered Indigo, as she stared at the grotesque shapes of the beings.
"They are members of the Nar Tribe. They have a very rudimentary language and society, but they will know the direction to Nanoo," explained the monk from Pardasia.
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"Nanoo?"
"Yes, that's where we must get to. The doctor lives there."
"Arkh-was-hath-hath," said the shaman, standing, shaking his staff.
"What the hell did he just say to me?" asked Rosso, leaning over towards the monk.
"He says we need to offer a sacrifice to their god before we can speak to him."
"We don't have anything to—" said Indigo, pausing as she noticed some of the locals drag an enormous, round being. "Is that a—tick?" she asked with disgust written all over her face.
The animal squirmed, moving its little legs in the air as they dragged it onto the altar.
"Anyone want to—do the honors?" asked Elevar. He looked at the others who avoided eye contact. "Well, here we go."
He grabbed the knife and pierced the beast which exploded into a sea of blood, which for a moment, submersed the monk almost completely. Elevar eventually opened his eyes, as red dripped from his whole body. The locals jumped up and down, screaming like wild animals. The shaman, satisfied, began giving the monk the directions.
"He says that we must traverse the Oceans of Blood to get to the others side, where the—Ujj Tribe lives. There they will know the way forth," the Pardasian translated.
"Well, it stinks like crap in here and my feet are getting soaked with giant tick juices. So, if we got what we came here for, can we—" Rosso said, pointing his head towards the way out.
Indigo, Elevar, Thero, Rosso and the unconscious boy from Earth made their way towards the sea. Some kind of hole in the ground opened, burping out fetid odors.
"I hate it here," said Rosso. "No wonder C-Saw refused to pass through this place."
They walked through a pass between two mountains of meat. The sides were made of enormous blocks of flesh, which resembled large bricks. Each had one eye that moved around erratically and cried copious tears, causing the walls to be dripping wet.
"The living, crying walls," explained Elevar.
"They are constantly—weeping. It's—disturbing, on many levels," said Indigo with a weird look on her face.
"Why are we carrying so much food? I can barely carry Roa," said Rosso, struggling with each step.
"Because, the last thing we want to do is eat and drink anything in this place," Elevar explained.
After several hours listening to the laments of the crying bricks, they reached an enormous white lake. The three of them gagged as the air moved, giving them a whiff of the lake's odor.
"I feel nauseous and depressed already," said Rosso, letting out a nervous laugh.
"This is nothing. The journey has just begun. Look, over there," said Elevar, pointing to where the white lake blended with red waters. "Those are the Oceans of Blood—past the Pus Lake."
Rosso vomited.
"I'm glad that my sensors do not pick up on the same inputs as yours," Thero said, smiling. "This is the first time I feel happy to be a robot instead of a Human."
The travelers eventually reached shore, where the meaty ground eventually buried itself into the endless expanse of blood.
"Where's our boat?" asked Indigo.
"You're looking at it," said Elevar, raising some skin of sorts.
"The dead tick's hide?" Rosso asked, plopping the Sunflower on the floor, catching his breath.
The monk placed his mouth on the opening he made with the knife and began to blow. The others stared with disgust as the thing inflated like a balloon. Elevar then took out a small knife and a chord, attached the two, and sowed the opening shut.
"There," he said with a smile, his face covered in blood.
Rosso gagged again. "You mean to tell me that we are going to cross an entire sea of blood—on a balloon made from parasite skin?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Were you expecting a normal ship?"
"Well, I'm guessing that the next thing you are going to tell me is that there can't be any ships here if there is no wood. I haven't seen a single tree in this world."
"There are none. Only meat."
"Only meat." Rosso dragged the unconscious boy onto the balloon and then helped the others push it into the sea of red. The blood reached up to their ties, tinging their clothes and skin in the process.
They jumped on, and Elevar manifested the Arsenal Gift, creating two ores out of his aura.
"I will act as battery. You two can use two of my oars, but I must keep our bodies in contact with each other, or they will vanish." He placed his hands on their shoulders, sitting behind them as they rowed. "We have three days over the water. Let's go."
After several minutes of silence, Indigo asked, "what—what kind of—animals are—" she said, pointing below, as if scared to even mention what she was talking about.
Elevar gave her a strange look, but did not say a word.
"Great," Rosso said. He turned to Roa who was sleeping. "You better stay alive, before we all die in this place."