Belly of the Beast

Lance awoke to find himself in the sour-smelling void. The ground was moist and sank underfoot. Thin layers of viscous fluids covered everything. A pumping beat, a barely audible swoosh.

Lance tried to recall how he got here. He went questing to hunt the giant serpent, Valka. He was swallowed whole, along with the earth he was standing on. He reached for the lantern on his side, yet his hand only passed through the rancid air. It must have fallen off.

He got on his knees to search for it. As soon as his hands made contact with the ground, the fluids immediately began to eat away at his skin, making them tender, sore. He darted around on the floor, launching droplets of syrupy acid with every frantic motion, until he found the lantern. It made a sharp clang that died out as quick as it was made.

He latched his gauntlet onto it and pulled it out of what felt like molasses. He lit what was left of the fuel. A dim orange light spread out across the emptiness, revealing a pulsing, dark red prison. With every beat, it slowly contracted around him. The ground was covered in gastric acid and dirt, making a thick mud with a light cover of acid.

Lance’s sword was gone, possibly eaten by the acid. His armor was nowhere in sight. The walls contracted and came so close that if he stood in the center of the stomach, he could reach out and touch any part of it.

As his shoes fell apart he crumpled into a ball, the walls convulsing rapidly. The roof pressed him down into the acid. He could smell the rotten that had been devoured before, a sulfuric smell of death. The acid was brownish-yellow, with crumbs of stone and bone floating around, ghosts of everything Valka had consumed.

A massive pulse threw him to the floor. His lantern went out. The burning, hungry acid started eating his clothes. And just when the pain became too much to bear, a light appeared in the wall, and a hand reached through, and grabbed his arm.