The colossal tremor of the subterranean leviathan had finally faded, leaving the air in the vast, lightless chamber thick with churning dust and the residue of low-frequency vibrations. On the corner of a crystalline ridge, tucked into a shallow crevice that smelled faintly of sulfur and ozone, Pulse and Crystara remained frozen.
Pulse let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, the sound ragged and shaky in the sudden silence. "It's gone?"
"For now," Crystara whispered, easing her grip on the grip of her heavy utility knife. She slid out of the crevice, dusting off her reinforced trousers. The enormous creature, the one hundred-foot burrower, had passed so close they could feel the heat radiating from its scaled hide.
Pulse emerged, his face pale beneath the grime. "How exactly did you survive every time you went underground? That thing... it's terrifying."
Crystara shrugged, looking unconcerned as she checked the charge level on her wrist-mounted environmental scanner. "I just simply fight when I have to. It's about knowing your limits and reading the environment. I could deal with most monsters on this level, they're big, sure, but predictable. It's the monsters further below that are a lot more monstrous. Especially that mantis I once told you about."
Pulse ran a hand through his damp hair. "This is so fucking nerve-wracking. All these monsters are just terrifying."
Crystara gave him a small, wry smile. "You'll get used to it. I was just like you when I first arrived in this place. Crying into my rations, watching my back every two seconds. But as time goes on, you become confident, or maybe even slightly arrogant, about your combat abilities or, especially, with your power... Now, come on, let's go find those precious shits."
They moved through the sprawling network of tunnels branching off the main chamber, their helmet lamps cutting white cones through the mineral-rich darkness. The chamber was a geological wonder, with soaring ceilings and walls encrusted with common quartzes and glowing feldspar.
After a while of searching, Pulse and Crystara were able to find three smooth, heavy chunks of Oxfall Obsidian, tucked neatly into a vein of black rock Pulse had spotted. But the real score came moments later.
Crystara paused beside a dense cluster of purple and green geode structures. She tilted her head, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the ground. She didn't look at the crystals, she looked above them. There, perfectly camouflaged among the shimmering chaos, was a shard of pure, ethereal blue light. It was difficult to spot at first since it somewhat blended with the other common crystals, but Crystara noticed the crucial difference: it was slowly, almost imperceptibly, rotating and floating a fraction of an inch off the ground.
"Holy shit!" she yelled, jumping with uninhibited joy, a sound echoing loudly in the cavern. "We actually found one on our first day."
Pulse reached the cluster and stared at the prize: a Cosmere Shard. It pulsed with an internal luminescence, a cold, hypnotic light that seemed to absorb the surrounding darkness.
"That thing sure does look beautiful," Pulse murmured, mesmerized. "It's actually so freaking mesmerizing."
"Right?" Crystara carefully retrieved the shard with a magnetic containment clamp and stored it in a specially shielded pouch. "These things sell a lot, not just because of their appearance, but also because of their terrifying, unique abilities, like its ability to float. They defy gravity. I'm not entirely sure what the government or our bureau does with these things, though. Probably weapons research, as always."
"So, should we go back now?" Pulse asked, looking from the bounty in Crystara's pack to the dark tunnels ahead.
Crystara checked her internal clock. "Maybe tomorrow afternoon we'll head back to base. It's just about 4:50 PM right now. We'll make camp at 7. Is that alright with you? Or do you want to rest?"
"It's alright," Pulse said, pulling his shoulders back. "I have been building my muscles lately."
Crystara gave him a slow, appraising up-down look, a hint of genuine appreciation in her eyes. "Well, keep at it. Let's go to a new area. Maybe we'll find another Oxfall Obsidian, but if we found another Cosmere Shard today or tomorrow, we will definitely celebrate when we go back."
"Can't wait," Pulse replied, already feeling a sliver of excitement replacing the earlier dread.
Meanwhile, high above, near the main funnel into the massive chamber, three shadowed figures in armored masks slowly descended the rough tunnel wall.
They finally arrived on a narrow ledge overlooking the ginormous chamber floor where Pulse and Crystara were exploring.
The Boss, the central figure whose mask bore a wicked, serrated jawline, swept his gaze across the cavern's dizzying scale. "They should be in this chamber. It's the only place big enough to hold the density of resources they'd prioritize. A2, scout the chamber. Verify their location and report back. Do not engage yet unless absolutely necessary."
A2, the heavily muscled figure to the Boss's right, simply nodded. With a sudden, horrific ripping sound, his body convulsed, his armored layers splitting to reveal taut, dark leather and thick, vascular wings. He rapidly transformed into a ginormous, terrifying bat, a creature of nightmare proportions, far larger and more heavily built than any natural chiropteran.
A2 launched himself into the air, his powerful wings beating silently against the heavy atmosphere as he flew toward the enormous ceiling, using the shadows and sheer altitude to begin his reconnaissance of the cavern below.
While A2 was flying high up toward the jagged ceiling of the chamber, a sudden blur of green and silver descended upon him from a concealed crystalline aperture.
A piercing, chitinous shriek tore through the air. A massive, insect-like monster, resembling a giant dragonfly but with forelimbs that had evolved into lethal, curved blades, slammed into A2's back. This creature was a Razorwing Dracofly, a territorial apex predator of the upper cavern strata.
The impact drove the air from A2's lungs, throwing him against the mineral-studded ceiling. The Razorwing immediately began its assault, its bladed limbs slashing furiously. Clang! The first blow scraped across A2's tough bat-hide, carving a shallow, steaming furrow.
A2 roared, an amplified sonic screech that momentarily stunned the insect and twisted mid-air, bringing his massive clawed feet up to grapple with the Razorwing. The insect was fast, faster even than A2 in his winged form, using the momentum of its four rapid, iridescent wings to dart and weave.
The Razorwing's mandible tore a chunk of muscle from A2's shoulder. Blood, thick and black, sprayed onto the crystalline walls.
Infuriated, A2 ignored the pain. He shifted his sound attack, focusing it into a concussive pulse directly against the Razorwing's segmented abdomen. The chitin armor cracked with a horrifying sound, and the insect recoiled, its movements briefly stuttering.
A2 seized the opportunity. He lunged, securing a grip on the bases of the Razorwing's wings with his powerful talons, effectively grounding the insect. The Razorwing thrashed, its razor-limbs trying to reach A2's vital throat.
A2 pinned it against the uneven ceiling. The air filled with the horrible sound of tearing membranes and shattering exoskeleton as A2 ripped two of the creature's wings clean off their joints.
The Razorwing shrieked, a sound of agony and fury, before A2 brought his powerful head down, his elongated, dagger-like fangs aimed for the soft nexus point where the head met the thorax. CRUNCH.
A wet, sickening explosion of internal fluids and crushed bone scattered across the ceiling. The Razorwing twitched violently for a moment, then went limp, its ruined body dropping hundreds of feet into the darkness of the chamber floor below with a negligible, soft thud.
A2 hovered, panting, one wing slightly ragged, his shoulder bleeding freely. The encounter had been brutal, quick, and necessary.
He mentally shook off the adrenaline, his primary mission overriding the pain. Utilizing his exceptional night vision and farsighted eyes, A2 resumed his search. Some time later, he spotted them, two tell-tale beams of helmet light moving far below, near a cluster of jagged rock formations.
A2 silently folded his wings and landed with unnatural stealth on a vertical wall fifty feet above their projected path, disappearing into the mineral shadows like ink dissolving in water. He began to stalk Crystara and Pulse, observing their progress without them noticing a thing.
But unknown to A2, as he focused entirely on the small, moving lights hundred of feet below him, a disruption was occurring just above. From a jagged hole in the rock, a silent, grotesque monster, slick with ancient slime and covered in needle-like fungal growths, began to emerge, its blind, multifaceted head searching the air directly above the predator on the wall.