The first part of the ride reminded Sam of those casual theme park rides where parents could take a seat and rest while their over-hyped, over-sugared children could gawk at half-working animatronics as the old carriage chugged along.
People were waving at watchers – both NPCs, guild members, and people with ugly looks on their faces who missed being part of the event – and simply playing around, jostling each other, and simply having fun.
Sam quickly opened his messaging system and sent a simple message to Lucy to tell her that he was entering the depths below Sunspot. He received a good luck reply and confirmation that the rest of his team had also been sent off on their own adventure.
Wishing them luck (and mercy to their enemies) he closed the system window and turned to the healer next to him.
The woman, noticing this, wearing the sand-colored robes with the golden water drop symbol, turned toward him with a gentle smile, waiting for his question.
“Say, why is it that this carriage doesn’t have any mercenaries aside from me?” he asked a little perturbed.
The woman just smiled. “Worry not, friend. It’s simply a chance that the other healers have stayed with their groups.”
“But I’m not a healer…” Sam pointed out simply.
The woman continued to smile. “True, yet your abilities are equally useful where we’re heading.”
[Congratulations! You completed the Second Task of the quest ‘Friendlessly into the depths!’!]
As she explained that a quick notification flashed up for Sam before they began moving downward, the entrance to the depths inviting yet at the same time filling Sam with a foreboding feeling.
“Really?” he asked.
Her smile weakened a little. “The depths are home to many things that your ability is quite powerful against,” she explained while not saying much.
However, instead, a new notification popped up.
[Third Task: Use your skills to ensure that the supplies reach the target!]
[Reward: Staying alive]
[Penalty: Death]
Sam read it and winced inwardly.
‘Alright, so it’s not going to be a walk in the park.’ Sadly, the other Sam never really plumbed the depths, only read about it.
As he mused on how to travel time and dimension to make it so that his alternate self would play in this part of the game world, the last carriage entered the tunnel leading into the deep underground labyrinth and one more notification popped up.
[Warning! You entered an event area! To ensure an even playing field, outside communication has been blocked and recordings have been cached until the event ends. We wish you an exciting adventure and if you have any questions, you can reach us at…]
‘Good thing I sent that message before…’ Sam thought with a small chuckle as his ears picked up dismayed cries from all over the caravan.
Then it was time to turn his attention to the environment.
The tunnels leading deep underground were hewn from the very stone that made up the plateau where Sunspot was founded and over the years, it was improved to the point that the walls looked flat as a fresh printer paper to the naked eye.
Even though the entire area was illuminated by enchanted lights in the ceiling and occasionally built into the walls, they still left enough places for a few remaining pockets of shadows. They looked completely normal when looked at, but from the corner of his eyes, he could see ‘something’ moving there.
Glancing at the woman next to him, he noticed her giving him a shaky smile and drawing the robes closer to her body as if trying to prevent ‘something’ from seeing her.
“It’s always the worst at the first part… Not seeing the sun and knowing ‘it’ is out there…” she murmured distractedly.
Sam, tactfully, didn’t ask what ‘it’ was.
Mostly, because he didn’t want to know.
Though, based on his experience, soon he would be making close acquaintance with ‘it’.
He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and just took in the ambiance of the caravan as they trudged deeper and deeper.
The clanking of the wheels, the creaking of the wood of the carriages, the shuffle and breathing of the lizards pulling said carriages, the almost imperceptible hum of magic in the air, the indistinct murmur of the people heading toward their doom and something scurrying in the background, blended together to form a certain kind of ambiance. It formed into something that Sam would call instrumental horror background music.
It really highlighted the talents that Future Unknown gathered to make the game. The entire scene meshed together so well that Sam could hear in real-time as the people began to quiet down as they realized what was happening.
As an experiment, he reached out with his mana, trying to make sense of the situation, but the thick walls of the underground complex very quickly muddled his senses. His usual prodigious senses were reduced to the area of the tunnel and a few yards into the wall but even then, by the edges, it was so murky that it became useless.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Still, he kept up with it, as he knew it would do wonders for his skill levels.
Then he directed his attention toward one of the pockets of undulating shadows as the caravan headed deeper and deeper while the incline of the floor began to increase. As his attention went over the patch of nightmare, he felt it slide out from under it as if the thing knew he was trying to figure it out.
However, he managed to get a little information before the ’thing’ moved away.
The shadow felt somewhat familiar.
He leaned forward, pretending to adjust his boots and while protected by his coat and place he looked toward his own shadow.
“Lucky, go into the shadows and hunt a little,” he whispered and immediately felt his loyal companion leave his side. Straightening out and ignoring the few odd looks, he turned back to watch the caravan heading for their first objective while mentally rooting for Lucky.
With a few deft movements, he opened Lucky’s page and soon was able to watch as the wolf’s experience points began to climb. It was only a few points every minute or so, but it still showed that Lucky was hunting something.
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They arrived at their first objective in an hour of travel downwards, with a few turns here and there, through the well-illuminated tunnels.
It was a great hall, with several workshops, warehouses built into the very rock that made the foundation of the city and an entire fortification staffed with stone-faced soldiers mixed with a cadre of Sun Warriors wearing blinding white armor that radiated warmth, light, and heat.
They protected giant gates leading in different directions. This tunnel they used ended in three different giant gates wrought out of special metals and enchanted beyond recognition. He tried to make sense of the enchantments but the sheer amount of them almost burned out his senses. Plus, the moment he directed his mana sense at the nearest door a Sun Warrior instantly zeroed in on him and glared.
Not wanting to tangle with the dour guardians of the city, he moved his attention to the center of the caravan, where one of the highly decorated and well-dressed NPCs was getting down from one of the carriages as several servants hurried forward to build a makeshift podium from several crates.
And all through this, the background noise of the environment was still going on, creating a rather eerie atmosphere. Sam felt like the enchanted lights were flickering a little faster as if it was fighting against something.
“Welcome, brave soldiers of the savannah!” boomed the man, magic making his voice heard by everybody. “We hope that the wind brings you all the luck you deserve!” continued the man and Sam felt the statement rather foreboding. “This is where the true expedition starts. Positions, tasks, and jobs were assigned in the city but we’re going to go over them once again.” He paused and looked around, making eye contact with a lot of players hanging off the outside of the carriages to catch a look at the speaker before continuing. “However, the depths are not for the faint heart or for those who are unprepared for the challenges that the earth provides! Thus, pay attention and you may live long enough to achieve something worthy for the sun to shine light on!”
‘A lot of people are going to die…’ Sam mused as he looked around and watched as the NPCs listened stone-faced or worried while players simply laughed off the warning.
“Now, here are the assignments! Pay attention, as I’m going to say once! Carriages three through six are for the Sand Crawler mercenary group.” The mentioned group let out a loud cheer that for some reason didn’t echo back from the stone walls. “You stand ready to protect the entire caravan. The next two are supply carriages. Those of you who have joined them should stay there…”
As the man continued to list carriages and assignments, Sam leaned over the friendly healer. “Hey, I forgot to ask, but what number is this?” he whispered a little shyly.
The woman chuckled in response. “The thirteenth, young adventurer.”
“Cool, cool, cool… Super not ominous. Thanks!” Sam spoke under his breath.
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Getting through the gates was a rather easy affair. As soon as the man with the high-quality robes finished his speech, and the makeshift podium was taken apart, the gates were opened by an unseen mechanism that blasted them with the tepid and cold air of the depths beyond them, carrying with it a scent that sent shivers down Sam’s back while his new friend scrunched her nose.
“Ugh, that smell… No matter how many times I smell it, it’s still horrendous…” she whispered.
Sam nodded his head. He couldn’t exactly place the smell, but it still caused him to tense up.
“Visited a lot, huh?”
“Frankly, too many times,” she replied with a wry smile. “But my family made me promise that this will be the last one. I intend to make it so. I have grandchildren to pamper and that’s not possible if I get lost in the embrace of earth.”
“Any advice?”
“Never go anywhere alone. Don’t trust anything that you see coming from the dark. And for all that is holy under the sun, never drink from any water source you find. There is a reason why we have so many supply carriages.”
Sam nodded then once again leaned a little closer. “What exactly is in the dark? Nobody could tell me clearly when I did my research.”
To Sam’s surprise, the woman let out a laugh while a few people around them chuckled, proving they were listening to them.
“Then you’re smarter than most of those fools,” she said contemptuously, indicating a rather rowdy bunch of players who were running around their assigned carriage as if they were children in a theme park. Then she looked directly into Sam’s eyes. “Alas, I rather not say the name. It is listening.”
‘Well, that narrows it down a little…” he thought over the possibilities. ‘I should have brought Katie. Her ‘cat’ could have acted as a translator…’
“Additionally, it’s not always the same. The depths are seemingly endless, filled with many things with many facets. If we’re lucky, we’ll only meet monsters.”
The overhead lighting, which was slowly becoming more and more sparse, instead of continuously lining the ceiling, only attached every few dozen yards, chose that exact moment to flicker while a strong gust of cold wind blasted through the tunnel they were using, carrying with it the stench of undeath.
“TO ARMS!” came the call from the head of the caravan, and the people around Sam instantly jumped to action. The healer next to him instantly began to issue orders as the overhead lights continued to flicker and dim, until they were providing so little light that their own Light Balls and other sources of light were much more powerful, leaving the area filled with shadows and darkness.
His first instinct was to head out, but instead, he turned to the robed woman. “What do you want me to do?”
“Use your aura. Make sure to keep the carriage clean!” came the concise answer.
He nodded. “Can do!”
Instantly, his aura activated, and he began to channel more mana into it to make it stronger and bigger. And before he could ask why, he noticed a dip in his mana as his aura began to consume something.
Noticing his change of focus, the healer gave him a tight nod. “The wind is not our friend down here. It carries with it the sweet promise of death.”
Sam returned the nod, focusing on the aura as the other healers spread out and began to channel some kind of a light spell that eased the burden on his aura and granted light around them.
Then he heard the sound. Once again, without any echo, which was plain freaky.
Guttural roar, slapping of wet flesh, and ominous chanting enveloped the caravan as a tide of dirty, decaying horde of undead – some wearing clothing with very familiar symbols; everything from robes to mining equipment – all of them wreathed in darkness, clinging to them like candyfloss to a wet finger, flooded toward them, their eyes glazing with endless hunger.
And nothing else.