THE CIRCLE OF SEVEN - (ADDED 01/09/23)

Riddick's air-starved lungs were the least of his immediate problems. He had little hope of fighting off the savage attackers circling above. So, he held his breath, bided his time and sank into the safety of the depths far below. Darkness was his oldest and closest friend, and it was while cloaked in darkness that he felt safest. Even as a child, he felt at home at night, sitting on the stacks and watching the stars.

As he sank, a hundred hungry, slimy eyes opened and watched his descent with growing interest. The intoxicating red nectar wafting through the column called to the sulfur eels hiding in the porous walls. The wriggling eels slithered from the security of their crevices to investigate the juicy morsel passing through their homes. They could not deny themselves a taste of the ripe nectarine falling from so high above. Few meals ever sank this deep. This one had come down, drawn ever lower by the weight of its own twisted armor.

As precious seconds stretched into perilous minutes. Riddick's heart raced, his lungs longed for life giving air and his limbs longed to kick upward, forcing him to the surface. But he wouldn't let them.

Overhead, the slobbering pack peered down at the growing frenzy far below. The eels swarmed the motionless feast, taking tiny mouthfuls of flesh back to the safety of their holes. And with each nip, each nibble, the red storm clouds rose higher and Riddick became weaker. But he was, if nothing else, in complete control of his mind. Or so he believed.

His mirrored eyes closed and total darkness calmed his racing mind and slowed the sound of a staccato heartbeat to a near stop. He needed time; a safe place to escape the pack. He needed a miracle. So, that is why he did the unthinkable. He prayed.

Shira, he thought, I don't know if you can hear me. I need help. I can't… I can't do it on my own. The admission was like a knife in the chest.

Shira had come to him in times of need. Long ago. While imprisoned in Butcher Bay. It was the first time he had seen her, and even now, years later, he still didn't know if he had imagined her. But he prayed, nonetheless. He prayed because there were no other options. He needed a miracle, and he needed one soon.

Time slowed, stretched out, and stopped. Even so, the eyes behind his eyelids twitched and moved.

A large shadow appeared on the motionless horizon. Something or someone came to see Riddick's last moments.

"Now!" a woman's voice filled his mind, urging him upward and time raced onward, filling him with the feel I g he had blacked out and missed something important. "Get to the surface. Go."

Above the bubbling pool, the impatient pack bolted off in search of a new target that had just darted over the horizon. Besides, the pack could return for floater later. It wasn't going anywhere. It had been down too long.

"He'll never make it to the surface in time." a familiar voice said, and he felt a sudden glut of anger.

Riddick kicked hard, broken leg screaming in pain as the fragmented bones ground beneath the meat of his rotting calf. He popped up, peeking through the surface, resisting the urge to gasp in the air. An uncontrolled coughing fit was the last thing he needed. It would give him away. His bloodshot eyes rolled. Darkness swirled around his head, and a myriad of howls sounded in the near distance. Safety seemed so far away, but he knew survival depended on a speedy retreat. He couldn't survive a battle. He needed to move and move now.

A long mournful howl gave way to the sound of tearing flesh. Something screamed as the blood-thirsty pack tore the helpless creature apart. That's you, he thought, if you don't get your shit together. He rolled out of the water, flopped in the dirt, and a searing wave of pain filled his shattered limbs, bringing with it another urge to scream. He resisted the weakness of flesh in favor of a stealthy retreat. His hands shook, his shattered leg dragged, and he dragged himself upon his knees.

The dogs barked and snarled nearer now. Are they returning? Is my journey at the end? He pushed such thoughts away, looking around hastily, formulating an escape strategy. Parched soil stretched out before him like a shattered pane of broken glass littering the brittle, inhospitable ground. The journey would not be kind and probably not quick.

The roiling pool burbled with orange bubbles, sending up the intoxicating scent of coppery blood. The blood-soaked ground beneath his many injuries wafted into the arid wind, calling to all nearby. Mercifully, the prevailing wind blew away from the pack. He still had a chance.

"Running out of time." he wheezed to himself, reassuring himself Krone and Vaako had defeated him. As he clawed his way forward, his body screamed to give up, but his mind refused. Just a little further, a boy's voice said.

The course ground brought an unimaginable pain with every effort to move. Bones ground together, torn flesh rasped away on the sandpaper soil. But through it all, he dragged himself onward, ignoring the agonizing pain. Riddick's lips faded to a translucent grey, his muscular extremities went numb to the touch and ice water filled his emptying veins. He clawed his way across the unforgiving landscape in search of cover and one more minute of life.

As he rolled onto his back, the unforgiving sun forced his eyes into paper thin slits. His vision narrowed to a pinhole as the remaining moments of his life slipped towards the vale of unconsciousness.

"Riddick!" a familiar voice called out from an outcropping of giant boulders in the near distance. "Over here!" He looked towards the sound of the voice, but couldn't make out who called to him. "Over here," the voice called again, and he knew who it was.

It can't be, he thought, thinking he was hallucinating. He locked eyes with Siberious Vaako. Adrenaline surged. His blood boiled. Vaako stood twenty-five yards away, motioning for him to come at once. He gestured him onward, yelling, "they're coming."

Anger crept through Riddick's limbs, fueling him with the will to go on. He wanted to reach Vaako; he wanted to ring his neck for Krone's treacherous betrayal. Mere moments from death, Riddick scuttled across the ground like a baking crab on hot sand. He felt like a fool and blamed himself for trusting the enemy.

The blue/gray sky overhead baked his cracking skin. Struggling to maintain his waning faculties, confusion worked its will on his fading senses, and everything seemed strangely out of place. Vaako looked different. Gone was the pallid look of near death and the morbid black Necromonger armor. New were clothes that looked ordinary. Almost familiar. He could have been anyone. He could have been his friend or even his brother.

"Oh... fuck you didn't," Riddick raged up at the sky. "I ask for help and you send him."

"Move!" the woman's voice commanded. "Move your ass, now!"

Riddick clawed his way towards Vaako, hands trembling and gasping for breath. Even he couldn't believe he was still moving. The rending elements grated at his drying flesh. He collapsed inches from the edge of the boulder, weak hand still trying to pull him forward as if it had a will of its own. "I'm gonna pull out…" he gasped for air. "your spleen." he screamed, sounding like a punctured windbag. No reply came. Had he imagined him? Perhaps he had never been there. Riddick couldn't be sure. Either way, he was inches from safety and moments from being overrun by the pack.

As the sun lowered on the horizon, Riddick looked back and saw the thinning blood trail leading back to the sulfur pool. A trail of breadcrumbs for the pack to follow. How nice for them.

"Shit," he thought aloud., forcing himself forward until he was on his knees, leaning against the side of the boulder.

The dogs would follow the trail straight to the source and if they reached their goal before he reached his; the fight was over. Forcing himself to his feet, he lost his battle with self-control and screamed. An oozing torrent of tenacious yellow goop squirted from the gaping hole where his femur had punctured meat and skin. The reeking stench of rotting death turned his stomach.

High above, the sun swirled lazily around the boulder, and his dimming vision narrowed. He fell face first against the giant rock, gasping for air and clawing weakly for a handhold. He found none. And even if he had, it was too late. His strength had finally failed him.

But even in defeat, he would not give up. He searched the side of the searing boulder for any handholds. A line of small indentations disappeared over the boulder top edge. Shakily, he inched his hand upward, felt the first of many holes, and jammed a trembling hand in. He pulled up, but nothing happened. He did not move.

The remaining strength in meaty hands and broad shoulders had leaked out with the rest of his blood.

As the first dog came into view, he desperately clung to the rock. The lead dog saw him and took off at a full gallop. It bounded in 10 foot strides. Summoning what little strength he had left, he heaved his heavy frame upwards, tearing the scuffed and blistering flesh from his already weeping hands. A moment later, his strength failed, but as he fell, someone caught him by the wrist. Agony coursed through his crushed hand as someone heaved his 240 pound frame up the side of the boulder.

The dog lunged through the air, slamming into his feet were dragged over the top of the boulder and dropped onto the top of the boulder. For the moment, the pack could not reach him. But they would not give up easily.

"Where are you, dammit?" he called out, standing up and staggering around, scanning the rock's dirty surface for footprints. There were none. No one had been there. Just another goddam hallucination, he thought, narrowly avoiding a ring of seven perfectly spaced shafts cut through the giant boulder's surface. Peering down through one hole, he saw a large chamber beneath him. It was his last chance.

When the rest of the pack reached the rock moments later, they lunged and jumped, trying to scramble up the steep sides. Luckily for him, the rock was too smooth. But the clever pack massed in one spot as Riddick watched the lead dog run back out a hundred yards, only to circle around and run at full speed, preparing to use the pack as a springboard to reach its prey. Fucker's determined, he thought, forcing his feet inside one shaft and disappearing from sight, just as the large dog bounded over the edge. It snapped into the hole as its elusive quarry slid out of sight.

Riddick fell through the manmade shaft carved through the ceiling, trying to right himself before he landed. His efforts went to no avail. He struck a stone pedestal, landing on his back and ejecting a geyser of blood into the air. The pedestal shattered, and he slammed down back first on the floor. The now broken ribs jabbing his lungs made every breath feel as though a vice crushed his chest. Air came in wheezing gasps and as the chamber spun around him, a cloud of dust rose into the eerily cool air.

He forced himself into a seated position near the center of a chamber. He drew in ragged breaths, staring around, and saw a narrow entrance in the stone wall to his left. It let in a stream of dusty yellow light. He had no time to give in to the pain. The opening was small, but a smaller animal could push its way through if it had the mind to do so.

Riddick collapsed. Exhaustion stealing the strength from his rubbery limbs.. He could barely move. Blood filled his mouth and wet his lips. He needed shelter before the pack came in force. He could hear them barking. They sounded like they were already in the chamber.

The chamber was fifty feet round, with a domed ceiling 25 feet high. There were 7 perfectly smooth circular shafts cut through the top of the rock. Runes of unknown origins covered the walls. Brilliant beams of light illuminated a ring of ornate offering pedestals directly below each opening. At the center of the chamber, a large black obelisk carved from a single piece of obsidian stood like a monument to a long dead race. It was ominously out of place, covered with blue, glowing runes. Power prickled from its shining surface. It did not belong in the chamber or on the planet.

The wafting cloud of dust kicked up by his sudden and violent arrival meandered through the laser beams of light, as if the obelisk sat in the eye of a slow-moving cyclone. There was an unseen power source hidden somewhere in the chamber, but Riddick didn't notice. He only had eyes for a place to take refuge. There was a man-sized indentation in the floor beside the obelisk.

Riddick sat in the dirt, watching the gigantic shadows running from hole to hole, trying to get in. He was too weak to fight off any dog lucky enough to find him. He pulled himself up using a nearby pedestal for support and darted towards the center of the room, hoping to find safety.

Balance failed him. He slammed headfirst into the heavy stone monument and let out a blood-curdling scream as the bottom half of his femur reemerged through the side of his calf and the pack heard the scream. Many jumped down and raced around to reach the entrance first.

It was as if a high voltage line had coiled around him. The enormous surge of energy coming off the obelisk seized his wide body and no matter how hard he tried to push himself away, the monument held him fast like a chunk of heavy steel pinned to an electromagnet. The obelisk would not let go and they were coming. Coming for him.

Two small dogs reached the entrance at the same time. Both fought viscously to get in first. They only wedged themselves halfway through the opening, thrashing and snapping at one another, but only wedding themselves deeper. Each desperately wanted the prize inside.

In a last ditch effort, Riddick heaved his full weight backwards with all his might, toppling the heavy black obelisk over backwards in his arms. The top edge slammed the ground. Broke into two pieces and the lower half fell over the indentation, concealing his legs and waist. He summoned the rest of his strength and dragged the smaller half over his upper body. The 2 broken halves protected him from attack.

Overhead, the cloud of swirling dust kicked up by the collapse melted the two dogs in its path and all those remaining outside ran off bawling in pain

The chamber faded to black, time slowed to a stop and the Riddick we know, ceased to be. When Riddick's faculties returned, the pain in his body had subsided, his injuries had healed, and he was as new as the day he was born.

He pushed the smaller half of the obelisk to one side, crawled out from beneath the makeshift refuge, wiping a sticky layer of smelly gii from his glowing eyes. The fact he was neither thirsty nor hungry never entered his mind. His only thoughts were those of catching the enemies who'd wronged him. He had survived the dogs - not without help- but he had no recollection of the prayer that lead him to Asylum and Vaako, or the things spoken of while he was there.

He sat on the broken obelisk, staring at the light flooding in through the entrance and considered the time after his escpe. He would find the answers long denied him. Someone out there had them and so would he.

Noticing a shard of black rock broken off the obelisk, he bent down and picked it up. It was long and thin and razor-sharp. "This will come in handy," he said, heading out to face whatever came next. He didn't notice the half exposed device protruding from the lower half of the obelisk or the sticky syrup filling the trench beneath it. He was happy to be alive, and in one piece.