A round dirt corridor, dimly lit by refracted taupe skylight shining through irregular holes. On the walls were scrawled rites and symbols , and on one side embedded in the tunnel was a thick bundle of silvery luminescent fibers, running the whole length. A wide and heavy footstep, sinking into the dirt. It belonged to a humanoid figure. Inches thick, mustard seed yellow dull metal plates forming a perfect seal, seemingly more than just one of men could carry. Its form was of such volume that the wearer could scarcely move, and all but the most skilled would have to abandon grace altogether. They walked forward, slowly yet consistently, each step creating a bouncing echo.

Further down, a creature squatted, hunched over and supporting itself with one arm. Neither entirely insectoid nor mammalian, fused chitinous plates covered its lean body like a suit of armor. It was humanoid only by anatomical coincidence, the physiology and bodily operations however were more of an enigma. With intentful zeal, it read the markings on the wall. The repeated thudding that drew closer did not dissuade it. Only once it was seemingly done did it look to see the thing to their left. A towering figure in angular armor that took up nearly the entire tunnel. The head piece was protected from the back by the bulk of the armor and a large collar. From the front protruded a long and narrow curved horn. The eyes of the head piece were too thin to see inside of.

The creature leapt back, eliciting a screech of surprise. It pulled from a bodily recess a sculpture of black bone, and pointed it at them, chittering something. Without hesitation, the armor-clad one picked up the creature, which now felt much smaller, by the head. It flailed and clawed at the hand but achieved nothing. The armor-clad one brought their fist to a close, crushing the creature's head as clear yellow fluid and brown sinew squeezed through the fingers. They let its body drop to the ground. It flailed and eventually righted itself on its front. It slowly crawled and fumbled up the hall, attempting to go beside the armored one. The body was picked up once again, this time by the arm, and turned around. Their hand reached to the middle of the corpse's back, and with force reached into it, tearing out a gray, fleshy mass covered in clear yellow fluid. Once again it was dropped, and though it twitched, no meaningful movement occurred.

In a large but squat, domed, and cylindrical room, luminescent white fluid dripped from the peak of the ceiling into a pool two feet in diameter, which led into a thin river. The room had three archways leading to other rooms, and one small window, which let in dry, cool air inside. The floor was a polished mosaic with intricate patterns so complex, it initially appeared random. The walls were made of a warm-colored stucco, and from the ceiling hung bulbs of some swirling viscous orange liquid. A lithe bipedal creature entered to the right of the window. It changed from walking on all four limbs to only two in an upright position as soon as its foot touched the tile. It was noticeably taller than the previous creatures, and from its back hung a thin red-colored membrane that fell down to its leg joints. It looked around momentarily, scanning the room with compound eyes before quickly noticing another being in the opposite of the room. It stepped over the white river and stopped in front of it. The creature in front of them was much larger, and had an ornateness none others possessed. It had numerous semi-regular protrusions on its head, which formed a kind of ring. They bowed on all fours to the taller one. A part of their exoskeletons - above their eyes but not at the peak of the head - pulled back, revealing gray tissue cloaked beneath a yellow filament, and a luminescent white material respectively.

"Vifcuixtrve III." The larger organism said, not moving its mouth.

"There is something in the Paclis Basin. It has already killed a hundred. Please give me your guidance. I am sorrowful I did not arrive sooner." Vifcuixtrve III said. It gave them the thoughts it had received, which were now somewhat clouded by thought and recollection.

"You are only one cell. I will consult the reliquans." The larger one said. It stood and pondered. Then, it turned and began to walk to the archway left of the main entrance.

Sitting up slightly, Vifcuixtrve looked and asked. "May... may I follow?"

Stopping momentarily, they said, "Yes, come."

They excitedly followed, briefly running with four limbs before switching to two.

This new room was a long hall, with thick pointed arches of dull polished stone supporting the ceiling. In the center of the floor, running the length, was a bundle of glowing fibers, which seemed to integrate with the mosaic. On the left wall, spaced in between the arches, were similarly-sized windows that let in a burnt yellow light, which shone onto the opposite wall. A foot from the right wall were a series of evenly spaced, wide chest-high columns. On most of them sat either nothing or small pieces made of a neutral-gray solid. On a few sat larger pieces that seemed to be an incomplete part of a larger shape. Far down the hall, on top of a column was a white, organically-shaped structure, obviously incomplete or broken. Six spaces from the entrance sat a complete structure. It was vaguely ovoid and symmetrical with many indentations and protrusions, and it was comprised of several separate pieces. Included in the structure were two curves to the side and a horseshoe-shape underneath.

"Khunefertrxitn XXVI." It said to the larger creature.

"Khunefertrxitn XXII." They said to it. Vifcuixtrve III watched fearfully from near the doorway.

"It pleases me to talk with you again. Why have you come?" Khunefertrxitn XXII asked.

"I've come in a time of need and confusion. My assistant has given me a most disturbing message. There is something going through the Paclis Basin killing us, and so far it can not be hurt. I ask for your wisdom." Khunefertrxitn XXVI said.

"This thing... does it have an enlarged exoskeleton, and murder without mercy?" XXII asked.

"Y- yes it does, how did you know?" Khunefertrxitn asked to the skull.

XXII chittered breathily. "Ahah. The Armor-Clad One."

"Yes, that is what we have been calling it."

It sighed. "You cannot stop him. At best, he can be slowed. He will murder everyone, and then you, and then me, and we will be extinct."

Khunefertrxitn's mandibles reared back. "What do I do?"

"Send your hordes. This will kill them, of course, but it will give you some time. He is weak to the synapse, so use that. Who knows, you might be lucky enough to slow him down to where he is stopped. That would be nice." XXII said. There was a thoughtful pause. "You would be spending all of your energy and resources slowing him, but it is your only option. "

"How do you know so much about him?" Khunefertrxitn asked.

"I, too, was challenged by him. Before me Khunefertrxitn XVIII fought him, and I'm certain someone before them fought him as well." XXII said.

"You weren't killed at his hands, how did you stop him?"

"I cast him into the deepest pit of Turtur, and evidently Khunefertrxitn XXIV sealed up the hole. If he is back, then that means the seal is broken."

Khunefertrxitn XXVI did not respond, taking in what they had been told. They had to slow their breathing to keep their mind straight.

"He will fashion weapons out of stone finer than his hands, and he will murder even more brutally with those." XXII said.

"Weapons... of stone?" Khunefertrxitn asked. "But no such thing exists. I thought we hit the peak of technology long ago?"

"We did, but this one uses alien technology." XXII said.

"I still don't understand, what do I do?" Khunefertrxitn asked, audibly stressed.

"I have helped you as much as I possibly can. I am a record of history, you must be the one to make more history. You try your best, and if you fail, then our race will die. I am sure you will find a way." the skull said.

They stared at it for several more seconds before bowing and walking away.

The Armor-Clad One stomped through the tunnel. Bodies and pools of yellow blood littered the ground. In front of him, a horde of soldiers. Black bones produced red beams which bounced harmlessly off of the armor. He held a box with holes on the front made of metal. He pressured it, loud bangs erupted. Those in front of him fell. After the last had fallen, he looked above, and saw a long vertical corridor stretching up hundreds of feet. Down from there stretched glowing pearlescent white tendrils. They wrapped around him and he struggled. He seemed momentarily stunned, but then began to tear them apart and fight them off. The tendrils let him drop. The ground below him collapsed. He fell down hundreds more feet, to a lower level of tunnels. He stood up and looked back up, at all the progress more he need make. He was not stopped, merely slowed

More info about this piece

This was written on the 29th of November, 2018

This entire piece came to me in a dream.

It all came to me in a single second, when I dozed off in my freshman year Architecture Theory lecture.

I wrote this during a time when I had been reading a lot of H.P. Lovecraft. You can probably tell in how purple this prose is.

Mustria awaits long ago...