[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/210409/9be8f398177dce864717d25e633a7af0.png[/img][/center] [hr] Darrin pulled his coat closer to his body as he trudged through the snow, shaking softly in the freezing temperatures. Even with three layers of clothes, the mountain was far colder than anything the young man had ever experienced. He felt like this must have been what Frankenstein must have been feeling when he was discovered by Captain Walton in the artic. And to think, Darrin thought it was bad when he finally returned to St. Austell... [color=a36209]"A-are we there yet...?"[/color] Darrin's voice creaked from behind chattering teeth, the young man eager to reach cover. Around 3 meters away, Cu Sith was walking slowly into the storm, moving in a strange path that zigged and shifted at random. Darrin had learned to follow the path his familiar set when he plunged knee-deep in the snow, soaking his pants and boots. The beast turned and shook its head at its master, eliciting a cracking sound from the bark that made up its neck. Darrin sighed. [i][color=a36209]'I'm biting the bullet - Can we start going to the cave?'[/color][/i] And almost immediately, Darrin felt his arm completely lose feeling from the elbow down, shooting out to the right without any input on Darrin's part. Darrin nodded and broke into a jog - or, at least as close to one as he could manage in the snow. It was a terribly uncomfortable feeling; as if someone had emptied out Darrin's arm and jammed their own inside it, wearing it like some kind of meat suit. But Cernunnos didn't like talking, and this was how the god directed Darrin back to his home months ago - so Darrin knew that eventually, he'd regain control and it'd be like nothing happened... Darrin was still going to rush this as much as he could though. Just because he knew it was harmless didn't mean it wasn't super uncomfortable... When he was visited by the voices in his dreams and given the options for getting to Sky Palace (Dennis? Darrin really couldn't keep track of all the names), Darrin wanted to avoid considering the path with spiders and other bugs. He wasn't really sure how easily he could get help if any were venomous, and he'd never been spelunking before. But at this point, he felt like a few stings would be worth it if only to take a break from the chill and the wind. Within minutes, the cave opening came into view. Cu Sith entered first and sat a few meters inside, and Darrin was quick to follow. Even the mouth of the cave felt significantly warmer than the outside, if only because it was shielded from the intense winds from outside. Darrin squatted against the cave wall and removed his gloves, pressing his hands deep into Cu Sith's fur. The dog's skin really felt like wood... but at least it was warm. Darrin pet the dog in this manner for a minute or so, the creature uncaring for the attention. Darrin stared deeper into the cave as he put his gloves back on. It was... definitely dark. Reaching into his pack, Darrin removed a flashlight and flicked it on. Darrin smiled as the cave suddenly lit up, a few small spiders skittering away from the sudden brightness. [color=a36209]"Man, I'd have killed for one of these a few years ago..."[/color] [hr] As it turned out, navigating a cave was really hard. Like, [i]really[/i] hard. Everything looked the exact same, and there were more than a few times when Darrin's arm threw itself in a seemingly random direction only for him to notice an opening that had blended in with the shadows cast from his flashlight. Cu Sith thankfully was in the lead, breaking through webs and taking dozens of bites without flinching. Eventually, they reached an opening in the system that made navigation much more simple. Darrin rubbed his forearm, thankful to finally have it back under his own control. [color=a36209]"Never going to get used to that..."[/color] Unfortunately, the freedom from his god giving him directions came at the cost of way more spiders... The ground seemed to have already been cleared, a path of green goo and splattered exoskeletons indicating that someone must have walked through recently. Pointing his light to the ceiling, Darrin felt nauseous when it looked like the top of the cave was [i]moving[/i]. A sea of spiders, agitated by the sudden lighting, seemed to border holes in the ceiling of the cave. Pointing his light back down, Darrin simply followed the path his predecessors laid out, hoping the squished spiders might dissuade other spiders from coming. It seemed like the majority of the spiders stayed near the ceiling for some reason. As he passed by a mound of spiders, Darrin pointed his light at it, causing them to move slightly and show what they were swarming. Some bat-like creature was being eaten by the spiders, having been restrained by bandages and left to die. That explained why there were so many more on the ceiling of the cave - they must eat these bats. The restrained bat wriggled as the light hit it, only enticing more spiders to come investigate the catch. Darrin, decided now would probably be a good time to leave, before a big spider found the free meal someone left for it. The thought of using his power crossed Darrin's mind - making the cave harder to navigate would mean he'd have a much easier time escaping from any more of these bat things and spiders... ...Then again, it'd also be a death sentence for anyone else here. Darrin didn't really want to accidentally kill anyone, especially if they were new communicators like him. And if gods were as petty as the stories made them out to be, then killing their communicators was probably an easy way to end up on their shit list. Instead, he continued walking down the path, allowing Cu Sith to squish any spiders they encountered and doing his best to think about how warm Sky Palace probably was. It felt like days had passed by the time they finally reached a dead end, though really Darrin knew it had been an hour at most. A loud rumbling caught Darrin's attention, and immediately he slid behind a stalagmite and flicked his flashlight off. Peaking from his hiding position, Darrin saw two humanoid shapes holding torches next to a doorway. Darrin sighed and left his hiding position, walking towards the figures. Those most have been the people who were walking in front of him - Darrin would have to thank them for taking care of all the big stuff! As he came closer, however, Darrin saw that they had both stopped and were now in defensive stances. Peering over, the young man soon realized why the pair were nervous - they were right in front of a giant cobra! ... Well, it wasn't actually that scary. Darrin had never seen a cobra before, but the anacondas in the rainforest were a lot longer than this thing. And while it was probably still intimidating for these guys, Darrin had nothing to fear from snakes anymore. Darrin focused on the creature, imagining himself wearing its body like a skinsuit, displacing its flesh with his own, splintering its bones, eating it alive. When Darrin blinked, he opened the snake's eyes. [i]'Weird! No move body, want move! MOVE! BITE!'[/i] God (Gods?), this felt weird both ways, huh? Darrin ignored the snake's thoughts, trying to justify the guilt he felt at taking over its body. He could hear it after all - it wanted to kill these people, so he shouldn't feel guilty at what he was about to do. It took a few seconds of flailing around to get used to the snake's body before Darrin managed to twist it onto its back, exposing the neck and vital organs. [color=a36209]"Cu Sith, I can't really see right now - mind walking me to them?"[/color] The dog quickly responded, lightly biting Darrin's sleeve and dragging him over to the pair. As he came into the snake's vision, Darrin waved to the two other communicators. [color=a36209]"Hey, sorry if that freaked you guys out! I don't get to use the 'Controlling Snakes' thing much, so it might have looked a little weird..."[/color] [i]'AHHHHHHHHHH! Stop showing stomach! DANGER! Strike while prey distracted! Strike now, move! WHY BODY NO MOVE!?'[/i] Darrin shook his head slightly. He'd have to ask one of the voices if there was a way to mute these things the next time he went to sleep. [color=a36209]"Not sure if you guys want to kill it or let it loose, but it's pretty angry right now. I'd probably have to send it a bit back into the cave if we're doing the latter."[/color] [@Hitman][@King Cosmos]