Chapter 10: Cave Exploration
"What?!?" I shouted, standing up quickly after hearing several voices talking. I prepared to cast a spell, but I was confused when I felt something missing on my left hand, Kitab wasn't there.
This made me nervous. Where did the book end up? I also didn't feel Shark Teeth in my right hand. What is happening?
"Are you going to ask for something or just stand there?" An angry voice asked.
Turning quickly towards the voice, I was surprised by what I saw. A wooden counter with wooden benches in front of it. Behind the counter were wooden shelves filled with colorful, unlabeled bottles.
That wasn't here before.
As if that wasn't strange enough, I noticed the way this place was lit, electric bulbs hanging from the ceiling. There's something wrong here.
Looking back, I saw several circular tables with groups of people sitting on chairs, but there was something wrong with these people, the way they dressed didn't fit with the medieval era in which I found myself.
They dressed in the American fashion of the fifties, men and women, all wearing clothes that hadn't even been invented yet. These people talked and laughed while drinking and playing cards.
A strong smell of cigarette smoke permeated the air. I heard music coming from somewhere, looking towards the counter; I saw an old radio working without problems.
"Boy, are you okay? If you're going to faint, it's better to do it outside, I don't want any commotion here." The man behind the counter spoke again.
How long have I been standing here? I must look like an idiot to these people. Approaching the counter, I sat down on one of the wooden benches and rested my arms on the counter.
"So what will it be?" The man asked.
Analyzing the man's appearance, I noticed that he was wearing a classic bartender outfit, with a black vest over his white shirt and everything, but the man had no face.
I've been through so much to the point where a faceless person isn't the worst thing I've seen.
"Sorry, but I have no money, at least no money you would accept." I responded with a shrug.
"Great, a broke guy in my bar. But lucky for you, the first drink is on the house." The faceless man replied, taking a bottle from the shelves, removing the cap, and pouring the contents into a glass in front of me.
I picked up the glass and looked at the liquid suspiciously. Considering how the dungeon operates, I wonder what kind of status problems I would get from drinking it. Poison? Parasites? Or nothing?
"First of all, what is this place?" I asked the faceless man, as I gestured to the rest of the bar with the hand holding the glass.
As I did, an old man cleaning the floor with a mop bumped into my arm, knocking the glass onto the floor.
CRASH!
SPLASH!
"I'm very sorry!" The old man exclaimed, bending down with difficulty to clean up the mess on the floor.
"No, no, it was my fault, let me help." I responded politely, but before I did so, I felt a hand on my shoulder stopping me from moving, it was the faceless man.
"Let Old Bugs handle it, that's his job after all." The faceless man spoke, tilting his head to the side.
Even though he didn't have a face, I noticed that he leaned over to face the old man on the ground. The old man, now known as Bugs, stared back at us, before nodding and returning to his work.
I looked at him one last time before returning to my seat.
"To answer your question, you're in my bar, Sheehan's." The faceless man spoke, filling another glass in front of me.
"And where..."
"Boy, I don't have time to talk; I have clients to attend to." The faceless man complained, before retreating to another part of the bar.
Damn it! Mentally sighing, I picked up the second glass and twirled it in my hand as I thought of a way to get out of here. I didn't see any doors or windows, and the walls were peeling away, revealing the bricks and cement underneath.
"You can drink, the booze here is safe." A person on the bench next to me spoke.
Turning towards the owner of the voice, I couldn't see his face; because the newspaper the man was reading blocked my view. However, I managed to read the main headline, my breathing stopped and my eyes widened at what I saw.
"Chicago Journal January 31, 1950: President Harry S. Truman announces development of the hydrogen bomb."
What the fuck?!? I was inside the dungeon and ended up in Chicago?!? Moreover, in the fifties?!? That's not possible!
"Sorry for the hurry, but I need to get out of here!" I said to the man, placing the glass on the counter and standing up.
"Are you leaving now? Such a shame, we'd love to talk to you." The man replied.
"We?"
"Yes. We." The man replied, putting down the newspaper.
In addition, what I saw was a white, faceless head that seemed to be melting. My heart quickened, because I knew who this person was, a New God.
"You are a New God." I pointed at the man as I took a few steps back.
"Oh! Do you know what we are? Well, you already know more than most who came here." The New God shrugged.
"What do you want from me?"
"Honestly, nothing. We just wanted to talk; we realized the dungeon doesn't like you."
"Don't tell me! Can you believe I didn't even notice?" I responded sarcastically, but inside I was panicking. Out of the corner of my eyes, I looked for a way out.
"Hey, no need to be rude!" The New God rebuked me.
"It's easy for you to say! Unlike you and your friends, I don't have the safety of the Hall of the Gods!" I countered, feigning courage.
"Hm… You also know about this. Tell me, have you been to the dungeon before?" The New God asked curiously.
"No, this is my first time here."
"Curious. You are a strange person. You're not from here, are you?" The New God asked.
"No, I'm not from Rondor."
"That's not what I meant. You're not from this world, are you?" The New God asked again, clasping his hands on the counter and tilting his head.
"How do you know that?"
"Please, you underestimate us. Despite our false ascension, we New Gods have acquired unimaginable knowledge, including about other worlds, from the Sulfuric Pits to The Void, the existence of other worlds is not new to us, nor is the existence of other gods of these worlds. And from the looks of it; you serve some of them." The New God responded proudly.
"Congratulations, you got everything right about me. What do you intend to do with that information?" I responded, clapping my hands sarcastically.
"Nothing, it's not like we can interact with things outside the Hall of the Gods. But all knowledge is valuable, even if it is not used."
"Wait a minute! Is this the Hall of the Gods?!?" I exclaimed as I opened my arms.
"Correct! It took you a while to understand!" The New God applauded, snapping his fingers immediately afterwards.
In a flash of light, the bar disappeared and I was in a dark room full of gigantic tables. Sitting on the large chairs near these tables were the New Gods in their enormous forms.
The one with the melting white face, the bird-headed one and the bandaged-headed one. Looking around, I realized that the hall stretched infinitely, there were other New Gods sitting at the tables in my field of vision.
"Sorry for our intrusion, but your presence made us curious." The bird head spoke.
"You have high affinity with a group of gods on the same level as the Old Gods." The bandaged head said.
"So we took a look at your memories while you slept and created the bar from some of them." The melting face said.
"I admit the change of environment was welcome, centuries in a dark and dusty hall can be boring." Birdhead said again.
"Listen, what's the point of all this?!?" I exclaimed, looking for a way out.
"Hm… Curiosity." Melting Face spoke.
"That simple?"
"I don't see what the problem is. We can't hurt you, we can't interact much with things outside the hall, the memories we saw were only superficial." Bandaged head said.
"The dungeon was angry about something and it caught our attention, so we found you. An anomaly, you shouldn't exist here and the dungeon knows it, now it's trying to solve the problem." Birdhead spoke next.
"Although there are some unanswered questions. Like why are you here? Who are the gods you serve? And how do you know about the New Gods and the Hall when you've never been in the dungeon before?" Melting Face continued.
"Hm... I'm here to entertain the gods I serve; this is nothing more than a source of entertainment for them. The gods I serve are many and little is known about them, I could spend all day mentioning their names. And the last question... I don't want to answer; I would end up giving you all an existential crisis."
"Fair. We've had enough of that here." Birdhead sighed.
"Now that I've answered your questions, can I ask mine?"
"Only one." Bandaged face raised an index finger.
"Seriously? You take information from my head and ask a lot of questions, but when it's my turn I can only ask one?"
"Get to Ma'habre and open the book, then you can ask more questions." Melting Face explained.
"Fuck it! I know you know about the girl and her fate! How do I change this?!? How can I get a better result?!?" I demanded.
The New Gods stared at each other in silence.
"A difficult question." Melting Face spoke.
"The girl is destined to change the world, save humanity from stagnation." Bird head completed.
"But to do so, she will go through a painful process." Bandaged face finished.
Then a tense silence took over the hall before Molten Face spoke again.
"The girl already knows fear and hunger, this is impossible to reverse. Nevertheless, maybe you can add something else? The girl would become the God of Fear, Hunger and something else."
I looked at the floor as I thought about this answer. How the hell do I do this? How do I apply a new concept to a future god? Unfortunately, I didn't come up with a solution, as suddenly the salon started to disappear.
"What is happening?"
"You're waking up." Birdhead spoke.
"We had an interesting conversation." Bandaged head said.
"We will see you again in Ma'habre if you survive. Until then, don't expect to see us again." Melting Face said while waving goodbye.
Soon everything disappeared.
-XXXXXX-
"GASP!" I woke up scared. Looking around, I realized that I was sitting in the armchair inside the room near the spiral stairs.
The Iron Shakespeare still guarded the entrance. But where was girl? I felt a weight on my leg, looking down, I saw the girl sleeping, sitting with her head against my leg.
Heh! Cute. Changing my focus, I saw Shark Teeth lying on the floor next to the armchair; Kitab was still attached to my left hand. I opened the book to see if he had anything to say.
"Did you sleep well?" Kitab asked.
"I think ssso. I enterrred the Hhhall of Godsss and met the New Godsss." I replied while stretching. I must have been exhausted to sleep in a place like this, and the booze didn't help.
"Oh! The almost ascended! How was the conversation?"
"Interesssting to sssay the leassst. They know that I'm not frrrom thisss worrrld and that the dungeon wantsss to kill me. They alssso know about the exissstence of otherrr worrrldsss and that I ssserrrve otherrr godsss."
"It doesn't surprise me. Who knows what kind of knowledge they gained from sitting on the throne?"
"Who knowsss? I would like to know."
"Do you intend to become a new god?"
"No, I dddon't want to dddie and leave a copy of myssself lying arrround."
"It's your choice. Hey, do you think I can become a New God?"
"I don't know. Do you count asss a perrrssson?"
"Well, I have a conscience, which should be enough."
The movements of the girl next to me interrupted our conversation, she was waking up. Slowly the girl opened her sleepy eyes before stretching and yawning.
Looking around as she rubbed her eyes, the girl noticed that I was awake; she quickly got to her feet and gave me a small smile. I returned the smile while stroking her hair.
"Did you sssleep well?" I asked the girl.
The girl nodded before tilting her head in confusion.
"Isss therrre a prrroblem?"
The girl pointed an index finger in my direction.
"Isss therrre something wrrrong with me?"
The girl nodded.
"I believe she is talking about your voice."
"My vvvoiccce? What'sss wrrrong with it?"
"Haven't you noticed yet? You acquired a mutation and now your voice is different."
Hm... I didn't notice anything different with my voice, but there's no harm in trying it out. I took out my cell phone and opened the voice recorder, then said a sentence.
"The sssun isss ssshining in the sssky." Stopping the recording, I played it back immediately.
"The sssun isss ssshining in the sssky."
I almost dropped my cell phone after hearing that. That couldn't be my voice!
"Surprised?" Kitab asked.
Surprised?!? My voice sounded like two people talking at the same time, but the second voice had a delay, making the words stretch, but not to the point of being incomprehensible.
This time I did something different, I opened my phone's camera and switched to the front camera, and then I stuck my tongue out. What I saw was a gray tongue covered in black veins.
"An sssnake tongue?"
"Not exactly. Do you know how the Old Ones are represented in the form closest to human understanding? The same goes for your mutation."
Hm... Cthulhu doesn't have an octopus head and dragon wings, he has a head that looks like an octopus, but not quite, he has wings that look like a dragon, but not quite. It seems the same goes for my tongue.
"So, I have the tongue of some snake-like creature, but not exactly?"
"Correct."
Well, it could be worse.
"I understand what you mean, but don't worry, I'm fine."
The girl nodded at my statement, but I noticed that she was hiding something behind her back.
"Girrrl, what are you hiding therrre?"
Slowly the girl showed me the notebook I lent her and there I saw the drawing she made.
The drawing depicted Kitab, the girl and I in a dungeon hallway, I wore my iron mask, hood, hard leather armor and trench coat, Kitab was holding in one of my hands with his tentacles, while my cell phone was in my pocket lighting the way.
The girl was holding my free hand, with the doll sticking out of the collar of her dress and the dagger was in her other hand.
However, despite the way I'm describing it, the drawing was clearly made by a child. Crooked lines, smudges and poorly drawn geometric shapes covered the paper, although the girl took the time to color the drawing and draw smiles on our faces.
"Good job girrrl! I loved thisss!" I responded, stroking her hair again, which made the girl smile and blush with embarrassment.
I flipped through the pages of my notebook until I stopped on a specific page.
"A beautifulll thing like thisss dessserrrvesss a rewarrrd! A good girrrl ssstarrr!" I said, picking a star-shaped sticker and sticking it on the girl's dress.
The girl looked in surprise at the yellow sticker on her dress, hesitantly and with her face red, the girl held her doll and lifted it towards me.
"Oh! How could I forrrget about herrr? Ssshe alssso getsss an ssstarr!" I said in a playful tone, sticking a star sticker on the doll.
The girl held the doll in front of her face and smiled, hugging the doll tightly and swaying from side to side soon after.
I laughed at this sight, but unfortunately, we can't continue here, we need the cube.
"Girrrl, I'm ssso happy that you'rrre having ssso much fun, but we need to go."
The girl nodded, changing her face to one of seriousness.
"But before we go, I have sssomething for you." I said, taking the leather helmet and vest that the rats brought and helping the girl put on her equipment.
"Rrready?"
The girl nodded.
With that out of the way, we came out of our little hiding place, I held Shark Teeth in my right hand and Kitab in my left hand, the girl kept the doll inside her dress, with the toy's head sticking out of the collar and the dagger in her right hand.
Iron Shakespeare accompanied us in silence, but his heavy steps and the creaking of armor echoed through the staircase. Before going up, we stopped at the room where Enki could be found, but there was no one there, I think they already left to the mines.
Leaving that aside, we went up until we reached the prison, then we passed through the destroyed gate and turned left, entering the lever room, but there was a problem, the Elite Guard in our way.
Upon seeing us, the Guard let out a sadistic laugh as he waved his morning star wildly. To hell with it! I'm not going to fight this guy!
"RRRUN!" I shouted to everyone.
Iron Shakespeare, the girl and I ran out of the room with the elite guard chasing us, laughing maniacally as he swung his weapons, trying to hit us.
We ran towards the prison, I motioned for the girl and Iron Shakespeare to turn the right corner. Meanwhile, I stopped near the bars that prevented anyone from falling into the abyss and waited for the Elite Guard to approach.
And there he came, quickening his pace when he saw me, but as soon as he got halfway, I cast Glimpse of Truth. The Elite Guard screamed in agony as smoke covered his face.
I quickly moved out of the way, allowing the Elite Guard to pass right by me and due to his speed, he was unable to stop in time before hitting the bars.
The Elite Guard's large form collided with the metal bars, bending them with a crunch, but it wasn't enough for the monster to fall. Well, that's why I sent Iron Shakespeare ahead.
"Iron Shakespeare attack!" I shouted at the undead while pointing at the confused Elite Guard.
Without saying a single word, Iron Shakespeare rushed forward, and with a mighty blow of his hands, he sent the Elite Guard into the dark abyss below.
All we heard was the sound of the monster screaming before everything went silent.
Without the monster in our way, we headed back to the lever room, where I pulled it, activating the elevator. We went through the prison without any problems until we reached the flesh pit.
Suddenly I felt a small hand squeezing my arm tightly, I gave the girl a comforting smile, but even so, I could see that this sight horrified her.
"Don't worrry, we'll be out of here sssoon." I answered.
At the end of the hall, we found the cage-shaped elevator, the girl and I entered the elevator but shared hesitant glances when we saw Iron Shakespeare accompanying us.
To our dismay, the knight didn't wait for a response and entered the elevator. The elevator swayed and the chain supporting it creaked audibly, the girl and I were squeezed against the walls, but luckily, we didn't fall.
Pulling a lever inside the elevator, we hear a series of clicks of moving mechanisms before the elevator began to descend. Slowly the light disappeared, leaving us in total darkness.
However, to our relief, the descent didn't last long, soon the elevator touched a solid surface with a jolt and the metal door opened, letting in a little bit of light.
We had to squeeze out of the elevator, and as soon as we got some distance, Iron Shakespeare got out of the elevator too, following us silently.
Looking around, we realized how dark the caves were, we could barely see a foot in front of us. Hang on!
"Iron Shakespeare, light the way!"
With the swing of both arms, Iron Shakespeare's fists burst into flames, lighting up the area around us. I turned off the flashlight on my cell phone to save the battery and stayed close to the Undead and the girl.
We both sweated with the heat, but it was tolerable. Therefore, we advanced through the cave, the only problem being some of the Cave Gnomes that got in our way.
Iron Shakespeare swung one of his arms, burning and throwing two Gnomes against the cave wall where they became red stains on the stone.
Because they were flying enemies, Iron Shakespeare was unable to stop all the Gnomes from approaching, so I had to deal with some of them.
I swung Shark Teeth at the first Gnome, slashing it in the chest, the serrated blade tearing through the monster flesh with ease, creating a jet of yellow blood.
The second Gnome dove towards me, trying to bite me, I moved out of the way, and as soon as the Gnome passed me, I slashed it in the back, achieving a similar result to the previous one.
As soon as the Gnome fell to the ground, I realized he was still alive, so I lifted my foot and stepped on its back, the creature let out a squeal of pain before stopping moving.
I heard a scream next to me, I felt my heart accelerate when I thought that the girl was bitten, and there was a chance that the Gnomes could cause an infection, but to my surprise, the scream was from the Gnome who had a dagger stuck in its eye.
With a groan of effort, the girl snatched the dagger from the Gnome's eye and stabbed the monster repeatedly before it had the chance to react.
When finished, the girl turned to me with her face and clothes covered in blood and stared at me waiting for something. Did she want a compliment?
"Good job!" I replied, giving a thumbs up.
The girl smiled at the gesture. With the enemies dead, we advanced through the cave and to our surprise; we found the bodies of the Ballista Guard and Elite Guard.
Both were motionless on the ground, lying in pools of blood, with their limbs crooked and bones tearing through the skin. I approached the Elite Guard and analyzed his weapons.
Hm... I tried to lift the sword and morning star, but I had difficulty, both weapons were forged for someone the size of the guard. I could flip a coin, but I'd rather not run the risk of acquiring an unnecessary mutation.
Therefore, I called the rats and ordered them to take the weapons to our hiding place. The rats gathered into a small group and used their combined strength to lift the weapons, and then they disappeared into the darkness in a series of squeals.
What should I do now? Recruit Moonless or fight the Cave Mother? Firstly Moonless! The more allies I have, the easier a boss fight will be.
We walked until we reached the prayer statue, passing the statue and reaching a narrow passage, we stopped in front of a rope bridge.
"Hello!"
However, before we crossed, we heard someone's voice calling us, looking to the side, we saw a man wearing a cat mask near some boxes.
"Ignore him." I whispered to the girl and she nodded.
I ordered Iron Shakespeare to wait; I'd rather not risk his weight collapsing the bridge.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" We heard the voice again, but we ignored it.
The girl and I crossed a second bridge, and on the other side we encountered a being similar to a wolf, but with four red eyes and a mouth full of large, jagged teeth.
Upon seeing us, Moonless let out a growl followed by a series of barks, but before a fight could begin, I opened my backpack and threw two pieces of rotting meat to the wolf.
Moonless focused on the meat, quickly devouring it. As soon as she finished, Moonless stared at us, tilting her head in confusion. The wolf approached us with cautious steps, I felt the girl holding me as she hid behind me.
Moonless stopped in front of us and sniffed us, for a moment nothing happened, until Moonless sat in front of us, and let out a series of happy barks, sticking out her tongue and wagging her tail.
I let out a relieved sigh when I saw this.
"Who'sss the good girrrl?!? Who'sss the good girrrl?!?" I asked Moonless as I put Shark Teeth aside and petted the wolf on its head.
Moonless barked in happiness, wagging her tail even faster.
"Girrrl, don't leave me hanging herrre!" I said to the girl who was observing the whole situation.
Slowly she approached with hesitant steps and extended a hand towards Moonless. The wolf sniffed the girl's hand before letting out a bark, advancing towards the girl and licking her face.
The girl laughed as she tried to push Moonless away, when she finally managed to do so, the girl petted the friendly monster.
"Sssee? Monlesss will be ourrr new companion."
The girl looked at me, as if asking if what I said was true, and I nodded.
"Moonlesss, the girrrl and I arrre advancing thrrrough the dungeon. Would you like to come with usss?"
"WOOF!" Moonless barked.
"I'll take that asss a yesss."
Returning across the bridges, I felt Kitab moving in my hand.
"Congratulations, Moonless has joined you party!" Kitab spoke.
There were a series of letters after the phrase that represented sounds, but since Kitab had no voice, I can only assume he was trying to sing.
I laughed internally at the jokes of the book; we crossed the bridges, ignored Pocketcat again and headed towards the Cave Mother's nest, but not before Moonless marked territory on the statue.
I took the soul stone and as soon as we returned, we heard the flapping of wings. Moreover, out of the darkness, there she was, a deformed harpy, the Cave Mother.
I prepared my blade and Kitab, Iron Shakespeare raised his fists in defiance, the girl drew her dagger, but I saw the nervousness on her face, while Moonless let out a series of barks and growls.
Well, time to add another soul to my collection.
END OF CHAPTER
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone