Rin's Adventures Chapter 31

Rin’s Adventures Chapter 31

The ten armor suits and Rin made their way down Frost Peak in single file. A heavy storm had settled over the peak, sending roaring winds and driving snow against them every step of the way. “Visibility down to five meters,” Dren reported. “Sensors are having trouble penetrating the storm. Winds must be picking up metallic dust from the far side of the mountain.”

“I can’t sense any creatures near us,” Rin said. Her ice magic was only growing stronger in the presence of such massive amounts of cold and snow. “Even the worst predators wouldn’t want to be out in this.”

“Then what are you doing out here?” Dellman asked.

“Ask yourself that question; you’re the one who likes hunting creatures aren’t you?” Rin replied.

“Cut the chatter,” Falcon snapped. “Save the quips until we’re out of this mess.”

As the group slowly made their way down the mountain, the wind and snow gradually relented their bombardment. The massive trees of the forest loomed out of the white, and Rin pulled all the cold energy she could within herself before they left Frost Peak behind. Falcon’s suit led the way, the tracker vine held in one hand. He began turning in a slow circle until it began pulsing. “That way,” he said.

“You know, I could carry that for you,” Rin suggested. “Then you’d have both hands free if something attacks us. I only need one hand to use any of my weapons.”

“Good idea,” Falcon replied, handing the vine fragment over to Rin so he could hold his suit’s rifle in both hands. “Take point Rin.”

“Yes Sir!” Rin moved ahead of the armor suits, keeping far enough in front that they didn’t step on her tail. The trees gradually began getting denser, causing less light to shine down through the canopy. The dimming light cast the branches and vegetation in patterns of dark green and black. Animal noise steadily dropped off, until the only sounds were wood crunching under metal feet and Rin’s tail. The bright, healthy vegetation gradually began to wither, leaves growing with spots of black mold and tree trunks dotted with tendrils of rot.

“This must be the border of the Dead Wood Terra told us about,” Falcon said.

“I can feel something in the air,” Rin spoke up. “It’s like the local magic is sick. I can’t explain it to you very well, but I can sense the same rot you can see in the trees. It feels like slime collecting on my skin whenever I reach out to it.” She glanced at Dellman’s suit, knowing the quip he had ready, but to her surprise he kept silent.

The team lapsed into silence as they continued on. Many trees now stood bare of leaves, their bark and branches covered with blotches of the sinister black mold. Tendrils of fog began creeping along the ground. Despite the sun overhead the light continued to fade. “We must be getting close, I can almost taste the dark magic in the air,” Rin said.
The fog thickened with every forward step, until it blotted out the sun completely. Rin struggled to see the ground in front of her tail. “We could get separated in this.”

“Suits, cable hook-up,” Falcon ordered. Each armor suit extended a cable from their waist which linked to the suit in front of them. “Rin, take my cable and secure it around you.”
“Got it,” Rin said, taking the head of the cable and freezing it to her tail with a patch of ice. The tracker was pulsing stronger now. “We’re still on track.”

As she continued forward, Rin suddenly felt as if she had stepped through a spider web, but nothing came away in her hands. Her head felt strange, as if she was turning in a circle standing still. She focused on the vine in her hand and slowly moved forward. “We just hit a spell barrier,” she warned. It’s messing with our sense of direction.”

By now the fog was so thick Rin could not see her own hand in front of her face. No sound was audible, even the movement of her tail. If it wasn’t for the cable frozen to her waist she would have been completely lost. A magical chill went down her spine, as if the eyes of something huge were fixed on her. The fog seemed to move as though invisible creatures were moving through it, swirling and parting almost at random. One moved just to her right and on instinct she fired an icicle, but the ice weapon passed straight through where it had to have been. Charging more of her ice magic into another shot, Rin fired again. This time when the icicle passed through the gap in the fog it illuminated a naga, causing Rin to gasp. The naga was barely visible even with the magical illumination, but it didn’t react to being hit. A great gash covered her chest, showing broken ribs and her insides. Pain so intense Rin could feel it was visible in its eyes for the half second before it moved on.

Rin fired two more magical strikes, and each illuminated another creature; a naga and a dridder. Both displayed horrific injuries, and both ignored her completely. “Ghosts,” she whispered. The passage of the ghosts filled the air with even more dark magic, and she saw the tracker vine begin to wilt. “We have to hurry,” she said as she followed the cable back to Falcon’s suit. “The dark magic is causing the tracker to wither. We don’t have long before it’s useless.”

“All right, but keep your senses peeled Rin. My sensors can’t pick up much beyond five meters, so if you run into anything or anyone give two sharp tugs, three if it’s hostile then drop down and we’ll waste it.”

“Understood,” she saluted and moved forward as quickly as she dared. The ground started to shift from dirt to stone, and fragments of bone and rusted weapons became visible. The feeling of being watched was even stronger now, and Rin had to fight to keep moving forward. Whatever this Primordial was, its magic was strong enough even through its seal to force Rin to draw on the ice in her soul to keep moving forward.

After what seemed like hours, but with the decaying tracker could have been no more than a minute the mouth of a cave loomed ahead, twice as tall as Rin and made of stone as black as a starless sky. Touching the stone nearly made her scream as the flesh of her fingers and palm felt as though they were frozen and burning at the same time. The remains of the tracker turned to dust and fell between her fingers. “This has to be it,” she said, her words sounding ten times as loud as normal to her ears after the silence in the fog. One by one the armor suits came into view.

“So this is what the damnation realm looks like,” Dren said. “I always thought it’d be brighter and with more flames.”

“That could be what’s inside,” Rin replied. “We should keep connected in case there are more redirection spells inside. I’ll do my best to counter them, but my magic may not even work in there.”

“Then keep your pistol ready,” Falcon suggested. “Whatever’s in there might not have seen its like before.”

“Right,” Rin swallowed, and then took her first move inside the cave mouth. Instantly the temperature seemed to plummet, but it didn’t invigorate her. Instead her ice magic seemed to curl up inside her as if it was afraid to touch the surrounding air. Crimson runes flared to life along the cave wall, and each seemed to carry screams which drilled into her head. Pleas for mercy and cruel laughter filled her mind, drowning her own thoughts under their mental weight. Reaching deep within herself, Rin found the serenity she had touched before, and plunged her mind into it. Shutting out all emotion seemed to quiet the screams, and Rin hoped her aura would reach the other suits. The runes flared brighter as if angered by her refusal to bow to their assault.

A rustling up ahead drew Rin’s attention as a wall of vines blocked their path. Cracked bones littered the ground in front of them, and barbed ends emerged as they sensed warm bodies approaching. “We’ll have to deal with these things.” She fired a burst of ice magic at the vines, but it fizzled out before reaching them. A second, stronger burst reached the bards, but only one froze and dropped it to the floor.

“Let me take a shot,” Decker said as his heavy suit moved forward. “Fire in the hole!” A pair of missiles streaked out and sent a wave of stone shards and pulped organic matter down the cave. Rin shielded her eyes, and when she opened them saw that the vines were gone. Black ichor leaked down the soot streaked walls from openings in the stone. “Vines against HE missiles equals no contest.”

“Let’s keep moving,” Rin said, her voice devoid of any emotion. The walls of the cave now seemed to be vibrating, as if the vines had triggered something else, but nothing came out to attack them.

After what seemed like days to Rin, the tunnel opened up ahead. A truly massive chamber spread out before them, the air split by the cracking of a crystal lake in the middle. The force of the presence she had been feeling increased by an order of magnitude as Rin moved forward, driving her to her hands. It took ten beats of her heart to get back up, struggling as if against a strong wind.

“I wondered if you’d manage to find your way here,” a voice called down from above, and Rin’s emotionless state cracked as she saw the being that had once been Kiki descend. Her armor was covered in black crystal growths, and she carried a corroded blade in one hand. Veins in her face and arms spread like black vines across her skin, illuminated by the dark crimson glow of her eyes. “The other naga must have survived long enough to tell you the location of this place. The fact that you penetrated the Fog of The Lost is a surprise, but no matter. It will be good to have witnesses to my rebirth into this world.”

“You won’t be doing anything like that,” Rin said, drawing the ice of her soul back into its dormant state. “I’m going to free Kiki from your control, and your prison will remain just that!”

“Always the optimist,” Kiki sneered. “Predictable and futile as any action would be at this stage. My prison is failing as we speak, and my powers return. If you surrender and beg, I may allow you to be my slaves.”

“Not gonna happen!” Falcon said as he fired a barrage from him rifle. Kiki raised her hand and the bullets were reduced to ash before they could get close.

“Pathetic,” Kiki smirked as she sent a ball of black flame which knocked Falcon’s suit to the ground. “I could kill all of you right now, but that would be no fun. I have been locked away for so long, and I could use some sport when I break free.”

“And it would be a shame to not let your fear build when you see the face of a god,” a second voice chuckled as an armored dridder emerged from the shadows. “How kind of you to get here just behind me, though I wish I’d met you in the fog.”

“YOU!” Rin shouted as Eshka came into view. “I’d hoped we’d seen the last of you. How’s the hip, still a big frostbitten,” she smirked.

“You’ll pay for that,” the dridder scowled. “I intend to make you watch as I drain every drop of blood from your pathetic little body. I promise you I will enjoy every scream you make.”

“Not today,” Dren said as he fired, his rounds slamming into Eshka’s midsection. Her armor took the blows but cracked under the force.

“Nice try,” Eshka spat a stream of acid which melted the barrel of Dren’s rifle. “My strength has doubled since our last meeting, and this time your fire friend is on my side.”

“Let’s see which melts first, the metal of your allies or your resolve when you hear their screams,” Kiki grinned, the black veins in her face expanding as her teeth showed.

“Not just yet,” a low voice called from the cave tunnel. “A play cannot begin until all the players are assembled.” Clicking forward on armored legs, a second armored dridder came forward. Her eyes glowed a familiar deep green, as did the blade of her polearm. “I didn’t expect to see you lot in this place, but it is a welcome surprise. Now, the end can begin.”