Mia looked at Frank as he suddenly collapsed, she rushed towards him. However when she knelt right next to her friend he seemed unhurt. His eyes, however, were wide open and he was breathing fast.
“Frank what happened?” Mia asked.
“I saw… something,” Frank said, touching his chest and right arm.
“What do you mean? Why did you fall down?” Mia checked him for any wounds but couldn't find anything.
“I had a… vision i guess” Frank responded uncertainly. “I went down that corridor, alone” He pointed to the side passage. “And i fought a centipede hydra using skills i don't have”
“What do you mean skills you dont have?” Diana interjected.
“I had a teleport ability called Blink, and i could control my daggers mid flight” Frank explained “ But i… lost the fight” He glanced at his right arm. “I lost my arm and it killed me, then i was back here.”
“Its this place, its affecting all of us” Mia tried to calm her friend down, he was clearly shaken.
“Maybe it was a vision caused by the Aspects?” Diana mused.
“It was real. I saw that monster as I see you right now.” He shuddered. “The pain right now was real too”
What the hell is going on.
Then Mia realized something. “Hunter of Prey, you can sense what is down that corridor, right?”
“Yes” The stupid bug responded. Mia could’t feel his emotions like Diana apparently could but it still smelled of smugness to her.
“And what is there?” She asked.
“Danger. A Centipede King. I will not say anything more. It is beyond the scope of our agreement” The centipede was hiding something that was clear as day.
“Are there more monsters like that nearby?” Diana wanted to know.
“Yes. Many. I told you the deep dark is dangerous. But I know the way. Let’s go” Hunter responded.
Mia exchanged glances with Diana, the woman gave her a shrug. The ‘what can you do’ shrug. It irked Mia that there was nothing more they could do but right now they were on Hunter’s mercy. If the bug ran away and there was a grain of truth to Franks vision then they were well and truly fucked.
Mia helped Frank up and then they caught up to the rest of the party.
She looked behind them down the dark corridor and suppressed a shudder. The disgusting living walls with those eerie lights inside them. Monsters around each corner. Dark and danger all around them with a small pinprick of hope in the middle. She really wanted to see daylight one more time. Real daylight not the perpetual dusk of this cursed city.
Mia was using her Tracking ability and she indeed did see that unknown monsters traveled these paths.
YOUR SKILL TRACKING REACHED LEVEL 6 !
Yeah, how to say they are dangerous without saying they are dangerous.
The atmosphere of the tunnels was oppressive; it felt as if the undulating walls were getting ever closer so Mia was almost relieved when they reached something akin to a bridge. Her relief was short lived however when she realized the bridge was pulsating. It was just a giant version of the flesh webs that they saw who knows how many levels above.
Hunter of Prey stopped before they set foot on the bridge.
“Quiet now or we all die.” The thought he sent was kind of muted, like a telepathic equivalent of a whisper. He has never done that before so that means there was something that could hear High Speech nearby?
She clenched her jaw and started moving step by step on the slightly moving bridge. She could see the same lights that were in the walls flowing through the giant vein she was walking on. She prayed to anyone who would listen that Hector’s armor wouldn’t make an unfortunate noise. However the whole party took Hunter’s warning seriously and moved as quietly as possible.
The faint lights were not enough to tell above what they were walking. The oppressive feeling of the walls was gone. She didn’t know why but her intuition was telling her they were in a giant cavern and that, if she were to fall, it would be a long time to the ground.
After a couple of steps she could feel a weak gust of wind. Maybe they were closer to the surface than she thought? However the gusts seemed to be coming from different directions.
She decided to focus on what she could for now. That meant carefully placing one foot in front of the other so she would not fall down.
She was concentrating on that so hard it took her an embarrassingly long moment to realize that the rustling she heard was not blood in her ears.
She turned to Frank and pointed to her ear with a puzzled expression. The rogue nodded that he could hear it too but shrugged to show he didn’t know what it was. They followed the bridge, finally the surface flattened. They were at the highest point of the arc, it was then when Mia noticed something weird started happening.
Previously, the lights inside the bridge and walls were subtle, a mere glimmer. However, now they multiplied, casting a gentle glow on the crimson walls. The luminous display mirrored the flow of life within the bridge. Swirls and eddies in the current formed brief constellations of lights that were almost beautiful.
Mia watched the light show under her feet with horror. It definitely was pretty, in a horrific kind of way, but anything new was probably bad. She searched for any threats she could do something about. The others had a similar idea as the whole party moved faster to get off of the glowing bridge. Soon the flow of light beneath their feet turned into a veritable torrent too bright to look at directly. It flickered like a damaged fluorescent light.
Covering her eyes Mia looked away, towards the darkness that surrounded them. Except it was now bright enough to see the distant walls and the bottom of the pit they were walking over. Dread seized Mia’s heart, fear constricting like a vice around their chest as she realized what made the rustling sound she heard before.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
They were surrounded by a swarm of flying monsters resembling giant moths. They had ant-like heads and mandibles with a set of horns striking backwards. Mia stood frozen for a second as she watched the enormous bugs flutter in the air. They were forming rivers of soft wings in midair, circling around the bridge.
The walls of the cavern were moving. No it was not the walls themselves, they were just covered in a carpet of insects that began stirring as the light reached them. The sound they made sent a shiver down Mia’s spine.
One of the months flew right over Mia and she felt a soft gust of wind. It landed a couple of dozen feet behind Frank. Everyone stood frozen as the moth opened its mandibles and bit into the bridge. They watched in horrified fascination as the new monster extended a tongue that was half the length of its body and covered in coarse hair. The light shining at the moth from the bridge made every strand clearly visible. The floor bled where the moth had cut it and the bug started lapping the shiny fluid.
The next moth that landed on the bridge bumped into Frank and almost threw him from the bridge. That made Mia wake up.
“RUN!” She shouted.
It didn’t matter if they were silent now. They were on top of a glowing feeding tube for giant monsters. They didn’t seem to care for them right now, but that could change really quickly. Or they could just crush them. Or throw them off the bridge. Anyway they needed to be anywhere but where they were right now.
They darted away from the glowing bridge, above them, a surreal spectacle unfolded. The rivers of insects split into individuals that landed on the bridge to feed. All clearly visible in the harsh light of the bridge. As the moths landed or soared past, the party weaved between the feeding giants.
Mia ran for dear life trying no to lose sight of Diana and Hector in front of her. Her heart was pounding in her chest, as usual just when she thought she could handle this place shit like this happened. She noticed one of the moths was on a collision course with Diana. Mia took aim and released a thankfully quick True Shot.
The arrow struck the creature in the neck and it went limp instantly. However its momentum still carried it into the bridge. It struck with a soft thud its mass sending ripples through the elastic surface. Diana lost her footing and waved her hands before Frank jumped from behind Mia and helped the mage.
They ran again. The light from the bridge was no longer blinding, it was the moths that seemed to be glowing now. Their thoraxes lighted up like fireflies as they evaded them. As they got closer to the other side, Mia's heartbeat quickened – the escape from this nightmare was within reach. In the end, they slipped away from the moths, jumping headfirst into the relative safety of the small tunnel in front of them.
“What.The.Fuck” Hector’s voice trembled.
"Where the fuck is Godzilla when you need one." Frank was lying on the ground, propped on his elbows, panting hard.
Mia laughed hard. She didn’t know if it was the relief or was Frank’s joke that good. “Jesus we really need to stop with the close calls.”
“It's not over yet” Diana pointed, Hunter of Prey was already going forward.
“Hey Hunter, come back here, why didn't you warn us about it?” Hector's voice was accusatory.
“No need. Nothing could have been done, I hoped we would be lucky enough to skip their feeding time but it's random.” The centipede sent.
Hector started towards Hunter “Why you ugly…”
Frank placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. “Don’t. There is no use man. We need to trust him. At least until we get out of here.”
Mia saw that Hector still wanted to fight, but she agreed with Frank. If Hunter just ran away they would be dead for sure and he could have done that just now but didn’t. The idea of trusting the creature was still weird to her and repulsive on some instinctive level but intellectually she knew it was the best course of action.
Hector calmed down and they followed the centipede. The tunnel angled sharply upward to the point it became vertical. Their guide didn't have trouble scaling this obstacle but it proved to be a little bit of a problem for the humans.
They tried to use some chimney climbing techniques they half remembered from TV but it turned out impossible with the flesh covered walls. They didn’t provide enough traction.
“Anyone got any bright ideas?” Frank asked.
“Yeah, let me try something.” Diana said. She cast her Frost Rune so that it grew a horizontal ledge out of the wall, a bit above chest height. Then she created another one on the opposite side of the chimney.
“How long will it hold?” Mia asked.
“Don’t know, never used it this way, the walls start crumbling after about fifteen minutes.” Diana said.
“So if you run out of mana we will just fall?” Hector arched his eyebrow.
“I don't have a better idea, do you?” Silence was Diana’s only answer.
“This is going to get really miserable, really fast, you know?” Frank said, looking up into the chimney. It was tall enough that their Light Runes didn’t penetrate to the end of it.
“The faster we start the faster we're done with it.” Mia hoped she sounded determined.
They started the climb. As it turned out Frank was absolutely right. The first couple of ledges were relatively easy but the further up they went the harder it got. Diana’s runes managed to drop the ambient temperature. The chill embraced Mia, penetrating her clothes, and a numbing cold gnawed at her bones. Her hands, stiffened by the frost, gripped the cold edges, and each pull up was a struggle.
She was afraid of slipping, even if the fall was one ledge down there was no guarantee it would hold. The whole thing turned into a true test of endurance. At first Mia thought their climbing speed would be limited by Diana’s mana, but it quickly turned out the bottleneck was their own strength.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a muffled crash below them. It was followed by a second one soon after.
“The first ledges are collapsing” Frank was looking down. “Let's keep moving.”
The cold in her hands and knees and the growing pain in her arms and back each developed into its own kind of torture. However no one else complained so she didn’t either. The sound of shelves falling down kept them company as they climbed.
“Three minutes break, we slowed down too much,” Diana announced.
“Goddamn vertical pilgrimage,” Frank muttered. They rested standing up and hugging in twos to keep warm.
“You counted how many you made Diana?” Hector asked, embracing Mia
“Stopped counting after a hundred, it got depressing” Diana answered from the ledge above, clinging to Frank.
Mia looked further up, still no end in sight. Only the tireless shape of Hunter of Prey on the wall. She could sense his annoyance at the delay even if he didn’t say anything.
Mia vigorously rubbed your hands together to bring at least some feeling to her hands. She considered herself lucky, she could just sling her bow over her back but Hector had to climb with his warpick and shield, and a missing hand. He wouldn’t accept her help, she knew, but she still felt for him.
The sound of shelves crashing below them made them restless enough they moved out before the three minutes were up.
Her world turned to one icy ledge after another. Mia discovered something about herself on that climb, she was capable of a visceral hatred towards inanimate objects. She tried to distract herself with visions of ice blowing up, of ice melting in the sun, of baking it in the oven.
Before she could continue to come up with painful ways to deal with ice she heard Frank say “Hey is that light?”
She looked up and indeed there it was. Glorious dark gray skies she got used to over the weeks in this city. The sight was a relief. She almost jumped from joy.
“Still a way to climb though” Hector said, completely dousing her happiness.
“No reason to delay then” Diana created another ledge.
“Here’s to the light at the end of the tunnel not being a freight train coming our way” Frank raised an imaginary shot and threw back his head downing it.