The Godsfall Chronicles

Book 7, Chapter 34 - Discoveries

Cloudhawk stood atop the altar, feeling the strange sensation move through him .

A new sense was activated, something outside of touch, sight, sound or taste . It spread from the soles of his feet, out in every direction . He was able to feel every corner of the underground city .

Dawn watched, hands on her sword . She flinched as the buildings all around came to life – one after the other their lights turned on .

She couldn’t stifle a gasp of surprise . Lights sparked to life, creating a web of illumination that all at once dispelled the darkness . It wasn’t just lights, either . All manner of devices lurched into motion as though this city had been raised from the dead .

This mysterious, alien place had its veil of shadows cast off . It’s visage was revealed, and like the face of a mighty dragon it was stunning to behold .

“How did you do that?” Dawn breathed .

Cloudhawk hopped down from the altar . Thinking for a moment he replied, “This is the control center of this district . I turned it on using my will . I have to say, the design of this place is something else . ”

‘Something else’? Looking around, most of the structures were still intact . The place was flooded with energy and came back to life with hardly any effort . Such an enormous area could house thousands of people or more . It was a perfect place to establish a new settlement .

The only thing they didn’t know was whether it was safe . An answer came when patrolling robots recently returned to life noted creatures lurking in the darkness . The city’s reawakening had stirred them from their slumber .

A host of deadly creatures rushed in from different directions, numerous and varied .

“Hmph, where’d these creepy-crawlies come from? They have the gall to stand in my way – let me teach them a lesson!” Dawn pulled on her helm and the Dawnbreaker armor formed over her . With Terrangelica in hand, she charged at the creatures .

“Careful, there’s something strange about them!”

She was too quick . By the time she heard his warning, Dawn was already fifty meters down the street and in range of the first group . She’d a.s.sumed they were ordinary creatures . After years in the wastelands, she’d encountered all manner of critters . Vicious and horribly mutated, they were nonetheless no threat to her . Nothing about these ordinary things gave her pause .

But then came the unexpected . She was mid charge when the distant creatures launched an attack first! They were worm-like beasts that stretched three meters long . Although they looked like they would be sluggish, the worms moved at impressive speed .

If she’d stopped to take a closer look, Dawn might have noticed the light coming from their abdomen . It crackled like electricity . They raised their back ends and b.a.l.l.s of lightning were cast her way . Electric light screamed toward her as though thrown by a trebuchet, moving faster than expected .

Dawn was surprised by their reaction . She jerked from one side to the other, dodging their attacks . One managed to catch her just as she was closing the gap, knocking her sword aside .

Boom! An explosion echoed through the city . Dawn was flung backwards several meters .

Her st.u.r.dy armor protected her from the blast, but it was only the beginning . More attacks closed in from all sides – snakes with vicious claws took swipes at her and bites rang against her armor like machine gun fire .

Their bites were corrosive, powerful enough to even eat away at a relic . Dawn called on the power of Terrangelica to summon spikes from the earth . The beasts were slain, but even in death their acidic blood ate away at the ground and left pits behind .

A second wave was bearing down on her from the roofs above .

Scorpion-like tails fired blasts at her like plasma rifles . Attacks came quick, too fast for her to recover from fighting off the last batch . She braced herself for the incoming blows by lifting her left arm . A sh.e.l.l of invisible energy formed around her .

Orbs of roiling plasma froze solid in the air before her, captured by Dawn’s energy field 

She swung her sword around and struck the crystallized energy . They burst back toward where they came and detonated in the center of the monsters . But more were coming every second . There was no way to tell how many of these fiends were hiding down here! They swarmed toward her and Cloudhawk as though they’d kicked an anthill .

“No use fighting, let’s move . ”

Cloudhawk looked around then grabbed Dawn and teleported away . They were too strong for the creatures to cause damage, but as far as he knew this tide was endless . It was a waste of energy to fight . Better to escape and rea.s.sess the situation .

Cloudhawk brought them into one of the residential buildings . Buzzing lights revealed an interior free from creatures . The room they were in was about two hundred square meters – too big judging from the outside . At appeared all these buildings were connected to one another .

It wasn’t readily obvious why they’d been built this way .

No signs of life were evident in these empty rooms . It was like this city had been built and then abandoned before anyone had moved in .  

Dawn opened her face place, propped Terrangelica on her shoulder and muttered, “So there was something strange about those creatures . ”

“Yup, they’re special somehow . My guess it they were specially bred to protect this place . But why?”

“Well wherever they came from, there are a s.h.i.+t ton of them . That’s going to make our search a lot more difficult . ” Dawn tilted her head in thought . “You think the others have been eaten already?”

He shook his head . “Phoenix and Bruno are too strong for those things to take them down . ”

“So they’ve got to be hiding somewhere . Strong as they are, Bruno is a spatial Master with no relics . It’s not like he can blink around like you do . ”

“You’re right . I guess we better start looking . ”

Cloudhawk’s relics were as numerous as the stars . He hadn’t brought Oddball with him, but he had plenty of tools to help them search . Anyway, they weren’t necessary . He figured the two Masters couldn’t be far, so he reached out with his spatial powers to scan the area .

With himself at the center, he reached through ripples in s.p.a.ce like a radar beacon . His powers were more effective than most searching relics because he could see in all directions and through nearly any obstacles . Nothing within his range could hide from his sight .

The underground city was an ocean of shadow that stretched endlessly through the cavern . It was so large Cloudhawk was having a hard time wrapping his head around it, and the buildings were all connected . It formed a vast and intricate closed complex .

He sensed a surprising amount of strong creatures all around them . He didn’t know where they’d come from or how they reproduced, but if these things got to the surface it would be a catastrophe .  

He reached out with his mind to search for a full thirty minutes . Suddenly his eyes lit up .

“Got ‘em . ”

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