Chapter Text
The pandemonium was almost instantaneous. Citizens scampered from their positions, and returned down the way they had just come from. The different groups shoved past each other and themselves, desperate to get to the entrance of the cave first. It was almost ludicrous. The entrance to the cave was kilometres away. Running now wouldn’t do much other than make you tired.
Biolith’s Wrath first appeared out of nowhere two years ago. It was among the first of the major event Challenge Quests. Each of them were time limited and location specific. They’d appear randomly on different Tiers, last for a few days, then disappear. These particular Challenge Quests would reappear at different times, and would only ever truly disappear when someone managed to completely meet the clear conditions. If the clear conditions were not met in the allotted time, then any item gathered from the Quest would eventually disappear.
Unlike the others, Biolith’s Wrath only ever appeared on Tier fifteen. As a result Citizens would swarm from different Tiers to have a chance to participate. It’s not like it mattered how many came to participate, no one had ever been able to clear the Quest since it appeared two years ago. One group had come close once. They managed to defeat the creature that lurked at the bottom of the cave past the traps and the puzzles. But they missed something. The Quest didn’t register as cleared. There was less than a day left on the timer, and they had enough time to leave but they couldn’t bring themselves to go.
They went insane in those last few hours. They did every possible thing they could think of to clear it. They scoured the end room, and every other room surrounding it. Eventually, all of them got it into their heads that they needed some sort of sacrifice. A sacrifice capable of satisfying Biolith and its wrath.
Who better than the only one among them who hadn’t yet gone crazy. They tried to kill him. They almost succeeded too. But the cave got them in the end. The timer ran out and it all disappeared in the blink of an eye, taking the group with it. As far as everyone else outside of the cave at the time is concerned, none of them survived.
That was a month ago.
And it seems like no one really cares about that event repeating itself. People are always like that. They all think, ‘surely that would never happen to me’, until it does. Then they get all pissy about it. It's pathetic.
Tragedy comes to whoever it pleases, but acting with a degree of caution can save your ass.
I decided to wait for a moment, it would be easier to move around the cave when there were less people. Let the novice and inexperienced go and get killed off first. It made my life easier.
Maybe I should care, but I don’t see why. Caring just fucks you over in the end.
“I am surprised. I expected not see anyone. Everyone got excited and ran off!” A surprisingly gruff and familiar voice greeted me.
I turned my head to look, and ended up staring up at a particularly tall man looming over me. Several thoughts flashed through my head one after another in quick succession.
Who was this guy? How the Hel did I not notice him? Gods he’s absolutely jacked. Did he actually manage to sneak up on me?
Wait, he looks familiar.
Wait.
Wait?
Oh shit!
That’s the massive blond guy I bumped into earlier. What is he doing here?
That last one was a ridiculous question to ask. He was here for the same reason as me. He got here pretty quickly though. He must be registered at Tier fifteen. Or he might have had a Tier specific teleport.
“Uh, hi?” I gave him another glance up and down, observing him more thoroughly this time. He had changed his clothes. Instead of the furry jacket he had been wearing earlier, he sported a skin tight black t-shirt. Which provided good contrast to the paleness of his skin. He must have lived someplace without a lot of sun, likely somewhere snowy. The tightness of his shirt made his muscles pop out. When I said he was jacked I meant it. He’s not well toned. He’s jacked. It's like looking at a walking talking brick wall. His pants were less tight, but from the sheer size of his arms, I could assume that his legs were as wide as tree stumps.
I might be embellishing it a little, but I swear to the Gods he is actually massive. I could only imagine that his parents had fed him nothing but straight protein when he was a child.
Now that I had given him a closer look, his body was actually quite deceiving. He looks intimidating. Like the sort of ‘look at me the wrong way and I’ll rip your head clean off.’ But that didn’t actually seem to be the case. This guy had a sort of soft sternness in his expression. The kind of look that made me think that at one point he had been one of those macho aggressive guys, but not anymore.
He looked at me the way a parent would look at their child when they were trying to get away with something. Like taking two cookies instead of taking just one like they were told.
“Can I help you?” I asked as politely as possible.
“Probably.” His accent, whatever it was, was incredibly thick. But like every other person, he spoke English. Albeit a broken English.
I crossed my legs and propped my arm up to rest my chin against my hand. A sign that I was waiting for him to continue.
“Well, I waz wondering. Do you know where iz? This thing that is exciting everyone.”
“I do,” I gestured down the street, “It's roughly forty kilometres straight that way. It’s hard to miss, trust me.”
He glanced down the way I had directed him, “Good.” He started past me then stopped when he got a few steps away. He turned to look back at me, “Come then.”
“Huh?”
“You are coming with me.”
“No??” I stared at him in confusion.
“No?”
I frowned. “There's no point in going right now.”
He crossed his arms and looked at me suspiciously, “why?”
“What, are you worried someone else is going to beat the Quest before you?” I chuckled, and shook my head. “It’s existed for two years and no one has beat it yet, and I doubt that will change this time.”
“Did group not get cloze?”
“They died.”
He nodded his head slowly, “Ztill. We can go now.” He grinned, “We could make group, you and me. Zplit the profitz fifty-fifty.”
“Pass.”
“Ah, come on,” he sighed, “why not?”
“I don’t know you. I’m not forming a group with some stranger.” It's not as if I haven't done that before. Honestly I sound like a hypocrite right now. It’s more so that… something about this guy rubs me the wrong way. I can’t really explain it past just a feeling. But I know something isn’t quite right. It would be safer for me to keep my distance. At least until I know for sure what is causing this uneasy feeling.
“Hm.” He pursed his lips together, looking contemplative for a moment. “Zhame. Ah, before I go. What iz name?”
“Candrin,” I sighed.
“I’m Ulric,” he smiled back. There was an unlying mischievous look to his smile. “Now that you know me. Will we make group?”
What a persistent bastard.
I stayed silent. Opting to not give him any more room to ask me stuff.
“Is that a no?”
I glared at him.
“If you change mind, you can find me at the exciting place.” He grinned, and turned to keep walking. “I will zee you again, my friend,” he called back to me.
Finally he was gone. I stared down at my shoes. Friend my ass.
—
I had waited for five days. I figured that was probably enough time. By now most of the novice Citizens would have died off.
Ulric too.
There were 45 more days left. That was more than enough time to make my way through the cave to grab what I needed before leaving again.
I had gathered enough supplies to last me several days. Food, water, rope, a sharp knife, a sturdy blanket, and a few other necessities. I was set. I rechecked that I had everything before setting off in the direction of the cave.
The atmosphere outside of the town border is an immediate difference from inside the town. Remnants of the battle five days earlier remained scattered near the gate. The half faded corpses of several Colossals were littered sporadically around the small battlefield. Nestled among a few of them were the corpses of people.
It was probably very unfortunate.
Whoever they had been, they were now dead. Their lives permanently lost to Hel. It might seem cruel, leaving their bodies to rot in an open field. But much like the Colossals, their corpses would fade with enough time. Burying them, or even burning them would just be a waste of effort.
I tried to make my way past it all quickly. The sight made my stomach reil in a way I don’t like to describe. The smell didn’t help much either. The purple-ish blood of the Colossals and the red blood of the people, albeit dried, made my head feel light. I didn’t exactly like that feeling, so I did my best to ignore blood.
I had spent a lot of time in Tier fifteen. So I knew my way around pretty well. Normally it would take people around ten hours to get to the cave. It took me only around seven. I had put a great deal of effort into finding shortcuts to take. It wasn’t exactly easy. The main path leading to the cave was pretty straight forward. But the terrain was rough and difficult to manoeuvre through. The paths I had found were more of a roundabout way, but they were much easier to traverse. So it took less time going that way.
The path was surrounded by several distinct types of trees and foliage. The many leaves were various very vibrant shades of green, that casted dancing shadows as they moved in the wind. It was a surprisingly pleasant walk from the town to the cave, not a single Colossal interrupted it.
The closer you got to the entrance of the cave the more dread you felt. It was ominous, the way it opened up into a dark all consuming nothingness. I felt a tingle run up my spine as I stared into the entrance. For a moment I could have sworn it was staring back at me.
Unconsciously I reached a hand into my pocket and dug around. A small feeling of panic welled up inside my chest when I couldn’t find what I was looking for.
I sighed at myself, and stepped into the cave’s entrance. I’d like to say I did it with not a single hint of hesitation. That not a single bit of myself was afraid.
But that wouldn’t be true.
My hands were shaking as I completely disappeared from the sunlight.
My footfalls echoed through the cave entrance alongside the water that dripped from the stalactites that reached from the ceiling. The surroundings got darker every step I took further into the cave. It would have become very difficult for me to see if not for my skills. The combination of Sight and Instinct allowed me to manoeuvre quite well in the dark. But it took a lot of my focus and concentration.
I wouldn’t have to worry about it for too long though, eventually I would make my way into the dim lights of the torches.
The torches were organised in rows along the wall in such a way that the moment you stepped out of the range of the flickering light of one, you would immediately enter into the light of the next. It was helpful for getting around easier, but it didn’t prevent the Colossals that roamed the cave from attacking any poor unsuspecting bastards.
Inexperienced people were the type of Citizens who fell prey to the cave’s counterfeit safety. Many people who were unaware of the cave’s nature believed that, despite it being the area of a major event, it was easier because it was on a lower Tier.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
There were no bodies in the cave. The naive Citizens who had the misfortune of underestimating the cave were usually killed off pretty quickly. The Colossals who had gotten to them, ripped them limb from limb, tearing their muscles off of their bones. They left nothing behind, except shards of bones and large splatters of blood.
As I carefully made my way down the now dimly lit corridor, the stench of dried blood wafted to meet me. Dried blood and fresh blood were easy to tell apart, mainly because fresh blood was wet and dried wasn’t. But also because they smelled different. I stopped briefly to pull out my EDME and retrieve a small cloth I had stored there in preparation. It had been doused in a lavenint oil and had preservation charms inlaid into it. Lavenint has a powerful odour. It wouldn’t attract anything other than harmless butterflies, but it would certainly block out any other surrounding smells.
The perfect thing for someone whose stomach twists at the smell of even the smallest drop of blood.
Becoming nauseous in the middle of a major event area is not one of the most ideal situations. So it’s best to just avoid it all together.
I continued forwards through the corridor as it opened up onto a larger chamber. Several other paths lead from this sizable cavern deeper into the earth.
I remembered going through this room several times. There was a mini boss that more experienced Citizens could defeat with ease. Based on the sheer amount of red blood splattered across the walls and ceiling, several poor bastards had fallen victim to the Colossal before someone had managed to kill it.
The corpse of the mini boss sat in the centre of the room. Its scale’s glistened in the dull, flickering light. The torches illuminated the dark blood that had pooled around the giant corpse. It didn’t shine like fresh blood would, but it was glossier due to the torches. Upon further inspection, several scales, bunches of fur, and both horns had been pilfered. It was a pathetic sight.
The corpse hadn’t yet faded, but looking at the state of it, it would soon.
I skirted around the edge of the cavernous room, and entered the leftmost of the four tunnels that jutted out of it.
The tunnel dipped down further into the ground. The slope wasn’t very steep but it would still be possible to fall if you didn’t step carefully. There were several loose stones and the like that peppered the ground. Which added to the already hazardous terrain.
The corridor began twisting and turning every so often. Soon I would have to worry about obstacles other than Colossals. But that would take at the very least more than a day of travel.
The cave was not, by any means, small
—
The minute I stepped foot into the large cavern, I heard a distinct click. The small pool of water in the centre of the room started to churn slightly, casting dancing specks of light and shadow across the walls and ceilings. It was the first puzzle that had presented itself to me in the cave.
After travelling through the winding caverns and tunnels, with surprisingly no encounters with Colossals, I stopped just outside of this particular cavern to take a small nap. It was genuinely phenomenal that I hadn’t run into any creature wanting to kill me yet.
A statistical impossibility even.
Which meant there was something, or more likely someone, going around and spawn killing the Colossals. Which is incredibly impressive, but also means I need to stay very far away from whatever is doing it.
The last thing I need is to come face to face with some happy-go-lucky, massively powerful, murder-hobo. Someone like that probably doesn’t give a shit between Colossals and people.
They just like to kill.
Some citizens had definitely come here before, it was inconceivable otherwise.
You’d think the puzzle would stay solved, and some did, but this was one that just reset. Fortunately, the system took mercy on us poor fools and made sure each puzzle that reset was an easy one.
It didn’t matter anyhow, I wasn’t here for the puzzle.
I slipped off my shoes then my socks, and set them down next to the churning pool of water. I popped a small gel-like ball into my mouth, and bit down to make sure it stayed put. One of the last things I needed was to choke.
I checked the rest of my clothes, and tied the cloth tighter around the lower half of my face. After taking one last look around to make sure I was alone, I stepped to the edge of the glistening, lazuli pool. A small pit of hesitation and apprehension curled in my stomach. Pushing it down, I took another step forwards, and fell like a solid rock into the seething water.
I slammed into the wall of the pool. The air was struck from my chest, and I knew it would definitely leave a bruise. I didn’t have much time to think about it, as the current rapidly swept me back into the whirlpool.
For a brief moment, I thought that I really should have listened to my gut. This was a truly terrible idea.
I was spun around and pushed against the wall of the pool once again. If it was the same wall, or a different one, I really couldn’t tell.
My limbs flailed around me uselessly as I was once again pulled into the current. This time, it gripped me tightly like an iron fist and pulled me deeper down. I knew fundamentally that struggling was completely stupid- the strength of the water was something I could never hope to match, much less beat- but that didn’t stop the small animal part of my brain from panicking and trying anyways.
The current pulled me deeper and deeper until my body rammed into the very bottom of the pool. My head snapped backwards from the force of it and I heard ringing in my ears.
Shit .
Well I’d definitely be feeling that later.
I peeled open an eye and glanced at the surrounding water. I had ended up just outside the centre part of the whirlpool. That wasn’t ideal, I’d have to crawl.
I struggled towards the centre, the current gripped at the loose bits of my clothing, trying to pull me back into itself and once again subject me to its mercy. Fortunately for me, the ground wasn’t loose enough to get washed away, but it also wasn’t hard enough that I couldn’t dig my hands into it. I inched forwards slowly, and reached blindly into the centre of the whirlpool. I had one chance, if I missed it then I was likely to get swept away again. The force of the current blasted my eyes and I had to shut my eyes against it to protect them.
My outstretched hand brushed against warm metal, and I grabbed at it. I felt triumph as my hand settled around the familiar, small disk of metal. I pulled it towards myself and clutched it tight. I once again had it in my possession, I had succeeded.
Then I felt my body being lifted. I was completely weightless for a small second, before I was unceremoniously tossed against the wall of the pool. My nails scraped into the wall as I tried to stay put. I managed to tuck my prize into my pocket with little difficulty. But then, as I reached my other hand to grip the wall, I slipped.
I went tumbling, pulled by the current haphazardly in a continuous circle. I felt the gel ball slip from my teeth, and bounce around my mouth.
Shit . Shit. SHIT .
I’m completely fucked.
I stopped spinning in a circle. I hadn’t been smacked into another wall, I had just stopped. Well it was more so slowly stopping but still being pulled around a little by what remained of the current.
I took the opportunity and quickly oriented myself to face upwards. I swam, I tried to be fast, but it was difficult when you're already exhausted from getting smacked around like some child’s rag doll. On top of that, there was a good chance I was bleeding, because my vision was starting to blur.
The real cherry on top of this horrible situation was the Colossal that had just woken up.
I’m not by any means a fast swimmer, I’d go as far to say I’m not even a good swimmer. So if I had to bet between my sorry, bleeding ass versus a water-born killing machine that can smell blood from a mile away, I’d put every last credit towards getting myself a nice casket.
They don’t sell those here, but the thought is what counts.
I could feel it gaining on me, it’s jaw wide with massive serrated teeth, ready to bite and tear. I didn’t dare look back.
My muscles burned in agony as I continued my desperate effort to get to the surface. I could see it actually. I could see the light rippling just ahead of me. And a strange shadow that sort of looked like a person. I was close. So very close.
It was such a shame, I thought as I felt the very tips of my fingers touch the surface, such a shame that I accidentally kicked the inside of its mouth in my frantic effort. I would have preferred to die without knowing it. That way I could imagine I had actually made it out, while the Colossal swallowed me whole.
Mercifully, I felt water surge past me, then air. Then my hands hit the ground, and the rest of me followed suit. I started coughing in distress as my brain registered the feeling of the gel ball being halfway down my throat.
I heard a sort of frantic, gruff voice overhead of me asking if I was okay. A solid, heavy hand firmly patted my back, as I tried to dislodge the gel ball from the back of my throat. I managed to cough it free, and I immediately tore off the cloth around my face to spit it out. It bounced a little then rolled away from me to rest next to a rock.
I slumped over, breathing heavily. I deserved a small rest.
Honestly, I was just glad to be alive.
My rest would have to wait, as my saviour had decided to scold me for something I did. I wasn’t exactly paying attention, so I wasn’t sure what exactly I had done, but a few different things came to mind. Cracking open my eyes, I glanced up at the person who just prevented my untimely death.
Fucking Hel it was that Ulric guy I had spoken to five days ago.
I felt stupid for not being able to guess from his voice.
He must have noticed my shock, because he stopped lecturing me.
“Are you okay?” He asked me, voice full of concern.
“…yeah.” I felt immediate embarrassment for how meek I sounded when I spoke. “I mean, yeah. Yeah. I’m okay.”
Ulric nodded solemnly, “good. Good. Now. What waz you thinking!”
The way he put it didn’t exactly sound like a question. “..I-“
“Are you ztupid?” He cut me off, shaking his head in a disappointed manner. “Ah zerious.” He frowned at me, then over at the water. “You almost drown.”
“No, no. Drowning was the least of my worries,” I chuckled dryly.
He gave me a look as though he thought I was bullshiting him.
I tilted my head upwards and weakly pointed to the gel ball. “Absorbs water, turns it into air. So long as the capacity doesn’t run out you can breathe underwater for days. It’s handy. But incredibly expensive.”
“Hm.” He reached towards it and pinched it gently between his massive sausage-like fingers. “I had no knowledge of thiz.”
“Yeah they uh,” I sighed and rolled onto my back, “they aren’t common this far down.”
“Why do you have it then.”
“I know people, Ulric.”
“Ah,” he looked slightly taken aback, “you remember.”
“I don’t forget easily.”
“You bleed eazy.”
“That’s a comforting statement. Thanks.”
Ulric pointed to a spot on my forehead, “here.” Then he moved his hand and pointed to a spot near my ankle, “and here.”
I frowned. My ankle. Ah wait, it must have snagged against the Colossal’s teeth as Ulric pulled me from the water. Both injuries really should be dealt with, I definitely had the supplies, but Ulric was still here.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine, it’s just a graze.”
“From the beazt?”
I nodded.
“Why would you go in water, if there waz that thing there. It iz ztupid.”
“It was asleep.”
Ulric tilted his head.
“When the water is churning, the Colossal sleeps. When the puzzle gets solved and the water stops moving, it wakes up.”
“I did not know thiz.” Ulric scratched his neck, “Ah, I zhould apologize then.”
“Not many do. Anyways, it was a good thing you did end up stopping the water. I was getting tossed around pretty badly.” I forced myself to chuckle, my throat felt weirdly dry. “Right, I need to get going.”
“Hm?”
“Places to be and all that. Sorry for causing you trouble.”
I sat up as quickly as I could manage and regretted it instantly. My vision swam and I felt faint. I hadn’t even realised that I had slumped over until I noticed that I had been gently lowered back to the ground.
“Right, ztay there.”
A jolt of pain shot up my leg as Ulric lifted it, and set it on his lap. Maybe the cut was deeper than I thought. To be fair, I had so much adrenaline coursing through my body I was surprised I hadn’t passed out yet.
“Why do you zay you are fine? Thiz iz… well.. not good. Your head too.”
I glanced over at him, as he fiddled something out of his EDME. A bottle of something, a bandage, and a small round container were set to the side. He shot a glance my way.
I licked my lips, which I just realised were cracked and dry, “… I thought I was fine.”
Ulric grunted. “Well, you are not.”
I attempted to get it across to him that I was, at the very least, capable of taking care of myself. But he refused to listen. After a solid few minutes, I gave up trying to fight him, and let him clean and dress my wounds.
–
One thing I hated about this dumb cave was how hard the ground was. It was impossible to get a decent rest anywhere, unless you had a hammock. But who the Hel even goes out of their way to buy a hammock anyways. There are much better ways to spend credits.
Ulric didn’t have a hammock, so when I had inevitably passed out, he just wrapped one of his blankets around me and propped me up against the nearest wall.
“You are awake now?”
I glanced over to my side, and up at Ulric who was sitting next to me. He was currently munching on… a stick? I frowned, and he offered the stick to me with a friendly gesture.
“Want zome?”
The smell hit me, and I realised it was, in fact, not a stick, but a long piece of jerky. I shook my head weakly. Ulric grunted and looked me up and down cautiously.
“Thiz time will you ztay awake?”
“...huh?”
“You woke up before, but you fell azleep quick.”
I sighed, “I won’t promise that I’ll stay awake…”
“Hm. You muzt not be very ztrong,” he said, regarding me with a chuckle. He paused and frowned. “I do not mean that in bad way. It iz joke.”
“It has venom. The Colossal,” I meekly gestured over to the pool. “It’s in the teeth.”
“Ah,” Ulric nodded understandingly. “You have great amount of knowledge. You have been here before?”
“Uh.. Yeah, since the first time. I, uh, really only come here though…”
Ulric tilted his head while tearing off a large chunk of jerky, “Why?”
I considered it for a moment. In the long run, it probably wouldn’t matter if I told him or not. I could try lying, but I really didn’t have the mental capacity to even attempt that, much less come up with a good one. Besides, Ulric wasn’t an idiot. He’d probably be able to tell. The best solution was to tell him, but I didn’t have to tell him everything.
“I, uh.. There’s an item at the bottom of the pool. It’s worth a good amount of money. It’s impossible to get it if the puzzle is solved.”
“Ah, becauze of the water beazt.”
“Yeah.”
“And you go down to get it everytime?”
“I’ve never come that close to dying before,” I chuckled. “How come you keep calling it a beast?”
“Bah,” Ulric scoffed, and leaned back against the wall. “I don’t zay it right. It zoundz weird.”
I frowned a little. Was he aware?
Whatever. I’d worry about that later.
“Did you get the item?”
“I got tossed around a lot.”
“Ah. You did not.” He ripped another chunk off of his stick of jerky. “Will you try again?”
“No. Gods no. I took way too much of a beating.”
It was silent between us for a good while. Ulric continued to gnaw on his snack, and I stared at the glistening pool that sat several steps in front of us. It was calm and still, and it reflected light against the walls in such a way that it seemed like it was dancing.
Ulric turned his head towards me again. “Candrin.”
I grunted in response.
“Maybe… You reconzider making group with me?”
Persistent bastard.
“How far will you go?”
“In cave? Az far az I can. I know my limitz, zo I will not go deeper then I can.”
“You’ll probably die.”
“There is no reward, with no rizk, my friend.”
“Ugh, sure, fine, whatever.”
Ulric frowned.
“I’ll make a group with you,” I finished.
“Yez!” Ulric exclaimed in surprise, “Really?”
“Yeah…” I turned my head and closed my eyes, intent on sleeping a bit more. I figured it was probably fine to sleep in front of him. Considering he hadn’t decided to attack me when I had passed out earlier, he probably wasn’t going to now.
