Chapter 104: Intermission – Under Surface World

Adey struggled down a cliff, carrying a six-shooter and his pack, he stumbled down a cavern, the cavern has cob-webs, there were crystals around the entrance, and there was a pungent smell of eggs and rotting carcasses. He took out a spherical crystal and lobbed it inside the cavern, the crystal exploding into three lights, the cavern was coated in blue-green light.

“Adey?” the void said. Adey pushed the button on his left ear. “Machina? What’s wrong?”

“Something is being fed down that cavern, better make sure to find it...ah, this will be interesting.”

Adey shrugged, he started down the cavern, encountering multi-layered webs, his path blocked by overgrown crystals, blue spotted plants, and strange skeleton limbs. He continued down the path until he found himself on a three-way entrance, the left entrance was blocked by the crystals, the middle one caved in, and the right one covered in gooey mucus.

“Nothing much here,” Adey said.

“I can sense your hesitation, oh no, you are going inside, Adey.”

“Why should I?”

“Because I gave you my blood, you promised to listen to me if I needed it, and I need this area explored.”

“I hate you.”

“And I hate you too, now go inside and see what keeps ticking my counter.”

Adey pulled out the flamethrower on his back and burned the mucus. He cringed, his face crumbled as he stumbles forward, avoiding the leftover mucus. It was a giant cave that housed a spiral pit. Where he was standing, Adey saw the legions of monsters, gnawing on the crystals, their numbers resembling that of grouped up ants.

“Monsters,” Adey said. “Never seen them this many ever since the last got killed by the War Maiden.”

“Her zeal was lovely, too bad she’s a celibate.”

“...”

“Adey?”

The monsters had weird exoskeletons, they had eyes on their legs, and there was a pink seed-like membrane growing on their back, it was glowing, releasing pink gasses that seems to alternately make the blue spots on their bodies glow. Adey felt his body heating up, his eyes sharpening, his heart beating loudly as the presence kept increasing.

“A monster burrow,” Adey squinted. “Five hundred years and they are back again. We need the gas, Machina.”

“You want to gas the place?” she responded. “So you are telling me to slaughter the poor monsters? You are a demon!”

“Half-half now,” Adey said. “I am starting to believe that making me a vampire was a mistake. Since I realized that I have to listen to you.”

“Harsh, but fair. Still, the demon-lady tyrant would nag on us if we let the monsters inside this burrow go. We had a pact with the War Maiden, and we can’t give up on our city. It may be dark, sometimes too bright, and too dusty, but still, it is our home, and I’ve grown to love it.”

“Says the girl that was complaining about the state of her apartment,” Adey scoffs. “I say time changes even suckers like you.”

“Tsk,” she responded. “Just because you don’t need blood, doesn’t mean that you can get rid of the ‘sucker’ part that is now branded on you.”

“I am gassing them,” Adey reached for the backpack on his lower back, he took out softball-size ball. He turned it around, inserted a key crystal in it, and threw it mid-air. The ball glowed red, Adey took out a mask, connecting it to a lantern-shaped object that has a green crystal on it. He sucks in a breath of air from the lantern.

The ball he threw expanded, the crystal that Adey inserted, continuously expanding until it zigzag in four directions, piercing the cavern walls. Adey dived for cover, he saw the area covered by a red mist, the monsters that were lurking the floor, slowly died out, their bodies limping, slumping on the floor, lifeless. It was an hour worth of screaming monsters. Adey stayed still, not moving, and listening to the boorish jokes of Machina.

“Looks like they are all out of gas, heh,” she said.

“I want to inhale that gas now, please stop,” Adey said, coming out of the cover. “Everything’s dead, want to come here and sniff the remaining gas?”

“That’s uncalled for,” she responded.

“Looks like there’s something alive down there,” Adey looked down the pit. “Looks like a transparent egg.”

“Check it,” she responded. “Need to clear this burrow and make it a designated habitat area.”

“Going in,” Adey took a leap of faith down, at the last second, he swung his body forward, landing softly on the ground. He approached the egg that had a jelly-like shell, his six-shooter ready to blast anything inside it. The cobweb was covering what’s inside, but he could see something inside. He pulled the webs off, his right arm popping veins.

“A human?” Adey said.

“What?” Machina responded.

“There’s a human inside, probably got trapped, graying hair, jet-black eyes, thin as a branch, ribs showing, eyes hollowed out, and definitely still alive, no, barely alive for a reason. Looks like he got turned into convenient nutrition.”

“Break the shell.”

“Got it,” Adey took a shot at the shell, the jelly shell cracking. The human inside it slid down along with the blue goo.

“Gah,” the human swallowed air. He spoke something that Adey did not understand.

“What the, didn’t expect to hear that,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Adey said.

“A familiar language, hmm, didn’t think that after all these years, I would still hear it.”

“Is that so?” Adey’s gaze travels down to the human. “Should I put the human out of his misery?”

“No,” Machina said. “Bring the human back, let’s see what he can tell me.”

“W...here...am I?”

Adey turned to the human. He could recognize his words.

“Who are you, human?”

“I am...ALVA...”

Adey couldn’t understand half of his name.

“So Alva,” Adey said. “It is your lucky day, looks like you aren’t going to be monster juice. I’ll dry you, I’d rather kill you than carry you while you’re still covered in goo.”

Adey flicked a tiny crystal, drying Alva. He then pulled Alva below the armpits and placed his back on a rock. Alva’s eyes were dim, and yet his jet-black eyes stared straight into Adey.

“T-thank you,” he said, fainting.

Adey stared at this human whose skin had tightened around his skeleton. He couldn’t understand why a human would be down here, far below a burrow that has never been discovered until now.