by Heath Pfaff
"This whole situation worries me." Snow said. She stood with one hand on her sword hilt, her eyes piercing the darkness ahead of us. "What will we do if we get down there and find out they've done something terrible to Kay? Are you prepared for something like that, Lowin?" Her words stung, but I could see that she wasn't asking to inflict hurt.
I looked to Malice. I had told her of my encounter in the woods as we ran, and while she had not been sure what to make of it, she had believed it was important. She'd told me to not tell the others for the time, and I had agreed it would probably be for the best. That experience in the woods had reignited my sense of purpose. I believed that Kay was still alive, and that she was somewhere not far away. I wanted to tell the others that I was confident we would find my daughter alive and well, but even if I tried to explain my vision in the woods to them, it would only leave them confused and doubting my sanity.
"I am prepared for whatever may come." I answered finally. I gazed from face to face of the companions that still stood with me. I needed to give them one final chance to escape what was most likely a terrible death. I feared to give them that opportunity. I feared they would accept my offer, and leave. Somehow, I still managed to speak the necessary words. "I won't ask you to come any further if you don't want to. We know the Hungering are below, possibly numbered in the millions. Those who go into these caves with me are risking death. I can't assure you that there will be any gain for the risk. As Silver said, it is not easy to walk calmly into death. That is what I'm asking of you."
"I'll not let you go into the darkness alone." Malice said, speaking as soon as my words finished.
"I'm going with you." Snow's voice was sharp. There was underlying edge to her tone that I could not make out.
"I go where my friends go." Tower said, stepping nearer Snow. I wasn't so certain he would have come without her, but I admired his courage anyway.
"I've come this far already. It would be a pity to turn back now." Silver said, smiling. Her strange strip of hair hung to the left side, covering part of her face. She was not what many would call pretty, but her smile lit her features, and made her attractive. I smiled back at each of my companions. Dare I even think of them as my friends? Certainly mere companions would abandon me in the face of that which I was about to confront. If they were friends, I had done them a grave disservice by dragging them along with me. If any of us survived the trials ahead, I would have to find some way to pay the great debt I owed them. We'd come a long way together. There wasn't much further to go.
"Let us show them what happens to those who try to trap the Knights of Ethan." I called into the cave, hearing my voice echo through the emptiness. We walked into darkness. I thought we would not need to fight the hordes of Hungering that Orthisius and Reamis had encountered, but I did not fully understand the nature of my enemy. That was a dangerous failing on my part.
Time is meaningless in the darkness where the sky has no claim. Days after we entered, and I only guessed days because I could judge by nothing other than a whimsical sense of time passing, the rough-hewn floor of the cave gave way into a smooth, worked surface. The going became easier, but our unease increased. When the ground first changed, we took a moment to feel out our surroundings. The tunnel seemed to shift from natural cave to crafted hallway, a structure of carefully carved stone. There were even sconces upon the wall in which torches might be set. There were no torches in them, but their presence was a curiosity. Who had put them there in the first place?
We fumbled through the dark trying to get a feel for our new surroundings. My eyes could make out vague outlines of the area around me, an effect, I reasoned, of my constantly increasing abilities. Combined with my hearing, I had a much more precise picture of our surroundings than the others who were walking through complete darkness. Even had we thought to bring light, torches would not have stayed burning as long as we would have needed them to.
The passageways wound and twisted together, spiraling off in different directions, some leading up, some leading down. I always had a sense of which direction to take. How long, I wondered, could a person walk lost amidst the tunnels without the aid of that constant pull? I thought of the story of Reamis and Orthisius. It had taken them a month and a half to go all the way into the tunnels and come back. How much of that time had been spent lost, walking the same paths again and again?
A more terrifying thought, and one that had occurred to me on several occasions, was that whatever I was following might be leading me in circles. I could not be certain what called me into the darkness. Sometimes it seemed we turned back on our own path, or took a left one too many times. However, we seemed to be making progress. If nothing else, the change of the caves from natural rock to carved corridor seemed to indicate a positive shift in our surroundings. Though there was also something ominous in discovering a perfectly sculpted corridor so far below the ground. Who had built those passageways, and where had they gone? Were the Hungering the source? If so, I really understood very little about their society.
Someone bumped into me roughly, distracting me from my considerations.
"Sorry." Snow said, nudging me several more times before she got her bearings correct again and separated herself from me. "This darkness must be getting to me." She added. Her voice seemed strained, tired, as though some great weight lay upon the shoulders of the white-furred warrior.
"We're making progress." I whispered, trying to be encouraging. We all spoke in whispers. The caves were quiet, and anything louder than a whisper seemed too much for the space around us. I could see the positions of each of the other Knights. To my vision, even when they were standing still, I could see the nearly imperceptible rise and fall of their chests, and the barest shifts in their posture. In the dark, they did not stand as confidently as they did out under the sun or stars. Perhaps it was because they didn't feel the need to put on false confidence in the caves, or perhaps the darkness really was wearing upon them.
A vague scuffling sound caught my ears. It was distant, and hard to catch, but it was immediately identifiable from the normal sounds of the cave. I'd heard dripping, and occasionally the scurrying of an insect or rat, but this was more substantial, and yet far away.
"I hear something." I said quietly, and everyone went absolutely still. I heard more scuffling, growing louder, coming from multiple directions.
"I hear it." Snow said, and a moment later the others could hear it as well. The sound of metal on leather rang out around me as those with weapons drew them. In the caves of the Hungering, it was probably safe to assume whatever was coming was not there on friendly business.
"Spread out." I instructed the others, and we all moved to create distance between us. If something dangerous was coming, we would be able to fight it by tracking its movement with our motion sensitive eyes, but that didn't mean that we wouldn't be safer if we all gave each other some space in which to fight. The stone corridor we were in allowed for a good deal of movement. All of us could have stood abreast across it, with arms fully extended, and enough room to jump, even Tower. If we had to fight, it was as good a place as any. There had been a few very narrow and low roofed passages in the early tunnels, and I was just as glad we had not had to fight our way forward through those. Pinch points like that could have stopped us indefinitely.
I took the foremost position, placing myself squarely between whatever was coming, and my companions. I had no weapon, but my body was far less vulnerable than theirs, and I could at least make out some semblance of my surroundings in the darkness. From fifty yards down the corridor, red glowing eyes began to appear. I could tell they were pouring into the main corridor from side passages by the direction from which they came, but I was still alarmed at how fast they appeared. The Hungering had arrived to greet us. I could hear the sound of metal weapons clanging against chitinous armor. They were not coming simply to greet us. Whatever leniency had been allowed us to that point had just ended.
I had no time to consider
what the sudden change in tactics meant because I was quickly swept up in the fire of the moment. I rushed forward, willing my claws as sharp as I could make them. I hit the Hungering front like an explosion, ripping through the first bodies before they could even draw up a defense. I slipped into the speed of my motion, and the world fell to a crawl around me. In the stillness of the slowed world, only those creatures closest to me stood out clearly. That was all I needed.
With every lash of my claw my enemies fell away, spiraling through the air in bloody tatters, disgusting, slow-motion, artistic works of death. I was fighting for those behind me. That thought pushed me onward. The Hungering surged forward harder, and I suddenly found myself losing ground. For every one I killed, three more stepped to fill its place. I could hear the sounds of heated battle behind me, and I realized that despite my lead into the fight, I was being forced backwards. I couldn't afford to go backwards. Kay lay ahead. I roared in anger and thrashed through the enemies around me. The Hungering crumpled away in waves.
A squealing howl sounded through the corridors, echoing off the chamber walls in a confusing manor that made it difficult to tell from which direction it originated. I recognized the sound immediately. It was the howl of the six legged beasts the Hungering used to hunt the Knights of Ethan. They were fast, and could outmaneuver a Knight if they were not cautious. I searched the horde for the beasts, knowing they posed the greatest threat. I found the first once quickly. It was emerging from a vent in the ceiling, crawling down the rock as though it were on a level surface. I leapt, soaring through the air in slow motion, preparing my claws to strike. It never had a chance to react to my attack.
The last time I'd fought such creatures, I had not been as strong or quick as I had recently become. I tore the six legged monstrosity's head from its body and twisted about in the air, so that I would be in position to push myself off of the ceiling when I landed there. My legs struck and shifted my momentum. I threw myself towards my next enemy. Even moving as quickly as I was, it was difficult to change trajectories in mid flight, and I landed to the side of the next six legged beast, smashing into a group of Hungering. I struck with both claws as I landed, killing whatever came within range. I missed my original mark, however, and the creature was already away through the hungering mass, moving towards my companions.
I finished my roll to the ground, spending my excess momentum and shifting directions back the way I'd come. I had to reach the creature before it broke through its own ranks and came upon my friends unprepared. The Fell Beast within me raged, clawing at the cage in which I bound it. I needed its strength, but I was afraid of it. Whisper's words came back to me, "a man cannot stand divided against himself."I understood them, and knew what I should do.
That six legged thing, that bearer of death, was drawing closer to those I wanted to protect, and hundreds of Hungering stood in my way. I needed more strength, and more speed, and there was only one thing I could do to get it. I let go of the wall I'd built around the Fell Beast aspect of myself, and reached out to it. The Fell Beast's rage dropped away, and in my mind I saw its fiery eyes. There was still anger, and terrible power burning in those dark pits of its existence, but beneath that, I saw a shadow of myself. It's about time you realized that we are the same. Strength rippled through me, and suddenly the way ahead seemed clear. I shot forward, claws rending those that came too close. I didn't need to concentrate on every strike I made or every defensive move, my body knew what was necessary, and it reacted. The Fell Beast part of me was all instinct and power, and with it firmly in hand, I was a stronger fighter. The Fell Beast was dead, what I had been locking away all that time, was my own fear and anger at myself for using strength that I thought made me more of a monster. I was what I was, and there was no time to fear that. That revelation that I had kept locked away for so long, had been my greatest burden. Suddenly freed from it, I found myself twice as powerful as I'd ever been before.
The Knight hunting creature parted the last of the Hungering line and dived at Tower, tackling him to the ground, but it only had a second on him before I exploded from the ranks of enemies around me and charged into it. I hit it with such force that we skittered across the ground in a flurry of claws, teeth, and rage. By the time we'd come to a stop, the creature was dead. I leapt back into the battle, breaking the front line of the enemy and dealing death wherever I could lay claw. The Hungering line began to fall back. At my sides, the Knights fought on. Malice and Snow swept through their forms, impenetrable walls of steel death, and Tower and Silver held their own as well. I had little time to check, but I could see that Tower had sustained injuries in his short tumble with the six legged creature.
Still, we were making headway. The progress was slow, and every minute of battle ate into the energy of me and the others. I worried about the other Knights. How long could they hold the pace?
As quickly as it had begun, it stopped. The Hungering began to filter out of the tunnels, until only a few remained. One turned as it was about to crawl down a side passage.
"Remember, you live on at my discretion." The creature said, its voice strangely serene and fluent in our language. It ducked down a passageway and was gone.
I didn't know what to make of the creature's words. What did it want? If the Hungering really did control when we lived, and when we died, why had they not simply killed us? Were they testing us? I looked at the others. Malice and Snow were uninjured. Silver had a few small gashes, and Tower had several nasty gouges on his torso. I guessed that they had come from when he'd been attacked by the Knight hunter. All four of the others looked tired. The attack had taken a lot out of them. We'd been walking for days without rest, and their energy was low. Even I was feeling winded, if not anywhere near at my limits. What would we do if they came again?
The pressure in my chest tugged me onward. I could feel that there wasn't much further for me to go. Whatever was waiting for me was near at hand. At the most, we had another day of progress through the tunnels. That was, of course, if we met no further resistance.
"We should rest." I said, knowing the others would need it far more than I. I hated saying the words, but I couldn't run my friends into the ground. I owed them more than that.
"No." Snow replied. "We're too close now, and this place isn't safe. We need to finish what we've come here to do."
"I agree. Stopping now would be foolish. We don't want to be attacked while we're at rest. That would be worse than facing the enemy while tired." Silver added her opinion. I looked to Malice and Tower. They both nodded their agreement, also stating that they were ready to go on. As much as I knew they needed rest, their sentiment held true. Resting at the wrong time could be a worse tactical move than fighting tired. If the others felt they could go on, it was best to go on.
"Alright." I agreed. It was at that moment, that a faint white light filled the corridor. Everyone prepared for the worst, swords coming up, claws leveled, but it took us only a moment to realize that the source of the light was the walls around us. For the first time we could clearly see the corridor we were in. Every surface of the walls and ceiling was covered in minuscule carvings that were lightly aglow. The light was so slight that, had we not been in complete darkness for days, it might have gone unnoticed. However, to those who'd seen nothing but black for as long as we had, the strange stone halls around us almost seemed bright.
"Does anyone else find it strange that we were just attacked, and now they're lighting the welcoming torch?" Silver asked.
I had been thinking the exact same thing myself. They attacked us, and then they shone light on our path. The strangeness of their behavior did little to ease my mind. The light was a welcome change, but it also sat uneasily with me. Knowing one's enemy, could aid in a battle, but in the case of the Hungering, it was impossible to determine what motivated them. We were fighting an enemy that we knew nothing about.
"At least we won't have to stumble through the dark anymore." Malice said, and the others laughed uneas
ily. I wondered if we might not have been better off in the dark. The Fell Beast part of me sat with hackles at a rise. Danger, all around me was terrible danger.
The miles passed, and the corridors turned into expansive streets as a great underground city of ruins opened up before us. Of all the marvels I had seen in my life, no piece of construction compared to what lay deep beneath Tett O Sut. Much of it was in ruin, either from disuse, or some form of attack I couldn't be certain, but there was no denying the level of craftsmanship that had gone into what remained of what must have been one of the greatest artistic metropolises of all time. The buildings were made from an unfamiliar wood, though it was all incredibly well preserved. Every inch of timber bore intricately carved designs so that no two pieces looked exactly the same. To see it in ruins was heart breaking.
Who had created such art? Certainly no humans lived so far below ground. What did that leave? Had the Hungering been responsible? Were they capable of such levels of high art? If they were, why had they let it all fall to ruin? Why did they not carry any of that art or culture with them as they traveled? The underground world we'd stumbled into raised more questions, and served to answer none. If I had any expectations of what the Hungering's home might look like, what surrounded me did not meet them.