by Pirateaba
Ceria screamed the words as she pointed at more Crelers. The small creatures scuttled around the corridor, leaping for the adventurers, trying to claw, bite, dig their way through their enemies.
“Cover me!”
Yvlon rushed forwards, sword slicing down at the lead Creler. Her blade battered the creature down, but even her sharp steel could only cut through the exposed organs of the creature. The rest—hard chitin and other bone-like substances—was too strong and the creature tried to scuttle up Yvlon’s leg.
“Perish.”
Ksmvr used his three arms as the other two Crelers came towards him. He grabbed one, ignoring the sharp edges that tore into his hand and began slicing with the other two weapons in his possession. Like Yvlon he couldn’t immediately cut the creature in two, but he had the leverage to slowly pierce the creature’s body with his blades as he sawed at it.
The other Creler tried to jump onto Ksmvr’s back, but Ceria blasted it off with a precise spell. She covered the other two, launching rapid [Ice Spikes] that despite throwing the Crelers back, failed to inflict crucial damage.
“Springwalker! Behind!”
Ceria dove out of the way. Pisces raised his hand, and a gust of icy air froze the Creler that had leapt at him. It fell to the ground, stunned, and a skeleton rushed over. It began to stomp.
All three skeletons were fighting, Ceria saw. They’d grabbed stones and were trying to crush the Crelers to death. But they were almost all blades and sharp edges. You had to have a mace—Calruz had killed most of them himself with his axe!
“Freeze them, Ceria!”
She heard Pisces yell, but then a Creler was jumping at her face. Ceria jerked backwards, and the razor-mouth stopped a foot in front of her face as she seized it with her skeletal hand. Instantly, the Creler tried to bite through her bone and Ceria reacted.
“Die, damn you!”
It wasn’t so much as spell as concentrated ice magic. Instantly, the air around her hand froze and Ceria felt the extreme cold as her skeletal hand froze the Creler in her grasp. It screeched and writhed, but she refused to let go. The monstrosity’s legs and claws waved about, threatening to score her flesh even as she held it far away as possible. But after five seconds it stiffened up and died, frozen to death in her grasp.
Shaking, Ceria let go. But she didn’t have time to wait. She spun and began blasting the Crelers trying to swarm Yvlon’s armor. The other woman took the impacts as [Ice Spikes] deflected off her armor—she hurled a Creler to the ground and stepped on it to an accompanying shriek.
Ceria ran forwards and blasted a Creler with an [Ice Spike] dead on. This time the force of the impact broke the creature; it collapsed, several legs breaking off its body as yellow slime exited the wounds. Ceria shuddered and spun, searching for another target.
In another second it was over. Pisces threw fire onto the last Creler being held down by his skeletons and Ksmvr finished smashing the second one with his enchanted iron blade. The Crelers twitched and made bubbling sounds where they lay, but they were too far dead to move.
Ceria stumbled backwards, gasping as sweat poured down her face and the exertion of using so much magic caught up with her. She grabbed onto Yvlon and the other woman stumbled.
“Yvlon. Did they get you?”
The golden-haired Captain was also gasping for air, but she shook her head.
“They didn’t get into my head. Think some cut into my breastplate, but didn’t get my skin.”
“Sorry about the [Ice Spikes]. Did I hurt you or pierce your armor?”
“A few dents. I’m okay. Thanks.”
Ceria nodded. She could have pierced Yvlon’s armor and killed her if the [Ice Spike] spells had been at closer range or hit a weak joint. But better that then let a Creler at Yvlon’s exposed head. It would have chewed its way into her armor through the stump of her neck in second.
“Well, that explains why we haven’t run into more monsters or undead recently. Crelers.”
“Dead gods.”
The two women looked over at Ksmvr and Pisces. Pisces was unharmed, if pale and shaken, but Ksmvr had been wounded. They went over to look.
“It is nothing. My hand is lacerated in several places, but Pisces has bound the injuries. It will heal.”
“Are you sure?”
Ceria peered at the already green-stained bandage Pisces had wound around Ksmvr’s hand. The Antinium nodded.
“I am fine.”
“Crelers have toxins in their bites and claws—”
“It will not affect me. Thank you for the concern.”
“Dead gods, Ksmvr! I’ve never seen anyone hold a Creler down to kill it! Are you insane?”
“I just fought as the Antinium do against them. I am relieved they were only small.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Pisces, you alright?”
“I—I hate those things.”
Pisces shuddered as he stared at a twitching Creler. Ceria nodded. So did Yvlon. And Ksmvr.
“Dead gods. Crelers. Just imagine if there had been a few more—”
“Those skeletons saved us. The Crelers went for us, but they held them away. Got chewed up. Look at that one—”
“Shh. Shh. Are there any more around?”
At once everyone fell silent. Ceria listened to her racing heartbeat, but Ksmvr shook his head.
“This group we awakened, but there are no more nearby. But the evidence is clear; there is a nest nearby.”
He indicated the dying Crelers on the ground. A skeleton had seized a rock and was industriously smashing each one to bits.
“These are in their first stage of life. If an adult Creler were in our proximity it would already have attacked. I recommend immediate extermination.”
“Exterminate? A nest?”
Pisces looked at Ksmvr in horror, but the Antinium only nodded. He was deadly focused.
“They are a threat. A menace. If they remain here unchecked, some will grow to adult size. That cannot be allowed to happen.”
Ceria completely agreed, but she didn’t want to be the one to hunt Crelers.
“Normally we get a bounty for reporting them in. Hunting a nest—plague fungus, I don’t want to think about that, Ksmvr. There’s a big bounty on them, true, but—”
“I believe there will not be more than this number. And they would be in their larval form rather than their attack form.”
Yvlon cleaned her blade, staring at a Creler claw that kept twitching.
“Might be doable, Ceria. One good thrust kills them if they’re in their larvae form. We take them by surprise—”
“No! Have you seen what they can do to flesh?”
Pisces was pale, shaking. Ceria looked at him, and then Ksmvr.
“I think Ksmvr’s right, Pisces.”
“What?”
“Do you want a bunch of Crelers at our back if they get hungry or wake up? If we keep going they might hit our backs at the worst moment. We’ve gotta take them out.”
“I—fine. Fine. But the skeletons go first!”
Their group moved on. It took only a few seconds for them to round the corridor and spot the part of the wall that had been tunneled out for Crelers to climb out of. It was a big hole that lead to another naturally forming bubble in the earth. And there they found….
“Dead gods.”
Yvlon whispered it as the four adventurers and three skeletons crept into the heart of a Creler nest. In fairness, it was a tiny one, but Ceria spotted no less than eight Crelers in their larval, incubating stage.
When they weren’t all exposed organs and vicious, lacerating limbs and teeth, Crelers looked like horrible, fat, red caterpillars glowing faintly from within. Inside their semi-translucent ‘skins’, Ceria could see yellow lines and discolored organs moving around within. They were growing. Just as Ksmvr said, if they were allowed a few months and food, they might turn into adults, the nightmares even Gold-rank teams didn’t want to fight.
One of the Crelers was on the wall nea
rest to Ceria. She edged further into the nest, trying not to move or even breathe. Yvlon tiptoed forwards, face a mask of disgust, sword ready.
The glistening, translucent red sack oozed slowly towards them, drawn by the smell of their meat and blood. Ceria held her breath. Any sudden movement might alert them all. They had to be killed before they could turn themselves inside out and move into the deadly attack form.
She held up three fingers so the others could see and began counting down. Pisces’ skeletons stood at the ready, rocks in hand and Yvlon raised her sword, aiming at the nearest Creler.
“Now!”
Instantly, Ksmvr stabbed two blades into the Crelers he was nearest to. Pisces threw fire at another, screaming curses as Yvlon stabbed hers. The Crelers reacted, making horrible gurbling sound as their fleshy outer red sacs tried to pull back and expose their vicious innards. But it was too late.
In their softer forms they were far weaker to attack. Ceria shot an [Ice Spike] into one Creler and watched blood and its yellowish guts explode inside the balloon of its body. The three skeletons smashed their Crelers with rocks, hammering with feverish frenzy as yellow juices splattered everywhere.
Ultimately, only two managed to transform into their attack modes and they were swiftly smashed by Yvlon’s gauntleted boot and one of Pieces’ skeletons with a rock. Ceria stood with the others, panting as she watched the skeleton repeatedly hammer the twitching Creler until it was in pieces.
“Let’s never do that again.”
Ceria panted as she and the others walked out of the nest. Yvlon and Pisces nodded, and even Ksmvr shuddered a bit as he wiped his blades clean. No one liked fighting Crelers. And underground dungeon full of deadly traps and the possibilities of cave-ins was one thing, but Crelers?
Not Crelers.
—-
“That’s the door.”
Ceria whispered it triumphantly as she and the others peeked around the last corner in the tunnel. It felt like forever had passed, but they’d gone no further than twenty paces looking for traps—it seemed time had triggered another one by the smooth melted parts of the wall and scorch marks—and seen the door.
It was a plain, wood door, innocuously set against the frame of the dark stone. Ceria didn’t trust it one bit. It could be an illusion, a trap, any number of things. But upon trying the handle the skeleton had only rattled the doorknob futilely. It had even tried to bash the door in, to no effect.
“Just a magically enchanted door? I’m not buying it.”
“Well, it could be laced with any number of traps. We’ve got to either knock it down or open it some other way. But if we’re in the line of fire—”
“Cast spells at it from range?”
“Could work. My [Ice Spike] spell might do some damage.”
“It’s the best option we’ve got for long distance. Unless you picked up a better spell, Pisces?”
“No. Do it.”
Ceria nodded. She poked her finger around the corner as the others moved back, shielding herself against the wall. The trap skeleton watched impassively as it stood next to the door, a casualty to whatever was about to happen.
Okay. [Ice Spike] and then get ready to run if need be. Ceria took a deep breath, and then cast.
“[Ice Spike]!”
The magical dagger of ice shot from her fingertip and broke against the door. Ceria tensed along with the others, but nothing happened. Slowly, they relaxed.
“Maybe just fortifications?”
“Probably. How’s the corridor?”
“Skeleton’s gone over it three times.”
“I volunteer to test it.”
“Ksmvr, don’t be silly—”
“We have been sitting here for an hour. We must try something. Allow me.”
“Wait—”
Yvlon reached for him, but the Antinium stepped out into the corridor. He paused, but no spell came. Slowly, he walked over to the door.
“Nothing. I shall attempt to break it.”
He raised his enchanted sword and stabbed it into the wood. The door resisted the blow, just as it had the [Ice Spike]. And it didn’t trigger a counterspell.
“What is your opinion?”
Ksmvr returned to the others as they conferred. Ceria pulled at her hair, trying to figure out if this was a devilishly clever trap, or just a door made to last forever.
“It might only activate once we break through.”
“Possible, possible.”
“We need to get near, Pisces. We’ll analyze it at close range, and then back away and try from a distance, okay?”
He nodded. Ceria and Pisces exchanged a glance, and then all four Horns of Hammerad crept towards the door.
Nothing happened. They sighed in relief, but Ceria warned Yvlon and Ksmvr.
“Okay, we’re just going to inspect the spell binding the door. If it’s a high-Tier enhancement spell, well, we might have to find another way in. Break through the rock maybe. But don’t touch it until we’re done, okay?”
The other two nodded and readied themselves. Ceria looked at Pisces, and then they reached out and magically inspected the door. Both frowned at around the same time.
“Odd. Look at how delicate this enchantment is, Pisces.”
He nodded as he traced the shimmering symbols and magical currents only they could see.
“Indeed. This is not ordinary reinforcement. There is a trap here. But what’s the trigger?”
The magic shimmered in front of Ceria. Or rather, not shimmered. It was impossible to describe how the magic looked to her with mere words. It was feeling as much as anything else. She delicately looked at the magic, and felt something odd.
“Is it…shifting?”
It was. The stationary spell was moving, reacting. Ceria’s heart immediately skipped a beat and she stood up to back away from the door. Yvlon lifted her shield instantly.
“What’s wrong? What’s happening?”
“Oh no. Oh—it’s reacting to us looking at it. Run! Ru—”
She’d just turned when something whined and engulfed her. Ceria blundered forwards, and then crashed into something which broke.
Bones.
A skeleton? Pisces’ creation?
No. Not Pisces’ skeleton. Bones. Piles of bones.
Ceria looked around. They were in a pit. A pit with filth all over the walls. Yvlon, Ksmvr, Pisces—not the skeletons. They looked around, scrambling to get up.
“What happened?”
“We were teleported! A trap! Get ready!”
Ceria whirled around, looking for movement, a deadly spell, a monster, anything. But she saw nothing.
Then something glowed. She turned and saw something on one of the walls. It was…flickering at her. She stared at it. A word? Writing?
No. A magical rune. Ceria instantly tried to look away, but it was too late. She’d already seen it! She tried to close her eyes, but—
“Nothing?”
She stared around. Nothing had happened. She looked over at Ksmvr. He was staring at the magical words. Then he looked at her.
“Ksmvr? Are you okay?”
He hesitated. Then the Antinium nodded. And then he shook his head.
“What?”
He paused.
“I—I am an Aberration. No. I am Antinium.”
“What do you mean? Aberration? Ksmvr?”
He hesitated.
“I—I—I—I—”
He kept repeating the word. Ceria stared at him. Was something wrong? But that was how Ksmvr always acted, wasn’t it? Yes? No?
Why was she talking to an Antinium?
Suddenly, someone grabbed her from behind. Ceria screamed and turned, but it was only Pisces. He stared at her, eyes furious.
“Pisces, what’s wr—”
“What are you doing in bed, boy?”
He screamed the words at her, spittle flying, face red. Ceria jerked backwards, but Pisces had a death-grip on her. He shouted in her ears.
“Fen
cing practice begins at dawn! Get moving, and I swear, if you shirk I’ll tan your back!”
Something was wrong. Something was right. Ceria knocked Pisces’ hand away and scrambled backwards. She looked around. Yvlon. What was a Yvlon?
“Who are you?”
She was looking down the tip of a sword. A tall, blonde woman stared down at Ceria, chin tilted imperiously upwards as she aimed the sword at Ceria’s nose.
“Explain this uncouth behavior at once. What have you done with me?”
“You? What are you—Yvlon?”
“Ylvon? That is my niece, child. I am Yenelaw Byres, and I demand to know what you have done. What sorcery is this?”
“I don’t know. I—”
Ceria hesitated. Something was wrong. Something was right. Wrong. Right. When two wrongs make a right, who was the shipwright?
“Get moving!”
Pisces howled at Yvlon, pointing his finger at her. She shifted her sword to him and he danced back, suddenly on guard.
“Oh? Angry, are you? Testing me? You’ll have to do better than that, brat.”
“I am Yennais Bryres. Who, pray, are you?”
“I—I—I—help me—I—I—”
Ksmvr was clutching at his head. Pisces and Yvlon were shouting at the same time. Someone had to do something! Ceria opened her mouth, but then realized something dreadful.
I’ve forgotten how to breathe.
She had to tell the others. But she couldn’t breathe! Ceria scrabbled at her throat. She’d tear it out! Then she’d be able to breathe through the hole!
Ksmvr stumbled over to her, head in his hands. Her hands?
“i reJEct. aBErRation Is NoT—I am Antinium. I ReFUSE. i—”
Pisces tapped Ceria on the shoulder. She gasped for air and then stared in horror at the man-sized Creler wearing dirty robes.
“Fencing is a noble art, young man. Don’t you agree? Well, we shall see you master the forms or you will go without dinner tonight.”
A butterfly made of steel turned to Ceria and opened its mouth into Erin’s smiling face.
“What am I doing here? Answer me! You there in the frock!”
She had to do something. Stab them! Stab herself! Didn’t she have a skeleton somewhere around here?
Ceria reached for a dagger, but she’d forgotten what her hands were too. She stared at the pulsating flesh-thing on her hand and tried not to scream. Her palm opened up, and little eyes with twig-like legs started crawling out of the hole in her body.
