Each step we take, the feeling of the wind grows stronger. The scent of fresh air. It reinvigorates all of us. My eyes shift towards Vadei as she sounds off like a security animal. Only, rather than narcotics or other contraband, she's finding the world's current greatest treasure.
Freedom from this gods-forsaken hive!
Vapooliar pushes forward with a handful of the soldiers, inches us closer and closer to our newfound freedom. The murmuring amongst us becomes joyous remarking. Yet, caution remains on everyone's minds. No one is willing to lower their guns or blade.
There have been no bugs thus far...
We have big footprints that lead nowhere, we've seen the signs of them. But in terms of actually seeing the bugs, not at all. Not one of us has caught onto anything. Not in our eyes, ears or other feelings of imminent danger.
It's strange, really, unsettlingly strange. We spent all that time preparing for what appears to be no reason at all. I got myself hooked up to this sledge, practiced my shooting and took beatings from Vapooliar for... Nothing. Not one bug scurrying away before a beam burns out its back. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.
"What is going o-" I start to say, Rohlant's dirty hand covering my hand. I flinch back at the sharp movement, almost cut by it. Though I regrettably catch a taste of the palm.
"Do not finish that sentence," the superstitious soldier warns, his eyes firmly setting into a glare. Looking away, I shut up and scratch my head.
"Yeah. Don't spook the poor old artillery officer." one soldier huffs in amusement, his pace slowing so he can get closer. He meets the black-stained man with a smirk that is not appreciated at all.
"Be quiet, Footman Envo." Rohlant rumbles with a click of his tongue at the end. His gun clicks right after, an aggressive finger beat circling the on the trigger guard.
"What was that, Battcomm Rohlant? Didn't quite get that, try shouting it instead." Envo taunts, his head recoiling from a back-of-it smack.
"How is it we managed to survive that valley of death with you, exactly?" another soldier asks, lowering his gun on the slow approach. His attention shifts to what is probably the hive's exit. Another gust of wind meets us and he sighs in utter relief. Almost bathing in it.
"Recklessness is as valuable as caution, Aarut." Envo explains as he fiddles with his gun some more. Like with most of these soldiers, it's as if I am watching a formal native speaker talk to one who knows only slang. The soldiers don't know how to soldier? Do most people here use swords?
Fading in and out of my thoughts, I pick up another remark about 'boom-pikes,' piquing my curiosity. Walking through these dark tunnels is not an enjoyable experience. I'd be the world's biggest idiot if I ever said it out loud and probably am for thinking it. Still, speaking to someone should help keep my head off of the idea of bugs, maybe. Probably not.
"So... What *is* a 'boom-pike,' exactly? A few of you have commented about it." I ask, the squelching underfoot turning into taps and metallic bangs. My eyes shift, spotting the change from damp bug soil to the mountain's actual stone body. Thankfully for our ears, the wetness is still present, so the sledge isn't completely scraping along. Vadei's right ear still flicks agitatedly, however.
A thoughtful noise catches in my throat as I eye her ears and how they move. If we have somehow lucked out thus far, all this new noise will doom us. A whistling tune to the Pack of Seven. Might as well play this Undwote-calling music as loud as it can be!
"A hunk of junk." Aarut answers with a scoff, and Envo gives him a look.
"At least we know how to use them!" he says right back and the pair devolve into incomprehensible bickering. Thankfully, not particularly loud bickering.
Rohlant steps closer, putting his arm around me, "You know what a pike is?"
"Yes, pointed stick, no?" I answer, feeling like it is a bit of a silly question.
"Close enough. So, pike, gunpowder-fed tube on the underbelly. Perfect weapon for breaking formations or gutting an armoured ryphurgok." he explains to me and, somewhat being an engineer myself, it sounds clunky to me. But, now I have another question... What's a 'ryphurgok,' exactly? Is an armoured one that bad?
"How do you even fight with one of those? A long stick is hard enough to control." I ask then comment, not following up on my thoughts. My memories move to the times I've had to hold hollow steel pipes during my shifts. Compared to the panels I normally worked with, yeah, they're easier to handle. But a big metal item is still, well, a big metal item.
"You set the men up, brace your weapon, and you wait for the order." Rohlant huffs with the roll of his one good eye.
"But even then, just a line of pointed steel is better, no? Just keep pushing with a bed of nails..." I argue as I try to think of a mental image that works for me. Whatever it is, he's probably not seeing what I am seeing.
"Clearly, you need to spend some time on a field against ryphurgoks," he tells me as he shakes his head.
"I... I don't even know what they are..." I say as we arrive in a vast, vast chamber. Bigger than any others we have seen so far. It feels like it's on the scale as the place our camp was. A cavern chamber as big as the outdoors...
Yet, again, it's completely empty. There's light at the far end and nothing between us and it other than all this space. Cautious from the last time I ran ahead, I move only enough to get a better view near my help. I can even make out a tree rustling in the wind, a distant, blurry tree, but one nonetheless!
"THE EXIT!" Vadei howls, bouncing with joy and enough energy to trick someone into thinking we haven't been rough sleeping.
"Move ahead with caution. Stay together, even outside of here." Vapooliar warns, her emerald wisps spreading out across the chamber with the wave of her arm. She makes some space from the soldiers, bringing her sword up into a more readied grip.
I focus on the wisps as they add an unbelievable sense of depth to the chamber. Even as high as the ceiling, there is nothing but unnaturally smooth rock. I'm no mountain expert, but I know what a constantly dripping surface should look like. Bits breaking away, a tail of something forming.
This is all so blatantly artificial and I can see no signs of tools having done this. Not a single rusty tool exists anywhere here at all. No piles, no loose shapes giving the ground a rare rise. It's like something's taken a big, smooth-lipped bite out of everything. A scoop in butter that's melted just right.
Worst of all, despite all the excitement just now, Vadei is now... Still.
"Uh..." she lets out as her ears act up. Looking around, I see nothing, but the whispers are clearer than ever. Hive. Hive. Hive. The whispers keep repeating that word. Tasks for the hive, jobs that need to be done for the hive.
Something I need to do for the hive...? Wait, what?
Shrugging it off at first, I step forward. A roar chases after us. We all freeze. Another roar... No... Hundreds more!
"EVERYBODY MOVE!" Vapooliar barks furiously, suddenly appearing at my side. Forceful winds follow her and she grabs me, pushing me back. But, despite all this movement, I can't move. The roars, they're coming for us from the tunnel we just left. There was nothing there before!
"Vapooliar..." I go as she steps closer to the tunnel, becoming its sole human occupant. She looks around at the rock, the glow of her sword burning brighter than before.
"Nin, stay with the others. I'll be right behind you." she tells me, stabbing her sword deep into the rock. With the edge parallel to my eyes, she takes in a deep, preparatory breath. Rather than slicing, however, she forces the blade up. The flat of her sword ploughs through the rock, its power reaching as far as the chamber's end.
Chunks burst out at her, towards us. Big chunks. Cracks spread instantly away from her weapon, racing down and away from the tunnel. She grunts, snapping the blade out of the rock along with a quick shower of stone shards.
Snap, snap, snap!
"Vapooliar... You might have underestimated how strong you are!" I point out, a hand pointing up at the cracks surging towards the chamber's ceiling. Only one chunk from up there falls at first, shattering on the ground like shrapnel. But it's only the first one in an escalating downpour of debris.
"Nin, go!" she clearly tells, running for the exit as a further indicator. Taking her words to heart, I chase after her with the sledge still on me. A man screams at my side and something warm squirts out at me. Tasting fresh blood, I feel cold and go even faster. My eyes shift to Vapooliar and how much further she is, how much lighter she is.
My focus snaps away to what I am wearing and my thoughts bog me down, if I can just leap for the exit!?
I spot a space that looks safe and go there, trying and prying what I can. The armour isn't coming off. It isn't coming off- I almost fall, something snagging my harness. My back hits a boulder and my eyes widen.
The crushed sledge pushes against my heels. Stopping my efforts with the armour, I turn around carelessly and get caught in the straps. Entangling myself further into the mess, swears build up on my tongue. I manage to snap them off and stumble away into another boulder with no logical sense of direction.
It wasn't there a moment ago... None of this was! When did it-!?
"You're joking..." I mutter, my gaze snapping towards the clean path to the tunnel that somehow still exists. A bug hops out into the open, arms wide apart. It roars with a lung-emptying howl and I panic. I smack into another boulder, attempting a shove by instinct.
The resistance slaps me in the face, and I rush into the developing maze. Doing my absolute hardest to follow it as it gets all the more complicated. No matter how fast I run, the roars keep getting closer and closer. One goes off in my face and I flinch away, arms slipping and sliding as my heart catches a stop.
I stare up at the beast, barely managing my footing. I throw myself through a tight passage as sharp, chunky rocks fall. Bug blood splatters across my face, blinding me with a blink. I waste escape time wiping it away. I keep blinking as I find no one else.
"VAPOOLIAR!? VADEI!? HEIYA!? ANYONE!?" I cry out as chitters and roars come for me from all sides. Each scrape on the rocks gets closer and closer. A little beam of light enters my view.
"NI-" I barely pick up as I stumble towards the light. Clenching my gun against my chest, I prepare myself. How am I even still holding- No, this is the situation this is meant for. Now is the time to use it!
See them, pull the trigger! See one, shoot! Shoot! Shoot!
I spot a bug and raise the gun. Pulling the trigger, its top vanishes in the emerald-laced yellow light. My feet find unstable rubble and I lose my footing. Rolling down along my back and front, I throw myself back up. Trudging towards the light as more and more boulders throw themselves apart because of gravity.
Another bug comes into view, clawing its way over the top of one such boulder. I fire the weapon again, grazing and scorching its side. It falls the way of the light and I take the most obviously open path. Something scratches my back and I twist, gun firing off again.
Backing up along the path, I keep shooting. I don't stop. Even as the disc rotates, I keep pulling the trigger, hoping it will fire the gun quicker. Each mechanical jag is only a further second where the bugs can get closer!
Flashes of bug outlines. The sound of their roars and chitters. The ones who step clearly before me. Nothing at all. Disc rotates. Disc rotates. Disc rotates. Disc rotates. Disc rotates-
"NOT NOW!" I roar at my gun as it starts to only click, no bang, no nothing. Turning back towards the light, I rush for it with all I have as my back hairs rise tall. Feelings keep disturbing the air between them, like a nail barely scraping by. The air swooshes right behind me as the roars keep coming.
My chest clenches up. Roars go off right in my ear. More and more rocks fall. Several smash down in front of me, almost as if to spite me.
"NIN!" I hear Vapooliar cry out into the cave as her emerald light fills out the collapsing chamber. But not anyone else. No one else.
"VAPOOLIAR, I'M HERE!" I cry, tossing the gun away and climbing up onto a deeply lodged boulder. My foot slips, breaking through the rock, and a bug clamps its grip onto me. I pull myself free in a clean motion and climb higher. I panic and laugh in unison.
Throwing myself over to the next boulder, I bounce and roll. Slipping down onto an open path, the others come into clear sight. I pick myself up and run. Run, run, run!
"COVERING FIRE!" Vapooliar orders the soldiers as she waits with held breath, a hand reaching out for me. Yellow bolts whizz past me and bug screams propel me onwards. Singular bangs ring out along with the burst of sharp, thin sticks. A sharp whistle zips past me, going straight into a bug. Another falls down, a handful of spikes in its skull.
They're getting closer. I'm so close to them now. I just need to!? I reach out for Vapooliar as the exit grows wider and wider, closer and closer-
"You are mine." a voice chitters clearly inside of my head as if the world is not happening around us. The mountain suddenly slides shut. Crashing against the rock, it breaks up around me but doesn't shatter wide open. My hand touches the immediate darkness in front of me. I stare at it.
Not moving at all, the roars get closer and closer, as do their footfalls.