Colors swirled in an endless medley and floor became sky became wall. Light splattered around her like the world was a water-color painting and she was one of the paints, her senses overwhelmed like she’d plugged herself into an electric socket while a jet engine flew overhead. Louise kept her mouth shut, or at least she hoped it was her mouth. Gotta stay quiet. Gotta stay quiet. The world around her shattered and rebuilt only to break again, over and over until she feared she might go mad.
Then, suddenly as it began, it stopped. She collapsed to her knees, and it was only her arms wrapped about her stomach that stopped her from retching. When the urge to vomit up her lunch passed, she opened her eyes. A riot of colors still surrounded her, but not from the waypoint this time. Flowers of countless varieties, reds and blues, yellows and violets, and so many vines, all spiraled around her while sunlight flooded down.
Louise took a deep breath and scents of all sorts of flowers waged war with one another to fill her nostrils; They were in rows, yet mixed between those rows, with trees soaring high, trapped by the broken glass roof overhead. A greenhouse… but one abandoned and overgrown for countless years, trowels and shovels left to rust on the floor, each thick with yellow pollen.
This was the Overgrown Complex? It was beautiful.
"What in-"
A finger to her lips, followed by a quick shake of the head from Karah. "Just as dangerous,” she whispered. “Be quiet."
Louise came back to herself, and her shaking legs returned with it. Karah was right. As beautiful as the riot of color and greenery might be, this was a dangerous place. She swallowed, an all too audible sound to her ears.
Cray and Karah were already in motion, however. Cray’s eyes roved the entire room while Karah went to the waypoint itself, with the same crystals as the previous two waypoints somehow embedded within the ground, partially covered by leaves, while arrows radiated from it in several directions. The older girl studied those arrows and frowned, then turned to Cray and said, in that same whisper as before. “East, North, Southwest open.” Her eyebrows knit together, then she nodded. “East.” She drew an arrow pointing in the direction prescribed.
Okay, so I get the directions. That’s where we’re going, but why the arrows?
“Arrows show where the other Finders went,” Karah said softly. “We don’t want to step on their toes, so we go in a different direction and draw an arrow to show it. Now, did you activate the stopwatch?”
Louise blinked, then remembered the bulky analog device they’d given her and pulled it out of her inventory. Following the instructions they’d given her, she set it to two hours, only to get rewarded with a click.
Karah’s face darkened, but she didn’t raise her voice at all. Instead, she hissed, “Don’t forget it again. Two hours, no more. Track it and tell us when we’re close.”
Thwip, thwip. It took her a moment to understand until she saw faint wisps of smoke coming from the pistol in Cray's hands… and the large crimson mass upon the trunk of a thick oak tree. They were not alone.
Karah shoved her toward the slowly-vanishing corpse and she stepped forward, unsure. She glanced back to Cray, who flashed her a smile and thumbs up. ‘Loot it,’ he mouthed.
That was right, apart from the stopwatch, she had another role to play. Karah and Cray might handle the enemies, but she would observe their actions and grab the loot. Simple enough, she hoped.
Louise bit her lip and peered about, but no other creatures were close by, not now anyway. She tip-toed across exposed roots, so many they were akin to a forest. Every step shook and she stumbled once, but she eventually reached the body. Or rather, the small pile of items where the body once was. Scales, teeth and a plastic rectangle thing, like a video game console but dull and thin in coloration.
She hefted it in her hands. It was light given the size, and it was only when she turned it over that she recognized its shape. Ammo clip. Why would it be… no, not now. You have a job.
Touch one of the scales, just like they taught her... Add. A soft hum and the scales dissolved into motes of light while her inventory informed her she’d added Rainbow Scales.
Cray mimed a cheer while Karah nodded in approval. She’d done it!
A creak. Right. Behind. Her.
She froze, not daring to move.
"Skree!" A lizard-like creature leapt up from the flower rows. Gold, pink and blue, with winglike frills around its head, pretty in a way, but when it opened its mouth, inside was a row of needle-sharp teeth. 'Spine Spray' appeared over its head and dozens of little spikes erupted at her.
They slammed into her and buried themselves into shoulder, chest and side. Pain coursed through her… but less than she would have thought, given the countless needles that struck her. More like when she’d burnt herself on the stove at home: painful, but not impossible to focus. But how would she move around given the countless needles… not buried in her?
Skree! Before she could think any deeper, the lizard thing rocketed toward her, jaws wide and reeking of rotten meat.
Thwip! Its body shuddered to the side, then dissolved into a red blob, before a couple of sharp teeth clattered to the floor.
Cray’s pistol emitted a fresh trail of smoke.
Of course, she reminded herself, they’re protecting me.
But more cries echoed through the greenhouse and claws scrabbled against wood all around her. Death about to devour her whole.
Run. She bolted forward, but the clack of claws was right behind her. Gotta run. She nearly tripped upon another set of exposed roots but didn’t dare slow. Gotta escape.
“SKREEE-“
Wham!
One moment, Louise was alone with a horde of monsters upon her. The next, Karah was there, a fury with the force of a freight train. Three of the creatures fell in as many blows, but there had to be two-dozen others, perhaps more than that.
Still, Karah’s fists glowed yellow and Cray’s pistol disappeared into motes, replaced by a shotgun and machine pistol, then they got to work.
Wham. Bam. Kaboom! Louise saw movies before, with beautiful, graceful strikes, from two warriors so perfectly in sync that even a dance was insufficient to describe it.
This was nothing like that.
Karah threw one of the creatures onto the floor and stomped upon its back, then slammed another against a tree trunk and drove her knee deep into its belly. Both dissolved into masses of crimson, then Karah hammered the next foe, then the next, a thug in a lavender jacket. Cray was no better. Some of the shots went nowhere near their targets, but every moment, he dodged, shot or reloaded. No fancy shots, no precise aim, just the spew of bullets and shells like water from a hose, each with a great crack like thunder.
But their foes fell one after the other, blades of grass tossed into a weedwhacker, then thrown out in dissolving masses of red. More enemies came, drawn by the battle, only to join the carnage. It was butcher’s work, yet strangely… enthralling to watch.
In under a minute, all of the lizard things fell, and Karah and Cray’s breathing was heavy but victorious all the same. Silence returned to the greenhouse once more, but now the acrid smell of gunpowder overwhelmed the scents of flowers.
Karah mopped her brow then frowned at Louise. ‘Loot?’ she mouthed.
Oh, right.
/-/
Well, maybe this... isn’t so bad.
Karah and Cray were true to their word, and took out each and every foe themselves rather than let Louise get in danger, sometimes before she even knew the monsters were there.
One thing Louise noticed as it went on was how practiced they were. How efficient. The moment an enemy appeared, they either took them down as quick as they could or, for the few that were too dangerous, they withdrew to another area. Louise followed their lead as best she could while filling her inventory with loot and periodically checking the stopwatch - she still wasn’t clear as to why it was so important, but she didn’t dare risk Karah’s fury. Those glares were terrifying.
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With their routine set, the group quickly cleared four different buildings. Karah and Cray took a few hits, but were still at roughly 70% of their health when the stopwatch read 1:12:39.
Before them stood the sort of house she might have found in the nicest of suburbs: three stories high with a satellite dish on the roof, a fountain in the front and a great big pool in the backyard. A beautiful place once, she could tell, but much like everything else, it had decayed long ago. Now, the white paint peeled in great strips and the pool and fountain were dried out and choked by weeds and the fancy cars rusted in the driveway. Still, it was their current target - Louise didn’t miss how they’d made a full circle around the place, then returned to the front door now.
Wham.
Before she even turned, she knew the mass of red she’d see. Another victim of Karah’s fists.
Cray tilted his head to listen, then gave Karah a thumbs up. ‘All clear’, Louise could almost hear him saying. ‘Now we can go in.’
Karah nodded, just like the last four times they’d done this, then stepped onto the moss-encrusted porch and pulled open the door.
Or, rather, tried to pull open - the doorknob jiggled but didn’t budge.
"Locked." Karah glared at the door like it’d personally betrayed her.
Cray scratched his stubbled chin, bronzed from a tan, then gestured toward the side of the house. "Try another entrance?"
Karah nodded but it didn’t get any better. The sides and back were locked as well. Finally, she pinched the bridge of her nose and leaned against the low garden wall. “Wonderful.”
"Guess we're stuck." Cray massaged his forehead. “Another house?”
Louise blinked. “We just… give up?”
A glum nod from both of them.
“But… why not break the door?”
Cray shook his head. “Normal door, no big deal. This place is enchanted though. Need to go loud to break through.” His expression darkened further. “Shame. If it’s locked, nobody’s gotten to it yet. Lots of loot.”
“So, in all these years, nobody’s gotten inside?”
“Not that,” Karah said. “It probably didn’t exist before.”
“Wait, it didn’t exist?!” Louise’s voice went higher in pitch and both Cray and Karah gave her warning looks. She lowered her voice. “What do you mean it didn’t exist?”
Karah and Cray looked to one another before Karah closed her dark eyes and leaned closer. “Outside Lifehome, only a few things are permanent: waypoints and big landmarks mostly. The rest… changes. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Streets, buildings, trees, all move, shift and change. And not just those.”
“But - But look at it. This house is old and overgrown. It’s been untouched for decades.”
“And last time we were in this area, the street was a river. Again, things change.”
“Alright…” Louise decided to change the subject before it creeped her out further. "What about the windows?"
"Breaking them? They’re enchanted too.”
“No, I mean that one’s open,” she said, pointing at one off to the sides; too small an opening for Cray and Karah, but she could just make it. “I could get inside, head to the front door and unlock it.”
Karah’s expression turned thoughtful but Cray frowned. "If there are any enemies inside, you'll be alone until you get the door open.”
Cold sweat trickled down the back of her neck. He was right. She could sneak in and unlock it, but they couldn’t follow her, so if there was one enemy inside, just one...
"It's a good idea," Karah said. “We’ve been out over an hour and haven’t even filled her inventory, let alone ours.”
Louise winced. She’d thought they’d done well, but if Karah and Cray were normally faster… Normally, they’re without me.
"Louise isn’t ready for-"
Karah interrupted with a hiss. "She needs to be ready to fight. If not now, then soon. She faces an enemy inside, she screams and we go loud. We're close to another waypoint, so we can make it back before things get too crazy."
"Too risky. She could-"
"I'll do it," Louise said, soft but determined.
A pause. Cray peered down at her with worry written all over his face. "Are you sure about this?"
She nodded. It wasn’t entirely true, and the way he frowned made it clear he saw her shaking legs. But she couldn’t just be useless and helpless out here; she needed to contribute, and this was a way she could do that.
"Good," Karah said. "Remember, be quiet and quick. But call for help if needed. Better to go through the waypoint early than die.”
Cray was still troubled, Louise could tell, but didn’t give anymore objections, so Karah helped her up to the window, her strong arms making it look effortless.
It was a tight fit, even for Louise. She had to squeeze and twist her leg this way and that. A couple of times, she feared she would be stuck between the window and the wall, but one final shimmy and she tumbled to the floor in a heap. She was inside.
She landed between the wall and a couch occupied by an army of dust particles, so many she didn’t dare breathe lest her sneeze echo through the house. Slowly, ever so slowly, she got to her feet.
It had once been a living room. Television, game system, bookshelf, coffee table, even a desktop computer in the corner. But everything had fallen prey to ages of decay. Mold and moss played across the various bits of furniture while vines came down the wall like streamers, and the electronics stopped working long ago. Everything was dark, and the only light pushed feebly through old blinds and left countless patches of shadow. The smell of mildew filled her nose and her feet stood atop not carpet but a thick bed of moss and mold.
There was a closet, along with two other doorways that led left and right down a darkened hallway that looked to be all hardwood floor. So far, she seemed to be alone, but how true that was, she didn't know.
Let’s see. The window was on the left side as I came in, so if I want to find the front door, I need to turn right.
Louise crept forward quiet as she could, gripped the edge of the wall, and peeked into the opening on the right.
Weak shafts of illumination showed the hallway criss-crossed by countless doors and a couple of openings. She tried to remember how big the house had been from the outside. Just a regular house, albeit going up a few stories. It hadn’t been this big, had it? Fear pulsed in her, and whispered she should turn around, but Cray and Karah were counting on her.
I can do this, Louise told herself. I have spells. I can defend myself. Down the hall, she kept straight to the path. The house was silent, yet not the silence of abandonment but anticipation. Each tap of her footsteps was far too loud to her ears, and she prayed that nothing heard her.
The hallway reached its end... and the only path was to go right again, away from the front door. She hesitated. Which way…? Turn around or go forward and hope this path would take her to the right one? It might take her toward the garage or upstairs, for all she knew.
Wait, what was that? At first, there was silence and she wondered if she’d let her fear play tricks on her, but then she heard it again, a clicking sound down the hall ahead of her. And it crept closer.
Louise retreated and this time took a right at the fork. But the clicking continued, growing ever louder. Now she recognized it. Claws on wood. Like a dogs, but bigger, much bigger.
I have spells. I can defend myself. Feeble words, even inside her own head. Faster, she had to go faster. Another fork. Right or left? It took her a moment. It had been left, hadn't it!? No, she'd turned the other way. She had to go right, not left.
But it still followed her, and the clack of claws against hardwood grew ever more distinct. She had to reach the exit. Had to get out.
No choice, Louise started to jog. Sneaking given up in favor of speed to hopefully escape before whatever thing caught her.
Slowly but surely, the clicking sound faded into the distance behind her, only to disappear entirely when she reached an overgrown kitchen. Good, she just had to make it to - There! The front door loomed out of the darkness while light spilled through the dusty windows on either side in a nigh-angelic halo. Relief crashed over her and she let out a sigh.
Whuff. A snuffle in front of her, and out of the darkness, two points of red ignited. Eyes.
Louise crouched low and pressed herself against the wall beside the refrigerator, ignoring the woodwork digging into her back and held her breath; all she could do was hope that maybe the creature hadn’t spotted her, that it would dismiss the sound as something else.
But the creature stepped forward; one thin shaft of light revealed something akin to a wolf, or perhaps a panther. A low-slung body, but the beast’s red eyes sank into a face that had no fur, only cords of flesh and muscle over bone, and when it opened that maw of sharp teeth, steaming drool dripped upon the floorboards. Any hope it had missed her shattered when those two eyes fixed on her.
"N-Nice doggy?"
The beast lunged for her with a roar.
Louise threw herself to the side and the creature skidded past her to slam into the wall, but it recovered quicker than she could have imagined and leapt for her again.
She was too panicked to move, but managed to think of the words just as Cray had taught her and concentrated upon Arcane Blast so hard she screamed in her head.
Purple light exploded from her hand in a burst and slammed into the beast and drove it into the refrigerator with a clang. But again, it only paused it mere moments. Before she could get to her feet, the creature tackled her and bore her to the ground. It loomed over her and the shadows parted just enough to reveal jaws wide open and reeking of blood.
She tried to shove it back, but it was so heavy she soon gave up on that and instead gripped onto its neck to just try and hold it off. It snapped its teeth shut, mere inches in front of her face. Arcane blast! But this time it did nothing, and her muscles lost the fight. The beast surged forward, clamped its jaws around her arm and bit down.
Pain. White hot and raw. It exploded through her like the time that jerk Jason wound up his fist then slammed it right into her face.
Arcane Blast! A success this time, and it drove the creature back with a growl, but it buried its claws into her stomach and tore. So much pain. She whimpered and pushed back in a futile effort to get it away.
It growled and lunged for her neck, but she managed to duck for a few brief moments, only for it to clamp its jaws around her neck as she tried desperately to cast - purple light, but her vision swam.
Red, but not blood, not even her own. A crimson mass sagged into Louise, then dissolved and items toppled into the floor with a series of thumps.
Louise collapsed, each breath a thunder in her ears. She... she'd won. She’d killed it.
But she wouldn't last much longer, not with her... unbroken skin?
It didn’t make sense. She still felt hurt, the pain in her stomach where it’d clawed her up, but no wounds, no bite marks, not even a rip to her dress. It didn’t make sense. Think about it later. There’s another one behind me. Right, she needed to get to safety first. She didn’t bother to loot - too dangerous. Instead, she staggered to the entrance, unlocked the door and threw it open.
Cray rushed inside and nearly bowled her over. Weapon in hand, he peered from corner to corner to see if there was something, anything that might be a threat. Only when absolutely sure there wasn’t did he lower his gun and turn to her, relief and worry written upon his face.
"I..." Even without the rule to be quiet, Louise couldn’t have said anything louder than a hoarse whisper. "I got through."
"So you did," he said. "Now, let's finish this."