That World Called Zerigoph: The War's End

Chapter 10

James walked steadily along the cave wall, relaxed and hoping he wasn't missing much in his blindness. He could hear nothing but his echoing footsteps telling him that he was, in fact, still moving. He sat for a break after a while, thinking in the pitch darkness what he would do when he got back. If, the voice of reason said, if he got back. First he'd try to find Max and apologize for dying, even though it wasn't really in his control to begin with. Then he'd apologize for taking so long. He didn't even know how much time had passed when he went to see the world with the cliff jumpers and canua and readying ships. And Coshalak, locked in Gran's dungeon. It couldn't have been that long, actually, because Sukela was still alive. He looked like shit, but it definitely hadn't been years. He wasn't skinny enough for that. All of that was before any of the god trials began. Shit, how long was he in each of those memories? How long had he been in the Old World, even? The cave? It felt like hours, and time was impossible to tell through the fog. There'd been a good few hours between the pub and the mountain, enough that it should have gotten dark under the cloud cover. Maybe it had and the fog was so thick it couldn't darken? It only seemed a tint darker when he reached the cave.

Okay, so step one was to find Max and apologize. Step two was... to somehow stop the war and win back all of Zerigoph for the people while hopefully getting justice for Gran, Pudoshik, Kenwo, and whoever that new invader was that brought those gross ass spider-rat things onto the continent. He shivered. Hopefully they weren't breeding, that would be a whole new mess to take care of. Step three was simple: rebuilding everything and letting things go back to normal. Well simple on paper at least, not so much in action. And step four would be...

He sighed. He wanted it, sure, but to even put the thought to words seemed too hopeful and outlandish. Would he even say yes? Maybe he hated him for dying, who knows.

James stood again, deciding the easiest thing now was to try to get out of the Old World. To do that, he'd need to get out of this cave. To do that, he'd need to keep moving. He stretched his back, twisted his body, rolled out his joints. He remembered his pockets suddenly, thrusting a hand into one and pulling out spark stones.

"Oh ho ho, yes! Yes, I'm amazing!" he declared to the void of the cave, stomping happily in place. He struck the stones together and watched sparks fly down the cave. He laughed, throwing sparks as he walked. He walked past where the last spark landed before throwing more. He didn't want to completely burn through his stones, he just wanted a bit of light. He continued down the cave for a while and was about to throw more when he heard a noise.

He froze, listening hard in the darkness. He heard it again, far away and echoing off the walls. It sounded like a drip. He waited longer and it came again. He crept silently like he did through the skitters on the outside of the mountain. Every few seconds, a new drip, perfectly timed and perfectly subtle. James licked his lips. A drip meant water, and he was thirsty.

That'd be an easy way to poison me, he thought, make me thirsty and give me a drink rare enough I wouldn't think twice. He shook his head, continuing through the darkness. The drip grew louder as he crept closer, rolling the stones gently in his hands. It sounded like it was right on top of him, but he couldn't feel anything. He sparked his stones, seeing a dip in the cave floor. He crept closer, sparking again to see the dip turn into a hole. The water dripped on the edge of the hole, making the sound before sliding down into the unknown. James swallowed, both for his thirst and his nerves as he slowly crept closer.

What happened to the ninico? he wondered, suddenly aware that there hadn't been any path to follow. Should he have even trusted Keyuk? What if they were delivering him to that weird vine monster Max talked about that lived under the forest? What if it lived in the heart of the mountains instead, or it was the mother of all those shadowy skitters on the surface?