by Clayton Wood
Ariana stared at that peak, then lowered her gaze back to the path. It led to a giant hole in the center of the dome, the gaping maw of a cave. Ariana felt a chill run through her, and realized beyond any doubt that this must be the cave Petra had told them about. The one she'd been leading them toward before the Chosen had attacked.
The entrance to Sabin's lair.
Ampir led them toward it, the crunch, crunch of his black boots on the scattered pebbles underfoot never wavering in their steady rhythm. Ariana could feel the eyes of the Behemoths and the Chosen staring down at them, countless silent sentinels watching their every move.
If they wanted to attack, she thought, they already would've.
So why hadn't they?
The end of the wide path drew near, the mouth of the cave now only some fifty feet away. The entrance to the massive domed hill was at least fifty feet high and a hundred feet wide, large enough to send an army of men through. She felt Kyle squeezing her hand, and she turned to him. His face was awfully flushed, and he was taking deep, gulping breaths.
“What's wrong?” Ariana asked. Kyle stopped walking, and let go of her hand, bending over and resting his palms on his thighs. He shook his head.
“Can't...breathe,” he gasped.
“Ampir!” Ariana warned, pulling on the Battle-Runic's arm. Ampir stopped, turning to face Kyle. Then he turned back to the cave entrance. Ariana felt a powerful thrumming in her mind's eye, and suddenly the air around them burst into a fine cloud of black dust. The dust fell slowly to the ground, and Kyle's complexion began to clear, his breath coming much easier.
“Thanks,” Kyle mumbled.
“What happened?” Ariana asked. Kyle stood straight up, grabbing her hand in his own.
“He says it's carbon dioxide,” Kyle answered. “The cave is filled with it.”
“What's carbon...whatever you said?” Ariana pressed.
“Poison gas,” Kyle explained. “I think it was in the other cave too,” he added. “Ampir turned it into oxygen and carbon,” he added. “That's the black dust.”
“Oh,” Ariana said, not really understanding. “So it's safe now?” Kyle nodded.
“I think so.”
Ampir turned forward again, continuing his steady stride into the mouth of the domed cave. The shadows cast by the gaping maw swallowed him whole, his footsteps echoing throughout the cavern beyond. Kyle and Ariana glanced at each other, then followed behind the man, hand-in-hand.
* * *
Kyle felt a chill as he stepped out of the sunlight streaming into the wide canyon, crossing over into the shadows thrown by the gray and brown stone arch that marked the entrance to Sabin's lair. He shivered, squeezing Ariana's hand as they passed through. She squeezed him back, giving him a weak smile. He knew what they were both thinking.
This was it.
Kyle sneezed as he breathed in the musty air of the cave, black dust still hanging in the air, swirling in the gentle breeze blowing out of the cave entrance and back into the canyon. The cave was enormous, even taller and wider than the entrance had been. It was also pitch black, the sunlight making it only a few yards in. Ampir continued to walk forward into that utter blackness, only visible due to the blue magic of his armor's runes. Though Kyle could see the magic even in the darkness, that magic cast no actual light on Ampir's surroundings. Every step forward was like walking into the abyss of space, a leap of faith that there would be more ground beyond. Kyle didn't dare slow down or stop, knowing that Ampir would almost certainly leave them behind if he did. But with each step Kyle took, fear grew in his heart, tightening its grip on him. He squeezed Ariana's hand – hard – and was about to create a magical light when Ampir stopped.
Kyle felt a powerful vibration in his skull then, reverberating through his bones. He saw blue light burst from his limbs, outlining them in the pitch blackness. The light vanished, and suddenly Kyle felt the bitter chill of the cold mountain air vanish, replaced by a comfortable warmth. He even felt lighter somehow, and the aching in his legs and back from the climb up the mountain were gone. He heard Ariana take a sharp breath in, and felt something cool and hard in his right hand, where her hand had been seconds ago. He let go, taking a step back.
A light appeared from high above, a single white globe some thirty feet above their heads. Kyle squinted against the sudden brightness, blinking rapidly, then opened his eyes wider as they adjusted.
They were standing in a tunnel over a hundred feet wide, the walls curving upward to the roughly-hewn ceiling above. Ampir was standing before Kyle and Ariana, facing them. Kyle turned to Ariana, and then blinked, staring at her in disbelief. Where she'd moments ago been covered from head to toe in her Reaper uniform, now she was clad in black, metallic armor. Her armor looked awfully similar to Ampir's, though much simpler in its appearance, and with no blue runes flashing on its surface. He realized that Ariana was staring back at him with a similar expression. He looked down, and saw that he too was wearing black metal armor, identical to Ariana's. He gasped, staring at his hands. They were covered in metal gauntlets, but he couldn't feel the weight of them; it was as if he weren't wearing anything at all. He touched his armored belly, and was surprised to feel the cool metal of it under his fingertips.
“What the...” he began, then raised his fingers to his face. He could feel the warm skin of his lips and cheek as if his hands were bare...as if they weren't covered in thick metal! He saw Ariana do the same, bringing her right gauntlet to her face, her eyes widening in disbelief.
“I can feel everything!” she exclaimed. She turned to Ampir then. “What is this?”
Battle-Runic armor, Kyle heard Ampir's voice in his mind say. He glanced at Ariana, then relayed the message.
“Like his?” she asked, pointing at Ampir, who gave a wry smirk.
Not even close.
“He says...” Kyle began.
“I think I get it,” Ariana interrupted. She flexed and extended her fingers, staring at them in wonder. Kyle saw Ampir turn around, resuming his trek deeper into the massive underground tunnel.
Forward.
“Come on,” Kyle urged, grabbing Ariana's gauntleted hand. He felt the cool metal surrounding her fingers, and once again marveled at the sensation. If he closed his eyes, he'd have no idea that he was wearing a suit of armor at all. Indeed, each step he took was oddly effortless, almost as if his suit was reading his mind, performing each motion without the need of his muscles.
“Oh wow,” he heard Ariana exclaim, and turned to see her smiling as she walked. She shook her head at him. “Are you feeling this?”
“I know, right?” Kyle replied, grinning back at her. “I feel like Ampir!”
No you don't.
“Yeah, yeah,” Kyle grumbled. Ariana looked at him questioningly. “He says I don't,” he muttered, feeling his cheeks heat up. Ariana laughed, bumping her shoulder into his lightly. He felt absolutely none of the impact, though he could feel the metal on the skin of his shoulder. Which was strange, because he was still wearing a shirt. He saw Ariana frown, and saw her put a hand to her belly, her eyes widening.
“Are we naked under here?” she exclaimed. Kyle mirrored her frown, putting a hand to his own belly, feeling cool metal over the skin of his bellybutton. Kyle waited for Ampir to answer, but the Battle-Runic said nothing. Ariana turned to Kyle, who ran a hand down his own torso. While his hand felt the smooth metal of his armor, the skin of his chest and belly felt the metal of his gauntlets. It was a very strange sensation.
“Uh...” Kyle mumbled, his cheeks burning. “I guess so.” Ariana seemed none too pleased with this answer, and immediately covered her unmentionables with her hands. Which was, of course, entirely unnecessary.
The floor of the tunnel dipped suddenly, slanting downward at a slight angle. Ampir's light followed them from far above, allowing them to see a hundred or so feet in all directions. Kyle stared at the ceiling far above, at the long, broad stalactites hanging down from it. Drops of water fell from t
he tips of the stalactites onto the rock below, making the ground slick with moisture. Kyle's feet, encased in his Battle-Runic armor, didn't slip once.
“Look,” Ariana whispered. She pointed forward and to the right, at the upper portion of the tunnel wall ahead of them. Kyle followed her finger, spotting something dark and spindly on the face of the gray and brown stone. It was long, its surface shiny and black, and it hugged the tunnel wall like a twisting vein, its end tapering to a point. Kyle looked at the left wall, and saw a few more of the things, twisting and branching across it.
“What are those?” Kyle asked.
“I don't know,” Ariana replied. As they continued forward, the branches grew steadily thicker, and there were many more of them. They were easily thicker than Kyle's torso now, and looked like smooth tree branches clinging to the walls and ceiling.
“Weird,” Kyle murmured.
“Watch out,” Ariana warned, pointing down. Kyle looked at the floor, realizing that he'd nearly stepped on a similar black branch that clung to the ground to his left. He veered away from it, only to find more of the branches on the ground ahead. He stepped around them, but it wasn't long before the branches became so dense that the floor was barely visible beneath them. In fact, the entire tunnel was covered with them now, the walls, ceiling, and floor. They resembled thick black tubes here, row after row extending along the length of the tunnel, no longer branching out.
“What are these?” Kyle asked Ampir, who appeared entirely unconcerned by the thick black cords, as he was walking right on them. Kyle hesitated, then stepped on one of the things, and was surprised to find that it was rock-hard.
“They look like Reaper vines,” Ariana answered. “Don't they?”
“Kinda,” Kyle admitted. He saw Ariana crouch down and peer at the things. Then she stood back up.
“They are,” she confirmed. “They have the same bark.”
“They're huge,” Kyle muttered. The vines in Petra's flesh had been as small as veins; these were as big around as tree trunks. “I wonder if they're alive,” he added.
“If they are,” Ariana replied, “...they must make a ton of magic.”
“Yeah.”
The tunnel continued downward at a steeper angle, the rocky walls no longer visible underneath the massive Reaper vines. They walked down the tunnel without talking, the clunking of their boots echoing dully off of the walls. After a few minutes, the tunnel started to broaden, then abruptly opened up into a much larger cavern, whose surface was entirely covered with more black vines.
Ampir stopped suddenly, putting one hand up. Ariana and Kyle stopped behind him, and watched as his light continued forward far above their heads, growing brighter and brighter as it went. Suddenly it split into a dozen small globes, each as bright as the original, that shot out in all directions, lighting up the entire cavern. The cavern was enormous, larger than a football stadium. In the center of the cavern was a huge lake, its black surface absolutely still. Reaper vines converged on the lake on all sides, plunging into its depths; more vines crawled up the curved walls to the domed ceiling a hundred feet above their heads.
“What now?” Ariana asked. Kyle frowned, scanning the cavern, and realized that Ariana had a point. The cavern appeared to be a dead end; the only way in, and the only way out, was the tunnel they'd just come from. He turned to Ampir, who was still facing the lake. The man stepped forward, striding up to the edge of the lake, then paused, staring down at it. He crouched down, then reached out with his right hand, dipping his gauntleted fingers into the dark waters. Ripples shot outward with the disturbance, then faded away, leaving the surface of the lake still once again.
Kyle felt a vibration in his feet, and saw fine ripples form around the periphery of the lake. The vibrations intensified, the ripples growing larger and larger. A low bass sound echoed throughout the chamber, so deep and powerful that Kyle could feel it in his chest, his lungs vibrating like a drum. The surface of the lake began to ripple so violently that fine droplets of water shot up from its surface, all across the lake, forming a thick mist directly above its churning waters.
Everyone but Ampir took a step backward.
The center of the lake heaved upward then, a huge black dome rising above its surface. The thing was enormous, nearly fifty feet in diameter. Water streamed down its edges to the churning lake below with roar of a waterfall. Kyle took another step back, his hackles rising. He felt Ariana's hand grip his, and squeeze hard; with his Battle-Runic armor, he could feel the enormous pressure of her grip, but there was no pain.
She looked terrified.
“He's here!” she yelled, her voice barely audible. Kyle’s breath caught in his throat.
There, hovering above the roiling waters of the lake, was a monstrosity unlike anything he had ever seen. The slick black dome was only the top of it; below that were pale, bloated human heads, their necks embedded into the smooth black surface of the thing, lining its perimeter in a single horizontal row. Each head faced outward, a green diamond-shaped crystal embedded in its forehead, its swollen eyelids closed. Below them, a row of thin black spikes glistened menacingly, water dripping from their deadly points. Pure white crystals plunged downward from the bottom of the monstrosity, their facets gleaming in the light from above.
“Kyle!” Ariana warned, gripping his hand even tighter. She took a step back, then another.
The massive hovering disc began to rotate, the heads spinning slowly, water flying from the sharp spikes to spray across the lake below. Then the rotation slowed, until it stopped, a single head facing them.
Its eyes opened.
“AMPIR,” it said, its pale lips moving grotesquely, water spilling from its mouth. Its voice was impossibly deep, resonating throughout the cavern and chilling Kyle to the bone. He felt it in his mind as much as he heard it with his ears, and there was only one thing he felt as he heard it.
Terror.
Ampir stood before the thing, the runes on his armor flashing blue in random patterns, his feet planted firmly on the ground, his arms at his sides.
“Sabin,” he replied calmly.
The disembodied head stared down at Ampir, then turned its gaze to Kyle, then Ariana. Kyle shrank under its baleful glare, and it took everything he had not to turn and run.
“WELCOME,” the head boomed, that single word forcing the lake below to ripple violently.
“Doesn't feel that way,” Ampir replied coolly. The head glanced at Kyle and Ariana again.
“YOU COME ALONE.”
“Wrong,” Ampir retorted. He folded his arms across his broad chest. “Now if you don't put away your toys, I'm going to break them,” he warned. “And then you won't be able to play with them anymore.”
The head stared at him, its lips curling into a smirk. But it said nothing, its eyes closing. Then the entire monstrosity fell out of the air, slamming into the lake's surface with an ear-splitting boom. Water shot upward from the impact, sending a dark tidal wave forward toward them. Kyle cried out, letting go of Ariana's hand and turning to run. He felt cool water strike his back, felt the extreme force of its weight, but he did not budge from where he stood. Water shot forward around him, rising up to his knees, then slowly retreating back into the surface of the lake. Kyle paused, then turned around, facing the lake once again, just in time to see the slick black dome sinking beneath its surface. It stopped just before being fully immersed, and then started to move forward toward them. It stopped at the edge of the lake, its edge touching the black Reaper vines at the shore.
The churning waters calmed slowly, until its surface was only faintly rippling.
“Come on,” Ampir stated, stepping forward onto the dome. He walked up to its center, then turned and gestured for Kyle and Ariana to join him. Kyle hesitated, glancing at Ariana – who looked equally reticent – then grabbed her hand, stepping forward. Ariana walked at his side, and they both stepped from the Reaper vine floor to the slick surface of the dome. Kyle expected his feet to slip, but
again, his armor prevented it. He strode up the shallow dome easily, stopping at Ampir's side.
Then the dome began to descend into the water.
Kyle stepped back, grabbing onto Ampir's upper arm, and stared down at the water rushing up over the submerging dome toward them. The water receded suddenly, starting to rotate around the dome, forming a huge whirlpool around them. They continued to descend, the dome dropping below the lake's surface, walls of spinning water forming around it. They descended through that spiraling tunnel, the roar of the whirlpool deafening around them. Kyle looked upward, and saw the watery tunnel collapsing far above them, water gushing in from the sides to refill the void.
And then a black, Reaper vine-lined tunnel appeared around them, below the water.
Kyle did a double-take, then turned his gaze upward, seeing the water of the lake above him. It was as if the entire body of water had been suspended in the air by an invisible floor; the whirlpool collapsed entirely above their heads, the lake bottom reforming. Below it, this tunnel continued straight downward.
“What's holding it up?” Kyle asked, letting go of Ampir's arm.
“Magic,” Ampir answered.
“You don’t say,” Kyle mumbled. The dome descended steadily, the lake's bottom receding above. It passed beyond the reach of Ampir's lights – still glowing above their heads – and vanished in the darkness. Ariana squeezed Kyle's hand.
“I can feel him,” she whispered. Kyle nodded, squeezing hers back. He didn't have to ask who. Ariana's eyes unfocused, her grip relaxing. Then she snapped out of her trance, turning to Ampir. “He's everywhere,” she added, a mix of awe and fear in her voice. She brought her hands to her temples, closing her eyes.
“What's wrong?” Kyle asked. Ariana shook her head, opening her eyes.
“I can't keep up,” she replied. “He's thinking so many things at once, in so many different places.” She squeezed her eyes shut again, and grimaced. “I wish I could turn it off.”