“You’re certain she got the message?” Owyn insisted.
“Yes! Absolutely!” Grant raised his hands defensively. His, scratched and torn hands.
Owyn sighed, sitting back against the wall of the cave Lucid had claimed. He called it a ‘crossroads’ cave, since it was the central cave that led to a bunch of tunnels that led to pocket caves previously used as nurseries. The crossroads cave had some patches of moss growing along the floor, making it perfect for sleeping.
Owyn slammed a fist against the stone wall. It didn’t exactly have the kind of impact he was going for, so he hit it again. Twice. And once more, just to be sure it wasn’t making him feel better.
“Calm down.” Mr. Vernant suggested. He tightened a torn piece of cloth over a cut in his chest. The thing was already bloody in two separate spots, having been reused to seal the wound previously. “I know you’re not stupid. You already know exactly what’ll happen if you go up there.”
“We’re not exactly doing a whole lot of good down here either.” Owyn pointed out, slouching.
“That’s true.” Mr. Vernant admitted. He gestured for his son to join him against the wall he had chosen to sit against. “So what would you suggest we do instead?”
He didn’t know. Lucid had offered them a solution on a silver platter, and there wasn’t much sense in passing it up. Again and again, Lucid had demonstrated his willingness to engage in deals, and theoretically, this one was no different. In return for freeing Setterton from the church’s influence, permanently, he asked for a constant supply of mana. He just wanted people to hang out in his dungeon a bunch. No need for sacrifices or anything of the sort. All in all, it was a good deal.
The problem was that he couldn’t do it right away. He needed to ensure not just his safety, but the safety of Owyn and Mr. Vernant, otherwise the deal was off. And in order to do that, he needed to become the only dungeon in the lower caverns.
But what about Abby? Owyn was safe down here, outside of the church’s reach, but Abby wasn’t. Setterton wasn’t safe! She needed to escape. Well, ideally everyone in Setterton should escape, but Owyn would be happy if even just Abby got free.
“You’re… really injured.” Mr. Vernant told his son. His hands glided over his son's body, brushing over the various cuts, scratches, and stab wounds Grant had taken during the fight.
Grant just laughed. “Yeah! But I’m ok, it doesn’t hurt! Look, see?” He shoved a finger in a hole at his shoulder, much to Mr. Vernant’s displeasure.
“Don’t do that! You’ll get… sick.”
Grant laughed again, but took his finger out. “I’m undead dad! I can’t get sick!” He listened to Lucid for a second. “I also can’t heal, so Lucid says I should take care of my body while I still have it.”
“While you still have it?” Worry crept into Mr. Vernant’ voice.
“Well yeah, I can still die you know? Mr. Faux was an undead, and he’s not here anymore.”
Mr. Vernant swallowed. “How long do you have?”
“Sufficient damage to the body, or a crushed skull.” Owyn answered. “Those are the only ways he can die. If he lives longer than a week or so, his flesh will start to rot and fall off on its own, and he’ll just become a skeleton.”
“A week?” Mr. Vernant whispered.
“He’s already about a week dead,” Owyn mentioned. “His flesh is not going to last much longer.”
Thankfully, Grant wasn’t easily visible in the low light their magic cores provided, otherwise Owyn was sure he’d look much worse. As it was, he already looked like a walking corpse. Sunken, flat eyes that were losing color, skin as gray as a storm cloud, and red flesh turned almost black where it was visible beneath the cuts in his armor. All to say nothing of the smell, but Owyn knew better than to mention it.
Mr. Vernant brought his baton over to Grant, studying him in better light. All of Owyn’s observations accentuated themselves in the close light, disgusting him. He had to look away with a grimace. Mr. Vernant’s hand shook slightly as he forced a smile onto his lips. For his son's sake.
“So… I got to see you again, only to have to say goodbye all over again?”
Grant got to his knees, to hug his father. “I’m not going anywhere dad. Lucid will take good care of me, I promise.”
That’s not a promise you can keep. Owyn bit his tongue at the thought. His mind wandered back to Abby. Who would keep her safe?
Mr. Vernant hugged his son back with his one good arm, tears pooling in his eyes. He patted his son roughly, breaking up the hug with a smile. Grant got to his feet.
“Lucid says he doesn’t want me getting you sick. He says he’s going to get some of the others to take away my flesh, so I’m just going to be a skeleton from now on.” He took half a step towards the exit before stopping. His head tilted downward in thought.
“Lucid also says this is going to be the last time you hear my voice.” He turned to his dad, wearing that big, goofy grin. “I love you dad.”
Mr. Vernant returned the grin. “Love you too buddy.”
Grant nodded, smile fading. He climbed up the small slope to escape the crossroads cave, leaving Owyn alone with Mr. Vernant.
Owyn suspected Mr. Vernant wanted to be alone for now. He got to his feet, silently following Grant. The tunnel out was short, triangular in shape. He paused at the end, one hand on jagged rock so he could hear Mr. Vernant devolve to quiet sobbing. Steel formed over Owyn’s heart as he forced himself to not think about it and leave the man to himself.
Outside of the cavern wall was a room, where the pyramidal remains of Depths sat stuck in the ground. Outside the room, Owyn came across crumbled walls, rubble that used to be the ceiling, and bloody bodies all throughout. A six legged spider-fish hybrid crawled across his path, heading for a secluded area around the corner. Owyn followed, and regretted it almost immediately.
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Grant lay on the ground, writhing silently between the jaws of half a dozen monsters crawling around his body, consuming his flesh from the bottom up. His clothes and armor lay to the side in a rough pile. Grant strained, somehow mentally holding himself back against his instincts to fight back. One eye opened, spotting a horrified Owyn staring around the corner.
He smirked slightly. “It doesn’t hurt.” He said. Owyn couldn’t tell if he was lying, but he’d be damned if he said differently. “Can I ask a favor of you?”
Owyn swallowed, looking away but not leaving. “Anything.”
“I still want to talk to dad when I’m a skeleton. Can you make sure Lucid makes that happen?”
“Sure.” Owyn promised. “I can try.”
Grant grinned. “Thanks.”
Owyn left him behind, unwilling to see any more. It was hard to escape it though, as he could still hear everything. The damned cavern was too quiet. There simply wasn’t anything else to hear. If Owyn strained, he could hear some grinding stones on the far side of the core room. Since he needed anything to distract him, Owyn headed over there.
His light revealed two humanoids, Rab and Mimi, as well as a silver dragon. The two humanoids, a fish creature and the demon that saved Mr. Vernant, worked with shifting rocks from the fortification over to a pile just outside. Mimi sat on a pile of moss, stroking the dragon idly while Rab stood guard over her. Mimi noticed Owyn first, waving a greeting with her human hand. Owyn halfheartedly returned the gesture, watching the two humanoids work.
It seemed like a simple job. All they were doing was shifting rocks. They seemed to be leaving the ones that still stood as functioning walls, just taking the ones that had collapsed to the ground. Owyn took a breath through his nose and moved to join them. Conversation was useless, since none of these monsters could speak, but Owyn could at least convey his intentions through action.
The demon and fish man paused, watching as Owyn took the first rock, one half as large as his torso, over to the pile. After he placed it down, the other two seemed to understand he wasn’t there to start anything, and resumed working.
The process was simple. Pick up rock, walk to the pile, drop it off, and repeat. Over and over and over again. The mind numbing work was only broken up by thoughts about whether a particular rock was a part of the wall or not. Owyn learned to silently appreciate the architecture of the fortification. The fort was nothing more than rocks piled up on top of one another, meaning the pile was thick at the bottom before thinning out nearer the top. Rocks formed arches, to hold up the floor above them where such places still existed, against the cavern walls. Owyn saw some minor cheating, where rocks appeared to be shorn off from one another at small, coin sized joints. The dungeon must have melded the rocks into one another where they rested against each other in order to better hold everything together.
Owyn worked with the two humanoids for nearly an hour when he felt a bony hand touch his shoulder. He looked up from the ground to see a short skeleton staring up at him wearing Grant's clothes and armor. Briefly, Owyn saw Grant's big grin staring up at him, but the image disappeared as fast as it came to mind. Owyn nodded at the skeleton, glad that Grant was alright.
Grant nodded back, turning and pointing at Mimi. He marched for the large mimic crab, swinging his arms in exaggerated arcs as he always did. Owyn followed.
Mimi shifted, agitating Rab. The silver dragon backed up, taking a seat not too far away from the two crabs. Grant got on his hands and knees next to the dragon, putting his head to the ground on its side so he could look beneath Mimi. Owyn, a little confused, did the same.
The eggs stuck on Mimi’s underside were wiggling. Owyn’s light illuminated them as one by one, they fell off her body and onto the soft moss blanket below. Rab stomped his sharp feet against the ground, sending excited vibrations through Owyn’s body. More eggs fell, and the ones that were already on the ground burst open, revealing tiny claws. Small, translucent orange bodies followed, each no bigger than Owyn’s smallest finger. As the tiny bodies climbed out of their eggs, they picked at the soft shell, squishing it into a lumpy ball. Once the baby crab seemed happy with its ball, it lifted it above its head and lifted a tiny hatch, dropping the soft shell inside. One after another, little crowns rose above each of the baby crabs, locking in their meals.
A piece of the black eggs drooped, and Owyn returned his attention to Mimi’s underside. The last of the wiggling red eggs had finally fallen off, and now the dead, black eggs were peeling off as one large mat. With a wet ‘shulk’, all of the black eggs fell off at once, bouncing harmlessly off the tiny baby crabs below. Mimi, finished with her eggs, took a few steps back, picking up the black mat of dead eggs. She beckoned to Rab, picking up the mat for him to consume. Rab opened his chestplate, and his tongue tentacles took the mat of dead eggs inside.
A light appeared behind Owyn. He turned around to see Mr. Vernant climb out of the rubble and immediately turn to Owyn’s light. Owyn raised a hand in greeting, and Mr. Vernant returned the gesture, making his way over.
Grant got to his feet, a little unsteadily. After balancing himself, he turned to look up at his father. Mr. Vernant didn’t take his eyes off the little skeleton, standing before it. Neither moved for a little while.
Mr. Vernant got to one knee, pulling in the skeleton for a hug. Grant fell into his fathers embrace a little limply. His head remained high, and his hands balled into fists. Grant’s skeleton began shuddering. He was crying. Silently, as skeletons do. His boney hands wrapped around his fathers back, and his mouth hung open just slightly.
Owyn sniffed, turning back to Mimi to give them just a little privacy. He sat cross legged, just watching as Mimi leaned over her babies, playing with them with all four hands. Rab waved his lance arm above them, just out of reach. The baby crabs raised their claws in a wave as his lance passed by, earning a very pleased sound from the giant crab.
“What’s going on?” Mr. Vernant asked, walking beside Owyn with his hand on his son's skull.
“Crab babies.” Owyn replied simply.
Mimi scooped up a bunch of the smaller crabs. She returned to a more upright position. Her hatch opened.
And she dropped them in.
Owyn shot to his feet, immediately concerned. Rab, whom Owyn thought would be really worried, did nothing to stop Mimi from scooping up more of their children and dumping them in her mouth. Grant put a hand on Owyn’s elbow, getting his attention. He stuck a finger through the bottom of his jaw and out his mouth, wiggling the finger. Amused with the act, he got Mr. Vernant’s attention to show him too.
“What the hell…” Mr. Vernant only gave Grant a passing glance, entranced by the horrific display of a crab eating her children.
Grant tugged on their clothes, walking them over to Mimi. He gestured for them to look inside her hatch, which they did hesitantly.
The baby crabs wandered around Mimi’s interior, picking at her soft flesh. Bit by bit, Mimi’s interior flesh fell apart, eaten by her babies. Owyn watched with fascination along with Grant, but Mr. Vernant took a few steps back.
“Is… is that normal?”
“I suspect not.” Owyn reached into Mimi’s maw, righting a baby mimic crab that had fallen over. “I think this is Lucid’s way of using Mimi’s body before it rots. Kind of like what happened to Grant?”
“Ah.” Mr. Vernant said. “So they’re ‘cleaning’ her.”
“Looks like.” Owyn took a few steps back from Mimi as she dumped the last of her children in her body. She then leaned further, sticking her human half into her giant maw. Her arms got sucked into the deeper parts, squelching through flesh to reach something at the bottom. She pulled out two dungeon cores. Lucid’s ball and Mercy’s cube. She closed her mouth and raised her crown, trapping her children inside. She held out Mercy’s cube to Grant, who took it between two ginger fingers. He rubbed it against his sleeve, trying to clean it. Without muscles to push his clothes up, the cleaning process was a little more awkward than it used to be.
Owyn smirked. He patted Grant’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s see if we can tighten up those clothes. These one’s don’t really fit you anymore.”