Dibbuk wandered, and wandered, and wandered further towards the bell. The piercing ring only made bearable by the intervals between. Up near the surface of the sea the bells had been ringing constantly, but the closer she had gotten to the bottom the less frequently they rang.

She pushed forwards through the field of darkness, every step another laborious challenge. She had begun her journey as motivated as she ever had been for survival. Yet, with each step her motivations became less and less tangible. It felt like years had passed since she’d slept.

She stopped, her feet sinking deeper into the ooze. Dibbuk pondered what it must be made of. The stuff at the bottom of the canals didn’t even compare. It had to be made up of the remains of millions upon millions of organisms. Yet, she hadn’t seen a single fish in her time down here.

Dibbuk took another step. Then another, and another. She continued her journey to wherever she was going. Death, or life. Either would be a reprieve from this. The bell rang again.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Telio looked back at the weary and panicked team of wastewalkers behind him. They could no longer hear the thousands of legs thundering towards them, and had decided to take a two minute breather. Perhaps they had stopped to investigate their little rest area. It didn’t matter.

What did matter were the two berg charges he was hastily fastening together with paracord, a zippo lighter, and two paper clips. He had planned to do this earlier, but things hadn’t gone to plan. While this wasn’t ideal, this also meant that things weren’t going to plan for Boris either, and that was the best Telio could ask for.

He glanced at Selby. That wasn’t going to plan either… yet. All of this time. All of these calculations and probabilities and he had still been wrong almost immediately. Good. He’d been right before and had sorely regretted it. But, that had been over three hundred years ago.

He searched his mycelia for the memory. Whatever this stuff was, whatever he was, could store as much data as could be created, but it couldn’t keep it organized. If he wanted a memory, he might find that some of it was in his leg, and another piece was in his left index finger, and the rest of it in his right lung. If it weren’t for the fact that he could find and link them all together faster than humans could recall them naturally it would have been a real burden just to remember where his shoes were in the morning.

The memory Telio wanted to find was currently being pulled from his left ass cheek and his left eye. It wasn’t a good memory. Pivotal to be sure, but a horrible night to remember. The night he had found that his business partner, and friend of nearly thirty years had truly become more of a monster than even he could have anticipated.

Telio stepped through the memory, watching every second play out as if he were there again, and returned to reality in the blink of an eye. He began wrapping the paracord again and made a knot. He pushed the paperclips, fastened into a loop, through the fibers, then held the flame to the knot. The nylon melted quickly, forming a thin plastic shell around the tightly bound cord.

“Oy, Wicky. Come here for a sec.” Telio grunted, gesturing towards the young wastewalker whilst checking his watch. The young man lumbered over, his full tanks swaying from side to side behind him.

“Don? What is it? The hell’s that?” Wicksomme asked, hastily backing away from the improvised explosive bolas.

“It’s fine, look, just keep an eye on Selby. Keep your rifle at the ready.” Don said, pointing to the man sweating and attempting to shake the intrusive thoughts from his head.

“What? Why? I mean he’s been a bit shit the whole night, but that’s not a reason to shoot him. I’m more worried about Mary.” Wicksomme asked, eying his rifle. He’d never shot anyone before.

“Well, after that punch I don’t blame you, but keep an eye on Selby. You know why Team 6 didn’t come get Harvel when he got hurt? Same reason he’s been fucked up this whole night. There’s someone else swimming around in that dome of his, kid.” Don answered, pointing around at orange mycelia poking through the walls.

“What? Someone like you? Why didn’t you say anything?” Wicksomme asked, panic showing on his weary face. The young man began to sweat almost as profusely as Selby. Don shrugged.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Hoped he’d leave the poor boy alone if I didn’t make a scene. Wishful thinking I guess. Too wishful I’d say.” Don answered, seemingly disappointed in himself.

“So, what? We just wait for him to get us killed or something? You don’t know how to stop it?” Wicksomme asked, risking another glance back at Selby.

“Oh, there’s a cure. You’ve got it slung around your shoulder right now.” Don answered, gesturing to the assault rifle Wicksomme was holding. Wicksomme looked down at the rifle again.

“And… And what about Dibbuk? Obviously something’s wrong with her. You don’t plan on shooting her do you?” Wicksomme asked, panic building. They were nearing the corner of the tunnel, he could feel it. If the plan was to shoot her they’d all be dead within minutes.

“Nah, Harvel will have to pull through for us on that. Gonna be another three or so minutes before we should roll up on her. Gotta time things right kid.” Don answered, checking his watch. He tapped its face a few times. Wicksomme noticed there were nearly eight hands on the timepiece, and every other piece of it looked hand made. He began moving, prompting the rest of the team to follow suit.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Colors are an interesting concept. Infinite colors, spanning an infinite amount of time and space between each shade, are an even more interesting concept. And finding out that in between all of those infinite colors is the color purple is incredibly interesting indeed. Lemmy was having an interesting day.

The color purple danced around him and the rest of the trip boats passengers, like wisps of smoke in the wind. Harvel held out his hand and let the formless shade flow around his fingers. He’d known this was what it was like. He’d seen it for merely an instant in a memory from eons ago. It was amazing to see it for himself.

“Wonder what it tastes like. Probably best not to find out.” Aldon thought aloud. Nothing in his long, eventful life had been quite as strikingly beautiful yet eerily inviting. It was like the color called to him. He didn’t like that one bit.

“Provolone cheese, mint, and Bullrutters.” Harvel answered, pulling his hand back into the boat.

“Sounds awful. Lemmy? How long until we make it to the other side? I want to make sure I’m ready.” Parker asked, pulling her spare pistol from its holster and racked the slide. She shoved the sidearm back into the holster and tightened the straps on her harness. Something told her that their arrival was going to be significantly bumpier than their departure.

“We’ve got about twenty seconds.” Lemmy answered, watching the coordinate dial move closer and closer to their chosen coordinates. Harvels head appeared next to Lemmys in an instant.

“When we get there, we’ll be right over my sister. I’m gonna jump ship real quick to get her but don’t slow down. The team is going to need you to keep going.” Harvel explained, indicating which side he’d jump off of.

Lemmy shrugged. He’d gone along with every other unexplained plan so far tonight. Now that he had achieved his life goal, Harvel could have told him they were going to fire him out of a cannon and he would have agreed just the same. Harvel turned back to Yiddek, busy carefully ducking strands of purple reaching for his headcrest.

“Yiddek, this thing has a ladder, but it wont reach low enough to get the team. I’ll need you to help them get on board. Can you do that for me?” Harvel asked, positioning himself next to his brother. Yiddek took off his glasses and stowed them in his bag.

“Yes, I think I can do that. They have guns don’t they?” Yiddek asked, remembering the horde of ants from their trip. He wasn’t keen to end up like all of the other wastewalkers he’d seen, but he was here, and who else was going to do it?

“Better.” Harvel answered, bracing as the singularity drive roared back to life.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Telio checked his watch as the bend came into view. The sound of thundering legs had begun to catch up while he’d been putting together his little device. They had about a minute left until things kicked off. He palmed the device, testing the weight. His aim would have to be good.

As the bend grew nearer a couple of clouds of dust shot out of the wall. The stone fell away, leaving a large hole where the corner had previously been. The little fucker was either bored or purposefully destroying their only means of cover.

“I don’t suggest we walk into that.” Lier chimed in, pointing to the quickly crumbling stone work and his own entrails scattered about the tunnel. Don turned to him.

“Oh? No shit?” Telio said, priming the berg charges. He checked his watch again. Only a few seconds left. Telio walked towards the crumbling corner, spinning the set of explosives rapidly around his knuckle.

As he rounded the corner Telio took a barrage of silent metal to the chest. Mycelia splayed out behind the old man as the shards of red hot steel pulled more and more matter from his body. Unaffected by the onslaught, Telio squared up with the tunnel and aimed for the largest concentration of ants.

He released the explosives, sending the pair of charges arcing through the fog and into the mass of legs and evil. Telio waved the rest of the team closer towards the bend, a stray shot plowing its way through his skull. The ancient man seemed off balance for a moment before his skull reformed into its previous shape.

A purple glow began to fill the tunnel. The sound of atoms being wrenched apart created a deafening pressure that left the teams boots rooted to the muck. Selby began to sweat and wretch as the dimensional barriers broke away.

“It’s time! That’s our ride!” Telio shouted, the purple light casting a sinister glow upon the strands of matter sprouting from his back.