Chapter Five

Swimming With a Monster

Arryn promptly lost his head. All the stress and worries that had followed him from [Floor 17] boiled over, and he was filled with a white dread.

Blood. He was covered in blood. The wet squelch that filled the hallway was blood. The Diver's Den was as quiet as a morgue, and its hallways were filled with blood. It was hard not to wonder if... if...

"Alice!"

Arryn clutched his chest at the swell of panic. His stare could have drilled a hole through the room's door. Because what about Alice?

He stood paralyzed for several moments in the warm glow of The Elevator. Blood. He was covered in blood... but he was a Diver. Death had always been a knife's edge away. He had known fear over and over, but he was a Diver.

Arryn started to rub his thumb and forefinger together. His first thought was [Repulsive Odor], but if Alice was still alive...

"She is alive," he said, and he wrenched open the door. He imagined a drunken man stumbling to and fro, and a yellowish powder slowly filled the hallway. [Dizzying Odor] was the safest bet right now.

Arryn glanced down both ends of the hallway. He saw the trickling wet in a new light, but he did not allow his spirits to flag. Alice's room was right next to his. It was no more than five steps.

The quiet of the Diver's Den was oppressive as he stepped back into the hallway. No beast or creature loosed a howl or slobbered down the way. A monster had to be responsible for the carnage, but how? There were no monsters on [Floor 7].

"Shut up!" Arryn hissed at himself, and he skulked over to Alice's door.

He pressed against the darkened wood, and the door slowly opened for him. He knew a moment's relief and then it transformed into horror. Why wasn't the door barred?

"Alice...?" Arryn whispered as he pushed the door open just enough to slip inside. He found it hard to breathe. All he could imagine was a pool of red blood... and Alice in the middle of it.

He squeezed inside the room, but there was nothing to see. The curtains were drawn, and all was black.

"Alice?" Arryn knew she could not hear him. The [Cleric] was either dead or dead asleep, but he needed to interrupt the terrible silence.

All the second-floor bedrooms in the Diver's Den were identical, so he found the curtains even with his blindness. He pulled back the heavy cloth, and The Elevator's warm light tickled his eyes.

Arryn turned around slowly. He was a Diver. He danced with death on every dive, but he still turned around almost reluctantly. He did not want to see. He was afraid to see.

There was no puddle of blood. He noticed several discarded layers of clothing. His eyes followed the trail with bated breath. His stare soon reached a bed. He squinted through the haze.

And there...

On the bed...

image [https://i.imgur.com/NKdfaXk.png]

"Thank goodness!" The breath went out of Arryn in one relieved rush. She was fine. She was safe. And he loved her. Arryn had never really understood their relationship, but he realized in that moment he loved this woman.

"Thank you..." Arryn said, to no one god in particular, as he hurried over beside the bed. "Thank you! Thank you!"

The [Cleric] clutched her staff like a giant teddy bear. She was lightly dressed in a white pajama. Arryn wondered on the odd choice of dress as he knelt beside the bed and simply soaked in the sight of her. Most of the time, Arryn and Dale would find Alice sleeping in a leather vest as if she expected thieves in the night. The only time she ever dressed up pretty like this was when...

"You've got to be kidding me," Arryn said, and he forgot some of the horror that clung to him.

Her door had been unbarred and she was dressed in her finest pajamas. Had she...? Had she been expecting him? After all that she had said last night?!

"I'll never understand this woman," Arryn said, and he reached over and caressed her soft cheek. "You little ogre."

He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together. He imagined... For a moment his imagination failed him, but then he imaged a powerful odor. Not an unpleasant one, but something strong. Enough to keep a man awake for days.

And Alice's limbs were a sudden spasm of action as she awoke.

"Rahh!" Alice shouted incomprehensibly, and Arryn quickly covered her mouth.

"Shhhhhh!" Arryn hissed, but Alice continued to flail with a hilarity of energy. Her eyes locked onto his, and he felt her wet tongue attack his hand.

"S-stop that," Arryn said, pulling his hand away. A smile flittered onto his face.

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"What is it?!" Alice asked sharply. Her entire face vibrated with energy. Arryn winced at the effect his powder had on her.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh!" Arryn turned towards the door, and some of Alice's manic excitement seemed to fade. When he turned back to the willowy [Cleric], he found her face full of alarm. She was not stupid. She must have realized something was wrong.

Arryn opened his mouth. He tried to answer the unspoken question in her eyes, but what did he say?

"Something... bad," Arryn whispered. He meant to say more, but he could not find the words. "A monster. We need to leave."

This last part was something he knew on an instinctual level. This was not the kind of threat one waited out. They had to get out of the Diver's Den.

Alice nodded without question. He loved her for that. Arryn slowly rose from the bed and crept over to the door.

They would escape. They had escaped from danger time and time again, and it would be no different now. They just had to treat this like a dive. Even if the entire floor was...

The entire floor?

"Shut up," Arryn hissed at himself. Alice looked up as she slowly slipped on her robes and boots. He ignored her frightened look. All that mattered was getting out. The rest of the floor would be fine. It had to be!

Alice joined him beside the door. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to hold her and forget about all the blood outside. Once they reached topside, he would tell her. Even if it drove her away, Arryn would tell her how he felt.

"The hallway is... dark," Arryn whispered. He remembered the wet squelch. "Dead bodies."

Alice nodded. This far from the window's glow, he could not tell what kind of face she was making.

"Slowly," Arryn whispered, and he slid out of her room.

The hallway was the same impenetrable darkness. He listened for whatever monster did this, but all he heard was Alice's nervous breathing.

Arryn bit down on his lip. They needed light, but he was afraid to see. Whatever had done this could likely see in the dark. They would be no safer stumbling around blind than with a torch over their heads.

"A light," Arryn whispered. "Please."

Alice hesitated for only a moment and then he heard her mutter a spell. The darkness was repelled as a [Lesser Glowglobe] shot out from her staff.

He heard the breath go out of Alice. She stumbled backwards and knocked into the wall. A barely concealed scream died on her lips.

The hallway was a red carnage. Blood and meat dripped from the walls and cloyed to the floor. Arryn's stomach lurched as he digested the waking nightmare in front of them.

"Come on," Arryn whispered. This was not the first time he had seen death, but it still struck him with a physical weight.

"I... I..."

Arryn wrenched himself free from his own horror and turned towards Alice. The [Cleric]'s normally harsh face bore an expression he rarely ever saw. She was pale with fear, and her lips would not stop trembling.

"We need to leave!" Arryn whispered, and he dared to look back at the red carnage. His eyes darted from horror to horror, but it was all dead. The monster was nowhere to be seen. "Please!"

"I can't..." Alice whispered, sobbing breathlessly.

Arryn wanted to rip out his hair. The [Cleric]'s body had turned into a statue, paralyzed with dread.

A thousand curses and commands bubbled up his throat, but instead he simply rubbed his thumb and forefinger together. He needed Alice to be strong. He needed her to be full of courage, and so he imagined a woman laughing in the face of a terrible beast. She stuck her head inside the monster's mouth without even the slightest hesitation.

A rust-colored powder danced in the glowglobe's light. Arryn practically shoved the powder into Alice's mouth. Her tear-filled eyes widened at first and then her face started to twitch.

Alice made an annoyed muffled sound and pushed his hand away. Her face was still pale, but a ferocious bite had returned.

"Off me!" she barked, and a spasm of fear filled Arryn.

"Shhhhh!" Arryn hurried, and Alice rolled her eyes.

"Do you really think whatever did all this can't hear us whisper?" Alice asked without even a tremble to her voice.

Arryn winced at the loudness of her voice. Arryn continued to rub his fingers together unconsciously, keeping up a continuous stream of [Fanatical Powder].

He looked around the hallway, and Alice grunted in frustration.

"Do I need to hold your hand?!" Alice asked, and she jabbed him painfully in the chest. "Come on! We're going downstairs."

The willowy [Cleric] pushed past Arryn and started to march down the blood-strewn hallway. She cast sideway glances at the gore that clung to the wall with a drugged indifference.

Arryn hurried after her. Every step felt like pulling hair. He waited in horror for the monster to arrive, for the monster to rush out from wherever it hid.

"We should have just left the Dungeon," Alice said grumpily as she stepped over a pile of unidentifiable meat. "Why did we come to Floor 7?!"

Arryn did not have an answer for her. It was hard enough to keep up with the [Cleric]'s powder-induced pace. She showed no concern for the blood that filled the hallway or the gore that adorned it like a festive decoration.

"Where did all of your bravado go?" Alice asked, looking over her shoulder as they arrived beside the makeshift stairwell. The [Cleric] cast another [Lesser Glowglobe].

Chunks of meat obstructed the way, but Alice simply kicked the wet piles further down the steps.

"I'm gonna be sick..." Arryn mumbled to himself as he watched the bloody pieces of meat tumble.

Alice practically skipped down the steps. A thin trail of rust-colored powder followed after her. Arryn was frightened by her behavior, but he needed someone to be brave right now.

"Oh shit."

Arryn's frown deepened at Alice's sudden outburst. He hurried down the stairs, making a great effort to avoid stepping on any chunks of meat.

He found her at the base of the steps. She was looking down at her feet where only a few threads of light tickled.

"Look at it all," Alice said, pointing. Arryn drew closer. He looked out across at the distant wall of black. The cafeteria, he realized with a lurch in his stomach.

The stairs themselves ended in a puddle of red wet... but that was not right.

"I am not looking forward to this," Alice said, and she pointed her staff at the impenetrable black of the cafeteria. She muttered a spell, and a [Lesser Glowglobe] shot out.

Arryn could not help but chuckle. It was not a healthy sound.

It was a lake. Chunks of meat floated across the red lake's surface like little boats. Arryn scarcely even noticed the fresh horrors, however. Because at the center of the red tide...

"She followed us, huh?" Alice said, tilting her head. "That girl."

Amidst the impossible horror of the cafeteria stood the white-haired girl. Her hair fell down in long messy clumps and only partially hid the ruin of her face. It was the same face Arryn had seen in his bedroom. He realized with a crash of horror it had not been a dream.

The monstrous girl jumped as the [Lesser Glowglobe] illuminated her body. She waded several feet to her left and then to her right. She was close enough to recognize the human panic written across her ghastly face. It was almost as if she was trying to run away from them.

"Oh!" Alice shouted in surprise.

The white-haired monster dived into the red lake around her and disappeared from sight.

"I don't think she's a bounty," Alice said, looking over her shoulder. "But a mimic? I don't think a mimic could do all of this."

Arryn was snapped free from his dread as Alice took a step forward... into the red waters.

"Oy!" he shouted. The blood reached just above her ankles, and his eyes darted back to where the monster had disappeared. How had it dived into the blood?

"Don't be such a baby," Alice said. Arryn jumped as he felt her small hands close around his own. "We can hold hands if it'll calm you down."

Arryn's face was white with dread as Alice pulled him off the steps and into the red waters.