Bel had been wondering why the miners would foolishly tunnel into the Labyrinthos if it was as dangerous as Beth described. It turned out that they hadn’t.
She stared at a hole, five strides wide, that had been smashed into the existing mining tunnel from the other side. Some creature had gone through an arm’s length of solid rock as easily as a drunk blundering through a paper wall. Bel tried to picture the size and power of whatever had done it, but all she could think of was a whale with legs.
“And I thought that all the terrifying stuff lived in the ocean,” she shuddered.
James stood up from the ground, anxiously running his hand through his hair. “There are some gigantic tracks here.”
Beth nodded absently as she moved her candle-hat around the hole to get a clear view through it. “Probably some type of hell spawn,” she tossed over her shoulder. “You can thank your guiding stars that the big ones are loud. I don’t hear anything, at least nothing nearby. Let’s get going while that’s still true.”
Beth skipped her way over the waves of rubble, peering around alertly. Bel and James followed timidly. They slid down several large chunks of stone and dropped into a hallway wide enough that the meager light from their candles left the edges dark when they stood to one side. Bel put her hand to the tunnel wall and was surprised by the feeling: cold, like a metal. It was perfectly smooth, but was still dull and barely reflective.
Whatever had smashed its way into the mining tunnels had gone through a circular opening in the metal. The opening was so perfect that it had to be intentional.
“What’s this wall made of?” she asked. “And why does it have holes in it?”
Beth shrugged. “That’s just how the Labyrinthos looks. The stuff’s impervious to damage. As far as the delvers can figure out, the holes are here for drainage and air circulation.”
“Seriously? What’s up with this sci-fi setting in my fantasy world?” James complained.
Bel examined everything, curious about the origins of the strange tunnel. If the tunnel had started empty, it had been left alone for so long that it was filled with dirt. Bel checked its depth, digging down with her hands until her fingertips brushed the actual floor.
Beth laughed. “Curious? The Labyrinthos is eternal, or at least that’s what the delvers say. All of this is just dirt and decomposing bodies that’s sifted in from outside.
James’ headlamp bobbed and weaved as he looked around. “So you’re saying that the dirt is just from dead things and whatever delvers throw away down here? That would take, uh… well, a long time.”
“Something like that. Not very important right now, though. Let’s get walking.” Beth took a few steps forward, but stopped when she realized that no one was following.
James stared at the dirt as Bel tried to wipe her fingers clean on her pants.
James slapped a fist into his palm. Bel could tell that he’d just had another one of his strange ideas.
“You know, the dirt isn’t very deep. It wouldn’t be very hard to search through it for information.” He made a digging motion with his hands. “Someone could drag a plow through it and see if anything shows up. Maybe we’re surrounded by the journals and treasures of adventurers from times past.”
“More like the skulls of idiots from times past,” Beth replied with a roll of her eyes. She gestured impatiently for Bel and James to follow.
James scuffed at some of the loose soil. “Hey, are there magical weapons on Olympos? Could there be some magical weapons here? Like a magic sword or something else that I could use?”
“Crows take me,” Beth cursed. “Hell spawn are real, you know. Now, please, please be quiet and follow me. We need to get to a smaller tunnel.”
James looked like he was going to say something more, but Bel jabbed him in the ribs.
“Okay, okay. We’re coming.”
Beth turned, took a step, and then sighed. She cocked her head to a side for a moment and listened.
“Well, it seems like it’s too late to avoid something large.” Beth looked around at the featureless hallway. “No place to set up an ambush either. I guess we’ll just stand here and wait for it.”
Bel peered into the darkness. “Wait for what? Hell spawn?”
Beth shrugged and leaned casually up against the wall. “Sounds like more of a shimmy than a stomp, so I don’t think so. I think I recognize it, but we’ll have to wait to be sure.” She pointed at Bel and her brother. “Why don’t the two of you take care of whatever it is? Maybe you’ll learn a lesson about listening to your older, wiser sister. Besides, I want to see if you’ve got any new tricks up your sleeves now that you’re healed.”
“I’m pretty sure that I didn’t become a better fighter, Beth. I mean, I wasn’t exactly impressive against those insects.”
“Bah,” Beth waved off her concern. “Maybe you just need to be in a stressful situation. Don’t worry, I’ll still be standing by, and I’m pretty confident that I know what this is.”
Bel shot a worried look at her brother, but he held up his hands helplessly, clearly conveying that it wasn’t his fault that Beth was crazy. She held back a sigh of irritation.
Channeling all of her maturity, she smiled at Beth. “Any advice, big sister?”
“Get it before it gets you.”
Bel gave Beth her best begging look, but her snakes ruined it by getting into her eyes.
Beth scoffed. “I’ve taught you two plenty. Now show me what a gorgon and some Old World knowledge can do.”
James gave Bel a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Then he quickly pulled his hands away from her snakes.
“Don’t worry, sis. It’ll probably be a giant crab or something. Everything evolves into crabs.”
“What are you talking about?”
Her brother grinned as he held up his sling. “I’ll aim for the eyes before it gets too close. Most creatures can’t deal with high-speed projectiles.”
Bel shrugged. “Sure, sounds like a plan.”
She still drew her short sword though. Stabbing something was also a plan, and one that was less likely to go wrong than hitting something in its tiny eyes.
“Wait,” she said. “Something just occurred to me. If this thing lives in dark tunnels, will it even have eyes?”
James froze as he thought about it. “Well, I’ll just aim for whatever sensory organ it’s got,” he finally declared.
Beth snickered behind them.
They grew silent, nervously shifting around as they waited. Soon, Bel realized that she could hear a strange noise echoing down the tunnel. It must have been the same thing that Beth had heard: a combination of shuffles and scrapes that made her think of a person dragging a rolled carpet.
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Bel stared into the darkness, her heart thumping faster and faster as sweat dripped down her back. She was just about to glance back at Beth again when a hint of movement caught her eyes.
Beside her, James spun his sling.
The outline of a creature was just barely visible in the light from her lantern. It was huge, towering over her and reaching halfway to the tunnel’s ceiling. It towered over her like a wave ready to sweep her away. James launched his projectile immediately, the sling buzzing angrily before snapping forward and unleashing a pointy rock at the unknown beast.
It bounced off of its nose. Bel thought it was just as effective as yelling at the rain; the beast just snorted in response before hauling its body forward.
She didn’t know what it was, but it was hungry and looked big enough to make a meal of them. It had a long, brutish snout like a crocodile, but its head was furry rather than scaled. Its two front paws ended in a small cluster of claws, which, combined with the muscular shoulders and upper arms, looked like they could easily hold prey – such as a human – down without a problem. The back of its body had a ridge of coarse fur, but its torso was long and limbless except for two stubby flippers. It was like some kind of monstrous long-snouted seal with shoulders as tall as Bel. Its mouth was what bothered her the most though; it was lined with teeth and was large enough to gobble her down in only a few bites.
A growl from the monster soaked her body in a wave of sweat, terror, and adrenaline that jolted her into action. She tried to glare at it, but, of course, the creature was blind, which made her ability worthless.
Stupid ability! Stupid tunnels! Stupid me!
Bel was caught completely off-guard as the monster, probably annoyed at the noise from the sling more than the sting of its projectile, hauled itself towards James with the speed of a sprinting human.
Shit! Bel dropped her lantern and rushed to the side of the creature, aiming to get behind the bulky front flippers. She was happy to get away from its jaws, but she also thought that she would have more luck stabbing it from there. Her puny weapon wouldn’t kill the thing, but at least she could distract it.
Bel had dropped her lantern and couldn’t make out any details so far away from the light sources, but she thought that she’d gotten past the front claws. She slid through the loose dirt as she strained her muscles and rapidly pivoted to dive towards the beast’s exposed flank.
She lifted her short sword high over her head and delivered a powerful, two-handed downward stab. Her blade went most of the way into the beast’s thicker-than-expected hide, but it didn’t penetrate to the hilt. With a desperate tug Bel realized that her weapon was stuck.
The creature curled its body away from the pinprick of pain, jerking the sword out of Bel’s hands and sending her stumbling to the ground. It surprised Bel with its athleticism as it curled around her. She found herself surrounded by its body, the only light present filtering through the silhouette of its tooth-filled mouth. Bel desperately threw herself towards the body of the beast and away from its deadly teeth, her split-second decision driven by a vague memory of someone teasing an animal by scratching a spot on its back that was just out of its reach.
She grabbed the fur on its flank and hauled herself up and away from the snapping jaws. Her legs kicked for purchase before one of her feet encountered the hilt of her sword. The weapon slipped free as she kicked at it, but it gave her enough leverage to push over the creature’s back and avoid another snap.
Unfortunately for her, as she reached the top of the creature her grabs for handholds found only air. She quickly found herself sliding helplessly down the other side. As she tumbled to the ground the only positive she could see was that she wasn’t breathing very hard. Her new ability was really working.
In fact, she thought as she hit the ground, maybe I should just run away.
Then the creature rolled over on top of her.
She was lucky – the dirt had never been compacted by rain and heavy travel, so she sank into it rather than being immediately squashed. She was once again thankful for her breathing ability, because the air was forced from her lungs repeatedly as the creature rolled back and forth on top of her.
“For Durak’s sake Bel,” Beth shouted, “what in all the hells are you doing?”
Bel didn’t answer. In her position it wasn’t possible. Besides, wasn’t it obvious what she was doing? If she could have taken a breath she would have shouted for help, but instead she was mercilessly pushed deeper and deeper into the soft soil, like a seed being sown for spring. She tried to flatten herself to avoid breaking any bones, but she knew that she had to get away. Already there were spots swimming in her eyes, and it was only a matter of time until the animal figured out how to roll just right to finally break her body.
That or it would just turn around and eat her while she was still stuck in the dirt.
The weight removed itself from Bel’s back and Bel squirmed, but she was stuck fast. When no life-ending bite followed, Bel looked up to see Beth forcing the monster back with threatening swings of her dagger. Beth’s blade was coated in a cloud of darkness noticeable even within the barely lit tunnel. Bel’s sister deftly twisted away from bites and swipes while delivering slashing counter attacks that cut far deeper than seemed possible with the short blade.
The monster reared its head back and barked with fury. Beth pounced, darting forward and slashed her dagger through its exposed throat. The darkness around her dagger flared forward as if it hungered for the kill, leaving a deep, wide gash in the seal monster’s throat. A moment later a torrent of dark blood soaked the ground.
Beth danced back from the spray, but was still stained from her opponent’s lifeblood. Her quick dodge did save the candle on her hat, though. She curled her fingers and the shadows danced up her body. When they fell away she was pristine once again.
Beth thrust her dagger back into its sheath as the creature went through its death throes. “That was a tracer, I think. They’re good at tracking things over long distances. Nasty to fight in the water, but they’re awkward on land.”
Beth pulled a candle from her pocket and lit it from the still burning stump of the candle on her hat. “It’s a good thing that I’ve got some experience with this stuff.” She examined Bel. “I really thought you’d do better now. Are you sure you aren’t holding back? Do you have to do something to activate?”
Beth pointed at James. “Did you mention people from your world who have to say a special word to activate their powers? Any suggestions for accessing Bel’s potential as a weapon?”
“I don’t think gorgons work like that,” he sighed.
Beth clicked her tongue, frustrated. “Well, fine. Bel, absorb this one to grow your core, okay? Then let’s get going before some scavengers show up.”
James helped Bel out of the ground. “Sorry I couldn’t help,” he apologized.
She gave him a comforting pat on the back. “It was way beyond us.”
Bel picked up her short sword and advanced towards the tracer. Her emotions fell by the wayside as she marvelled at its bulk. She had seen a few megatoothed sharks that the fishermen had wrestled out of the water at Baytown, but she’d never been this close to something so large.
“Stuff this big is normal down here?” she wondered.
Beth made a so-so gesture with her hands. “It’s not common, but they’re around. We got unlucky.”
Bel eyed the corpse for a few heartbeats before steeling her guts and walking forward so she could reach it. The smell of blood saturated the air, reminding Bel of her time in Technis’ temple. The ground had turned to blood-soaked mud beneath her feet, so she stepped carefully to avoid slipping.
She put her hand onto the creature’s rough skin and reached out with her senses to find its core. Once she had it in her metaphorical grasp she gave a tug, pulling essence into her own core for the first time.
Some of the essence went into her core, but it seemed to slow down as she absorbed it. When that happened, she could feel the majority of the essence slipping away, dissipating into the air or rushing into the ground. Another tiny trickle seemed to fall into a hole before reaching the center of her budding core. Bel wondered if that was the tithe to the gods that Beth had mentioned.
As the essence collected upon her core, it grew. Her earlier comparison to a budding flower felt correct; it was as if the central bud swelled and a new petal unfurled. Then her core swelled again, and another two petals unfurled. Most of the essence had drifted away, but the last dregs of it drifted into her core and just managed to swell her core a third time, loosening one more petal.
“Did you level up?” James asked eagerly.
“We call them thresholds,” Beth corrected. James waved her off, making it clear that he would be sticking with his own words.
Bel nodded excitedly. “Yes! My core grew three times I think.” She avoided using one word or the other to prevent more arguments.
Beth clapped her hands. “Excellent! You should be able to feel a structure at each new threshold. Those hold the strokes that make up your ability inscriptions. Tell me how many you’re getting at each threshold.”
“It felt like one petal unfurled at the first one, then two unfurled at the second, and one more at the third. There was more essence, but it got away from me – did I do something wrong?”
“No, that’s the just way things work. Supposedly, the Heart of Olympos pulls any loose essence to itself, so if you can’t absorb the essence quickly enough it goes back to the world.” Beth shrugged, indicating that it was a hopeless problem. “It also means that you’ll only get essence from the outer layers of a core, but that’s not a problem you need to worry about yet. How many strokes fit on your core now?”
Bel felt around the budding flower inside her. “I think I have fourteen of them now, although five are already filled with glare and improved lung capacity.”
Beth hummed. “Same as a regular human then. Oh well. I’m sure we’ll figure out what you can do at some point.”
Beth pointed forward. “Let’s get going. Once you’ve gotten a patron, your Path will offer you potential patterns. You’ll feel them hovering around your core, kind of how you felt that pattern for improved lung capacity.”
“Oh.” Bel paused. “I can feel something there now. Is that wrong?”
Beth grinned and her eyes gleamed with fervor. Bel was intimidated by her sister’s sudden eagerness.
“It’s not wrong Bel, it’s fantastic! I want you to tell me all about it. Well, right after we get away from this corpse – it wouldn’t do to get eaten by scavengers when we’re just getting to the exciting stuff.”