Vanbrook managed to slap a spear aside with his shield, but his luck would run out shortly. Beside him, Raivyn struggled with what appeared to be the mother of all headaches and Darvik stood dodging the incoming spears.
“What do we do here, Vanbrook!?” shouted Darvik.
“I don’t know!” Vanbrook shot back. “Are these your people?”
“Wha- no! These guys aren’t Koomites,” answered Darvik, deflecting a spear with his saber. “At least, I don’t think they are.”
“Well, maybe you can talk to them anyway, since you worship the same monster,” said Vanbrook. He parried a blow from a sword-wielding Kooans who’d gotten close enough to try their luck.
“SHUT UP!” shouted Darvik. “I get that you hate me, now can you just do it quietly while we fight for our lives!?”
Vanbrook sneered but said nothing, drawing his pistol and firing at the oncoming horde. The blast was an unfamiliar and unwelcome sound, and the horde scattered.
“I don’t know how long they’ll take to form up and come back at us, but I don’t want to wait around to find out,” said Vanbrook. “Raivyn, can you move?”
He looked down at her, she had curled up on the ground and was whimpering softly.
“RAI!” he shouted.
Darvik looked around. “They’re regrouping, Vanbrook! Maybe shoot at them again?”
Vanbrook wasn’t paying attention, totally absorbed with Raivyn’s struggles. Darvik considered trying to grab Vanbrook’s pistol, but that seemed unlikely to go smoothly. He rushed the group, screaming as he went.
***
The misty black world had descended over Raivyn again. She turned to face Koo L’Koom. She was just so tired. A red wave gathered before her and rushed forward. Raivyn closed her eyes and relaxed.
She woke up looking up into Vanbrook’s face once again. It was full of concern, the deep, dark eyes looking intently into hers. She felt foolish that his eyes seemed to command her full attention, given the situation.
“Rai!” he exclaimed again. “You’re okay?”
“I guess,” she said, smiling up at Van. Then her brow furrowed as she remembered where they were, and she pushed herself up to look past Vanbrook. “Woah, we gotta help Darvik!”
She stood up and ran up next to Darvik, pushing the enemy back with a series of telekinetic bursts. Vanbrook fired into the horde again.
“About time!” shouted Darvik.
Vanbrook growled.
The enemy scattered once again, the presence of a psychic and the deadly, cacophonic weapon proving too much for them.
“Come on, let’s go!” said Darvik, turning to run down the slope of the scale. The others followed behind him, eager to put some distance between themselves and the enemy.
The scale they were now climbing down was striated with deep valleys, and the three companions ran down one of these valleys towards the base.
"I don't like the lay of the land here," said Raivyn, shaking her head. "A handful of those hostile Kooan spearmen could pop up over the ridge above us and we'd be cooked. It wasn't so bad before but now the valley walls are taller than us."
"Well, the walls are too steep for us to climb," said Vanbrook. "So all we can really do is keep moving."
They continued to make their way down the valley as quickly as they were able. The nature of the descent seemed to flux over time. Sometimes it felt like walking downhill, other times it felt treacherously steep. Occasionally it felt nearly flat.
"Man, I'm getting vertigo," said Vanbrook. "I feel like I'm on a sailboat or something. The ground keeps… shifting."
"I think it's Koo L'Koom's 'swimming,'" said Raivyn. “The gravitational forces we feel shift with his movements.”
"Oh, right, we're on a fish," said Vanbrook, making a face.
The valley deepened and narrowed until the three travelers had to walk in single file. Raivyn took the lead, followed by Darvik, then Vanbrook. She watched the ridges nervously, but she wasn't picking up on any nearby sapient life forms, just a few small animal minds going about their business, whatever it may be. At length the valley's walls began to slope down, and a few hours later they found themselves on an open plain scattered with stones, yellow pools and tall fungal life.
"Where did the stones come from?" asked Vanbrook.
Raivyn paused, considering. "Asteroids?" she guessed.
"That makes a certain kind of sense," said Vanbrook. "I wish Rec and Doc were here with all the gear. They'd be having a field day."
"Hey, I think these are breadcaps," said Raivyn, indicating a group of puffy red fungus. "But I don't like the idea of guessing with unfamiliar fungus."
Darvik walked over, plucked a mushroom and took a bite out of it. Raivyn looked at him in curious disgust.
"What?" asked Darvik. "If I die or start hallucinating you know not to do it again."
"Speaking of seeing things, do I need to hit you with another dose?" Vanbrook asked, pulling out the injector Trebor had given him.
"Nah, I feel fine," said Darvik dismissively. "I still don't think I'm really psychic. They would have caught it when I was in school. Felt like we did those screenings once a week."
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"You have some level of latent ability," said Raivyn. "And if you don't want to face Koo L'Koom I suggest you take another shot."
Darvik shrugged. "I'll have to sleep after. Best wait until we make camp, assuming we get a chance to do so."
"Let's get to the base of the scale," said Raivyn. "It'll be the warmest and most protected there. We'll get a few hours rest then climb the next ledge."
When they arrived at the base of the scale a few hours later, they slept in restless shifts, letting Darvik take the last watch after he took his medicated nap. Vanbrook got up from his tossing and turning on the ground, frustrated by the dim light.
“I’d love to see some sunshine, or even a lightbulb,” he whined. “I’m glad we got our weapons back but I miss the rest of my kit.”
“But hey, at least we have something different for breakfast,” said Raivyn, handing him a half a breadcap.
“Oh, we had to travel all the way to the great mythical cosmic shark to find your sense of humor, did we?” chuckled Vanbrook.
“Don’t be a jerk,” said Raivyn with a light laugh.
“You two done?” asked Darvik in a surly voice as he rose from where he’d been sleeping. “Because we’ve got a lot of climbing to do.”
“Alright, fair enough,” said Raivyn.
They walked up to the base of the cliff that made up the back end of one of Koo L’Koom’s massive scales. The scale was angled so that the rear side of it was a short distance up off the ground, but not so high that the travelers couldn’t reach it to pull themselves up. The cliff face resembled layers of shale packed together, offering plenty of foot and hand holds. However, the jutting layers were sometimes razor sharp, and other times looser than they appeared, and everything rocked and swayed rhythmically as Koo L’Koom swam through the aether, so the climbers were constantly on their guard.
Raivyn, being the smallest of the three, went first. Any footholds that would work for her were guaranteed to be in reach for the much taller duelists, but they were not guaranteed to support their weight. A few hours of careful climbing got them to the top of the cliff, and Raivyn crested the edge and sighed heavily. The Drowned had been waiting for them.
“Well, boys,” she said. “We’re surrounded.”
“Koo L’Koom. Koo L’Koom,” came the chant from above their position.
“Oh, come on!” shouted Vanbrook. “Raivyn, what’s our play?”
“Improvise!” she shouted, blasting a T-bolt into their ranks.
Vanbrook and Darvik shimmied to opposite sides, angling up and hoping to flank the enemy. Raivyn scattered the closest of the hostile Kooans with her psychic assault, but they were regrouping quickly this time.
What do you even want!? demanded Raivyn.
To kill! hissed one of the gathered Kooans. We are the Drowned, those who have been given over to the wave of Koo L’Koom himself! We will kill all others in his name!
Raivyn used the moment of calm as the Kooan leader spoke his piece to hoist herself up. And when everyone else is dead? she asked.
One of the Kooans, who held a great sword, unceremoniously decapitated one of his fellows. Then we will kill each other!
The Drowned horde erupted in what may have been laughter or a war cry and fell on Raivyn. Vanbrook and Darvik crested the cliff and tried to fight their way through from either side of the gathered horde. Vanbrook’s revolver made short work of more than a few enemies and the two swordsmen cut paths through the enemy as they went. Raivyn had taken a defensive stance, trying to keep the Kooans back with a telekinetic shield, but she was having trouble maintaining it. The Drowned captain with the greatsword slashed wickedly at the shield, but Raivyn dropped it and rolled, letting the captain swing his sword through thin air as she pulled her pistol. She managed to squeeze off a shot but missed the captain, who swung his sword backhand, catching the side of Raivyn’s face.
“Rai!” shouted Vanbrook. He redoubled his efforts, kicking one of the Drowned off the cliff edge and shooting another point blank. No matter how many he killed, there seemed to be another enemy ready to take the place of the last one.
Raivyn struggled to open her eyes as she threw up a shield to avoid being run through. She could feel the impact of blades and clubs against her defenses, but she prayed for the strength to hold out until Vanbrook got to her.
Darvik slashed through more of the Drowned horde, and managed to get the attention of the sword-wielding captain. The Drowned seemed captivated by the sight of their leader engaged in a one-on-one battle, and Vanbrook took advantage of the distraction to slip in and kill the Drowned who were still focused on breaking Raivyn’s defenses.
Though his lungs burned, desperate for more oxygen than the atmosphere could provide, Darvik fought skillfully against his opponent. The captain relied on bullying and raw strength, which Darvik could match, but lacked any refined sword fighting technique. Darvik waited patiently, though not long, for the inevitable error and took full advantage of it, skewering the Drowned captain through the heart. He fell still.
The rest of the Drowned had finally had enough and fled once more. Vanbrook holstered his revolver and knelt by Raivyn. Darvik sheathed his sword and walked down the incline a bit to give the two space.
“Let me see, Rai,” said Vanbrook, gently holding her bloody face in his hands. She was trembling with pain. Vanbrook knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t be unless she was in true agony.
“Alright,” he said quietly. “You’re going to be in pain awhile, but it’s not as bad as it probably feels.”
“Vanbrook, I lost an eye, didn’t I?” she asked through gritted teeth. One eye blinked hard, the other was a bloody mess.
“I think so,” said Vanbrook honestly.
She clutched her head, reeling suddenly.
“Not now!” she moaned.
Vanbrook watched in horror as Raivyn collapsed to the ground, once again wrestling with the monstrous presence of the creature whose back they were hiking across. He pulled the injector out of his breast pocket out of impulse, then stood staring, unsure what to do.
“Raivyn, I need your help!” he cried out.
It sounded so selfish when he said it out loud–she was clearly in a worse place than he was–but it was true. He needed her help. He needed her.
“Raivyn, where are you?” he asked.
Though it was in his voice, the end of the question sounded as though it was spoken by someone else as Vanbrook found himself falling through dark, red-lit mist.
The falling sensation ended and, though he didn’t feel any impact, he was standing on a dark plane next to Raivyn. She was facing a massive, oppressive presence of swirling red lights and shadow. Everytime Vanbrook thought he caught a glimpse of it, the thing seemed to slip away.
“What are you doing here, Van?” asked Raivyn in surprise.
“I- I was thinking about injecting you,” he answered. “You know, with the T-blockers.”
“You didn’t!” said Raivyn, turning on him.
“No! No!” he cried defensively. “I- I asked you for help, then I found myself here! I can’t do this stuff by myself! I need you, Raivyn.”
She smiled at him despite herself. “Alright. Let’s just get out of here, okay?”
“Alright,” he said, drawing his saber and facing the presence down grimly.
“That won’t work, Van,” said Raivyn. “You have to–how did D’Jarric describe it?–let it wash over you. If you fight it you’ll… drown. Like the Kooans.”
Vanbrook nodded. “Will you catch me if I fall?”
“No, that’s the Progenitor’s job,” warned Raivyn. “Look, I don’t know if you’re even technically… here. But you have to do this as though you are. Trust the Progenitor.”
Vanbrook swallowed. Had he ever truly trusted anything outside himself before? He turned to the presence and closed his eyes, determined to find out if he could.