And those problems got worse as the sensor orb finally got close enough to get an accurate read on the two coming toward the dungeon.
“Houston, we have a problem.”
“Who the fuck is Houston?”
Gotta love her.
Chapter 28 – The depths of Quizard Mountain
It was a stupid idea. Brint knew it when he decided to follow the tunnel down, he knew it when he heard the pounding and cracking sounds, and he knew it now. As he gazed upon something that shook him right down to his bones, he wished he had never discovered what was down in the depths of the mountain.
It all started innocently enough. Sure, he let his curiosity get the better of him; who didn’t like to explore and find new things? However, he should’ve heeded the warnings of his Combat Units, who were – at their core – beasts, creatures, animals: whatever you wanted to call them. They had the necessary survival instincts that allowed them to stay alive in the wild, untamed forests up above. Looking back, he just wished that he had some of those same instincts.
After hearing the faint pounding and cracking far into the distance, Brint had led his diminished Raid Group down the gently sloping tunnel to explore the source of the noise. He almost turned back after only going about 50 feet down when the lights on the sensors orbs abruptly flickered and died. He tried to connect with them, but it was like they were out of power.
Without a source of light, and with Brint determined to explore, they proceeded even slower than before because he had to rely on the darkvision of his nearby Combat Units. Fortunately, both his Quanks and Qwizards had exceptional night-sight, even in complete darkness. He kept a tentative link to his favorite former-mount so that he could see out of its eyes. The power required for the connection was negligible, so it didn’t worry him too much.
His Birdalopes couldn’t see, nor could the Monkeys, so they joined him on top of the Quartermaster who was able to bear the extra weight without complaint. His remaining Quassassin apparently had no trouble seeing, as it brought up the rear of their little expedition.
As a group, they descended further and further into the bowels of the mountain, encountering four additional switchbacks in the tunnel that led deeper and deeper. It was only after the third switchback that Brint was finally able to hear the sound that had led them down there. When he heard it with his own two ears, he was doubly amazed that his Birdalope had heard it from so far away.
The shape of the passageway they traveled through didn’t change much and the scenery began to get boring after a while. Even with his new ability to hear the sounds on his own, Brint’s mind began to wander after nothing new presented itself. It was only when he realized that it was getting warmer that he snapped out of the zoned-out state he had been in.
And – he realized after the last switchback – he could see a faint glow coming from up ahead. It was very faint and if he still had functioning sensor orbs he probably wouldn’t have even seen it yet. As it was, the prospect of being able to truly see again almost made him want to rush down to the glorious light; however, he got ahold of himself and did the opposite – he slowed down even further.
The sounds of violent impacts of stone against stone was clearer as well. As they traveled down the ever-lightening tunnel, his Combat Units started to hesitate in their steps. At first it was just a slight hitch before their feet touched down, but it slowly became a situation where they were only taking one step where before they were taking four or five.
Huh, that’s weird.
Brint reaffirmed his control on each them, figuring it had been a while since he had directly given them orders and his connection was slipping. With a very firm command planted in their heads, the hesitation stopped, and they journeyed forth without any more problems.
Brint started to become slightly uncomfortable at the heat coming from whatever was at the end of the tunnel. He imagined that it would be something that he could get used to after a while; however, the rest of the cave so far had been fairly cool and the change in temperature was hard to get used to.
Eventually, the light at the end of the tunnel had gotten bright enough that it clearly illuminated the walls around him. About 200 feet ahead, Brint could see that the tunnel opened into a massive room, the details of which was hard to make out at this distance. He brought his Raid Group to a complete stop; he was further confused as it almost seemed like they were relieved at the stoppage.
He thought about sending his Birdalopes ahead to scope out what was in the room (since they had the best eyesight of all his Units) but thought better of it. What if there is, like, 1000 Quizards in there and they are attracted to their presence. I’d just be waving a sign in there, saying, “here I am – come and get me!”
With that thought in mind, he instead sent his last Quassassin, since it was able to blend into the environment and would most likely go unnoticed. Just in case, though, he started to slowly move the rest of the group up the tunnel; if the stealthy Unit was somehow spotted, he had to hope that he was far enough away to stay hidden from them. The tunnel sloped enough that after about 1000 feet he couldn’t see the room anymore, so he thought he was safe.
He directed the Quassassin he had left behind to approach the room, taking care to use its Active Camouflage to ensure it couldn’t be seen. He didn’t need to remind it though; there was rarely a moment when it wasn’t fully hidden from sight.
As it got closer to its destination, it started to hesitate in its steps again. Eventually, it wouldn’t move any further as it shook in place, the fear it exuded was so plain that even Brint started to feel a bit of trepidation. He eventually had to take complete control of the Quassassin, which drained his power quickly, but he had built up enough of a power pool that he would be able to do it for at least ten minutes or more. Besides, he still had plenty of power-infused water from The Milton’s Core Room if he started running low.
The first couple of feet were the hardest. It felt as strange as it usually did as he controlled the deadly cat Unit, but after almost falling on his face, he got used to the sensations of having four powerful legs instead of two relatively weak ones. The last fifty feet to the edge were then the easiest as he slunk up to the edge of the tunnel and got his first good look at the room.
“Room” would be a severe understatement. “Cavern” would describe it a little better, but even that wouldn’t be quite adequate to describe the sprawling void he now saw. The massive hollow inside the mountain was huge, disturbing, and overwhelming. It was shaped like a gigantic loaf of bread – though on an epic scale.
At least 1,000 feet across at its narrowest, the vaulted ceiling was so enshrouded in darkness that he could just barely make out the small stalactites dotting its interior. As for how long it was, even the enhanced eyesight of the Quassassin couldn’t pierce the distance needed to see the end, although at least a mile down it appeared to curve inward. Looking around, the cavern extended in both directions, with the same curving found on the opposite side. In a flash of insight, Brint thought that it was more than likely that the cavern formed a giant circle, the dimensions of which boggled his mind. It was so large he couldn’t even comprehend its size.
Flows of lava provided both the light and stifling heat to the giant cavern, emerging from the central area of the “circle”. It flowed in gentle rivers that followed straight channels that appeared to have been physically constructed by someone or something. They all entered the wall on the opposite side of the cavern, where they disappeared.
Humongous caves were interspersed along that same wall, standing at least 200 feet tall and the same distance at its widest. There wasn’t any light present in those caves, so Brint wasn’t able to see what was in them and the angle where the Quassassin was viewing them from didn’t see far into them. Between the massive caves, he could also see smaller caves that – once he looked at them for a moment – appeared to be very similar in size to the tunnel his Unit was standing in.
However, despite the size
of the cavern, the lava flows, and the mystery caves, that wasn’t what shook him to his bones. All along the floor, in between the channels of lava (which he could now see had equally-spaced bridges that led over them) were the massive, hulking shapes of giant monkeys. Although, it wouldn’t be fair to compare them to his own D-Ranged Monkeys; no, these were four or five times the height, their muscles were even larger in proportion than his own strength-enhanced ranged Units, and they only had two arms. But that wasn’t where the differences ended.
Instead of a monkey face, each of their gigantic bodies was topped by a bear head. Not just one that looked like a bear; it almost looked like someone chopped off the old monkey head and shoved a bear head in its place. Their bodies were also covered in long fur like a bear, unlike his Monkeys whom were covered in short hair.
How did he know they were 20 to 25 feet tall? They were also followed around by a sea of Quizards, who jumped up on the giant apes like they were looking for a nice word or a treat. Almost like a pet of some sort, which made Brint look back at the battle from earlier. If they are not the toughest thing in here, that must mean they are treated more like pets or…sentries. They probably send them up to protect these tunnels from being found and act like guard animals. Essentially, all we did was kill a forward scouting group.
He was interrupted in his thoughts as he saw one of the monstrosities grab one of the nearby Quizards and lift it up before breaking its neck with one of its powerful hands. Even from his spot nearly 300 feet away from the scene, he could hear it snap like a twig. The giant monkey then immediately started shoving the lizard into its mouth, devouring it in less than three large bites.
Strangely enough, the surrounding Quizards didn’t seem to flinch at watching their brethren get killed and eaten. If anything, they were even more enthusiastic at trying to gain the attention of the killer beast.
From his vantage point, Brint could see tens of thousands of Quizards all along the cavern. Though a lot less, there were still nearly a thousand of the massive killer bear-monkey things that he could see, but he was sure there were even more of them further down the circle.
As for the pounding and cracking he had heard, the source of it left chills down his body that was all the way back up the tunnel. Groups of the massive apes were in a loose formation, seemingly taking orders from an even larger bear-monkey with lighter-colored fur. Some were taking turns smashing large rocks, their powerful fists cracking them in half with ease.
Others were taking smaller rocks (smaller in general, they were still nearly as large as Brint) and throwing them with force against a target made up of more rocks. When they impacted, only rubble seemed to be left behind. The cacophony this produced from all over the cavern was nearly deafening when he was this close. Still other groups were swinging, jumping, climbing, and crawling through some sort of stone-made obstacle course.
Brint stayed crouched as he watched all this happening, shock causing him to freeze as he tried to process what he was seeing. He didn’t have much time to observe, however, as a tremendous roar literally shook the cavern, causing various stalactites to shake loose from the ceiling, where they impacted and killed dozens of Quizards.
His Quassassin caught the barest hint of a colossal shape near one of the large caves before it bolted back up the tunnel.
Brint brought his attention back to his own body as he ordered his forces to run as fast as they could in retreat. He didn’t need to see any more to know he was too far outmatched to stick around any longer. In fact, as soon as he got back to the cave his drones were mining, he was going to grab them and get out immediately.
As he was racing up the tunnel, he couldn’t help but think about what he had seen. There was a countless army of…things…down there that no one knew about. What they were – he didn’t know – but despite their crude animal nature, they appeared to be at least semi-intelligent. They were doing some strange things, practicing and performing in formations; this led him to conclude only one thing.
They were preparing for war.
Chapter 29 – Caution: Squirrelings ahead!
They had been following the trail for hours and she could tell that Moxwell was starting to get impatient, “Do you even know where we’re going? This trail looks like it could go on forever.”
“Don’t worry,” she told him reassuringly, “I looked ahead and there is a clearing coming up…and something strange. If that isn’t our destination, I don’t know where else it could be.”
It had gotten easier and easier the further they went into the forest, as the signs were somehow fresher and more obvious the closer they got to their destination. Either that, or they had gotten used to looking for specific signs which were easily found. Only once did they stop, just a couple of minutes before, in fact, when they found signs of a fight. The pools of dried blood had mostly flaked away by that point, but the traces were there if you knew how to look for them. When it soaked into the ground, the saturation was obvious to those who had any affinity with Earth and Water.
Though there were no obvious signs of a body, or even signs that something nearby had eaten it, the fact that they found something other than just a trail was encouraging. Knowing that something had probably died around here made her double her personal protections as well.
Something else was tickling her senses, however. Rosewyn was attuned with the power within her body, probably better than anyone else alive. She could do things with it that other people only dreamed of and she was increasingly looking for more things she could experiment with to learn more. At heart she was a researcher, constantly desiring to add to her abilities and enjoyed – no, loved – the experience of discovering something new. There were aspects of her affinities that she was still learning about – her relatively new knowledge of her Light and Dark affinities for instance – but for the most part she thought she had encountered everything there was to see. Now she knew she was wrong.
The very air around there seemed to vibrate with power. It wasn’t tangible, nor was it even visible; nevertheless, to her affinity-blessed senses it felt like she was swimming through a stream of power. She knew she was going the right way when that feeling turned from a trickle to a river. At one point she felt like she was at the point of almost physically feeling it, like condensation on her skin.
She could tell Moxwell didn’t feel it; she was unique in her knowledge of power and its various forms and uses. However, she did see that he felt something.
Whenever they were close to danger, he sharpened his senses and the way he moved, acted, and spoke all changed along with him. As soon as he glimpsed the clearing in the trees up ahead, his demeanor changed in an instant. Gone was the irritable and impatient Moxwell that was her husband; in his place stood a killer, a hunter, a legend…or so he said. Though she smiled at his names for himself, he wasn’t entirely wrong.
Even she could feel the waves of concentrated killer-instinct he exuded from his posture, like he was mere seconds away from destroying anyone and everyone around him. Strangely enough, this focused and deadly persona of his is what led her to love him in the first place. I must be sick in the head or something.
Regardless, they were ready for anything as they stepped into the gently-waving field of grass surrounding a large clearing in the trees, 100 feet or more across at its widest point. She could see that quite a few trees had been cleared away from what had already been a small open space in the forest, based on the stumps she could see poking their way through the undulating blue sea of flora.
In the center of the treeless area was large hole that Rosewyn could see sloped gently underground. Stone walls supported the opening, as well as the ceiling and floor. Upon closer inspection with her affinity, she couldn’t detect any joins among the seams – in fact, she couldn’t see any breaks along the stone at all. She could perhaps do this if she wanted to, but she never had a need for it before. Now, however, she could see the benefits of building this way – especially if the surrounding
ground was supported enough that any shifts wouldn’t cause it to crack.
As curious as she was at the appearance of what appeared to be a unique construction method, when she extended her senses to include everything underground she had to retract her ability before she got a headache. First, she could tell from the air and earth around her that there were a number of larger open spaces connected by passageways. Second, she could detect the body heat of many creatures inside, scattered and not moving around – which was unusual in itself – at least it would be if they didn’t appear to be asleep.
Third…she couldn’t accurately map out the interior of even the first room. The strength of the air-infused power was so strong that it interfered with what she was trying to do. That, and the stone that made up most of the room was something she had never encountered before. This just…can’t be possible.
She laid a hand on Moxwell’s arm as he started to descend into the entrance of whatever that place was, “Be careful. I mean it.”
He looked at her with concern – she never said that before they did a job. They were both confident in their abilities, both masters of their craft – so to say – that there was no need. The fact that she did this time, coupled with the unusual location, made him pause in his descent. She gave him a smile of encouragement, attempting to cover how worried she was…and excited.
This…this was why she joined the Guardian Guild all those years ago. Exploration, discovery, research: they all culminated into one central theme for her – knowledge. She didn’t know what was going on here; she was determined to find out, though.
She followed Moxwell as he led the way, sword and shield held at the ready for whatever they encountered. His slow, cautious steps nevertheless ate up the ground quickly as she walked unhurriedly behind him.
The Quizard Mountains: A Dungeon Core Epic (Station Cores Book 2) Page 20
