CHAPTER FOUR: IT TAKES A VILLAGE
The Underground has proven to be much more massive than the group had ever expected. Having walked for almost six hours, they find themselves at a village surrounded by a low wall. Outside this wall are about a kilometer of barren fields in every direction, once fertile land that bore the fruits of the labor of the villagers, keeping them fed in this abyss.
The walls themselves are covered in the claw marks of great beasts. With their knowledge of monsters, the group can tell something else made these, but what would be more massive than the largest monster?
Entering the gates, the group decides to rest there for the night. Or is it still day? They aren’t quite sure. The ceiling doesn’t help much, only the faint glimmering of crystalline points of light, small gems akin to stars provide any indication, and even those are misleading and unhelpful.
In the center of the village stand three churches, each adorned with a symbol. A bow, a sword, and a staff. Upon entering the sword church, the group begins to talk amongst themselves for the first time in a few hours. The trek had been in silence since they were unsure if there were still any monsters present. By the fact the entire underground had been subsumed by fleshy growths, it was safe to assume the entire thing was part of the hive, the massive living beings which monsters call their homes.
“I’m hungry,” Tammie whines as Jack sets her down near the pulpit of the church.
“We can scrounge for food in a few minutes. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather rest my feet first,” Jack tells her, removing his shoes and massaging his feet as best he can.
Maddison goes to sit by Tammie, but notices a mask sitting behind her. It is wooden, but very intricately detailed and of exceptional quality. It has no mouth, but has two eyes carved to look angry. Obviously a priceless artifact, Maddison picks it up to inspect it.
Kaizu sees the mask, and pipes up, telling her, “Ah, as I thought. We’re in the Village of the Masks, as detailed in your grandfather’s expedition logs. These three churches were once the home of three deities that took the form of masks and used the ones who wore them as avatars. Apparently everyone here wore masks, and the fields only bore crops due to the blessings of these gods.”
“So what happened?” Maddison asks.
“So the legends go, every few thousand years this cavern fills with water transported magically from some other place somewhere in the universe. With the coming of this water, all life down here dies, save the gods trapped here, and the cities are torn down by great aquatic beasts. Then, thousands of years later, the water disappears and people resettle in a cycle that has been going on since humanity left Mosauna at the end of the Age of Light. Come to think of it, Mosauna is a good candidate for where the water comes from, knowing all the primordial water beasts that reside there,” Kaizu explains. Jack rolls his eyes, having long since stopped listening to Kaizu’s expository monologue.
Jack stands and begins to leave, telling the others, “I’m going to go look for food and medical supplies. If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, you should be worried.”
“Okay,” they all respond, groaning from exhaustion.
…
After walking around for a brief while, Jack finds the remnants of a shop called ‘Rations for Rumors’. He enters the half-exploded building and finds the vault at the back empty. However, he notices the distinct mark of an assassin guild member’s handywork still intact on the vault. Whoever was here, however long ago, they were good. That, or just really lucky.
Back outside, he finds his way to the general store, finding nothing but ruined masks and tattered, ruined clothing. He checks every building, but finds nothing. With his fifteen minutes nearly up, he decides to head to the other two churches.
He first enters the church marked with a bow. Within it, the construction is nearly the same, except the pulpit is replaced with a small wooden construction resembling a mat for kneeling. Beside it he finds the second mask, its eyes set downwards and outwards in a distraught expression.
Exiting the building, he continues on to the final church, the one marked with a staff. Finding, once again, only the seat of the god is altered, this time appearing as a board suspended with chains, though the chains have long since disconnected from their fasteners on the walls. The final mask is found, depicting the emotion of shock, as the eyes are far larger and rounder than those of the other two.
Returning to the first church, Jack reports, “I found no food, but if the legends of the gods making food are true, maybe putting one on is worth a shot.”
“Absolutely not!” Kaizu shoots back. “We have no way of knowing if becoming an avatar to the masks is permanent.”
“Yeah we do,” Tammie responds, putting on the bow god mask set beside her by Jack. She immediately stands, despite her broken leg, and speaks in a voice slightly deeper than her own.
“Thank you for allowing me a vessel once again, travelers,” the mask speaks, still lacking a mouth. “I have heard your conversations, and have spoken with my brethren, and we have decided to give you a helping of supplies to aid in your journey. Our village was once a hub for travelers, a safe spot for all who may need help. And as for your friend here, she will be returned to you as soon as the supplies are given. We only take volunteers, and we take them for only so long as they wish.”
“You said this place ‘was once’ a safe place,” Adam asks, continuing, “what happened. Was it the flooding?”
“No, my friend, it was a few months before that. A group of adventurers trashed our village and killed many of our people. They also ran our economy dry by ransacking our famous ‘Rations for Rumors’ store, and even later defeated our Sword god in combat, a feat none before or after have accomplished,” with this said, the mask somehow looks even sadder than before.
“We could take you with us, seeing as this village is nothing more than a dump on a map of other dumps,” Jack tells the mask.
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It responds, “Thank you for the offer, but it is our duty to watch over this village so it may one day become the hub of another civilization. We hope the underground may one day be populated again, but these damnable monsters must leave first. Once your supplies have been granted, your friend will be released, and I ask you return myself and the Staff god to our appropriate churches, so we may wait out eternity in peace.”
“Understood,” Jack affirms, waiting for their supplies to appear.
The room begins to light up, as candles scattered across all the church’s surface appear and light themselves. In the center of the church, upon the empty floor before the pulpit, a mound of bread, dried meats, water skins, and medical supplies appear in a flash of light. After this miracle, the mask pops off of Tammie’s face and falls to the floor with a clunk.
The group gathers the supplies, storing them in leather bags that also appeared shortly after the main supplies. Their Deus ex Machina over, they bring the masks back to their resting places and move onwards towards the egg ship, thankful for their benefactor’s generosity.
As they leave, Jack notices a small stream of water flowing from the south east of the village. He thinks nothing of it.
…
Over two uneventful days of walking later, the group finds themselves approaching a dim light in the distance. The first signs of civilization since leaving the Village of the Masks, they begin to run as fast as their broken bodies can take them. Jack, leading the pack, suddenly comes to a hault as they approach what they can now see is a village. The others skid to a stop behind him, asking, “What is it?”
Jack responds, “Look at the floor in front of us.”
Maddison summons a small magic flame, sending it forward towards the ground. Illuminated by the flame, to the shock of the group, are large human teeth coming up from the ground.
“What the hell are those?!?” Kaizu shrieks.
“They look like giant teeth, meaning this is one of the cores of the hive,” Jack tells him. “And if this is one of the cores of the hive, we should try and get as far away as possible. Now, quietly, go!”
Horrified, the group makes their way away and around the village, giving it plenty of berth, as the ground beneath them pulsates as if it is breathing. As they are just out of sight, the village roars, and the group begins to run. The hive has noticed them, and has sent monsters after them.
…
Nearly four hours of jogging later, the group sees another light ahead. But unlike before, this is not the dim light of candlelit village houses, but instead the overwhelming light of a roaring red flame, reaching as high as the faux rocky sky.
The monsters behind them have steadily been getting closer for some time now, and at this moment they are practically on their heels. However, as soon as the flame is within sight, they turn back, making sounds of fear.
What none of them think about is what would make even a monster afraid. What would make the Daegueras howl, the Omeguearas roar, the Ankatos growl, and the Atrias screech? Whatever it is, it’s at least possible it’s safer than the jaws of said monsters.
Closing the large wooden gates behind them, our five heroes finally rest for the first time since they left the mask village. Jack and Maddison, unlike the other three, are enthralled by the flame. Not merely staring at it, which is normal to do when one sees a flame the size of a skyscraper, but truly enthralled. Jack and Maddison approach it in a daze.
Jack, slightly ahead, reaches the edge of the flame first, able to get quite close, nearly touching it, despite the immense heat one would expect to be radiating from it. His ears begin to ring, and he hears a voice reverberating from within his mind. “Heya friend! Been a long time since someone’s visited my humble abode! Think you could use a friend like me?” the voice asks, as Jack sees a being of pure fire, merely the outline of a specter, approaching him from the flame. It nears his head, reaching out with its hands, before being shot away.
It disappears and reappears before Maddison, giving the same dramatic opening, “You ain’t never had a friend like me, whatd’ya say?” It enters her head, reverberating and reflecting through her memories, as her right eye begins to burn, literally.
“What did you do to me?” Maddison thinks, speaking with the entity from within her own mind.
“I merely complied with the machinations of Fate, disciple of All,” the voice responds, his voice bouncing back and forth between Maddison’s ears, causing her head to go all fuzzy.
“Who are you?” Maddison asks.
The specter appears before her, outside of her head, and makes himself visible to the whole group. “Steve Pipesmoke, emissary of the Great Flame, pleasure to make your acquaintance!” he trills, waving his hands in a theatrical fashion.
“The Village of the Great Flame! I read about this. The village whose incorruptible flame is fueled by… oh, right, we should go,” Kaizu tells the group.
“Fueled by what?” Jack asks.
“Fueled by yours truly, and all who came before!” Steve roars, growing to a size that towers over the roofs of the houses. “It takes a village to keep a flame lit for thousands of years… literally”
“And now you want us to jump in, eh? Yeah, not happening,” Jack tells him.
“Oh, no. I’m done with this place. I’ve been trapped here for far, far too long. I just want to leave,” Steve replies.
“Oh, that’s good. We’re leaving too,” Maddison tells him, unphased by the fact Steve’s long tail trails back to her right eyeball.
“Oh, goodie!” Steve yells, flying around and back into Maddison’s head.
“Maddi, are you sure you’re okay?” Jack asks.
“Yeah. It’s a little annoying that every time he talks it sounds like The Voice, reverberating through my head, but otherwise I’m fine,” she explains to her brother, continuing, “In fact, it feels like I’ve gotten a major boost in power!”
“That’s cool I guess. I wonder if this is what I heard about from Lady Lucy. ‘Inner demons’. Something all Undarr end up with at some point in their lives. Judging by his appearance, he’s a Geist that was once an Undarr,” Jack tells her.
Steve pops out once more, correcting Jack, “Actually I’m a fire elemental that was once a halfling!” before popping back into his new host’s head.
“Oh, great,” Jack groans, “he’s weird.”
“He’ll fit right in, then,” Maddison says, patting Jack on the back as she goes to help the others get into one of the houses so they can sleep.