by Ramy Vance
Chip was assembling what looked like a giant harpoon gun. The tech looked newer, and Suzuki wasn’t sure if Chip had built it out of her own body. The gun was nearly the same size as Chip and a thick rope ran from the harpoon’s edge to the shoulder stock. Chip aimed the gun over the side of the cliff. “Well, I mean safer by comparison,” Chip said. “Compared to flinging yourself over this cliff.”
“Goddamn it, Chip, those are both fucking dangerous options.”
“All jokes aside, I don’t see us picking and choosing from a shite-ton of options.”
Beth didn’t have anything to say, so she sat down next to Stew and pouted. Stew occasionally looked over the side of the ledge. It was impossible to discern what he was thinking. His eyebrows were knit tightly together, and every so often, he would purse his lips before sitting back and then leaning over the edge of the cliff again.
Suzuki couldn’t stop thinking about how far down they were going to have to climb, and Chip was being coy about the numbers. He figured he would have to find out for himself. He recalled his axe to his hand and threw it over the side of the cliff. The rest of the Mundanes listened as Chip whistled. They were listening for quite some time before Suzuki realized throwing his axe had proved it was an awfully long way down. Suzuki called his axe back to him. It took a long time for it to return. “Okay, Chip, could you give us some more details?” he asked. “It would make putting my trust in you a lot easier.”
Chip smiled as she looked over her shoulder, and Suzuki could see the mischievous child behind her eyes. “Aye, you need more of a reason to trust me than my knack at staying one step ahead of that gray-eyed death?” Chip sang. “Well, then here’s the plan, all placed out nice and easy to digestion. I’m gonna fire this here line-gun down the side, and it’s gonna hit the bridge at the bottom. After that, me and your lady lover are gonna—”
Beth jumped to her feet, raising her arms and bringing them down in the universal sign for “no fucking way.” “Hold on just a fucking minute,” Beth exclaimed. “You didn’t say anything about me going down there with you.”
“Why would I have? You’re my lucky protégé. Thought it went without saying that we’d be defying death with each other.”
The color had drained out of Beth’s face. “Okay, I wasn’t sure I could do the whole action hero thing you’re talking about, but I am one hundred percent certain I am not up for this.”
Chip patted Beth on the back and pushed her away from the rest of the Mundanes, who were still looking dubiously over the side of the cliff. “Ain’t nothing to it,” Chip explained. “You just follow my lead. Easy enough?”
Beth sighed as Chip sat down and dangled her feet off the cliff. Chip held her harpoon gun and took a deep breath as she lined up her shot. The gun went off, and the harpoon went flying into the darkness. Chip leaned a little farther over the cliff to get a better line of sight. After a couple of minutes of waiting, there was a faint clink and Chip smiled, much more delighted than any of the other Mundanes—Beth in particular.
Chip stood, still holding the gun. She popped off the heavy shoulder stock, showing another harpoon underneath. She drove that harpoon in the ground, covered it with a couple of large rocks, and then used her plasma gun to fuse the rocks together. “See?” Chip exclaimed. “We’re gonna be extremely secure as well. Nothing’s pulling out. All we gots to do is slide on down. Granted, at a reasonable speed. No adrenaline-junkie shit. Straight-and-narrow prudish. Now, let’s get sliding.”
Beth groaned loudly as Chip pushed her to the rope that hung over the cliff. Chip went first, holding onto the rope tightly and slinging herself over the side of the cliff as if she had done this thousands of times. Beth went afterward, nervously looking over the side a few times before finally sitting down, dragging her legs over the side and lowering herself down.
Suzuki was surprised at how not worried he was watching Beth climb down the cliff. If there was anyone he thought was capable of anything, it was Beth. He had been pleasantly surprised by how quickly she seemed to be adapting to the entirely new role she was playing in the party. But not just the party. Beth had never played anything other than a fighter in any of the VR sessions they had been in together. Granted, for the most part, everyone stuck to their own classes, but the rest of the Mundanes had back up characters they had worked on in case they had to change roles for an unforeseen reason. Not Beth. She had one fighter, and that was it.
That summed Beth up pretty accurately. One fighter. One save file. One life. Even if she didn’t like to say it, she loved living on the edge, especially if that edge was defined by her abilities.
Chip’s voice came from below. “All right, next one get started. We got enough space for at least twenty of you!” Chip shouted.
Stew, Diana, and Suzuki exchanged glances. No one was going to jump at the chance to go first. After an uncomfortable pause, Stew sighed loudly and theatrically in case his attitude about the situation wasn’t clear and walked over to the rope. He held it in his hand for a moment before leaping off the side of the cliff. If he was afraid, he didn’t show it that last second.
Diana and Suzuki stood around awkwardly, waiting for the announcement that the next one should descend. Suzuki cleared his throat and tried to think of something to say to fill the silence. He realized this was the longest he’d ever been alone with Diana before. “So…does Chip do stuff like this often?” Suzuki asked.
Diana jumped at the sound of Suzuki’s voice. “Huh? Oh…like this?” Diana asked. “Not usually, but close enough. She is somewhat impetuous. It pays to have someone like her around. Helps to bring attention to some of the less obvious options.”
Stew’s voice came from the cliff. “Next one is up!”
For some reason, Suzuki didn’t want to be the last one on the rope. He walked over to the side of the cliff and took the rope in his hand. It was rough and thick and felt like something that could hold up to a lot of stress. Using that to reassure himself, he turned around and lowered himself over the cliff.
Suzuki knew he wasn’t supposed to look down. He’d seen it in every movie. It was a meme in every video game—don’t look down. Despite knowing that, Suzuki looked down. The first thing he noticed was his friends directly beneath him. There was some space between them, but they were all close enough that they could communicate. The next thing he noticed was the waterfall against one of the walls of the chasm. Gray mist came off the waterfall, catching the ambient light. It was hauntingly beautiful.
From below, Suzuki heard Chip shout, “Send Diana down!”
Suzuki looked up and shouted, “Your turn, Diana!”
Below, Suzuki could feel the slack on the rope go taut. He figured that meant they were moving down. Even though Suzuki had never done this before, it felt natural. Moving was straightforward. He planted his feet against the mountain and held tight to the rope as he lowered himself down.
“Use the hook and loop on your belt,” someone shouted from below.
Suzuki looked down at his belt. He had been issued one when he first became a MERC and had never thought anything about it. MERCs weren’t necessarily known for providing their mercenaries with too many useful items. All of the gear Suzuki had learned to rely on (as with the other Mundanes) had been found out in the field. But Suzuki had never come across a belt. Now, as he looked down at his belt, he could see there was a strap that was perfect for attaching to the rope in front of him. He breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he was physically capable of making the climb down, but it was comforting to know that if he lost his grip, he wouldn’t go plummeting to his death.
It was kind of funny Chip had managed to leave out that important piece of information. She was probably enjoying freaking the rest of the party out.
Suzuki felt Diana pull on the rope, and he looked up in time to see her fly over the side of the cliff, her boots hitting the wall with a heavy thud. Diana took out her wand and aimed it into the dark, and there was a bright flash. A ball of white ligh
t floated away from the wand and to the middle section of the MERCs climbing down the cavern. “Always brightening up my day,” Chip called.
Diana’s face was too white and grim to look anything other than terrified.
The MERCs made their way down the cliff in this fashion. The gray mist seemed to float up and kiss their faces, cooling them as the heat from deep within the earth wafted up. Suzuki could smell whatever was down there. It was something deep and ancient, and he hoped they weren’t really planning on descending that low into the hollows of Middang3ard. Whatever was down there was best left for another adventure. Checking out the abandoned buildings across the chasm would have to suffice. Suzuki couldn’t help but wonder if one day he would find out what was in the deepest depths of Middang3ard.
As Suzuki continued down the rope, he noticed the walls had the same black sprouts he had been seeing throughout the caverns. These sprouts opened up wider anytime Suzuki got a good look at them. Once the petals widened, there was an intricate swirl pattern, like that of a conch, which glowed bright blue. A sweet scent also came off the petals once the womb of the sprouts was exposed. “Hey yo, these sprouts things are everywhere!” Suzuki shouted.
Stew lost his grip and slid down a little faster than he expected. The hook on his belt stopped him midfall, and he took hold of the rope again with his hand. “Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Stew called back. “What the hell are these things?”
The Mundanes waited for Diana to answer, but she was too busy gritting her teeth. “How much farther are we going?” Diana asked.
From below, Chip laughed. “What’s wrong, Dee? You scared?” Chip quipped.
“I don’t like being suspended mid-air over a chasm and would like to end this as soon as possible.”
Stew leaned back to look up and see Suzuki. “Hey, Diana, you know Suzuki can see up your robes?” he shouted.
The rope slipped out of Diana’s hand and she fell toward Suzuki as he raised one of his hands over his head and shouted, “I wouldn’t fucking do that!” His protests meant nothing. Diana’s foot collided with Suzuki’s head, and they both went sliding down the rope until their belts stopped them abruptly. Diana looked at Suzuki, and her face bloomed bright red. She and Suzuki were face to face, almost close enough to kiss. “Please do not look up my robes,” Diana muttered before climbing higher up the rope.
Suzuki grabbed his axe and chipped off a piece of stone from the cavern wall. It was small, about the size of a quarter. Perfect. He wound up and threw the rock at Stew’s head.
Stew grabbed the top of his head and screamed, “Goddamn it, it’s raining fucking rocks now!”
Neither Beth nor Chip needed to have seen what had happened to know.
Suzuki could hear them snickering. “Oh, it must have fallen from above. Don’t worry about it. I think I knocked it loose.”
“Well, be more careful.”
Beth stopped laughing and shook the rope. “All right, douchenozzles, stop fucking around,” she suggested. “We need to get going.”
Suzuki felt a rock hit him on the head. He didn’t think Diana was the kind to join in on the joke. Humor never seemed like an interest to her. Maybe she was pissed off at him because she thought he had tried to peek up her robes.
“Hey, Diana,” Suzuki started. “I really wasn’t looking up your skirt. I wouldn’t do something like that. The regular Stew is back, that’s all.”
Suzuki waited for a response. What he got in return was a surprise. Diana’s voice was hoarse, gripped with fear, tight in her throat. “Go. Now,” she whispered.
The walls of the cavern shook violently, tossing the Mundanes away from their hold on the rope. The only thing that saved them from plummeting to their deaths was their belts. “What in the ass-crack of the gods was that?” Chip shouted.
Suzuki looked up and could see Diana staring up as well. There was another tremor, and what Suzuki saw sent a shiver of fear up his spine.
A head was poking out of the stone wall. It was vaguely serpentine but also reminiscent of a human, its skin covered in wet-looking scales, its neck long and slender. The creature’s mouth, the mouth of a human, hung open, and its jaw dislocated so it could have easily fit any of the Mundanes in its throat in one try. A stench like rotten eggs came off the monster. Its torso was like that of a cobra. It had no legs but instead had two longs arms that bent the way a spider’s would. Yellow snake eyes peered from behind human eyelids.
Without warning, the creature surged, moving nearly too fast to see, toward Diana, its mouth hinged open as it flung itself into the air, its arms stretching out and puncturing the rock. It used its momentum to close the gap between it and the Mundanes.
Diana let go of the rope and pushed off the rock with her boots, swinging into the air as she pulled out her wand. A fireball went flying toward the creature, who opened its massive mouth wider and swallowed the fireball whole. “Move!” Diana shouted.
Chip let go of the rope and slackened her hold on her belt to slide down the rope at breakneck speed. The rest of the Mundanes did the same, except for Suzuki.
Diana was trying to maneuver around the creature, who was taking advantage of her lack of solid footing. She spread her arms and levitated before casting a barrier around herself.
Suzuki pulled down his HUD and scanned the creature.
Eighty-five percent chance of survival.
He pulled out his axe and sent it toward the creature as it turned. The creature swerved its neck out of the way, and the axe went flying into the darkness. That was all Suzuki needed, though, and he unloosened his belt. Diana did the same, and they both went screeching into the darkness after the rest of the Mundanes.
The creature screamed, a sound akin to the mewing of a cat if it had its intestines ripped out, and went after the MERCs.
The MERCs were sliding down the rope as fast as they could, the creature screeching after them, its tongue lolling from its mouth, slobbering. The drool burned away whatever rock it fell on, the smoke sizzling up, the creature still screeching.
At the bottom of the queue, Chip kicked off the wall and slammed her hands together, converting them to a plasma cannon, and fired two shots. The creature easily dodged them, acid still dripping from its mouth as it bounded after the MERCs.
Suzuki recalled his axe to his hand and threw it at the creature, but it dodged again, and then, without warning, the creature turned and slammed its head into the cavern wall. It continued on, blood forming in a halo around its crown until the wall gave way, and the creature slipped into the cracks of the rock.
Suzuki unclipped his belt and stopped. Diana nearly slammed into him, but she managed to stop at the last minute. Suzuki shouted for the Mundanes to stop. “We need a fucking plan!” Suzuki shouted.
As Suzuki tried to formulate something in his head, he could hear the rock wall shaking around him, cracking, beginning to give way. He wanted to stop and catch his breath, but that wasn’t an option. “How far down does this go?” he asked Chip.
Even though Suzuki couldn’t see Chip, he could imagine her scanning the potential drop and shrugging. There wasn’t time for her to give an answer. The rocky wall of the cliff broke apart and the creature burst out, its jaws open, its acidic spit trickling down its face as it reached out and grabbed the rope the Mundanes were hanging by in its mouth.
The sensation of freefalling was almost beautiful. Suzuki felt his body hanging in the air as if there was no such thing as gravity. He looked around as Diana floated next to him, her hair hanging above her head as if she were underwater. They stared at each other, and Suzuki realized he was falling to his death, to be consumed by whatever was living in the middle of Middang3ard. Guess my curiosity is going to be satisfied after all, he thought.
As Suzuki twisted in the air, calling his axe back to him, a harpoon went flying through the air, grazing his cheek. He looked down and saw Beth holding Chip’s harpoon as she fell. She shifted in the air, grabbed Chip’s body, and used it to fling herself clo
ser to the cavern’s wall. She hit the rock, accompanied by the sickening sound of bones cracking, but this did not deter her. Her hand was wrapped tightly around the harpoon’s point, and she jammed it into the wall’s surface.
The rest of the Mundanes continued to fall, cinching their belts. Within seconds, the slack of the rope had caught, and they slammed against the wall, safe from crashing into whatever lay at the bottom of the cavern.
Chip coughed up blood as she held her chest. “Fuck me and all the gods.” She laughed as she converted her arm to a cannon. The rest of the Mundanes also drew their weapons, Stew pulling out one of his axes, Suzuki brandishing his own, and Beth nocking an arrow to her short bow.
The creature was nowhere to be seen. The rocks were still. There was no sound.
Suzuki looked around to see if he could gather any information. It was too dark. The light Diana had cast was gone. There were only darkness and the rushing of water.
Beth shouted, “Suzy, we need a fucking plan!”
Suzuki had nothing.
He knew this was so far beyond the realm of things he had experienced or even gauged the likelihood of happening. “I almost got something,” he lied. “Don’t worry.”
The cavern’s rocky walls burst open as the creature flung itself out of the rocks, its jaws hanging open. Its acidic spittle dribbled down its mouth, and a bit of the spit hit Stew in the chest. Stew screamed in pain as he clasped his chest, losing his grip on the rope.
Diana wasted no time. She disengaged her belt and levitated to where Stew was. She cast a healing spell and Stew’s chest stitched itself back up, the burned skin and muscle coming together again. Once his body was intact, he turned around to try to find the culprit. The creature was already gone. “How the fuck am I supposed to kill something I can’t see?” Stew lamented.
There were rocks, and they were on a rope.
Cornered.
That was all Suzuki knew for sure. Something was missing from the equation. If he could just figure it out.
