Intruder in the Dungeon (1)

 Continuing to chew away at her gum, Vee gazed into the crevice. She hated patrol duty due to the boredom it caused her. Their little base was not worth much and it was a question of why they were even here. Only absolute bottom feeders who would scatter if you so much as looked at them the wrong way even bothered trying to take it from them. Still, she knew better than to slack off.

 Despite what some people thought of her, Vee was observant and would not miss any significant changes to the area. So, naturally, the sudden appearance of a crevice in the wall drew her attention. It was somewhat concealed by the natural ridges of the stone walls, but that is not what made it seem so bizarre to her.

 Almost golden, yellow eyes glanced to one side. Then, the other. The opening in the wall may not have been obvious, but it was not exactly hidden either. Anyone paying attention would notice it. The real issue as she saw it was the lack of anything else.

 They were currently within the third floor of the Great Divide. While much about it was a mystery, one thing people knew was that except for random portals connecting to Earth and Alber and the inhabitants coming in, this place was fairly static. Attempts to dig into the walls always ended in failure. While the strange resources found here – such as the glowing moss and rocks – could be harvested, they seemed to come right back and return to how they were before. Things from outside could be brought in and added, but the Divide itself remained unchanging.

 That was not to say it never changed. Occasionally, especially in the lower floors, there would be tremors – not being called 'earthquakes' simply due to the fact it was not on earth. In the wake of these, there have been reports of new passages being found. So, the sudden appearance of a never-before-seen pathway was not impossible.

 What bothered Vee, though, was not the opening's existence. It was the lack of anything else. There have been no tremors of late, there was no rubble on the ground to suggest the wall had shifted or collapsed to reveal the path, and the glowing moss and stones that are characteristic of all areas of the Divide were also absent. Even newly formed paths mysteriously already had them growing across its length, but here, there was nothing. Just a dark hole.

 All too casually, Vee began walking toward the crevice with her hands on her hips. As she walked through the threshold, everything turned dark for a moment and she stopped. Blinking, once, twice, and then, she could suddenly see again – a look of mild panic on her face.

 Looking around her, Vee found she was standing in a large, stone room. Quickly relaxing, she took note of what amounted to a concrete block around her. Rubbing her foot against the ground, she could tell how rough the stone floor was. The same stone made up the three walls she saw in front of her and the high ceiling above her. The wall opposite her had a rectangular doorway cut out of it but she was not able to see what was beyond it.

 Looking back over her shoulder, Vee saw the wall behind her was similar in that it was entirely black.

 Blowing a bubble with her gum, Vee let it pop as she took this in. "Weird. No matter how dark things are, I should still be able to see just fine. Maybe it's some sort of teleportation thing? That would explain why things went dark for a second there."

 Turning around to face the wall, Vee raised her hand. Glancing at it for a moment, she then reached out toward the black wall. She braced herself. Without resistance, her hand passed through it with its surface rippling as it did. Seeing this and feeling no sort of discomfort, she retracted her hand.

 Looking it over, Vee saw there was nothing wrong. She then continued experimenting by placing different areas of her body through it – more and more each time. Only once she felt confident that there was likely no harm in going through the wall did she take a deep breath and attempt to walk through it completely.

 Everything went dark for two blinks worth of time. Then, Vee found herself back in the all too familiar passageway of the Great Divide.

 Chewing her come a few times in thought, Vee then turned back and reentered the passage – quickly finding herself back in the concrete square. She noted the lack of glowing moss or rocks. In fact, despite being perfectly visible, she could not see any source of light.

 Humming in thought, Vee maintained her air of casualness as she walked forward toward the opposite path.

 Reaching the other passage, Vee maintained her stride as she walked through the black film that obscured what was on the other side. Just like the entrance, everything went dark, and then she found herself somewhere different.

 Vee now found herself standing in what looked like your average path in the Great Divide. For a moment, she felt incredulous and that this was just some weirdness caused by the Divide. However, she quickly dismissed that thought.

 If Vee were to describe her surroundings, it would be a tunnel. Thing was, the Great Divide did not have tunnels. Path ways were always almost rectangular in how you would have wide, flat floors and towering walls. The ceiling would be hidden by darkness, but if you could fly you could reach it.

 Here, however, the dimensions were much smaller than any path documented in the Great Divide as Vee could see the ceiling just fine. It was then that she took in the area and made a mental comparison. Two things stood out. The first was that despite the lack of glowing moss and stones, she could still see perfectly clearly with no discernible light source – just like the previous room. Second, the overall dimensions of her surroundings seemed to match the previous room as well. Floor was just as wide, walls just as tall, and ceiling just as high.

 "It's like someone took the last room and tried to make it look like the Great Divide," Vee thought. She then continued to walk forward.

 However, hidden behind the natural grooves and outcropping stones. Strange creatures began to squirm. Then, once Vee had walked past them, all ten of these creatures lunged toward her – a faint electrical charge dancing along their squishy, almost round bodies. Hiding was not easy for them, but they tried their best and were now able to ambush the intruder…

 At least, that was their intention.

 Although Vee proceeded with a seemingly relaxed and uncaring air, she was no fool.

 By nature, Vee was a murderer. A predator. One who thought the best way to lure out prey was to appear defenseless.

 It was all too late for the little creatures to react. Vee threw her arms out and pivoted on her foot with such force as to send herself spinning. With every revolution, all ten creatures found another slice bisecting their almost gelatinous bodies. After ten revolutions, she stomped her other leg down almost thunderously to stop.

 The creatures seemed almost frozen in mid-air with their bodies sliced to ribbons.

 In the middle of it all stood Vee. However, at the end of her outstretched arms, her hands were transformed. Each of her fingers now resembled long, serrated blades – slightly cracking with electric charge from the creatures.

 Time began to move again and the free-floating remains of the creatures dissipated into nothing.

 Unbothered by the creatures, Vee brought her now blade-like fingers closer to her face. The uninterested expression quickly gained an unhappy frown. She clicked her tongue in disapproval. The remaining flesh and metal of her hands began to visibly ripple as they reverted to their natural state.

 "What the hell? Not even a little blood from these things? And the bodies just disappear? What am I supposed to do about that?"

 Venting her frustration with complaints, Vee stared down the tunnel before putting her hands to her hips and continuing forward – clearly frustrated.

 A mysterious passage, possible teleportation, unidentified creatures…Under different circumstances, any sane individual would have stopped at the first sign and reported back. However, there were three problems with this for Vee. Their group was small and only consisted of a handful of people – there was a chance she would be sent back to investigate alone anyway. Two, just reporting a strange passage would have likely gotten her chastised, mocked, or even called a coward. Thirdly, she was intrigued by the oddity of what was happening; if nothing else, it would cure her boredom.

 As she continued on her way, Vee noticed yet another oddity. For all intents and purposes, it looked like she was in a straight tunnel. One that was perfectly well lit despite the lack of any discernable light source. So, why was it that when looking toward the depths of the tunnel, she could not see the end? Her eyes were not like normal people's. So why?

 The answer Vee came too was that there was some sort of illusion or something blocking her vision. "That first room was the same. I couldn't see through whatever filled that back wall or that doorway. Based on the distance…This area is just as big as the last room, just made to look like it belongs in the Great Divide. So…What's actually in front of me is…kina like a screen saver, or maybe a looped video is better? It looks like a long tunnel, but that's not actually true is it?"

 As she was thinking this, Vee came to the end of the room. As she stepped into the next one, she could feel the subtle shift. There was nothing there, but there was a shift in the air like when she passed through the black film leading into the last room.

 Vee did not have time to process this slight change as she was soon under attack.

 Another ten creatures lunged at Vee as soon as she entered the room.

 Vee sneered as with a flex of her hand one of them returned to their blade-like state. Two swings of her claw were all it took to kill all ten attackers. Like before their bodies dissipated to nothing after death.

 However, Vee kept her attention on the second set of ten in her line of sight. Unlike the previous room, these ones were not hidden. Though seemingly trying to take cover along the natural ridges of the stone walls, they were perfectly visible and she could practically see her reflection in their large golden eye(s).

 Vee would have begun to make her move to take action and slay these creatures before they could do anything. However, she felt it. Whether through her senses or by instinct, she instead spun around while slashing her claw through the air. There, behind her, two creatures were descending from above.

 These two were different. The ones so far were almost gelatinous with one large eye. These ones were not only larger but their stubby little legs possessed pointed claws.

 Vees claw tore through the one coming from the left. The other was not completely sliced into pieces but enough to be killed from the attack.

 But Vee could not relax. A third had come from below. Thanks to its compatriots' attack from above, it escaped her notice. Like a beartrap, it clamped down on her leg – its clawed legs coming down like a jaw and sinking into her lower leg.

 "Aah," Vee hissed. She quickly brought her clawed hand down and sliced through the creature – causing it to let go and vanish.

 Meanwhile, the remaining ten creatures made their move the moment the ambush proved a success. Unfortunately, Vee was still faster. Shifting her weight to her other leg, she transformed her other hand and spun around to slice them apart just as she did the batch in the second room.

 Breathing somewhat heavily, Vee looked around to see no more enemies. She then raised her injured leg to look at it. "God, fucking damn it. Look at this!" She fumed. "That little fucker ruined my stocking!"

 While she vented her frustration, Vee knew that it was time to go back. She did not feel anything abnormal from the bite wound and determined it was not poisonous, but the fact she was injured meant this was no longer a simple exploration.

 Returning one hand to normal, Vee ran it through her hair in exasperation. "Fuck me." She cast one last, frustrated glance around the space she was in. Though it looked like a tunnel, she knew it was a room disguised as a tunnel.

 Letting out a sigh, Vee turned to leave, but then stopped. She looked over to the side wall of the room – her eyes narrowing.

 Limping, Vee walked deeper into the room.

 There, small enough to go unnoticed but large enough for a person of average height to walk through, was an opening in the stone wall.