Magnus could only look on in horror as the girl was swept towards the gaping maw. Yet he couldn't bring himself to try saving her from certain death, his battered body could barely support him.
'I'm sorr-'
With another low rumble sound, the ground underneath his feet tilted, and the flow of sand accelerated. Falling on the floor, he saw that the Sand Kraken was closing his mouth, pushing everything into the hole leading into its stomach.
As he kept sliding, he desperately kept trying to get hold of any tooth, to stop his descent. Time after time, he failed as his hands or legs slipped, and whenever he succeeded the sand overwhelmed him and pushed him further.
Soon, he was next to the unconscious Charlotte, who didn't sink as fast due to being much lighter.
Unconsciously, Magnus tried to grab a hold of her. He could barely make out her features, yet the new scars criss crossing over her previous ones caused his heart to ache.
'Poor thing.' he thought, his eyes unfocused, 'At least we'll have each other's company into the afterlife.'
The sand carried him downward, funneled through a narrowing tunnel- like a giant throat, a digestive tract designed to swallow everything whole.
More rumbling came from bellow, as the mouth had almost completely closed, engulfing them in darkness. More sand rained on them as the floor had turned into a cliff, and Magnus took the brunt of the collisions with the teeth.
Yet there still was no pain.
'Maybe I'm already dead again, so that's why there's no pain haha!'
A sudden sense of weightlessness overcame him. The feeling didn't last long as he started falling into the depths of the Kraken.
No matter what, free-falling into an endless black abyss took its toll on anyone's psyche, and Magnus was no exception. Try as he might, he couldn't find anything to hold onto - to grab onto to slow their fall.
That's when Charlotte groaned and, with a pained scream, tried pushing away from Magnus. Struggling to hold onto her, they both crashed into a slimy wall.
Another pained grunt escaped Charlotte as she fainted once more.
"Hold on tight!" he clawed at the wall, trying to latch onto it. Sparks flashed, and he knew he couldn't even scratch the Kraken's insides.
'Damn it!'
Another low rumble rang out, and to Magnus surprise the wall started reclining back. Exerting the last bits of his strength, he used his hand to slow his descent, and with him being pinned on top of Charlotte she also slowed down.
'Please! Stop already!' he begged, prayed that he could stop the fall.
Only to once more enter free fall, as they slid over an edge of sorts.
'Ah...' he blanked momentarily, before he once more became angry. 'Fucking hell...' yet even being angry seemed to be out of his reach, as he was simply...
'Tired.'
'I'm done. I'm fucking done, I don't care. I'm tired. I don't care what happens anymore, I just want to re...'
Still wanting to cuss, a blue light shone on his closed eyes, interrupting his tirade. Opening his eyes, a breathtaking sight unfolded before him.
A vast, glowing sea stretched out under him, colorful blue lights flickering on it. Translucent towers jutted out from it, swaying gently as if blown by the wind. Occasionally, bridges of energy darted between them, forming an ever changing web of light.
For the briefest of moments, he forgot he was falling.
Then reality hit him, sending chills down his spine.
Twisting mid air, he saw the ever expanding blue sea approaching to meet him. As his survival instincts kicked in once more, his mind had a moment of clarity.
'The towers! If I can break my fall with em, I'll live-'
Desperately, he kept changing directions mid air, aiming for the largest tower he saw nearby.
'I hope this works-' he thought as he saw the tower become larger in his vision. From his estimate it was over 100 meters tall and tens of meters thick.
'Ah no, even if it's soft i need to break the fall first!'
Changing his course last second, his one remaining hand dug into the blue tower, ripping into it like it was paper. Blue liquid covered Magnus and Charlotte, preventing him from seeing anything.
As his tired arm kept cutting through the soft flesh, their momentum slowed down. It didn't fully stop however, and his hand kept slowly cutting through it.
With a gentle thud, Magnus planted his feet on the fleshy ground, before collapsing to the ground, panting.
Glancing at the blue liquid, he didn't want to dwell on what it was. 'At least, it's not stomach acid. Or poison to kill off anything still alive. But still, what the hell is this blue shit?'
A shudder ran through the ground, like the slow movement of-- 'a Stomach?'
Charlotte let out a weak gasp, and Magnus instinctively loosened his grip . Gently leaning her against the structure, he started surveying the surroundings while sitting.
The first thing he noticed was the endless blue lights swirling everywhere, accompanied by a faint smell in the air. If he had to describe it, the closest thing it would be was the sea. Other than those, there were half digested remnants lying about, some of siege weapons, some human and some beast.
The blue liquid on his face did not make it easier, as it dried up and remained as a sticky coating clinging tightly to his skin.
Only then did he recall another detail he heard. 'The Kraken's insides are a pocket dimension, being large enough to fit entire cities inside. Many times across the millennia it was spotted spitting out junk tens of times it's volume, creating spots for scavengers to hunt for treasure.'
A sudden glimmer of hope lit up in Magnus.' If I can find anything useful I might make it out alive.'
He tried rising up, only to fall back down to the ground. His legs refused to obey him, and he was suddenly overcome with a feeling of sleepiness.
'Ah... It was... Poison...'