Kairi introduced the prairie dog as Shinju before leading Mig and Aj out of the room. As they walked out of the room, Aj was surprised to come out into a long hallway. It was completely different from the dead end they entered the room from.
“It can be disorientating traveling through this dungeon,” Kairi explained, her voice incredibly smooth. “Though some are more obvious than others, every door is actually a portal to another space in the dungeon. To make matters worse, they can change where they go suddenly with no warning or indication. My original companions they.” Kairi finished her voice becoming quieter and tighter until it ceased. It seemed like she was about to say more, but lost the words.
“I’m sorry, did something happen to your companions?” Aj asked, trying to sound sincere.
“We were separated when we entered…. It’s been very hard. I have encountered several of their bodies in my exploring and laid them to rest as servants of the Nami’Riah.” Kairi said looking both proud and sad. She rubbed away a tear, before continuing. “If not for Shinju, I don’t know how I could’ve done it”.
In response, the little water rodent crawled onto Kairi's shoulder and began licking her cheek. Kairi gave a sad smile, pulling Shinju down into her arms and cradling him like a baby. Shinju didn’t seem to mind as he nuzzled into Kairi’s arms.
“We’re very sorry for your loss, this underworld seems incredibly dangerous even for the prepared. Was your group aware of the dangers and the uhh dungeon?” Mig asked respectfully, stumbling a little bit on whether to call it a dungeon or stronghold.
“We were only somewhat Ahmed…. He….” Kairi replied, choking up as spoke. Shinju, seeming to recognize her emotional distress, started letting out soft squeaks and rubbing the top of his head into her chin repeatedly.
“I think this is when we say we won’t pry anymore, but I’m actually really interested in whatever the Nami’Riah is and what they were doing here,” Kit said mentally to Aj. Aj agreed, but he didn’t think now was the time to interrogate Kairi, maybe later.
“You don’t have to say anymore. I can tell that you’re pretty torn up about everything that’s happened to your friends.” Aj said. He could feel Kit giving him a partial thumbs-up for his response, like he did good but not great.
“Thank you for understanding. I suppose we should begin traveling though we have a ways to go.” Kairi said, reluctantly placing Shinju on the metal floor. Shinju let out a single squeak before running down the hallway, scouting the way for the group.
Over the next few hours, the boys got a good look at how Kairi had survived so long in this dangerous stronghold. Shinju would scout ahead both joyfully and surprisingly quietly. He would return and whisper-squeak his findings into Kairi’s ear. If Shinju found a door, Kairi would investigate it and use her command crystal to find out where it could take them. If Shinju spotted an enemy, they would retreat and look for another route. Not only could Kairi’s crystal tell her where it could drop them out, but in most cases it could also control where it did. Apparently using this method Kairi had developed a growing mental map of the stronghold.
After backtracking through several portals until Kairi found the correct portal with the correct access, Aj was starting to get a little queasy. Aj asked for a quick break while Mig asked Kairi if she knew where this higher authority command crystal was. Kairi informed them that she had a sort of feeling where it was and the closer she got to that feeling the more mantises she encountered. Having Mig and Aj around would help her get closer to the command crystal and leave this stronghold behind.
Kairi followed this up by inquiring into Aj and Mig’s fighting styles and strengths in combat. Mig explained that he was bonded with no special cor properties. His strengths lie mostly in swordsmanship, enhancing his physicality and the sharpness of his blade. Mig also explained that Aj was a sovereign with fire and plant properties and while Aj was new he was quite “durable”. Mig then went on to describe the mantis ambush they survived, he may have undercut how close the fight was a little bit, but it was mostly accurate. Kairi seemed impressed that they had even survived an ambush of three mantises and asked Mig to describe them.
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“Those sound like the warrior caste. They are brutishly strong and quick, but not very intelligent” Kairi explained after listening to Mig’s description. “The warriors are abundant, but occasionally you may see another like the worker, breeder, or king caste.” Kairi then went on to explain the differences among the different castes of mantises. The workers were smaller and weaker like the one Mig had ambushed outside of the stronghold. Their role seemed to be harvesting the carcasses left in the wake of the warrior caste. Kairi described the breeders as larger and longer than the warriors. Apparently when threatened they released a swarm of smaller mantises to devour their victims. Kairi hypothesized that their role was to develop new nests and raise new mantises.
Kairi became very serious as she described the King caste. Supposedly she’d only seen a king mantis once and it was the closest she'd come to dying. She was investigating a mantis nest surrounded by a ring of doors and hallways. She saw lording over the collection of worker mantises and breeders, a mantis over twice the size of a member of the warrior caste. As she went to retreat it made direct eye contact with her, before gesturing to the doors surrounding the nest. The King mantis activated several of the doors, sending its warriors through the portals, and within moments Kairi heard the scuttering sound of them flanking her from behind. It was a miracle that she was able to find another door and escape before they got to her, but it didn’t end there. Even though she’d shut the portal after her, somehow the mantises reopened the portal and chased after her. It wasn’t until she went through three portals that she finally lost them. Kairi shivered as she described the intelligence she saw looking back at her in the eyes of the King mantis.
“If we want to get out of here,” Kairi said, taking a breath and squaring her shoulders. “Then we’re going to have to get through something as bad as that”. Mig looked at Aj and raised his eyebrows in worry.
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Trace woke up with an aching headache and the taste of blood and dirt in his mouth, a combination that he was familiar with. He looked down and saw a tourniquet on his left arm just above where his elbow should have been if it were still attached to his body. Trace took a heavy breath and pushed himself off the ground into a slumping position against the wall. He looked to his right and saw Marsh’s body on the ground next to him, he wasn’t breathing. Trace felt a pang of guilt, he was no stranger to death, it was impossible to be in his field, but seeing Marsh’s body still hurt. Marsh had been a bit of a cheap drunk, but he had been with him for three years now and he was a reliable healer and team member.
Trace cursed and looked further around and saw nothing. He was alone here in this empty hallway with only Marsh’s corpse to keep him company. Trace leaned his head against the wall and tried to remember where everything had gone wrong.
Exploring the stronghold had gone very well in the beginning. They’d run into a few groups of straggling mantises and decimated them in short-time. They’d manage to break through one of the side doors and enter a treasure room of sorts. Inside they’d found a host of minor but useful predecessor artifacts. Trace had even gotten one, a small orb that when infused with cor transferred the position of the wielder and other targets. Things were going well until they encountered a mantis nest. After witnessing the mantises disappearing into portals, Trace knew something was wrong. He called for an immediate retreat and tactical regrouping, but Julian refused to retreat, he wanted to seize the initiative and focus everything on the giant mantis in the center of the nest. Trace knew that was the wrong call, that if they did that they’d be surrounded by mantises at all angles, but he didn’t have another choice. He’d made his call and Julian had convinced his followers to resist him. The team had its best chance if they acted together, so Trace shouted for everyone to charge into the nest. It was a disaster.
Their initial surge and barrage proved fatal to the mantises surrounding the lead mantis, but miniature mantises flowed out of the corpses and the leader only suffered superficial wounds. Two men fell as a tide of mantises crawled over them slicing apart their skin and flesh. Trace and Julian defended the group from the lead mantis’s counterattack, but it wasn’t enough. By the time that was done, the other mantises returned and flanked the group. It was a massacre. Trace was scrambling to protect every member that he could, caving in a mantis head with his hammer, shifting the rock beneath another mantis causing it to be off balance and fall. He heard his ally fall to the ground behind him but didn’t turn in time to see the mantis that would take his arm. Marsh rushed over and tried to save the arm, but Trace told him to just tourniquet it. The combat was too intense, he wasn’t worried about losing the arm he was worried about losing the group. As soon as the tourniquet was on the giant mantis screeched and let out a powerful wave of force and frost. Marsh took the brunt of it as his body slammed into Trace pushing them both through the open portal behind them.
Trace was alone, lost here in this stronghold, not knowing if any of his group survived. Even if he lived, if he didn’t find Julian and the others the Tiermons would be furious. He’d be lucky to keep his head, let alone work ever again. He had no choice but to get up and start looking, it was his only option. Trace used his legs to push himself up the wall and began to walk until he heard an odd sound.
“Eaaaak, Eaaap Eaaap”. A squeaking sound bounced down the hallway. Trace turned and caught the eye of a small blue rodent which quickly raced away.
“Hmpph” Trace thought confused. With no other leads, he began following the rodent.