"I knew it! Good job Mr. Swallow!" Jenny said to the giant bird that carried her across the sky.
She found it trailing above the clouds while searching for the elusive tunnel entrance. The giant bird gave off a red hue with a kind of glittering effect that resembled the stars of the cosmos.
But it looked like big swallow.
And it had been orbiting the giant rock at the center of the dreamlands. The one all the other islands orbited, dwarfing even the mainland. In other words: the core of the world.
It looked deserted and unfriendly to all forms of life, like a rock in outer space, save for the breathable air. And because of that, the airships did not stop there, and the general population had no way of reaching it. It made Jenny wonder what kinds of bizarre creatures she'd find inhabiting the cities inside, cut off from the rest of their world.
Jenny excitedly pointed at a giant hole in the rock that just came into view. From inside her hood, Top Moments poked his head out to have a look.
It hadn't even been an hour since they left the tavern, and the bird had already led them to their prize. Almost as if it knew where they wanted to go…
"Unbelievable! This has to be it!" Top Moments said.
Jenny patted the bird and floated away from it, stabilizing herself in the air. She noticed something about her hand, though, and held it open in front of her.
"Mr. Swallow…" Jenny said, looking at the bird flying away with a worried expression.
"What is it?" Top Moments asked.
"I think… I just absorbed some of that bird…" Jenny replied.
Top Moments looked at Jenny's hand. For a moment, a blink of pitch-black lightning zapped around her palm, spooking both.
"Electricity!?" Top Moments exclaimed.
"What's happening to me!?" Jenny said, looking down at the rest of her body.
Jenny twisted her hips to look at herself from every angle. Nothing unusual to be found. No more sparks of black lightning either.
But there was a familiar feeling about it. Like she'd just recharged a bit of her energy, and gained a little bit of power. Not unlike…
"…the emerald…" Jenny muttered.
This stuff, though… The emerald never made her emit any black lightning…
"The what?" Top Moments asked from inside her hood.
Jenny turned to the bird, flying away in the distance.
"Is he special?" Jenny asked Top Moments about the bird.
Her companion looked over at the bird to do a double take.
"No doubt," he replied.
Then he looked back at Jenny.
"The Great Beasts possess incredible power."
Top Moments looked at Jenny's hands, then back at the bird.
"Why don't you give it another try? Whatever it is you did," he suggested.
Jenny gave him a difficult look back, like the bird was already burdened by the fact that Jenny 'absorbed' some of him. If she examined the spot where she patted the bird, would there be a bald spot where the feathers used to be?
"I can see you want to," Top Moments instigated her.
After a bit of hesitation, Jenny followed the bird again, even if just to check from up close. It was only when she caught up with it that she noticed just how many feathers there were on the thing, and they were layered. There was no way to know if one or two were missing.
Jenny didn't dare touch the bird again, in case she took another chunk out of him. When Top Moments caught on, he left the inside of Jenny's hood and landed on the bird's back. Unlike Jenny, the bird was massive enough to become his new sphere of influence, allowing him to float around it without getting blown away by the wind.
Using his mysterious ability to make himself and other things float around a larger object, he plucked one of the feathers, then tossed himself towards Jenny again, who caught him in her hands, being careful not to touch the feather.
"We have what we need!" he told her.
Jenny complied and flew to the surface of the rock, next to the tunnel entrance they came for in the first place. She let go of Top Moments, who floated in place, and his feather. In the following moment, she watched him fumble around with it.
"I need to… get a feel for…" he mumbled.
Then, he put the feather on the ground and used his body to squash it, releasing a weightless dust-like substance that looked glittery like the rest of the feather. Jenny took another step back, but not before attracting some of the glittery particles and absorbing them like she did before. In this dust form, it was easy to see the resemblance to the stuff inside the emerald.
"Done!" Top Moments said.
Jenny tilted her head sideways with a confused look.
"I can transform into these now," he explained.
"But they are quite… substantial… I may need another spliff if I am to become many…"
He looked at Jenny.
"Go on. You can have the rest."
Jenny complied and walked into the cloud of glittery dust, absorbing it like she did before. Another flash of black lightning orbited her body for a split second, followed by a flash of red.
This definitely gave her similar benefits to the emerald. In fact, this stuff might be more potent. Jenny looked at Top Moments with a frown, as he expressed an aura of satisfaction at his achievement.
"I haven't even told you what it's doing to me," Jenny rightfully noted.
"You've shown me enough. I saw electricity! You run on electricity! This is your cigarette!" he confidently responded.
Sure enough, this stuff was able to top her up. Not that she'd need it though, considering the dream would probably end after about eight hours like last time. If nothing crazy happened, she could easily last that long.
"If you transform into these feathers, and I absorb you… won't that be weird? Won't you get hurt?" Jenny asked.
"Nothing weird about that! When I smoke, I gain power. That power is simply transferred to you through the feathers," he replied.
Another satisfying answer. This creature was starting to become increasingly reliable on their adventure. Jenny was glad she brought him along.
In a jolly mood, Jenny walked over to the hole and peered inside.
"Do you really think it'll be this easy?" she asked.
"I'm sure the real pickle awaits inside," Top moments replied.
Jenny looked at him and put her hood over her head, gesturing for him to take place inside. Top Moments complied and entered, poking his head out next to Jenny's neck. As Jenny floated down into the hole, it became clear there wasn't all that much depth until they reached water.
"Oh… bummer," she commented.
"Giving up already?" her companion asked.
Jenny tried to look at him, but his face was almost pressed against her cheek when she turned her head.
"Think it leads somewhere? Can you survive underwater?" Jenny asked while floating over the water surface, trying to see the bottom.
"So long as you don't lose me," Top Moments answered.
"'Cause I don't know how deep this is," Jenny clarified.
"I trust you," Top Moments reassured her.
Jenny grabbed the top of her hood to keep it in place, then gently dropped herself into the water.
At first, she swam gently, to keep her passenger comfortable. They had no way of talking to each other down here, which made Jenny nervous. He seemed to be doing well, calmly holding on next to her head. Jenny had to trust that he'd poke her or something if anything happened.
As she descended deeper, the light faded away until they were surrounded by complete darkness. With the exception of the light Jenny's blue hair was emitting, which allowed the two to at least see each other. Hopefully, Jenny thought, her own composure would keep Top Moments calm.
But the deeper they went, the stronger the water pressure from above. Jenny could sense it well. This wasn't going to be a problem for herself any time soon, but Top Moments, like any other normal creature, would eventually succumb.
To solve this, Jenny erected a spherical energy shield around herself, allowing it to withstand the pressure instead of her companion. And with that, she increased her diving speed.
After another minute of this, Jenny started doubting whether this would ever end. There was no theoretical limit to the pressure, assuming this kept going on forever. The deeper they went, the more energy it took to maintain the shield. Jenny wondered if it was still possible for there to be an exit on the other side in these conditions. She'd been looking around using night vision, but there were no walls close enough for her to see.
Before she could change her mind and turn back around, Jenny felt the water pressure stagnate, then drop. She double-checked to see if her sensors were all okay, just in case she'd accidentally flipped herself around, but that was impossible. She'd been heading straight down the whole time.
Jenny increased her speed. The dropping pressure told her exactly how far away she was from the surface. Or, the bottom, whatever was going on. And as expected, there was light on the horizon. Jenny decreased her speed as she approached the surface of the water and gently emerged. When her feet cleared the water's surface, she deactivated her shield and flipped herself around to properly orient herself.
Jenny was certain she was oriented correctly. But just to be sure, she deactivated her flight mode and found herself free falling into the darkness below, away from the water. She stabilized herself in the air again and looked up. The ceiling was water, somehow held together by a mysterious force at the center, where the pressure was highest.
"Fascinating," Top Moments noted.
A surprised Jenny looked to her side and saw his snout moving around in her peripheral vision.
"I thought you'd be totally freaked out from all that!" Jenny said, pointing up at the water-ceiling.
"There was a moment where I wondered if we were going to get crushed in there," he calmly answered.
"But as I said, I trust you."
Top Moments, still next to her face inside her hood, moved his head to look at Jenny, brushing his snout against her cheek.
"Are you invincible?" he asked.
Jenny nodded.
"No wonder," Top Moments replied as he moved his head back, rubbing his snout back across her cheek.
Jenny looked down to see a dark, endless abyss. Only interrupted by some mysterious balls of light, moving around the area. Some of them moved close enough to the boundaries of the space to reveal stone walls, but none of them seemed to reveal the bottom of the abyss. Slowly, she descended until one came close enough.
Jenny floated around the thing, trying to make out if it had a real body. But even from up close, all she could see was a ball of light. The thing didn't seem aware of her and continued its seemingly random path around the cavern. Eventually its path would intersect with Jenny, and she moved out of the way, sticking out her hand to try to touch it.
"Are you sure about that?" Top Moments asked.
A tense Jenny stopped her hand before she touched it and watched the creature of light floating away.
"N-No," she mumbled.
Jenny simply floated after it, staring at it with wide eyes and hunching forward, dumbstruck at its nature. Until suddenly a pale hand emerged from it, reaching straight for her. Jenny screamed and reversed away from the thing, grabbing Top Moments from her hood and hugging him tightly against her chest.
"Could it be? Are you afraid?" Top Moments calmly asked.
"I'm... I..." Jenny stuttered.
Before she could finish, the orb had moved on, revealing that the pale hand did not belong to it, but to a different creature. It came from the darkness, presumably the wall.
Its skin was completely white, much paler than any person she could realistically ever meet. Its eyes were pitch black balls that didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, and its mouth was stretched wide-open. Vertically, like a V-shape. But the thing made no sound. Its torso looked stretched, like it was attached to the wall like a piece of gum. Its arm stretched in a similar way, coming straight at her.
"H-Hello!" a terrified Jenny tried to communicate.
All the while, she floated away from it as slowly as it came for her.
No matter how she moved, the thing followed, slowly stretching itself in her direction like a zombie.
"You might want to look to your right," Top Moments spoke from underneath her arms.
When she did, she saw another hand just like it, coming at her from that side. No, not just one. There were countless hands emerging from the darkness.
Jenny screamed again and flew away from them, turning around to look at the other side of the cavern. There, one of the orbs of light illuminated the wall to reveal more of the creatures doing the exact same thing. All of them attached to the wall by the torso, stretching their bodies and arms in her direction.
"T-T-They're coming for us!" a shivering Jenny noted.
"Verily," Top Moments added.
As Jenny backed away and turned around once more, she found more of them on the other side and let out another adorable scream. This repeated itself on every side until she went in circles, ping-ponging between hordes of creatures stuck to the wall, stretching their bodies and sticking their hands out at her, slowly getting closer.
"W-We don't have any money!" Jenny begged as she floated in an ever-shrinking circle.
"My dear, you cannot be serious," an ever calm Top Moments said.
"I'm not good with scary things," Jenny whispered to him.
At this point, Jenny floated in the center of the cavern, surrounded by the creatures from all directions. They were all dead silent, and all Jenny could hear was the reverberation of her and Top Moments' voices.
Before any of the hands could touch her, Jenny closed her eyes and surrounded herself with an energy shield.
"I don't wanna hurt 'em," Jenny squealed.
"Try down," Top Moments suggested.
Jenny opened one of her eyes to peer down. There were more of them coming for her from below, but they had a longer way to go and didn't reach her yet. At least, as long as she stayed up here.
"Down!" Jenny yelled as if she hadn't considered the idea before.
Holding Top Moments tightly, she turned her body upside down and dashed downwards, pushing the swarm of hands away.
"Forgive me!" she yelled.
It did not take long for them to clear the horde of creatures, coming down far enough to where the creatures hadn't noticed them yet, and were still mostly stuck to the walls. Jenny released her energy shield and decreased the speed of her descent, eventually getting a visual on the bottom of the abyss.
♦
"I am beginning to see the appeal of an adventure," Top Moments said as he departed from Jenny's hood.
The two had reached the dark bottom of the abyss, away from the strange creatures on the walls for the most part. However, some of them had detached from the wall, dropped down to the ground and survived. One of them switched their attention to Jenny when she came down and was now slowly crawling towards her across the ground.
"It's like we've stepped into an undiscovered world," Top Moments said as he observed them.
"I've never seen anything like them before. Not even in literature."
Compared to Jenny, he wasn't scared of the wall creatures at all. His usual demeanor hadn't changed one bit since they passed through the water.
"And them!" he said as he turned to three giant corpses in the distance.
Jenny followed his gaze and illuminated the corpses with her eye-flashlights.
Top Moments flew over to them to take a closer look. Jenny followed, joining him in the air. When she approached, she noticed something about the other wall creatures on the ground that turned to look at her.
"Why are they ignoring you?" she asked.
Top Moments looked at the closest one, which Jenny was illuminating with her eyes. He flew over and circled around it.
"Careful!" Jenny yelled.
The creature did indeed ignore him and continued to crawl its way towards Jenny.
"Unknown!" Top Moments spoke.
"But your observation is correct."
Jenny turned her attention back to the giant corpse she was floating above and examined it while nervously fidgeting with her fingers.
"Let's not stick around too long," she said.
Like the wall creatures, these giant corpses were pale. But they didn't look like a related species at all. They were more humanoid, and so were their faces. The only strange thing about them was their lack of eyes, having only bulges where their eye sockets should be.
"The things down here have never seen sunlight, I reckon," Top Moments noted, like he was some sort of exobiologist.
The giant corpse they were checking out had a large hole in his chest and a dropped spear next to him.
"What do you think killed it?" Jenny asked.
"Not for me to know," Top Moments replied.
He looked at the crawling wall creatures.
"Them?"
Jenny turned her gaze towards a large pile of slain wall creatures against the cavern wall.
"Ah," Top Moments commented.
Then, Jenny illuminated a giant tunnel entrance next to that pile, behind the three corpses. Some wall creatures had already made it past, and were crawling into the tunnel.
"Maybe they were guarding the entrance from these things," Jenny said.
"Then something else came in and killed them?" Top Moments suggested.
Jenny looked down at the corpse with the hole in its chest.
"This happened recently," she said, observing the fresh blood and the lack of rot on the corpse.
"We should be careful up a-,"
Then, when she turned around to check her surroundings, an outstretched hand had come close enough to almost touch her face. Jenny squealed and backed away. One of the wall creatures had snuck up behind her. And if she hadn't looked back in time, it would've grabbed hold of her head.
"How about him?" Top Moments asked, having gotten used to Jenny's jumpy attitude and moved on to another of the three corpses.
Jenny joined him, happy to distance herself from the one that was stretching its arm at her.
Unlike the other two giant corpses, which were left mostly intact, this one was contorted and deformed. Laid out across the ground in a spiral shape, like its body had been rearranged by someone who wanted it to come out looking this way.
Jenny flew over and put her hand on the contorted corpse's head, or what was left of it.
"What could do something like this?" she asked, angrily.
Top Moments looked up at the ceiling of water in the distance.
"Perhaps something from outside," he said.
Jenny looked up with him, then at the tunnel entrance up ahead. Their only way forward.
"Then that means we're not the only visitors here."