“What just happened?” Iatre asked as he pulled himself out of something pink and gooey, a cross between clay and chewing gum. “One minute we’re trying to stop Death from getting bad and the next we’re… here?”
“Clearly something didn’t fucking work!” Arkay growled, peeling pink stuff off his skin, before realising that the whole sensation was actually somewhat stress-relieving. “I think maybe we need to use that machine again or something. Once we get out of here, of course.”
Continuity sighed. “That will be difficult. It’s hard enough getting Death to accept it in the first place…”
“That is probably why it didn’t work, because we drugged her!” Syklos snapped. “That normally works first time… Hang on…” Syklos paused and stared at the other three Veth. “Where’s Istoria?”
With a shrug, Continuity decided to pull himself free and shake off the excess goo. “Maybe Death is just pissed at us four. After all, all Istoria does is record things. But that goes to show just how insane Death is right now, that she’s harming Istoria, who is almost always innocent.”
“Almost always…” Arkay was growling again. “She helped us when we tried to fix Death. She’s as fucked as we are. Probably just in a different way. Oral fucking rather than vanilla fucking.”
Syklos wanted to nod in agreement, but noticed something was off. “Um, Arkay?”
“Yes?”
“Your voice changed.”
Arkay shrugged. “Sorry ‘bout that.”
Syklos backed away slowly, then sat down between Iatre and Continuity, sighing and tutting. “What’s up with him?”
“Arkay clearly has multiple personalities!” Iatre smiled. “A pretty common thing if one’s being tortured and is repressing a lot of negative memories. Considering how awful things have been for Arkay, I’m sure he’s gone and subconsciously created a bunch of personalities to cover up his pain.”
“Ooooor!” Arkay butted in. “Or maybe Death has fucked with me so much that I can’t help but have all these different parts of me! Anyway, enough of this, we need to talk about how fucked we are right now. Death’s pissed off at us and has sent us away and is now doing goodness knows what, and we don’t even know if we managed to fix her or not! And what was up with that gem that was lodged between Death’s tits?”
Continuity didn’t really know. He knew of the device, but he hadn’t been the one to directly use it. He considered what had happened to all be his fault, and he didn’t want to admit it.
“What actually happened?” Iatre asked, interrupting Arkay’s rambling.
“I don’t know…” Continuity hesitated in his answer. “Could have been… anything…”
Suddenly, Syklos burst out in shock, bouncing around like a lunatic.
“I KNOW WHERE WE ARE!”
Everyone looked at Syklos. He seemed to be panicking, jumping around like a fool, as if he had suddenly completely and utterly lost his cool.
“I KNOW WHERE WE ARE!”
“Where are we?” Continuity asked.
“I KNOW WHERE WE ARE!”
“Yes, you said that, you stupid twat!” Arkay sneered. “You going to tell us or have you gone as crazy as me?”
“I KNOW WHERE WE ARE!”
Iatre blinked. “I think he has.”
Continuity tutted, then slapped Syklos across the face. When he repeated himself, Continuity slapped him a second time, which seemed to do the trick. Syklos seemed to snap out of his panic, realising he had indeed lost it briefly.
“I’m sorry…” Syklos sighed as he sat back down. “It’s just… I know where we are… This place… There was a story Death used to tell us. About how she created the prototypes for the Veth. Monstrous, almost liquid beings that took many hideous forms… She did this in a strange, hidden place she called the Othic… And the prototypes were never destroyed…”
“You mean a womb?” Arkay rolled his eyes. “Great, we’re trapped in a stupid womb full of unborn monsters. I’m pretty certain I once played a video game like this.”
“You mean the Binding of I-”
Continuity slapped everyone, stopping Iatre from finishing his sentence. “We all need to shut up and stay quiet then. And find a way out of here.”
Iatre scratched his head, then made a suggestion. “We should go south then.”
“Why?”
“Because vaginas always point south!” Iatre grinned.
Continuity slapped Iatre again, then started walking north. The other Veth giggled, then got up and followed.