Marcus crawled on his stomach through the narrow space, barely high enough for him to lift his head off the ground. Layne and Arminius followed behind.

  They managed to evade the machine horror just in time.

  After inching along for what felt like miles, they reached an outlet to the crawlspace. Absent a grate, it led to a room with a winding stairwell reaching into the depths.

  Marcus pulled himself from the hole and flopped out, landing feet-first hard on the concrete floor. After recovering, he turned and reached to help Layne and Arminius down. Looking over the metal pipe railing, the stairwell seemed to go downward forever, lit with a dark red hue like the hallway from where they had just escaped.

  The three stood in a circle. Exhausted, Marcus leaned forward and held his thighs, arms trembling. "Now what?" He said, out of breath. His voice echoed in the depths.

  Arminius pressed his finger against his lips once again and leaned over the railing.

  A silence fell on the stairwell. The Myrmidon looked around, searching for sound. After an eternity, Arminius leaned in close to them. "There's more than just one of those things." He whispered. "Keep your wits about you and stay behind me."

  The two nodded. Marcus felt something drip from his hair onto his arm. Reflexively he placed his hand on his head and then looked down to find himself covered in blood and chunks of flesh. Panicked, he patted himself down, feeling for wounds.

  "It's not yours." Arminius wiped down his armor. "The price of foolishness while in a Burrow is death." He slid his hand down his breastplate, letting rivulets fall to the floor. "As you may have noticed."

  Marcus then noticed he tracked blood in the crawlspace and Layne's shirt was drenched in it.

  "What was that thing?" Marcus's voice trembled.

  Arminius looked over the railing for a moment, then sighed. "We call them sprites. Before the Empire of the Sun fell into shadow, they built countless numbers of machines just like the one we encountered." He shook his gauntlet off as best as he could, the metal clattering with short sloshes. "Many centuries ago, but those are the smallest kinds of war machines they built."

  "How many are down here?" Layne looked down at his blood-soaked overalls.

  Arminius shrugged. "Could be a few. Could be dozens. Maybe hundreds. I don't know this place well enough to say for sure." He sighed and shook his head. "I do know there's a damn technomage behind all this."

  "A what?" Layne blinked, whispering harshly.

  Arminius leaned over the railing again, letting silence permeate the stairwell once more. "A technomage, someone who knows how to gain control over the machines. Usually, they'd be rampaging all over the place. But now? They're settled, calm." He brushed himself off. "Mostly."

  Marcus and Layne looked at each other with worried eyes.

  Arminius exhaled sharply. "If I'm right, the place to start is the Burrow's core. That's where those types like to linger."

  "Are we here to find Ishild or take down this technomage?" Marcus tilted his head.

  Arminius drew his pistol and approached the stairs down. "I'd wager we'll find them in the same place." He began descending the stairwell.

  Marcus and Layne both unslung their weapons and followed the Myrmidon.

  As they went deeper, the tingling sensation in Marcus's fingers and toes spread up to his limbs. A strong musk emanated from the walls the farther down they descended. The red illuminators inset the walls dimmed from a thick alga growth. The light still shined through, but it was diffuse and much more violet than crimson.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Likewise, under foot, the stairs became treacherous from the moss and vines encroaching at the deeper levels. By the fifth level down, the stairwell was more like a forest undergrowth than a concrete stairwell. Thick, spiney, fibrous plants overgrew everything. A small path was carved down the middle, a footpath worn away by others having come through prior.

  The bottom of the stairwell was a bed of moist bioluminescent moss. Each step ignited the plant matter like striking a torch with tinder. But the growth was thick with moisture. Some of the plant matter on the walls were cut away to allow what little illumination could be provided from the overgrown light panels. But they were so caked with growth within that they did no better than the light-making plants which engulfed them.

  Arminius drew his sword and slid the pommel along the wall to brighten the stairwell, blue-green light blended with crimson hues to make an unnerving royal purple. The area was awash with a putrid sulfuric scent.

  Finding themselves in a four-way crossroads, all the hallways were otherwise hard to tell apart. The Myrmidon once again let quiet fill the space and searched with his ears, looking around in oblong directions.

  "I don't hear anything moving." Arminius whispered. "But that doesn't mean more of those things aren't around here."

  "Which way should we go?" Marcus hushed out.

  Layne looked around in silence, gun-side of his weapon at the ready.

  The Myrmidon pointed to the right side of the stairwell. "Look there."

  A set of dim footprints illuminated a path deeper down the hallway.

  "Either we go looking for trouble or it comes and finds us, huh?" Layne sighed.

  "This was never a pleasure stroll." Arminius took the lead and followed the dim footprints.

  Marcus shrugged at Layne.

  "Getting shot at isn't so bad." Layne whispered. "It's the not knowing where or when it will happen that's killing me."

  The two followed behind the Myrmidon. The hallway winded like a thick forest path, illuminated by what could be mistaken as full moonlight. They got to a segment where thick vines blocked most of the way forward. The three squeezed through sideways, their back against a mossy wall.

  On the other side, a vertical doorway was pried open and held ajar by the same kind of thick vine. They had to duck to get through, but once on the other side, there was a small bed of moss and vine, but the rest of the hallway was otherwise free of growth.

  It was bright, the lights an oppressive white much like in the open storage area near the entrance. The walls were clean concrete. The right and left walls had windows with rooms free of growth on the other side.

  "Wait here." Arminius motioned to the two. "We're close to the core, who knows what's waiting for us.”

  The Myrmidon crouched down to get himself beneath the bottom of the left window which was hip height. He pressed himself against the low wall and propped his chin up to investigate what was beyond the wall on the opposite side. After a moment unconvinced, he turned to kneel and slowly raised his head up high enough to look in the left window.

  Finally finished looking into both rooms, he pushed himself to his feet and beckoned the two. "Don't let your guard down, here comes the hard part."

  Next to the left window, another black slate panel ignited with symbols upon Arminius's approach. He punched at the symbols, and they let off the familiar tone. But he halted his rhythm and waited for the two to reach him.

  As Marcus and Layne came to stand next to him, he pressed two of the glyphs and then trained his gun on the vertical door opening at the far side of the hall.

  "Guns up, boys." The Myrmidon said, his gaze unwavering on the opening gateway.

  Layne took a knee on the far-right side and held his weapon ready to fire.

  But Marcus's strength was sapped the moment the metal parted from the concrete. It was like an ocean current of numbing sensation washed over him, emanating from the room beyond. No matter how hard he tried to lift his weapon, the tingling sensation in his limbs sapped any ability to lift the tonoascia even enough to point it away from his foot.

  Wincing from the overwhelming energy that drained him, Marcus grew increasingly exhausted by the moment. A vibrant green glow in the center of the far room revealed by the opening door overpowered his vision, blackening his periphery.

  Arminius with pistol trained, advanced forward, unphased. Layne likewise stood then forged ahead with a scowl and weapon ready.

  Marcus forced himself forward, trailing behind the other two, limping. His numb legs were ready to buckle, making each step harder. It was a miracle he was still able to stand. He used his tonoascia as a crutch to keep himself from collapsing.

  Beside the oppressive green orb afar, a small white mote drove away the darkness. It bobbed and weaved the closer they got but didn't stray far from a center point just off to the side of the immense illumination of the emerald core.

  As they crossed the threshold, the mote grew larger, as if it were closing in on Marcus. The other two stopped moving and Marcus pushed himself to stand shoulder to shoulder with them.

  Suddenly the mote grew to an orb almost the same size of the oppressive green light. Within, flowing fiery red hair. It was the girl pulled from the airship wreckage. She was suspended in the air, her arms bound behind her back.

  Around her eyes, orange and gold strands spread across her face. A sudden, invisible force stronger than the numbing current crashed into Marcus. It slammed him into the ground and forced him backward.

  Patreon and join the community!