New System, Who Dis?

Saturday, April 6th, 2069

“There isn’t much in this chamber of high value,” my father said as he came to rejoin me.

Willa followed behind but did point to one vein on a wall she’d been studying by herself. “Could be that it has shilver dust mixed amongst the Truesilver.”

I let the two discuss that as I studied the wall Willa mentioned. I toggled on my new heat vision and found a dark patch of stone. It had been too much to hope that my new Skill would be helpful.

“It’s likely the most valuable deposit in this room, either way,” Willa argued. “Plus, True Silver is softer…” They both looked to me after that note and I nodded my ‘agreement’. “Words about how your Skill works, inserted here,” Willa said sarcastically.

“Oh,” I whispered, as my face grew hot. “Still figuring some of that out, but in theory as the pick repairs it will work better?” Willa blinked at me, her look telling me that was obvious.

“Well, you see,” I began awkwardly. “Even ores have Mana so the mark should—”

“I think we get it, son,” my father said, saving me from my stumbling explanation. “Willa, stop giving Bro a hard time. You knew as well as I did that was how it worked.”

Willa started laughing and even punched my father in the shoulder. “We don’t even make decisions on what Ores to mine, kid,” she said in my direction. “I was just giving you some honest ribbing.”

“Well, as I said, I’d stick to only Mining one Ore vein today, and choosing a lower valued one too,” I countered, my voice infused with false confidence. “The Picks will only be better tomorrow for it.”

Willa and my father nodded. It was just the three of us in this room, and thanks to my heat vision—there were practically zero Mana Leeches. I stood and squashed one of them that had inched closer as I ate.

“Get back to it?” I asked as I ground it in with my foot. Willa and my father exchanged raised eyebrows.

“I’ve been bit a few times and am getting the feeling that my Mana is at about half. So, I’m gonna sit to eat.” Willa shivered before looking at my father who nodded along with what she was saying. “Your kid is built different Gary.”

I blinked even as my dad shiver-shrugged and blushed. “I need some food and a break to let my Mana replenish too. I got bit four times myself. You sure you don’t need more time, Brodie?”

“Nah, I’ll keep going, and try to keep an eye out for leeches near you,” I answered, realizing that Recovery was likely playing a big role in my current ‘energy levels’.

“As long as neither of us gets Husked, everything should be—” Willa was cut off as a massive tremor shook the cavern. Echoing shouting accompanied the shaking floor. The shouts seemed to come from a far way off but bounced up the tunnel that led deeper into the caverns. Were they growing in volume?

“Uh, people are coming,” Smegma said, as the screaming grew—and now with the proximity I could tell that they were shrieks of horror. Ten Miners exited the tunnel that led deeper at a dead sprint. Their faces were contorted into masks of terror as they continually looked back over a shoulder.

“What’s going on?” my father shouted in a commanding voice.

“King Leeches!” someone nearest the front cried—and I instantly felt my father’s strong hands on my shoulder as he spun me toward the exit. Willa was already a few steps in front of me even as the caverns gave another violent shake.

“What is a King Leech?” I asked even as my father corralled me into a jog, then a sprint, both of us heading toward the exit.

“I’ll tell you outside!” my father yelled. “Just run!”

“Wait!” Smegma shouted, flying after us. “Where are you going? Think if the Skill one of those could give you!”I gave the imp the finger, not caring if anyone saw or not. [I can’t use a husking Skill if I’m dead!]

A few steps in I was at a full sprint. It felt a little bit like running out of a building when the fire alarm was test screeching—but wondering if it was really necessary. However, considering that the current screeching screams were from seasoned Miners, I decided that my statement to Smegma held.

It was time to get the husk out.

Thankfully, we were the first cavern before the exit, and so were outside in a short couple of minutes. The Miners that came from deeper stopped their shrieking in favor of gasping in lungfuls of air.

A Lynx guild member who was stationed out front instantly asked, “What’s going on? Is everyone okay?”

He directed that question at my father, who could only give the other Miners a look before saying, “King Leech, not sure where, but I felt the tremors.”

“Husk,” the guard exclaimed and then pulled a signal flair out of his pocket. A quick pull of a cord sent up a red ball of light even as the guard grabbed a walkie talkie from his pocket. “Twenty-three, red flair. Trouble at the mine, may need Excavators or our members with earth Skills. Over.”

“Guild command. Assistance enroute. Over.” The radio chirped almost as soon as the man let go of his button.

“Can you explain what’s going on?” I whispered to Willa. Searching the area, I didn’t find Smegma, but figured the ghost-like imp would be fine on his own. It wasn’t like he could get far in any case. Actually, that last thought made me wonder if the invisible tether on my demonic little buddy got longer with the increase in the levels of Demonic Vault. I thought of a free-ranging Smegma, popping his head in whatever shower or corner of the world he wanted to, and shuddered.

“King Leeches are rare. They are more of a mix of a worm and the small leeches we were squishing throughout the day. The problem is that they tunnel through walls, creating massive instability—” she was cut off again as another group of Miners streamed from the entrance.

“Anything to report?” the guard asked the first one of the twenty people.

“Four King Leeches surfaced in the cavern we were Mining in. Our team was second to last,” one of the Miners answered even as he gasped for oxygen. "Jeral and the two Hunters are attempting to hold them in the cavern as we escaped, but the group of Specialists in the lowest cavern are trapped.”

“I’m sure Jeral—” my father started saying but cut off as everyone outside of the Mining cave was shaken violently to the ground. My eyes closed unbidden as what felt like an invisible hand grabbed me and threw me into the sand. I opened them and turned on my Heat Sense. What I saw shouldn’t have been surprising since I was on sand baked by the sun. My entire field of vision was varying hues of red, except the cave, which seemed to be a mild yellow. That felt strange since I was looking at the sandstone rock—shouldn’t it be…

The stone at the top was orange—the ground and mine itself grew darker going purple, dark blue and then black.

“What the husk is that thing?” Smegma asked unhelpfully as the sandstone mine exploded.

No, as I watched, I realized it hadn’t exploded but had been launched skyward with such force that sand was shot into the air in a cloud. Many pieces of stone chipped off and bounced away. Behind the now-flying section of stone came a large gray body.

“Oh shit!” Smegma said, seeming to realize what this creature was. “That’s a husk-damned sand-worm.”

Smegma and I watched it climb higher and higher, breaching into the sky with me on the ground and him floating in the air just above me.

“It’s going to fall!” someone shouted and I felt the strong hands of my father or Willa grab me and hoist me to my feet. I blinked on, than immediately off, my heat vision, realizing it wasn’t helping in the situation—since the sand-worm was a yellow-black to it, my regular vision would serve me better here. My father shoved me away from the huge dusky brown body that was slowly stopping its upward ascent.

It’s body must have been at least two hundred meters into the air, and my far too calm brain finally translated the problem. It wasn’t going to stay up there like a cobra ready to strike. It was coming down, and from the slight angle of its body, it was coming down in a direction not far off from the one we were all gathered. The shadow from the sun didn’t help since it was cast out behind the creature.

My father seemed to have decided to sprint after the Hunter who, admittedly was the only one strong enough to not be flung back and forth atop the shaking earth. Instead, the Hunter ran in a single symmetrical direction.

The ground continued to shake and buck under my feet, not helped in the least by the sand—making me realize it wasn’t a choice for the semi-staggering run everyone was making. Clearly the Hunter was far stronger or more practiced in these types of situations than the rest of the people.

“Brace!” someone yelled and I had enough time to soften my knees before the sand leaped. Literally, the top layer of sand suddenly was at my knees, and I was watching it fall back to the ground, covering my shoes. I glanced back and found the worm had hit the sand in a direction away from us.

Lucky!

As if someone was filming it in super slow-mo, it slowly bent its back and got its head into an angle with the ground that it seemed to deem acceptable before seeming to slide into the sandy ground like it was easing itself into a pool.

The whole group stayed deathly silent, until nearly half of its visible body vanished. The thing’s total length may have been anywhere from five hundred meters to a kilometer, or even a mile long. It just kept bunching itself up and ‘metering’ itself forward in huge sections.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, directing the question to everyone present.

“It must have gotten in last night some time,” Smegma answered. “It isn’t a carnivorous creature and likely sensed the Mana Crystals. One thing’s for sure–that thing is way above the Ranking for this Dungeon.”

“Miner!” the Hunter said, approaching the man who had ‘reported’ earlier. “Was Jeral near the entrance, following you, or in the deep cave when you last saw him?” The Hunter’s face was pale—and I felt my own mirror his at the reminder. There had been people down there.

“He was nearly in the deepest cavern we were Mining in,” the Miner responded before puking. “He was trying to get the Specialists out.”

“You’ll have to come with me to report to the Guild-master,” the guard said, even as a few other Miners emptied their stomachs.

A guiding hand from Willa told me that everyone was going to follow the guard, and I managed to get my semi-numb legs to start working. I couldn’t help but wonder if this sequence of events was somehow planned. It just felt too coincidental.

“Nah, kid,” Smegma said, his voice hard. “Those King Leeches likely felt the worm coming and were trying to get out of the way—beast senses are keen. If Jeral had abandoned those Specialists in the deepest cavern, then he could have made it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t that kind of man.”

I could only look back over my shoulder as the massive body of the worm continued to literally ‘worm’ itself into the sand again. The now gravesite of our city’s hero.