Cursed Times - What Now?

Chapter 29 - Trembling

'Don't ask me,' Trueth said. 'Why would they need conductors when they used magic?'

Metjen tapped one rusty coil. Flakes broke off and drifted to the ground. 'It's crazy. I agree. But this feels almost--well, modern. They could have had both; magic and technology.'

'Am I going nuts or is that hand moving?' Rani-Ra asked.

Metjen checked briefly. 'Yes to both.'

Trueth whirled around to face yet another grisly body part peeping out from under a hefty chunk of rock. It twitched.

This is not possible, she thought.

It kept twitching. Given that a lot of what she had taken for rubble were in reality the desiccated remains of former combatants, this latest development was not helpful. Her eyes fell upon a burned sandal—and a bony foot inching its way towards it.

Trueth focussed on her breathing. Another spasm in the gravel. Something jerked on the other side. Little pebbles were rolling from a nearby heap as a bleached spider clawed its way out.

The stink intensified.

Movement started everywhere the hall, but this did not bother their leader as he was clambering over assorted debris to get even closer to the weird ring.

'These bastards are coming alive again!' Trueth said.

'Really, you don't say.' Metjen did not even turn around.

He studied the structure, pressed his hand against it, spit on a finger and ran it across the metal then took a few steps back. His feet planted wide, fists on his hips, Metjen stood as if willing the construct to do something. It refused to respond, and Trueth was grateful for small mercies.

'I'd say this is part of the device of life, probably the portal itself,' Metjen scratched his head, looked at his fingers and wiped them on the hem of his anorak.

'Doesn't look lively to me,' Rani-Ra said.

'It's intact. The rest is not. I wonder what this metal was for,' Metjen said.

Trueth wondered where these two had been shopping for nerves. 'Hello? Something works. Meet the zombie army!'

She got no response. Metjen and his sister kept exploring the ring and its environment while the priests communed around the pedestal.

Trueth turned away from the ancient relics in disgust—and spotted another one lurking off to the left. It resembled a glass aquarium topped by an outlet in the shape of an oversized extractor fan. Both were liberally coated in residue but otherwise appeared to be untouched.

Metjen must have spotted them as well; Servants in tow he scrambled towards the glass container. It was lit by the same fungal glow that illuminated the rest of this impossible place.

If Metjen isn't bothered, it might be safe?

Trueth tried out this mantra for size and tiptoed towards a gap beckoning between the nearest boulders.

A stone shifted somewhere, followed by a desiccated foot scuttling across the floor towards another bit of skeleton— as if somebody was playing hide and seek with parts of his body. Trueth fled backwards and went around the reunited shinbone and foot as they presumably went on a quest for the rest.

A thought invaded her mind. She looked up in panic.

No bones, instead she noticed a blink among the twirls of rusty metal protruding from the ceiling. A closer look revealed an immense shaft, at its upper end the twinkling light appeared once more. Rani-Ra crunched up beside her.