"What do you mean you saved my life?"
For a minute, the tentacle creature didn't answer; it continued to gaze into his eyes. It began to feel like it was trying to dissect and inspect him, its slit pupil moved up and down Vicheam's body — making him visibly uncomfortable. Vicheam got a better look at it. It was gigantic, accompanied by thick black scales running down its back, serving as protection.
Vicheam raised a brow. Did this creature just ask for forgiveness? It was his first time and probably last time he heard empathy from an eldritch creature.
It repeated. Confused, Vicheam cleared his throat; his body was trembling just a bit. He'd faced many hostile creatures in the past, so what made this any different? Was it trying to converse with him and then eat him!? One thing was sure enough, he was having mixed emotions.
"...Yes, that's a word I use... or used".
It had been years since Vicheam was able to be in a position to converse truthfully. Words such as "forgive me" or "I apologize" had been fading with the lack of human interaction. Previous interactions weren't even real conversations, just a bunch of weird people trying to chase him and kill him with no explanation.
The entity looked amazed at him, its eyes capable of showing emotions despite not having a face. Its lower part continued to rise from the water, circling in the middle of the air to get space inside the air pocket.
"Interesting? I am an interesting human?"
Vicheam repeated, making sure what he heard was right.
For some reason, it sounded glad, like finding someone to ask about their interest, though the fact that it had been 'inside' him made him question everything.
Vicheam did NOT want to know the answer.
Vicheam scoffed. The creature wasn't hostile; it was friendly.. Rising from his feet, he brushed off the cave dust on his naked body.
"Let's get back to where we were... You saved my life, how again?".
The creature distances itself from him.
"...And that is?"
"...Not really".
Vicheam answered quickly; whatever it had done was probably something he didn't want to know too. He was alive, that's what mattered at the end of the day. His curiosity began to grow; it was capable of speech, if he remembered correctly, it even spoke to him in human language the moment he landed in the water before this scene.
"What are you?"
"So you don't have a name...".
Vicheam went silent before remembering his clothes.
Vicheam pointed towards his destroyed clothes, the creature following his finger's direction. First of all, he wanted an explanation of what the fuck had happened to his clothes, because no matter what, shredded clothes and being naked were a weird and horrifying combination.
Two other tentacles began to re-surface from the water behind the one he was speaking with. It picked up his pieced-up clothes and suddenly began fixing them, using its skin to attach them, creating a firm glue almost.
Vicheam's clothes were in one piece. Without a second thought, he put the clothes back on, fitting perfectly and looking good again, except for the fact that they were visibly attached back together by the strings of black goo.
"Appreciate it, I was already beginning to feel cold again-"
Once the word 'cold' came out, he became dumbfounded.
He was still cold. His thick wool shirt and overcoat didn't help him fight the cold; in fact, it wasn't the clothes but an overly confident feeling that something was wrong with his body. Lowering his gaze to his trembling hands, he then looked back up at the entity.
"...Have you done something to me?"
Vicheam lowered his gaze and went silent again, trying to remain calm. The fact that he was still cold was bothering him more than he'd like to admit.
"Can you send me back up to where I fell from?"
Vicheam asked, he wasn't sure if it was possible, knowing the sinkhole he fell from was probably a thousand meters deep, not even the arms of a resembling octopus could be able to be that huge, or could it?
"What do I plan on?"
There was only one thing he had planned on, the very reason he began climbing Rodan in the firstplace.
"Reach the highest peak"
Vicheam said simply, It was a dream and his last hope.
"I can hear my name being called, whenever I dream... I can imagine the summit of Rodan, the skies that bow down to me, the stars fresh and ready to be picked... The summit calls for me...".
The tentacle's eye widened, almost surprised and amused.
One of the other tentacles wrapped its slimy and drenched arms around Vicheam's torso before submerging him into the dark water. The had suddenly become all clear, the ragged stone walls could be seen in the corner of his eyes as he continued to be dragged further.
A moment later, they would eventually arrive in open water. Vicheam could see the sinkhole opening above him as they began, the tentacles were clear as they could see 4 other arms travelling close, though the body couldn't be seen... yet.
The tentacle said. This time, the voice didn't come out of nowhere; clearly, it came from a certain direction now. Turning to look into the depths where the tentacles rose from Vicheam was stunned once he was met with something... demonic or godly?
An enormous ball of tangled tentacles was levitating further beneath him. Above the tentacles were atleast hundreds of eyes staring him up — there was no mouth or beak, just a ball of supposedly arms.
What the hell is this creature...
Vicheam asked himself, before feeling himself being resurfaced again. The tentacles continued to rise, and he began to realize the monster's size; it was gigantic.
On their way up, Vicheam got a glimpse of his organs, which were now in decay, hanging from a cliff in the sinkhole.
He didn't say anything and let the entity do its work.
***
After several minutes of silence, Vicheam arrived back up to where he had fallen. Vicheam didn't question the fact that the eldritch had managed to lift him that far, but didn't say anything on that part.
His focus changed entirely; he had only one goal. Look for the key. The memories began to run back into his mind once he watched the familiar stone terrain around him.
The corpses that had once been there had disappeared. The only thing remaining was old blood stained into the dust of the cave flooring around. Vicheam remembered the boulder he'd been pinned on — old blood there too.
Running his finger on it made him realize that it was at least one or two days old.
"A key"
Vicheam uttered, still focused on looking where he might've left it. He could swear that it was still on his neck while he was falling, but it didn't make sense, no matter how he thought about it.
"Yes, something like that".
He took his great time to think about it, sitting there for at least another minute. The cave began whistling in cold wind towards the direction of the exit. Was it a clue? Or was it just wind? Vicheam felt utterly hopeless and couldn't make the right decision to think.
"...That's it...". Vicheam stood flat up, brushing off the dust on his stitched pants. He had come up with the conclusion on what to do; his eyes gleamed with determination, and his presence around the room had shifted into something more serious.
Vicheam hit his hand before saying the following words
"I will find that key, and kill the silver bastard who took it!"
The entity stayed silent, getting a good look at its surroundings before turning it's eye towards him again.
<...Do you even know where you are?>
He began to walk off towards the exit, recalling where he had been running in the past.
"Yes, I do... I'll have to dismiss myself... I appreciate your help, kind eldritch. I would have been dead if it weren't for you."
After walking about 20 meters away from the entity, he dropped down against the cold floor — what?
Vicheam couldn't feel his body, almost like his entire being had been melted; He was paralyzed. The only thing he managed to do was move his eyes and move his head just barely.
"W-What happened to me?"
Vicheam managed to utter, confused, and noticing blood running through his nose.
The tentacle behind peeked further from the sinkhole, hovering above him.
The entity created a separate tentacle from its main arm, dragging Sorvichi by his ankle closer to the sinkhole.
Vicheam was in disbelief; it was currently hard to say anything as his face was pressed against the dusty cave floor and blood running down his face.
Once he reached back to the previous boulder, he could feel his limbs again. Sitting up again, he began to wonder.
"What type of logic is that? Just what the hell is keeping me alive, tell me that first". He asked, visibly frustrated and confused.
<.....>
Silence.
The tentacle was obviously having the hardest time of his life trying to explain. It kept looking up in the air, trying to figure out words to say.
For a moment, it became Enlighted, its eye widening in realization — figuring out what to say.
"So in other words, you are the source... and I am just excess light".
Vicheam could almost laugh; it was an incredibly vague explanation, yet it made sense somehow. He stood upright, brushing off the dust on his clothes.
"I have no problems with you joining me, but how could YOU possibly be able? I saw your body just earlier...".
He couldn't imagine the true size of the entity travelling with him; it would be like wearing or walking alongside a gigantic coffin — It would stand out no matter what.
Now, finally knowing that there might be some unknown civilization above the 99th hill, the worst thing to do was to stand out and attract dangerous people or creatures to his side.
It was confident, no doubt. Could it just become something by hearing it or seeing it? If so, then what Vicheam was speaking with might be some godly entity, something that he could get an advantage from.
"...Can't you become a smaller version of yourself? If we were to encounter civilization or any people, then I'd want you to hide somewhere quickly and easily".
The tentacle got right to business, its huge eye shut down, reaching for Vicheam's shoulder as its previous skin turned into some type of slime infesting his skin — It was disgusting and gave him goosebumps. He could feel it spreading across his body, like a parasite.
Once complete, the huge arm disappeared, and what appeared made Vicheam hum in amusement. A small version of it was standing upright on his shoulder, A dark, slimy stalk accompanied by one eye at the end.
It began demonstrating, disappearing completely beneath Vicheam's coat.
"That's better... So, the source, where is it now?"
"...I don't think that's the best comparison, but it can work...".
With this, Vicheam headed off outside the cave with his new friend.