by Kyle West
“Let’s just keep going,” I said. “Might be hard to climb out of that if we run into trouble.”
“I agree,” Samuel said.
“Straight, then?” Michael asked.
“It’s as good as anything else,” I said. “We can always come back if we change our minds.”
No one could argue with that, so we proceeded down the tunnel.
It twisted a few more times, dropping in elevation as we arrived at yet another crossroads. This time, there were three different directions: left, center, and right. A molten glow bathed the walls of the right tunnel, while darkness shrouded the other two.
“Maybe we can at least see what’s on the right,” Anna said. “If it leads to that fiery chasm we saw on the way here.”
“Sounds like a great idea,” Makara said.
I ignored Makara and picked the right tunnel, at Anna’s suggestion. I wanted to see if it led to the abyss as well. If it did, I could get a good look to the bottom and see how much farther we had to go down.
We walked on. The tunnel ascended in a long, straight line, brightening as we went along. About one hundred feet ahead, the tunnel ended, the light red and fiery. As we walked, the temperature shot up. We’d have to turn back eventually, but there would be no harm in seeing what lay beyond the opening. Probably.
At last, we reached the end of the tunnel and stepped onto an overhang overlooking the blazing abyss below. Looking up, the surface wasn’t far – perhaps a couple of hundred feet. Looking down, however, there was a drop of at least a full mile before the abyss ended in bright, glowing magma. Countless tunnels, like the one we’d just left, opened into this abyss at various points above, below, and around us. Pathways had even been carved into the sides, zigzagging from tunnel to tunnel. I felt like this was some sort of connection hub. For now, it was empty, but if more of Askala’s swarm were here, this place would probably be humming with life.
Whether or not that was the case, we probably needed to head back. We were too exposed out here, not to mention being subjected to the incredible heat blasting from the magma below.
Above, several dragons flew over the opening of the abyss.
“Back!” I said.
Everyone recognized the danger, stepping back into the tunnel, running along it until we reached the intersection we’d left behind. Even if the dragons had seen us, there was no way they could have followed us.
Now, there were two tunnels to choose from.
“Number one,” Anna said. “Or number two?”
“If this happens much more, we’ll become hopelessly lost,” Makara said.
“We should mark which ones we choose,” I said. “In case we have to come back.”
“Good idea,” Samuel said.
He searched the ground a moment, until he picked up a hard, sharp rock. He went to the leftmost passageway.
“Does this one work?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
He scratched a huge arrow on the wall, pointing left toward the tunnel. He stepped back, inspecting his handiwork.
“Good,” he said. “Backtracking shouldn’t be an issue, now.”
We went down the left tunnel. This one dropped steeply, at a nearly a forty-five-degree angle. The drop in elevation was a good sign.
The air was quite cool now; we were far from the magma of the abyss and the stifling air of the surface. The tunnel leveled out, and we found ourselves on a path that was crisscrossed by another. Looking back, I saw there were two other tunnels, besides the one we had exited.
“Sam, mark the one we just left,” Makara said.
As Samuel got to work, Makara strode toward the intersection. She paused at the crossroads, shining her light in each direction.
“Well, this’ll be tricky.”
I stepped forward to see what she was talking about. Whichever way she flashed her light, it revealed the same view – a long tunnel leading in a straight line.
“What do you think?” Makara asked.
I stared down each corridor, trying to notice anything that would lead me to pick the right one. For all I could see, all three were identical.
“The best thing I can see is to choose one and see where it leads,” I said. “We can always turn back.”
“I’m just wondering why it’s so quiet,” Anna said.
“You wish it wasn’t?” Michael asked.
“I like to know what I’m up against,” Anna said.
“We’ll head left,” I said.
After Samuel had finished scrawling his arrow, I followed the left tunnel. We had been walking only five minutes when we arrived at an intersection identical to the first. On our left was a chamber with three tunnels, leading outward. On our right, a straight tunnel, and ahead, our current path continuing.
I chose going straight. Again, after another five minutes, we arrived at a similar intersection.
“It’s repeating,” Anna said.
“There might be a pattern,” I said. “Let’s keep our eyes open.”
A distant shriek sounded in the dark halls, bringing us to a stop. Everyone retrieved their weapons. We waited for the shriek to fade to silence.
“What was that?” Ruth asked.
“The welcoming committee,” Makara said.
“Took them long enough,” Anna said.
Ruth shook her head. “Speak for yourself...”
I listened intently, but it was impossible to tell where the sound had come from. It could be near, far, from ahead or behind.
If this thing was following us, then it might be good to mix things up a bit.
“Let’s go right,” I said.
We turned right into the new tunnel. It was only when we’d been walking for a minute or so that I realized what the pattern was.
“It was going in a circle,” I said.
“What was?” Makara asked.
“That tunnel we just left. It was so slight that the turning was pretty much imperceptible. Each tunnel branching right will have a central meeting point. The layout is like the spokes of a wheel. At least, that’s what I’m thinking.”
“Which means?”
“We’re heading for the center. Something important is bound to be there.”
“Let’s hurry, then,” Samuel said.
We started to run. Even though we had been pushing ourselves hard, I felt strangely energized. I realized if the atmosphere was thicker down here, then there would be more oxygen in the air. We were running harder and faster than what seemed possible.
All the while, the inhuman screams came louder, closer...
“Something’s up ahead,” Makara said.
The tunnel opened into a giant chamber, in the center of which was a shaft, leading straight down into the earth. Mist spilled from its opening, and a sticky, pink substance climbed over the tunnel’s edge, covering the ground around it.
“Fungus,” I said.
The shriek came from behind, much closer. I stared back into the tunnel, but the darkness hid whatever was tailing us.
“We need to go down there,” I said.
That was easier said than done. We ran to the mist-shrouded tunnel. I couldn’t see a thing down there, and the walls were perfectly vertical. There was no telling how far the drop was.
“You’re not jumping,” Anna said.
“None of us are,” I said. “There’s fungus lining the sides. We can use it as handholds on the way down.”
“You can’t be serious,” Makara said.
“He is,” Samuel said. “And he’s right. It’s the only way down.”
There was no time to lose, so I knelt at the edge and swung my legs around, facing the wall. I planted my feet into the fungus, finding that it held surprisingly well. I tested its strength by putting my full weight on it. It was slightly elastic, but nowhere near ripping.
“We’re good,” I said. “Come on.”
I began my descent into the mist, everyone following after me. Again, another shriek sounded from th
e tunnel, just seconds away.
I picked up the pace. The mist thickened as we descended, and after a minute of going down, my feet hit solid ground. Well, it wasn’t exactly solid. The spongy quality immediately told me I was standing on yet more fungus. It was like we had entered a living thing.
I tried to dash that thought from my mind.
I peered up into the mist, seeing the shapes of everyone climbing down. From the top of the shaft came another piercing shriek. It didn’t seem like whatever was chasing us could follow us down.
Everyone now stood beside me. The fungus glowed, providing enough light to proceed. The mist reduced visibility to ten feet or so, the air was warm and wet, like breath.
After we had walked for a minute or so, I stopped short. There was...something...hanging down from the ceiling. It was like a vine, pink in color. Similar vines hung nearby, filling the space by the dozens, like an inverse forest.
“Gross,” Anna said. “Should I cut them down?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t think we should touch them.”
“Try to go around?” Makara asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. Let’s hang back a bit. Find another way through.”
We walked along the edge of the vines, but they never thinned.
“Keep going straight,” I said. “Don’t touch anything.”
We made our way forward slowly, making sure not to touch the vines. It proved to be almost impossible, and took some creative acrobatics. I wondered, as we went on, whether I was freaking out over nothing. The vines were still, and seemed harmless.
Ruth stumbled behind me; crying out in alarm, she fell into a large vine. Instantly, the vine stiffened and threw her backward onto the spongy turf. This caused her to brush into yet two other vines, both of which came alive and began attacking her. She groaned in pain, rolling away, only to touch another vine. Every time she touched one, it lashed out and sent her careening into another.
Anna withdrew her katana, cutting at the nearest vine. The blade cut through, slicing it in half. A geyser of pink slime gushed from the vine, the cut section writhing on the ground. By this point, the rest of the vines had wakened and had begun to attack.
A vine went for me, wrapping around my right arm. I grabbed my knife and cut it halfway through. Immediately, I felt its grip weaken, and I used the chance to free my arm, grab the vine, and slice the rest of it off. The bottom half of the vine fell to the floor, and I readied myself to face other threats.
Ruth had been wrapped by three vines – two smaller ones for each leg, and a larger one constricting her lower abdomen. With her free hand, she drew her own knife and sawed at the constricting vine. Pink blood spewed from the laceration, the vine splitting as the knife cut deeper. At last, the vine went limp, and Ruth began working on the ones around her ankles.
At that moment, another vine lashed out and wrapped around Ruth’s right arm, yanking on it and constricting tightly. She screamed, dropping her knife to the ground.
Samuel was fighting off his own vines, ripping them from the ceiling with his bare hands. They tumbled to the ground, coiling like ropes as they fell. He fought his way to Ruth.
As a vine tightened around my torso, I followed Samuel’s example and yanked really hard on it. There was some resistance, but after I pulled for a few seconds, the vine snapped from its roots. As the vine fell, I stepped out of the way to avoid getting hit.
Everyone had figured out the same trick. Makara and Anna worked together, heaving on a particularly large vine, using their combined body weight to snap it from the ceiling. Samuel, using both hands, pulled at the two vines that had wrapped Ruth’s legs, yanking them both down. A pink rain fell from above, soaking us with pink slime.
Ruth, at last, managed to cut the last vine from her arm. She shook it off as Samuel helped her up. We made a circle, facing out, but the entire area had been cleared of vines. The floor was piled with their dead.
I noticed, toward our right, the ceiling was free of vines, forming a straight path. I hadn’t noticed it before, which made me think that the vines there had left. Perhaps they had retracted into the ceiling, somehow.
“Let’s head that way,” I said. “It’s leading somewhere.”
“Where?” Makara asked.
“We’re about to find out.”
Chapter 21
After a few minutes, we passed the hanging vines and found ourselves standing at a precipice. We peered down; the bottom was lost to the mist. There was no way around. We couldn’t climb down, as we had before, because fungus didn’t line the sides. The sides were of smooth rock the entire way down, with no handholds.
“What now?” Ruth asked.
“Throw something down there,” Makara said. “See if it hits anything.”
Samuel looked at the rock he’d been using to mark our tunnels. He shrugged, and tossed it into the hole.
We waited, the seconds passing by, but there was no sound.
“Great,” Makara said.
“Turn back?” Ruth asked.
I didn’t like the thought of having to go through that hell again.
“We need other options,” I said.
“Well, there’s Cthulhu’s forest behind us, or the Pit of Doom ahead,” Ruth said. “Pick your poison.”
“If we go back through those vines, we’d have to climb back out and backtrack,” Anna said. “Should we try climbing down the abyss?”
“What do you mean?” Makara asked. “This is an abyss.”
“The fiery one, not the infinite one,” Anna said.
“The only way down this hole is jumping,” Makara said. “And that would be supremely idiotic.”
“Supremely?” Michael asked.
“Yeah. Supremely.”
“No one’s jumping,” I said. “We’ll have to turn back.”
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was where we were supposed to be, that somehow there was a way down there. We just hadn’t found it yet.
“Alright,” Anna said. “Where to?”
I stood at the precipice, still looking over the edge. Trying to climb down would be suicide.
There was nothing but to turn back.
But as I turned, the ground gave a sudden lurch beneath my feet. I cried out, falling backward. Anna grabbed my arm, but I had too much momentum. As I fell into the hole, she tumbled over the edge with me.
We screamed and fell through the misty air. The seconds stretched for what seemed forever, and I saw nothing but the white mist.
And then, something elastic pushed against my back. The pressure increased until I was no longer falling, but was now going up. I sailed high into the air before falling back down, landing on the springy substance.
After a couple more bounces, Anna and I came to a stop. At seeing what had stopped us, I wanted to scream. It was those vines again, only they seemed to be coming from the walls, forming a tangled web stretching horizontally across the hole.
High up above, the muffled voices of our friends echoed downward.
“Alex! Anna!”
“We’re okay!” I yelled.
“Okay” was a relative term. We weren’t dead, but we were also stuck at the bottom of a hole with no way out.
But a way out appeared soon enough. The vines retracted into the walls, and Anna and I screamed once again as we fell. Above, the vines reformed their web, blocking us from communicating with the others.
It was just a few seconds before Anna and I splashed into cold, dark water. The shock of it sent my heart into overdrive. I swam upward, and when I broke the surface I sucked in a lungful of air. Anna emerged beside me.
My main fear wasn’t for my own safety, but whether the others would jump after us. I looked above, but whatever was up there was lost in the mist.
“We need to get out of this water,” Anna said, teeth chattering.
I looked around, but the fog obscured everything. There was nothing for it but to pick a direction and go.
Anna swam strai
ght ahead, and I followed her through the fog. It looked like we were separated from the others for now. We had to continue our journey alone.
Thankfully, a shoreline materialized in the foggy darkness. It was hard to tell where the light was coming from, but it seemed to be shining from the walls themselves. Without it, we would have been completely lost.
My feet found the bottom, so I stood and walked to the shoreline. Anna emerged beside me. Everything was soaked – our clothing, our boots, and our packs.
“We need to keep moving,” I said.
We walked ahead, leaving the water behind. The thick fog obscured everything, but it was still bright enough to see, making flashlights unnecessary. Fungus coated the floor, emitting a pink, ethereal glow. Our boots squished on the ground.
After a few minutes of steady walking, the mist thinned. At some point, we entered a tunnel. I looked back, only to see fog. There was a deadening of all sound. The tunnel continued straight, veering slightly downward.
A few minutes more, and the tunnel opened up into a small chamber, the walls of which gave off a slight glow. A perfectly circular pool of pink, glowing ichor sat in the center, perhaps ten feet in diameter. There were no other entrances or exits.
Somehow, I knew we had to go in that pool.
I stepped forward, but Anna pulled me back.
“Alex...”
I looked her full in the face, holding her hands. “That’s the way out,” I said. “Together?”
She hesitated, but nodded after a moment.
We went to stand at the ichor’s edge. As we peered down into that pink, clear liquid, it seemed as deep as infinity.
I tried to calm myself, but I couldn’t. I was afraid, even with Anna standing right there next to me.
“If we get separated, how do I know where to find you?” Anna asked.
I paused, thinking for a moment.
“Just call. I’ll hear you. We’ll need to hold on tight. I think this stuff might take us somewhere. Whatever happens, nothing can hurt us as long as we’re together.”
I didn’t know if that was true, but in that moment, it seemed true enough.
“Alright,” she said.
“I’m going to count to three. Then we jump.”