The sudden activation of the overhead lights produced a squeal of surprise from both of the new girls. Jane immediately ducked back behind me and when I glanced down to check on the mouse kin woman, I saw that she had her spell rod drawn and was warily poking it around my thigh.
A tugging sensation on my left sleeve drew my gaze over there to find that Shayla was also standing close behind me. Her wings flared out wide in a threat display while she stared down the tunnel in surprise.
“No laughing, Kass,” Rieka reprimanded quickly, getting a sour look from Kassandra.
“What makes you think I’d laugh at them? The gods only know how many times we did that when we first went down there with Liam.” Kassandra stuck her tongue out at Rieka to punctuate her sentence. Though I thought I saw a twinkle in her eye when she turned back to us.
“What was that? How did you do that? I thought you didn’t have light magic!” Jane’s torrent of questions was the first part to return to normal with the two clinging to me, and I found it strangely reassuring. She stiffened when I patted her shoulder lightly before looking up at me with her wide eyes.
“Not sure what it was. It appears to be voice-activated but only works for my voice, and I don’t have light magic. This is one of the things we weren’t able to figure out while we were down here the first time.” I explained to her patiently, getting nods of understanding as I finished each statement. “I’m going to lead the way down, and I want all four of you to stick close to me. Shayla, the bottom of the tunnel opens into a large cave that has a plaza in the middle of it. There are more lights hanging from the ceiling, but the ceiling itself is pretty dark. Can you spread your light spells around some so we can make sure things are safe?”
“Sure thing, Liam,” Shayla replied with a nod before folding her wings back with a visible effort of will. Her antennae curled in close to her head as well, the fluffy fronds settling back into her hair.
“Let's go then!” Kassandra chirped with a happy little bounce on her tail, her arms crossed under her bust to enhance the effects of said bounce. I caught the wicked grin she sent me, so I knew it was all intentional.
Mischief macaroni is what I should call her, I thought with a wry grin and led the way into the corridor that wound down into darkness.
Once we got moving, Jane detached herself from my leg and fell back a bit to give me space. Shayla remained on my left, ready to start illuminating things, while Kassandra had my right now, ready to support me. Rieka fell in with Jane further back to cover our rear.
The corridor was just as I remembered it, dusty and plain, without any kind of decoration or accoutrement to break up the plain walls besides the dust-covered bars of the recessed lights. The slowly sloping angle of the corridor made it hard to judge just how deep into the earth we went, but we walked for several minutes before we reached the two metal doors that hung at the end of the hallway.
“Through here is where I need you to light things up, Shayla,” I said gently. “I need my arm back as well. If I need to hurry to get between you four and a threat, I don’t want to tug you off balance.”
Shayla blinked at me before glancing down, apparently only now realizing that she still had a grip on my sleeve. Blushing furiously, the moth woman released my sleeve and stepped back while nodding in understanding. I glanced at Kassandra on my right and she shot me a wink as well, flourishing her spell rod in her right hand to show she was ready.
Squaring my shoulders, I shook my arms out. The end of that motion was also when I began the combat shift of my body. I felt my skin harden under my clothes, taking on a chitinous thickness to protect me from the bladed claws of the little shadow monsters as well as their gnashing teeth. My left arm thinned and extended, adding another four feet of length to itself while my hand slipped into a conical, armored tip like that of a scorpion, just without the venom sack. My right arm folded in half, the elbow reversing as my fist calcified rapidly, turning into the heavy bone club on its spring-assisted limb like a mantis shrimp.
In all, it took me less than two seconds to press a full body morph throughout myself and I only used two animals’ worth of shifts, so I also adapted my hearing, boosting it with the hearing array of an owl once more.
Using the back of my left-hand spike, I pushed on the doors to open them and stepped out into the ancient defunct train station. I scanned the platform quickly before motioning the girls out with me. They spread out to either side, with Shayla and Rieka on my left, then Kassandra and Jane on my right.
Just as before, the entire space was just a flat plane of bare stone, with the occasional tattered bench or broken bit of stone artistry to break it up. Overhead, the lights glowed brightly enough to illuminate around us, but not so bright as to light up the sheer depths of the stone ceiling. Shayla was quick to fix that.
Four spells flew from the moth woman in rapid succession, the globules of condensed light splashing against the stone ceiling and breaking the last hold that the darkness had over the space. Another three she directed out over the rails, one to either side of the blocked tunnel to fully illuminate the small loop of track that would have held the transport train, while the third scattered over the cave-in, as Shayla had sent it directly down the center of the tunnel.
With my advanced hearing, I hesitated, waiting for anything at all to reveal a threat to me or the four sorceresses with me. But other than the rustle of cloth and quiet thunder of heartbeats, nothing came to my attention.
“I think the plug is still holding secure,” I said after a moment, getting nods of understanding from Rieka and Kassandra, while Shayla and Jane just gave me confused looks. “I’ll check the tracks, but please keep an eye out?”
“Sure thing, Liam. Stay in pairs, girls, one can observe while the other keeps watch. Shayla, you can come with me.” Rieka was quick to take charge, beckoning the moth woman over with one hand and a smile. Nodding tentatively, Shayla stepped over and took the princess’s free hand. The two of them together began inspecting the platform again, with Rieka angling towards the still-sealed pair of doors off to one side of the platform.
“Jane, you gotta come see this!” Kassandra cheered in excitement, immediately squiggling over to the heavily tarnished copper map still attached to the wall. The mouse woman followed after Kassandra, still keeping her spell rod out warily as she watched her surroundings.
While the girls inspected the platform, I carefully wound my way across the open space, dodging ancient benches and ruined stone, until I was looking down on the tracks. With the extra illumination from Shayla’s light spell, it was much easier to make out the crushed gravel of the track floor and just how badly corroded the rails were. The ceiling of the room was roughly cut, which probably explained why the lights were hanging down below it rather than attached to it.
Even out here in another world, humans find ways around just… finishing something, I thought with a wry smirk.
Hopping down amongst the rails, I trotted over to check the caved-in tunnel. A quick pass with my earth magic told me that the plug of hardened soil and stone I’d formed to block our little tunnel was still in place, and only slightly damaged. Apparently, the shadow monsters only tried to cut through it for a short time before giving up.
“Or maybe they are conserving energy?” I muttered, thinking about the horrific bag-monster we’d fought in the deeper parts of the complex. A creature that could have escaped, but it would have cost the monster far too much energy to risk the attempt. My improved earth magic told me that time had caused the cave-in to solidify, and it had settled well in place now. I would have to heavily disturb it to cause more of the ceiling to fall in. Even knowing that, I pushed mana into the entire affair and compressed the soil to help support the ceiling again.
Eventually, we are going to let the Queen in here. Once we confirm for Cerebaton and Cariad that all the references to summoning creatures that are entropy aligned have been removed, I thought while I worked. That line of thinking drew my attention back over my shoulder to where the girls were.
Shayla was sketching something with her back to a wall—probably the platform as a whole—while Rieka studied a piece of metallic art while twirling her spell rod. Kassandra was watching avidly while Jane fiddled with the large copper plate that was the map, likely trying to unfasten it from the wall. The mouse kin woman focused completely on her work. Any nervousness she’d had around Kassandra was subsumed in her task.
I was getting ready to head back towards the girls when my magic felt something shift behind the cave-in. It wasn’t much, just a tumble of stones falling after being disturbed, but it was enough that I whipped back around to stare at the barricade, as if I could see through it. Because of the sheer amount of soil between me and whatever it was, there was no sound that made it to this side. But I felt the soil shift again slightly, and I could imagine something moving about on the other half of the cave-in.
“Girls, come here.” My words echoed through the brightly lit space, making all four of them jump in surprise. Rieka and Kassandra started moving my way immediately, while Shayla and Jane took a moment to catch up once their minds engaged.
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“What is it, Liam?” Rieka was the first to reach me, purely by dint of leaping off the platform rather than climbing down.
“Something is on the other side of the cave-in. I think it’s our little shadow buddies, but I’m not sure.” My statement made her frown but nod, orienting towards the blockage with her spell rod out. The other three arrived shortly after, taking up positions around us. Shayla and Jane stared in surprise at the ruined rear end of the ancient train for several moments before shaking off their wonder and taking ready positions.
I spread my senses out into the earth once more and listened with my magic. I could feel multiple stirrings in the earth, but not the feeling of something digging. Just movement over loose earth that occasionally disturbed small stones.
“I’m pretty sure they aren’t trying to burrow through, but they are moving around the other side of the cave-in. Shayla, do you see that low tunnel over there?” I asked, pointing towards the entrance to the crawling pathway I’d made before, tucked between the tunnel wall and the ruined train. When the moth woman nodded sharply, I continued. “I blocked the far end of it with a plug formed of hardened earth and stone. I can pop the plug out and I want you to toss your strongest light spell through it. If it really is those shadow creatures, we’ll hear them when the light hits them. I’d rather test it this way than have you all crawl through that tight space.”
“I appreciate that,” murmured Shayla, her large, dark eyes focused on the tunnel. “I’m not sure how well I’d fit in there with my wings. Is the path to the complex through there?” When I nodded an affirmative to her question, she grimaced and sighed. “I’d ask you to make it larger for when we eventually go down there. I’m actually rather afraid of being trapped in a tight space and my wings getting caught.”
“That I can do, but for now we are going to basically be hitting these little bastards with a flash-bang to see how much they like it. Just going to be more flash than bang this time.”
“You know you can—” Kassandra began with a wiggle of her eyebrows but stopped when Jane elbowed her, giggling instead.
I sighed before gesturing to Shayla to step up. As she began to cast her spell and that dot of light formed between the tines at the end of her spell rod, I gave the earth and stone plug a push, sliding it out of the way. The scrape of earth on stone heralded a distant chorus of chittering squeals that made all four of my girls stiffen.
Shayla, to her credit, didn’t hesitate. She flicked the spell down the tunnel with admirable accuracy, the tiny bead racing away into the tunnel. Then Shayla turned her back towards the barricade while pressing her hands over her eyes. I only had a moment of time to wonder why she was doing that before the wrath of the sun erupted from the tunnel. The far side of the little tunnel erupted with a brilliant flare of light, as if someone had crammed Sol itself into it. A high-pitched shriek, like a hundred starlings squealing in surprise at once and only barely in tune, accompanied the searing light before going silent.
I couldn’t see very well though at the moment, as the center of my vision was mostly occluded by a large streak of alternating green and pink as my eyes protested the sudden and bright exposure. Rieka was swearing under her breath, rubbing at her eyes, while Kassandra groaned and Jane hissed.
“Shit, I did say your strongest, that was on me,” I gritted, focusing on yanking the plug back into place even as the brilliant light continued to stream down the tunnel like a wide-angle laser beam. It took a bit of effort because of the shooting pain in my eyes, but I was able to get the seal in place once more, which cut off the broad beam of light.
“Well, I think that answers that question,” Kassandra said, while blinking furiously. “If they didn’t like the light from the enchanted stones before, or the overhead lights, then they definitely didn’t like that.”
“Yeah, agreed,” Rieka mumbled while rubbing her eyes.
“Sorry…” Shayla said nervously, her shoulders hunching in as she turned around. “I should have warned you to look away. It didn’t occur to me to say anything, since Liam had said to throw my strongest spell down there.”
“Already said that was my fault, so don’t feel bad,” I said, waving it off with one hand. “How long is that spell going to last?”
“About five more minutes. I focused it on outputting as much light as possible as quickly as possible,” Shayla responded, her hunched posture relaxing.
“Okay, once the spell duration ends, I’m going to crawl through and check on the other side. I want to see if there are any signs of the little bastards left.”
<><><>
It took longer than the five minute duration for our vision to fully recover, but it was enough that I felt safe crawling through the tunnel while the girls stood guard on the far side.
Pushing the plug out of the way, I made sure my eyes were closed, so I didn’t re-blind myself until I could confirm that the spell had run its course and it was safe to look.
When I didn’t immediately get punched in the face with noonday sunlight, I opened my eyes and peeked through the crack between the cave-in and the plug.
The tunnel on the far side was empty. I had felt no movement in the earth after Shayla had triggered her spell, not even the rapid patter of retreating feet. After observing for a handful of seconds, I pushed the plug out of the way and crawled fully out into the other tunnel.
“Liam?” Kassandra’s voice echoed down the little tunnel with worry thick in her tone.
“I’m fine, just doing a quick check then coming back,” I called back while surveying the damage that Shayla’s spell had caused by the illumination of a much dimmer light stone that Kassandra had provided.
There were newer scratches in the stone and earth, recognizable from the lighter color against the ancient stone, but no sign of the monsters. Well, no sign except for the faint, scorched outlines, like shadows cast over the ground without any point of origin or source.
“Atomic shadows,” I muttered, eyes wide as I stared at the outlines.
I remembered watching a Youtube history channel medley once that talked about how the shadows from the atomic bombs that were dropped during World War II were actually caused by the bleaching of the surrounding material, rather than the body being burned into that spot. The effect essentially locked the shadows in place even after the bodies had been destroyed.
I remember these things dissolving in the daylight, but even then, that took time. The one that Kassandra and Rieka took back inside the dimensional sack lasted for days, or so they told me. But as soon as it got hit with direct sunlight, it broke down. These dissolved in what looks like moments and the light was bright enough to sun-bleach the soil and stone down here.
My estimations of the gentle moth woman’s power level rose several notches as I gave that a moment of consideration. Idly, I used the sharp spike that was still replacing my left hand to scrape at a still-stained bit of stone. The spike drew a small bright line in the dark shadow.
“Kinda wish I had light magic,” I muttered with a laugh. “Would come in handy in all sorts of ways. Wonder if it’s an option later in the tree that has my Manipulate Element power…”
After checking the area for any more signs of the monsters one last time, I turned and crawled back through the tunnel, sealing the plug back into place once more behind me.
Emerging from the other side, both Rieka and Kassandra immediately yanked me into a hug, who had been worried by my apparent silence. Jane and Shayla stood a bit further back, though from the way Shayla’s antennae were up and gently stroking the air in my direction while she watched me, the moth woman had been just as concerned for my well being as my lovers.
“Well, I can confirm our Shayla is definitely an asset for dealing with those little beasties. Nothing left behind but an outline,” I said, giving my girls a hug and smiling towards the other two. “Jane, did you figure out how to unmount that map before I called you over?”
The mouse kin woman, who had been looking depressed and clearly questioning how useful she was at the moment, perked up.
“Yes, actually. I just need a bit of help from you with your earth magic and I can get it down without a problem. I only have a very small skill with earth, having spent all my time and energy practicing wind instead. Whoever put it up there sunk the anchors directly into the rock, but we can get them free.”
“How about you and I work on that while these three study that other door,” I nodded towards the still-sealed door up on the platform. “Nothing is coming through the cave-in. If something does try it, Shayla can just blast them to smoke.” This got a grin from the moth woman and a pleased nod, so we split back up to finish what we came here for.
It took around five minutes to detach and stow the verdigris covered map, the entire process relatively straightforward with the help of my earth magic and boosted strength.
Jane actually climbed up on my bent leg, pressing herself between me and the wall while she peered behind the flat piece of decorative metal and directed me on how to move to extract it. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my earth magic was already showing me how to extract the thing by sensing the difference between stone and metal. The little mouse woman was adorable and excitable at being able to help, and she didn’t weigh enough that I noticed.
Once we had the map down, Rieka hurried over to get it tucked away into the dimensional pouch she carried. It was amusing to watch the mouth of the bag seem to stretch while the map shrunk to fit inside of it, and more than a little surreal, to be honest. With that secured, the three of us headed over to check on the other sealed set of doors.
“I wrote down all the runes the last time we were here, but I would swear that they changed since then,” Kassandra said with a huff, glaring down at her notebook and then back up at the door.
To one side, Shayla was quickly blocking in a copy of the door too, her charcoal pencil flying over the page as she rendered the details of the arched double doors and began adding in details like the various runes and decorative carvings.
“Do you think it’s possible there is a randomizer?” When I suggested the possibility, three out of four women responded with blank looks, as Shayla was too engrossed in her work to look up. “I mean, something to vary the lock to make it harder to penetrate?”
Kassandra blinked before looking back at the door thoughtfully and then shrugged.
“It’s possible. I can only imagine it would require an immense amount of power to do that. But there is a lot about this complex we don’t understand either, so I can’t discount it?” The serpentine sorceress turned her glare back to the door when she finished her statement.
“The only way to be sure would be to watch for it and see if there is some kind of pattern, or bring all the supplies you can think of and try to crack it on whatever pattern it's on, hoping it won’t change before you can get it done,” Rieka sighed. “Either way, we need to get moving so we don’t have to rush back to town. Let’s get this all secured and get out of here. I don’t know about you other girls, but I’m already missing the feeling of wind in my hair.”