by Clayton Wood
“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 the 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 be
low. 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.”
The tunnel began to widen as they continued downward, the walls still completely covered in thick Reaper vines. The dome slowed its descent, until it was barely moving. A sheer wall of the vines stood in front of them, and it was before this that the dome stopped. Ampir strode forward immediately, toward the edge of the dome, and Kyle and Ariana followed quickly behind. They stopped at the edge, and Kyle looked down, seeing the floor some twenty feet below. Or what seemed to be the floor; it was mostly white, with black specks moving about randomly on its irregular surface. He felt Ariana grip his arm.
“I don't like this,” she said, her voice tense. Ampir ignored her, leaping off of the edge of the dome. He dropped through the air toward the ground, and suddenly the floor below him formed a black circle, the white and black specks retracting to reveal Reaper vines covering the floor below. Ampir landed on the vines, then turned to look up at Ariana and Kyle.
“Come on,” Kyle urged, bending his knees to jump. Ariana pulled him back, shaking her head, her eyes locked on the floor below.
“I can't,” she protested, her voice rising in fear. She stepped back from the edge of the dome.
“What's wrong?” he asked.
“Those...things,” she answered, pointing to the white section of the floor. Kyle's eyebrows furrowed.
“What things?”
“The bugs,” she replied. Kyle stared at her in confusion, then took a closer look at the floor. He saw the same irregular white surface, black specks moving all over it. At first he thought the specks were what Ariana was talking about, but then he realized that he was mistaken. The white wasn't the floor...it was the bodies of millions upon millions of bugs crawling on the floor. Round, white-bodied bugs with tiny black heads crawling all over each other, forming a thick layer on top of the Reaper vines Ampir was standing on.
“Oh,” Kyle gasped. He knew where he'd seen those bugs before...crawling all over Ariana in the cave he'd rescued her from.
Come down.
Kyle looked at Ampir, still standing below, the white bugs giving him a wide berth. Kyle squeezed Ariana's hand.
“We have to jump,” he stated firmly. Ariana shook her head vehemently.
“No.”
“They won't hurt you,” Kyle insisted.
“No,” Ariana repeated. She backed up another step. Then she lurched forward without warning, toppling off of the edge of the dome and falling down to the floor twenty feet below. She landed flat on her back with a loud thump, not two feet from where Ampir stood. The bugs had parted under her just in time, leaving a few feet of bared Reaper vines around her. She scrambled to her feet, giving out a loud shriek and clutching onto Ampir's arm, pressing against his side. She stared in wide-eyed horror at the mass of bugs swarming on the floor around her.
Kyle took a steadying breath, then jumped off of the edge of the dome, feeling his stomach lurch as he fell toward the ground. He saw the bugs part under him, and then his feet slammed into the ground. He felt the force of the impact, but no pain, his knees barely bending. Ariana immediately disengaged from Ampir, rushing to Kyle's side and clinging to him with her incredible strength. Then she glared at Ampir.
“You did that!” she accused. Ampir smirked.
“They won't bug you,” he replied. Kyle would've smiled at the terrible pun, but Ariana was looking at him. He restrained himself, then realized that Ampir had spoken with his normal voice – Darius's voice – instead of speaking telepathically. He glanced at Ariana, but she hardly seemed to notice, her eyes still glued to the writhi
ng floor.
There was a sudden rush of air, and Kyle turned around, seeing the huge domed...thing...rising upward. It gained speed rapidly, shooting up into the tunnel in the ceiling far above, vanishing into the shadows there.
Let's go.
“Okay,” Kyle replied. Then he realized Ampir hadn't spoken aloud.
“Okay what?” Ariana asked. Ampir walked forward, to where the domed thing had been, and away from the sheer wall in front of Kyle and Ariana. The bugs avoided Ampir expertly, scurrying away from his feet before they had a chance to be crushed underneath. Kyle stepped forward as well, and the bugs treated him similarly. He heard Ariana take a deep breath in, and she stepped forward, still clinging to his arm. After a few dozen steps, she relaxed her grip a bit, clearly realizing that the bugs weren't going after her. Still, she stayed close to Kyle.
They came to a steep ramp angling down to a lower level of the cavern, and continued down it. The bugs parted before them, and Kyle noticed that their numbers were starting to dwindle as they went forward. The Reaper vines below were fading to a dark brown, the thick cords splitting into numerous smaller ones. A few yards ahead, a thick, white, gooey-looking substance covered these thinner cords, which transitioned from brown to a translucent white color. They looked like roots.
“What is that?” Ariana asked, staring at the slimy goop. Ampir said nothing, but the dozen lights levitating above his head expanded outward, brightening as they did so. Kyle saw more goo-covered Reaper vine roots in the distance, and then his eye caught something glinting at the edge of the wide circle of illumination Ampir's magical glowing orbs cast. Ampir stepped right into the goo, ignoring the squelching sound it made as it sucked at his boots, and Kyle followed suit, grimacing as he went. He could feel the slick, cool slime on the bottom of his feet, even through his boots, due to their strange magic. The sensation was revolting.
They trudged forward, and Kyle kept his attention on the glinting object in the distance. It was a facet of a white crystal jutting out of the goop, he realized. There were lots of them, each about the size of a man's fist, sitting in dense clusters between pockets of goo. Beyond this, there was an unbroken arc of white crystals. And perhaps five feet beyond this, Kyle saw rippling water...the edge of a pool. He followed Ampir to where the goo ended and the crystals began; the Battle-Runic stopped there, crouching down and staring, the crystals reflected in his visor. Kyle followed suit, not quite sure what he was doing; he saw fine white hair-like appendages sprouting from the Reaper vine roots and embedding themselves into tiny cracks in the crystals.