by M J Conlon
As Derick entered the room he could see that there was a faint malicious energy that seemed to be slowly pouring out from the basement levels. It was akin to filling a bucket with water and then letting the bucket overflow for an eon. Though in this particular scenario the water would be a dark energy that felt like it could grab ahold of you and change you at the very core. Is this dark energy what caused the change in the lizards? Were they all originally regular lizards that had been warped by the malignant energy that is now flooding this building?
Derick let the thoughts fill his mind as he slowly made his way through the Hitadel, never letting a single portion of his body touch the walls, ceiling, nor floor. Yet as he got closer, he could feel the thoughts and emotions of hundreds of lizard creatures interacting on the floors below. Floors that now seemed to span for miles down below. As he looked, around Derick could see a number of choke points and funnels that could be used to direct an invading force to killing zones. Y
et something seemed off about the structure, then Derick realized the lizard creatures, though easily taller than Derick were not the original inhabitants of this facility, they couldn’t be. The doors and access ways were set too high off the ground and the choke points were designed to be accessed by creatures that could climb vertically a lot easier than the Lizard people. That said, he could see signs that the lizard people while not being the original inhabitants of the facility were able to maintain the location quite well.
Derick saw piles of dung that lead down the main entry and exit ways, while the paths to the killing zones were clear. It took Derick a few seconds to puzzle out that they wanted invaders to be offended by the smells so much that they would go down a side tunnel, thinking that anything would be better than the smell. Derick knew that there must be a smell, as he could see flys and maggots still covering to the piles of dung, some of them still showing signs of residual heat. Fortunately Derick had the flaw cannot smell and was thus immune to the problems that would face most invading forces. Derick also thought that the flock of growing birds that followed him would also have a hard time with the smell. Then a sicker thought hit him or maybe they wouldn’t have a problem with this. That thought caused Derick to shudder involuntarily as he forced his way forward through the long and winding entry way.
Each corner and seemingly every inch of the vast entry was covered with fecal matter. In a sickening discovery much of the walls were also caked in the dried and rotting forms of fecal matter.
Had Derick been alive, he would give up on the Hitadel, figuring that anyone that wanted to live in their own feces could have their victory. Fortunately Derick also didn’t have to breath, given his resurrected state, so he didn’t risk inhaling potential contaminants that flooded the hallway.
Yet as Derick levitated his way across the dung covered entry hallway, a thought came to Derick.
Realizing that he only had a few minutes left on his levitation ability nodded to himself, then charged forward, trying to draw the attention of as many of the Lizard scouts as he could. Mentally scanning Derick struck down a few of the Warriors, but left the Scouts and other Lizard variants able to broadcast his approach. Instantly a faint buzzing sensation could be felt broadcasting out, connecting to all of the minds of the lizard creatures that were in its path, then continuing on to other scouts that then repeated the massive warning. It felt like waves of discord and violence that washed over Derick’s psychic viewing senses. The sensation reminded Derick of when he would throw multiple rocks at the same time into a pool of water near Zapopan. The multiple rippling waves would hit at different speeds and frequencies but ultimately the waves would all cascade outward in a layering effect of energy and motion. Then almost at the speed of thought, the warning was gone, or at least out of his substantial viewing area.
Then almost as quickly as the waves were sent out towards the heart of the Hitadel, Derick could feel the minds of every sentient being in the local area turn away from what they were doing and focus solely on Derick’s direction. Then almost moving as one, he could feel hundreds of legs pounding the floor and beginning to pour out of the bottom floors.
It felt like a red wave of violence and protection was pouring forth from the Hitadel’s center. A wave of angry and protective lizard creatures all wanting to defend their home from a hostile invader.
Shit, Derick thought to himself as he knew he had to wait long enough to gain the full attention of the wave of monsters that were now coming towards him.
Derick waved wildly at the creatures that all continued to charge, many not havng a ture direction other than trying to escape their own fatal funnel. It was now that Derick could see many of the creatures climbing on the walls and ceiling in a way to leave the lower tunnels quickly.
“Hey you, fuck faces!” Derick yelled and waved his hands wildly. Suddenly Derick could feel the attention of the first few lizard creatures that had just been moving out of the way refocused their attention on Derick. They let out a minor version of the mental warning to the others.
In a second the entire front ranks of the wave of enemies corrected their motions and all began heading towards Derick. Derick retreated back to the exit point of the long entry way Derick had just used to enter this first layer of the Hitadel. The gated system reminded him of outer and inner gates of the city in the underworld but on a slightly smaller scale, though in Derick’s defense he didn’t remember the city in the underworld going down to a seemingly endless labyrinth.
Derick waited until the monsters were close enough to start throwing stones at him. Derick ducked in the hallway, turned back and waited for the first monster to enter. As soon as the first monster crossed the threshold of the grand entryway Derick used his psychic assault ability on the creature, dropping the beast in less than a second. Yet the second was costly as the other creatures were already climbing up, over, and in some cases bypassing the body entirely by climbing the walls of the grand entry way. Derick started sprinting. He could feel the creatures getting closer, but they were stopped by the bends and twists of the tunnels.
Derick not wanting to take any chances about not getting out of the tunnel safely came to the first major turn he remembered and cast phase on himself. Instantly he felt his body hit, then flow through the wall of tunnel system. His staff that had been in his hand while running fell to the ground, not wanting to think about what happened to the staff, Derick kept running.
After his last upgrade Derick remembered his timer stating that he had something like 15 seconds of intangibility. Derick used 14 seconds of his intangibility to travel the 30 feet of distance that the first grand turn provided. Derick hoped that his traveling through the rock wall wouldn’t throw off his pursuers. He also hoped that he still had time left on his levitation ability to get all the way through the filthy entry way. The first concern was alleviated when he heard the clicking sounds that the lizards seemed to use for close communications echoing off and around the cavern walls.
“WOOHOO!” Derick yelled, once he became fully tangible. He didn’t know if he could speak while phased or if his words spoken there would only be able to be heard by others who were also phased. Derick made a mental note that he would have to test that out at one point. Maybe I could Phase, then speak to one of my apprentices? Derick thought, before thinking back to the three princesses who had been following him when his portal became unstable. I hope they are okay? Derick felt himself worrying about the three princesses, not so much that he liked them, but that he would feel responsible if anything had happened to them due to his own over confidence. Derick didn’t mind being reckless with his own body and well-being but he was protective of those who were placed in his care.
Derick was so caught up in his own thoughts that he missed the faint warning signs of his body weight returning. One second he was a short 20 yards away from the exit point, the next he was falling, then sliding into a giant pile of lizard shit. Fuck!
Derick quickly jumped up, then began swerving through th
e largest piles of lizard feces before finally exiting the massive hallway. Derick could feel the fecal matter filling his boots, clinging to his ankles and up his legs from under his robe. He could also feel the weight of fecal matter on his robes begin to cling to his legs slowing his forward movement.
Yet, Derick forced his way out of the fatal funnel and then veered slightly to the right, so he was not viewable from the direct center of the tunnel.
Derick could hear the creatures getting closer, their nimble legs used to traveling over and around the piles of dung that littered the grand entryway. Derick knew he couldn’t make it out of the Hitadel, as there was well over 200 feet of vast open flooring before the exit to the Hitadel. Yet, Derick had never planned on leaving the Hitadel, and was thankful that he was able to get into the position that he now found himself in. Covered from head to toe in feces, about to be run down by a horde of lizard creatures that numbered easily in the hundreds of enemies and over 200 feet from the nearest support.
Not that the birds could be much support, but they had proven to have a slight concern for keeping me alive. Maybe they will be able to find my corpse once this is over. Derick thought to himself as he turned back to the entry way and let a giant sadistic smile fill his face as he began to imagine what was to come next.
Chapter 17
Derick sat and waited, looking at a spot that was 10 feet past the entry way. Once he felt the first line of his pursuers were within 10 feet of the spot that he was watching, Derick created a fire using his pyrokenesis. He created a fire that was stronger and more intense than any of the fires he had used to practice with. Within seconds Derick see the flies and maggots that littered the halls either get up to look at the new source of light, or get sucked into the flames that were consuming the feces that lined the hallway. In less than a second the first wave of lizard creatures hit the flames and then darted through the flames, all to be pushed back by telekinetic blasts of energy from Derick.
Of the initial five lizard creatures that made it through the flames, all five were grabbed and hurled backwards, blocking the hallway and creating a bottle neck that allowed the flames to continue to consume not only them but the others that were temporarily stuck. Waves of panic and pain flooded through the monsters as their cries of pain were met with cries of encouragement to move on. Yet, each time a new lizard passed forward beyond the line growing inferno, they were hurled backwards.
Derick could feel the pain of the monsters whose bodies were now littering the floors, before their bodies were used as fuel for the ever growing inferno that began spreading out on its own. Given the extra 10 feet of space that Derick had alloted for himself, he could see a few determined lizards still pushing their way forward through the burning tunnel. In seconds black billowing smoke clouds filled the grand entry way and started pouring out to fill the room that Derick was in. Derick knew that if he had to breath in, his lungs would be saturated with toxic chemicals and sulfur all vying to fill up his lungs and squeeze the oxygen out of him. It was at this point that Derick thought how does the system justify my not breathing? Is this their equivalent to my wearing a space suit and therefore I would be immune to breathing the atmosphere of any planet that I visited?
Derick let the thought roll around in his head, as he continued to push back lizards that made it too close to the edge of the flames. Eventually Derick found himself scooting back, as his initial point that he targeted was now covered in flames and filling quickly with burning bodies. Derick could feel the waves of enemies still piling into the long snaking tunnel. He could feel their brains go through the stages of kill, followed by fear, followed by pain, then agony, and finally death. If Derick had a bit more empathy, he might feel bad about this act, but he couldn’t. In fact Derick knew that the path back to Triton was at the end of this Hitadel. He could feel the faint trickles of lay lines converging deep down below, lay lines that would allow him to draw upon enough energy to travel between the planets.
Derick felt no less than six major lay lines converging under this planet. Somehow he knew that five lay lines would be more than enough energy to get back to Triton or any of the other known planets. So where could I go with a sixth lay line? Derick thought to himself as thick black smoke continued to billow out, as dead lizard bodies and dried up fecal matter all began to serve as fuel for the fie. Finally after a time, Derick felt his mind beginning to spin wildly. He stopped focusing on maintaining the flames, stopped worrying about pushing the lizards back, as the last lizard that made it close to him had been nearly a minute ago. Now the monsters were turning in the tunnels, only to be cut off by the throngs of their brethren that were piling forward causing at first a jamming of bodies, that were soon consumed by flames.
Derick seeing that he was momentarily safe, sat down and began meditating. He monitored the movements of the monsters until the last of the little red dots blinked out of his 500 foot radius. Derick looked to see that the flames were still burning just as brightly as ever, though their size and magnitude had dropped considerably. Finally after making sure that everything was safe, Derick ran back to the wall near the entry way. The wall that separated him from the flock of birds and he rested.
Derick awoke to hear a “cawing” sound, and what felt like mental fingers poking at his mind. In a second Derick went from passed out, to kill everything that moves mode. He mentally reached out, only to feel the comforting mental pulses of the five birds. The flock were chewing a few bodies that had apparently gotten out of the flames, before dying of smoke inhalation.
Derick got up, nodded to the lead bird. I need to come up with a name for you, Derick thought to himself, but directed the thought towards the bird.
“I already have a name.” The bird replied back in Derick’s mind.
“What?” Derick asked out loud.
“I already have a name, my name is Anath.” The Lead bird replied mentally to Derick again.
“How are you speaking to me?” Derick again asked out loud.
“I have judged your character and have decided to make you my companion.” Anath replied in Derick’s mind once more.
Just as Derick was about to ask about what she meant by companion, he felt a resurgence in the number of bodies that were trying to come through the tunnels that were once again clearing of flame and smoke. Derick stood up, wanting to rest his body weight on his staff, all to remember that it had fallen from his hands when he Phased through the wall. Not wanting to get distracted, Derick merely waited until the creatures got to within ten feet of his line that he chose to protect. Once the horde of monsters reached the 10 foot line, Derick once again began creating an inferno of flames. This time he had the flames jump out and grab onto the legs of the lizard creatures, not trying to kill the monsters instantly, but rather making it so they were slowed in their advancement.
Once again the bodies of his enemies started piling up. The monsters that forced their way through the pain, were pushed backwards by telekinetic waves of force. Derick wasn’t able to keep pushing the monsters back as hard or as often as he originally had, but he didn’t need to this time. This time as a few of the lizards began to break containment, he saw the flock of birds begin to sing a slow song. Derick could feel waves of drowsiness and exhaustion wash over him for a second, before he mentally shook off the effect of the songs that the birds were singing. Derick watched as the lizards with their ten appendages of death all began to fall harmlessly to the ground, creating a pile that served as both fuel for the fire, and a barricade for the other monsters that were once again being consumed by the flames.
Derick smiled, trying to come up with ways that he could deploy the birds that would optimize his attack patterns. As he began to think that Anath turned to him and began to sing her own song that instantly began filling Derick with energy and vitality. In his Army days, Derick would have referred to this renewal of energy as his second wind, though it was a far greater feeling that he had ever felt while being invaded or holding the line
from an enemy force. Here and now Derick felt like he could take on the entire legion of monsters that were coming all by himself.
“Careful now. You don’t want to overdo it.” Anath warned mentally.
I know, it’s just that this feels great. Derick said, moving his arms, which caused crusting fecal matter to crumble off of his arms and parts of his robes in a second. Blah, remind me to take a bath.
“Don’t worry, you will be warned multiple times.” Anath replied.
It took Derick a second to realize that the bird, no Anath, had replied to me mentally?
“Yes, as you can hear my thoughts I can hear yours. Now focus on the battle at hand.” She thought focus like it was a curse word used to direct a stubborn private to get into position.
Aye, aye Captain.
Anath just sighed mentally then continued to sing her song of trial and redemption. While the other birds focused their attention at the would be attackers, causing the monsters that made it through the flames that Derick was still controlling and directing to fall to the ground. Minutes felt like seconds, hours felt like minutes, but eventually the flood of bodies stopped and finally Derick felt that he could once again let the fires die out. A mental sigh of relief filled Derick, as his mind still felt like he could focus for hours, though he knew most of that was due to Anath. A quick inspection of the bird showed that she was nearing her end. Then Derick looked over the other birds who were still singing at enemies that were no longer advancing.
“Pull back!” Derick yelled. Once he gained the attention of the five birds, Derick pointed at the far wall that had brown stains on it from where Derick had slouched against it earlier. The birds looked first to Derick, then to Anath, who gave a slight bob of her head. Once it was confirmed all six began to pull back to the wall, and watch the fires burn brightly from across the room.