Ch. 2 - Death World (I) (Patreon)

His descent came to an end as the grey void suddenly vanished and he fell a few inches, finding solid footing. The first thing he noticed was the air – it tasted metallic, and the scent of sulfur reached his nostrils. Even breathing through his nose didn’t help as the rotten egg odor made him gag and throw up. Wiping his mouth he looked around. The desolate landscape he stood on was naught but cracked, black and brown earth. There were enormous craters and pits, and off to his left, a small mountain range that jutted upwards in jagged, uneven points – as if someone had ripped off the top of a soda can.

The sky was dark red and black. There were no stars, only the blackness of space above him and the red nebulas off in the distance. A cloud formation was floating to his right, and he saw purple and black lightning inside of the poofy, contrastingly happy white clouds. It doesn’t seem too bad.

He checked his phone which thankfully still worked and was at a decent charge. He set it to mute and put on a twenty-four-hour timer. The storm cloud came close enough that he made out a brackish-brown rain that descended on the land – and where it hit the ground, sizzling smoke poured upward. Acid rain? Who the heck made this place?

He ran towards the mountains as fast as his legs could take him, tightening his bag to not bounce around as much. Mountains meant caves. That meant shelter. He had to make it there. Glancing over his shoulder he saw the storm cloud rolling forward. He pulled off his bag and threw it away getting a little speed boost in the process. The air stung his lungs, and he wheezed as he ran.

It was enough. He made it to the mountains and saw a crack between some rocks with an overhang. He squeezed himself into the crevice and held his breath as the storm arrived less than a minute later. The splashing, acidic brown rain poured down in a cascade that scoured the land. He pushed himself back as a few droplets found their way into the crevice. He was able to push himself back far enough, and the overhang was wide enough that he was safe. He could feel his heart pounding, and he let out a hysterical giggle. I almost died! he thought.

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks dropped from a construction crane. He wasn’t on Earth anymore. He was…who knows where. How long had passed? Was he falling for centuries? More importantly, who was the System Administrator on the laptop?

All those questions rattled through his head, and he came up with no satisfying answers. At least for the lab coat people, he assumed they were trying to make some type of super AI. And he was the idiot they got to unleash it. Based on that blue text, the AI must have instantly realized there are more Universes. And, it made logical sense, that when the AI tried to access it, that drew the attention of whoever this Administrator was.

He crouched down, getting as comfortable as he possibly could, and shut his eyes as the rain rhythmically poured down from above.

A loud rumbling woke Felix up. He looked up to see a dim sky. The rain had cleared off or moved on, and he looked around for the source of the rumbling. It happened a second time, and he knew it was his stomach. He was ravenous. I don’t suppose there’s any food on a death world, he thought.

He extricated himself from the crevice and glanced around. The landscape was much the same as before, with nothing but cracked stone and dirt.

The wind was warm at least, which was a blessing since he was wearing light clothing. He knew the bigger issue would be water. He could survive for a few days without food and water, so he tightened his belt and decided to just knuckle through the discomfort. He glanced back at the crevice. It’s just twenty-four hours. I could hide there the whole time.

It made perfect sense. Why leave a good bolt hole behind? He stretched a little bit before he squirmed his way back towards the back of the crevice. But something felt different. The ground wasn’t as firm as the acid had eaten through the part he wasn’t tucked into. As he tried to shift his position, the rocks fell out from under him, and he slid down.

His knees and shins were scraped up as he tumbled down the scattered rock and into some cavern system. He ended up in a tumble at the bottom and groaned out of pain. Pushing himself up he examined his torn-up skin and sucked in a breath through his teeth. There was a little light coming from the crevice up above. I suppose this is the best I could hope for, given the circumstances.

He fumbled for his phone and pulled it out of his pocket, turning on the flashlight and scanning the darkened interior. The caverns looked like they were made intentionally. They were made of worked stone. Did I fall into some kind of buried complex? he thought.

Glancing back up at the hole, he grimaced. I could climb out. He considered staying put, just sitting next to the wall, and waiting for the timer to run out. He glanced at the timer app. Twelve hours left. I should stay here. It’s safer-

He heard a noise that scared the hell out of him. A deep, snuffling, and grunting noise. He’d watched nature documentaries before, he knew what bear sounded like, and this thing sounded very close to that; but more demonic and monstrous. And this thing was big. The deep, sonorous grunts and growls were all that he had to hear to confirm that assumption. He moved away from the crevice he had fallen into and down the tunnel, his meager phone flashlight the only source of hope in the dark.

As he went, he confirmed his suspicions that this was some type of submerged building. He was walking on a ceiling, as upside-down doors were on either side of him. He tried several in this long hallway, but they opened to caved-in rooms. At the last room before the elevator, one gave way to a most intact interior.

The room was dusty, and as he shone his phone’s flashlight into the room, he stifled a startled yelp. A humanoid body was lying on the ancient bed. Felix ducked out into the hallway and flattened himself against the wall before slowly peeking his head around. The figure did not stir. Okay. Calm down. It’s dead. It’s been dead a while.

He let out the breath he’d been holding and went back inside. The person looked like a human. It had a nose, eyes, ears, and two mouths – one on each side where the cheek would be. He couldn’t tell the gender – it was very androgynous. And the head was very familiar, like the Greys from old X-Files episodes. Is there anything valuable here?

He rummaged around the room and found several cracked pieces of some technology that he had no clue about and he set those aside. He also found a backpack-like container, and he shoveled all the weird tech into it. He looked at the corpse. I should say something, he thought.

Clearing his throat, he recited a simple prayer before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. I just looted an alien’s bedroom. The thought was a shocking realization that reinforced that he was far, far from home. The roaring noise echoed down the tunnel as the thing he had fled seemingly followed his trail. Oh, will you just piss off already!

Felix ran to the open elevator doors. Two cables extended down into the darkness. He took off his belt, looped it around his hand and the cable, and abseiled down – making good use of his rock-climbing practice from the university gymnasium. He descended a few hundred feet before he found the bottom – or top – of the inverted structure. The doors were open, and he walked into another tunnel. This one was not man-made, but rather a natural cavern system. He kept journeying onward, deeper, and deeper as the timer ticked down.

Just five more hours. He was checking his phone too much. The flashlight on its own was consuming enough battery. Just calm down. You went super deep, down a big shaft, there’s no way that thing could follow-

A roar echoed out down the tunnels behind him. That pushed him into a sprint as his animal instinct told him to run. His legs burned as he went deeper and deeper. Eventually, the cavern ended. There was a small crevice, and he could see a dim light beyond it. He exhaled as much as he could and launched himself into the gap despite his every instinct from watching caving videos gone wrong telling him not to do this. But he made it through.

He emerged in a hollow chamber. Stone columns were on either side, and a vaulted ceiling overhead echoed similarities with Greek temples. It was ancient, and he immediately knew that he had stumbled upon an ancient ruin of some type that was hidden for who-knows how long. The lighting was caused by some type of moss that grew on the ceiling. He walked forward cautiously, keeping his ears and eyes peeled for any sudden movement. But none came. The chamber ended with a small brazier that held a black, tarry substance. Waving a bit of it towards him, he got the distinct scent of tar or pitch.

You never forget that smell, he thought recalling his grandad’s boat and their fishing expeditions. He sat down on the small bench at the back and checked his phone. Four hours, he thought. Hopefully, it can’t fit in here.

He was panting from the sprint and still shaking from his body’s reaction to the sheer terror of being hunted. He crawled under the bench, put his phone away, and kept as silent as possible. If it’s tracking me with scent, the tar smell should help mask me being in here.

A few hours passed, and he heard horrific growls from outside. He pushed himself farther back until he was against the wall, silently pleading to anyone who would listen that whatever was making that noise – whatever horrible, death world monster was out there – that it couldn’t get in here.

Thirty minutes more and the creature seemingly moved off. Felix sighed and his body released the tension it had been holding on to.

“Congratulations.” The bored woman’s voice came back, seemingly all around him. “You survived a category one Death World for twenty-four hours.”

“Thanks,” Felix muttered as he crawled out from under the bench, turning off his timer. “Mind being quieter? I’m being hunted.”

“Oh, only you can hear me. Congratulations,” her voice still sounded bored. “Surviving for twenty-four hours has earned you your Versewalker Core.” Felix winced as a sphere of light appeared in front of him. It was nearly blinding, and it pulsed with a gentle warmth. It was crimson, and the edges were tinged golden. “Go ahead, touch it.”

“Will this get me home?” He asked.

“Eventually.”

Then I don’t have a choice, he thought, as he reached out and touched it.

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