Zephyr says this, but his skin is completely cracked up and glowing to his forearms. He's trying with all his power to control the explosion, but it's getting more and more difficult every second. His arms too are getting heavier, ready to burst if he doesn't release all that energy.
"No you are not! Just shoot all of that somewhere! If you explode here and now, we're fucked!" Screams Alister.
"You-you really like to swear all the time!"
"Enough Zephyr! release that energy into the void before-!"
Riley doesn't have the time to finish his sentence that they hear something marching upwards, with a clear rhythm, like a machine programed to hunt down its preys.
Everyone sits still for a few second, with Zephyr having an idea as to how he could spend that mass of energy.
"Guys, get out of my way. If I can buy more time, just...wait for it to do something drastic. If what Riley says it's true, then..."
Zephyr starts thinking very hard about destroying whatever is coming towards them.
Alister, the pets and Riley gets out of prodigy child' path. The platform is of a decent side yes, but it's still relatively small compared to the other platforms. It serves more like a cliff rather than a connection between the two sides of the pit. Riley and Urth are standing near the wall, while Eylventh and Alister are on the edge of the platform.
only the glowing arms of Zephyr and the torch is helping with vision. No flashlight but the one on Alister's shoulder is opened. They can barely see anything, as they keep hearing stomps on the walls, both the one they are closest to and at the other side. This means the creature is gigantic enough to place one foot forward on the two walls with ease.
And it stops...
...
Then the sound of some contraption retracting, followed by the sound of something launching, as if reaching towards them, with it progressively getting louder as it reaches them as a destination.
Suddenly, a giant metal claw comes out of the darkness and tries to grab Zephyr. In a second, Zephyr lifts his arms in the air, closes eyes, prays in his mind for nothing but success as he grimaces, anticipating a total disaster.
The only thing the rest sees is the mechanical claw grabbing the young blacksmith, followed by a detonation, a loud noise and then proceeding to look the other way, for the explosion was bright enough to illuminate a great portion of the Bottomless Pit by itself.
The one that looks at Zephyr's direction is Eylventh: Zephyr has been pushed back so far, he's flying away from the platform, seeming unconscious. In a direct charge, the flying crocodile spreads its wings and leaves those on the platform to catch the fallen comrade. The arm retracts back, jittering in what seems like pain as a glitchy noise can be heard from not so far away, almost like a broken sound chip is playing a sound similar to a moan.
Alister goes immediately to pack the bags, no questions asked.
"What the- What are you doing!? What about Zephyr!?" Demands the scientist.
"Your goddamn crocodile went to get him. Let's trust the pet you fined tune for this shit to do its job. It's you, me and Urth here and I'm not gonna sit back while there's a giant robot going nuts, got it!? So let's get out of here!"
"You won't." States a feminine voice.
This distorted female speech, crackling and changing tonality like a broken record, with layers of speeches behind it that makes its pitch higher and deeper accidentally, panning from one ear to another in the split of a millisecond. It speaks with violence yet sounds dead inside, with an incomprehensible reverberation in the voice.
Alister and Riley don't take the time to figure out who or what jumbled these words together, nor why do they hear this inside their heads, before another claw decides to strike them out of the blue.
This time, Urth pushes them violently out of the way by creating a stream of wind that blasts them away at the last second.
The bullfrog gets caught by the claws.
"GOD DAMN IT! URTH!" are Alister's last words before once again diving deeper in the underworld.