16 – Lakefront Property

Andy stalked the darkness, crouched low, spear forward, ever vigilant for the bright glow of living creatures. He could see the gray-scale outline of the tunnel—the walls, floor, and ceiling. He could see bits of debris or rubbish, such as tufts of grass, scraps of cloth, and even bones. The ammonia scent of urine was heavy in the air as he reached the first junction, and when he looked to his left, he saw why: a square room, perhaps twenty feet by twenty, lay in that direction, and it was packed with dried grass, wads of dander, and piles of what he assumed were rat droppings.

Andy pulled his shirt up over his nose, then turned to examine the right-hand passage. The tunnel continued into the distance, curving gradually to the left. He cancelled his Unseen Stalker spell and then waited for the others to approach. As Jace closed the distance, Andy gestured to the filthy room. “Rat bathroom or something.”

“Sick!” Bella said, making a gagging sound as she put her sleeve over her nose.

“Andy, let me see your magical waterskin,” Bea said.

Andy pulled it off his belt, handed it to her, and watched as she unscrewed the top. A moment later, he felt a surge of mana emanate from her, and then she sprinkled some water toward the messy room. To everyone’s amazement, it sparkled in the air with shimmering blue light, expanding into a fine mist that spread toward the corners of the room, slowly falling onto the urine- and feces-laden grass. Almost immediately, the stench receded, and the air lost its oppressive nature.

“A cleansing spell,” Bea said, beaming at everyone as she handed Andy back his waterskin.

Bella lowered her arm, took a deep breath, and then laughed. “That’s amazing! You’re better than Gandalf!”

Jace looked at her sideways. “You really are a nerd, aren’t you?”

“And proud of it,” Bella growled, slapping the flat of her naked sword into her palm.

Andy looked past her to Lucy, who wasn’t smiling along with the rest of them. “Something wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing new—just that feeling I’ve had…”

Andy nodded, then held a finger to his lips. “We should get quiet. I’m gonna scout ahead again. I don’t see a junction, so just follow me after a minute or so. I’ll stop if I see any side passages.”

Everyone agreed, and Andy started forward again, silently pulling his mana out of the pool at his core and recasting Unseen Stalker. He crept down the path, around the gentle bend, and in his enhanced vision, it was easy to see that the tunnel widened. As he advanced, he glanced over his shoulder but didn’t yet see the others. He figured they were still rounding the bend in the tunnel.

He continued, crouched low, and then he caught his first glimpse of something alive. It moved too quickly, darting from left to right, for him to positively identify it, but he thought it might have been a giant rat. He crept forward, very cognizant of the fact that the rats had seemed to sense him before, despite his Unseen Stalker spell.

When he approached the spot where he’d seen the movement, he saw that the tunnel opened into a larger space, and he froze when his enhanced vision began to pick out details. Despite the lack of color, he could make out shapes with perfect clarity, and, for the first time, it seemed like the space ahead was natural—not carved by the System out of sandstone. He saw stalactites hanging from the soaring ceiling and rough stone shapes on the ground. In addition to what he saw, his ears picked up the sounds of dripping water and…something else he couldn’t put his finger on—a low rustling.

The first thing that came to his mind was Bea’s quest. She was looking for “corrupted” water, and there seemed to be a body of water ahead. From his vantage, he couldn’t see anything that glowed with heat—nor anything cold. He crept forward. As he neared the tunnel mouth, he brushed the tip of his smoke-clad spear against the stone inadvertently. As it scraped, making a sound that might as well have been a gong-strike in the silence, Andy froze again, staring ahead.

As he’d feared, he wasn’t the only one who’d heard his fumble. A glowing, bipedal shape stepped into view, its bright eyes peering toward the tunnel. Andy stared back, waiting to see if it would notice him, but the creature—person?—looked away after a few seconds, padding quietly to the right, deeper into the cavern. Andy crept forward, watching as the space ahead expanded.

Slowly, as he peered through the opening, a body of water came into view. It was large—like a small underground lake—and in his Smoke Sight, it shimmered in a deep, purple-blue that looked almost magical. Situated near the shore of the water, behind a jumbled pile of boulders, was a small hovel-like structure. In his enhanced vision, it appeared to be a mud-walled hut with bundles of branches tied together to form a roof. The bipedal creature Andy had seen was squatting before it, tending a small fire.

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Andy sniffed, shaking his head. He didn’t smell any smoke. Either it was a magical flame or a powerful draft was pulling the smoke away from the tunnel. Andy hunkered there, peering into the cavern, scanning from left to right and back again, but he didn’t see anything else of note. Convinced he’d seen what he needed to see, he turned and hurried up the tunnel toward the approaching white glow of Bea’s lantern.

As he drew close, he cancelled his Unseen Stalker spell, and Jace grunted in alarm. “You scared the shit out of me!” he hissed.

Andy held a finger to his lips, nodding. “Sorry,” he whispered. He looked past Jace to Bea and Lucy, and Bella, who peered over Lucy’s shoulder. He motioned for everyone to gather close, and when Bea got near, he reached down and carefully turned the wick down on her kerosene lamp so the flame nearly went out, reducing the bright glowing ball in his Smoke Sight to a much smaller, dimmer one.

“I can barely see!” Lucy whispered.

“Sorry. Just listen.” Andy leaned forward, beckoning everyone closer, until all their heads were inches apart. “There’s a cavern ahead, and there’s a big underground lake in it. There’s a, uh, hut there, and I saw something—it might be a person—in front of it.”

“Just one?” Jace asked.

Andy nodded. “I think so.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Bella asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“Let’s all sneak up to the cavern, then I’ll go flank the guy. You guys can approach with the light and try to talk to him. I mean, assuming it’s a him—I really don’t know. Anyway, if he gets violent, I’ll be ready to surprise him.”

Jace nodded. “Good plan in case there’s more of them, too.”

Andy looked from the big, dark-eyed man to the others. “Any arguments?”

Bea reached up to put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Just don’t attack unless you must.”

“I won’t.” He took a deep breath and then nodded, blowing it out through his nose. “Okay, let’s go.” Andy turned and started to creep forward, scanning ahead to ensure the creature or person hadn’t entered the tunnel while they’d been conferring. The tunnel mouth was still clear, and when he reached it, he paused, waiting for everyone to catch up. When they were all there, he pointed to himself, then into the cavern, and Jace nodded.

Andy cast Unseen Stalker, then crept out into the larger, open space, watching his footing to ensure he didn’t kick any rubble or other debris. The humanoid figure was still squatting before its little fire, back to Andy, so it wasn’t hard to creep around to the other side of the hut.

Andy was confident in his spell’s ability to hide him, because when the creature had looked right at him in the tunnel, it hadn’t seen him. Emboldened by that, he crept close to the hut, inching his way around it until he could peer past its damp, mud-like wall, straight at the creature where it huddled over its fire.

That was when Andy realized it wasn’t a “creature,” but rather, a small man. He came to that conclusion when he noticed some wire-framed glasses on his flat nose and saw that he was bald. Everything was gray-scale, but those details were clear enough. Moreover, Andy could see that he was wearing a jacket with a high collar. Before he could think about how he ought to react to the new information, he heard Jace clear his throat and saw the man whirl.

“Wh-who’s there?” The stranger held a hand to his eyes, peering into the dark.

“Yo,” Jace said, striding forward, followed by Bea and the others. As he spoke, Bea increased the wick length on the lantern, and the bright ball of white light bloomed in Andy’s vision.

The little man stood up, clutching at his belt, and Andy saw him grab a knife. “I don’t want any trouble!”

“Well, don’t threaten me with a knife, then,” Jace growled, hefting his heavy, spiked club.

“I-I’m not threatening you. I just…” He sidestepped toward the lake. “You shouldn’t come closer. There’s, um, something wrong with me.”

“What’s wrong, young man?” Bea asked, holding the lantern high. Frustrated by his inability to see details under the influence of his Smoke Sight spell, Andy cancelled it, figuring the lantern must be shining on the guy by now. As the shadows suddenly pressed down on him, obscuring the vast cavern from view, Andy’s field of view narrowed to the pool of light the lantern threw, overpowering the little campfire.

He could suddenly see the little man in perfect, colorful detail, and he sucked in his breath. He was a man, but where Andy had thought he was bald, he now saw that his head was covered in rough green scales, and his hands were similarly scaled with fingers tipped by sharp, black claws. Andy couldn’t see his face, but judging by the intakes of breath and soft curses from the others, he had a feeling it wasn’t any better.

“Hey,” Jace said, his voice suddenly sympathetic. “Take a look at me, man. You’re not the only one that shit’s happening to.”

“How’d you get in here?” Bella asked, stepping forward with her sword held low, its point down.

The man pointed toward the lake. “Damn sinkhole up on River Road. No clue how, but I washed down an underground river and got spit up here.” He tucked his knife under his belt. “Do you mean it? You folks aren’t freaked out?”

“Oh, child,” Bea said, stepping past Jace. Andy tensed, ready to act as she continued, “I don’t know what you’ve seen since the System came, but you’ve much to rejoice in if you can still speak like a normal person.”

“She’s not lying,” Jace added. “Most of the people who changed turned into monsters. They don’t speak, or if they do, not in a way we can understand.”

The man watched as Bea and Jace both approached, but then Andy, watching closely, felt the telltale rush of mana gathering and saw a strange, purple cloud of motes begin to gather around the scaled man’s right fist. Suddenly, he remembered the reptilian man he’d fought in the desert, the one who’d sprayed him with poisonous acid. This spell looked different from that one, but it was a spell, and there wasn’t any good reason for the guy to be casting it all of a sudden.

Those thoughts passed through Andy’s mind in a flash, and he decided to act. He darted forward, using every ounce of his supernatural speed. In the span of a single heartbeat, he’d closed the distance and pressed the razor-sharp tip of his spear into the man’s lower back—not hard enough to convey his caustic smoke enchantment, but sufficient to let the guy feel the pressure through his jacket.

“Don’t do it,” Andy growled, and then all hell broke loose.