Now, Las Vegas
The western side of Mt. Charleston looked much the same as the eastern side. They had driven on roads until they had reached the end. They had left their vehicles and hiked the rest of the way. It hadn’t been that hard. A mile or two on rocky, dusty slopes. At least it hadn’t been hard for him.
Cooper couldn’t take his eyes off the man, Cal.
There was no fear.
Only a blank wall that resisted every attempt he had made to breach it.
What sort of human was a man that didn’t feel afraid?
Cal regarded him with a mild dismissal, which made the Dread Paladin bristle.
Cooper was wary.
This was an entirely new paradigm.
No man had ever resisted his aura.
The others gathered near the perfectly circular entrance to this supposed new type of encounter challenge were full of dread. Half the command staff and the strongest fighters struggled to hide their fear. Of him and of the unknown behind the dark void standing in front of them.
“What do you mean we can’t go in?” Elliot sounded like a whining child.
Cooper loathed the openly displayed weakness.
He was tiring of following the man’s orders despite how useful it had been for him to face the most dangerous monsters in front of the expedition. He had assured the words of his existence would spread once the others returned to their homes.
“Our deal’s in place. I just want to scout it out first. Make sure that a giant eyeball monster doesn’t vaporize people with a disintegration ray the moment they step inside,” Cal said.
“That’s a thing?” Hayden said.
Cooper regarded the young woman. Respectably powerful, but not a true threat. He wondered when she would finally try to avenge her friends.
“Not that I know off,” Cal said.
“If you get disintegrated how will we know?” Elliot said.
“Wait an hour. If I’m not back by then… do what you think is best.” Cal’s eyes drifted toward Cooper.
He held the gaze and felt something pushing. The Vow recoiled and he was left bewildered and disturbed.
Was Cal a Mage with more powerful magic than any of the others he had encountered in the past?
No.
He didn’t sense any magic from the man.
Cooper stared, but without the customary superiority he was used to having.
“He can’t come,” Cal said lightly.
“What? He’s our strongest fighter,” Elliot said.
“You won’t need him and I won’t have him,” Cal said. “Actually, send him back. I heard he has a horse. Shouldn’t be too much trouble to get back over the mountain.”
Elliot eyed him.
Cooper felt the fear in his so-called leader spike. He savored it for a moment.
“You may not allow me to go with you, but you can’t tell me what to do,” Cooper said. Fuck this guy. Who did he think he was? Cal wasn’t afraid only because he hadn’t seen what the Dread Paladin was capable of. “I’ll go where I please.”
Cal shrugged. “As long as its not in there,” he turned and walked to the gaping void in the side of the mountain. “Oh yeah, one more thing. I know we’ve been pretty lucky that we haven’t been attacked the whole way here, but you can’t be too careful. That luck probably won’t last, so keep on your toes.”
Cooper had to give the man his due.
Cal’s stride never wavered as he stepped into the darkness and vanished.
“We’re not going to wait out here, right?” Hayden growled at Elliot.
“What if he’s right? Giant eye monster waiting on the other side,” Elliot said.
Their dread filled Cooper. He had to do something. He felt the need struggling to burst free.
He summoned his steed.
Predictably, everyone shied away in alarm as the towering black horse climbed out of his shadow.
He slowly urged his steed toward the mountain peak.
He could hear them argue as he increased distance.
“Fine, we wait a bit, but don’t you think it’s the smart thing to do to send our own scouts inside. We can’t just rely on his word,” Hayden said.
“I’ll go. I’ve got Darkvision,” Dayana said.
“He could be testing us,” Elliot said.
The Dread Paladin had enough of weaklings and their chatter. He tuned them out and focused on what lay in front of him.
It didn’t take long to reach the city.
Rough terrain wasn’t a problem for his steed.
He spotted a pack of mutant lions stalking him from side alleys and rooftops.
No, he was wrong.
Not a pack.
A pride. That’s what they were called.
One sprang from behind the rusted remains of a truck.
Its hot, fetid breath filled the air. The breathing from its massive, powerful lungs sounded like an engine.
A thought sent his steed surging forward with a burst of speed.
The lion’s swiping claws missed her flank by inches.
The chase wound through the streets, away from the strip.
He could feel the desperate hunger in the giant beasts.
His steed’s speed and agility, much greater than one could expect from her size, allowed him to focus forward.
He remembered reading in books that lions often set up ambushes.
Sure enough several hundred yards ahead was blocked by a barricade of twisted vehicles piled on top of each other high enough to align with the rooftops.
He could sense them on the other side.
Two males much larger than the females that were chasing him, herding him.
He held his right hand out and drew from within.
From the writhing shadows all over him a spiked ball and chain appeared.
He whirled the massive ball over his head, building up speed.
Fifty yards to the barricade.
Thirty.
He let it fly.
Rending metal heralded the barricade collapsing away from him with violent force.
The male lions’ roars were drowned out as several tons buried them.
His steed cleared the remains of the barricade with an easy leap.
The female lions scrambled over and lost precious distance.
A hundred yards in a blink of the eye.
Enough fleeing.
He had them trapped now.
He spun his steed around and charged the pride.
A black, barbed javelin formed in each hand.
He hurled them in quick succession with loud booms that shattered what remained of the windows in the stores lining both sides of the street.
Two down.
A black lance in his right hand pierced through the heart of a third.
He slammed a fourth aside with the shield in his left.
His steed trampled the fifth into a bloody smear on the street.
The Dread Paladin reined in close to the toppled barricade. He dismounted and his steed trotted over to the broken mutant lioness that he had struck with his shield. The bloodthirsty horse had worked hard and deserved a treat so he let it go.
The male lions snarled impotently at him as he approached with black sword in hand.
For all their size and strength, they couldn’t free themselves from the weight.
There was no fear in the creatures, just nearly mindless hunger and rage.
He stabbed each in the head.
He had gained nothing from the entire encounter. Just a waste of energy.
His steed trotted back to him with blood and gore dripping from her fanged mouth.
He mounted up and went in search of more.
Even if it was a waste of energy it had felt good.
Thus, he’d go in search of another fight.
----------------------------------------
Dayana activated two Skills just as she stepped into the black hole. One to hide her presence and the other to see in pitch black darkness.
One step and she learned that she might as well have not wasted the stamina.
Welcome to the Mount Charleston Encounter Challenge.
As the second native inhabitant of this world to enter you have received a bonus reward.
Reward: 10000 Universal Points.
She was greeted by a dim glow from crystalline growths set randomly in the dirt and stone. Along with a smiling man.
“Figured it would be you,” Cal said.
“Uh… so… what now?” Dayana said. She was still trying to process the sudden influx of points.
Cal sighed. “You go back outside and stay there.”
“In the interest of honesty, I can do the first, but not the second.”
“This is for your own safety,” Cal said.
“I’m experienced enough to assess my own risks. Besides, this feels like one big test for us on your part. There’s also the fact that we’re not just going to take your word for everything.”
“You people seem very reckless,” Cal said.
“That’s mostly us, the Furies. Elliot wasn’t in on the idea of me sneaking in after you, but fortunately we only loosely listen to him.”
“How insubordinate of you? I suppose it’s lucky for you that I also don’t do well with other people telling me what to do. So, turnabout is fair play and all that,” Cal said. “How about this? You can tag along, but you can’t ask any questions about how I’m doing what I’m going to be doing.”
“I can sneak like nothing and I can see in the dark. So, I need to know that you won’t be drawing whatever monsters are in this place on my head.”
Cal shrugged. “Not going to explain. I don’t trust you enough yet. The monsters won’t notice us, unless something goes really wrong. I intend to take it cautiously. I will run away the instant it looks like I might be discovered.”
“What’s your class that you can solo something as big as a giant fucking hotel then talk like you’ll just walk into this brand new encounter challenge with no problems?”
“Trust,” Cal said.
“Kinda goes both ways,” she countered.
“Agreed. Let’s start building it,” Cal said as he turned and walked into the dimly-lit tunnel at far end of cavern opening area.
Dayana hurried after him.
The tunnel was wide enough that the light from the sporadic crystalline formations couldn’t cover the entire width and height, which left large areas shrouded in deep shadows.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
She had kept her Darkvision on and was relieved to find nothing lurking within.
“Don’t worry. I’ll let you know if there are any monsters,” Cal said.
She winced as his voice, low as it was, echoed off the tunnel’s strangely smooth walls.
“I told you. Nothing will notice us. If something does I’ll have enough warning that we’ll be well on our way back to the entrance before it can even get close.”
“I’d worry less if I knew how you’re going to do all these things,” she whispered.
“Maybe one day.”
She followed him in silence for several hundred yards until the large tunnel split into three smaller ones.
He took the leftmost one without hesitation.
“Don’t you want to discuss it first?” she hissed.
“What?”
“The tunnels!” she snapped.
“Relax. I’ve got a good feeling that this one will lead to something interesting,” he said with infuriating mildness.
Like they were strolling in the park looking at flowers.
Still, she had no choice but to keep up and keep close.
The smaller tunnel split several more times getting progressively narrower. At each junction Cal hadn’t hesitated in choosing a path.
The walls gradually went from smooth as polished stone to rough and jagged, more what she had expected to find in a cave.
“I think all of the tunnels that we passed were made by the spires,” Cal said. “These look more like a mix of nature and crude tools.”
She peered at the wall next to a small cluster of dim crystals and tried to see what he had said. Failing at that, she turned her attention to the crystals. “These are more interesting. Definitely from the spires. I don’t think normal crystals can act like nightlights on their own.”
“You’re probably right about that. The amount of them and how they’re laid out seems purposeful. The spires want people to explore this place. I imagine there’d be less willing to try if it was just pitch black all the way down or straight and up,” Cal said.
“Huh?”
“We’ve been walking on a downward slope the whole time, but I’m pretty sure that those other tunnels would’ve taken us straight and up,” Cal said.
“Right… like a cave system.”
“Yeah. It’s—” Cal suddenly raised a finger to his lips and ushered her into a small depression in the wall. “Don’t do anything. They won’t notice you unless you attack or run into them,” he said as he hurried to the other side of the tunnel and pressed his back to the wall.
She was about to argue when she heard scrabbling. Like dog’s nails scraping the gravel. Enhanced Senses meant she heard them coming from far down the tunnel.
A minute later she heard something strange.
Clicks mixed with soft, high-pitched screeches that turned into words.
“Tired… Xiba… always… my tail…”
A rough sound, like nails on a chalkboard.
“He… lucky… broodmother… leader.”
“Not fair… my broodmother… strong hunter.”
“Xiba nothing… only broodmother makes… important.”
“He… soft claws… we break… digging.”
“Dig more… space… we claim own… no more Xiba chattering.”
Dayana’s eyes were wide as saucers at the speakers came into view. Her hands drifted to the blades sheathed on her belt.
Bat people. Bat people. Bat people!
She wanted to scream.
They were speaking in clicks and screeches, but somehow in English at the same time.
Her hands tightened around her blade hilts as the two bat people drew closer.
A sudden calm washed over her.
She was here to gather information. The voice in her head reminded her of this. She relaxed and tried to take every aspect of the things walking toward her.
They were small, about the size of a smallish human. Thin, with wiry muscles that stood out from what looked like brownish skin covered in fine fur. They had bat faces with a pushed in nose, mouth full of small, sharp teeth and huge ears with fine hairs and ridges. They had beady black eyes that seemed to squint whenever the light from the crystals fell on them.
Their bodies were humanoid. Disproportionately long arms ended in small, sharp claws. Leathery wings ran underneath their arms connecting from wrist to the side of the lower leg.
Their legs were short and stumpy and looked more like an animal’s with an extra joint between the knee and the ankle. The long feet ended in curved claws that scraped the rock as they walked.
They did this in an awkward fashion as each carried a basket of what appeared to be tools in their arms.
She got the impression that they would’ve been more comfortable walking on all their limbs, like chimps.
She could only hold her breath as they passed.
They brought a strong musk into the stale air of the tunnel. Like an unwashed animal mixed with carrion.
The pair continued arguing as they walked by and disappeared into the dim tunnel.
Cal raised his hand in warning.
She waited what felt like an hour before he dropped it.
“That was crazy,” Cal said.
“Shh…”
“They walked right by us. Don’t you think that with ears like those they’d hear the slightest breath from that range?”
“What was that?”
“Humanoid bat people,” Cal said. “Your thoughts?”
“But I could understand them!” she snapped.
“Universal Translation System,” he shrugged like they were discussing the weather.
“Yeah, but that’s for languages! With words and letters!” she struggled to grasp it.
“That’s a very west-centric view of things. There are plenty of languages that use symbols and shit. That’s just on our world. Now that we know there are other worlds… well, why not a language based on clicks and screeches. Seems normal for a species of bat-adjacent humanoids,” Cal said.
“How are you so calm about this?” she said.
“I may have been expecting that,” Cal said.
“But they were…”
“Surprisingly recognizable?”
“I— I think they were complaining about their boss?”
“I picked up the same thing. It seems that Xiba owes his position to his broodmother and that nepotism is also a problem in bat people society.”
“We should go back. The others need to know.”
“Not yet. I need to learn more. I wasn’t quite expecting them to be so… human. That’s a problem for our plans,” Cal said.
“Why?”
“Well… I was expecting non-sapient monsters or if they were sapient, that they’d exist only to feast on human blood and that sort of thing. The… impression… I’m getting from these guys doesn’t place them neatly in either box. Which is why I need to learn more.”
“They must have a whole society down here. You want to go deeper? Into the thick of it?”
“Trust. This will be an opportunity for you and me to build some,” Cal smiled.
It almost looked ghastly in the crystal’s dim glow.
“Fuck choice do I have,” Dayana spat. “They’re bat people. They’ve got echolocation. I’m stealthy, but I’m not sure it’s enough. Whatever you’re doing is obviously enough. They walked right past us. I’ll go with you.”
They moved farther into the rough tunnels.
At first they were deserted, but then the numbers of bat people they encountered grew frighteningly.
Dayana was torn between terror and fascination.
No two bat people were the same. Neither in physical appearance nor voice and mannerisms.
They really were like people.
They were just going about their business. Mostly working to expand the tunnels from what the snippets of conversation she overheard contained.
She stuck close to Cal’s heels as they descended and ascended in what felt like a random pattern.
They walked amongst the bat people without notice.
She couldn’t understand how he was keeping them hidden even as they pressed up against the side of narrow tunnel to let a long line of bat people pass.
“This way,” Cal whispered. “I suspect we are in for a mind-blowing sight.” He beckoned as he took a tunnel that had rough-hewn steps on the floor in a rather steep climb.
Several thousand steps later they emerged into a flat space resembling a small balcony.
Dayana’s mouth dropped.
Her Darkvision let her see well and to a great distance despite the scarcity of the light crystals inside the space.
The dark cavern was enormous.
The ceiling above was dotted with huge formations that plunged down toward the ground like giant daggers. Similar blades thrust up from the ground, some met those falling from above to form pillars.
They looked like skyscrapers.
“Are those—” she saw small shapes climbing and crawling all over the pillars. Watched them take to the air, gliding from one massive formation to another.
“Their homes,” Cal said. “Look down there? Can you see that far? There are pools of water.”
Dayana focused and watched bat people on the edges of these pools. “They’re fishing?”
“And farming,” he pointed at several spots on the ground not to far from on of the largest rock pillars. “Looks like mushrooms. Not strictly carnivorous,” he mused. “Or they use them to feed those things.”
She followed his finger and saw huge pens that held some sort of fat, hairless creature with white skin what wiggled when it moved. “Okay, that’s not a native animal.”
“They probably brought them from their world,” Cal said.
“How do you know that? Why does it seem like you already know about all this and you’re just showing it to me like it’s a joke?” Dayana snapped. “And if you say ‘trust’ I will stab you. I don’t care if I can’t hurt you.”
“Since I can’t answer the second, I’ll stick to the first,” Cal said. “Do you see it?” he pointed near the center of the cavern.
Dayana couldn’t be blamed for having failed to notice it at first. There had been a lot to take in for a person. It was easy to overlook the spire as it rose from ground to ceiling, straight and thin, lost amongst the giant formations or rock that apparently housed a society of bat people.
“Here’s a bit of info that I will extend to you in a bid for trust. I only ask that you don’t share it with anyone else besides the Furies.”
Dayana nodded.
“The spires are a gateway to another world,” he continued.
“We know that. The ten year message mentioned it. We thought about it, but it’s expensive. Hayden can afford it, but me and Jayde can’t since we spend more points on new Skills and spells. If we all can’t do it, then none of us can.”
“I went.”
Dayana's mouth dropped.
A thousand questions ran through her mind and jammed up her voice.
“I learned many things. One of which is that there are other sapient beings out there. In some ways similar to us, different in others. That there are different ways one can travel from one world to another. That there are different rules. Benefits and drawbacks. I don’t know the story of these bat people, but I suspect that it might be close to that of this other… entity… that I had the misfortune to get to know pretty well.”
“You said this is a different kind of encounter challenge. That it doesn’t use one of our places. You saying that’s why there’s a city of bat people?”
“Possibly one factor. It’s also possible that since it’s after year ten the spires are escalating. They want struggle and conflict. What better way to do that then bringing in opposition that thinks on our level? Monsters are smart and cunning, but in the way an animal is. I’ve faced things that are on our level, but they were rare. ‘Special dispensations’, the spires said. There are restrictions on outworlders ability to travel here. Some loosened after ten years. How many more years until the only restriction is the cost? Will there be a day when even that is gone?”
“So it’s more like colonization and conquest now?”
Cal laughed bitterly. “Like a 4X game.”
“What?”
Cal took a few minutes to explain.
“I’d say that’s stupid as shit, but we’ve been living an RPG this whole time, so what the fuck do I know,” Dayana spat. “Well, what are you waiting for? Fuck their shit up,” she gestured to the bat people city, “I want to see how you clear entire spawn zones solo.”
“I don’t think that’s happening. I’ve been… observing them and I’m not eager to commit genocide,” Cal said.
“What the fuck, man?”
Cal floated off the platform and began to drift toward the bat people city.
Dayana stared in stunned silence.
A man was flying in front of her.
“Stay here and stay hidden. I’ll be back. Try not to kill any of them. It’ll make me look bad,” Cal said.
“What are you going to do!” she hissed.
“Trust,” he grinned.
----------------------------------------
Cal dropped his concealment while still keeping Dayana hidden as he slowly flew down toward the spire.
How did one initiate a first contact with an alien race again?
He might have been the only one in human history to have already done so, but he’d be the first to admit that things hadn’t gone smoothly with the Threnosh.
Months in captivity followed by a fighting jail break didn’t actually sound like a success the closer one looked at it.
He supposed he would have to lean on his mental powers of manipulation. Morals and ethics aside he could at least ensure a lack of violence on both sides.
Only after a display of overwhelming power.
Clicks and screeches filled the cavern as the first of the bat people noticed his approach.
He kept as much distance from the stalagmites and stalactites as he could. He didn’t want collateral damage. Last thing he needed was responsibility over hurting little bat babies.
The first bat people that reached him swooped from above and tossed bags from their clawed feet that burst against his telekinetic shield scattering fine powder all around him.
The next group that glided over him dropped smoldering ropes into the dust cloud that he was now inside of.
The explosion rattled the cavern and turned it bright as day for a few seconds.
Unharmed, Cal continued to fly down toward the spire.
“I come in peace,” he waved at the bat people as they glided on approach.
These ones hurled jagged rocks.
They tried ropes, nets and thick, sticky goop.
He blocked everything with his shield.
Until he landed at last.
The spire stood in the center of what resembled a fairly large stadium. Instead of seats there were raised platforms of varying heights. At ground level near the spire and rising a few feet in height the farther away.
Bat people alighted near him.
They had realized the futility of their aerial attack so now it appeared that they were going to attempt melee.
Stone clubs and spears didn’t inspire dread.
“Kill… invader!”
“Protect… colony!”
“Save… pups!”
“Look. I’m not here to hurt you or your kids… er… pups. I’m just here to talk. Can I speak to your leader?”
A huge bat person swooped out of the darkness, flanked by a pair of equally brutish-looking specimens.
These ones had darker skin and fur. Bulkier, more muscular than the ones that had assaulted him in the air. A closer look at the hundreds around him revealed that they were noticeably larger and more robust with coloration that ran to darker browns and even black.
“No talk… only die!” the big bat person screeched.
They all charged Cal.
“Please don’t,” he seized each with his telekinesis and held them in place. “So… about that leader.”
Time ticked away and he wondered what he could do if no one showed up.
The biggest one continued to fix a beady-eyed stare at him, but said nothing.
“Are you the leader?”
Silence.
The scrabbling off claws on gravel in the distance. Too dark for him to see despite having vision superior to the normal human he used his mind to see.
A small bat person, hobbling along on hands and feet, the right one held a pronounced limp. Ugly scars visible through the graying fur marred the thin body.
Cal studied the bat people around him while he waited.
They wore no clothes, but had a variety of straps, belts and harnesses for their various tools and weapons. These were of the stone variety. Although, he wondered where they had found wood for the handles of their clubs, axes and knives and the shafts of their various polearm-like weapons.
The small bat person hobbled into physical view.
Cal cleared a path by gently moving the others out of the way.
“I… lead… colony… speak… Invader.”
“First, I’d like to welcome you to our planet. I guess I’d just like to get to know you and your people,” he gestured to the hundreds of bat people frozen in place around him and to the thousands huddled inside their stalagmite and stalactite homes in fear. “I’m sorry about that. I promise that I mean no harm.”
“What… want?”
“I want to ask a few questions.”
Cal opened up with his thoughts.
Issues of ethics and his personal discomfort with using telepathy in such an invasive way had to be pushed aside. He had to know the true nature of these bat people. Were they threat to humanity? If so, how bad?
The bat person leader would give him all the answers he required even if she didn’t truly want to.