Chapter III - Safety

Reviewer's Comment (Awnro)

The bomb has hit the water…pretty vague, I know, try to figure me out. While your at it, read this chapter!



Reviewer's Comment (Mirar)



This chapter is fun. Half the time you want to point and laugh and say, “Haha, you’re being scared to bitsies and no one cares.”

Oh, and the ‘crunchy gravel’ was actually lots and lots of bones. <--- more fun

In fact, the whole thing was fun xD Aside from the land of too many Shandors, this one’s the best so far (out of three, I have good statistics)


Chapter III – Safety



“I wish I could step from this scaffold,

Onto soft-green pastures, shopping malls, or bed,”

~ Barenaked Ladies, ‘When I Fall’



Shandor managed to not fall over as he emerged from the portal again. Most of this was probably because he couldn’t work out where the floor was to fall onto. The room was pitch black. ‘Hello?’ he called to the darkness.

Nothingness replied with a cheery silence.

‘Okay, this is eerie. Nath tolin.’ A small orb of light flickered to life a foot away from him. Shandor looked up at the light first, he saw a stone ceiling and stone walls. Then his eyes came in contact with the floor. The first thing he noticed was a thick layer of dust. Well, that’s a lie, the first thing he noticed were the seven skeletons blanketed in it. Then he noticed his boot was resting within the skull of one. He let out a small yelp and jumped away from it, kicking an ornate crown away from the skull and sending it rolling away from the sphere of light the orb produced. The final thing he noticed was a door, it was fractured and lying on the ground.

‘Hello?’ Shandor repeated.



Alril and Silvan were one of the first to go through. They, in a slight panic, ran around frantically. That is, until, they found a torch, lit it, saw the corridors filled with skeletons and rotting flesh, screeched and screamed loudly and took off in different directions whimpering like frightened chipmunks.



‘Hello?’ A voice replied.

Shandor looked outside the door, sending his orb of light floating gleefully with him. ‘Hello Kalypse.’

‘And Mihndrid,’ Mihndrid’s voice informed.

‘And we ran into a screeching Alril a few minutes before you came.’ Kalypse added.

‘What’s going on?’ Shandor asked, shining the light towards them.

Upon seeing the skeletons again, Alril’s screaming renewed.

‘Could he, maybe… *not* do that?’ Shandor groaned, flinching at the sudden sound.

‘Sorry! But... corpses!’ Alril squeaked.

‘They are several months old from the look of it.’ Kalypse stated, unnerved all the while. ‘Died quite a violent death too.’

‘Oh! Silvan!’

‘I’m pretty sure he’s not one of these skeletons, Alril.’ Shandor said politely.

‘No! Silvan… here, he was here, with me. Went somewhere else!’



‘Would you two stop panicking? Yes, there are corpses, but they are old corpses, whatever killed them is long gone.’ Rue explained to Silvan and Lesharn.

That didn’t calm them down. ‘But… what if it still here?’ Silvan said, eyes darting beyond the sphere of light provided by the torch.’

‘But… it isn’t.’ Rue argued quite proudly.

‘But what if it is?’ Silvan and Lesharn both said.

‘I’m taller, thus I’m right.’ Rue said matter-of-factly.

‘What do we do now?’ Silvan asked, going off on a different topic.

‘Find the others I guess, they must be here somewhere.’

‘Poor Alril, he’s all alone.’



Poor Varadrion, he *is* all alone. He handled the situation quite well, with another ‘it didn’t happen’ screeches. He had been stumbling blindly until he ran into a torch – or tripped over the body still carrying it. Panicked, he had grabbed it and continued to run. Several minutes later, he had stopped to light it only to see parts of a rotting hand still gripped to it. Oh, and the ‘crunchy gravel’ was actually lots and lots of bones.

Another ‘it didn’t happen’ screech.

After poking the hand off with his sword, he picked up the torch again and went on his way; an eerie feeling of being stalked following him.



Cyria looked at her ‘team’, Shivayon and Santhorpe. If they ran into trouble, which the mass of skeletons implied probable, they were, to put it in layman’s terms: screwed.

‘What was that?’ Santhorpe said, head popping up and peering into the darkness.

‘What?’ Shivayon asked.

‘I thought I heard bones cracking.’

‘One of us?’

‘Hello?’ Shivayon called.

Everyone heard several more crunches and no reply.

The narrator would like to repeat an important point about this group: screwed.

‘Okay, I think run.’ Cyria said, lifting the torch from the wall.

Santhorpe and Shivayon were already running away.



Just after Cyria’s group had fled in the opposite direction to the noise, Rilnae appeared. ‘Guys?’ she called out. Nothing. ‘I thought they were here... WHOA!’

Rilnae had just spotted the origin of the noise.

‘Er… hi. And subsequently: bye!’ And she was gone.

She reappeared next to Varadrion. ‘Varadrion, are you okay? You’re all on your own… and pathetic… and stuff.’

Varadrion made no motion to imply she was there.

‘Helloooo? Varadrion? I didn’t mean the pathetic thing… well, who am I kidding? But I didn’t mean for you to ignore me.’

Still no reply.

Rilnae crouched down and waved her hand in his face for a few seconds before Varadrion lifted the torch up – his arm passing straight through hers.

‘Oh... bollox. That’s going to make the game harder. Well, just stay there, don’t get killed, and try not to be pathetic.’ Rilnae advised, well aware that Varadrion couldn’t hear her.



‘Is it still behind us?’ Santhorpe panted, continuing the charge down the corridor.

‘I don’t know. Maybe we lost it at the last turn.’ Cyria replied.

‘Lets keep moving.’ Shivayon insisted.

‘What was it?’

‘I don’t know. It didn’t sound friendly.’ Shivayon reasoned.

‘It didn’t say anything, though.’ Santhorpe replied.

‘Exactly.’ Shivayon stated.

‘What do you think, Cyria?’ Santhorpe asked towards the darkness where she was last. The torch had been dropped around the last turn.

No reply came. The narrator bought the group hearing aids for Christmas presents.

‘Cyria?’ Shivayon called.

‘Crud.’ Came the official opinion of the two.



The door swung open mysteriously. Then its hinges broke and it tumbled unceremoniously to the ground, rather spoiling the atmosphere. Shandor stepped into the room, dragging the orb of light with him.

‘Oh... shiny.’ Shandor’s well-versed opinion came of the room.

‘It’s an armoury.’ Mihndrid informed him.

‘I believe I covered that.’ Shandor replied defensively.

Mihndrid rolled her eyes as she looked at the rows of weapons. ‘There’s still a lot here.’

Shandor nodded thoughtfully, ‘Too many for too few troops. Still, since some of us don’t have our weapons, we should probably “borrow” some.’

‘Do you still have the bag that held way too much?’

‘I think so.’ Thus began a minute or so of rummaging around in his pockets. At the end, he produced a small pouch no bigger than the palm of his hand.

‘Gee, that’s useful.’ Mihndrid stated.

‘Just stuff something into it.’ Shandor urged.

‘Oh fine.’ Mihndrid replied, grabbing a short sword from the rack and stuffing it in the pouch. Surprisingly, it fit quite comfortably, the pouch growing in size until it was the length of Shandor’s arm.

‘Okay, fill it up.’ Shandor ordered, grabbing a few quivers, laden with arrows, and shoving them roughly into the bag. Kalypse grabbed a bow and a crossbow.



‘Run!’ Rue shouted, shoving open a door and taking off down the staircase.

‘Is this the right way?’ Lesharn squeaked over Silvan’s hyperventilation.

‘Do you care?!’ Rue replied, kicking open the door at the bottom of the stairs.

‘Point.’ Lesharn said, looking over his shoulder and nearly tripping up.

Rue didn’t pause, taking off down the corridor at a sprint, her torch waving hazardously. She suddenly came to a dramatic stop as the torch flew out of her hands and disappeared into the cavernous gap in the floor. The ceiling, side walls, and a five-metre length of floor and all disappeared, leaving a deep pit. Very deep. The three could watch the torch all the way down until it struck off the side and went out.

‘Does anyone have another torch?’ Rue asked rationally.

‘Why would someone… oh say… put a GIANT HOLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CORRIDOR!?’ Silvan shouted, panicked and falling over.

‘Just calm down.’

‘But there was something after us. You heard it too!’

‘Okay, I know you can’t hear me, but try and calm down. I’m going to try and open a portal.’ Rilnae said suddenly, hovering in above the pit. ‘I just hope I get it open before It arrives.’



Varadrion got to his feet and edged along the corridor. He felt like complaining. He felt like complaining about being on a different dimension. He felt like complaining about being surrounded by hundreds of skeletons. He felt like complaining that he ruined his favourite shirt in the mental frenzy. He felt like complaining about the shirt most of all. His eyes were cast downwards and rather depressed. His best friend had died only a few days ago. Did he have time to mourn? No. Even after it was all ‘over’, he didn’t have time to mourn. Bloody world.

‘Hey! Varadrion! Cheer up!’ Rue called.

Varadrion’s head bobbed up, he couldn’t really see anything.

Silvan had calmed down enough to grab a torch off the wall and handed it to Rue. She promptly lit it. ‘Don’t go much further or you’ll be falling all the way home.’

‘What?’ Varadrion asked, a few metres away from Rue.

Rue pointed in front of Varadrion and down. Varadrion put his torch closer to the ground only to notice that the ground stopped abruptly. ‘Oh… thanks.’

‘Welcome. Good to see you-‘ Rue paused to wonder the chances of her actually saying that honestly, ‘- have you seen the others? We’ve been separated since we got here.’

‘Except - Alril!’ Silvan shouted through his hyperventilation.

‘Right, right, Silvan and Alril were together for a brief time.’

‘I haven’t seen anything.’ Varadrion reported. ‘Although, I’ve heard a few odd sounds.’

‘You too?’ Lesharn called, practically hopping with glee that they had found someone else.

‘Yeah, makes me think whatever killed these souls is still here.’

‘Told … you!’ Silvan gasped.

‘Oh hush,’ Rue scolded.

‘You hush!’ Silvan shouted in reply.

‘Could everyone not go to hell?’ Varadrion called over the gap.

‘I just want to go home…’ Silvan said pitifully.

‘Gee, wouldn’t have guessed.’ Rilnae muttered, pretending to lean against the wall. ‘Just keep alive and don’t run into that thing. ‘Kay?’

When they didn’t react to her presence, she shrugged and continued on her journey.



Cyria groaned softly, rubbing her head. She didn’t have a clue where she was, but knew that she had a rough ride getting there; down some stairs, she believed. She stood up and dusted herself off. Pitch black, still. It was the sort of black that was dark. Really really dark. Like… Dark things. The dark things that you never want to go near. Like Margaret Thatcher’s underwear drawer: avoid. That sort of really dark darkness.

Hey, it ain’t my fault. I was being polite and went to a Christmas party. But I avoided alkihol. I sorry, back to story. The darkness was really really dark, like really really dark darkness and –

-Who ever built this place really needed to install windows, she thought.

Before she could move, however, there was a crunching sound. Bones crunching under the weight of something rather heavy.

Cyria refrained from gulping and just stared into the darkness.

The crunching was joined by the sound of breathing. And it was getting louder.

Okay, Cyria, remain calm. You’ve got no weapons. You’ve in a pitch black situation. There’s something large and unfriendly here. You can stop remaining calm now.

Rilnae blinked into existence a few metres from Cyria. She tapped the pad and activated infravision. She gulped. Quite loudly.

Stay perfectly still, Cyria.

‘Run! Cyria! Run up the stairs, please!’ Rilnae shouted at Cyria.

If you move, it’ll hear you and kill you.

‘It can smell you, it’s going to kill you!’

Not moving is the smart man’s move.

Rilnae suddenly stopped, went slightly wide-eyed and stopped looking at Cyria and looked at the only other thing in the room. It could hear her. It was now moving towards her. Quite loudly. And quickly.

Cyria heard the noises getting slightly further away from her and spun, charging up the stairs.

Rilnae instinctively covered her face with her arms. It was nearly on top of her. She blinked out of existence.



‘Rilnae?’ Shandor said, staring at an empty corridor. Save for the skeletons, that is.

‘Shandor, are you quite alright?’ Kalypse asked, looking at the emptiness.

‘Yeah, now’s no time to go crazy on us.’ Mihndrid added.

Shandor wasn’t listening to them.

Rilnae opened her eyes and looked around. ‘Oh… Hi! Shandor, can you see me?’

‘Of course I can see you.’ Shandor paused for a few seconds, ‘Where are they then?’ A few more seconds, ‘Wait, what? Where is it now?’ another few seconds, ‘Just perfect. Absolutely bloody perfect. Any other surprises?’ the others looked at him, exchanged glances and shook their heads. ‘Hey! Stop! I wasn’t serious. No more surprises.’

‘Shandor, are you going to explain what’s going on to your cohorts or are they going to lock you up in a loony-bin?’

‘A loony-bin would be safer.’ Shandor said.

Mihndrid looked at Shandor as if he’d just become a mind-reader.

Shandor turned to the others, ‘Rilnae’s here, and judging by your faces, you can’t see her in this dimension.’

‘How can you see her again?’

Shandor ‘hmm’ed. ‘Rilnae, how-‘

‘Shandor, not again. Look, I’ll explain that to you later. Much later.’

Shandor nodded, ‘Okay, what do we do?’

‘Get out of here. Quickly.’

‘Okay. How?’

‘Don’t complicate matters! Just do it!’

‘Eek, okay, jeesh, calm down.’

‘Look, I’m trying to look after the rest of the group. They’re a few floors down, next to a giant hole, you can’t miss it. I can get a portal open, but I can’t wait long. So hurry.’

Shandor nodded, noting the concern in her face.

‘Uh oh, got to go.’ Rilnae said, consulting her pad.

‘Rilnae, what’s the matt-‘ Too late, she had blinked out of existence. Shandor was beginning to think that Rilnae needed to wear a cow-bell. He spun on his heel and looked at the group, ‘Come along kiddies, time to go round up the rest of you.’

‘I’m older than you.’ Mihndrid glared.

‘Yes, but you’re pint-sized.’

Mihndrid fingered the mace strapped to her back.



Varadrion, ‘So…’

‘Yes, so…’ Rue replied.

‘Now what?’ Lesharn asked, looking at the gap between Varadrion and the three.

‘You could jump?’ Rue suggested.

‘Oh just terrific! Brilliant plan!’ Silvan shouted, still on the verge of hysteria, ‘And then we get to hear the little squishy sounds as he bounces down the hole LIKE A RUBBER BALL!’

Rue blinked, ‘Silvan, calm down.’

‘I. Am. Calm.’ Silvan stated, trying to stand up, then falling back onto the wall again.

Suddenly, a wall exploded out, about twenty metres into the darkness.

‘I. Am. Not. Calm.’ Silvan squeaked, eyes bulging out of their sockets as he looked down the corridor.

Rue spun around to look down the corridor.

Lesharn looked at the pit, then the darkness, then the pit.

Varadrion complained that he couldn’t get over to help them.

‘You never shut up, do you Varadrion?’ Rilnae said, walking through the wall. ‘Sorry, Shandor, we’ve got to go.’

Rilnae proceeded to wave her arms in a funny mime routine. A portal popped into existence, it pointed up and covered the diameter of the pit.

Rue spun around again, this time to look at the swirling mass of energy, ‘It must be Rilnae!’

‘*That’s* perceptive.’ Rilnae smirked, ‘Now, hurry up and swan dive into it.’

Meanwhile, the thing that crashed through the wall was looking quite menacingly at the portal and the torch. It started towards them, its footsteps causing the surrounding area to shudder.

‘Silvan, you first.’

‘Nuh uh!’ Silvan shouted in reply.

‘What? Would you rather be killed by that?’ Rue asked, pointing down the corridor as dust began falling from the ceiling above her.

‘Good point.’ Silvan said, struggling to his feet. Rue grabbed him by the arm and shoved him towards the portal.

Silvan really wished people would stop shoving him through portals as he was shoved through a portal.

‘Lesharn, you go.’ Varadrion shouted.

Rue, not waiting for an answer from Lesharn, dropped the torch, picked the Halfling up and tossed him into the portal.

‘Rue, now you.’

‘Gladly.’ Rue said, diving away from whatever was approaching.



‘Cyria! You’re alive.’ Shivayon said, grinning, even though no-one could see it.

‘We thought something awful had happened to you.’ Santhorpe explained.

‘No, I just fell down some stairs.’

‘Oh... What’s that?’ Shivayon said, suddenly distracted by a blue light playing on the ceiling.

Cyria edged towards it, then noticed the big hole in the floor. Two floors down, there was a portal, ‘Hey, we can get out. We just have to work out how to get down.’

‘We could jump?’ Santhorpe suggested.

‘Are you crazy!?’ Shivayon replied.

‘No, really, Jumping’s your best bet.’ Rilnae said, blinking into existence next to them. ‘You don’t have time to go down.’

The three stared at each other, unsure of what to do when a deafening bellow resonated through the corridors.

‘Jump.’ The three agreed. Gripping tightly to each other’s hands, they jumped over the edge.

At the same time, Varadrion jumped towards the portal. Subsequently, Cyria’s foot smacked him in the head. Fortunately, all four went through the portal.

‘Shandor, too late.’ Rilnae said, shutting down the portal as quickly as possible, as the creature was only inches from it. The portal exploded in a fit of white light. Rilnae was blinded by it for several seconds. When her vision returned, she could hardly tell because it was so dark. She clicked the infravision back on, the portal was gone. No sign of the thing. Did it go through the portal? Or did it close quick enough?

That would have to wait ‘til later. She blinked out of existence and reappeared next to Shandor, ‘Okay, I’m opening up another portal.’

‘That’s nice of you.’ Shandor commented dryly.

‘You’re the people who are too slow. Besides we need to get you out of here very quickly. The others are safe. I think. But something feels very strange.’

‘Just hurry.’

Rilnae nodded, seeing no point in continuing the conversation. She quickly formed another portal, but she paused as Shandor, Mihndrid, Kalypse and Alril charged towards it. ‘Something isn’t right.’ She muttered. Too late. The four entered the portal.

Rilnae disappeared from that dimension and returned to a little area which shows portal activity. She watched. Everyone entered from portal A. ‘Uh oh.’ Rilnae said aloud as several different portal pathways fired at once.

‘Shandor’s going to kill me.’