At first, I tiptoed carefully, trying to be quiet and quick at the same time. Then I remembered I could rotting fly and just minimized my weight before pushing myself gently upward. I fit myself into a nook on the ceiling just in the time, and an older cultist moved below, oblivious to my presence.
With a tiny push, I floated forward just enough to see the robed woman enter my family’s old library. She did something in one of the bookcases, and then pulled another section of bookcase out before vanishing inside. The hidden door closed behind her.
I couldn’t remember any hidden doors in this house, so this new development was surprising to say the least. My Vibration-enhanced hearing tracked small movements upstairs as I carefully floated around the ceiling, trying to make sense of what I’d seen. My memories helped. I would have missed it if I hadn’t lived in this house before, the fact that a door to the sitting room closet didn’t exist anymore. Instead, a blank wall stared back at me, and I realized that the room had been next to the library.
With part of the mystery solved, I moved to the library, dread and urgency both making my blood pound in my ears. I would never have just stumbled upon the switch if I hadn’t been looking for it, but since I’d watched the cultist open the door earlier, it only took me a few minutes before I got it open too.
Behind the bookcase, the room beyond had been turned into the top of a large, winding set of stairs. The room was lit by an expensive magical lamp, and now that the door was open, I heard something down below, something terrible.
My time was almost up, and I had to make a decision. If it were only my life I was gambling with, I wouldn’t have even hesitated, but that was not the case. It took me a few seconds of indecision before I finally squared my shoulders, preparing to move.
The Serpents were not weak, Bittertown was their home, and they were prepared to die. Every single one of them would choose to continue onward if they’d just seen the secret room and the stairs that I’d found. Knowing this, I had to respect it, even if I was not absolutely sure yet about this location.
Just like the Serpents, I had to listen to my gut, and my gut was telling me the same thing as my ears were—something bad was happening.
I tightened my grip on Eneus and began floating up to the stairs to the second floor to find the upstairs guards. After a quick search, I confirmed two of them, and one was asleep on a bed. Since I was still not touching the ground as I moved, the conscious guard had no way of knowing I was there before I’d mostly decapitated her with Eneus.
With a steady hand, I caught the guard’s armor and lowered her body to the ground so she wouldn’t make too much noise. Then I approached the sleeping woman and cut through both lungs, and impaled the heart while she was still trying to scream.
It was messy and awful. Murder usually was.
My heart was cold as ice as I continued my business, making sure the first upstairs guard was dead before I moved back downstairs. I wasn’t sure what to do about the guards at the front door—if they were missing, it would cause any new cultist visitor alarm. Fuck it, I thought. The time for sneaking around was almost over anyway.
I walked outside with my armed crossbow in one hand, and Eneus in the other. My spear’s blade took one guard’s life as I rested the front of my crossbow against the other cultist’s head and pulled the trigger. Then I grabbed the red signal ball from my belt pouch. I put the wick between my thumb and forefinger, concentrating to use a huge pulse of Vibration to light it on fire.
Too bad I can’t do anything like this as an attack, I thought. I threw the smouldering smoke bomb hard, and it hit where I’d been aiming: the distant beach.
If I were adhering to the plan, I would go back to the boats now and storm the area with the Serpents, but the stairwell I’d seen in the hidden room called to me.
My allies were only a few minutes away now, so I decided to scout ahead. With a piece of chalk, I took a chance and drew a line from the front door to the creepy stairwell. Then after giving the dark stairwell a sidelong look, I hopped up before stepping to the middle, over the rail, and let myself fall down, quickly descending into the darkness.
As the noise I’d heard earlier grew louder, my heart chilled as I realized I’d been right about what it was. Creator, I’d hoped I was wrong. I heard screams.
Chains
The winding stairs led down to rock hallway that maintained a downward slope. Instead of normal-sized magelights or torches, the tunnel had small, fingernail-sized lights that gave off some light, but not much. I wondered if the place was an old dungeon.
Strange, I thought. I activated all my senses, using Vibration and Element: Air power to “see” the tunnel around me. Because I’d done this, I noticed the large, oddly shaped lump on one side. My instincts were buzzing, so I cautiously moved to the other side before I’d gotten near. When the mass suddenly uncurled into an angry, snapping demon, I didn’t even have time to feel surprise before Eneus swung up in point-forward guard, my hard-earned experience moving my body before my brain could react.
I braced for impact, but it never came. My eyes narrowed as I realized what was happening. The true-demon, a nightmarish mix of cat, bug, and lizard, was chained to the opposite wall. It strained against its restraint, trying to gnaw my face off. There was barely two feet between the creature’s chomping mouth and Eneus’ point.
When I turned, I saw that this creature was one of many. The tunnel widened ahead and I could see other lumpy bundles in various places, obviously other true-demons. This had to be some sort of crude first line of defense. Anyone who didn’t know the correct path to take in the dark would either have to fight or become food for hell monsters. Dead intruders would be taken care of, and fighting would attract attention from the defenders. The system was brutal, but made sense.
I briefly wondered why the cultists hadn’t used creatures that made more noise, but couldn’t come up with an answer. Maybe one day I’d know more about true-demons, but I hoped not. With a quick flex of Vibration power and a few well-placed cuts from Eneus, the true-demon was in twitching parts. I dipped the tip of my impromptu sword in the creature’s noxious blood and wrote, “More- Careful” on the floor. I wasn’t sure if the Serpents would see it when they got down here, but if not, the dead true-demon on the ground would have to be enough of a clue.
With a nod to myself, I extended my senses as far as they would go and gently lifted myself off the ground with Flight. The tunnel not only widened ahead, it also got taller, which was great for me. I flew forward, hugging the rocky ceiling, and only one tethered true-demon broke its camouflage to leap up. It didn’t come close enough to be a real threat, and I could hear it grinding its teeth behind me as I continued on. The cultists’ base hadn’t smelled good from the start, but the odor grew worse as I continued. I was able to persevere. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I spared a brief smile, congratulating myself for toughing out the stink, but what I saw next wiped the expression off my face.
The tunnel split, a new path to the side, and the entire area had been turned into a prison. Cages made of brass bars and thick wood lined both walls of the new tunnel. People filled the cages.
I’d found the source of the screaming I thought I’d heard earlier.
The majority of the prisoners were human, either Terrans or Ludan. There were a few Mo’hali, a handful of Adom, one Areva, and even a single Fideli. The Fideli seemed to be the only one that could see me in the dark; his mirrored eyes shined and he sat up, focusing on me. This Fideli didn’t seem to uphold his people’s intimidating reputation, probably because he was missing an arm and a leg.
Most of the captives were missing at least one limb, or at least fingers. The reason for the screams was obvious when I saw the chopping block with a couple cleavers stuck in it. In my enhanced sight, everything was washed out in a series of black-and-white lines, not regular vision, but I could guess what had happened, especially with how a few prisoners were wrapping crude tourniquets on others.
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Any question about what the true-demons ate had probably just been answered.
I gestured the Fideli man towards me and then floated forward slowly, making my way to the corner of the nearest cage. Letting all these people know I was here right away, especially with any kind of sudden move might make a commotion, and I was still trying to be stealthy.
“You are not with them,” he hissed. I could barely see his fangs as he spoke.
“No. And I can get you all out if everyone stays quiet.”
“Understood.” Without a further word, the Fideli used his remaining arm to brace himself on the bars and other prisoners as he hopped over to another person, a human woman. He whispered something and her head snapped around, squinting at me before she talked to someone else.
News spread fast, somehow even moving across the tunnel to the other cages via projected whispers. I’d never seen anything like it. The horror these people had been through, rather than breaking them, had beaten them like bronze, making them harder.
Sometimes people could really surprise me. Before witnessing what I’d just seen, I would have assumed all these poor souls would be weak and useless now.
The Fideli came back to the corner where I waited. “We are ready.”
“Got it.” I moved to the wall of the cage and studied it. Hitting the lock cleanly would be impossible—it was built into the door and there was no clear gap between the bars I could swing through. I used my vib-blade ability on Eneus, many times stronger than it had been when I’d first become orb-Bonded. After choosing my target, the blade buzzed through the brass with a torturous ringing sound. I winced, but still made the second cut above the first, creating a new doorway.
The bars fell down, making so much noise I shuddered. Meanwhile, it was almost eerie how silent the slaves were staying. They began leaving the first cage I’d opened, and as they got closer, I could smell them. The woman the Fideli had counseled with shuffled up to me and said, “That was probably not how you imagined it would work.”
“Nope,” I whispered back. “Way too much noise.”
She nodded and looked meaningfully the way I’d just come. “Probably don’t want to attract the other monster fink rotting heart hole fuckers down that way, eh?” The casual way the woman cursed and the depth of her venom practically made the air heavy. She grabbed one of the cleavers from the chopping board—that was when I noticed her missing fingers. “Harvesters just took a new batch of food for their pets,” she said, spitting the last word, “down the tunnel that way.” She pointed deeper down the side tunnel. “They should have keys.”
I nodded before I realized she couldn’t see me as well as I could see her. She seemed to spot my gesture, though. Then behind her, one of the prisoners turned on a weak lantern. With the new light, the people around me looked even more ragged. A deep, cold anger started growing in my heart. I said, “I’ll go check. You all stay here. I have some friends on the way, so watch the entrance.”
She shook her head. “The tunnels are treacherous, even if you have a magic torch, and—”
I didn’t bother continuing the conversation, just rose in the air and took off down the side tunnel. With my enhanced vision and Flight, it was easy to move faster than a galloping zebra. The old prisoner had been right, though. On foot, it wouldn’t be fun.
I quickly caught up to a couple of hooded cultists pulling a noisy wagon with oversized wooden wheels. Since I’d been flying near top of the tunnel in the dark and they were walking in a little pool of light cast by their magic torch, they had no idea I was there. The two were talking, and I heard a bit of their conversation.
“This is such a waste of time,” groused the bigger one. “We are letting the Visitors out soon anyway.”
“I can't believe you call them that,” chuckled the smaller of the two, a man. His voice was oily, unpleasant. “The priestesses call them that for the sake of new recruits. We feed these damn things, so you know what they are, and what we are too.” He chuckled.
The other robed figure stumbled while pulling the cart and didn't sound pleased. “You know why I call them that—they aren't from this world and I need to treat the children of Dark Asag with respect. I don't want to end up like poor Plif, getting sucked through the bars. You heard her screams just like I did.”
“Yes, which is why I support cutting off some more food for the pets. I don't want them to be too hungry when we let them out. Better the slaves than us, eh?” He laughed, wheezing, then choking.
I knew nothing about these two enemies so I decided to play it safe. My hand tightened on Eneus in its sword form as I floated closer, patiently stalking them as they continued their gruesome conversation.
When the time was right, I dumped Vibration power into my blade and spun my body as I cut—the powerful attack ruined both their heads, and they dropped immediately. I ignored the blood on their robes and the wagon full of body parts as I searched them for keys. Nothing, I thought, confused. I noticed that one of them seemed to have had an unnaturally heavy, firm body. Maybe that one had been orb-Bonded.
This didn’t surprise me. In the past, ‘Bonded had seemed more rare, but I knew from the last of my service in the Tolstey military that things had changed. After Dolos had put out the bounty on ‘Bonded, there were plenty of bad people running around Ludus with far too much power. Since murderers, thieves, and bounty hunters could more easily find a precious Dolos orb now, why not vicious cultists?
Where the hell are they? I wondered. After grunting one last time in annoyance that I hadn’t found any keys, I snuffled the cultists’ light and stowed it away in case I’d need it later. I dropped a hand to Vistvis and whispered, “Anything?”
I nodded and rose into the air again, moving forward quickly. The way Vistvis’ senses worked still didn’t make sense to me. I hadn’t bothered to tell her that moving so quickly underground like this, I needed my hearing to work normally, the way I subconsciously expected it to—to do otherwise would be dangerous. Flying around in the dark, with strange, magic doublevision was disorienting enough.
My un-enhanced hearing picked up noise ahead about the same time as I saw the glow of light. The tunnel curved as it widened ahead, which was lucky in a way. The closer I approached, the louder and more eerie the noises became. I slowed down and crept forward through the air until I could see ahead.
Pens, cages like the ones the human slaves had been in where I’d come from were now filled with true-demons. The bars were thicker, and there were more of them, but they’d been made the same general way. The overwhelming smell hit me like a rancid weight. The pens had drainage holes like the ones I’d seen before, probably made by an Earth mage. There was a source of water to clean with too—I could only imagine how bad the place would reek without it.
The true-demons seemed to be composed of four types. A few cages held the bat things I’d fought before. There were a handful of the cat creatures I’d seen in the tunnel outside. Then there were humanoid creatures with claws, their faces and heads made up of a nightmarish combination of human and random animal parts. They flitted around their cages constantly, touching the bars with taloned hands, their naked bodies quivering in rage or excitement.
Lastly, a single, large-bodied demon had been secured in its own cage, bronze chains restraining its arms. It moved slowly, but was obviously powerful. I figured the chains were there so it couldn’t escape.
The moment I rounded the corner, some of the true-demons noticed and began hissing, coughing, and barking. The sounds chilled my blood, but I kept my mind clear, thoughts sharp. Instead of pausing to give myself time to process what I was seeing, I zipped through the lighted space ahead, straight for the shack at the end of the tunnel. With all the noise the creatures were making, any guards would probably assume the meat wagon was back, or there was an intruder. Either wa
y, I expected someone to react, and I was right—I reached for the door as it began to open.
The cultist’s eyes opened wide. She had big, dark eyes, and robes splotched with grease and other dark fluids, stretched over her girth. Eneus slammed forward through her heart and her entire body stiffened. I was through the door in a heartbeat. Luckily, there was only one other enemy in the building.
My new opponent was a severe-looking woman and was the first enemy I’d seen in these tunnels that wasn’t wearing cultist robes. Instead, she wore a leather jerkin with bits and pieces of armor attached. Her dark eyes glittered from within a face full of tattoos. She’d already begun reacting, swinging at me with a club. I was impressed, but parried before her weapons could knock my brains out.
My return swing took her arm off, and she impressed me again by immediately drawing a shiv with her other hand, stabbing for my face. She’s fast, I thought. I grabbed her wrist with an iron grip and bashed the end of Eneus into her hand. She didn’t let go of her dagger, just gritted through the pain and struggled against me as she tried to stab my arm with the tip of her weapon.
I was stronger than she was, but I knew better than to be overconfident—my second fight with Jialji had taught me that lesson and I’d never forget. I dropped Eneus, then used both hands to twist, breaking her wrist and disarming her. She screamed.
In the past, I might have just let her fall, but right now I was alone and surrounded by true-demons. This was no time for mistakes. I caught the woman’s shiv as it fell and jammed it into my enemy’s stomach.
She grunted as she fell. I yelled, “Hazard!” as I kicked her in the face with all of my superhuman strength. With a slight spin, she slammed forward into the wall and I heard a crunch. I pivoted, doing one last sweep of the building with my eyes, and checked in with Vistvis to make sure the area was clear of anything other than the true-demons in cages. Once I got confirmation from the ancient woman in my dagger, I let out a breath of relief, then frustration with myself. Not my cleanest fight ever, I thought.
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