Luke Everhart
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Chapter 37 - The Fallen
🕑 Added 2024-11-11 14:15:06 +0000 UTCThe purple lit corridor faded in and out of focus.
Nar held Jul’s hand in an unyielding grip, and dragged the crying scout behind him.
His lungs screamed for him to stop and his heart beat painfully, barely hanging on. But his brain commanded him to run, and the noises now coming from every dark mouth they ran past, only made him run faster.
On either side of the feeling party, purple paths converged into theirs, though they never spared them more than a glancing look.
Stairs and bends, corridors and walkways, flashed by, seemingly never ending.
At some point, Kur picked up Cen, startling a cry out of her.
“Save your stamina!” he told her in between breaths. “We’ll need it!”
The caster didn’t utter a word.
A few minutes later, Nar picked up on the sound of people running towards them.
“Someone’s coming!” he shouted.
“Gad!” Kur said.
The big tank flung Viy’s limp body over her right shoulder, and equipped her shield.
“Who’s there? Are you Climbers?” a voice shouted.
The unexpected questions brought them to a crashing halt, and they formed up behind Gad, panting, but ready to face the people that had emerged in front of them, from a side corridor.
There were seven of them, looking just as out of breath as they were.
“We’re Climbers!” Kur replied. “And you?”
“Thank the Crystal!” one of them said, a human who also carried a scepter and a buckler. “Us too! We just want to pass through. We don’t want any trouble!”
Trouble? Nar thought. What’s he talking about?
“We just want to get through as well,” Kur said, Cen looking on from his shoulders.
“Then you stay there, and we’ll go through you first!”
“What?” Kur asked, taken aback. “But you’re going the wrong way!”
“We’re not dying for anyone!” another voice said. “Just let us through!”
“Are you crazy? They’ll find you!” Gad shouted.
“You do what you want! We’re not going!” the other party leader said.
And with that, the other party of Climbers marched towards them.
Nar, surprised by their animosity, lowered into stance.
“It’s fine!” Kur said. “Let them through!”
When the first of the Climbers reached Gad, she moved slowly to the side, her eyes never leaving them. The rest of the party hesitantly did the same, letting the other Climbers go through their midst.
Nar watched them pass through narrowed eyes.
There were three altei, two morsvar and two humans. The altei carried a mix of weaponry. One, a thick two-handed sword, the other, a spear like Viy, and the last carried a pair of axes. The two morsvar carried identical massive looking hammers. And of the humans, one had a staff like Cen’s, and the last one was their party leader.
Nar’s sword was lowered at his side, but ready to lash at the first sign of…
Of what? He asked himself, startled by the thought.
He didn’t know. But there had been something in that party leader’s tone of voice that he hadn’t liked.
The parties separated once more, and the other Climbers picked up speed again, and soon disappeared around a bend.
“Idiots,” Mul said, shaking his head.
“It’s their choice,” Kur said. “Come on, we need to keep going!”
They continued running after the arrows.
Nar had an idea of what awaited them. Or at least, if the stories really were true.
Mul’s words had cast doubt over everything he thought he knew, and it was hard to know what was, and wasn’t, real at that point. However, it was hard not to expect the worst.
If the stories were real, however, he was about to walk into nightmare.
As they drew nearer to their destination, the sounds coming off from the surrounding corridors intensified and changed. Mixed in with the shouts and the laughter, they now heard blood curdling screaming. Lots and lots of screaming.
“Remember,” Kur said. “It's you or them! Don’t hesitate! And don’t stop to help anyone either!”
Nar swallowed hard.
Behind him, Jul had stopped crying, and of trying to get free of his hold. She now held onto his hand with a grip that hurt his fingers, and he squeezed back just as hard.
“Up-up ahead! They’re there!” Jul shouted.
“Don’t stop for anything!” Kur said again.
Then, their corridor merged into another, much bigger one.
“My Crystal!” Tuk shouted.
“Don’t stop!” Kur yelled.
In the purple light, downed Climbers begged for their lives.
Alteis, humans, morsvar, truggers, lengos and many other races that Nar had never seen before, filled the corridor. And they were attacking the Climbers.
“Please, no!” a morsvar shouted, as a trio of attackers fell on him. “Ple…”
His scream was cut short as one of the enemies bit into his throat, a gush of blood erupting onto her face.
“Fuck!” Mul shouted.
“Just keeping going!” “Kur said.
Gad suddenly stored her shield, and brought out her mace instead. In front of them, the path was blocked by a human. He looked demented at them, his eyes glowing in the purple light.
“Gad!” Kur shouted.
Their tank did not hesitate.
Her mace went up and then came down, and blood splattered her and Viy. She pushed the human out of her way with nary a glance, and moved on to the next bloodied enemy.
Jul screamed at the sight of the man's caved in face, and fought against Nar’s pull, but he was stronger, and dragged her past the corpse, and into the unfolding nightmare.
Sentients were bowed over each other, and wet sounds and screaming filled the air.
“Please! Please!” a trugger begged at a pair of humans that stood over him, crude looking yellow daggers shining in their hands. “Pleaseeeee!”
They dropped onto him, going for his neck and stomach.
Blood gushed onto the two sentients and they dug in with growls of glee and pleasure.
“Keep going!” Kur shouted.
Nar clenched his jaw at the trugger’s screams, and dragged Jul past them.
At their sides, corridors opened into the bigger one they ran through, and more and more panicked Climbers joined them.
Soon, Nar and Jul were lost in a swelling of hot, stinking and screaming Climbers.
The Climbers pressed onto the middle of the corridor, and from the sides, hands, teeth and crude weapons lashed into the crowd of Climbers, dragging out victims.
Nar pulled Jul closer to him, draping an arm over her shoulders, to make sure they didn’t get separated, and steadily, the mob carried them forward, towards the end of the corridor.
And finally, they arrived at their destination.
“Crystal… What is this?” he whispered.
The massive room they now found themselves in, was brightly lit by a mad purple that shone from arrows covering nearly every inch of the circular room before them.
The floor was sticky and slick from blood and other unrecognizable bits. The Climbers, with their proper weapons and party formations, slaughtered the other sentients. But they were far too outnumbered, and they were dropping by the second, pulled down into the disgusting mess of bodies, blood and remains that littered the floor. And once downed, they rarely stood back up.
At the far end of the massive room, as he had expected to find, a pair of enormous doors stood open.
The Doors!
A window popped up in front of him.
-[ Quest, Follow the arrows, has been completed.
Quest, The Defense of B0271-10456673, has begun. ]-
My Crystal! It’s really happening! It’s all true!
-[ The Defense of B0271-10456673
Uncommon
Reward: ???
Cubeplant B0271-10456673 has failed their quota.
The Doors have been opened and cannibals are swarming the cubeplant.
Aid the workers in protecting their home.
You cannot decline this quest. ]-
Nar was floored.
The stories were real.
All the scare mongering had been real!
Nar had feared, but he had never fully believed that the dark corridors of the B-Nex were actually filled with cannibals… Now, there was no denying the horror that unfolded before his eyes.
“Nar! Nar!”
He closed the window and searched for the source of the call.
“Nar!”
Was that Tuk? Kur? It was impossible to tell in the chaos.
“Nar…” Jul cried, hiding her face behind her hands.
“It’s okay! We’ll be okay!”
Nar abandoned his search for the party. It could’ve been anyone, calling any other Nar.
Their only option was to get to the Doors. The longer they stayed where they were, the longer they risked getting killed.
Hands reached out for him, scratching his neck as they sought to grip him by the collar of his shirt.
Nar yelled in fright, and his sword lashed out without mercy.
An arm flew, and blood sprayed his face.
The human screamed, clutching his bleeding stump.
Nar stared at the gushing blood, his eyes wide and his breath out of control.
What had he just done?
“Nar!” Jul cried again.
He forced himself to pull his eyes from the screaming man, and dragged Jul towards the door.
More and more cannibals blocked their path, and Nar was forced to cut and slash, adding his own contribution to the gore that covered the floor.
It’s alright! It’s alright! You have no choice! He told himself.
The blade cut and stabbed, maiming and killing with impunity, covering the two of them in blood. Climbers and cannibals jostled them, more than once threatening to send them tumbling down into the mess under their feet.
Suddenly, Jul screamed and was pulled from his grasp.
A cannibal had her hair in a fist, and he laughed at the screaming scout. The morsvar was completely naked, and his attempts to hug Jul made something snap inside of Nar.
He pushed the sword into the man’s mouth, past Jul’s shoulder, and back out, spraying the scout with gore. The cannibal let go of her, gurgling feebly. And tumbled to his knees.
Nar grabbed Jul into a vice-like hold and pushed her forward, towards the Doors.
After that he saw many more atrocities being done. And from there onwards, he felt no more remorse.
His sword’s grip grew slick with blood, and the whole thing turned a dark brownish color, a mix of the many different kinds of blood that it drank from.
His [Instinct] screamed again and again, as the screaming, howling cannibals tried to get a hold of him. Nar downed them one after the other, his expression growing darker and darker with every one of them he slaughtered.
“Nar! Nar!”
Nar heard his name, but he was too busy shielding Jul from a snarling altei with a dagger.
The cannibal went left, and to Nar’s [Reflex], it was as though the man was barely moving. Nar cut him from shoulder to hip, and his internals spilled onto the floor.
“Nar, over here!”
A hand tapped his shoulder and he swirled, sword ready.
Instead, he found Tuk.
His face was splattered with blood, and bits of something were stuck to his shirt, but at least the ring tosser seemed to be fine.
“Come on, this way!”
Nar dragged Jul after the ring tosser, and soon, they found a line of Climbers, formed against the cannibals.
Crystal! How many are there?
There had to be hundreds! And there were probably hundreds more amidst the chaos they had just left behind. And Nar had seen more cannibals than Climbers…
“Let us through!” Tuk shouted, raising his hands. “We’re Climbers!”
And he pushed into the line, forcing an opening. Nar tripped and stumbled after him, still dragging Jul.
Ahead of them, he heard a commotion.
“You have to let us in!”
“No one is coming inside!”
“Traitors stay out!”
“This is your fault! You failed your damned quota!”
“Yeah, you failures!”
“Why do we need to die for you?”
At the Doors entrance, a line of workers had formed to block the way into the cubeplant. They had armed themselves with all sorts of broken and sharp aetherium bits, of all sizes and shapes, in a poor mimicry of the Climbers’ weapons.
However, there were thousands of them, forming an impassable blockage in between the massive Doors.
In front of them, a group of Climbers shouted at them
Amongst them, was their party.
“Nar! Jul! Thank the Crystal!” Kur said. “Tuk said he saw you guys, and went to grab you!”
Nar nodded at the trugger. “Thank you!”
Even there, bloodied, Tuk still managed to grin at him. “Anytime, man!”
Kur pulled Nar in closer.
“They’re not letting us in!” he shouted in Nar’s ear. “They want us to stay outside and fight!”
“Can we?” Nar asked, looking back at the ranks of the Climbers.
There must be two or three hundred of them in that loose line. They weren’t Named Few, but by the Crystal, there were hundreds of them! Even if the cannibals were far greater in number, Nar had lost count of how many he had downed just by himself.
The cannibals were weak.
If the stories were to be believed, they were fallen Climbers who had been taken over by madness, unable to withstand the Pressure. The System had withdrawn from them, taking away their classes and attributes with It, reverting them to being just normal sentients. And if that was true, and Nar had no reason to doubt what he had seen and done, then the crazed crowds were no match for the Climbers. Not if they fought together at least.
However, Kur shook his head. “We don’t know how many are there! And for now, they’re still distracted by the Climbers still out there! But once they’re done with them… There could be thousands and thousands of cannibals. And they’ll all come for the cubeplant!”
“Crystal…” Nar muttered, going pale.
“Without the safety of the Doors on either side of us, they will eventually overrun us! And we need the workers to add to our numbers, even if they are weaker than us!”
“But how?” Tuk asked, leaning in. “They won’t even listen to us!”
“They will!” Kur said. “We were just waiting for you guys. Cen, do it!”
Only then did Nar realize that Cen had switched onto Gad’s shoulders.
At their feet, Viy seemed to have come to, and Mul was keeping watch over her with a weary look, a hand on her back, the other, holding her spear.
Atop Gad’s massive shoulders, the comparatively diminutive caster lifted her staff and started channeling her [Aura].
The effect was immediate.
The arguments died, and all eyes turned to look at the hazy gray light.
“By the Crystal, it’s magic!” someone shouted
It’s not, but it will do, Nar thought, realizing Kur’s intentions.
The whispers and shouts continued to spread throughout the gathered workers and Climbers.
Cen gathered a bit more [Aura], then fired her [Aura Projectile] above the gathered heads.
It whistled upwards, dragging everyone’s eyes with it, bathing everything in its gray light. Then it exploded against the ceiling in a mighty, loud, gray explosion, high above everyone’s heads.
In the relative silence that followed, Kur stepped forward, pushing past the other Climbers. “My name is Kur, I’m a party leader!” he shouted to get everyone’s attention. “As you’ve seen, my caster, and my party, are strong, but out here, their numbers will overwhelm us!”
“What do you want, then?” said a bent, old looking man. “To come inside and hide behind my workers? You’re Climbers, you made your choice! And you’re here to die for us!”
“We don’t want to come inside!” Kur shouted, silencing the angry cries that arose from both sides.
“What then?”
“We just want to fight alongside you! Together, in a line in between the Doors!” he said.
“What difference will that make?” the old man asked.
Kur walked up to him, and Nar followed after, still dragging Jul under his arm.
“There are too many of them. Maybe even thousands and thousands,” the party leader said. “Out here, us Climbers will die. We’ll kill many, yes! But we’ll eventually be overwhelmed by their numbers, and when we die, you and your workers will be next. You won't be able to hold the Doors on your own, you don’t have classes! And when you’re dead, the cannibals will eat everyone inside the cubeplant. Is that what you want?”
The old man held Kur’s gaze. However, his hands, clenched at his sides, trembled.
“And you will not hide behind us? You won’t use us?”
“I cannot speak for all the Climbers,” Kur said. “But my party will fight. Our only chance is to hold them here, at the Doors. If we let them inside, we’re all dead.”
Kur turned and looked at the gathered people. “Only together will we survive this! Do you want to be eaten, or do you want to fight and protect your workers and your parties?”
A morsvar stepped forward, with a shield and a mace, just the same as Gad’s.
“Let us fight with you, Admin,” he said. “None of us want to die. Together, we might just stand a chance.”
“I-I…” the old man cast a brief glance at the workers behind him. Their fear was easy to read in their eyes, in their trembling chins and makeshift weapons. Alone, they stood no chance. And they had to know that.
The old man turned back to Kur. “Alright! Alright… As long as you don’t come inside, you can join us between the Doors.”
“Thank you!” Kur said.
The Admin turned to his people, and gestured for them to back away.
“Let the Climbers join us! But don’t let them into the cubeplant!”
There were shouts of protest, but they were few and far in between, and the workers moved to obey their Admin.
Gaps formed in the lines of workers, and the Climbers rushed in to fill them, and to have the relative safety of the two enormous Doors around them.
“Yours and mine should stay together,” the morsvar told Kur. “Me and your tank can hold the middle. And your caster can alleviate the pressure when it looks like they are going to break through.”
“Agreed,” Kur said. “The line has to hold. Whatever happens, it must hold!”
The morsvar nodded and gestured for his own party to join him.
“If the line fails, we’ll all die,” he said, and looked at Cen, still perched atop Gad’s shoulders. “I hope your magic will be enough.”
Cen swallowed. “I hope so too…”
No one told him that there was no magic there. That it was [Aura] he had seen.
There was no point in spreading anymore chaos and confusion by letting loose the multitude of feelings that the revelation was sure to cause. Besides, the knowledge that they had magic on their side would serve to bolster their spirits. Taking it away would be foolish.
Instead, they kept quiet.
The two tanks took position, shoulder to shoulder, impressive in their combined bulk, shields out and ready. Kur lifted Cen up to his shoulders again, so that she could have a clear line of sight and fire.
“I’ll watch over her,” Kur said, extending a hand toward Jul. She took it and went to him without a word, staring back at Nar with big, fearful eyes. “You do what you do best, Nar. Watch over us. Keep our party safe!”
Nar swallowed hard, but he nodded.
Tuk and Mul took position together next to Gad. Tuk stood behind the brawler, ready to dish out his incredible ranged DPS, and Mul stood in front of him, to cover him from anyone that got too close to Tuk.
Viy was next, and Nar took position after her, on the frontline.
He cast her a critical eye.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine!” she sniffed. “Don’t worry about me.”
Nar’s eyebrows shot up, but he didn’t say anything. She looked very pale, with an ugly bruise darkening on her forehead. The spear shook ever so slightly in her hands.
I hope you are… Nar thought. Whatever had happened to her back there, he hoped wouldn’t happen again during the battle. Or ever again for that matter. The episode had freaked him out more than he cared to admit.
Kur’s voice rang over the noise.
“Hold the line!” he shouted. “Whatever you do, you must hold the line! Pass the message to those behind you! Those in the front, fight! Those in the back, push! Do not let the line break! I repeat! Do not let the line break!”
Nar couldn’t help feeling slightly relieved.
Kur sounded like the perfect Team Lead he had been groomed to be. Manager class through and through, his message made its way through the ranks, as people repeated his words to those in the back and to the sides.
Thank the Crystal I joined this party, Nar though. It was not the first time he thought of it, and it wouldn’t be the last.
However, thanking the Crystal, while standing in that mess, tasted bitter and ironic.
It had been the Crystal who had opened those Doors, to punish the workers within. And they had all been caught up in it.
However, blasphemy would do him no good now. No good at all.
“Together, we will succeed! Hold the line, and may the Crystal protect us all!” Kur shouted.
“May the Crystal protect us all!” Nar yelled into the chorus that replied to Kur’s battle cry.
Ahead of them, the last of the surviving Climbers emerged from the frenzy.
Directly in front of him, a woman was pulled back by her hair, and the cannibals jumped on her. Nar grimaced, and looked away, sparing himself the sight. Her screams tested his sanity, and behind him, someone retched.
When the screams died off, he risked glancing up again.
There were clusters of cannibals, pushing and fighting each other to get to where the wet sounds and groans were coming from. They hissed and snarled at each other, desperate to get to the meat.
“Crystal have mercy on us,” he whispered.
They were barely like sentients anymore, driven by hunger, lust and madness.
The thought of eating his own… Of doing the things he had seen being done, to another person?
He had to swallow hard at the bile that rose at the back of his throat.
He would rather die than suffer such a fate.
