“I felt the same energy in this one—only much more potent. There’s a reason a relatively new and inexperienced mownworm colony is thriving here. Judging by the hive’s size, it looks fresh, newly formed. Creatures like this have a natural balance between their numbers and the hive’s scale. But here? There’s something off. The hive is way too small for the swarm of mownworms we encountered. I’d bet anything that this energy source is behind it.”
His ancestor paused, the weight of his words settling before he continued.
“I won’t stop you if you want to go. But understand, an energy source this powerful could let you open—or, better yet, create—at least one more maradin. No, scratch that, multiple maradins, in one go. The decision, however, is yours.”
After this, his ancestor fell silent, leaving only a heavy stillness between them.
In truth, the choice wasn’t nearly as hard for Alexander as it might seem. On one side was the reward: the chance to seize new maradins, to add their strength to his own. And the risk? Death. But then, death was already waiting for him back in the city, lurking behind accusations of murder. So really, what was there to lose? It wasn’t like this was a guaranteed death sentence, after all.
In fact, it might be the perfect opportunity to strike. If his ancestor’s whispers were true, the queen was out scouring the lands, hunting him with relentless fury—which meant that the power source lay unguarded, ripe for the taking. Maybe the best time for taking it.
Alexander made his way though the cavern, “so what are this monewarms, do they have any weakness i should know about? Or more importantly is there more variant of them.? And ....”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa… hold your horses!” The voice in his head sounded almost amused. “I said ‘this kind of creature’—meaning insect-like monsters that behave as a colony. I’m seeing this variant for the first time myself. And listen, it’s not like I was some nerd like you, cataloging every creepy-crawly. Even if these things did exist back in my day, I wouldn’t have had a clue.
“Variant?”
At first glance, the cavern had seemed enormous, its shadows stretching endlessly in every direction. But as Alexander took a few cautious steps forward, he realized it wasn’t as vast as it appeared. Just ahead, a towering rock wall jutted straight up, slicing the cavern like a barrier of stone. The wall was around 15 feet high, sheer and rough, with jagged edges breaking off where it met a ledge above. From there, the cavern continued, winding onward at a higher level.
The walls—stretching high on all sides—were dotted with clusters of small, blue, glowing mushrooms, their soft light scattered here and there like faint stars. But the ceiling was a different story. There, the mushrooms were packed so densely they formed a shimmering blanket of blue, transforming the stone overhead into a radiant, otherworldly night sky.
Each mushroom along the walls and ceiling was bound to the rock by thick, gnarled roots, like the ancient tendrils of a massive tree. They looked sturdy, woven deep into the stone itself, as if they’d been there for centuries. Alexander didn’t doubt for a second that they could hold his weight.
“Yes, variant,” the voice echoed in his mind, a touch of sarcasm in its tone, “all the insect-like creatures here are part of the same empire, or colony… whatever you want to call it. You’ll figure it out one day—when you reach space.”
Reaching the rock wall covered in thick clusters of mushrooms, Alexander carefully tested them with his hand. After making sure they could support his weight, he began his ascent, fingers gripping into the soft, spongy caps as he climbed upward.
“Do you think that could ever happen?” Alexander asked with a hint of wonder, though he kept his tone light. “Me… going to space, I mean?”
A dry, mocking voice echoed in his mind—the voice of his ancestor.
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“Did you ever think you’d kill three human beings and survive the pursuit of a thirty-foot-long centipede?” his ancestor retorted, the words laced with a familiar bite.
Alexander gave a breathless laugh, though his fingers tightened on the mushrooms.
Though Alexander lost the argument, it still brought a small smile to his face.
“Hey, around the time the queen was about to attack me, before everything started shaking, I felt something in my chest, like something was rising…”
Alexander trailed off, his focus shifting to the wall before him. It was only about 15 feet high, so he managed to scale it quickly. But when he reached the top and took in the sight before him, a wave of indescribable frustration hit him. Beyond the climb, the cavern abruptly ended just 10 feet further in.
“What the fuck!” he muttered, exasperation spilling into his voice.
A new fear prickled at the back of his mind. On one hand, he questioned whether he’d even be able to get out of this place; it was a nagging doubt, one he tried not to focus on but couldn’t quite shake. On the other hand, time was slipping through his fingers—he couldn’t waste a single second. The queen wouldn’t search for him forever, and he needed to find that power source before she moved on.
Alexander frantically looked around. As he was on the upper area, it was easier to scan his surroundings. From this vantage point, the place looked almost like a domed cave, but the emphasis was on the word almost.
Alexander swiped through the whole area three or four times, and though there were many cracks, there was no exit.
“Hey, wait,” his ancestor yelled out in his mind as he was scanning one last time.
“Go there,” he said, and Alexander felt a mental nudge toward a mossy rock, one of many scattered in the area below.
Now that he noticed it, there was something shiny there, but it was hard to spot, as everyone’s vision would be drawn to the glowing mushrooms on the ceiling and the surrounding walls.
Alexander felt the question bubble up—why? But he quickly shoved it down. It didn’t matter. With a resigned sigh, he jumped down.
The instant he landed, he knew it was a mistake. He managed a superhero landing—knees bent, fist to the ground, looking every bit the part—but pain shot up his legs, sharp and unforgiving, making him grit his teeth. A second later, the pain seemed to deepen, settling into his bones with a fierce ache that refused to fade.
He could practically hear his ancestor’s laughter echoing in his mind, barely restrained, as though he was holding it back with every ounce of strength he had.
“Fuck you,” Alexander muttered internally, clenching his jaw as he pushed himself upright and started moving. So much for his constitution; it might’ve been high, but apparently, not that high. Or maybe his body was just too bruised and battered to care. Either way, his joints protested every step, reminding him of just how rough this journey was turning out to be.
As Alexander reached the moss-covered rock, he crouched down, eyes narrowing as he examined the curious objects nestled in its surface. They looked like something caught between a crystal and a hardened, transparent gel.
“What… is this?” Alexander murmured, his voice laced with intrigue.
“Oh, damn, boy! You’re lucky,” his ancestor’s voice rang out with a mix of awe and excitement.
“Lucky? Seriously? Again?” Alexander replied, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, come on. Stop being so nitpicky. Do you even realize what you’ve found? This is a treasure! These alone could cover the costs of you coming here” the voice said, sounding almost exasperated.
“So, you still haven’t told me what they are,” Alexander pressed, mentally rolling his eyes. He leaned closer, picking up each piece, one by one. They came free easily, not too deeply embedded in the rock.
All told, there were four of them, each varying in size and shape, but all small enough to fit neatly into Alexander’s palm—not that big.
“These are called Miravine. And these four should be enough to cover all the expenses for this trip of yours this time.”
Alexander was shocked. These four pebbles were that valuable? “This is the information you start with, man.”
Now that that was out of the way, he needed to find a way out of this cavern.
Fifteen minutes later, Alexander had checked almost the entire cavern twice, mainly to find an exit and also to see if he could find more of those crystals. And as luck would have it, he failed on both fronts.
There were no other crystals apart from those four, and his ancestor said even that was rare in this environment, as it needed far more intensity of poison to form. And yes, the place was filled with poison—that meant he needed to get out as soon as possible. According to his ancestor, if his constitution were only at 1, he would already be sick.
And as for a way out—there was simply none. Well, there was a web of cracks, some of them deep, but none that led out of the cavern.
“Sigh…”
Alexander sighed; it seemed, in the end, he had to go along with his ancestor’s plan. So he made his way to one of the corners of the cavern. As he approached a crack in the wall, he noted its width and depth. Was it wide? Yes. Was it deep? Yes. But was there no other crack wider and deeper than this? Yes, yes there were.
But after some prodding into each crack, his ancestor told him this was the best option. So Alexander stood in front of it, took a deep breath, and then raised his gigantic axe overhead.
Taking a deep breath, Alexander planted his feet, squaring his stance. He stood before the rock, lifting his massive axe over his head until his arms strained with its weight. The air around him grew dense, thick with tension, and he felt his muscles coil, each one drawn taut as he channeled every ounce of his strength.
And with a powerful yell, he swung.
Bang!
The clash of steel against stone thundered through the cavern, a shockwave of sound that echoed like an explosion. The force of the blow reverberated through him, traveling down his arms and into his core, leaving his muscles trembling from the impact.
But as the dust settled, his heart sank. Not a single crack marred the surface of the rock. Frustration bubbled up within him, threatening to spill over as the stone remained stubbornly unbroken, seemingly mocking his effort.