A few seconds later, the rock opened up before him, and he fell out into a vast and seemingly empty space. Pure darkness filled it, with a few dots of light spaced at odd intervals. As his eyesight adjusted, a telling sign of just how dark it was, the vast cavity in the ground continued to grow, mile after mile appearing before his eyes. Dark forests of strange, unearthly plants stretched out, pockets of standing water like blue eyes amidst a tangle of hair.
Jonathan landed next to one of the ponds, immediately hearing a shift in the undergrowth. He turned, purple light blossoming around his fists. A shape leaped out of the darkness, claws flashing in the faint light. It was roughly humanoid, but clearly not of that species, with four arms and a gnarled, stubby form. It was clearly dead, with mouldering flesh hanging off it like strips of drying jerky. Despite this, its speed was considerable, and a boom rattled through the stillness of the forest as it moved.
Jonathan sent his fist slamming into its chin, and a geyser of the Void erased its head from existence, the body continuing towards him. Then he slapped it out of the way with his free hand.
Sighing, he booted the monster’s corpse away, and cocked his head, listening for more. There was only silence. His brow furrowed. How are they concealing those sonic booms? I would be able to hear them even from miles away.
Jonathan strode over to the pond, and gazed into its shadowy depths. Before he brought his allies into this realm, he wanted to make sure that they were safe. Something deep in the pond stirred, and with an explosion of water, a skeletal tentacle erupted out, snapping towards Jonathan. He shot his hand out and grabbed the tentacle, before digging his heels in and tugging. His strength was truly immense for his level, and the tentacle rapidly unspooled out of the water, dragging a writhing clump of bony appendages out of the water.
With a snap of his fingers, a ball of pure consumption shot out of his left hand, and into the center of the mass. A powerful suction tore the monster apart at the seams, bones ground into dust by Void's Grasp, his black hole skill.
Ropes of stagnant water were pulled into the skill’s embrace, before exploding outwards as the black hole detonated, shards of bone flying everywhere. The water in the pool rippled back to a calmer state, droplets of filthy liquid splattering onto the ground.
Jonathan waited, but if there was something else in there, it was too scared of him to appear. He smiled, and with an effort of will, summoned the purple portal that led back to the previous realm. A few moments later, a head poked through, that of Arkanon. Upon seeing that only Jonathan was waiting, he stepped through, and took in the sight of the cavern.
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“Where are we?” The Uthraki asked. “It seems your hunch was right, at least.”
“There’s a large number of underground caverns, at least in this area. I already passed through one with an entire city within it.”
Another figure passed through the veil, and then another. Edgar and Hushar had the same reaction that Arkanon had greeted the space with, gazing up at the ceiling high above, and at the expanse before them.
“This is far larger than I expected. Even that Bone Titan could have moved around in here without any sort of impediment,” Edgar observed. “This cavern must be miles tall, and dozens wide.”
Jonathan nodded. “Yeah, it’s like another world down here. There’s an ecosystem and everything.”
The rest of the group spilled out of the portal over the next few seconds, until every one of those who had been there before the arrival of the Bone Titan stood once more upon the world of Cessation.
Their reactions were mixed, but most were at least a little surprised at their locale.
“Right,” Jonathan began. “Now that we’re all here, it’s time to find a way out of this cavern, or better yet, a way to use it to further our goals.”
“Do you think this subterranean network extends all the way across the realm?” Edgar asked. “If so, that would be a huge boon to our quest.”
“Well, considering that I was able to plot my way with elemental senses, I think these caves are quite close to one another. At least on the timescale of a Tier 4.” Then he frowned. “Though, I have no idea where the Hegemon dwells. I assume we appeared somewhere near the center of the realm, going by me using the portal in Mire, but we could be anywhere.”
Edgar nodded. “And we can’t ask for directions like we did in Mire, or whatever that whole charade with working at the tavern was. Most of the inhabitants of this realm are mindless, or won’t respond.”
Jonathan frowned. “Charade? I was proud of that whole thing! It’s not every day you get to work at a tavern. I have another occupation to put beside Hellbreaker on my resume now.” A moment of awkward silence passed as the reference went whistling over everyone’s heads. Jonathan sighed, and shook his head. “Never mind. Let’s just get going.”
Three hours later, the group had crossed a good portion of the cavern, focusing on stealth over engaging its inhabitants. While most of them, as far as Jonathan could tell, were no match for him, his followers were a different story. The undead that had leaped at him from the bushes near the lake was stronger and faster than most of his subordinates, and certainly more durable.
Besides, that only represented a tiny portion of the cavern’s population. There could have been peak Tier 4s in there for all Jonathan knew. I really hope there aren’t.
