Chapter 158: 158
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For the most part, the fall is shorter than expected. Shorter, but not any less terrifying
I tumble through the darkness at speeds higher than I would care to admit, heading nowhere but down, the air constricting my breath in my lungs the deeper in I fall into the cold, bottomless abyss. It feels suffocating, as though being squeezed from out of my body at all angles, and cold, oh so cold. The degrees of the air falls by the minute as I plummet downwards, spiking my breath into plumes of billowing frost, and stiffening my limbs to leaden blocks of ice. But I have known worse in my days as an angel, for the skies have a similar disposition.
The skies, however, are clear and easy to navigate, and do not involve me falling into a blackened pit of death and horror to my eventual and inevitably grim demise. I suppose in fairness, that is quite a big difference.
After about a minute of soundless falling,- save for the panting of my own breath and the uprush of air around me, sounds become audible from below me, rising up like a twisted symphony from the earth. Low gurgling sounds fill my ears, the drip drop of running water (or perhaps something thicker), and a series of heavy dragging sound, followed by a loud array of inhuman grunts that seem to never end: The sounds of an animal dragging off a rotting carcass.
My gorge rises in the back of my throat. Whatever is down there, it is obviously not of a friendly disposition, or even amiable, and I highly doubt there would be any negotiating with it. If Fangorn's warnings are anything to go by, then the first tier- whatever that means, will be swarming with halfling- rabid vampires who never got fully turned by their creators due to apathy or ill placed vanity. They are characterised distinctly for their loss of humanity and incessant, almost unquenchable hunger for blood and living flesh. Any kind of living flesh too, they are not picky eaters, even occasionally picking up the ruins of long dead carcasses like giant, man sized vultures. Truly, it puts a new meaning to scavengers.
That of course, would explain the putrid stench of rotten meat that rises up from below me, suffocating me in the gloriously revolting stench of death.
Whatever is down below me, I can only imagine it consists of a lot of death and dying. Lucky me.
One minute I am plummeting through sheer, blackened darkness, the next thing I know, I am tumbling out onto the bottom, the floor rushing up to meet me. The hole opens up around me, turning into a cavernous tunnel, several meters wide, and about eight meters tall. The walls are plastered with white brick and stone, crudely designed and lined every few meters with a dim set of torches that provide only a feeble expansion of light against the gloom. Hurtling downwards and stifling my cries, I crash onto the ground with a heavy clunk, scraping my knees against the earth floor, and something else that sticks through the earth, hard and as sharp as flint. Bones.
I suppose a place like this left for centuries to rot and decay would be littered with them- that much I had guessed at from my tumble down into this hell hole. But it never really occurred to me just how great an extent that was.
The floor is littered with them. As far as the eye can see, an amassing white expanse of cartilage and bone blankets the muddied earth like one gigantic graveyard: big bones, small ones, ones the size of children, and some the size of elk- the aftermath of centuries of pileup and feeding. Not a single scrap of flesh is left on them, picked clean to the fading white underneath, some of the older ones dying out to a grim and rotting yellow. But worst of all is the putrid smell that impregnates the grim stone walls of this labyrinth of flesh and bones, a smell that tells me that life still resumes, in some form or another, left to decay and wither hundreds of meters below the palace.
And even without that smell, the low and dying grunts of wild, unknown creatures slinking throughout this maze is indication enough. Whatever lurks in these walls, I hope to the heavens I will never have to face it.
Dusting myself off, I stand there blinking blindly for a moment, until it suddenly hits me that I should be checking myself for the one thing that will get me killed: blood.
Fortunately when I go to check my knees, still aching bluntly from the landing, I am pleased to find no cuts in their place.
Heavily, I breathe a sigh of relief.
Thank the heavens for that, or I might already be dead, I think inwardly to myself, wiping away bits of dust and grime from my kneecaps.
It would seem my flesh is remarkably unscathed, still boasting that new, pearly shine of fresh and flawless skin. It takes me a moment to realise that would in fact be the case- my skin is no longer of mortal density, but vampiric in quality, as tough as stone and all the more difficult to cut. I suppose there are a lot of new things I am going to have to get used to now.
But just because I am saved from that pain and the blood in my fancy new vampire form, that doesn't mean Kal will be. He needs a landing, or at least something to break his fall. But what, exactly..?
Suddenly, and idea pings through my head.
Stretching my arms out to the space beneath the whole, I muster my powers, casting a bed of golden light underneath it. The stands of light weave together, dense enough that when I prod it with my fingers, they do not go through. Peering up, I assess its position, making sure it is in the correct place to catch him when he finally does land.
The net of woven strands of light flickers in the dim half light of the tunnels, illuminating grim shadows onto the aged and dusty walls. Silently I hope against hope that it will be enough.
Suddenly, a scream followed by an animalistic grunt echoes down the cavernous hallways, rising up into the putrid air and dying out as quickly as it came. Shuddering, I draw my arms around myself, staving off the prickles that rise up my spine.
Whatever is lurking down these halls has long since passed its life as human. I have no doubt in my mind that a single whiff of blood- any blood whatsoever, would send them all scrambling for us, teeth gnashing at the scent of fresh food, tearing us open limb from limb, leaving nothing but a pile of bones as our remains.
That is a scenario that I desperately don't want to experience.
Another scream jolts me back into cognition, only this time, it is far more human.
Behind me Kal falls, part screaming, part laughing, the velocity acquired from the build up of speed from the fall pulling his skin back at a variety of odd and slightly alarming angles. Then he lands face first on the net of light, groaning with the impact as it sinks down a bit, before it springs back up, leaving him hovering in mid air.
"Oh wow, what the-"
Hurriedly, I clamp my hand frantically over his mouth, obstinate that not another word comes from his mouth for fear of what might become of it. Kal makes a muffled protest, but then seeing the alarmed look in my emerald eyes, falls promptly silent.
"Quiet," I warn with a prompt hiss, nudging my head over to wear the corridor that branches out from the one we are in now. "They might hear you. I don't think these bracelets cover the sound of our voices."
Kal steps cautiously down from the net of light which rapidly evaporates behind him, vanishing as soon as it has served its purpose. It takes him one good, solid look around the cavern of darkness to realise exactly why I had warned him to keep his mouth shut.
"Holy snakes, this is a graveyard."
Gingerly, I nod, removing my hand from his shoulder as he now tests the ground with his foot. Each step elicits a crunch and crackle of long dead remains, dust and mould puffing up from the floor in little tiny geysers of death.
Why does Soren have to be down here? I think to myself, exasperated. Sure it does a great job of keeping people out, but dear gods, its grim.
Kal too, seems to have the same idea.
"The person who made this must have been mental, I can smell at least a hundred different lifeforms, maybe even a thousand. It's hard to tell, some of them are quite weak," Kal admits, pacing forward carefully, tapping each spot with his foot as though testing for signs of collapse, as if terrified the carpet of bones might give way to something even more horrific.
To be honest, I can hardly blame him.
But it's not the bones I am worried about. It's what's been leaving them.
"And this is only the first level," I remind him, letting a small collection of flames flare into life at my fingertips, illuminating the rather insubstantially lit corridors around us. Kal pulls back his mouth into a scowl.
"Heaven help us," he mutters, trailing one gloved finger along the wall. Dust collects on the tip, and after sufficiently collecting enough he smells it, frowns, and wipes it away, a permanent grimace etched onto his face.
I give him a long look, perturbed.
"Testing the debris," he explains. "No lifeforms have been in these parts for a good few months, as for the other parts of this labyrinth…" he clenches his fingers tight, giving a shake of his head.. "They seem to be everywhere."
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For the most part, the fall is shorter than expected. Shorter, but not any less terrifying
I tumble through the darkness at speeds higher than I would care to admit, heading nowhere but down, the air constricting my breath in my lungs the deeper in I fall into the cold, bottomless abyss. It feels suffocating, as though being squeezed from out of my body at all angles, and cold, oh so cold. The degrees of the air falls by the minute as I plummet downwards, spiking my breath into plumes of billowing frost, and stiffening my limbs to leaden blocks of ice. But I have known worse in my days as an angel, for the skies have a similar disposition.
The skies, however, are clear and easy to navigate, and do not involve me falling into a blackened pit of death and horror to my eventual and inevitably grim demise. I suppose in fairness, that is quite a big difference.
After about a minute of soundless falling,- save for the panting of my own breath and the uprush of air around me, sounds become audible from below me, rising up like a twisted symphony from the earth. Low gurgling sounds fill my ears, the drip drop of running water (or perhaps something thicker), and a series of heavy dragging sound, followed by a loud array of inhuman grunts that seem to never end: The sounds of an animal dragging off a rotting carcass.
My gorge rises in the back of my throat. Whatever is down there, it is obviously not of a friendly disposition, or even amiable, and I highly doubt there would be any negotiating with it. If Fangorn's warnings are anything to go by, then the first tier- whatever that means, will be swarming with halfling- rabid vampires who never got fully turned by their creators due to apathy or ill placed vanity. They are characterised distinctly for their loss of humanity and incessant, almost unquenchable hunger for blood and living flesh. Any kind of living flesh too, they are not picky eaters, even occasionally picking up the ruins of long dead carcasses like giant, man sized vultures. Truly, it puts a new meaning to scavengers.
That of course, would explain the putrid stench of rotten meat that rises up from below me, suffocating me in the gloriously revolting stench of death.
Whatever is down below me, I can only imagine it consists of a lot of death and dying. Lucky me.
One minute I am plummeting through sheer, blackened darkness, the next thing I know, I am tumbling out onto the bottom, the floor rushing up to meet me. The hole opens up around me, turning into a cavernous tunnel, several meters wide, and about eight meters tall. The walls are plastered with white brick and stone, crudely designed and lined every few meters with a dim set of torches that provide only a feeble expansion of light against the gloom. Hurtling downwards and stifling my cries, I crash onto the ground with a heavy clunk, scraping my knees against the earth floor, and something else that sticks through the earth, hard and as sharp as flint. Bones.
I suppose a place like this left for centuries to rot and decay would be littered with them- that much I had guessed at from my tumble down into this hell hole. But it never really occurred to me just how great an extent that was.
The floor is littered with them. As far as the eye can see, an amassing white expanse of cartilage and bone blankets the muddied earth like one gigantic graveyard: big bones, small ones, ones the size of children, and some the size of elk- the aftermath of centuries of pileup and feeding. Not a single scrap of flesh is left on them, picked clean to the fading white underneath, some of the older ones dying out to a grim and rotting yellow. But worst of all is the putrid smell that impregnates the grim stone walls of this labyrinth of flesh and bones, a smell that tells me that life still resumes, in some form or another, left to decay and wither hundreds of meters below the palace.
And even without that smell, the low and dying grunts of wild, unknown creatures slinking throughout this maze is indication enough. Whatever lurks in these walls, I hope to the heavens I will never have to face it.
Dusting myself off, I stand there blinking blindly for a moment, until it suddenly hits me that I should be checking myself for the one thing that will get me killed: blood.
Fortunately when I go to check my knees, still aching bluntly from the landing, I am pleased to find no cuts in their place.
Heavily, I breathe a sigh of relief.
Thank the heavens for that, or I might already be dead, I think inwardly to myself, wiping away bits of dust and grime from my kneecaps.
It would seem my flesh is remarkably unscathed, still boasting that new, pearly shine of fresh and flawless skin. It takes me a moment to realise that would in fact be the case- my skin is no longer of mortal density, but vampiric in quality, as tough as stone and all the more difficult to cut. I suppose there are a lot of new things I am going to have to get used to now.
But just because I am saved from that pain and the blood in my fancy new vampire form, that doesn't mean Kal will be. He needs a landing, or at least something to break his fall. But what, exactly..?
Suddenly, and idea pings through my head.
Stretching my arms out to the space beneath the whole, I muster my powers, casting a bed of golden light underneath it. The stands of light weave together, dense enough that when I prod it with my fingers, they do not go through. Peering up, I assess its position, making sure it is in the correct place to catch him when he finally does land.
The net of woven strands of light flickers in the dim half light of the tunnels, illuminating grim shadows onto the aged and dusty walls. Silently I hope against hope that it will be enough.
Suddenly, a scream followed by an animalistic grunt echoes down the cavernous hallways, rising up into the putrid air and dying out as quickly as it came. Shuddering, I draw my arms around myself, staving off the prickles that rise up my spine.
Whatever is lurking down these halls has long since passed its life as human. I have no doubt in my mind that a single whiff of blood- any blood whatsoever, would send them all scrambling for us, teeth gnashing at the scent of fresh food, tearing us open limb from limb, leaving nothing but a pile of bones as our remains.
That is a scenario that I desperately don't want to experience.
Another scream jolts me back into cognition, only this time, it is far more human.
Behind me Kal falls, part screaming, part laughing, the velocity acquired from the build up of speed from the fall pulling his skin back at a variety of odd and slightly alarming angles. Then he lands face first on the net of light, groaning with the impact as it sinks down a bit, before it springs back up, leaving him hovering in mid air.
"Oh wow, what the-"
Hurriedly, I clamp my hand frantically over his mouth, obstinate that not another word comes from his mouth for fear of what might become of it. Kal makes a muffled protest, but then seeing the alarmed look in my emerald eyes, falls promptly silent.
"Quiet," I warn with a prompt hiss, nudging my head over to wear the corridor that branches out from the one we are in now. "They might hear you. I don't think these bracelets cover the sound of our voices."
Kal steps cautiously down from the net of light which rapidly evaporates behind him, vanishing as soon as it has served its purpose. It takes him one good, solid look around the cavern of darkness to realise exactly why I had warned him to keep his mouth shut.
"Holy snakes, this is a graveyard."
Gingerly, I nod, removing my hand from his shoulder as he now tests the ground with his foot. Each step elicits a crunch and crackle of long dead remains, dust and mould puffing up from the floor in little tiny geysers of death.
Why does Soren have to be down here? I think to myself, exasperated. Sure it does a great job of keeping people out, but dear gods, its grim.
Kal too, seems to have the same idea.
"The person who made this must have been mental, I can smell at least a hundred different lifeforms, maybe even a thousand. It's hard to tell, some of them are quite weak," Kal admits, pacing forward carefully, tapping each spot with his foot as though testing for signs of collapse, as if terrified the carpet of bones might give way to something even more horrific.
To be honest, I can hardly blame him.
But it's not the bones I am worried about. It's what's been leaving them.
"And this is only the first level," I remind him, letting a small collection of flames flare into life at my fingertips, illuminating the rather insubstantially lit corridors around us. Kal pulls back his mouth into a scowl.
"Heaven help us," he mutters, trailing one gloved finger along the wall. Dust collects on the tip, and after sufficiently collecting enough he smells it, frowns, and wipes it away, a permanent grimace etched onto his face.
I give him a long look, perturbed.
"Testing the debris," he explains. "No lifeforms have been in these parts for a good few months, as for the other parts of this labyrinth…" he clenches his fingers tight, giving a shake of his head.. "They seem to be everywhere."
For the most part, the fall is shorter than expected. Shorter, but not any less terrifyingI tumble through the darkness at speeds higher than I would care to admit, heading nowhere but down, the air constricting my breath in my lungs the deeper in I fall into the cold, bottomless abyss. It feels suffocating, as though being squeezed from out of my body at all angles, and cold, oh so cold. The degrees of the air falls by the minute as I plummet downwards, spiking my breath into plumes of billowing frost, and stiffening my limbs to leaden blocks of ice. But I have known worse in my days as an angel, for the skies have a similar disposition.The skies, however, are clear and easy to navigate, and do not involve me falling into a blackened pit of death and horror to my eventual and inevitably grim demise. I suppose in fairness, that is quite a big difference.After about a minute of soundless falling,- save for the panting of my own breath and the uprush of air around me, sounds become audible from below me, rising up like a twisted symphony from the earth. Low gurgling sounds fill my ears, the drip drop of running water or perhaps something thicker, and a series of heavy dragging sound, followed by a loud array of inhuman grunts that seem to never end: The sounds of an animal dragging off a rotting carcass. My gorge rises in the back of my throat. Whatever is down there, it is obviously not of a friendly disposition, or even amiable, and I highly doubt there would be any negotiating with it. If Fangorn's warnings are anything to go by, then the first tier- whatever that means, will be swarming with halfling- rabid vampires who never got fully turned by their creators due to apathy or ill placed vanity. They are characterised distinctly for their loss of humanity and incessant, almost unquenchable hunger for blood and living flesh. Any kind of living flesh too, they are not picky eaters, even occasionally picking up the ruins of long dead carcasses like giant, man sized vultures. Truly, it puts a new meaning to scavengers. That of course, would explain the putrid stench of rotten meat that rises up from below me, suffocating me in the gloriously revolting stench of death.Whatever is down below me, I can only imagine it consists of a lot of death and dying. Lucky me.One minute I am plummeting through sheer, blackened darkness, the next thing I know, I am tumbling out onto the bottom, the floor rushing up to meet me. The hole opens up around me, turning into a cavernous tunnel, several meters wide, and about eight meters tall. The walls are plastered with white brick and stone, crudely designed and lined every few meters with a dim set of torches that provide only a feeble expansion of light against the gloom. Hurtling downwards and stifling my cries, I crash onto the ground with a heavy clunk, scraping my knees against the earth floor, and something else that sticks through the earth, hard and as sharp as flint. Bones.I suppose a place like this left for centuries to rot and decay would be littered with them- that much I had guessed at from my tumble down into this hell hole. But it never really occurred to me just how great an extent that was.The floor is littered with them. As far as the eye can see, an amassing white expanse of cartilage and bone blankets the muddied earth like one gigantic graveyard: big bones, small ones, ones the size of children, and some the size of elk- the aftermath of centuries of pileup and feeding. Not a single scrap of flesh is left on them, picked clean to the fading white underneath, some of the older ones dying out to a grim and rotting yellow. But worst of all is the putrid smell that impregnates the grim stone walls of this labyrinth of flesh and bones, a smell that tells me that life still resumes, in some form or another, left to decay and wither hundreds of meters below the palace.And even without that smell, the low and dying grunts of wild, unknown creatures slinking throughout this maze is indication enough. Whatever lurks in these walls, I hope to the heavens I will never have to face it.Dusting myself off, I stand there blinking blindly for a moment, until it suddenly hits me that I should be checking myself for the one thing that will get me killed: blood.Fortunately when I go to check my knees, still aching bluntly from the landing, I am pleased to find no cuts in their place. Heavily, I breathe a sigh of relief. Thank the heavens for that, or I might already be dead, I think inwardly to myself, wiping away bits of dust and grime from my kneecaps.It would seem my flesh is remarkably unscathed, still boasting that new, pearly shine of fresh and flawless skin. It takes me a moment to realise that would in fact be the case- my skin is no longer of mortal density, but vampiric in quality, as tough as stone and all the more difficult to cut. I suppose there are a lot of new things I am going to have to get used to now.But just because I am saved from that pain and the blood in my fancy new vampire form, that doesn't mean Kal will be. He needs a landing, or at least something to break his fall. But what, exactly..?Suddenly, and idea pings through my head.Stretching my arms out to the space beneath the whole, I muster my powers, casting a bed of golden light underneath it. The stands of light weave together, dense enough that when I prod it with my fingers, they do not go through. Peering up, I assess its position, making sure it is in the correct place to catch him when he finally does land. The net of woven strands of light flickers in the dim half light of the tunnels, illuminating grim shadows onto the aged and dusty walls. Silently I hope against hope that it will be enough.Suddenly, a scream followed by an animalistic grunt echoes down the cavernous hallways, rising up into the putrid air and dying out as quickly as it came. Shuddering, I draw my arms around myself, staving off the prickles that rise up my spine.Whatever is lurking down these halls has long since passed its life as human. I have no doubt in my mind that a single whiff of blood- any blood whatsoever, would send them all scrambling for us, teeth gnashing at the scent of fresh food, tearing us open limb from limb, leaving nothing but a pile of bones as our remains. That is a scenario that I desperately don't want to experience. Another scream jolts me back into cognition, only this time, it is far more human.Behind me Kal falls, part screaming, part laughing, the velocity acquired from the build up of speed from the fall pulling his skin back at a variety of odd and slightly alarming angles. Then he lands face first on the net of light, groaning with the impact as it sinks down a bit, before it springs back up, leaving him hovering in mid air."Oh wow, what the-"Hurriedly, I clamp my hand frantically over his mouth, obstinate that not another word comes from his mouth for fear of what might become of it. Kal makes a muffled protest, but then seeing the alarmed look in my emerald eyes, falls promptly silent."Quiet," I warn with a prompt hiss, nudging my head over to wear the corridor that branches out from the one we are in now. "They might hear you. I don't think these bracelets cover the sound of our voices."Kal steps cautiously down from the net of light which rapidly evaporates behind him, vanishing as soon as it has served its purpose. It takes him one good, solid look around the cavern of darkness to realise exactly why I had warned him to keep his mouth shut."Holy snakes, this is a graveyard."Gingerly, I nod, removing my hand from his shoulder as he now tests the ground with his foot. Each step elicits a crunch and crackle of long dead remains, dust and mould puffing up from the floor in little tiny geysers of death.Why does Soren have to be down here? I think to myself, exasperated. Sure it does a great job of keeping people out, but dear gods, its grim.Kal too, seems to have the same idea. "The person who made this must have been mental, I can smell at least a hundred different lifeforms, maybe even a thousand. It's hard to tell, some of them are quite weak," Kal admits, pacing forward carefully, tapping each spot with his foot as though testing for signs of collapse, as if terrified the carpet of bones might give way to something even more horrific.To be honest, I can hardly blame him.But it's not the bones I am worried about. It's what's been leaving them. "And this is only the first level," I remind him, letting a small collection of flames flare into life at my fingertips, illuminating the rather insubstantially lit corridors around us. Kal pulls back his mouth into a scowl."Heaven help us," he mutters, trailing one gloved finger along the wall. Dust collects on the tip, and after sufficiently collecting enough he smells it, frowns, and wipes it away, a permanent grimace etched onto his face.I give him a long look, perturbed."Testing the debris," he explains. "No lifeforms have been in these parts for a good few months, as for the other parts of this labyrinth" he clenches his fingers tight, giving a shake of his head.. "They seem to be everywhere."
