N12, Beyond The Hallways

‘Here we are!’

I was finally out of the corridors, but instead of heading to the surface it felt like I was getting deeper into this unknown place. In fact, this had to be the case since some humans also came this way. They would rarely pass by our lair in this direction and then come back after a few hours.

Now me and my minions had arrived at a cave with many twist and turns that stretched into the distance. It was bigger than most hallways, big enough to fit all my minions in a line made between its two walls, although they would be a bit squeezed.

The cave had a different atmosphere, it was less humid and a lot brighter than the hallways. It felt like a dark cloudy day compared to the gloomy, almost night-like, ambiance from before. Thanks to that I could see things far away without much problem.

Rough, porous, whitish stone formed most of the cave. There were less patches of moss, but they grew bigger and lusher. The ground was uneven and a fine layer of dry dirt covered it in some spots. Rocks were scattered everywhere and the irregular walls were full of hollows large enough for a big creature to lay in ambush.

Crabs roamed the place. Their color, slightly lighter than those in the hallways, imitated that of the rock. I could also see some strange, almost white, feather-like creatures poking out of small pores in the stone. Most of them were on the walls and ceiling. They were so tiny that not even my finger could enter the circular cavities they lived in. Every time we made noises they disappeared from sight, burrowing into their small holes.

I was starting to suspect that this place was a lot bigger than I had thought.

“Shrii, shriik.” I ordered my underlings to pay attention, we had to start moving. I didn’t know when some warriors or other dangers might appear. I needed to gather as much information about this area as soon as possible. That and finding shelter were my priorities. I wasn’t sure where I could find a good place to stay, but the best way to get information was obvious. I had to look at the sign the humans left behind.

As we advanced I could sometimes feel faint air currents blowing from the lateral passages. I glanced at the signs near them, but they weren’t very useful. Most of the marks only pointed that the narrow paths led to dead ends.

Finally we arrived at a bifurcation. On the wall separating the to paths many marks could be seen. Their color was black unlike the ones in the corridors. First of all I took a look at the ones I was familiar with. Rats, fierce rats, lizards, dogs, all of them were here. But the symbols which indicated quantities seemed a lot lower, while those that indicated distances were higher.

‘Hmm, it seems there are dogs in both branches.’

I had decided that those beasts were way too dangerous for us and had avoided confronting them in the hallways. They live here as well, but the signs showed that they were far away.

‘That’s good, I don’t want to commit mass suicide along with my gang.’

There were also new symbols, one of them must be a fat lizard, or a big lizard. I hoped it was the former, it would be nice to get more meat from every prey. There were less rats down here and hunting lizards would be riskier without my usual tactic.

I could also see some figures that seemed to walk on two legs, but I wasn’t sure what they are. Ones look vaguely humanoid, while the others were clearly animals. It wasn’t something I needed to investigate right now, both of them were quite far from this place.

‘Nice! I guess those warriors may be a bit useful at times.’

Now I knew what to expect from this place and the new creatures that lived here. If the humans had bothered to draw them they had to be either dangerous or useful to them. It was time to find a new lair, one that was outside of the normal routes the humans took.

…

After searching for a couple hours we had found a low passage with a small entrance. It was in the middle of a sloped cave, a bit away from the main paths. It would make for a good lair.

First of all I wanted to fortify the entrance like I had done in our old dwelling. My minions were working on it while I supervised everything.

‘I’m getting the hang of this.’

Nowadays my underlings only needed a few basic directions to do what I wanted. I just had to start dragging one of the porous rocks around for Number One to understand my purpose. After that the others would catch up fast. I was just pointing what stones I wanted them to push and making some corrections to their final placement.

‘But number two is still the same.’

The fierce rat was utterly uninterested in anything that didn’t involve food or bloodshed. It had taken some firm scolding for him to help with the work. Number Three was also lazy, but he never ignored my direct orders.

It didn’t take long for our new den to be ready. It wasn’t as cozy as the old lair, but that may be because I was already accustomed to our old room.

Now our our next step was to find water and food. I only needed to follow the signs to catch a few lizards, so we should focus on water. I had seen a couple small puddles in the main path, but I want a safer source. I pondered for a moment if I should let my minions rest, but they didn’t seem tired.

“Shrii, shriik.”

We began moving again. I chose to stay in the smaller galleries and we avoided spaces as much as we could. I just had to make sure not to go very far from the main caves, or we might end up lost.

‘It’s gonna take some time to scout the area.’ I thought after wandering for some time.

In a sense this place was the same as the corridors. A labyrinth without any recognizable pattern. I could only rely on the marks left behind by the humans, and even those were more sparse here.

While exploring around we saw some familiar animals. Normal rats and fierce rats alongside a couple lizards. I didn’t pay much attention to them, it wasn’t the time to hunt yet. I had made sure everyone was well fed before the journey. Even if they were a bit hungry they should be able to deal with it for now.

‘Uh? What’s that?’

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I saw a stronger brightness coming from one of the passages ahead. I grew excited at the thought that I might have finally found a way outside and approached it with caution.

‘Oh.’ I felt a little disappointed, once we were closer I saw that it was just the entrance to a big cavern.

‘But it’s so shiny, maybe there is a hole in the ceiling.’

We entered it carefully, it was very spacious and many whitish rocks were scattered on the ground.

‘This could be a good place for an ambush, if you are a predator on the top of the food chain.’

There could be dangerous beast lurking behind the biggest boulders. I didn’t want to stay here any longer than necessary. After making sure there was nothing suspicious nearby I looked at the ceiling, but only solid rock could be seen up there.

‘Hmm.’

This place was eerie, and not only because of the potential hidden dangers. It was the same sensation I had felt when I first awakened in the hallways. There was something wrong with this cavern, but I couldn’t figure the exact reason.

I took a look behind me, most of the goons were waiting quietly inside the passage. Normally they would be loitering around already. I guessed they weren’t used to this new area yet. Behind them I could see their faint shadows.

There was enough brightness here to create shadows, before I would only see them when the warriors passed by with their lamps.

I examined the big underground chamber once again. There was definitely no light sources in sight. No luminescent mushrooms, no shiny crystals, no sparkly spots floating in the air.

‘Where is all this radiance coming from?’

Before I could blame this phenomena on some kind of night vision, but that explanation didn’t cut it anymore.

‘Is the space itself creating light?’

That would explain why the larger places were so brilliant while the smaller ones, like the tunnels in the corridors were almost completely dark.

‘Oh! It’s the shadows!’

The eerie atmosphere was created by the shadows, or more exactly by the lack of them. There were darker spots near the base of a few rocks and in some gaps under them. From those points most of the cavern was blocked from sight, so the light didn’t reach them.

Only in specific locations, like this passage, where the illumination came mainly from one side were shadows able to form. Everywhere else there were only some shady spots.

‘Alright, this is definitely spooky.’ This place was starting to feel more and more unnatural.

After the realization we wandered for some time until I realized we were completely lost. I had no other choice but to use the signs to go back to one of the two main paths that branched from the first cave we had visited. Once there we walked in the direction of the new lair, or so I hoped.

In the way back we passed by some black roots and I got the feeling I had seen something similar before. I found it strange that they were here, so far under the ground. Did they belong to an enormous tree?

We also stopped by a puddle to drink. Water drops fell from the ceiling here, they dripped from a small stalactite little by little and made a rhythmic sound as they hit the puddle.

Finally, we arrived back at the new den. I let everyone rest, after waking up we would go hunting.

…

After resting we wandered the caves, caught a couple lizard and found a small puddle away from the main paths. With this all our immediate needs for setting here were covered.

A couple days later I felt confident enough to lead the band further away from our new dwelling. My goal was to probe the size of this new area. We were advancing along one of the two paths that branched off from the main cave, the one that started in the hallways. From what I had learned the past couple days this was the best way to avoid getting lost.

Judging by the footprints on the floor this path was regularly used by the human warriors, but that worked in our favor. They should have taken care of any dangerous creature that roamed close to their main routes. I just needed to be careful, as long as the humans didn’t try to ambush us we would be able to notice them from afar. Their lights and noises would give them away immediately.

We moved with caution and I stopped from time to time to inspect the signs on the walls, looking for anything interesting or dangerous. Suddenly, a couple creatures appeared from a lateral passage. They walked without making a sound, on two legs.

I tapped the ground with my front paws to make sure my underlings wouldn’t move. The strange bipedal beasts saw us and stopped in their tracks, eyeing us with caution. They look like some kind of humanoids, to be more precise, they look like rats who had learned to walk upright.

‘Ratmen!’

There was no other name for them. They looked like a crossbreed from a human and a rat, although I doubted that was how they had come into existence.

The two ratmen were small, about as tall as me when I got on my hind legs. Their heads looked almost exactly like ours, their bodies were covered by fur and they both had hairless tails. If not for the pelts covering their bodies and the whitish weapons that seemed to be made out of bones I wouldn’t have noticed they were a different species. Looking closer their hands were different from our paws. They had proper fingers, capable of grabbing and manipulating objects.

‘I wish I had those hands.’

Some envious thought flourished in my mind. How many ting could I do with a pair of opposable thumbs! Anyway, this wasn’t the time to ponder about that. These two were obviously intelligent, presumably part of a larger group. I was sure we could beat them easily, although their weapons were a bit worrisome.

After pondering for a bit and making sure Number Two wouldn’t suddenly attack I straightened myself.

“Shriik?” I tried to communicate with them. These two might be the next step after fierce rats. I was sure I could achieve that form after evolving!

The ratmen looked at me with surprised faces. I guessed it was uncommon for fierce rats to do this. I needed to be cautious since I didn’t know how they would react. Rats tended to form groups and rarely allowed others join them. These humanoids might think about us as potential competitors and try to get rid of us. Even if we could understand each other and they offered us to join their group they might treat us as slaves, or even food.

“Shriik?” I made the same noise.

The two beasts were now showing what I presumed to be confused expressions.

“Grath.” I got a response. It was a simple sound uttered in a curt manner.

“Shriik?”

“Grath!” It was the exact same answer in a more energetic tone.

‘Hmm.’ We weren’t going anywhere like this. It looked like their vocabulary was different from mine.

“Shriek.” I tried to communicate one last time.

“Grouth!” The two ratmen brandished their weapons menacingly. I supposed the strange situation had scared them.

‘I would also be on edge if a group of unknown rats did the same to me.’

I decided to retreat before a confrontation happened. Even if we won this fight before other ratmen noticed we wouldn’t get any profit. If anything, our next encounters with their species would be more dangerous. If I let these two go I might still have a chance to establish some kind of future relationship with them.

We left the place and headed back to the lair. I had decided we had experienced enough adventures for the time being. In the following days I would focus on exploring the area closer to our den.

‘Hmm, having hands would make my life a lot easier.’

Once again I enviously thought about the two ratmen. I should try to hasten my next evolution, because I was sure there had to be one. I had to find the requisites needed to trigger it. Last time it had happened after the lizard’s fight. Did I have to beat a stronger creature in order to evolve?

‘But I was already showing sign of changing before that…’

While pondering about my plans for the future I saw something unexpected. It was a tiny creature that moved quick motions a few steps ahead of us. At times it stopped for a second before dashing on the uneven ground. For a moment I couldn’t believe my eyes and approach the critter. I was astonished.

‘What! Why the fuck are mice down here! Where were they when I was starving in the corridors? Whoever god created this forsaken place must be fucking incompetent!’

I had a fit of rage after seeing the mouse in front of me.

‘I can’t accept this!’

I had completely lost my cool and started pursuing the tiny animal. I wouldn’t calm down until I had caught it. Both of us disappeared inside a lateral passage. The critter was agile and leaped nimbly over the small stones in its path, but I was faster. It didn’t take long for me to close my jaws on it’s minute body.

Crunch, crunch.

It was crunchy, but a lot more palatable than the crabs. This little one wasn’t guilty of anything but someone had to pay for this culinary affront.

‘Why are there crabs in the hallways? They are water creatures!’

I was still mad. If I ever found that my awakening here hadn’t been an accident, but part of someone’s plot, I would eradicate that person and their entire family.

While leisurely feeding on the mouse I noticed I wasn’t alone. An over-sized lizard, bigger than a dog, was staring at me from some distance away.

‘Oh, shit!’