Consumed darkness (solo)

On shaky legs Stratus pushed himself forward. The climb out of the pit took longer than he expected. His energy was too unstable to sustain flight, so he had resorted to his physical strength to do the job. The fire that had burned in his chest had calmed. The numbness returned. It was quite similar to the cold feeling the slithering shadows had imparted upon him. But this was different, his muscles were stiff and sore. His fingers could barely hold on at times. In the end he used his slime to scale the stony face. Thankfully he had that method available to him. He could only wonder what we would have done to get to the top otherwise. With only a little bit of slime he stuck to the rough walls and pulled his body higher and higher. The strain on his arms and legs was less, but it was still a trying experience. It seemed like an eternity as he made small progress towards the top. Little by little the deep blackness that waited at the bottom grew further and further away. In this time his strength seemed to ebb even more. Like there was a hidden line from him to the darkness feeding him what little strength his body had left. As the distance grew so did his lethargic feeling. Stratus ignored it. He continued his trip promising to stay far away from the damnable place for here on. His numbness grew and his head got lighter. He stopped his ascent long enough to catch his breath. As he took several deep breaths his stomach quivered. The hollow felt the contents of his abdomen churn and then his body shuddered. He had been facing the wall the whole time while he scaled, but now he turned his head sideways as fluids worked their way up and out his mouth. Stratus heaved and the slime shot from his mouth. It was much higher up the pit that he could see the green substance clearly in the low light. A string of the slime hung from his bottom lip, while the rest of it dripped from his shoulder. Despite the bad taste in his mouth, he did feel better. He moved his hand away from the wall long enough to touch the residue left on his body. With just a tiny bit of his energy the slime crystallized. For a second he buckled under the added weight, but then the jagged emerald shattered like glass. The weight was lifted as the small shards rained off his body. As he brushed them off he resumed the climb with renewed vigor. The lack of strength had completely faded away. Stratus stopped again, but this time he focused his energies. Slowly he leg go of the wall and hovered in the air. With a push he flew upward. Moments later he was free from the dark confines and was in the lit chamber above the evil pit.

With the horrible ordeal behind him he was happy to be on solid ground once again. And he was even happier to retreat to his small cave. The hollow wasted no time navigating the tunnels. He was true to his word in getting as far as possible from that dark place. His head was clearer than it had been minutes ago. The trek to his cave gave him time to think it over. What was that thing? He remembered the surge of power and the strength it had given him. But with that thought came the horrible memory that had assailed him. The fire, burning. Stratus quickly decided to let the matter drop and continued his trip looking for landmarks rather than seeking it out by auto-pilot. His hands traced the walls as he moved deeper and deeper in the mountain. Finally the familiar glow of the luminous crystals alerted him that he was indeed close to his home. A series of twists later he arrived at the large cave the called his bed. He had harvested many of the crystals to brighten the small area. Sighing he dropped himself to the floor in the far corner. As he hit the ground the clattering sound behind him. He was quick in getting to his feet and spinning around. There was no one behind him. Finally his eyes fell on the crystals upon the floor. It would seem that they had been lodged in the folds of his armor. His drop to the ground had dislodged them. Stratus bent over and picked one of the shards up. Almost instantly he noticed that they gemstone wasn't completely green. The center of the stone had a swirl of black in the middle. Stratus then looked at the other pieces that had fallen off. Not just the first one, all of them were contained the dark swirl in the middle. He moved closer to a light crystal and held the small gem up to the light. As he drew closer the darkness in the emerald shifted. Stratus nearly dropped the stone, as he recoiled. The shadow was still once more. He moved toward the light again and the black spot moved once more. This time he didn't flinch. It was strange indeed. The black shadow within the center seemed to be active when the light hit it. For a the next few minutes Stratus moved the crystal back in forth in front of the light. The shadows danced inside it's green confines. Very quickly the novelty ended and Stratus held the 2 in crystal between his finger tips and crushed it. Normally the crystal could withstand a great amount of force, but for it's size it shattered like an egg shell. Upon it's destruction a black smoke erupted from broken gem. The smoke moved like a snake and zipped right at Stratus. Before he could react the vapor went up his nose and into his mouth. He tried to spit it out, but it was too late. Stratus sat there coughing trying to get it out of him. Frantic he realized that it was probably a piece of what had gotten him in the pit. Silently he waited for the flash of painful memory to assault him. No memories came, but instead came a rush of energy. Power flooded his body and he felt the weariness faded. It paled in comparison to the energy he had felt in the bottom of the hole. Still is was enough to be noticeable. On the ground were several other of these crystals. He picked up another one and crushed it. The smoke rushed up his nose again, but he didn't recoil. He waited, but there was no rush of strength. After he tried another one he still didn't feel any more power added to his own.
"Damn." he said as he dusted the last fragments from his fingers. Stratus grabbed the remaining shards in his palm and tossed them up and down as he thought it over. Somehow the black smoke boosted his power, but it didn't accumulate. Now he was curious how long it would last. He got his answer several minutes later as the strength ebbed from his body once again. It was like a balloon being popped as the spiritual energy just escaped from him like air. With it's departure he also felt his arms and legs go weak. "Guess that explains why I was so tired when I tried to climb." he muttered to himself. Although weak, he still grinned with excitement. Holding the crystals in his hand he covered it slime and affixed it beneath his armor. He dug a hole and buried the rest.