Mayhem in the chasm
The elevator plunged downward, the chains rattling like the wail of a dying beast. The air rushed past them, whistling against Benjamin's ears as the platform beneath them shook violently, its wooden planks groaning under the force of the fall.
Benjamin gripped the railing tight, his muscles burning from the effort of holding on.
Dab crouched low, her fur slick with sweat and blood, claws digging into the wood for balance. Her yellow eyes flicked wildly, scanning everything as they plummeted through multiple levels of the mine.
The deeper they fell, the more layers of infrastructure flashed past them—
Narrow ledges where workers halted mid-swing, staring at the descending platform in shock.
Wooden scaffolding, rushing by too fast to land on, collapsing behind them as the wind pressure of their fall rattled everything loose.
Guard stations, where torchlight illuminated the stunned faces of armed men, their weapons half-drawn as they tried to process what was happening.
Some tried to fire arrows, but the platform was falling too fast, the angle constantly shifting.
Benjamin ducked instinctively, a sharp whistle of steel passing inches over his head.
A shout from above. "They're going all the way down! Send a signal!"
The flames of the torches above flared, a pulse of energy rushing upward through the mine.
More movement. More rushing footsteps.
They weren't just falling into the depths.
They were falling into a hornet's nest.
---
The air thickened as the lower sections came into view.
Benjamin's stomach turned cold when he saw the ground below—
Not solid earth. Water.
Dark, ankle-deep water, glistening under the flickering torchlight from above.
The base of this mine was still unfinished.
There were support beams, loose stone, half-built walls—but nothing permanent yet.
The digging wasn't over.
This wasn't a facility. It was a hole meant to go even deeper.
"Brace!" Dab growled, her muscles coiling like a spring.
Benjamin cursed and bent his knees, gripping the railing as hard as he could.
The elevator hit the water hard, sending a wave of cold liquid crashing upward, drenching both of them.
Wood splintered beneath them. The force of impact sent Benjamin sprawling, the breath ripped from his lungs as he slammed into the floor.
Dab rolled with the fall, landing in a crouch, her breathing sharp and ragged.
For a second, the world was just darkness.
Then—torches from above twinkled like insane constellations, a hundred flickering flames moving as guards swarmed down the stairwells cut into the cavern walls, boots pounding against wood and stone.
The air was thick with the sound of pursuit.
---
Benjamin forced himself upright, his body screaming from the impact. His black poncho was soaked through, the fabric clinging uncomfortably to his skin. The crossbow on his back felt heavier than before, the leather strap digging into his shoulder.
His ribs ached from earlier, his side slick with half-dried blood from the graze he had taken during the fight.
Dab wasn't much better.
Her dark green fur, normally sleek, was matted with blood and dirt, her left shoulder bearing deep punctures from the slave's bite earlier. The wound had stopped bleeding, but it looked angry and raw. Her breathing was steady, but she was favoring that arm, moving it stiffly.
She exhaled sharply, flicking her tail. "How's your head?"
Benjamin groaned, rubbing the back of his skull. "Still attached, I think."
"Good. Means you can still run."
He chuckled dryly, wiping water from his face. "This is bad."
She snorted. "No kidding."
His mind was already racing. Atty. He reached for the link.
Nothing.
No static. No faint voice. Just silence.
That terrified him more than anything else.
He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to push the panic down. Later. Figure it out later.
Right now, they needed a way out.
---
Benjamin scanned their surroundings.
The water rippled with their movements, the cold seeping through his boots. It was ankle-deep, pooling unevenly across the unfinished cavern floor.
The walls were rough-hewn stone, lined with wooden scaffolding, pickaxes, and crates of supplies. Some areas had support beams, but others were half-finished, dangerously unstable.
And at the center of it all—
A massive chasm, stretching further downward, its bottom lost in pure blackness.
Torches lined narrow stairwells, spiraling downward into the abyss.
And from above—
The guards were coming.
---
Dab's ears twitched. "Up is bad. Too many of them."
Benjamin nodded. "We go deeper."
She gave him a look. "That's insane."
"You got a better idea?"
Dab exhaled slowly, then glanced at the narrowing staircases leading downward. "We need cover. Find somewhere to hide first."
Benjamin's mind raced.
This wasn't an active base yet. That meant fewer guards, fewer defenses, fewer locked doors.
But that also meant no proper escape routes.
His eyes flicked to a partially built chamber, the entrance half-finished, with stone beams still waiting to be reinforced.
He pointed. "There."
They splashed through the shallow water, careful not to make too much noise, ducking behind the stone pillars just as the first wave of guards stormed into the cavern.
Benjamin pressed himself against the cold stone, his breathing low and steady.
From their vantage point, they saw at least fifteen men, armed with what looked like spears, axes, and bows, sweeping through the space, their torchlight casting eerie reflections against the dark water.
A tall figure—one of the officers—stepped forward, eyes scanning the area.
"They're down here," he growled. "Search everything. They're trapped."
Benjamin exchanged a look with Dab.
They had minutes, before they were found.
And there was only one way left to go.
Up. The chasm was not an option as no elevator was available.
--
Benjamin had thought it was just the echo of their pursuers.
But Dab's ears twitched, her breath catching. Something else was here.
A sound. A ticking rhythm.
Not the clatter of boots on stone. Not the shuffle of men moving through water. Something more primal. More unnatural.
Tic. Tac. Tic. Tac.
A low vibration ran through the water pooling at their ankles, rippling outward, sending subtle waves against the rough cavern walls.
Dab turned sharply, her golden eyes flashing with alarm.
"Ben—"
Then they emerged.
From gaping holes in the cavern walls, from beneath the murky water, from unseen tunnels hidden in the depths of the mine—they came.
--
Benjamin's mind snapped into clarity, the weakness he'd felt moments ago vanishing as his instinct for knowledge took over.
Dawads.
They looked like centipedes, but that was where the similarity ended.
These creatures were adaptations of survival—born from Khial's most unforgiving depths. They had layered shells, stacked like overlapping plates of armor, giving them a resilience far beyond their smaller, fragile cousins from Earth.
Their legs were not simple pincers but saw-like appendages, sharp as obsidian blades, moving with razor efficiency.
But the true horror was their whiskers—long, thread-like sensory hairs that ran the entire length of their segmented bodies.
Dawads didn't rely on sight.
They felt movement.
The moment you twitched, the moment you breathed too sharply, they knew.
Benjamin's gut clenched.
Dab had already drawn her daggers, her body lowering instinctively into a combat stance. "What in the depths—?"
Benjamin grabbed her wrist, pulling her back. "Run."
She didn't argue.
They bolted.
--
Now it made sense.
Why the Black Flame hadn't finished building here.
Why they hadn't stationed guards in the lowest part of the mine.
Why even criminals and slavers—men who made their living among filth and death—hadn't dared to descend further.
This area wasn't cleared yet.
It was still infested.
The Dawads had been dormant, lurking deep in the crevices of the mine, waiting for something to disturb them.
And now—
Now they were fully frenzied.
Their razor legs clicked against the stone and metal, their whiskers twitching in unison, sensing the movement of the intruders.
Dab was fast, her Law of Precision allowing her movements to flow like water, but even she was struggling to find a pattern to break free from the creatures closing in.
Benjamin, running alongside her, his crossbow gripped tightly in his hands, felt the madness of the situation sinking in.
They couldn't outrun them.
They couldn't fight them all.
And even if they did, the guards above would still be waiting.
They were trapped.
And then—he had a crazy idea.
--
A Plan as Insane as the Situation
Benjamin grabbed Dab's shoulder mid-sprint, forcing her to skid to a stop.
She hissed. "What the hell are you doing!?"
He spun to face her, his voice low, urgent.
"We use them."
Dab's eyes narrowed. "Explain."
"The Dawads attack anything that moves, right?" he said quickly. "They aren't loyal to anyone. They don't care who they kill—they just react."
Dab's expression flickered as realization hit her.
Benjamin grinned wildly. "We're going up."
She blinked. "We're what?"
Benjamin was already moving, reloading his crossbow.
"If we're fast enough," he continued, "we can lead them straight into the guards above us—turning this entire mine into chaos."
Dab's ears flattened. "That's a suicide plan."
Benjamin smirked. "You got a better one?"
A moment passed.
Then—Dab grinned.
"Fine," she growled. "Let's burn this place down."
--
The Dawads were fast, but not limitless.
Benjamin and Dab were moving too erratically, darting between collapsed beams and broken scaffolding, making it harder for the creatures to corner them completely.
But that wouldn't last.
They needed to direct them.
Benjamin turned sharply, aiming at the cavern wall beside a cluster of Dawads.
A well-placed bolt fired.
The energy exploded against the rock, sending shards flying, causing ripples in the water, disturbing everything in the area.
And that was all it took.
The Dawads shrieked, their bodies twisting, legs slicing the air as they surged toward the source of the disturbance.
The guards above—finally realizing something was wrong—began firing arrows down at them, thinking Benjamin and Dab were their main targets.
A mistake.
Dab moved like lightning, dodging arrows, slicing at creatures who got too close.
Benjamin reloaded on the run, firing shots to provoke more movement, forcing the swarm into the staircases leading up.
And just like that—
The mine turned to hell.
--
The Black Flame's men—already scrambling to find Benjamin and Dab—were now caught between two nightmares.
Arrows flew. Dawads shrieked. The guards shouted in terror.
"THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS!?"
"WHO LET THEM OUT!?"
"THEY'RE COMING UP THE STEPS!"
Benjamin and Dab were already climbing, using the chaos to break through enemy lines, slipping past guards who were too busy trying to not get eaten alive.
One archer turned too late, his bow raised—
Dab slashed his hamstring, dropping him instantly, her movements surgical.
Benjamin aimed his crossbow at another, shooting the bowstring from their hands, sending the man stumbling back into the swarm.
Screams filled the cavern.
The horde of Dawads surged upwards, chasing everything that moved.
And for the first time since they had entered this nightmare—
Benjamin and Dab saw their chance to escape.
But just as they reached a halfway point up the stairs, an arrow zipped past Benjamin's face, embedding itself in the wall.
A voice snarled above them.
"You miserable brats."
Benjamin froze, his breath hitching.
Standing at the highest point of the stairwell, blocking their exit, was one of the Black Flame's officers.
Not a simple thug.
A true Law user.
And his eyes burned with fury.
Benjamin gritted his teeth.
They were so close.
But they would have to fight one more time—or die trying.