Chapter 105

Aren

Escape From the Deep

The catacombs were deep musky and smelled of cinnamon and ginger. The flavor of the air was so thick that Aren swore she could taste the foreign substance filling her lungs with nearly every breath. Worse, the air burned when it entered, though to be fair it was a nice sort of burn. This was the deep burn one’s muscles would get from a long workout, the type of burn that would let you awaken the next day with improved physical Attributes. Worse, Aren knew her Attributes were increasing. She was already nearing the physical limit for her Strength and Mobility Attributes thanks to her exposure in these tunnels.

There was still no sign of who created these catacombs beneath the surface, but it was Aren’s job to find out. Every few days she would return with things she had found. Once she brought back a short cylindrical object that clearly spoke of the level of technology of those who were here from before the Fall. The more she looked the more she thought of this whole setup as some sort of puzzle. Doors would open one moment only to seal shut behind her the next. Once she had been stuck for a day, the only time the door opened behind her was when she forced her mind and body to relax as she took in long slow breaths. As if the entire time she was being tested on her patience.

The only problem was that she had not patience to speak of. At least she didn’t at first. She also carried enough rations to move around freely for a week. She also had caches of food and water at random intervals in case she found something particularly dangerous. Maki, her foreman or the person in charge of this dig site was more than generous with her rations. Especially after she brought out more and more artifacts.

Admittedly most of what she took back was junk, shards of metal on the ground here. A charcoal outline of writing on the wall there. The only real substance of interest so far had been the cylinder that was just stuck on the floor, in between multiple pieces of furniture. One piece of furniture looked to be a desk of some kind that toppled over and thus pinned the sphere in place. The layout of the room was interesting as it spoke to movement of some kind, likely an earthquake. The only problem was there were no recorded earthquakes listed that could have presented such devastation. This was still more evidence that pointed to this building being from a bygone age.

Maki swore that it was so old that the Gods themselves must have traversed the halls. This of course was a crude joke. One never spoke so lightly of materials that came from the time of the Gods so lightly, let alone anything that might have survived the Purge. But then again given the shape and craftsmanship that this structure showed, Aren could very well imagine this structure surviving the Purge. Though again such thoughts were heretical in nature, at least to most of the devout. The devout would claim that the Purge came for a reason, and thus to claim that something survived the Gods’ wrath was tantamount to heresy.

Still the deeper Aren went, the more challenges she faced. She would take weeks to properly map out the layout of each floor, making careful steps to mark where the doorways and exits would appear.

As heretical as Maki might be, Aren had to admit that he was a perfect dig leader. He would go over the maps with her, make sure she had supply caches set up at each exit point both up and down. The idea was to make sure she was safe from being trapped again. This also gave her the freedom to stay within the walls if she was particularly close to a find. As it was just getting down to the sixth floor, the level of the building she was currently mapping took almost a day. The distance was part of the time but breathing in enough of the musty air to trigger each door also took time.

She had spent so long in these tunnels, mapping everything out that she was somewhat surprised to find out that when her Master Crafting skill maxed out thanks to her constant drawing of maps, her next skills were Meditation and Focus.

Skill Base Plus Increase Rating Master Crafting Sage + (Gold) (Maximum) Meditation Novice Focus Novice

Oddly enough those two skills had already advanced to the Adept rank from her time here. Then again, she had effectively spent close to three months down in this hole finding and observing the past. Since she was the only one who could enter these chambers, she felt somewhat special. This mark of being special was also enforced by Maki and his men. While a few of the non-standard crew members, and original inhabitants of this area that had stuck around after the invasion still gave her evil looks for being a Null, she felt welcomed. In a way she often found herself losing sight of her original goal, of getting close to Ajimal the Butcher and diving a dagger into his heart.

The lack of focus into the want to kill Ajimal was based on several issues. First, he wasn’t that bad, at least not as far as dictators went. To be honest his subordinate Khanion was a far worse candidate to lead than Ajimal. Especially once Khanion learned of his own son’s death on the outskirts of some dirt-water village at the end of Tython. Rumor had it that he was killed by an avenging forest spirit. That rumor was reinforced by multiple reports of teams that went out to the proposed village and found that rather than salted fields of ash, they found a hostile forest filled with dread wolves and other monsters that normally couldn’t survive in such conditions.

Khanion himself went, only to find that a black-poplar tree had grown up and through the body of Khanion’s son. The tree was also two meters wide by the time Khanion himself arrived. Upon seeing the tree Khanion pulled out an ax he had brought for just that purpose and began striking at the tree, only for every feral monster to be summoned by the repeated strikes that were according to records like striking a metal tree with a rusted ax.

In all Khanion returned empty handed. Worse he felt disgraced as he was unable to procure the body of his own son. The disgrace was so deep that he felt understandably grieved by the events. Grief that he worked out by screaming at his subordinates. Ajimal himself took multiple weeks to console the man, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that Khanion was even able to be seen in public facilitating a portion of his role.

Aren, never one to miss the social cues, took the last few weeks to be the deepest she had ever been in the Labyrinth. During this time Maki had been the one pushing her on to go deeper and deeper, as he was certain something big would be on the seventh floor. He also had the feeling that the seventh floor was going to be one of the final floors.

When Aren asked how Maki knew the seventh floor would be the final floor, Maki just shrugged and said “seventh is a holy number. Also, that would place you a good one hundred and fifty meters below the surface. If that isn’t the end or at least the start of something truly great, then I don’t know when it would be.”

Aren for her part had been content to stay at the sixth floor for as long as possible. She got a bad feeling with each time she went near the doors to the seventh floor. In fact, when she was going down this time she prepared to leave in pry-bars to keep the hatches and seals open. She also chose the path that would pretty much be a straight shot up and out if she ran into danger. Not that she expected danger, but she did have an overwhelming feeling of dread.

She mapped out the path to take with Maki. Together they came up with a nearly vertical path, a path that Maki swore had to be an emergency escape path by those who built the facility. The opening went straight up, and aside from the expected fifteen to twenty-meter drops between each floor, there was almost a straight shot up. In fact, with the bracers in place to keep the hatches from sealing behind her, Aren could see daylight from above.

At Maki’s insistence they had two sets of bracers, which were little more than long metal beams that would slide into place and prevent the sliding hatches from sealing. Aren inserted two at each entry point, one at the top and one at the bottom. Being as these were all horizontal doors; the hatches were simple to keep open. At first there was some groaning of the materials when they only used one bracer, thus the two-bracer system. There could be more, but that often-made traversal tougher, especially when she had a pack on to carry down her supplies. With this current set up, she no longer had to carry all her gear with her, as the team above would go from a safe distance, set up a pulley system and lower the equipment to her on whatever floor she was on. After seeing his ingenuity, Aren decided that Maki had been appointed lead excavator for a reason and left the logistics side to him.

Taking in a deep breath, Aren paused. She had an emergency rope tied about her waist just in case. The idea was that if the musky air was too much and caused her to pass out, the team could haul her up. This was also why she loved Maki, as he was practical as well. The same pulley system that had been used to lower her supplies to her would now be what was used to pull her to safety should she get in danger.

Just setting up for this point took a week. Three days of planning, three days of laying the bracers. And now today, go day.

Aren felt nervous, but she couldn’t explain the reason why. Just something about the entire process today set her teeth to rattling. Still, she couldn’t look weak, at least not in front of her team who were all gathered over the surface entrance, the only place it was safe for people who could wield mana to be nearby.

“You don’t have to do this. We can wait if you want.” Maki called out, his voice loud and echoing throughout the different floors.

Hearing that, Aren looked up and gave a smile. For the hundredth time she was happy that Maki had been placed in charge of this dig, as opposed to others.

Aren meant to call out, but found her voice catch as her body still seemed to betray her. Rather than speak and possibly have her voice crack she just gave a slight dance as she let blood circulate throughout her body before raising her hand to give a big thumbs up.

Taking a breath, she felt her Meditation skill immediately take effect. With the calm of Meditation flowing through her mind she shot back. “I’m going in!”

Maki must have heard as he backed up slightly from the rope and instead took a perched position to see what Aren would uncover. True to form he was a true historian, someone who loved the moment of discovery as much as the discoveries themselves. Sadly, Aren knew that Maki from his vantage point would likely be able to see what she discovered first.

Aren looked up one last time, before taking in a deep breath of the musty air. Then she let out the breath, at the same time she put her hand over the opening to the seventh floor. This was important, the skin on metal contact. Each time she felt the connection, Aren could feel energy being pulled from her body, though it was always a tiny amount, but still there all the same.

Swoosh.

The door opened. Quickly Aren was already in the process of bracing the door open when she heard movement below. Panic filled Aren as she turned to look, only to see dozens of black creatures chittering and clawing past. Wings flapped and a wall of creatures flew up and past Aren.

Fear gripped Aren as she drove out of the way. The sheer force and momentum of the creatures flying through the opening was so intense and fierce that she could feel wind rushing against her face.

“AHH!” Maki and the others above cried out in fear, as the beasts that she had unleashed sailed up and out of the escape path that Aren and her team had established for her to take in just such an emergency. Aren turned to look at the creatures, seeing that they were giant bat-like creatures if bats grew to be the size of dogs and had red eyes that glowed with malevolence. Seeing the creatures, Aren realized just why she had been feeling such dread. The monsters were massive, and she had unleashed this ancient horror upon the world. Seeing the creatures Aren wondered if she had unleashed the Titans upon the world, but quickly dismissed that thought. If these were Titans, then they were much smaller than what the Gods were said to have battled.

Swoosh.

The door shut, but not before the two largest of the bat-like creatures managed to escape. These were monsters of flesh, easily the size of a human. When they moved their wings were too large for the opening, and instead had to climb to the exit before scrambling up. Then upon seeing the exit, they found the rope that tethered Aren to an easy escape. Rather than focusing on Aren, the bats lunged up, grabbing the rope and used the rope to pull themselves up through the emergency hatches. As they moved, Aren was pulled out from her hiding spot to the side and forced to dangle limply at the end of the rope. The giant bats for their part did not even give Aren a second glance, merely glancing at her with glowing red eyes before turning their attention to the glowing light of the sun that rested far above and spoke of freedom.

“AHH!” A few of the excavators cried out again as the largest of the bat-like creatures broke the surface. They coughed once, then twice, before finally regaining their composure. Then they spread their wings and flew away, their forms so large that they momentarily blocked out the sun, at least the tiny rays of light that managed to filter their way down to Aren.

It took an hour, Aren for her part breathed in deeply, but stayed far away from the opening, not wanting to open the hatch to the seventh floor again. Given time she finally regained her composure and began trying to climb her way up and out. Her arms and legs were soft and rubbery from the fright she had experienced.

“You alive Aren?” A timid voice called out. It was the voice of Maki, who had witnessed the rope dangling. When he peered over to view Aren, she felt relief flood her heart as his face meant safety, at least for that moment.

“Come quick she is alive. We need to get her out.” Maki called off. Slowly the slack that had been in her rope abated, then she felt the tug of the rope pulling her up. Normally she hated the feeling, hated the way it constricted against her, but this time she felt relief by its embrace. She gave into the rope and let her body lay slack in the cords.

Aren was brought out to the surface to see the dead bodies of hundreds of the bat-like creatures just lying on the ground.

“What happened?” Aren found herself asking.

Maki was the first to come speak. “I believe the same thing that killed us, when we went down, killed them when they went up. The small ones were too small and weak to resist the changes from the anti-mana field to the mana infused world…Only…” He trailed off at the end, a note of fear gripping his voice.

By this point Aren was weaving her way through the different bodies, trying to get out of the harness and away from the hole that nearly cost her her life. Seeing her awkward dance through the bodies Maki held out his hand and led her to safety. Finally, once she was a good ten meters away, did Aren press for an answer.

“Only?”

Sighing, Maki put to words the fear that was evident in his face. Even now he looked off to the south. “Only the two large ones managed to survive.”

Aren thought about that for a second, then not wanting to believe the words she looked around at the number of corpses, only to find that he was right. The two bodies of the largest bat-like monsters from the abyss were missing from the piles of the dead.

Then an image filled her mind, one that caused her to shudder with fear. She remembered the way the two monsters coughed twice, before spreading their wings to block out the sun.

“They got away?”

Not wanting to voice the concern Maki only nodded.

“What were they?”

Maki just shrugged. “They were a species of monster I have never seen before. Look at these bone structures, they are unlike anything I am aware of.” He said, pointing to a smaller body that had clearly four wings and two legs and two sets of arms, along with rows of large sharp teeth. Just seeing the beast was enough to cause a shiver to run down her spine. Then the question that would plague her for the rest of her life sprang to mind.

Just what have I released upon the world?