Emryc was not at all thrilled about being plunged into darkness again. However, this time he had time to mentally prepare and adjust. He began to descend down, his keen hearing already picking up the sloshing around to suggest that the basement was flooded. The half Sephi grimaced at the prospect. He even stopped to take his shoes and socks off, setting them at the corner of a higher level of the staircase. All of his shoes had to be custom made, and he couldn’t afford to have them ruined.
He kept descending down when he felt Jaikus move in and hook his right arm around him. The half Sephi paused momentarily, with Jaikus only being able to make out his faint profile turning to regard him. Without a word, Emryc reached over and pried Jaikus’ arm off. The gesture was hasty and would likely have come off as rude. There was a moment of pause before Emryc stepped around Jaikus to appear on the other side of him, casually placing the Marauder’s left arm around his own right instead.
“I’m left handed,” The half Sephi whispered simply before he kept walking. He could sense Jaikus’ fear almost tangibly through the Force. There was little doubt that trauma from Telos began to spike. If Emryc hadn’t compartmentalized everything, it likely would have impacted him the same way.
A few more steps and they were in complete darkness. Emryc closed his eyes and switched to Force Sight, making out all the individual infected scattered across the entire basement. He spoke telepathically through the Force, his voice echoing within Jaikus’ mind.
“Move only with me.”
With that, he eyed the infected. When they prepared to move, that was the only time Emryc took steps. This lined the splashing from their steps with that of the infected, making it impossible for them to distinguish any new sound. This made the approaching incredibly slow but it avoided drawing attention.
After a few steps, the half Sephi came to a dead stop suddenly. His entire form went stiff as he took in sight of something far ahead and in the corner. It was something more massive than anything he had seen before and its low growls could be heard even from here. The grotesque creature plodded along up ahead, venturing close to the generators. It paused for a moment and began to sniff before being distracted by some other infected splashing around.
Emryc spoke through the Force again.
“There is something big up ahead. We need to lure all the infected away with a noise to get to the generator,” Emryc explained as he looked at the generator, “The generator will be loud and cause a frenzy. We have to be prepared to run.”
With that, Emryc eyed the basement till he noticed a pipe hanging from the ceiling. He coiled the Force around it, yanking with all his might till it came loose and clattered to the ground and water with a lot of noise. The entire room erupted in a frenzy as all the infected rushed towards it. It was then that the massive infected charged as well, its heavy steps causing thunderous tremors throughout the entire floor.
Emryc bolted into a run at the same time, dragging Jaikus with him as he charged towards the generators. The half Sephi almost slipped a few times, the water levels deepening at some points. After a bit of a struggle, he finally made it to the generators, climbing a ladder to get to them. Emryc felt around till he found the chain to pull. He yanked with all his might.
Nothing happened.
The infected were beginning to quickly realize that the pipe was just a pipe. They had fallen over one another to get to it and were slowly peeling themselves off.
@Altaris