1030 Revelation Three long beams of white light emerged from the chestpiece of the Explorers, and with it, they began to peer around the gloom. The eyes of the Explorers closely followed the path of their light, and their demeanor went grim when they noticed that the grounds were mostly empty, it was the first male Explorer who saw the cause and he shakenly pointed his hands towards it, "Wha….what is that?" The two others saw his reaction and pointed their light beam towards the source and they all went pale with fear, staggering backward and nearly falling off the platform. At this time they were a few hundred feet away from the bottom of the crater since the descent of the platform was never paused and the light revealed something out of a nightmare. From the last census conducted inside the crater, there were 11,347 Shiiks inside the crater, and from what they could see, every single Shiik had compressed themselves into a large ball of flesh that was stacked nearly a thousand feet tall. The sight was ghastly, as the ghastly and decaying faces of the Shiiks were all persons downwards and although their mouths were all opened wide, no single sound was escaping from them. The panic of the Explorers soon diminished when they discovered that although the eyes of the Shiiks reacted when the light passed over them, they did not move from their weird position. They were Explorers and their mental resilience was greater than the average mortal, and soon they could look at the pile of monsters with a clear eye. "What is happening with these monsters? Have you ever seen anything like this or is there any record that shows the Shiiks behaving in this manner?" one of the male Explorers whispered, This question was directed towards the female Explorer who had shown competence in the area of research, "I have never come across anything like this," she shrugged, also replying in a whisper, "I have read about the evolution of the Shiik to the Heroic Rank, but it is nothing like this. How could they compress themselves in this manner? Surely hundreds of Shiiks below would be crushed to death." "I don't think they are worried about that," the male explorer who had been firmly against their descent into the crater moved back a bit, "We have seen what is happening here and we cannot understand it, we should leave and bring this information to the relevant authorities." "You are right. We don't know how long they will stay this way. We have the recordings, begin the ascent." The female Explorer sighed and began the procedure for the ascent of the platform. "did you notice that there are very few vitality-infused remains?" "I don't care if there are a lot of these remains, there are strange things going on in this place that we have no business dealing with. I suggest we…." An absolutely unearthly shriek the likes that none of the Explorers could have ever imagined emerged from within the mound of Shiilks that seemed to freeze time itself. The sound blasted past the Explorer and traveled up the crater and it was as if the heavens above were angered or saddened by this cry for a massive thundercloud filled with red lightning began to descend the crater. This sight of the approaching thunderstorm and the previous sound stunned the three Explorers and only the jolt from the platform as it began to ascend shook them away from their shock for a while, and they pointed their light beams to the pile of Shiiks, and for a moment it was as if nothing had changed but then the mounds of bodies began to vibrate as a massive swirl appeared in the center of the pile. Another shriek resounded and the Explorers screamed alongside it because it was now louder, reaching such an extent that their eardrums had exploded. This staggered the three Explorers and one of them that was closer to the edge stumbled and fell off the ascending platforms, it took the other two a while to notice what was wrong and before they turned around to find the missing person, the platform was nearly a thousand feet in the air, and its speed of ascension was beginning to increase. The Explorer that fell off was one of the men, and the two remaining rushed towards the edge to find out if they could save him. A fall from this height would not kill a Heroic Ranked Explorer and they looked below and saw a strange sight. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞 The fallen Explorer was beginning to rise. In the darkness below they might not have seen him, but from the light beaming out from his suit, they could easily track his ascent. They both watched in stunned silence as the Explorer rose up to their level and continued rising. No Heroic Ranked Explorer was able to fly, and this one was no different, the reason he was rising into the air was simple, he was being carried by a single massive claw whose size staggered their imagination. The claw was nearly a hundred feet long and it glowed with a red light as if it was made from smoldering ember. The tip of this massive claw must have caught the Explorer in the back as he fell, nearly splitting him in two and bringing him back to the platform. The ascending platform impacted against the edge of the massive claw and it was nearly sliced apart before it got stuck. Everything they were witnessing was so surreal, that they equally both thought that they were having a nightmare. The body of the Explorer hanging on the tip of the claw seemed to combust and collapse into ashes. It was unknown when the two Explorers began to hug themselves, and suddenly everything went silent as a shadow covered them. They looked at each other and drawing a bit of resolve from each other's eyes, they turned around and they fell into madness. Behind them was the massive face of a woman, as big as a hill with long flowing red hair and closed eyes. What the head of this woman was connected to was a Shiik that was larger than a mountain. Short Chapter. I have stopped self-medication and going to the hospital tomorrow, cos my symptoms are not reducing. Chapters may be delayed, but I will write if I can. Cheers guys.