“Ahhhhhhhh!” Sila screams in my ear. It’s deafening, even though the wind takes her voice away instantly. Letting go of her elbow with one hand, I silently chant-

[Stormy Breeze of My Loneliness, Gather Forth-Gust]

A jet of wind comes out, stabilizing our descent. We slow rapidly, and I cough as my spell kicks up the fetid air in this place. God…that smells repulsive-

“Ack!” Sila retches behind me, and I can only hope nothing actually came up. “G-Gross!” As we descend, I consider lighting the place up, but then I realize something. This smell…there’s definitely methane. I better not chance anything. Might blow up the undercanals. Streaks of light from guide-bones pass us by, but it’s even darker in this hidden chamber than the pipes above. We’ve entered a seemingly infinite space, although as my eyes adjust, I think I see long vertical pipes not too far away. Down below, Meera appears, holding up one of those glowing sunstones Perideen used. She waves us down, a pair of terrified Demi-Raccoon boys clutching at her waist. It’s totally her fault that they’re terrified, but after a fall like that, they need something solid to hold on to. It kind of reminds me of…hehe, could you imagine Meera as a mother? Pfft, her children would have ISSUES.

I aim my Gust and cut off the spell when we’re almost at the bottom. Sila lets out a short cry as we drop, but then my feet hit the ground and gravity is restored. Gently, I bend my knees and let the poor Demi off. She immediately runs over to rejoin her friends by Meera. I think one of them starts puking. And then suddenly they’re all puking. Meera flickers away, and I can imagine her look of disgust under her mask as she joins my side.

“Welp. You’ve done it now, Boss,” she says, holding up the brilliant sunstone to illuminate wherever we’re at. Slimy wet pipes stretch up towards the ceiling we came from, and I can hear a distinct, faint banging echoing down. That flesh-monster’s still trying to fit through the hole. “Where are we? I don’t think I can climb this crap. We’re stuck down here, unless you can fly us back up. Which doesn’t matter because let’s be honest, that thing’s up there. By the way, this place reeks of gas. So no more bright ideas, please.”

“Alright, alright,” I sigh, putting a hand to my face and adjusting the cat-mask. It’s a bit tilted from the fall. “I’m sure there’s another way out of here. Look at how big this place is. Plenty of exits, all we need to do is choose the right one. Let me just check the map!” Motioning to Meera, I get her to bring the sunstone a little closer. I take out the map and try to figure out our location. “Well, I don’t really see any sublevels beneath the bottom floor. This place is probably unmapped. But look, this is where we were…kinda. Assuming we took this tunnel and then that one…then we must be roughly…here?”

“You sure? There was a fork here, right? Did we go right or left?”

“Meera…are you seriously doubting my memory?”

…

“Boss…you drink so much that half the crap down here is probably yours.”

“I swear to God, if I could afford to fire you…actually…fair point-”

*Splish*

Hmm?

We look over from the map to see Sila gingerly poking her foot in the murky knee-high water.

“Hey, don’t wander off!” Meera admonishes.

“But there’s something in the water…” Sila makes a face and points. From here, the light of the sunstone in Meera’s hand is too shallow to see. “I think it’s dead.”

“What?” I move closer to see. “Meera, point the sunstone this way…sweet jesus!” Zinging adrenaline runs through me as my heart palpates. “Another one?”

That’s…um…interesting.

A corpse floats face-up in the green water. There are chains all over it’s ankles and wrists, but the most freaky part is the way its jaw has been ripped off. Based on how his hands are placed…I’d say he did that too himself. But as for what’s going on above that…did someone scalp him? And where are his eyes! No way he did all THAT to himself! Hurriedly, I grab Sila’s shoulders and pull her back, worried that this one might suddenly come to life. The other two children numbly follow as Meera flashes over and puts herself in front of the corpse. She starts to poke at it with her boot.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Don’t!” I yell. When she looks at me, I murmur, “Might wake it up.”

“Yea…good point,” Meera pulls her foot away. She’s holding her composure better than me. But even the Rainstopper assassin seems a bit fazed by the sorry state of this corpse. Why would you take someone apart like that? Suddenly, Meera hisses, “Boss…he’s not the only one. There’s more…look around us!” She holds up the blue gemstone and the shrill cries of scared children echo across the water. It’s a pretty gruesome sight. We’re surrounded by a sea of half-rotten bodies. They’re amazingly well preserved in the green water, and I gradually realize all of them have similar wounds. Hands stuffed inside their own mouths, or in some cases jawbones already pulled off. No hair, foreheads ripped open to the bone. Eyes gouged out. Meera immediately flickers, reappearing next to me with a small splash. Several wicked throwing knives appear in her hands. Casually, I reach down and draw Mephis’s dagger, trying to tug the Demi-Raccoons towards me with one hand. Despite holding my blade, I don’t feel like a hunter. “Boss! This place is messed up! It ain’t no sewer!”

“You think?” I twirl Mephis’s dagger nervously. “Okay, new plan…screw the map, pick a pipe and let’s just go!” Whirling about, I try to keep an eye on every corpse in the water at once. But it’s impossible. There’s way too many. If all of these things woke up…and came together like that thing from before…we’re so screwed! But it doesn’t seem like they’re awake. Maybe they’re like…prototypes? Failures which didn’t reanimate? And yet…if they’re failures…why bother preserving them? They’re in amazing condition, this green stuff has to be keeping them from rotting. You don’t preserve failures…

“How about that one?” Meera points at the nearest pipe, hanging above the mucky water. It’s maybe a hundred paces away, just barely lit by her gemstone. There are probably…a dozen? No, two dozen corpses floating between us and there. If we go slow…and make sure the kids don’t touch anything, I think we can make that. “Boss, you grab the girl, I got these two-”

*Clank*

*Kraaaanggkachahahcahcahcahcaha*

Metallic screeches bang from overhead. Like a thousand steel crows cawing all at once, it pierces the silence and makes the Demi-kids clutch their ears.

“OWWWW!”

“L-Look!” Sila’s warning is unnecessary. Everyone is already looking up. It’s dark, the light from the guide-bones isn’t really enough to travel down this far. But still…there’s something in that false night sky. A ripple of black motion. It grows quickly, an unnatural wave swelling into a swirling mass of writhing limbs and putrid flesh. OH DAMN!

*Shuuuuuuuu*

“MOVE! MOVE! Get out of the way!” I yell and then realize the small Demi’s legs are way too short to run in high water. Crap. Leaning down, I pluck Sila out of the water and yell to Meera, “Get them away-!” However, there’s no time. Naturally, without Foresight, I’m way too late. You wouldn’t think something as heavy as a hundred bodies could fall so fast. But it does. That’s just how gravity…works.

*Graawrrr GRaaaa Grawwwrr*

*SPLLAAAAASH*

Tidal waves. It’s like the moon fell into the sea. Green corpse-filled water splatters everywhere. And the giant flailing ball of flesh makes landfall. Like a stone dropped into a pond, it makes waves-

“GET BACK-HUUARGH-”

Disgusting rotten, tainted preservative rushes inside my mouth. My tongue recoils and my jaw snaps shut. I desperately hold onto Sila. The water level rises and knocks me off my feet. We’re blown away, so much flotsam before a tsunami! Underwater, I open my eyes…arms locked in a deathgrip around Sila. Something’s clawing at my hand. I realize it’s her fingers. Mephis’s dagger is poking at her throat. Hastily, I readjust my grip, wishing I hadn’t drawn my blade. Bodies swirl about as if we’re in a giant blender and I pray that it’s just random corpses and not Meera or the Demi’s. Where are you?

*Splash*

I surface and scream,

“MEERA!”

The water’s gone from knee-high to head-level in an instant. And somehow it’s still rising. Did a bloody dam break or something? Where is all this crap coming from?! We’re in a giant soupy bowl of death and decay. Water roils everywhere, and I’m smacked by random debris, limbs, you name it. Every second is a struggle to keep up with the rising water. I have no idea how deep it’s gotten, but the glowing guide-bones on the pipes are shooting by as the water level rises. The hell is happening! Without Meera’s sunstone to guide us, I can barely see a thing. And I don’t have my own light source. Not without casting Burn, which might explode. At the market, I remember pridefully declaring that a mage didn’t need a sunstone. Now I’m kicking myself for my poor decisions. I yell again, hoping someone will find their way to us, “Meera! Are you okay?!”

…

…

No way right?

A Rainstopper wouldn’t…drown…would she?

She can swim…right?

…

…