Warm Moon / 6 / 1218 A.F.
Alright, let’s see here. I got a fresh carton of blues, refilled the gunpowder in my lance, got the right trousers on, steel-toed boots are where they should be, crossbow’s been re-tuned, and my goggles have been cleaned. I’m ready. I turn around to face my new crew. Looks to be six people. Youngest one looks to be about 20. Oldest one looks no older than 55. Never seen any of them near the Ravine before. Hell, they don’t even look like they belong here. They can all hold a spear and aren’t crapping themselves, so they’re better than nothing. “Everyone ready? Is your equipment in order?”
“Yes, ma’am.” the oldest one puts a stick of blues in his mouth and lights it up. “Ready when you are.”
The youngest one coughs and waves his hand. “C’mon, old timer. Do you really have to smoke right now? I still gotta use these lungs for a few decades.”
“Hey.” I pop a blues stick in my mouth and light it up. “If you don’t like smoking blues, you chose the wrong job. Light up or shut up.” I offer him one of my sticks. “It’ll keep you alive.”
“No thanks…” The kid pushes my hand away. “I don’t need to rely on that stuff.”
“Your funeral.” I shrug and stare out into the Ravine before us for a sec. If it weren’t for the riches hidden below, it’d be nothing but a glorified ditch filled with the ugliest mirages this side of the continent. I step forward into the lift the local hunters managed to scrape together. It looks shoddy and a little rusty, but it's seen more hell than I ever will. It creaks even if bugs skitter across it, but I’m not scared. Hasn’t failed me any other job. Ain’t going to fail me now. The rest of my crew follow me in and shut the iron gates behind them. I pull the one lever on the lift console and we begin descending into the Ravine. Within only a few seconds, the lift is encased in dense, dense mist. So dense that I can’t see anyone else in the lift.
I put my goggles on, take a deep, deep puff of blues and let the smoke incubate in me for a second. My jaw relaxes. My arm quits shaking. Everything feels just a bit lighter. I exhale and take another hit. If the Mist is this bad today, I’m gonna need all the blues I can handle.
The young one coughs again. “C’mon, lady… Can’t you wait to do that till we split up?”
“Pfft. Split up? You kidding me? Splitting up’s the best way to get yourself lost in there.” I feel my head start to grow light and fuzzy. Good. Good… Keep it up.
“Nonsense. I won’t get lost. I have a compass, a ball of yarn, and I’m making an effort to mark every landmark I come across with paint.”
The geezer lets out a grimy laugh.
“What’s so funny!?” The young man stomps his foot and causes the lift to rattle a little.
“Kid,” I put my hand on his shoulder. “You’re gonna die so bad. You wanna give me a keepsake to give to your family right now? I ain’t fishing your body out of the Ravine when you croak.”
“Screw you. I’m no rookie. I’m a certified hunter!”
“Really?” I ask. “What school?”
“The Prime Athesian Academy.”
“Either your parents made a very generous donation to that school or that place has gone to hell.” I yawn. “What about the rest of you, gramps? Don’t see many old folks coming down here.”
“Lost my job to some automaton.” he grumbles and takes a deep smoke.
“My condolences.”
The old timer grumbles again.
Five minutes later, the lift hits the ground, the gates open, and my crew and I shuffle out of the lift and into the Ravine. Thick, gross swamp juice rises up past my knees. If it wasn’t for the blues, I’m sure I’d vomit just from the smell of the place. Smells exactly how you think a dank canyon full of stale swamp juice and decomposing animals and trees would smell like.
The rookie starts talking again, but keeps his voice down. “Hey, did any of you say anything?”
“Kid. Take the blues and light up already. It’ll counteract the mist.”
“Thanks but no thanks.” I hear the kid take some steps forward through the swamp. “Where’s the good stuff?”
“Shut up, follow me, and you’ll find out.” I push him out of my way, draw my lance, and take point. “Alright, everyone. Phalanx up. Don’t be afraid to take a stab if you hear something swimming around.”
Everyone including the kid does what I say, bunches together, and sticks their lances out. Feels good to finally have people listen to me for a change. “We’re looking for any mist deposits. You’ll be able to see their shine through the mist and swamp juice just fine.”
“Uh… huh…” the boy whispers. “So… do we dig them out of walls? Is there some kind of weird clam down here that grows them?”
“If we’re lucky, we’ll just find them lying by some carcasses. If we’re unlucky, then we’ll have to kill some mirages till we get our treasure.”
“I see…” the kid sniffs. “Is anyone hungry? I brought some snacks.”
“You brought what?”
As if it were on queue, one of the crew lets out a soul-wrenching cry and gets pulled under by something in a second. All that remains of them is a lance drifting in the water.
Everyone begins to yell and panic.
“What do I do!?” The kid runs towards me and cries.
“Throw your food away, you idiot!” I push him aside, retrieve the floating lance, and begin stabbing into the water with both my lances. “EVERYONE! FORM UP! STAB THE WATER WITH ALL YOU GOT! WE’RE SITTING DUCKS IF WE TRY RUNNING AWAY!”
The kid, geezer, and two others manage to collect themselves and join me. One chucks off her gear and runs off into the Ravine. I can’t see what happened, but I heard a scream and something get torn off. We’re all standing in the swamp with our backs to each other stabbing the water feeling for whatever the hell killed our crew. I can’t feel anything under the swamp juice, but I can definitely hear something. Sounds like heavy breathing and fur scratching against something. I take another puff of blues just to make sure that sound is real.
inhale
Turns out it’s real. In fact, the breathing’s only getting closer. It’s coming right for me. Sounds like it’s coming from above. How many are we dealing with!? I lift one lance out of the water and stab the air with it. I can just barely see the outline of something through the mist. It’s long, it’s slender, it’s got three foot long teeth jutting out of the air around where my lance is. I hear the familiar sound of metal piercing flesh and see some viscous, white fluid stream down my lance. “Gotcha…” I press a button on the shaft of my lance.
click
BOOM
A second later, an explosion erupts from the tip of the lance and the teeth dissipate into mist. The water around us grows calm. My remaining crew members are still alive. And now there’s two shiny stones lying at the bottom of the swamp juice. One’s in front of me. The other’s by the rookie’s feet. He reaches in to retrieve his and I walk forward to retrieve mine. I reach in with my left hand, feel the juice rise over my shoulder, and pull my face back to protect myself from the stench and to keep my blues stick lit. I wrap my hand around the stone and pull it out. It’s a mist gem alright. Pretty big one too. Bout half as tall and as wide as my palm. Shiny, feels and looks unlike any other gemstone, and I can see mist swirling around in it. I immediately pocket it and resume keeping watch while rookie, geezer, and the other dude compose themselves.
“Aw…” Rookie whines. “Only that big?”
“How big’s your gem?” I ask while swirling a lance around in the swamp juice to check for any more mirages.
“Size of a fingernail…”
“What are you whining about, boy?” the geezer grumbles. “A pearl that big can pay a month’s rent.”
“Oh, really? Sorry, sorry. I had no idea.” I hear some velcro open up. I assume that’s the rookie storing his bounty. “Okay… okay… calm down…” he takes some deep breaths. “Can we leave? I think I’m satisfied with my haul.”
“Of course.” I nod. “Do you need to be escorted back to the lift?”
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“No.” the rookie starts heading back to the lift. “Thank you for saving my butt, ma’am…”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Wait wait.” the other crew member starts walking next to the rookie. “I’m not staying here any longer. I’ve had my fill of adventure. I’m going with you.”
“Please do.” the rookie takes another stilted breath. “More the merrier…”
I hear their footsteps disappear into the mist. Now I’m just left with the geezer. “What about you, gramps? You need to leave too? No shame in it.”
“I’m still good to go.” Gramps rubs his shoulder and grumbles. “I’m not leaving empty-handed.”
“Then let’s continue onward. Watch my six.”
“Understood.”
The two of us walk forward for two minutes pointing our lances outward to feel for anything. We soon come across a ravine wall filled with white moss. All manner of Ds, insects, and weird pods that I sure as hell ain’t touching cover the wall. The longer I look at the pods, the more I want to vomit. They’re covered with irregular holes of varying shapes and sizes. Each hole looks like it’s vibrating and the whole pod is pulsating like a big heart. Occasionally, I can see some fluid begin to flow out of the holes. I’m going to stop looking now. The rest of the moss is covered in this thick, viscous fluid. Looks like it could be mucus or… I don’t even want to think about it. Still, couldn’t hurt to bring back a sample. Could make a good explosive for all I know. I reach into my satchel, pull out a jar, and begin to scrap the fluid off the moss and into the jar. Okay. May have been a mistake. The second I touched the moss, this horrible odor erupted from the wall and a bunch of small insects scattered out of the moss and into the swamp juice. Their loss. I seal the jar tight, see that the jar interior has already grown cloudy and murky, and put the jar away.
“Do you hunters just pick up anything you find down here?”
“If someone’s willing to pay for it.”
“Can’t argue with that.” Gramps shuffles out of the way of a small raft made of ants. “Where to next?”
I look to the path to the left and see the same mist as the other paths. For a moment, I swear I can see the figure of a man beckoning me towards the mist. He’s smiling, but it’s not malicious. It’s warm. Almost fatherly. “Come here… Astrid. I’ve missed you.”
I inhale the rest of the stick, chuck it into the swamp, and quickly light another one. “We’re going right.”
“Why?” Gramps peers into the left path and tilts his head.
“Gut says the left’s haunted.”
“Can’t argue with that.” Gramps shakes his head and follows me.
Thankfully, the rest of our trek is rather peaceful. We came across a pack of young Yappers, but they were scared off with a simple lance swing. About five minutes later, we came across an incline. We managed to escape the swamp juice and find ourselves in a small, elevated clearing. No grass or trees on this clearing. Just damp bedrock. The mist isn’t quite as dense here, so that’s nice. I can actually see five feet in front of me. A few more steps forward, and I find the carcass of an enormous mirage. Easily an A. Six long legs, big sturdy round gut, looks mammalian, eight sharp tusks that look like tree trunks jutting out of its maw. The maw alone looks like a whole different beast. You could easily cram two carriages in there with some room left over for two hunters. Each tooth inside the maw looks as tall and thick as I am. I’d love to bring one of the teeth back and forge it into a nice lance, but it looks way too heavy to bring back. I’m gonna need a whole new crew just to pry a tooth out and transport the thing out… Though getting a crew to do that would be a whole new endeavor. If I started talking about using mirage parts for weapons, I’m sure I’d be labeled a heretic or grouped together with those cult assholes… Still worth the risk. I’ll put a posting on the guild wall when I get out of here. These teeth are too rare to just leave lying around.
The beast has three sets of eye sockets that have grown empty and lifeless. I know it isn’t sleeping because mirages don’t sleep… and their eyes glow with this arcane white light until you kill them.
“Ma’am.” Gramps readies his spear. “Get away from that thing. We need to leave.”
“Don’t worry.” I tap the corpse with my lance. “It’s dead. It’s eyes aren’t shining.”
“Don’t be stupid. Everyone knows mirages don’t leave bodies behind.”
“And yet here we are.” I walk over to the beast’s belly and pull my lance back. “Now get over here. Help me gut this thing up.” Just as I’m about to plunge my spear into the thing’s gut, I see it’s stomach distend, but only for a moment. It looks like something’s kicking inside of it. “The hell…?” I shrug, stick my lance into its gut, and press the button.
BOOM
The fur gets blown and singed off, revealing a damaged, but still intact hide. Whatever. I still got four charges and we’re only fifteen minutes away from the lift. Here goes.
BOOM
I manage to blow a small hole about the size of my head in its gut. Thick silver fluid glops out of the beast’s gut and gets on my feet. I get out another jar and collect the fluid. Wow… Goddamn this fluid is dense. The jar feels like it weighs twenty pounds heavier after I fill it up. As I put the jar back into my satchel, I peer inside the hole and see a human leg. Doesn’t look pale or injured. There’s even a body still attached to it. Might still be able to save them if I hurry. I rest my lance against the beast’s belly, reach inside, grab the legs, and start pulling them out. Geez… why are they so heavy? What the hell? I manage to get the lower body out, but the torso’s stuck. Looks like they’re holding onto something. Something big. Just a little more effort and… come on you fatty. Hngh! With one last tug, I manage to tear open the hole a little wider and yank the body out. I drop them and they bonk their shoulder and head on the bedrock, but they’re fine. Nothing looks bruised or in pain. In fact, the person looks like they’re sleeping comfortably covered in juice. I kneel down to get a better look at them. Looks no older than ten. Male. Short blonde hair. Pale skin. Thin frame. Breathing steadily. Dressed head to toe in cleric garb. What’s a choir boy doing out all alone in the Boundary? And how the hell is he alive?
That’s not even the strangest part about him. He’s clutching onto an enormous mist stone as long as my torso and three times as thick. It’s easily the largest one I’ve ever seen… probably the largest one to exist. I didn’t even think they could get that big. I’m set for life if I can get this to auction. Who do I sell it to though? The Athesian military would pay a handsome price… but I’m sure there’s some nobles who could pay higher and give me some extra-legal benefits…
gashink
I hear the sound of a crossbow being cocked about fifteen feet behind me.
“Step away from the stone.” Gramps says.
I sigh, put my hands behind my head, stand up straight, and face gramps. “Really, old timer?”
“I’m not going back to the factory.” Gramps shakes his head and motions the crossbow sideways. “Move. Now. And toss me that necklace while you’re at it.”
I look down at my silver necklace before looking back at Gramps. “No.” I take a deep breath, slowly move my left arm in front of me, and start slowly moving towards Gramps. “Look. That stone’s big enough for us to share and be set for life. There’s no need to play dirty.”
“Stay back.” Gramps steadies his aim. He looks like he knows how to use that thing. “Take one more step and you’re dead.”
“I was about to say the same.” I aim my palm where he’s aiming and take another step forward.
“I warned you.” Gramps fires the crossbow.
Thunk
No pain. No blood. No cries. Just the good ol sound of metal piercing metal. I watch the bolt get stuck in my hand and smile.
“What!?” As Gramps begins to reload, I pull my crossbow off my back, aim, and shoot.
shoop
A second later, a crossbow bolt graces Gramps’s forehead and sends his now lifeless corpse tumbling to the ground like a puppet that just got its strings cut. I reload and holster my crossbow, rub my temple with my right hand, and groan. “Goddamnit…” I take a deep puff of blues and look at my left hand. “Just got this fixed too…” Crossbow shaft is stuck clean through. Barbed as well. I pull the bolt out, put it in my quiver, and look inside the hole. Can’t move my middle, ring, or pinky finger… but my thumb and index still work just fine. The wrist axel’s a bit busted though. Repair job will probably take an hour. Knew I should’ve gotten the reinforced palm.
I walk over to Gramp’s body and loot it for everything useful. Holster his crossbow, collapse and store his lance in my lance holster. Bastard used up all his blast charges, but he has a nice golden ring on his finger. I take it from him and store it in my loot satchel. I can eat pretty decently for a week with this.
Now for the boy. I turn back to him and nudge him with my foot. “Hey. Kid. You awake?”
No response. Still asleep.
“Kid?” I tap his head with my foot.
Still snoring.
“Wake up!” I wind up and kick the kid’s hip as hard as I can.
“BWAH!” The kid jumps to life and holds his hip. “Ow… oow…” he sounds ready to cry, lets go of the gem, and looks up at me. “Who are you, miss?”
“That’s not important.” I look down at him. “What’s a choir boy doing out in the Boundary all by himself?”
“I’m on my pilgrimage.” he winces and pats the mist gem. “and it-” he looks over to the beast’s stomach, himself, then at the beast’s stomach again. “Did… did I get eaten?”
“Yeah, but you got better. You’re welcome.”
“Ah… I see. Thank you for rescuing me then. I am in your debt.”
“Do all churchgoers take naps in the Boundary or are you just a weirdo?” I take another puff of blues and feel my head start to get light again. It’s getting hard to hear too. Everything sounds like I’m underwater. Good.
“Of course.” The boy nods and puts his hand to his chest. “It is part of the trial that all servants of the Matriarch must overcome.”
“Uh… huh…” I cross my arms. “You sure they didn’t just want you gone?”
“The priestesses would never do that!” The boy keeps his arms wrapped tight around the gem. “Just… no one else was brave enough to take on this pilgrimage.”
“I see.” I could barely hear that last part, so I’ll just nod.
“Anyway… you seem strong and tough… can you escort me back to the Church? I promise my masters will pay you handsomely.”
“Really? I could just gut you, take that gem, and be set for life.”
“You wouldn’t dare…” The boy reaches into his robes and pulls out a knife no longer than my hand. “I cannot fail my mission. Paradise depends on it.” His hand’s shaking. Poor kid looks like he’s never even held a kitchen knife. I’m surprised he didn’t stab himself trying to pull the knife out.
“Paradise?” I kneel down next to the kid and lean my head in close. “What’s that gem got to do with Paradise?”
“The Church can use these stones to shrink the Boundary and open the way to Paradise. I swear. I’ve seen them do it before.”
I grit my teeth and shut my eyes. Every part of me is telling me to take the money… but there’s that little, stupid part of me that insists otherwise. “Shrink the Boundary, huh?” I sigh. “Alright, you just got yourself a new bodyguard.”