by TJ Reynolds
Rhona laughed loud enough to unseat a few birds in a nearby tree. “You’re both kinda cute, in a humble sort of way, but I’ll be damned if you’re not in over your heads.”
After Kai pestered his Earth Core friend why he hadn’t been told such a valuable skill, and Ban defended himself thoroughly, claiming ignorance of the practice, they at last decided to answer the woman.
Rhona waited with hands on hips, chewing her lip and suppressing a smile.
Finally, Ban waddled up and touched her hand. “As you’ve obviously noticed, we can speak to each other through our minds. We’re connected. As an Earth Core, I can create my own minions to defend myself. I’m also permitted to forge a champion. Unlike my other minions, a champion is allowed to leave my domain. Yet, I suppose, it isn’t a sentient creature, merely a body that I am inhabiting.”
The woman inspected the gargat before her, taking the news with surprising calm.
Sighing, Ban took a chance and added, “I found a map of these mountains showing the locations of the other Earth Cores. We hope to heal as many as we can, but this was the closest. Thank you for your honesty, Rhona, for your trust. And thank you for your aid. If this body dies, I’ll be fine, but Kai has no such luxury.”
Taking a deep breath, Rhona nodded to herself. “Okay, we can talk more about this, later. So now that you’ve found this Earth Core, you can heal it, right? What are you waiting for?”
Kai picked up the fragment. It pulsed warmly in his palm. “Well, this is but a fragment. A dungeon of this size and maturity must have a large core. We’ll need to go inside and find the rest.”
She peered at the black maw, not fifty strides away, and she shook her head as if in disbelief. “I know this is strange to admit, but I feel I was supposed to meet you.” She stared at the hole, took a deep breath, and then blew it out at once. “I can’t explain it any other way.
Kai couldn’t hold back the smile that tugged at his lips.
The woman sighed and flexed her fists a few times before turning back to them. “What would you say if I offered to accompany you? Just until you’ve managed this task. I still have priorities of my own. But your mission seems aligned with my own.”
Kai and Ban glanced at one another and nodded. “We accept,” Kai said. “I was going to ask, actually, but felt the request might be selfish.”
Rhona sighed, looking uneasily back at the entrance of the dungeon. And then, in a brazen act of nonchalance, she shrugged, and waved them forward. “Let’s be about it, then. But you take the lead, Ban. I’ve no love for dark places. And wipe that grin off your face, Kai. It makes you look boyish.”
Without any further hesitation, the party descended to the dungeon. Ban in the lead, followed by Rhona. Kai tucked the fragment of Earth Core into a pocket in his trousers and buttoned it closed, then he fell in step with Honor.
The darkness within, as Kai had hoped, was not pervasive and blinding. The air was filled with ether and glowed faintly. Though it was a comfort when Rhona lit a torch she pulled from her saddlebags, the yellow light flickering ahead wasn’t necessary.
The tunnel which dove into the earth turned after only a few feet and continued to spiral downward. Their way was paved with smoothly carved stone, still nearly flawless after who knew how many years of disrepair. The way was wide enough to allow two cart horses to pass easily. Wide enough, Kai thought, for a large dragon to enter.
That thought did little to ease his concerns as he allowed his ears to explore further into the dungeon than his eyes permitted.
After nearly half an hour of descending at a steady pace, the passage expanded into a vast open space. The immense cavern was so deep, its depths remained indistinct, despite a continuous glow of ether that stretched out before them.
Rhona chuckled to herself and extinguished the torch. “No need for that, eh?”
Her voice reverberated, loud and intrusive, in the otherwise-still space of the dungeon. Kai flinched at the echo that followed. She seemed to sense her own lapse in judgement and shrugged apologetically. The party grew silent, the swish of Honor’s tail the only thing that stirred the ether-thick air.
After a few moments acclimating to their location, however, another sound tugged at the edge of Kai’s perception. Ban shot him a fearful glance, but no warning was needed. The skittering of too-many legs along unseen passages soon became evident to all present.
35
And Caverns Old
Rhona
The tight, stuffy places underground that Rhona feared the most were thankfully far from the reality she currently faced. There was no way she could see the roof of the cavern, and its depths likewise eluded her. When she heard the approach of monsters, she didn’t hesitate to step in front of the party and prepare herself for battle.
Kai was recovering, and showed some promise as a warrior, but he was Amber ascended at best. Golden ascended were, by many standards, still novices in the greater world of martial prowess, but the difference between the two was significant. Honor trotted out and danced on his hooves, nerves rattled by the subterranean battle to come. She would need to keep an eye out for him, make sure he wouldn’t spook.
As the baliska approached, she noted these creatures were both smaller and a good deal faster than the ones they’d faced the previous night. Most importantly, there only appeared to be a dozen of them.
The first baliska leapt at her and she spun, backhanding it in the side of its opened mouth. Teeth shattering against her fist, it fell away, boneless. Rhona kicked the next monster in the chest, then gripped a third by a scaled plate atop its head and flung it backward. Its body cracked against the wall of the cavern, slumped to the ground, and lay stunned. Ban spit acid on it, before it could rise, and she turned to face the rest.
Rhona caught a glimpse of Kai, using his glaive to good effect. He lopped off one of the front legs from a lunging baliska and it slid across the ground as he pivoted smoothly around and cut its head off in a continuation of the glaive’s swing. His form was still a bit forced, as if he knew what to do, but his body lacked the repetition it took to imprint the sequences into muscle memory.
Still, she was impressed.
Honor kicked out at another and broke its body with his hooves.
Rather than endlessly throw themselves at the party in waves, however, the remaining baliska hissed and scurried back the way they’d come. In a flurry of motion and skittering claws, the attack was over, perhaps five or so of the monsters retreating effectively. A pang of worry knotted Rhona’s gut. She would’ve preferred to finish them all off than have to face them again later, when the odds might not be as favorable.
“Are we all okay?” Rhona asked, and they checked themselves and each other.
Kai nodded and Ban growled unconsciously.
Taking the latter as a yes as well, Rhona straightened up with a firm nod. “Good. Now, let’s see what else is down here.”
Ban flew above their party as they probed the depths of the cavern. Kai walked beside Rhona with Honor behind them. Their new formation came together organically, and she was pleased with how the group seemed to work together seamlessly.
The cavern floor was dotted with holes, around which the telltale scratches of baliska claws marked their passage. Dozens of the holes pocked the great cavern, and as they approached the far end, some appeared in the walls as well. It was as if the whole thing were a hive of sorts, or a nest of unspeakable size.
Another wide tunnel burrowed deeper into the dungeon at the back of the cavern, and without a word, the party continued.
This new passageway had an intricate pattern carved in the walls, surpassing anything she’d seen, even among the sprawling towers of Creshon. It seemed as if a great snake wound around the cylindrical tunnel, perfectly etched into the stone and detailed beyond compare.
Rhona forced herself to concentrate on their quest, but the intricate stonework kept drawing her eye, despite her best efforts to ignore it.
“It’s
lovely, isn’t it?” Kai whispered, awed by the craftsmanship of the carvings.
Rhona could only nod.
Ban flapped above them, his head lifted as he gaped as well. “The layout seems intentionally designed to put us off guard. We should be careful.”
His words were prophetic, for no sooner had he cautioned them than Kai dropped to the floor, his body sliding to the side of the tunnel and down a hidden chute. Rhona saw the yawning abyss waiting to swallow Kai. She shouted out a warning, but it was already too late.
Rhona sprinted to the edge of the pit and sighed in relief. Somehow, the young man had caught both sides of the trapdoor with the glaive’s blade and staff. He hung there, eyes wide with terror and dangling like a mouse on a broomstick. Kai clung to the haft, so filled with fright he could only ask for help with a desperate grimace and pleading eyes.
Rhona managed to wedge her body in the mouth of the trap and hang over the edge to give him her hand. When he was standing safely in the tunnel passage once more, he thanked her profusely.
“It’s no problem, Kai. I’m glad it was you who fell,” Rhona chuckled darkly. “Your glaive saved your life, not me. If I’d fallen into that chute, I’d have learned exactly how deep that pit extends, or what may be lying in wait below.”
Kai eyed the device that nearly took his life. “You’re welcome. I’m here to serve, after all.”
The party shared a laugh that helped to dispel their frayed nerves.
Then Ban spoke in a chipper voice as he noted, “It takes a clever mind to make such a pitfall. While the snake pattern pulls your attention elsewhere, your feet are encouraged to meander along with it. And just when you are good and distracted, that bit of floor hinge activates. Am I correct in assuming the stone was as smooth as glass?”
Kai coughed and smiled thinly, a bit of irritation coloring his face. “Yes, smooth as glass,” he muttered. “Maybe if we finish all this, you and the Earth Core that nearly killed me can have a nice chat about traps.”
“Oh, I should like such an opportunity,” Ban agreed cheerfully, but when he saw his friend’s face, he stopped talking.
“Single-file line,” Rhona suggested. “Ban, keep scouting ahead, and please, keep your damn eyes on the ground.” She walked on, chastising herself for allowing her mind to drift.
The tunnel ended in another large chamber. The constant tumult of thundering water had been building for the last five minutes of their march. By the time they reached the chamber, it was nearly deafening.
Evidence of an elegant and thoughtful mind was once again remarkably displayed. The waterfall wasn’t a simple deluge, but due to the clever shaping of the spouts, appeared to be a vast three-headed dragon, each spitting gouts of water from their mouths that joined together to form the falls. The thick cords of water overlapped, almost like rope, until they blended into a single, powerful column.
The pool it plunged into was the size of a small lake, so large that the ripples that finally reached its shore were but faint echoes of the mighty waves created by the force of the crashing falls. More interesting was the water itself, which glowed a faint blue from accumulated ether. “Do you think the ether just built up over time?” Rhona asked the group, using a louder voice than she’d have liked to be heard over the falls. “Or might there be another shard down there?”
“No idea,” Kai admitted, “but it might be worth a look.” He set down his pack, preparing to go for a swim.
Rhona was not the kind of soldier who always presumed to take on the brunt of the danger, not for honor or the thrill of it, but knew a bad idea when she saw one. She held up her hand and shook her head. “Kai, you’re still sick. And besides, I’m covered in dry baliska blood. Let me use this opportunity to clean up a bit, okay?”
He looked her up and down, then nodded.
Honor came closer, and leaned his head down to drink, apparently not caring who went for a swim. As he did so, a large, tooth-filled maw rose from the depths and clamped onto his neck. The beast was perhaps only seventy pounds and looked like a long thin crocodile, so the warhorse wasn’t immediately pulled in. But when three more of the monsters launched themselves out and clamped on his legs and neck, he began to slip forward as they urged him forward into the lake.
“Not even for a night with Yugos himself!” Rhona roared and charged the creatures.
She kicked off the first that bit Honor, cracking its neck with a well-aimed blow, and then struck the backs of two others. The tops of their skulls were flat and brittle, so they died easily, attached as they were to Honor. Kai chopped down with his glaive and decapitated another, just above its narrow shoulders.
The horse backpedaled frantically, offended and more than a little scared. He ran from the edge of the lake, refusing to take his eyes off the water.
Rhona was about to call out to him and lend some degree of comfort when a dozen more of the creatures erupted from the water, one latching onto her leg while another tugged Ban into the water. The rest clambered toward Kai. Rhona brought her fist down on the monster’s skull, killing it instantly, as Kai shot bolts of fiery ether from the tip of his glaive, each blasting a hole in one of their foes.
Seeing the gargat disappear into the depths, Rhona dove in, disregarding the obvious danger that lurked below the surface. The water was liquid ice, however, and her muscles immediately threatened to cramp up. Rhona drew on some of the ether gained from the wound on her leg and used it to both bolster and strengthen her body. She sped through the water, spotting Ban being pulled ever deeper. The gargat’s wings, thankfully, slowed his progress, enabling Rhona to catch up and grab him by the hand. Rather than play tug of war with the Earth Core’s champion, she used the leverage to pull herself down to his captor and with an ether-charged fingertip to the skull, killed it.
For a moment, time seemed to slow as Ban’s yellow eyes, fearful and filled with gratitude, acknowledged her. He sped past her, his gargat body surprisingly well suited to the water.
She remained, looking about in the deep lake.
More of the crocodile monsters flitted about, seeming at last to understand they were neither numerous nor powerful enough to handle this prey. She examined them with her EI.
Eel Croc
Amalgamation
Amber 1
Deeper down, Rhona noted a glowing blue light. It was hazy, almost like dozens of ethereal spots were scattered across the floor of the lake, rather than the singular light a fragment of Earth Core might give off. The points of blue light all lay in a wide swath at the bottom of the pool, and she briefly considered swimming deeper to investigate. When the lights moved, however, her perspective reeled for an instant.
Suddenly, her brain realized the shifting kaleidoscope of lights were the flecked hide of a huge creature. It turned toward her and ascended.
Rhona spun about in the water and swam as fast as she could. Thankfully, she was only a dozen or so feet away from the edge and soon pulled herself up on land, scrambling back from the edge. The rest had backed away a few paces, and their faces showed relief as they saw her emerge.
“Shivving run!” she screamed. “Get back! Something really…”
A terrible creature exploded from the water behind her, the wave knocking her flat onto her belly.
Watching Kai’s face transform into a mask of pure terror didn’t help Rhona feel at all comfortable. Even more disturbing was the bone-deep vibrations that shook the cavern when the monster slammed down onto the rock behind her. She scrambled to her feet and sprinted away.
Rhona expected a scream, a roar that would make the tumbling waterfall sound weak. But the only sound that could be heard was the water sheeting off of the beast’s hide.
She spun at last to face the thing and saw its form resembled the smaller eel crocs, longer than it was wide. This one appeared to have evolved or mutated somehow. Instead of smooth, eel-like skin along its sides and tail, a mass of protruding lumps of bone armored its hide, some, especially around the eyes and
face, sharpened into horns.
Honor still cowered in the corner, the ambush having frayed his nerves, but when Rhona shouted out to him by name, he trotted back over to face this new threat beside her. The horse pranced about, his eyes wide in terror. She didn’t expect much from him in this fight.
There was a pregnant moment, where time stretched ponderously. The beast, an Emerald 1 Infused Crocodeel with Boss attached to its name, stared at them with large, half-blind eyes. They stared back, breathing heavily, knowing they’d encountered something far too powerful to deal with.
Kai acted. After charging one of his flaming ether attacks, he let it fly from his glaive, striking the massive Crocodeel in the eye. Simultaneously, Ban spit a gob of acid at the beast, burning through the skin of its snout.
The beast thrashed about and then it pointed its snout directly at Rhona; its mouth snapped shut, the rows of teeth clacking together violently. A ripple of blue and white energy raced from its maw and lifted Rhona off her feet.
Her shirt tore in multiple places, as did her skin. The blast of ether shot through her core, bruising her deeply.
She fell heavily onto her back.
The cavern above spun for a long moment, and she turned her head to the side to spit out a mouthful of blood. What kind of attack was that? It struck me with sound! Her thoughts were jumbled, and she felt the ground shake beneath her as the Crocodeel approached.
Kai’s face appeared above hers. “I’ve got you, Rhona,” he called and dragged her away. “Just hold on!”
Instinctively, Rhona knew blood was filling her abdomen, and she was dying. But since she was also coursing with ether, she directed a portion of it into repairing whatever blood vessels had burst within her. She felt at once more stable and was surprised at how much ether derived from Blood Sunder still remained.
How close did it come to killing me with a single blow? she wondered briefly. Tucking such thoughts away, she sat up and worked to get her bearings.