Rogan's Monsters 2: Below, page 20
“I don’t want to run,” I growled.
As I spoke, I heard the distinct sounds of something massive pounding on stone walls, and knew that Ecco’s sister was trying to break through. Perhaps she had yet to realize she could overpower Ecco’s control, or perhaps she simply decided brute force was more expedient.
Either way, the impacts were such that the walls shook, and once more I feared she would cause a collapse.
Even so, I intended to face her, preparing to end this one way or the other.
But Ecco was adamant. “You do not understand,” she said. “My sister has made a mistake. I think she meant to kill me, but she could not. I wandered, using my power as best as I could to keep her at bay. And within just a short time, I found myself in a small chamber that was different from the rest.”
As Ecco spoke, the hammering on the wall grew louder, and I wondered if she would get to the point. So far, nothing she had said had changed my mind. The only thing I considered was using the time that I had to put on my clothes.
I did so, gathering them from Ecco, keeping my blades at the ready.
“It was light in the cave,” Ecco continued, “As if it was filled with the plants that give of their glow. But there were no plants about. None at all, and that in itself is strange. Even stranger, the walls were smooth, and not jagged. And in the middle, on a natural pedestal, was what we have been looking for.”
I pulled my great cloak over the rest of my clothes, and spent a moment to stare at the fox girl.
“The seed,” I said.
She nodded. “If you wish to kill my sister, then follow me.”
It was an easy decision to make. Ecco’s sister was a manifestation of the seed. She had said so herself. There was no guarantee that even if I chopped off the snake woman’s head that she couldn’t simply manifest another. The real key to destroying Ecco’s sister once and for all was the seed.
“Lead on,” I said.
Together, we hurried through the caverns. I was aware that from Gamma’s point of view, and that of the rest, Ecco and I were lost. Perhaps the painted princess–who was no longer painted–would regret that I was no longer bound to her, and that I was no longer compelled to do as she asked.
But that was a problem for later. Destroying the seed was priority number one. When that was done, there would be plenty of time to return to the others and guide them to freedom.
It took just a couple of minutes for Ecco to retrace her steps, and then I found myself standing in the chamber. It was just as she had described. Light without need of the bioluminescent plants. Smooth walls, completely lacking in sharp corners or spikes.
And a natural pedestal right in the middle, between the two exits.
Yet even as we came to the place, I knew we had only moments to act. The pounding on rock had long given way to bellows of rage that echoed through the tunnels. Ecco’s sister was through, and she wasn’t happy.
I could almost feel her slithering her way toward us.
“Hurry!” Ecco said. “This is your chance. Destroy it!”
I studied the thing on the pedestal. The seed looked more like an egg, but three, maybe four times the size of an ostrich egg. It had the color and same general shape, although a single glance was enough to tell me that it had never been laid.
It was manufactured.
Covered in intricate carvings that could have been a language if I but knew how to read it, it seemed to pulse on a regular basis to a rhythm of its own.
For a reason I couldn’t explain, it seemed to have a certain allure to it, and I couldn’t help but stare at it in reverence. I knew without any doubt that the seed was the driving force behind the whole cavern ecosystem. Its purpose was to seek out forms of life, to break them down within the cave walls, and to give birth to something approaching a god.
That it had so far failed in its purpose didn’t seem to matter. The seed, this entity behind the caverns, would continue to do what it was designed to do, until it something stopped it, or until it succeeded.
I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was looking at an impressive piece of technology. That the seed, this thing, was part of why the Wraiths and Goblins had crossed the gulf of interstellar space to my home world. They had launched seeds like this one into the world, and that had been the start of the Great Merging.
And even when humanity rose up as it must have done and knocked the asshole Wraiths from the sky, the seeds continued to do their work.
And so the Earth went from being populated by humans and animals I would recognize to being home to hybrid creatures that only my AC lens could differentiate.
I knew that destroying the seed would not undo the rest. I knew that the world would remain as it was, ticking on its set path. But I also knew that to take out a seed like this was to take out all, no matter how many there were, and was a necessary part in the process if the world was ever to heal.
“Well?” Ecco asked. “The time has come! Do not hesitate!”
I looked at the blades jutting from the sleeves of my robes, and knew they were the wrong tool for the job. Ecco’s sister hadn’t left me with huge quantities of chi at my disposal, but I had more than enough for this. I sent a burst of it threw my blades, reconfiguring them as I had done before, until I was left with something akin to my original blade, but shorter and stouter.
It was much like an ax, with a short handle and longer, heavier blade. And I knew with certainty that it would do the job.
“Hurry!” Ecco said.
I raised my ax blade high above my head, intending to swing it down with all my might. But before I did, I noticed that the seed had already sustained some damage in the past. There was a chip missing, about where I intended to strike, and a crack that seemed to go all the way through.
Part of my mind said that this would make my job easier, that a single strong below, chi supported, would be enough. But another part of my mind was drawing connections.
Putting two and two together.
And coming to conclusions.
Ecco had said that this was the source of her sister’s power. She said that her sister and the cave system were one, and that she had sprouted into being from the seed.
And if the seed could manifest one, then surely it could manifest another.
I lowered my blade and looked at Ecco, wondering why I hadn’t made the connection before.
“You are her sister,” I said. “You were born from the seed, just as she was. What will happen to you if I destroy it?”
In answer, Ecco just gave me a look full of pain and despair. And that was enough. I knew that if destroying the seed would kill her sister, then it would kill Ecco as well. I looked at her, stricken, not knowing what to do.
“You must,” she said, her voice small but still sure. “It is the only way to be sure.”
I didn’t know why I was still breathing. Didn’t know why, when the Wraith had turned me into nothing but dust, that I had woken again. “You can save them. You can save all of them.” It was more than a memory from my time in between. It had become sort of a mantra.
I still had no clue who “all of them” might have been. But in my mind, it included Zera, Camille, Ash, and Gamma, and even little Edda, even though I now knew the monkey creature’s true relationship to Gamma.
And, even though I had known her for less time than the others, it included Ecco.
Binding or not, compulsion or not, it was in my nature to protect others. And that included this strange, ethereal woman who would put her own life at risk just to ensure the safety of strangers, because it was the right thing to do.
“No,” I said.
“But you must!” she said. “There is no other way!”
“You don’t know that. There must be another way. And we will find it!”
Ecco might have intended to answer. She might have come up with another response. But before she could put any into words, the time for discussion was over.
Her sister had found us. She appeared at the entrance, looming large and deadly.
And the look she gave me, standing there with an ax, was one of fury mixed with rage.
“Get away from that!” she bellowed. “Get away from that right this instant!”
50
“No!” Ecco shouted. “Destroy it! It’s our only chance!”
But I had already decided against that option. Instead, I went on the attack, launching myself at the snake woman, leading with my ax blade, doing all that I could to hack her into pieces.
If I had been just a hair quicker, I might have lopped off her head. But Ecco’s sister was faster than that. Faster than anything I had faced. A true monster, chi-enhanced, lithe and dexterous like no other. As she ducked beneath my swing, she hissed at me, showing her forked tongue, and lashed out once more with her tail.
I had put too much effort into my attack, and saved too little for defense. Even so, I managed to turn and take half a step away from the danger, only to have Ecco’s sister catch me and wrap a coil of her long, sinuous body around my waist within the blink of an eye.
Even then, I wasn’t done. Not by a long shot. I raised my ax blade up one-handed, intending to strike, but Ecco’s sister wasn’t done. Two more coils of her flesh wrapped around me, one around my chest, another around my arm, and all of a sudden, I had no leverage. All I could do was wave my blade about ineffectually, striking at the monster’s scales as I could, but lacking the leverage to do any serious damage.
“Got you, you dancing ape!” Ecco’s sister exclaimed as she loomed close to me and tightened her coils. I tensed the muscles in my chest, trying to avoid being crushed.
I noted that Ecco’s sister had become more of a snake than she had been before, the scales now visible on her belly, and covering her breasts. Yet, in a way, if it was possible to ignore the evil emanating from her, was still beautiful. Still much like her sister in physical form.
I gritted my teeth against the pain of being crushed, grimly aware that the snake woman was abusing the very same muscles that had been abused by her eel before. But I still wasn’t ready to give up. I strained as hard as I could, but her strength was prodigious. It was like being caught in a series of tires, each of which was growing smaller by the second. But perhaps Ecco’s sister had forgotten that I wasn’t alone.
“Ecco!” I grated between clenched jaws. “Help?”
I wasn’t expecting miracles. Right from day one, Ecco had seemed to be afraid of her sister. She had described her as being in control of the entire cavern, with Ecco’s own strength enough to control only a small fraction.
But I hoped she could do enough that I could free the arm that was caught.
Ecco delivered.
I couldn’t see what she did. Not exactly. Her sister held me tight, caught in her coils, and I was facing the wrong way. But all at once, the cave system began to shake, to grind and groan as if in an earthquake.
“What are you doing?” the snake woman demanded. “Stop that! Stop right now!”
But Ecco, who had always seemed to avoid conflict, now took a stand.
“If you want it to stop, then stop me!” she said.
I could sense the snake woman’s astonishment as clearly as I felt her coils tighten around me. I didn’t know what she might do. She might clench as tightly as she could, and crush me once and for all, then be free to deal with her sister. Or she could have exerted her own power, stabilizing the cave and overruling whatever Ecco was doing.
Instead, she chose a third option. With me still caught in her coils, she turned and fled from the cavern.
It was an astonishing turn of events, and I didn’t know quite what to think. Except for one thing.
I had the distraction I needed.
As we charged along into the caves, the snake woman’s grip was as strong as ever. I could hear Ecco running behind us, knew she was trying to slow her sister down, changing the caves with her power, blocking the tunnel with boulders and changes in direction just as the snake woman could do.
Even in my desperation, I couldn’t help but be proud of Ecco’s actions. She had thought herself too weak to take on her sister. But when push came to shove, it was the snake woman who fled, unable to match Ecco’s power despite the chi boost I had inadvertently given her.
At the same time, I was not a passive observer. There was one thing I could do. I lacked the strength to fight my way out of the snake woman’s coils. I lacked the strength to even breathe properly while so intertwined. But I still had my Soul Blade gripped in my hands, and while a coil of reptilian flesh kept me from striking, that wasn’t my only option for use.
I poured as much of my chi into my blade as I could spare, and willed it once more to change shape.
At my command, the ax blade melted and reformed. My first thought was to turn it into a spear and have it grow through the snake woman’s coils. But there seemed to be some sort of limit on what the Soul Blade could do. It didn’t like the idea of changing its nature entirely. It was, at heart, a blade, and that’s what it would remain.
So I willed it into the form of the arm blade I had once used but discarded. The arm blade formed down the length of my arm, and as it did, sliced into the snake woman’s flesh.
The monster let out a hideous scream of anger and acted on impulse. She shook me loose, flinging me away like a rag doll, to land in a heap on the cave floor.
I tucked and rolled, trying to avoid serious injury, and managed to get back to my feet within moments. I found myself laughing, my arm blades at the ready, a configuration I had failed to credit, but which had done the job when I needed.
But that job wasn’t over. Ecco’s sister had turned to face me, and Ecco herself, who no longer appeared at all ethereal, but stood in a pose of power, her fists clenched and her eyes blazing as she communed with the caves.
Ecco’s sister was bleeding from a deep gash to her reptilian body. But she was far from defeated. She glared at us, her anger apparent, and then it was her turn to display her power.
With a shriek that was an expression of fury, she gestured like an orchestra conductor at the climax of the piece, and hundreds of spikes burst from the walls, aiming to skewer us where we stood. But Ecco was equal to the task, holding her own hands out in defense, halting the growth of the spikes in place.
“You can’t do that!” the snake woman raged, and gestured again, this time making her intent very clear. She reached up to the sky and called the roof of the cave down, intending to crush both of us.
Again, Ecco was up to the challenge. She raised her hands high, and it seemed like she was holding the whole cave system in place.
“I can, and I will!” the fox woman said, every bit as determined as her sister, and with far greater motivation. If she was to fail, we would be crushed. If that was the end of Ecco, for all I knew, Ecco herself might survive such treatment. If she did not, then perhaps the seed could resurrect her.
But I would not be so lucky.
Or maybe I would. I just didn’t know.
You can save them. You can save all of them.
While Ecco held the ceiling in place, her sister turned nasty. With a third gesture, like an under arm pitch in a softball game, she shot a spear of rock toward Ecco’s breast, aiming to skewer her.
But I took a quick step and concentrated all of my strength into my arm blade, diving in front of Ecco like a demented bodyguard intent on taking the bullet, and smashed my blade down through the rock spear before it could do its job.
I landed on my feet with my robe swirling about me. A quick burst of chi, and once again I was armed with two blades jutting out from my sleeves.
“Together,” I said to Ecco, and once more launched my attack.
I was a swirling, twirling, rotary blade of a living weapon, intent on carving my blades through Ecco’s sister until she was gone. I would have liked to call on my chi, and blast her with that strength as well, but my reserves were too low. So instead, I became the dancing ape Ecco’s sister had called me, and sought to find out if she could defend against the two of us at once.
It turned out that she could.
Wounds appeared on the snake woman’s torso, carved out in lines of blood between her scales, and I even managed to open up a faint line on her right cheek. But she was still swift, still strong, and even as she battled against Ecco for control of the caverns, she worked her tail back and forth fast enough to catch me more often than I wished.
It was an even contest, but as time went on, the balance seemed to change. I was battered and bruised, and had to pick myself up from the floor more often than I wished, and Ecco’s strength seemed finite. She managed to hold back her sister’s attacks to begin with, but it seemed that she strained more and more as time went on.
And the snake woman just kept getting stronger.
Despite the blood running from the gashes I had opened all over her body, she went from rage and fury to laughter. I did all I could to get through her guard, to no avail, and despite Ecco’s best efforts, large boulders were starting to fall from the ceiling.
“You are done!” Ecco’s sister declared. “The both of you are too weak! You cannot compete with my strength, my power!”
I didn’t bother to respond, and knew that Ecco couldn’t spare the effort. Instead, I launched another attack, only to find my approach blocked by a wall of rock that hadn’t been there before. I skipped to the side, trying to keep my momentum going, to attack Ecco’s sister again, but despite the blood loss, she was still too quick.
She barely seemed to be trying anymore, as, with a contemptuous flick of her tail, she cracked me across the side and sent me stumbling away.
She called for another of those spear-like rocky projections, and I was lucky to be able to smash it aside before it tore a gaping hole in my side.
I was panting as if I’d sprinted ten miles, and sweat was dripping from my face. Without my normal reserves of chi to support me, my muscles were becoming heavy and leaden. I knew I could not last much longer, knew that I was failing, but willed myself to retain my balance, and never once lost the skill with my blade.
