The stench only increases as they descend, making their eyes water and bringing them almost to the point of gagging. The bottom of the stairs comes out in a large cavernous room. From the looks of it, the ones who built this place left the cavern just the way they found it with only minimal alterations.
The prickling increases to an almost painful degree as James reaches the end of the stairs. He pauses a moment before entering the cavern, gasping from the effect the area is having on him. Five feet from the end of the stairs, a dark pool begins, the same as had been depicted in the mural upstairs. The light from the orb doesn’t illuminate far enough for them to see to the other side of the dark water.
“This looks just like the pool you pushed in the mural to open the secret door,” Miko says when he enters the cavern.
James nods his head and replies, “That’s what gave me the idea. When I saw the mural, I figured we’d eventually find this.”
“What is it?” Jiron asks as he approaches it for a closer look.
“Don’t get too close,” James warns him.
Stopping a few feet from the pool, he wrinkles his nose as he turns back and says, “It’s the source of the odor.”
James just nods his head as he gazes around the cavern. Increasing the luminosity of the orb, he’s soon able to see to the other side of the cavern where the pool ends. Mirror black, it sits in the center of the cavern without even a ripple. The light from the orb isn’t reflecting off its surface either, more like it’s being absorbed.
Plunk!
A ripple begins to from in the middle of the pool where a stone had been cast into it. James quickly turns and grabs Miko’s arm as he’s about to throw another one. “Are you crazy?” he shouts at him.
Looking guilty, Miko drops the rock and says, “Sorry.”
“James, look!” Jiron exclaims as he points to the ceiling of the cavern, directly over the pool.
A crystal, enormous in size, hangs suspended several feet from the ceiling. It pulses a soft white light, almost like a heart beating.
“What is it?” Miko asks.
“That,” James explains, “is the source of the magic maintaining the barrier.”
“You sure?” he asks.
“Not entirely, as I didn’t create it,” James replies in exasperation. “But I can’t imagine it being anything else.”
“Now what?” he asks.
Turning to him, he says, “Miko, stop asking me questions. I can’t think of what to do with all of your interruptions.”
“Sorry,” he apologizes.
He begins to move around the dark pool as he tries to consider his next course of action. There’s nothing here but the pool and the crystal.
Coming back to where the others are waiting, he says, “Jiron, do you think you could hit the crystal with a stone?”
“Maybe,” he replies as he bends over and picks up a fair sized rock. “Isn’t this going to be dangerous?”
“I hope not,” he says. “I just want to see what will happen.”
He takes aim and then throws the rock toward the crystal with all his might. They watch as the rock soars upward and then is suddenly deflected away by a barrier when it nears the crystal.
“Thought so,” James says when he sees it being deflected.
“Then why have me do it?” Jiron asks.
“Now I know for sure,” he explains.
He stands there, staring up at the crystal as he considers his next course of action. Then from the corner of his eye, he catches a glimpse of a ripple out near the center of the pool. Turning to Miko he glares at him and says, “Stop throwing rocks in the pool.”
“I didn’t,” denies Miko.
Looking to Jiron, he sees him shaking his head. “Then what…?”
They all turn and look out to the pool. Four separate rippling formations can be seen in the water. “James,” says Miko with fear in his voice, “what’s going on?”
Staring out at the ripples, he replies, “I don’t know.” He gestures for everyone to begin backing toward the stairs as the ripples begin moving in their direction.
“James?” asks Jiron.
“I don’t know!” he replies vehemently, never once removing his eyes from the pool.
They pause a moment at the base of the stairs as they continue watching the ripples approaching the edge of the pool. When the ripples are a mere three feet away from the shore, something begins to emerge from the water.
In growing horror, James watches as a headless torso makes its way out of the water and begins shambling toward them. “Run!” he yells as he turns and shoves them, propelling them up the stairs.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, he pauses as he looks back down and sees the torso, along with others, reach the base of the stairs. Without pause, the lead torso steps onto the bottom step and begins climbing up after them.
“Up to the surface!” he yells as they turn as one and break into a mad dash for the next set of stairs.
They race up them to the upper level and then run down the corridors to the winding stairs which lead to the courtyard above.
Jiron is the first one to reach the stairs and takes them two at a time, Miko follows close behind. James reaches the stairs and begins to follow them up when Jiron stops suddenly and crouches down near the top. As Miko nears him, he grabs him and pulls him down as well.
“What’s wrong?” James asks as he comes up behind them.
Jiron motions for him to move up and join him at the top of the stairs.
He moves past a shaken Miko and settles down next to Jiron. Outside is dark, night had fallen while they were down below.
“Over there,” Jiron says as he points off to the right.
Looking in the indicated direction, James sees a ghostly apparition moving among the ruins. And then he sees another one. Scanning the entire courtyard he sees a dozen or more ghostly apparitions moving about, both men and women.
“What do we do now?” he asks.
Suddenly from behind them, Miko screams, “James!” as he shoves his way between them.
Looking at the bottom of the stairs, James sees one of the headless torsos from the pool. It steps upon the bottom step as it reaches for Miko.
James lets loose with a blast of power which knocks it back but fails to stop it. Blasting it again, he motions for the others to follow him back down. “If there’s only the initial four we saw coming out of the pool, we’ll have a better chance with them, than out there,” he tells them.
Jiron stands up as his knives appear in his hands. He moves down to meet the headless torso where it’s returning to the bottom of the stairs. Fear and revulsion war within him as he strikes out at it.
His knife strikes it, cleaving a long, deep wound across its chest. To his horror, he watches as the wound rapidly closes itself back up.
“They’re healing themselves,” he shouts back to James as he presses on with the attack.
Three more of the torsos come shuffling toward them from down the hallway. “Get back here!” James hollers to him.
Jiron back peddles as he hurries back toward the stairs, just as James lets loose with another bolt of energy which practically sizzles as it passes through the air.
When it strikes the torso, it’s blasted apart. Pieces fly back down the corridor covering a good six feet with torso chunks.
“Yeah!” hollers Miko.
The other three continue to lurch their way toward them. James is about ready to let loose with another of the bolts when he notices the pieces of the blasted torso begin to work their way toward each other. It’s almost like iron being drawn to a magnet. When two pieces touch, they come together and make one larger piece.
“There’s no way to stop them!” he cries, letting loose with another blast that takes out another one. But as with the first one, the pieces begin to work themselves together.
From behind James, Miko screams as he sees a ghostly apparition at the top of the stairs staring down at him.
James turns and sees the man there, his mouth moving as if he’s trying to say something. The apparition reaches out to try to grab Miko.
Miko screams again and loses his balance. He falls and begins rolling down the stairs, knocking both Jiron and James off their feet.
As James falls, he twists and lands on his back with a thud. The medallion bearing the Star of Morcyth slips out of his shirt.
Suddenly, a bright light erupts from the medallion. The shattered pieces of the torsos begin to smoke and then dissolve into nothingness.
Realizing the effect the light from the medallion is having, he grabs it and holds it up high as the light from the Star fills the corridor with a blinding light. The torsos moving toward them down the corridor begin smoking when the light from the Star touches them. Continuing to shamble toward them, the torsos begin smoking more and more. The corridor begins to fill with a nauseating smoke as they dissolve. When the last piece of the last torso has dissolved into nothingness, the light goes out.
“What did you do?” Jiron asks.
“I didn’t do anything,” James replies, staring in wonder at the Star he holds in his hand. “It happened all on its own.”
Miko looks up to the top of the stairs, but the ghostly apparition is gone.
“Follow me,” James says as he gets up and turns to head back into the complex. As he starts to move, Miko asks hysterically, “What’re you doing?”
“If this worked on the torsos,” he explains, “maybe it’ll work on the pool.”
“Will that get rid of the barrier?” Jiron asks.
Shrugging, James says, “I don’t know. Let’s worry about one thing at a time.”
As they proceed through the levels back down to the pool, they come across several other torsos shambling their way along the corridors. Each time, James holds up the Star and each time it blazes forth with life, returning the torsos to nothingness.
Growing in confidence, James hurries toward the cavern. Upon leaving the stairs and entering the cavern with the pool, he again holds the Star up high. Blazing forth with the most intense light it has yet produced, it infuses the entire cavern with its blinding brilliance. As the light touches the pool, the water begins to writhe backward, as if it was trying to get away from intense light. James walks slowly closer to the edge of the dark water, holding the Star out in front of him.
The water of the pool begins to roil and bubble, steam comes off of it, filling the cavern with its horrid odor. The stench, as bad as it was before is nothing compared to what is coming off of it now. Rot, decay, and death seem to fill the cavern as the steam continues erupting from the pool.
The light from the Star seems to keep the steam at bay, dissolving it as it did the torsos. Jiron and Miko stand shoulder to shoulder with James as the lake continues to hiss and boil wherever the light touches it. The steam soon becomes so thick that it’s as if they’re standing in the middle of a fog bank.
Suddenly, a torso lurches out of the fog and reaches out for them, but quickly dissolves into nothingness when the light from the Star touches it.
The Star continues to work its effect upon the pool, the level slowly dropping as more of it steams and dissolves away.
When the pool is close to being empty, from overhead they hear a high pitched noise which is increasingly growing in volume. Looking up through the fog, they see the crystal begin pulsating wildly. And then suddenly, a shattering crack as the giant crystal overhead explodes into a million shards that rain down over the entire cavern.
With the shattering of the crystal, the resistance from the pool vanishes and the light from the Star quickly destroys the rest. Once every last drop has been eradicated, the light abruptly stops and the cavern is once again plunged into darkness.
They stand in the darkness and James is about to make his orb when lights begin to appear all over the floor of the cavern. Ghostly apparitions begin to take shape.
Miko screams and James holds aloft the Star, but nothing happens. The ghosts all look to him, give him a slight bow and then begin to fade away. After the last ghost had faded away and the cavern is once more plunged into darkness, James creates his orb.
“What was that?” Jiron asks, referring to the ghosts.
“I think they were the souls of the people who had been sacrificed here long ago,” he reasons. “Though we may never know for sure.”
“Let’s get out of here!” Miko says, not wanting to spend another moment within this cavern.
“See no reason to stay,” agrees James. “I don’t feel anymore magic being worked here, the barrier may be down now.”
“Then what are we waiting for,” exclaims Miko as he shoves past James and moves quickly up the stairs to the level above.
Turning, James follows him up the stairs and they make their way back through the complex to the winding stairs that lead up to the surface. He pauses at the top and cautiously peers out into the courtyard. When no apparitions are apparent he motions for the others to follow him. “Looks like the spirits we saw were the ones who had been up here,” he says.
“I hope so,” Miko exclaims. “I don’t want to stay here any longer.”
“I agree,” Jiron says as he moves to the fore and leads them toward the northern skull pyramid they’d attempted to get around earlier.
They glance over to where the large skull pyramid had stood as they make their way through the courtyard. With the shattering of the crystal, it had collapsed and is now only a jumbled pile of skulls. When they reach the northern pyramid, they find that it too had collapsed, the skulls lying in a heap.
Jiron moves cautiously to where the barrier had been and holds his hand out, just in case. When he gets to where it once had been, his hand continues on through. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief and quickly moves to leave this area.
Hurrying on past, they travel through the swamp for an hour before deciding they’ve put enough distance between them and the ruins. Tired and exhausted they make camp and rest. They take turns keeping watch, and manage to make it through the night with no disturbances.
When Jiron wakes the following morning, he finds James sitting by the fire, staring at the crystal he found in the underground complex. “What are you doing?” he asks.
“Just thinking, is all,” he replies. “The ones who built that place had these everywhere, as well as the main crystal above the pool.”
“And?” he prompts him to continue.
“And there must be a reason, something about the crystals that made them important to whoever had lived there,” he explains. “I intend to figure it out.”
“I’m sure you will,” he says as he gets up off the ground. “I’m going to see if I can’t scare up some food for breakfast.”
“Don’t bother,” James says as he motions over to several dead animals with holes in them. “I already got something, if you wouldn’t mind preparing them?”
Shaking his head, Jiron says, “No problem.” He goes over and begins skinning and preparing them for the fire. As he prepares them, he continues glancing over to James as he stares at the crystal.
When the animals are over the fire and roasting, the smell awakens Miko. “Finally up I see,” Jiron says to him.
Miko doesn’t reply, just goes to the edge of camp and answers the call of nature. Upon returning, he says, “James, why did your medallion act the way it did?”
James glances over to him and then returns the shard to his pouch. Turning to face him, he says, “The Star of Morcyth is a symbol of a god. Where I come from, it’s often the belief that religious symbols have some effect upon the dead or half-dead. Often it’s based upon the strength of the faith of the one wielding it. But I don’t worship Morcyth, so I’m not exactly sure why it did what it did.”
“Maybe it’s no ordinary medallion,” Jiron says from where he’s turning the spits over the fire. “Just where did you get it, anyway.” When James hesitates to answer, he says, “I think we have a right to know, after what we’ve been through.”
So James relates the events after he’d come to this world. Miko is astounded that James claims to be from another world and has had dealings with gods or whatever Igor is.
“He had said not to lose it, that I might need it,” he tells them. “I guess he was right.”
“Incredible,” Jiron says. “And you still don’t know why you were brought here or what you should do?”
Shaking his head, he says, “No, but I’m figuring it to have something to do with the god Morcyth.”
“That makes sense, since you were given his medallion,” Jiron says as he nods his head. “And that’s why you were in the City of Light?”
“Yeah, I was there looking for the last high temple to Morcyth, which we found as we fled,” he says. “But that didn’t answer any of my questions. When I talked with Ollinearn, he’d said that the last high priest had been born in Saragon. I had thought maybe to go there next, but it’s currently in the hands of the Empire. So I’m not really sure what I’ll be doing next.”
“I’m sure something will come up to tell you,” Jiron assures him. “They’re not going to have brought you here just to let you cool your heels.”
Smiling, James says, “Probably not.”
“Well anyway, breakfast is ready,” he announces as he hands each of them a skewer. As they take the offered food, James sits back and relaxes, unable to get the events of the last few days out of his mind.
They sit in silence as they eat, just happy to be out of the complex and on their way again. Jiron wonders what’s going on with his sister and the others they’d left back at Al-Kur. He’s anxious to meet up with them when they reach Trendle, and is sure she’ll make it there safe. The pit fighters had given their word to see her safely there.
As he eats, he also contemplates James and what he’d just been told. Fantastic to say the least, the story would hardly seem plausible but for the events he’d been party to since joining with him. What happened back in the underground complex lends credence to it all.
“What are we to do now?” he asks James.
“Remember that mural we saw back in the ruins?” he responds. “The one showing the countryside?”
Jiron and Miko both nod their heads, and Jiron says, “Yeah, I remember.”
“It looked like the main waterway that flowed near here will lead to a lake nestled up in the mountains,” he says. “I figure if we go that way, we might avoid any Empire forces which may be on the lookout for us.”
“Maybe,” he replies. “At least it’s going north.”
James nods, “That’s what I was figuring too. Since the swamp has been free of their patrols thus far, if we stay within it then we should be able to make it north without detection.”
“Then what?” he asks.
“Then we just see what our choices are as they present themselves,” James says. “Not much else we can do.”
Miko sets his skewer and what’s left of the carcass on the ground as he gives out a large belch.
James glances to him and smiles, “Ready to go?”
Patting his stomach, Miko says, “Yeah.”
Jiron takes a few more bites of his and then tosses it off to the side as well. Standing up, he begins kicking dirt upon the fire until it’s smothered.
James looks to him and says, “Lead on.” Grabbing his walking stick for support, he shuffles along after Jiron with Miko right beside him. His leg and side still hurt considerably but he manages to maintain a quick pace.
They begin to head toward where the waterway flows past the complex and shortly arrive next to its bank. Jiron turns to follow it as he leads them north, keeping the river to their left.
As they move north, the state of the vegetation quickly improves until there’re no signs of the withering that had been evident nearer the complex, much to everyone’s relief. Having to forge their way through the undergrowth, not to mention maneuvering around stagnant pools of water, doesn’t allow them to make great time and they soon have to stop for the night.
James’ leg and side are hurting abysmally bad, and it’s all he’d been able to do the last few hours just to stay upright. When they finally stop to make camp for the night, he collapses. The others allow him to rest as they go about building a fire and acquiring some food for dinner. After he’s eaten his fill, he promptly falls into an exhausted sleep.
Jiron and Miko take turns that night in keeping watch, allowing James to sleep the night through.
When morning dawns, they have to wake him up once they’ve gotten breakfast ready. His leg and side are still throbbing badly, and he’s afraid they’re becoming infected. But when Jiron examines them, he says they’re healing fine. Relieved, James takes the offered food and begins eating ravenously. He’d been worried about infection, not having any antiseptic or anything.
Even after eating, he’s still feeling weak, tired and hurting badly. But somehow he’s able to bring himself to his feet though he still leans heavily upon his walking stick. With Jiron taking the lead, they continue moving north along the waterway.
Ever since the morning, James has noticed how the life of the swamp has begun to return. Back when they were by the complex, there’d been no birds or any other sign of life. But since they’ve left it far behind them, the sounds of the swamp have begun to return. Off in the distance, they can hear the cry of the rhino-lizard. James is glad that it is far off, they’re not in any shape to defend themselves from an attack.
When the bugs and mosquitoes become unbearable again, he coats them with another dose of the noxious bug repellent. The stench doesn’t bother them nearly so much, now that they’ve been around it for so long.
Much to everyone’s displeasure, they’re still in the swamp when night falls. They find a suitable stretch of land to make camp upon and Miko begins to build a fire while Jiron goes in search of food.
James feels a little better than he did earlier in the morning, the day’s walk seemed to have worked out most of the kinks.
After dinner, when Jiron and Miko begin talking about standing watch, James offers to take the first couple of hours.
“Are you sure?” Jiron asks him. “If you need rest, then rest. If something should happen, we’ll need you strong, not weakened from lack of rest.”
“Yeah James,” Miko adds. “Your leg needs to heal, so rest.”
“I appreciate your concern,” he tells them, “but I’m not really that tired right now. So I’d just as soon take a turn. I feel bad when you two stand watch and all I do is rest.”
Jiron looks at him a moment and then shrugs, “If you feel up to it, alright. You take the first watch.” Turning to Miko, he says, “You take the midnight watch and I’ll finish it off.”
Miko nods his head as he lies down and says, “Sounds good enough to me.” He glances over to James and says, “Be sure to wake me when it’s my turn.”
“I will,” James assures him. Then he makes himself comfortable as his fellows settle down to sleep.