— CHAPTER FOURTY —

  What Lies Below

  +Leo+

  "Oh, ah, oof!" The wind rushed out of my lungs as I slammed into the rocky ground, tumbling head over heels in the pitch darkness. Sharp edges jabbed into my sides as I rolled and bounced, completely disoriented. I couldn't tell which way was up or down anymore, my body spinning as if I were trapped in the washing machine from hell.

  Eventually, I came to a stop, battered, dazed, and splayed out on my back. Nearby, I heard Lily and the Captain groaning and coughing, sounding about as good as I felt.

  I felt around, searching for the ground, then, with a low moan, pushed myself up to a sitting position. I blinked several times, trying to will my eyes to adjust to the absolute darkness surrounding us, but I couldn't make out a thing.

  "Lux." Lily's voice said. A glowing orb popped into existence, illuminating the space. We were in a cave at the bottom of a treacherously steep slope, the walls slick with moisture and coated with strange mosses and fungi. Lily knelt beside the Captain, helping brush dirt and pebbles from his armor. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

  The boy held his head, his eyes swimming. "I feel woozy."

  "Sit here." She set him on a boulder, then stood and began exploring our surroundings, the orb following her. The cave was much larger than I thought. It ballooned outward from our landing spot to the point where her light couldn't reach the walls.

  She returned to the steep incline we'd tumbled down and attempted to climb it, scrabbling at the loose shale, but slid right back to the bottom on a shower of loose pebbles. I retrieved my mountain climbing gear and tried as well, but all the picks did was crumble away the good handholds. We weren't getting out that way - the only way to go was deeper.

  "Can you walk?" Lily asked the Captain.

  The boy stood, wobbling a moment before finding his balance. "Kinda."

  "Ok, you stick close to me."

  He nodded and clung to her robe as they walked into the cavern.

  I pulled up my inventory, resetting my axe to my belt and putting my sword into my main hand. Keeping it at the ready, I caught up and walked beside them.

  "Torches!" I slapped myself. "Of all the things I thought I'd need, I forgot torches! Hey, that light spell - how deep in the magic tree is it?"

  "Pretty early in Light Mage-"

  Suddenly, my foot passed through thin air. I pitched forward with a yelp of surprise as the ground disappeared beneath me. "Again?!"

  "Slowfall!" Lily cried.

  A whoosh of air rushed past me, then stopped. I felt myself drifting gently downward, too late to grab a ledge and pull myself back up. But as I descended, the darkness opened around me, and I fell majestically into a sea of lights.

  Clumps of luminescent moss coated the cavern ceiling far above, painting it with constellations of soft, twinkling light. Glowing tendrils of the stuff hung down like vines. Massive tree roots pierced the cave roof here and there, dangling into vast underground pools that mirrored the bioluminescent fungi spanning the twisting caverns. It was an alien forest of giant mushrooms, and it was... beautiful.

  My feet touched down on spongy soil. I heard Lily calling, her voice echoing through the chambers. "Are you alright?"

  "Yeah!" I shouted back. "It's safe! You're gonna want to see this!"

  Moments later, she came drifting down, the Captain cradled in her arms, lit by her glowing orb. They landed beside me and froze, staring out at the underground wonderland in stunned silence.

  "Wow." Lily breathed.

  "Yeah."

  Lily shook off her awe. "So... do you see a way back up?"

  I scanned the perimeter. "There's got to be one somewhere, right? Let's stay close to the walls - if there's a passage leading out, it'll connect there."

  She nodded, setting the Captain down and setting out along the wall.

  As we walked, the Captain kept glancing nervously into the glowing forest, hugging Lily's side to keep her between him and the unknown. "There's something watching us." he whispered, voice trembling.

  Lily drew her gladius but kept walking. "It's a game; there's always a mob nearby. Just keep moving; we need to find a way back up."

  I kept one eye on the tree line as we walked, straining to discern anything in the dim light. The soft, colorful glow of the mushrooms illuminated the rocks and pools well enough, but it was too diffuse to make out any specific objects against the pitch black background of the cave's far walls.

  And that flat lighting started to strain my eyes as we slogged onward. Minutes stretched into hours, and still the caverns twisted on. Just how far did these tunnels go? My legs were numb. My eyes ached. Exhaustion dragged at me. And still we had no visible sign of progress.

  The Captain stumbled and Lily caught him. The little guy looked dead on his feet. He couldn't go on.

  "We'll rest here." Lily announced, guiding him to sit on a flat boulder.

  I opened my menu and checked the time - almost 9 PM. I couldn't suppress a yawn. "Looks like we're not making it back to town tonight."

  Lily sighed and plopped down beside her brother. She brought out a sandwich and handed it to him. "You wouldn't happen to have any camping gear, would you?"

  "Yeah!" I said. "I've had to sleep in some rough places, and it never hurts to have a spare!" I got out my tent and two sleeping bags. Tossed one to Lily, one to the Captain, then started pitching the tent.

  Lily raised an eyebrow. "Just two bags? What about you?"

  I waved her off. "Nah, I'm good. Before I bought those, I once slept on bare rocks in a quarry. I'll live." I finished erecting the tent, then turned to Lily. "Hey, I've got some wood here. Could you light us a fire?"

  I spawned some of the planks I'd bought up in the city. Lily piled them up and snapped her fingers, igniting it with a flicker of magic.

  The Captain curled up in the tent, cocooned snugly in his sleeping bag. Lily and I sat by the crackling fire, basking in its warmth against the chill subterranean air.

  "I'll take first watch." Lily said.

  I leaned back and stretched. "Don't worry about that; it'll be fine. If a mob hasn't aggroed onto us yet, they never will. We're safe. ... Unless there's an anthropomorphic mushroom creature coming at us right now!" I turned dramatically, but there was nothing there but shadows and softly glowing fungi. I grinned at Lily. "See? Totally safe."

  She rolled her eyes but I caught a hint of a smirk. "Alright, Mr. Outdoorsman, if you say so."

  We sat in silence for a bit, just listening to the fire crackle and pop. Finally, I broke the quiet.

  "So... what brings you to the Woodsea?"

  Lily sighed and poked at the embers with a stick, sending up a swirl of glowing sparks. "Robbie wanted to see the trees. There was a picture in the newspaper the other day and he just wouldn't stop talking about it." She shook her head. "I figured a quick day trip wouldn't hurt, you know? Just walk around the city outskirts a bit. Nothing dangerous."

  "Yeah, this isn't exactly what I was expecting either. Nothing in the Protectorate's documents mentioned anything about this place! You know, we may even be the first people to come down here!"

  "So we'll be stranded down here until the rest of the playerbase catches up to our level and finds a way in." She frowned. "Great."

  "Aw c'mon, it won't be that bad." I reassured her. "If we don't find a way out ourselves by tomorrow, I'll message someone in the Capital and get some people looking for a way down from the top. We'll be fine."

  I glanced over at the Captain, completely conked out. Kid must've been exhausted. "So... are you looking after him all by yourself?"

  "What else would I do?" she asked.

  "Well, the Protectorate does offer childcare services."

  "I can't just dump him in the orphanage."

  "It's not an all-or-nothing thing; you could send him there during the days. Like school - is he enrolled?"

  Lily crossed her arms. "Is now really the time to be going over my parenting habits?" Her tone grew sharp.

  "Sorry, I didn't mean... It's just, I work with the Protectorate. I see and think about this stuff a lot."

  "You're Protectorate?"

  "Well, not officially - I volunteer with the Wiki team. You know, going out and gathering information. That's what I'm doing out here."

  "Oh." Lily looked down, poking at the dirt with her boot. "Well... I just... don't want Robbie to feel like I'm dumping him somewhere so I can go off and do my own thing. There's... so little for him to look forward to these days."

  "It's not necessarily a bad thing, though - there's plenty of kids his age at the school! He could make some friends there, give him something to be excited about. The class schedules are really flexible, too. They know things are... weird, for everyone. You're doing the best you can. They're doing the best they can to help. All I'm saying is, it's okay to ask for help sometimes. Raising a kid, especially in this situation - it's tough."

  She stared into the dancing flames for a long moment "Thanks. I'll think about it."

  I smiled back, hoping I hadn't overstepped too badly.

  "So what does the Protectorate want out here anyway?" Lily asked after a pause.

  "We had a hunch about a story beat - thought maybe there'd be some connection between the Citadel and this area. I was hoping to stumble across a hidden dryad village that, like... is home to the ancient guardians of the forest with some long-lost legend of the darkness that creeps into the world. You know, 'Long ago, we stood alongside the Goddess in a war against evil, eventually sealing it away. And now, it is returning.' But... I mean, I guess this is something to report back with, even if it's not the game's main story."

  Suddenly, a droning buzz of insect wings sounded from the mushroom forest, echoing strangely in the cavern. Lily sprang to her feet, gladius in hand, eyes scanning the tree line.

  I stood too, one hand hovering near my belt, ready to draw my sword at a moment's notice. There - a flicker of movement. "Behind that big mushroom!" I pointed.

  "Easy there! Don't mean to scare you!" a voice called out. A figure emerged from behind the fungal trunk, hands raised. It was a man - well, an NPC - in a roughly-sewn tunic that looked to be made of some sort of mushroomy pelt. His bare feet were caked with cave muck.

  "Saw the smoke from your fire." the NPC explained, lowering his arms cautiously. "Don't get many of those down here."

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I exchanged a glance with Lily. "Are you... local to this area?" I asked. "Do you know a way back to the surface? We're a bit lost."

  The mushroom man grinned, flashing a mouthful of missing teeth (mouth-empty?) "Oh sure, we've got maps back in the village! It's not far. You folks need a proper place to stay the night?"

  "Yes, absolutely!" I nodded vigorously, relief flooding through me. Judging by Lily's loosening grip on her sword hilt, she felt the same.

  She woke her brother up, and we packed up the camp.

  Our barefoot guide led us through the bioluminescent forest. Before long, a massive, jagged spire of rock loomed out of the darkness ahead, visible more as a hole in the glow of the forest than as a beacon of civilization. As we drew closer, I realized it wasn't just a natural formation - thick stone walls had been built around its base, forming a small fortress colony.

  We passed through a narrow gap in the defenses and emerged into a hidden village. Calling it ramshackle would've been generous. Small huts cobbled together from tied mushroom stalks and moss roofs were clustered along the ledges of the central rock spire, connected by a winding, narrow path that spiraled up the stalagmite. The only lights came from a sparse scattering of small lanterns with glowing mushrooms in them.

  The few dozen residents, all pale and scrawny, peered out at us from doorways and alleyways. They wore the same style of mushroom-skin clothing as our guide. Though they stared at us with clear curiosity, they seemed hesitant to approach, shrinking back if we met their gaze.

  "Things must be rough down here." I muttered, more to myself than anyone.

  Lily, however, had more pressing concerns. "Where's the tavern?" she asked, glancing around.

  Our guide shook his head. "Oh, we don't have one of those. But there's some spare space up in the mayor's place. It's better than out here."

  He lead us up the path that wound around the rock spire's edge. The higher we climbed, the larger and more elaborate the structures became - comparatively speaking. A few were even made of actual lumber with nails instead of giant mushroom bits.

  "Wood? How'd you get that?" I asked.

  "Well, when we first came to live down here, we had the tools to harvest some of the tree roots." the guide explained. "But over time, they broke down. We couldn't fix or replace 'em. These days, we don't have much metal left, so it's easier to just chop up the mushrooms."

  "Why don't you trade with the people in the city?" I asked.

  "Don't have anything to give 'em. No, it's just us forgotten folks down here."

  "Oh..."

  He led us to a wooden house high up on the spire. As far as I could see, it was completely empty inside.

  "Where's the mayor?" I asked.

  "Don't got one anymore." the guide said flatly. "Wait here, I'll get you a map."

  He shuffled out, leaving Lily, the Captain, and I alone in the desolate house. Lily and I explored the place, but there really wasn't much to see. Just a lot of empty space.

  "One bed." I noted. "I'll camp in the living room."

  The Captain huddled close to Lily nervously. "I don't like it here..."

  "Don't be classist, Robbie. They're just poor people."

  As we settled in, our guide returned. In his hands was a crinkled old map, which he spread out on the rickety table for us. The lines were hand-drawn in smeared, faded charcoal. He pointed a grimy finger at the northeast corner.

  "Closest way back to the surface is there, on the far side of the lake."

  I opened my menu and copied the crude directions onto my own map of the overworld. It only showed the surface, so I had to make guesses on size and distance.

  When I was done, I looked back at our host. "So... how long have you folks been down here?" I asked.

  He shrugged. "Ain't keepin' track of time no more."

  "How do you keep fed? I didn't see any pastures or livestock. Do you hunt? Or cultivate the mushrooms?"

  The man narrowed his eyes at me. "You ask a lot of questions, you know that? Lotta folk 'round here won't take kindly to that."

  "I'll keep that in mind."

  "I don't appreciate it either." He growled.

  "Oh, uh, okay then. I'll just get out of your hair..." I said, edging back.

  The man snorted. "This whole town is my hair." He pulled out a dirty, chipped straight razor and flicked it open, eyeing me with unsettling intensity. "I'm the barber, see?"

  I forced a smile. "Ah, no wonder everyone looks so... fashionable. Despite the, uh, conditions."

  "You folks have a nice night." the barber said flatly, then left.

  Once he was gone, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. "I'm with the Captain; this place gives me the creeps."

  Lily tested her weight on the dilapidated mushroom-leather couch, which sagged under her like a hammock missing its spreader bar. "You're free to leave anytime."

  "First thing in the morning."

  She stood, and the couch remained bent in a deep U-shape, like a green leather banana. "I'll agree to that."

  Lily tucked the Captain into the bed. Then she and I rolled out our bedrolls on the uneven floorboards. We laid down, but I couldn't relax, let alone sleep.

  After tossing and turning for a while, I sat up. "I'm going to take some pictures of this village for the Protectorate archives."

  She mumbled incoherently in reply.

  I stepped outside into the clammy night air. The village was draped in silence. I pulled up the camera function in my menu and snapped some distant shots looking out over the glowing fungal canopy that stretched to the dark horizon. The underground lake glimmered faintly to the northeast, matching the barber's map.

  Then I took a closer look at the lanterns. They were simple cages whose bases were filled with piles of mulch and decaying bugs and plant matter. One even had the desiccated remains of a rat half-buried in the mess with small mushrooms sprouting from its body. At that, I knew I did not have what it took to survive down there; these people had grit.

  Unsettled, I continued taking pictures of the village below me, but between the darkness and the camera's limited zoom, I couldn't capture much worthwhile detail. If I wanted clearer shots, I'd have to get closer. So I crept along as quietly as I could, climbing down to a small ledge that granted me a better view of the village center.

  I zoomed in as far as the camera allowed and rapidly snapped photos of each building, then shuffled sideways to capture them from another angle. They wouldn't win any photography awards, but hopefully they'd be enough for the Protectorate to glean some useful information about this mycological architecture.

  I wondered how many little settlements like this one there could be throughout the caverns. It wasn't a glorious place, but the fact that they were surviving down there by itself was impressive.

  As I turned to climb back up to the path, the sound of approaching voices gave me pause. Not wanting to explain why I needed so many pictures to the locals, my gut instinct was to hide. I pressed myself against the ledge, clinging to its rim.

  Two men walked into view - one of them was the barber. "Yeah, put 'em up in the old mayor's place." he was saying to his companion. "No way down from there."

  The other man nodded. "Good call. How do they look?"

  The barber shrugged. "Not much to look at. Bit scrawny, all three of 'em. But the man's got nice legs - I could bite into those haunches raw. They'll feed us all for a few days."

  I nearly lost my grip on the ledge. Did I hear that right? I wasn't sure how to react. ... Thank you? Maybe? I'd always thought my legs were a little pudgy, but it was nice knowing there was someone out there that could appreciate that. ... Even if they were a cannibal dwelling in a cavern about a mile under the wilderness.

  But more to the point, the two men were approaching the mayor's house, and I could see the glint of the barber's razor in the dim light. I had to warn Lily and the Captain!

  I scrambled up the ridge to the road behind them, but the sound of my hasty scuffling tipped them off. They whirled around, surprise quickly shifting to menace as they advanced on me, the barber with his razor and the other man with a stained stone meat cleaver.

  "What d'ya think you're doing out here, lad?" the barber growled, brandishing his razor.

  I glanced down at the long drop to the road below, then drew my sword with a hand that trembled only slightly. "Lily!" I shouted, hoping to wake her. "Lily, we've got trouble!"

  But there was no response from inside the house. I took a step back, right to the edge of the ledge, and leveled my sword at the two men. They kept coming, hunger gleaming in their eyes, pressing forward with determination against the wavering point of my blade.

  Suddenly, the door of the mayor's house burst open with a bang. Lily came charging out, Captain Galactic clinging to her back like a baby koala. She hurled a fireball at the cleaver-wielding man. It struck him square in the side, setting his mushroom-leather tunic ablaze. Flailing and shrieking, he tumbled right off the ledge.

  The barber retreated down the path, putting some distance between us. "We got a couple of live ones!" he shouted. "The meat is escaping!"

  From every nook and cranny of the village, a motley mob emerged, clutching rusty cleavers, bent hoes, and splintered rakes. They shambled up the path toward us, pale faces contorted with hunger, milky eyes gleaming with madness.

  "I think we're a bit outnumbered here, Lily." I said, backing up the path to join her and the Captain.

  "Stick close and stay focused." Lily replied, her voice tight with concentration. "I've got a plan. Robbie, hold on tight!"

  As the horde of cannibals pressed ever closer, we retreated steadily up the spiraling path, weapons at the ready. The mob was growing by the second, their mutters and groans rising to a fever pitch.

  The path narrowed as we neared the tip of the craggy stalagmite, until there was nowhere left to back up to. I looked at the end of the road behind us. "Whatever you're going to do," I said, my voice cracking slightly, "now would be good!"

  "Now!" Lily shouted. She took a running start and leaped right off the edge, Captain Galactic squeezing his eyes shut and clinging to her.

  I looked from the drop to the mob and back again, my stomach turning a queasy flip. Then, with a muttered prayer to any gods that might be listening, I jumped.

  For a second we plummeted, then Lily's voice rang out, strong and clear: "Slowfall!"

  Our plunge turned into a gentle drift. The mob's howls of rage faded as we floated out over the ramshackle village, the cool air of the cavern kissing my sweat-damp face.

  "Head for the lake!" I called to Lily. "I've got the map to the exit!"

  We touched down in the middle of the mushroom forest and hit the ground running, sprinting for the subterranean lake. As we reached the shore, I bent over, hands on knees, to catch my breath. The water stretched out before us, its still surface shimmering with a colorful layer of algae.

  Captain Galactic slid down from Lily's back, his little face pale but his eyes bright with excitement. "That was so cool!" he exclaimed, bouncing on his toes.

  "That's... one word for it." Lily chuckled, ruffling his hair. She turned to me. "So, which way to the exit?"

  I straightened up and pulled up my menu to look at my picture of the map, then paused. "Wait a sec. If those cannibals wanted to trap us, do you think they'd really give us a map to the real exit?"

  Lily bit her lip and glanced back toward the town. Without a word, she grabbed my wrist and pulled my menu closer, her eyes narrowing as she studied the map.

  "Let's go this way." she said decisively, pointing in a direction that led away from both the village and the supposed exit. "As far from them and their plans as possible."

  I nodded. "Lead the way."

  We turned and ran into the mushroom forest, the soft spongy ground muffling our footsteps. For several minutes we ran, ducking under massive caps and leaping over tangled roots. The angry shouts of the villagers had long since faded, but still we kept running.

  As we ran, I noticed the light around us starting to change. The cheery glow of the mushrooms was fading, replaced by a sickly purple hue. I slowed to a jog, then stopped entirely as I caught sight of a dark, viscous ooze pooling around the bases of the fungi. It was just like the reports from the Star Marsh.

  Lily had stopped a few paces ahead. "Do you see something?"

  But I barely heard her. I was already pulling up my camera, my heart pounding with excitement as I snapped pictures of the ooze. "This is it! This is what I came here for! One sec; I've gotta write down the coordinates!"

  As I hurriedly made notes on my map and aimed my camera at the cavern ceiling, trying to capture any distinguishing features that could guide future explorers back to this spot, I heard a small gasp from behind me. Turning, I saw the Captain poking at the ooze with a stick. The end of the stick dissolved with a hiss, and he stumbled back, hiding behind his sister.

  "What is this stuff?" Lily asked.

  "We're calling it 'corruption'." I told her. "It's got something to do with the lore - we think it's what turned the King evil. But what exactly it is, what it does, and what we need to do with it... that's what we're trying to find out."

  "Huh... The Protectorate's investigating this?"

  "Oh, they investigate any shred of information they can! This project's just a small group of volunteers. We want to be prepared for where the story's heading."

  As I spoke, something in the distance caught my eye. Through a break in the mushroom trees, I glimpsed a large crater, glowing purple streaks spiderwebbing outward across a patch of blighted land.

  "Whoa, look at that!" I breathed, raising my camera again.

  Lily followed my gaze. "What's going on over there?"

  I shook my head, snapping a series of pictures. "Who knows? But we can come back another time to find out. Right now, we need to get out of here and tell people about this!"

  We forged onward - and struck gold! We found a path that curved upward. Little more than a ledge winding its way around the cavern walls, it soon took us out of reach of the mushroom forest's light, plunging us into darkness. Lily summoned a floating orb of light with her Lux spell.

  Higher and higher we climbed, the air growing fresher with each step. And then, up ahead, I saw it - a pinprick of natural light. With a whoop of joy, I put on a burst of speed, Lily and the Captain right on my heels. We burst out of the cave and into the surface forest, the gargantuan Woodsea redwoods surrounding us.

  It was the middle of the night, but the moon was shining brightly. We found ourselves standing on an enormous root, on a platform of packed earth that had formed on top of it with a little pond and a couple young trees growing on it.

  I took a deep breath of the clean, pine-scented air and stretched my arms wide. I'd never noticed just how bright the night sky could be until I saw the stars gleaming through the gaps in the canopy.

  "Freedom at last!" Lily cheered, spinning in a giddy circle.

  Captain Galactic let out an enormous yawn. Poor kid was tuckered out.

  I consulted my map to get my bearings. "Looks like the city's about a mile that way." I said, pointing. "You want to hike it tonight?"

  Lily nodded decisively. "After all that, yeah. I'm wide awake, and I want the safety of locked rooms and city walls around us."

  "Fair enough."

  I walked to the edge of the massive root we were standing on and peered over. It was a good fifty foot drop to the forest floor below. I glanced back at Lily. "You can get us down from here, right?"

  She cast Slowfall on the three of us, and drifted down to the surface to walk back to town.

  As we walked, my mind raced, processing everything we'd seen. Absolutely incredible - a group of hostile NPCs. It was a dangerous precedent. Were they the 'numah' from the rumor? If they were, why would they have come up to the surface to attack that ranch? For food, I guess - carottes were a local delicacy, after all - but did the corruption have any effect on them?

  Questions for another day. I didn't feel safe going back down there alone. No, it was time to return to the Capital. This reconnaissance mission was a wrap.

  Next step: Assemble a team.