The familiar scent of dirt and basement welcomes us. We don’t mind the low walls, traversing through them as if we did this everyday. I hear Kikito struggling behind me and my heart goes out to him. Blaming myself isn’t an easy notion to put away, but maybe if Mirana is okay then we can get Greg back too. It’ll have to make up for him being eaten right in front of us.

We run into a wall of rock: a collapse that hinders entrance to the den. I sigh heavily at the sigh in-between gasps of air. Of course. My luck continues to fuck me over.

I finally take a good look at Kikito. He’s pale, eyes bloodshot with tears streaming. His mouth is pursed so tightly he’s cut into his lip. Our attention shoots towards the surface at the distant clicking urging us to find safety. He follows me back up to a smaller path to the underground pool of water. Even my eyes can’t see deeper than a few feet. The water ripples from stalactite dribbles but otherwise remains still.

Hopeless. What can be gained from getting into water that goes nowhere?

Kikito dips his shoe in. I hadn’t noticed the rage hiding behind his tears until he looks at me and says, “Maybe we can hide in the water and sneak up on it.”

“Sneak up on it?” I ask incredulously. His gaze hardens.

“I didn’t stutter - I’m gonna fucking kill that thing.”

“We don’t have any weapons-

“We’ll figure it out now get in!”

I sigh and say, “We might die either way.”

I step into the water. Freezing water and clicking reverberating off the walls raises goosebumps all over my flesh.

Now or never, I dive into the chilled water and look for any shafts pulling water away. None of them seem big enough for either of us to slip through.

Kikito’s screams force me to the surface to be greeted by a monstrosity. Completely different from before except for the stonelike sandy skin identifying it as our nemesis. It stands on three sets of hard legs, tipped at the ends and serrated down each side with three sets of arms of the same length. Scaly, flexibly plates make up its midsection and support a more human-shaped head with a grin split vertically down the middle. The thing that ate Ranger Greg opens its mouth to reveal a blue-lit chasm with rows of sharp teeth that go as far back as my eyes can see. It snaps its teeth together rapidly to recreate its clicks. The vibrations nearly stun me and sends a pins and needles sensation underneath my skin. Kikito appears completely paralyzed by it and it seems to know this. A deep blue tongue falls out of its mouth, thick and wet and transitions to a shade of dark purple until the tip flickers on like an anglerfish’s. Kikito stares into it with dazed eyes as it stomps towards him.

The events not ten minutes ago are still too real. I grip Kikito’s arm and pull us under. His head weight pulls us to the bottom of the pool within seconds. I look to the surface. Tranquil for a moment before the creature cannonballs in. Where it had been still and statuesque it now moves with the ease of a cephalopod, wet limbs soaking and becoming flexible against the water. The clicks are worse down here; heating the water with each one and making it difficult for me to concentrate. I look at Kikito. Deadpan expression, mouth open without bubbles.

Rage takes over. I drag Kikito away, kicking the floor with every step in a desperate attempt to find sanctuary before I run out of air. Silt spews up quickly blinding me in the chaos. A scream of furious bubbles from me and I throw my hand out to avoiding crashing into walls.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Faint blue light shoots out from my fingertips. It brightens rapidly and shoots up my arm across my shoulders and suddenly it’s all I can see. A more pleasant tingling sensation overwhelms the pins and needles. My grip on Kikito tightens and I lean into that feeling. It makes me want to explode but I hang on.

In a flash I can breathe again. Warm blue light replaces the cold black water. I lay on the ground, hard underneath me like a dirt road. A blue ceiling looks back at me. Seems like it’s made of stone but weird, earthy stone. Definitely nothing I’ve seen before. My hand still holds Kikito, who’s staring off into a void.

Kikito!

CPR doesn’t work. I push and blow for an hour before I give up. Damn that monster. He would have been fine if it hadn’t scrambled his entire body. I won’t leave him. It doesn’t matter that he’s over six feet tall and beefy; he’s the only one who knows where Mirana is and leaving him is worse than admitting he can’t help me anymore.

I look both ways and see we’re in a giant tunnel with no end in sight. All is silent as the grave. I hoist Kikito, finding he feels like he weighs nothing. I throw him over me with minimal effort, the hardest part balancing his tall frame on my vertically-challenged shoulders.

Since both way look indistinguishable I pick one and make my way with wide eyes. Along the way I spot imperfections in the ceiling and walls, nooks and crannies carving out little hideaways. I stuff us away in a decently sized one. Kikito gets propped against the walls, eyes manually closed, and I lean against the opposite. I stare at him for a long time, hoping he’ll cough up that water and come back. He doesn’t. His skin has sallowed, jaw slack in a gape zombies had more life displaying. I can’t look away. This was as quick as the care accident and I hadn’t expected it either. The monster’s clickings had completely immobilized Kikito’s bodily functions, dead as soon as he hit the water.

Stupid. Stupid stupid. I hit my head against the wall with a heavy thud. Guilt builds up in my eyes until it wells over and I’m choking. I’m powerless to help anyone, even myself. It’s too much to bear. I had been crazy to think we could stroll back into that cave and find her having a tea party with all the subterranean critters and we could all go home and pretend none of this happened. A foolish thought. Knowing Kikito brought himself along doesn’t make it any easier.

Sounds breaks up the monotony. Chittering paired with frantic digging behind my back. I jump up and follow the sounds with my ears. Something burrows down the walls and under my feet, growing louder as it breached the surface. A pale head reveals itself, small and wide with two tusklike horns jutting out at its front. A pair of fangs chatter together as it hisses. A short segmented body follows, many legged with the first four sets thicker and sharper. Two beady eyes planted on its head focus on Kikito and approaches. I throw my hand out and zap the thing with blue light. It chitters out a scream, body sizzling and curling up. It moves no more as it steams like a dumpling. I yelp.

I hadn’t thought if the apparent teleportation to this place being connected by my eyesight but killing that thing without touching it...scares me. What am I turning into? What has been done to me? And why me? Kikito was the one with visions. He should have been chosen, not me. Not intelligently simple Kelvin who was content to follow the creative coattails of his friends for the rest of his life. I never dreamed of the stress of greatness or making a big difference in the world. Nothing even close to whatever I’m doing.

Sounds mimicking the burrower comes in abundance. I keep my hands outstretched as I move in circles, making sure to keep Kikito in my sights at all times. One by one the burrowers burst out of the ground. A dozen cover the floor, chittering and scurrying around the dead burrower. Their horns run along the carcass and then they turn to me with hisses. They advance. Fear overwhelms me. I shoot out intermittent beams of blue light. It flickers weakly but I take out a few before they swarm me. Their bodies are hard on the hand and not easily swayed from their objective. their weight knocks me to the ground where they gather on my stomach.

The burrowers work together; several pile on my arms and legs and others sit on my face. Tusks graze my belly and I scream. My body heats up and I hear some of them sizzle but it’s not enough to stop them from digging into me. I thrash my head around enough to catch a glimpse of Kikito. Thankfully they seem to prefer living flesh. I’m grateful he won’t have to see me being eaten alive as I hear the squelching of my own flesh.