She flashed him a dazzling smile. “See, much better!”
Grinning, he motioned her to continue checking the corridor for pit traps as they moved deeper into Crystalburrow. They’d found two others so far and like the previous one, the skeletons moved around them to walk on the sides. That meant the first pit hadn’t been a fluke. The skeletons were part of the city and the builders, or game designers, had made accommodations for them.
But something didn’t seem right. He didn’t remember the Veteribus using necromancy. In the other ruins and underground towns he’d explored or quested in, he’d never seen any undead. In fact, they’d used almost exclusively golems.
Jace stopped in his tracks causing Charlena to halt with a start. “What?!”
“I don’t think those were skeletons,” he told her, mulling the idea in his mind. It would make sense. They come at night. No one ever got a really good look at them. It was possible they weren’t skeletons at all, but golems. Golems made to resemble the thin limbed Veteribus. “I think they might be golems.”
She looked at him perplexed. “Golems?”
“Uh,” he tried to think of how to explain them. “They’re like robots, only animated and programmed with magic instead of technology.”
“Robots,” she said dubiously.
“Like robots,” he corrected. “But animated creatures made of wood, stone, metal or even bone. The Ancient Ones were masters of creating golems.”
Charlena still looked doubtful. “Everyone in the village said they were skeletons.”
“Yes, but they always come at night and people are locked away in their houses,” he told her. “They could be a band of babbling baboons for all they know. Plus, the Ancient Ones are tall, slender humanoids who look like aliens, with those large heads and bulbous eyes.”
Charlena looked around. “What does this mean for us?”
“Not much difference,” he told her. “When it comes down to it, golems and undead are fairly similar except in how they are animated. Golems are animated with magic and runes while undead are animated with necromancy.”
Charlena pursed her lips. “I’ll take your word for it. But basically, our situation hasn’t really changed.”
Jace thought about it. “Not really.”
“We keep going?”
“We keep going.”
They kept going for what felt like a mile before they saw light at the end of the tunnel - literally and figuratively.
“What is that light?” asked Charlena, coming to a halt.
“I have a suspicion,” Jace told her and motioned her to continue. “Let’s see if I’m right.”
Another hundred yards and Jace’s theory was proven right. The passage opened into an enormous cavern which went on for what could have been a mile or more. Inside the cavern was a city sculpted from some sort of ivory or pure white stone with unerring perfection. The alien look to the buildings with their sharp curves and nearly no straight lines, marked it as a Veteribium city.
“Oh wow,” he heard Charlena gasp next to him.
He knew the feeling. Even though he’d seen the Ancient Ones’ cities before, this one was different. What made it different was the illumination. Previous cities had used some sort of animated lamps on the buildings that gave the cities a perpetual night feeling. This city looked like it was nearly in full daylight. Glancing around the cavern roof, he realized why.
Embedded in the ceiling was some sort of enormous crystals that seemed to have a natural illuminance. There were hundreds, or even thousands, of them embedded in the roof. Had the Veteribus found this deposit of glowing crystals and built the city around them? Or had they discovered how to create the crystals and then embed them in their city?
“What’s that?” Charlena said, pointing to something near the center of the city. It looked like some sort of giant observatory that was at two hundred feet taller than the rest of the buildings. At the top were three huge circular objects that resembled tinted mirrors. One was white, one was red and the last was black - the same color as the moons. As he strained his eyes, he could see that the red and white mirrors were cracked but the black one seemed to be intact.
“I have no idea,” Jace told her. “But I think we should have a look.”
“Won’t we run into those undead… golem creatures?” she asked.
Jace frowned. If they were golems, then they had been programmed with a task. In other Ancient Ones cities, he’d seen where golems continued to clear the streets or clean houses, thousands of years after their masters had died off. He’d also battled guard golems programmed to protect a room or items in a room.
“We may,” Jace told her as he started to untie the rope from them. Hopefully, there would be no pit traps in the city itself.
Undoing the knots, he looked down the stairs that lead from the passage to the floor of the city, nearly two hundred feet down. There were no signs of golems, but they could be anywhere in the city.
Bending down, he looked at the steps. Unlike the passageway, there was no dust on the steps at all. Something must be cleaning the steps. That presented two problems. First, something was regularly and consistently coming up to where they were now. And second, without dust, he had no idea where the skeletons or golems went. “The steps are clean.”
“What does that mean?”
Jace considered the options. “Something or someone is keeping them clean.”
“Golems?” she asked quietly, casting worried glances around the city. “Ancient Ones?”
“The Ancient Ones are all dead. But maybe some sort of cleaning golem,” Jace said. “Keep your eyes open.”
Charlena looked out into the sprawling alien city. “Are we sure this is a good idea? When will those undead or golems or whatever wake up?”
“At nightfall,” Jace told her.
“When’s that?”
“I have no idea,” he told her.
“Oh geez,” she said, looking at him incredulously. “You’re crazy aren’t you?”
Once again, Jace held his fingers up about an inch apart.
Charlena let out an exasperated breath. “That’s right, you are a little crazy. Well, if I die, you’d better help me get my body!”
“Likewise,” he shot back.
“Are you ready?” he asked her.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she retorted.
With that, the two of them began descending the long steps down into a dead city, made by a dead race. What could possibly go wrong?
As if to answer his question, a low moaning began in the center of the city.
Chapter 23
Luna hissed and Charlena stopped in her tracks, turning to Jace wide eyed. “What is that?”
His cat darted between his legs as Jace took a deep breath. “That would be the undead, or whatever they are.”
“Are you sure you want to go down there?” she asked, her voice concerned and perhaps a little frightened.
“Not really,” Jace confessed. “But I do want to understand what’s going on here. Plus, we could be the first players to see this place. That would be kind of cool.”
Her face brightened. “You think so?”
“There’s so much of VEIL, I don’t think everyone’s seen everything. There’s floating cloud cities, underground empires and that’s not even talking about the oceans and what’s under them.”
“Wow, I didn’t know there was so much. It’s a lot to explore.”
“And I’ll have a long time to explore it all,” Jace nodded sadly.
Her face softening, Charlena put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Jace shrugged. “Nothing I can do about it now but make the best of it. But it’s off to a good start, I met this cute girl who plays the game.” He gave her a wink.
Blushing, she punched him lightly and turned away. She wasn’t quite quick enough to hide her smile.
“We’d better start down these steps,” he said, bringing their attention to the reason they we
re here. “I don’t know when they will start heading to the village but we should be someplace safe before they do.”
Charlena nodded and the two of them began to descend the steps. Jace turned to see Luna reluctantly following them. “You okay?”
Luna didn’t bother to look up at him. “Scary sound.”
“I know,” he told her. “But we’ll be safe.”
Luna gave him what he thought was a doubtful look but didn’t reply. Turning back around they continued descending into the city.
Sooner that he would have thought, they were at the bottom, looking into a wide city street with the alien-looking buildings towering over them. As they had descended, the moaning sound had gradually gotten louder. It was definitely coming from somewhere in the city.
Jace looked down the street of strange buildings. Most of them were two stories tall with a few one and three story buildings scattered throughout.
“Let’s look in one,” he said, pointing to a nearby doorway. While the entire structure was smooth ivory stone, there was an outline for a door on the side of the building. It was made for a being at least two feet taller than humans, another tell-tale sign this city was built by the Ancient Ones.
The two of them walked to the door and stood in front of it. After a moment, Charlena turned to him. “And you know how to open this?”
Jace looked at the smooth surface of the door and the area around the door. Nothing stood out as a doorknob or anything else that might open the door. He looked back at her. “Theoretically,” he said and then paused as he looked up and down the door again. “No.”
Charlena let out a breath. “Well, our exploration is off to a good start.”
Jace chuckled. “We’re quite the great explorers. Can’t even get in the first building.”
That elicited a giggle and they moved on to a couple other doorways. In each case, they saw what appeared to be a large, smooth door by the outline but there was no visible way to open it. Jace even tried walking up to the door and waving his hands to see if it was motion activated. Nothing worked and the doors remained sealed.
As they got closer to the center of the city, Jace did notice that the moaning sound seemed to get louder. He checked with Charlena and she agreed.
“Maybe locked the doors when they left,” Charlena said as they tried another door.
“I guess so,” Jace shrugged. “Maybe we’ll have more luck with the big building.”
Charlena glanced up at the large observatory building and gave him a doubtful look. “Are you sure you want to go there? I mean, that does seem to be where the moaning sound is coming from.”
She had a point. For all he knew that large building was where the skeleton things were. Still, he felt like he needed to know what was there. It was almost as if something was drawing him in. Maybe his sense of curiosity?
“We’ll be careful,” he told her. “When we get close, we’ll switch to stealth and at least see if we can determine what that building is.”
Carefully they move towards the center of the city, checking the alleys they ran across for any signs of the skeletons. The moaning definitely got louder as they moved closer to the center. Not only that, but Jace had an odd itching feeling on his skin the closer they got. He didn’t think anything of it until he saw that Luna also became more agitated the further into the city they went.
“Are you okay Luna?” Jace finally asked her.
The cat looked up at him, ears flattened against her head. “Sound… bad.”
He looked back at the large building. “The moaning?”
“Sound hurt,” the cat whined.
Jace was taken back. Did the moaning actually hurt her? How could that be? He bent down and scooped her up and held her, petting her head. “I’m sorry Luna. I didn’t know it was hurting you.”
He looked back the way they came. “Was it hurting you at the top of the steps?”
“No,” she retorted.
Putting Luna back down on the ground, he pointed back towards the steps. “Go back to the steps and wait for us there. Go as far as you need to so that it doesn’t hurt.”
“Yes,” she said, and the little orange tabby took off for the steps.
Charlena, who had witnessed the exchange but obviously hadn’t understood his “cat speak,” gave him a questioning look.
“The sound is hurting her ears,” he told her, “so I sent her back to the steps.”
“The sound was hurting her?” Charlena asked, concerned. “Do you think it’s some sort of high frequency sound like a dog whistle or something?”
Jace cocked his head. A dog whistle? Human’s couldn’t hear a sound at high pitches but animals could. Was that what they were dealing with? Some sort of sound that was out of normal human range? What would be causing that? “You could be right. But what would be causing it?”
Charlena looked around. “I don’t know.” She shivered. “But something about this place does make my skin crawl.”
Jace snapped his head to her. “You feel it too? Like an itch all over your body?”
“Not really like that, just a weird feeling,” she said.
Jace thought about it for a moment. “What’s your sensitivity level set at?”
Charlena’s eyes went glassy while she looked at her HUD and then they cleared. “15%”
“Can you do me a favor, turn it up to say 90% and see if you feel anything,” he told her.
Charlena’s eyes went wide. “90%?! Are you crazy? Wait… I know... “She held her fingers about an inch apart. “A little bit. I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”
Jace held up his hands in a placating gesture. “I know. Just turn it up and see if you feel anything and then turn it back down.”
Grudgingly she nodded. “It’s a good thing you're cute.” And then her eyes went glassy.
Jace just stared at her. Had she just called him cute?
“Your mouth is open,” she said smiling, her eyes clear again. Then suddenly she shivered and started scratching. “Okay… okay… it’s seriously itchy! Geez! How do you put up with it?”
“You can turn it back down,” Jace told her. “I learned what I needed.”
“So, it’s affecting both of us,” she said, “and the cat.”
“Yes,” Jace said. “But I’m not sure what IT is. I think we need to get to the observatory - or whatever it is.”
Charlena looked up at the ominous structure and swallowed. “I was afraid you were going to say that.” She looked back at him. “Are you going to be able to deal with that - whatever that itching sensation is?”
“I’ll have to,” Jace told her. At this point, the only other alternative seemed to be turning around and going back to the village. They could also go back and explore the other tunnels. Yet something kept drawing him to the observatory. The strange and, if he admitted it, scary thing about it was, he wasn’t sure why he felt so compelled to go there. It was almost as if he were thirsty and he knew there was water there.
“You okay?” Charlena asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.
“Yeah,” he said. “Let’s go. But keep in stealth. Something doesn’t feel right and I’m not sure what it is.”
Charlena rolled her eyes. “We’re in an ancient, forgotten city that probably has murderous undead or golems or something and there’s some unseen force making us itch and causing the cat to go nuts. Plus there’s an insane moaning coming from where we’re headed. And you’re not sure what doesn’t feel right?”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Jace chuckled and they both shared a quick laugh.
The mirth was quickly over and they stealthed up and continued into the center of the city. It took another 15 minutes of creeping before they were within 100 feet of the building and they stopped.
“Do you see what I see?” Charlena whispered.
Jace nodded. Unlike the other structures they had passed, this building had a door that was twice as wide as the others. Also, unlike the other structures, th
is door was open. “Isn’t this usually the part of the vid where the heroes go into the obvious trap and all die.”
Charlena slowly turned to him and gave him an incredulous look. Then she brightened. “I’ll give you a Scooby snack if you go in.”
Jace stared open mouthed at her. Had she just made an obscure reference to the old vids? He loved the old vids from the turn of the century, but it was rare to find someone else who shared his love of, as people called it “antique vids”.
“It’s an ancient vid,” she started.
“An old animation,” he broke in.
“Cartoon,” she corrected, smiling. “You know what it is?”
“Vaguely. Something about some kids who are detectives and they have a dog, right?”
Charlena smiled broadly. “You do know! It’s on the retro streams. Good stuff!”
“We’ll have to talk about it when we get out of here,” he told her. “Let’s sneak up to the door and see what’s inside.”
She nodded and followed him around one of the buildings nearby so they could come in from the side. This prevented them from being seen from anything inside, but also prevented them from seeing what was inside until they were right next to the door.
The itching sensation was almost unbearable at this point and the moaning was as loud as it had been when he was locked in the cellar with them pounding outside. Only now, in the absolute quiet of the dead city, it seemed much louder.
Staying in Stealth, they crept quietly along the side of the observatory. He’d checked with Charlena and her Stealth skill wasn’t maxed so he told her to let him know if she got any skill ups. If she did, that would mean a creature was nearby that the skill was actively working to hide her from. It was sort of like a cheat, but it only worked until your skill was maxed out for your level like Jace’s was. Once that happened, you were on your own.
Feeling Charlena’s hand on his shoulder, he looked over to her. She gave him a meaningful look and nodded towards the door. She’d received a skill up. Something was inside. Jace nodded his understanding. He motioned her to stay and gestured that he was going to take a look.
Jace crept the last few feet to the door and stopped. Taking a deep breath, he slowly peered around the corner of the door and looked into the large circular chamber inside. What he saw was nothing like he expected.
Veil Online - Book 1 (a LitRPG MMORPG Adventure Series) Page 15
