Rebirth: Crawler

It wasn’t much farther to the north before the source of all the loud whooshes and chaotic bleating became clear.

A rocky, tapered, and pillar-like mountain jutted from the bottom of the floor. It reached a good half-dozen body lengths above where the party floated, and as the mountain whooshed again, a stream of boiling water shot straight up from its peak. Ayn would have called it a volcano, if not for the lack of magma.

Round tunnels wide enough for Ayn to squeeze through pock-marked the mountain’s rocky sides. Of course, she had no intention of getting anywhere near one since more than half the holes sported the front of a goat-like body sticking out of it, and the whole thing stunk like a wet barnyard.

Ayn stopped and called over her shoulder. “Kayara, I could really use your help here.”

Kayara slunk forward. She looked ready to bolt at any moment. The ranger had been getting more and more jumpy the longer they were on the floor, although Ayn didn’t understand why. Hadn’t Kayara said she was fine with animals as long as she could attack them?

“I’m pretty sure we need to get rid of these goats,” Ayn said. “If all the farmer’s ramblings meant anything.”

Kayara’s face twisted into something between disgust and fear. “Yeah. I know. I bet that heat vent is where we need to drop the egg, too. Like an old ring.” Kayara smiled weakly.

“Are you going to be okay with that?”

Kayara took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her expression relaxed a little. “Sure. Why not, right? I can shred these bastards to pieces and no one’s going to stop me, yeah?”

Ayn nodded, confused by Kayara’s pep talk.

“Right. Yeah. Okay. It’s not like they can touch me, anyway.”

With those words, Kayara unsheathed her daggers and dove straight for the tightest cluster of goats.

“Hey—Kayara!”

Ayn rushed to join her party member before she got surrounded. She regretted her decision when the goats slid from their tunnels. Their back halves were long, sinuous, and slick. The way their blackish-blue skin shone reminded Ayn of a cross between an eel and an earthworm. Lamprey Goats. Her stomach turned, then flopped as the mobs drew near. Their eyes, egg-shaped and bulbous, locked onto her and Kayara, and their seemingly normal goat muzzles yawned open to reveal a circular hole filled with rows of tiny, pointed teeth.

Kayara whimpered, pulling back from the incoming mobs and pressing her back against Ayn’s.

“Get back to Bren and Sheyric,” Ayn said. “Shoot the mobs.”

As if on cue, Bren’s falsetto echoed through the water. A fireball was incoming.

Kayara obeyed the order without hesitation, darting out from the tightening circle of Lamprey Goats with ease. Ayn slashed one as it reached out to nip Kayara’s leg as she passed.

“Sorry,” Ayn said with a grin. “It looks like you only have me to gnaw on.”

She spun, nicking another dozen or so more goats. All jiggling eyes turned to her, all gaping rotary saws for mouths aimed her way. Ayn relished the familiar warmth of blood rushing through her veins. There truly was nothing like being wholly and completely outnumbered.

A fireball collided with one side of the goat circle.

The mobs’ attention shifted, and Ayn took advantage of the distraction. Her sabers sliced through the Lamprey Goats’ skin like butter. An arrow hit one in the head, and kept going, embedding itself into the flank of the goat beside it. Five fell before the goats regrouped. It seemed they were true glass cannons—all damage, no defense, and by the looks of it, not enough agility to avoid getting slaughtered. That was good. This fight would be the one she came out of unscathed.

Four more Lamprey Goats fell by fire, arrow, and saber. Halfway through, Aisha yelled out a completed floor quest Ayn had forgotten about. The remaining four turned tail and fled, knocking Ayn’s attempts at following away with their sinuous backsides. Ayn chased at a safe distance, but had no way of stopping them before they disappeared into their tunnels. Ayn eyed the holes. She had no way of telling if they connected on the inside or if more Lamprey Goats were hiding within them. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up playing a very dangerous game of whack-a-mole.

“Leave them,” Bren called.

A loud whoosh and a stream of boiling water from the top of the vent punctuated his words. Bleating echoed from the tunnels, but nothing showed itself.

Ayn floated back to her party with a frown. “This has to be it. This is where we have to take the egg.”

Bren shrugged. “Then we take it here.”

“If we don’t clear the goats first, Kayara and I will be target practice.”

Kayara, who had gained a bit of confidence in her expression, blanched.

“Then we move slow,” Bren said. “Sheyric and I will stay in front of you two, and we’ll yell if we see as much as a nose. Right, Sheyric?”

Sheyric grunted in a vaguely affirmative way.

“Well, I will. Plus, I have more fireballs. Those glorified water snakes have very little health or defense. I could take out a couple if they charged.”

Ayn’s frown deepened. “That’s what I’m worried about. Why are they so easy to kill and not agile? The System wouldn’t make them worthless. I bet if they land a hit, it’s a one-shot, or close enough to it.”

“Then we’ll have to not get hit. Frankly, I don’t see another option, unless someone wants to volunteer to stick their head in a tunnel and hope they’re quicker than the goats.”

Ayn shuddered, and Kayara looked ill.

“No thanks,” Ayn said. “Let’s just go get the egg.”

Fortunately for the party, they’d cleared out the entire path to and from the egg. While it was slow going, and Ayn’s arms were half-numb by the time they got back to the heat vent, they arrived unaccosted.

Now came the fun part. Ayn had insisted on taking the front of the egg, which meant her back sat exposed and her face was pressed up against the egg’s shell. If something attacked, she wouldn’t even see it coming. Not that Kayara was much better off. The egg stretched from their knees to a good foot above their heads. Kayara faced the way they were heading, but she couldn’t see anything, either. What was worse, none of them were sure if they could drop the egg.

The floor was far below them. Despite being a water area, The System clearly had a plane it expected Rebirths and mobs to stay in, and the distant ground wasn’t it. Dropping the egg might mean out-of-bounds, which could mean several things. If Ayn had to guess, it would probably teleport the egg somewhere or set off an alternate quest. Not exactly bad, but she’d already put so much effort into the stupid egg’s quest, and so much energy dealing with an increasingly agitated Kayara. All she wanted was to finish the floor and move on.

“Time to move up,” Bren said from behind Ayn. “We’ve got just enough distance I can cast a fireball before the goats reach us, so it’s best we head toward the top now.”

You hope it’s enough distance, Ayn thought. Other than the Lamprey Goats running for cover, none of them had really seen the things move. For all they knew, the creatures could have a charge like the Tuna-Cows. The sinuous goats could eat them all before they blinked. Ayn pushed the thought away and swam up. A distressed whisper from Kayara told her the ranger was having similar worries. Ayn wished she could help, yet she didn’t want to lie.

The party floated up for a while, the egg seemingly growing heavier the higher they went. The partial numbness in Ayn’s arms switched to a dull ache across her entire upper body.

A smell of hot saltwater and sulfur saturated the water near the peak, mixing with the scent of farm animals. Ayn let out a maniacal giggle. The place where they were supposed to throw the egg already smelled like boiled eggs.

“Stop,” Bren said.

His words were clear and commanding, although Ayn figured there was little else to expect from the son of a Crafter’s Guild. He’d no doubt commanded an army of underlings in his life. The idea of him commanding her to stock a warehouse sent a shock through her. She used the shock to drown out her growing discomfort. They were going to finish the floor, and the contract would never go into effect. She’d make sure of it.

“At the rate we’re going,” Bren said. “It will take about a minute to get to the geyser. There are no tunnels at the peak of the heat vent, but there’s still only a short distance between us and the nearest one.”

Kayara grunted. “So unless we speed up, we might get overrun by mobs.”

“Or we might be out of range,” Ayn said optimistically. She could almost hear Kayara rolling her eyes.

“Yeah. And maybe they’ll float up and give us a hand.”

“We’ll go faster, then. Try not to die, Bren.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Bren said.

Kayara grumbled something about suicidal plans. Ayn cut her off.

“If we get overwhelmed, or if someone’s life is in danger, we drop the egg. No questions asked. The System doesn’t make uncompletable quests, right?”

No one answered.

The ache in Ayn’s arms intensified, her fingers slipping in Kayara’s grip. Kayara gripped tighter and pushed, forcing them closer to the geyser and closer to what they hoped was the completion of the quest.

Ayn focused on Kayara’s hands and movements, willing her body to not slip up, not give out. If Kayara was feeling similar, she didn’t show it. Her hands held as tight as ever.

The smell of sulfur and saltwater increased, as did the heat on Ayn’s backside. A sinking feeling blossomed in her stomach. If they were supposed to throw the egg into the geyser, how were they going to do it without someone getting boiled alive?

“The goats are showing their faces,” Bren said. A hint of worry colored his voice.

More than a hint wormed its way through Ayn’s mind. They were still about thirty seconds from the geyser. Plenty of time for a Lamprey Goat to eat one of them before they arrived.

Not ten seconds later, Bren tripped through his fire song, transforming it into a rapid-fire mantra as the sound of sizzling water shot away. A goat bleated in distress. Six more bleats answered it. Ayn had seen only four enter the tunnels, which meant there were more in hiding.

“Kayara,” Ayn said. “We need to move faster.”

Kayara obliged without a word. Ayn yelped as the egg pushed forward, her chest slipping down the egg’s smooth surface. She caught up to the sudden momentum, putting so much effort into swimming backward, she wasn’t sure she was pulling the egg anymore.

More rapid-fire stanzas, fading as Ayn and Kayara got farther away, then a single, sharp curse from Bren.

“There’s more! How many are hiding in this thing?” He had forced bravado into his tone, but it didn’t quite cover up the quaver.

The heat on Ayn’s back had become almost unbearable. She twisted to the side, intending on bringing her, Kayara, and the egg sideways so they could hopefully toss the egg in without getting fried themselves. Kayara didn’t follow.

She let go of Ayn’s hands, pulled back on the egg, then chucked it, tossing it like a giant, oval basketball. Ayn watched in awe as the egg, which weighed at least twice what Kayara did, sailed through the air and disappeared into the mouth of the geyser, cutting off the stream of bubbles. All went quiet.

Ayn spun toward Bren and Sheyric. The Lamprey Goats had them encircled. A few of them looked like they were stuck in mid-strike, mere inches away from the spellcasters’ squishy bodies, yet not one of them moved. It was as if, in destroying the egg, they’d stopped time itself.

The geyser shook, and the spell broke.

All six Lamprey Goats darted back into their agitated home as the floor trembled around the party. The trembling intensified. Bubbles formed back at the peak, appearing and hovering in the water as their surroundings grew hotter.

Without thinking, Ayn grabbed Kayara’s hand and dragged her away from the mountain’s opening, barely staying ahead of the suddenly expanding sphere of bubbles that pushed out in all directions. The water within the sphere boiled and hissed, casting out a scent of sulfur strong enough to steal Ayn’s breath.

The mages still stood, looking dumbstruck, close to the peak. Ayn grabbed Sheyric’s hand as they passed while Kayara gripped Bren’s arm, and together, they retreated to the bottom of the mountain.

Ayn watched the silt floor as they closed in on it, wondering not only how it would feel to be boiled alive, but what exactly they’d done wrong. Boiling water seemed the perfect way to destroy an egg that couldn’t be cracked. So why?

Right before colliding with the silt floor, Ayn stopped and clenched her eyes shut to wait for her grisly end. It didn’t come. Instead, the heat on her back faded away. Kayara and Sheyric pulled free of her grasp.

“Look,” Sheyric said.

His tone didn’t carry any of the dread Ayn felt, feelings that intensified as she opened her eyes and looked up.

The geyser had gone quiet again and the boiling water had vanished. The Lamprey Goats had returned to sticking their heads out of their tunnels. Despite the distance from the bottom and the top of the geyser, Ayn could see every goat, because they glowed. Their horns, eyes, and gaping mouths shone in an eerie shade of electric blue. If Ayn had seen it elsewhere, she’d have thought it beautiful. Considering the source, it only sent chills up her spine.

With another shudder and a groan reminiscent of a pained animal, the geyser burped up the giant egg. The egg spun, each spot on its shell shining in the same electric blue as the goats, brightening up the water like an ominous lighthouse.

A vortex formed around the egg, enveloping it in a cocoon of of glowing, swirling water. The party stared at it in rapt silence. Kayara’s expression twisted into a mask of worry and fear, and Bren’s expression wasn’t much better. Ayn agreed with both of them and only hoped the light show spelled the last moments of the floor. They were all clearly done with it.

A resounding crack came from within the vortex. The electric blue lights blinked out, and the Lamprey Goats dove for cover as the vortex dissipated. The egg had grown. Now four times its original size, a jagged crack worked its way down one side, yet it still grew.

“Ayn,” Bren said. “You said the geyser would destroy the egg.”

Ayn kept focus on the egg, now five times its original size, now six. “That’s what I figured would happen. Who ever heard of boiling water making an egg swell?”

No one had an answer for her, and a howl cut their chance short. It started so low, the water vibrated, and Ayn braced herself for another quake, but then it grew higher, louder, until it reverberated in Ayn’s skull. She clamped her hands over her ears, but it did nothing for the rattling in her head. Around her, the others did the same as the howl wavered up and down in a lilting song that would have been kind of pretty if it wasn’t trying to liquify their insides. The howl hit a crescendo, then after a moment of blessed silence, a deafening honk rang out.

The crack along the side of the egg widened. The shell split and fell away.