Once I felt fit to stand, I did, hauling Edith up with me. "Any idea where we're supposed to go?" I asked her.
"None." Edith replied. "I'm going to kill Silas when I find him."
"I can't even blame you, at this point. Are you alright?" I said, checking her bite wound.
"Never better. Let's try to get moving, I don't want another run in with those... things." She informed me sharply.
"Hold on, Edith." I said, kneeling to examine the creature's body. I could sense an ebbing of their psi, as it seemed to disperse after death. "I'd like to perform an examination."
"Like an autopsy?" She asked.
"Necropsy. These aren't human, to my knowledge." I said, using my dagger to make a Y- shaped incision in the torso. I Then used my hands to open the ribcage, the relative brittleness of the bone giving way under my supernaturally enhanced strength. The dry snapping of tissue and bone disgusted Edith somewhat.
"Aspen, what the hell are you doing?" She barked.
"Well, I stand corrected on my earlier point, Edith, this is indeed an autopsy."
The organs of the person were totally humanlike, albiet dessicated and mottled shades of brown and yellow. "This is the body of a human. You may wish to look away for this next part."
Edith obliged and I flipped the body over, making a deep inscision running between the top of the first cervical vertebra, and around under the mandible, decapitating the creature. I examined the skull carefully. There were no remnants of the brain, but there was a mass of silvery filaments in place of the brain stem, not unlike mycellium, a trend continuing into the spinal cord. These same filaments formed the interior of the creature's "halo". I laid down the skull next to the body and faced Edith.
"It would seem that our friend here was overtaken by some kind of fungus." I announced. "Think of it like a profoundly more advanced form of the ophiocordyceps fungus."
Edith looked at me with the same face people often looked at me with, when I was talking about a topic that interested me. "Right." She sighed. "What does that mean in regards to us getting out of here?"
"Nothing, but this is unlike anything known to science, Edith, I need to bring a sample back!" I explained excitedly.
"Aspen it's disappearing..." Edith indicated, pointing at the skull.
She was correct, the filaments had become like fine grey dust in my hand.
"Well fuck..." I grunted, standing up. "I'll collect a live specimen some other time."
"Just focus on getting out alive, ok?" Edith said. "Lead the way."
I turned to move down the tunnel, Edith following behind. I sensed no psi from any of the fallen creatures anymore, yet radiant wisps seemed to be attatched to her.
"Aspen," Edith said after a while. "Did getting hit all those times hurt?"
"Yes. Of course it did." I answered truthfully.
"Then why'd you do it?" She pressed.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Stand there and take it?" She pressed. "You could've died."
"You wouldn't have gotten a clear shot if I'd tried to move." I told her.
"And if I missed?" She continued. "If I'd misfired and it was for nothing?"
"We would've both died, most likely. But you didn't miss." I explained. "I sincerely doubt I could've taken the final one on had you not killed the others."
"I see." Edith said more quietly.
We followed the tunnel, which itself was linear, for a few minutes. I could faintly hear more chanting coming from up ahead. I drew my dagger once again. Edith cocked the pistol. As we cautiously approached the source of the sound, we were shocked to see the tunnel open out into a yawning chasm, hewn by a subterranean stream.
Within this chasm was a vast, complex set of platforms and buildings, all centred on a single "town square," within which resided something I could only describe as a biblical cherub, a many winged, many faced behemoth, levitating gently over some kind of plinth. The very sight of such an abberation was disorienting. Beneath its body hung a fused, still writhing amalgamation of human bodies, slowly being overtaken by the fungus as it spread from the Cherub's body. This tail, this following of corpses was easily several hundreds of metres long, coiling all around the lower levels of the cavern.
"Edith... Edith look... I whispered." The creatures, the angels, milled about, in apparent reverence or service, to their divine leader. The cherub was embracing the angels one by one, the supplicant seeming to fuse to the winged creature's retinue, growing the writhing mass a little with each sacrifice.
"What is it?" She gasped.
"No clue, but those are all humans. We have to do something." I said.
"Aspen are you out of your mind? You nearly died facing four of them, how many are down there?" Edith scolded me.
"Best guess... nine to twelve hundred?" I replied, estimating based on the length of the "tail."
"Exactly. Come on, we're leaving. We can figure out what to do after we get re-centered." She said, dragging me away by the collar. She was correct, in everything she'd said. It didn't make me feel better leaving the people down there to their fate, though.
We turned back up the tunnel, not encountering anything on our return, and eventually found ourselves at the mouth of a cave, somewhere in a mountainous region, rugged and probably very remote. Silas was sitting on a nearby boulder, and grinned at us once he saw us arrive.
"There are my two favourite students!" He cheerily exclaimed.
Before I could get a word in, Edith started her rant. "You. pompous, heartless, flippant, half-wit blood drinking BASTARD! We could've died! Aspen nearly did!
"Oh please." Silas said, raising a hand dismissively. "If you'd actually died, there would've been no point trying to teach you anything else anyways."
"So this was a test to see if we were worthy of your time?" I asked. Struggling to stay calm myself.
"Exactly, Aspen. A filter, if you will." He answered, grinning.
Edith was having none of it. "You absolute monster! You can't just do tbat to people! Who do you think you are? How little value does a life have to you, if you can even see people as more than tools?!"
Silas' smile dropped. "Aspen, control your fledgeling." He grunted.
"No." I said.
"Fine then. My methods were... unconventional, unethical, even. You must understand though, there is no space for weakness in what is to come. It's no coincidence that the Deep Ones are rising, and the Angels are subjugating more people.
Change is on the horizon, and frankly I can't afford to teach you slowly, as you truly do deserve. Now, I have tried to remain cheerful but in five, maybe ten year's time, you'll understand. I. have. no. time. None of us do." Silas wasn't angry, he wad simply stern. The part he had been playing was all a facade. He was afraid.
"Very well." I said.
Edith folded her arms, face softening a little. She looked at the ground, not saying a word.
Silas regained his cheerful demeanour.
"Well done on surviving. Your final exam will be to return here and slay that Cherub, in six months time, so you'd better get practicing! Now though, we'll return home you two have earned yourselves some rest!"