by Riker Kane
“Hmph.” The corner of his lips curled into the tiniest smirk. I was a little shocked he was capable of smiling.
He looked toward the blond behind him. “Do you hear that? He speaks with respect.”
The blond looked away, her nose in the air as she sighed.
Nameno turned back to me, his smile nowhere to be found. “I have no reason to believe you. For all I know, you are collaborating with the Nobles.”
“I’ve never seen a single Noble in my life—”
“Who sent you here?”
“Honestly? It was Balec who told me to come talk to you.”
“Hmph,” he grumbled. “That dimwitted idiot.”
“Idiot or not, he wants to make peace with you and the other raiders.”
“What?” Nameno’s eyes widened like a bull ready to charge. “If he wishes to make peace with me, then he can come here and bend his knee to pledge fealty.”
I didn’t know how the conversation got here but I had to figure out something to quickly calm him down before he seethed any more.
Nameno looked down his nose at me. “What is it then? Do you wish passage into the mountains? Or are you an emissary for that fool?”
I shrugged at him. “How about both? Whichever you want to focus on, I’ve told you nothing but the truth.”
Nameno took a step away, moving his hands behind his back. It was kind of strange to see a man so big in deep thought. But the twisted look on his face told me he was giving it a lot of consideration.
“Even if you are telling the truth, I am not inclined to listen to you.” He glanced down at my wooden cane. “You claim you have the power to fight those from the other world yet you walk as if you are at death’s door.”
“I’m not dying. It’s just a limp. If you want me to prove that I can fight—”
“Yes. Prove you can fight.”
That’s about what I expected.
Nameno pointed to the west. “There is a cavern not far from here. In the depths, there is freshwater. The freshwater is connected to the springs and waterfall that cascades at the edge of our home. It is the reason my village has been able to thrive.”
“I can see that…”
“But the water is no longer as abundant. The waterfall has lost its strength.”
“Maybe there’s no more water.”
“Or the more likely possibility is something is stopping the water completely. Perhaps a boulder has fallen in the way. Or something else. You will find the answer for me.”
“You seem pretty strong. Why don’t you send some people—”
“Those are my terms. Return with the answer or I will not allow you passage into the mountains.”
“You couldn’t stop me if you wanted to.”
“And do your companions agree?”
Zafina suddenly grabbed my arm. Her eyes wide, she said everything without actually saying anything. Ultima could take out this entire village and force my way through. But I wasn’t about to pick on some innocent people.
“What about Balec’s offer?” I asked.
“I will not give a single thought more to that fool’s proposition until this matter is settled. There is only one other way I will consider allowing you passage.”
“What’s that?”
“A trade. I will offer you one night with Penelope in exchange for the company of one of your females.”
An eyebrow raised in surprise, I looked toward the others. There was no way I could accept that offer, but it was kind of amusing to see Lyra trying to hide her disgust. Both Zafina and Rhiannon stared blankly at me, knowing it wasn’t even an option.
I turned back to Nameno. “So… Where are these caverns?”
10: Can A God Drown?
Zafina summoned a small red flame in her palm to the light the path ahead. It wasn’t completely dark, with holes in the cavern ceiling letting in some of the sunlight. There were still plenty of cracks and crevices for Shadows or other creatures to hide in waiting.
Lyra seemed the most paranoid of us all, her bow up as she walked by my side.
I couldn’t help a smile at the sight of her darting her eyes left and right. “Are you okay?”
“You can’t trust Nameno completely,” she said. “His story about the water could be a trap to send us to our deaths. He’s a raider above everything else.”
“Nameno doesn’t seem like the type to set a trap. If he wanted us dead, he would’ve tried killing us with his bare hands.”
“I still don’t trust him. Be on your guard, Virgil.”
Rhiannon walked by my other side, examining the walls closely. “Regardless of Nameno’s true intentions, there is danger lurking within these caverns,” she said.
“Danger we can handle,” I said. “Let’s get this over and done with so we can head into the mountains.”
The four of us stayed quiet as we descended deeper into the caverns. The smooth gray stones were covered in dust that kicked up with every step I took. The smell wasn’t pleasant but not anything that would stop me from walking. I kept the Life Rune activated as Ultima, my wooden cane harnessed to my hip.
We moved down into the cave and reached a brightly lit basin. A giant hole was ripped out of the ceiling several stories up, letting the sun flood inside. On the floor of the circular room, there was an outline of rushing water surrounding us like a moat.
Rhiannon walked over to the water and scooped a handful up. “This is freshwater. The movement of the currents indicates it is coming from deeper in the caverns and not any rainfall from the ceiling. There me some truth to what Nameno told—”
A sudden rumble made the entire room shake. Dirt and rubble fell from the open ceiling as I kept myself balanced. I stayed focus on the cloud of purple and black energy gathering above me. A few moments later, black and green snakes burst out like they’d been launched out of a cannon.
I immediately raised my palm and shot a fireball at them. The sound of snakes squealing was like nothing else. They writhed on the floor in pain, trying to put out of the flames before exploding into Mana.
“Get to work.”
The ladies followed my orders quickly with their standard abilities. Rhiannon danced around the snakes, slashing with her Mana dagger and splitting them in two. Zafina fired streams of flames to scorch the snakes slithering on the ground toward us. Lyra fired flaming arrow after flaming arrow. Without having to reach into a quiver, she was able to nock constantly.
Even with dozens of small snakes trying to converge on us, we kept them at bay without much trouble. I didn’t summon any familiars to save my endurance, instead dispatching the remainder of the snakes with fiery beams.
The room cleared and everybody took a moment to catch their breath.
“Pandora knows we’re here,” I said. “They’ll probably send something stronger to deal with us as we descend.”
“If it’s not already here,” Lyra said. Despite dealing with the threat, she kept her bow out in front of her.
“C’mon,” I said with a chuckle. “Let’s keep going.”
Zafina and I lit flames to light the path deeper into the caverns. The stones got steeper and steeper with every passing moment. I also noticed the sound of running water in the distance. I knew it was water because the floor was dark and wet.
Half-an-hour later, we were at the foot of another basin with more water flooding around the room and another hole carved into the ceiling.
“Might be more snakes coming to attack us,” I said.
“Look at this.” Rhiannon pointed out in front of me. “It appears we are at our journey’s end.”
I noticed walls surrounding us in every direction except for the path we’d come from.
“Maybe we made a wrong turn,” Lyra said.
“There was no fork in the road,” I said. “This is the only direction we could go. Unless…”
I moved to the edge of the room and looked down into the water to see how deep it went. I leaned my head in and saw something
hidden underneath the water.
“There’s another pathway,” I said. “It’s just down there.” Some of the water rose and splashed against my feet. “This room is being flooded. Nameno was right. Something is blocking the flow of water and everything is getting backed up here. I think I can clear the blockage.”
I readied to jump into the water when Lyra suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Hold on a second.” Her eyes widened and her brow furrowed. “You’re just gonna go down there? You have no idea how deep it goes. You’ll drown!”
“If I drown, then the Life Rune will bring me back to Zion.”
“Huh?”
“It’s, uh… I’ll explain it to you later,” I sighed. “Rhiannon. Zafina. If I don’t come back up…”
They both nodded in understanding. The skeptical look on Lyra’s face didn’t go away as she watched me curiously.
“I can’t remember the last time I had a good swim.” I splashed into the water and plunged down toward the underwater path. A Radiant Beam in my palm brightened my way through the darkness, though there was nothing but pitch black ahead of me.
Having increased endurance meant I could hold my breath for longer but even I had limits. I pushed myself as hard and fast as I could, hoping that I would reach the end. Before I knew it, I was face to face with a wall of stones and boulders in front of me.
I stood on the ground and braced myself, quickly deciding on a Rock Burst to break through the boulders. The blast shifted some of the rocks away but there was still a barrier in front of me. I tried pushing the cave-in away but it didn’t budge.
I stayed in my position, continuing to fire rocks to break through the boulders. Then I summoned a Stone Golem by my side to help try and burst through. More of the rocks began to shift and I could barely make out the light on the other side.
As my lungs started to itch for air, I hurried as fast as I could. With every boulder that moved, the more the pathway around me began to shake. I ignored it but it got to the point it was shaking so violently, I knew something was wrong.
I turned around to see Rhiannon, Zafina, and Lyra all swimming toward me. They couldn’t say anything underwater. They didn’t have to.
I hurried with my Golem to take down the boulders. One by one, the rocks moved and crumbled to the other side, opening a small pathway. The ladies all began doing their best to tear the rocks down. If my lungs were burning, the women had to be struggling just as bad as me.
There was no stopping now. If we didn’t get through, all of us would be gone. And none of them had the benefit of Zion to resurrect them.
But just when I thought I’d taken my last gasp, one last Rock Burst blew a hole through the cave-in and gave us enough room to swim through.
We pushed ourselves as hard as we could then swam up toward the surface where the light was shining.
“Ahhhh!” A deep gasp filled my lungs as my head popped out of the water. The others all breathed just as hard as I did… but they were breathing.
We crawled out of the water and onto the stones to finish filling our lungs.
“I think I’ve had enough swimming for the day,” Lyra sighed.
“What happened?” I said.
“Whatever you did caused a cave-in,” Rhiannon said. “The stones came down and blocked the way back. The only way to avoid getting buried was to swim after you.”
“No way back…”
“We might be stuck here but at least we drained the cave and Nameno’s getting his water,” Lyra said. “In the end, it was all worth it.” She rolled her eyes.
I chuckled and helped her up to her feet. “There’s no way back, which means we’ll have to find a new way forward.”
“Nameno said this water flows into a waterfall where they collect it,” Zafina said. “All we have to do is follow the path and we will find our way out.”
“You hear that, Lyra? That’s called optimism.”
“And Nameno’s still a raider,” Lyra said. “But I’ll follow your lead, Virgil.”
We gathered ourselves then headed down the path. The first thing I noticed was how the path moved into an incline. If we weren’t climbing out of the cave, at least we weren’t getting any deeper.
Another few minutes of walking and we came upon another empty room. This one was different though, with more water surrounding us than there was ground to stand on.
I looked at my feet and saw the water splashing on me. “Hmm… The water level is still rising. There must be another cave-in blocking the flow.”
“I suggest we search for ourselves where the cave-in is,” Rhiannon said.
“So much for having enough swimming,” Lyra sighed.
“That sounds like a good plan,” I said. “Hopefully moving more of these rocks out of the way won’t cause the ceiling to collapse on us. At least then, I’ll be able to carry all of you out—”
Before I could finish, something grabbed my ankle. It happened so hard and fast, I didn’t have time to brace myself. It wrapped around me completely and I fell hard on my back against the stone floor. My head was in a daze and my vision doubled for a moment.
“Virgil!” Rhiannon rushed by my side and slashed at whatever it was that grabbed my ankle.
I looked just in time to see something recede into the water. It was long and white, covered in a slimy sheen. Some long tendril or tentacle. All of the images of what it could possibly be connected to started popping up in my head.
“That better not be what I think it is…” I never did get what I wanted most of the time though.
Another tentacle began to rise from the water with the same slick shine as the one Rhiannon stabbed. Then another appeared. Then another. Then another. It kept going until there were more than ten of them.
“I thought an octopus only has eight tentacles…” I summoned a Light Clone by my side and immediately fired a Radiant Beam at one of the tendrils. “Let ‘em have it!”
Lyra fired flaming arrow after flaming arrow to keep the tentacles at bay. Rhiannon danced around another that tried to wrap around her waist before slashing at it and making it recede into the water. Zafina stood her ground and let loose with a flamethrower to avoid getting surrounded.
Along with my mimic, I didn’t have any trouble holding the tentacles back.
BANG!
The entire room shook and a black cloud of energy formed near the ceiling.
“Now what?” I muttered.
Another burst of the thick green and black snakes began raining down.
“Zafina!” I yelled.
The Mana Seer turned her flames up, scorching the snakes before they landed on us. Instead, a shower of Mana orbs littered the ground.
But the room kept shaking with another rumble as the ceiling began to come down. Just realizing it now, the water was nearing my knees.
“Something is blocking this room from draining,” Rhiannon said. “And I do not believe it is any of the rocks.”
I looked up at the ceiling continuing to come down. “Not yet anyway… There’s only one way out of this and I’m pretty sure whatever is down there is stopping us from getting through.”
Another tentacle lashed at my head, the impact hard enough to make me stumble back. I summoned a Black Viper to attack the tentacle. It sunk its fangs into the slippery scales, forcing the tendril back into the water.
“We can’t keep this up!” Lyra yelled. “It’s like there are a thousand arms connected to… whatever’s down there!”
“Then I guess I’d better go take care of it. Rhiannon, on me!”
I jumped into the water with the Mana Dancer splashing behind me. The sight of all the tendrils twisting over the surface of the water was frightening enough but seeing all of them moving around underneath the water was like a National Geographic film I didn’t want to be a part of. The tentacles writhing around each other seemed endless, twisting around like and endless piles of thick spaghetti. Eating these things was the last thing I was thinking about though.<
br />
Rhiannon cut her way through the tendrils while I used my Radiant Beam like a laser. We swam through the water, searching for where all of the tendrils were coming from. When we found it, there was a part of me wishing we hadn’t.
A giant mass of white flesh in the shape of a giant sphere rested on the ground. Just the texture of its slimy skin was sickening enough but the giant white eyeball was the stuff you’d only see in nightmares. The thing was bigger than my whole body, with thick red veins running toward a red pupil. And when it shifted its pupil toward me, I knew I was in for it.
I immediately fired a Radiant Beam right at the creature’s eye, forcing it shut. The entire room began to shake around me with more rocks falling in the water.
“Rhiannon!” I shouted as loud and hard as I could through the water.
The Mana Dancer moved into a dash right for her target. The water resistance wasn’t enough to slow her down. She twisted like a torpedo, her Mana dagger slicing through all of the tentacles trying to converge on her like hundreds of outstretched arms.
I cut through as many of the tendrils as I could with my Radiant Beam as Rhiannon neared the creature’s eye. As soon as it opened back up, Rhiannon reared back. I turned my Radiant Beam on her dagger. It wouldn’t be as strong without Zafina firing on it, but that didn’t stop Rhiannon from digging her dagger hard into the beast’s eye.
A roar echoed through the water loud enough for me to hear. It shook violently, sending a wave toward me and more rocks crumbling down into the water.
Rhiannon didn’t budge though as she kept digging her dagger into it. I swam down closer and joined her, firing a Radiant Beam right into its pupil. Black blood spilled from its wounds, floating in the water like ink. The pungent stink of the creature filled my nostrils. I could taste it as the water got into my mouth. But I held my position next to Rhiannon as we continued to attack the creature.
My lungs were aching for air but I didn’t stop. Rhiannon’s face began to redden and I knew she was close to passing out. Still, she furrowed her brow with the only fury she knew. Nothing could stop her except for me.
I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her away as the creature continued to writhe against us. I kept swimming toward the surface of the water. The longer I swam, the more I noticed how much the surface had risen. The ground we were just standing on was completely submerged.