Vivid Stars Online

I’d had little practice with the Extra Information upgrade for Psi Sense since I got it. Even the last two weeks in the cave system only presented a few cases where it was useful.

This was perhaps unsurprising since it required a target with a certain level of complexity to be useful. If there wasn’t anything else to find, then I would just get the usual level of information.

The energy I could sense in the distance was more than complex enough to meet that threshold, and the longer I focused on it, the more information became available to me.

Linnea gasped beside me as I slumped to the ground, barely able to process what I was feeling. The energy I sensed was dark, twisted, and, above all else, powerful. At least as powerful as the other rift I’d found down here, perhaps even more.

I could feel it pulsing somewhere ahead of us, pumping corrupted energy into its surroundings. Whatever its strength, I doubted anything good could come from trying to use it.

“I’m OK,” I responded to Linnea’s worried questions. “Just something I sensed further in.”

“Danger?” she queried, reaching a hand out to help me up.

“Probably yeah,” I said, accepting the help. “I’ve never felt something so evil. Like a rift, but one that ruins everything it touches.”

“Sounds nasty,” she sighed, shaking her head back and forth. “How close is it? And do we pull back, or engage?”

I was reluctant to reach out again but pushed it aside as I focused on the energy once more. Despite the qualities that had shocked me out of my stride, it was actually quite a weak signature. If it wasn’t for the Extra Information upgrade, I wouldn’t have got nearly so much from it.

“Pretty far,” I responded a minute later. “Given its strength and my current range, I would put it pretty far ahead. A few days at our pace we’ve been setting.”

“That should be pretty close to the base of the mountain, right?” She asked, pulling up a map on her watch.

“Yeah, maybe even further,” I responded, checking my map. We had been making better progress than I’d thought, our pace comparable to traveling down the surface of the mountain.

It was possible to guess our current location based on our map of the surface, and it would put the rift somewhere at the base, give or take half a day’s travel. That was disturbingly close to the town.

“We’d better scout it at least,” I said after careful consideration. “If it’s a danger to the surface, we need to know. If it’s just blocking the way down, I might be willing to leave it alone, but we can’t ignore it if there’s any chance of it endangering the town.

“Right,” she responded with a nod. “We’d better try to meet up with the squads before then. If it’s going to be dangerous, we can’t risk them running in to it unaware. They don’t have your senses after all.”

I agreed, and she moved over to the wall to mark it with chalk. It would be difficult to communicate with the spread-out squads, but it was possible one of them would have to backtrack through here. If so, the markings would instruct them to catch up.

If not, we would probably still see them in a day or two. The tunnels down here tended to intersect in places, and each group would mark the path they took. We’d only need to find each squad once to organize a meetup.

With the markings complete, I lead the way deeper, using the horrible feeling in the distance as a beacon.

As expected, we met with each of the other squads over the next two days and regrouped entirely as the tunnels grew wider. Eventually, even these fed into a single, massive tunnel as all the little streams and rivers combined into a surging torrent of water.

Over the ages, the size of the river must have waxed and waned, as there were currently a dozen feet of a clear tunnel on each side of the river. It took some work, but eventually, we’d all assembled on the side closest to the corrupted rift.

Its energy signature had only grown stronger over the last two days until I was sure that it was the most powerful rift I’d ever come across. Despite this, we’d still seen almost no Beasts in the area, a fact that only concerned me further.

It was a stark difference from the other powerful rift I’d encountered, and I couldn’t help but ruminate over dozens of horrible possibilities. If it wasn’t for the risk of danger to the town, I would have turned us around. Whatever opportunities the rift might have just didn’t feel worth it.

Unfortunately, we were now close to the base of the mountain and hadn’t deviated far from the normal path we took on the surface. Based on my sense of the rift, it would definitely be somewhere close to the town, yet I’d never sensed it before.

That suggested it was new, or hidden deep enough that it was impossible to sense from the surface. I hoped it was the second, as we might be too late otherwise.

We followed the underground river for hours until it diverged from the direction I sensed the corrupted rift in. The river continued on a flat trajectory, and I suspected it would come out as one of the waterfalls that fed into the lake.

The rift was deeper than that, though still in the same rough direction. “Look for any tunnels off to the right,” I shouted, forcing my voice to echo louder than the nearby river.

Psi energy couldn’t go very far through rock or dirt, so there had to be a way down to what I was sensing. We would just need to find it.

The soldiers spread out along the wall at my command, while I focused on my senses to try to detect any more information. Opening myself up was almost overwhelming now, despite us still being at least several miles from the source.

The energy felt just as horrific as ever and was definitely coming from down and to the right. Even with no obvious way down, I was certain there had to be a tunnel somewhere around here.

I’d just begun to worry that it was hidden in the river when a shout came up from behind us. With a jerk, I pulled myself back into focus and turned to sprint back.

Far from the danger I’d been fearing, I found three members of our second squad starting at the wall in bemusement. For a moment I paused, unsure of what was happening, before my mouth fell open in shock.

A hand appeared from the wall and waved back and forth for several seconds. Then the rest of its body followed as Corporal Murther strode out.

“There’s a tunnel through there all right,” he said to the other soldiers with a shake of his head. “Private Simmons is alright as well, just a bit shaken up from falling through.” Turning, he moved into a salute as he faced me.

“Sorry Sir, I didn’t spot you. We’ve located what appears to be a hidden tunnel behind some form of illusion.”

“Thank you, Corporal,” I responded distractedly. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed that a tunnel was there. I got no feeling from it with Psi sense, and even reaching out with Technokinesis found nothing.

I gestured for Linnea to cover me up before striding forward and extending my hand toward the wall. Every sense I had assured me was that it was solid rock, right until my hand passed through with no resistance.

Reaching from side to side only found more space until I eventually had to take a half a dozen steps before I reached a solid surface. It felt like a rock, suggesting I’d reached the edge of the hidden tunnel.

Turning, I warned Linnea, “I’m going in,” before stepping through. Even after pushing my hand through, it was a little to walk through solid rock but I forced my way through.

A moment later I was looking at a solid wall from the other side. Even from here, I sensed nothing Psionic or Technological leaving me with little idea of what was causing it.

I guess an illusion isn’t very useful if you can just sense it, I theorized. So probably psionic then. If it was shielded technology, I should be able to detect something, at least, like with the frigate’s hull.

A nervous-looking soldier was saluting nearby, so I turned to her with a question. “Good work Private. How did you find it?”

“Thanks, Sir,” she responded, before glancing away. “I smelled something coming from here, so I leaned against the rock to see if there was a crack or something that it might be coming from. Then I, ah, fell through.”

“Well, lucky you did,” I said with a smile, trying to mitigate her embarrassment. “We might never have found it otherwise.” Now that she’d mentioned it, I could smell a faint hint of rot coming from further in.

That wasn’t a very good sign in my book, and I wasn’t surprised to find that the tunnel lined up with the direction I sensed the corrupted rift in.

Turning back to the wall, I stuck my head through and addressed the people on the other side. “We’ve found the way down, gather everyone and meet back here.” The tunnel had more than enough space to fit us, even walking ten abreast.

“Be prepared for anything,” I said, addressing the surrounding soldiers. “We’re close to rift I’ve been sensing, and it doesn’t feel any better up close. Be prepared to run if I sound the retreat and we will cover you,” I finished, gesturing toward Linnea.

She nodded firmly beside me, hefting her plasma cannon. The tunnels here looked wide and sturdy enough to survive the blast, and we’d decided that it was better to have the firepower ready if we needed it.

“Ah, Sir?” Corporal Murther piped up awkwardly. At my responding nod, he continued. “Shouldn’t that be our job? To make sure you get out safely, I mean.”

I appreciated the thought but had no desire for them to throw lives away for me. Worst case, I would come back, even if it would be extremely inconvenient at this stage. They wouldn’t.

“Not in this case,” I said with a shake of my head. “If I tell you to run, then run. That’s an order.”

“Yes, Sir!” He responded, saluting smartly. The rest followed a second later, and I looked them over until I was sure they had taken it to heart.

“OK then. Follow me and try to keep quiet. We don’t know what might be down here, but we know something is.”

We’d traveled two hours further down from the hidden tunnel entrance, and the number of old bone piles on the way had shown that. A few flecks of rotten flesh suggested recent activity as well.

I had a bad feeling that the reason we’d found no Beasts was that something had eaten them all.

After I got a nod out of everyone, I turned and began creeping down the tunnel. The corrupted energy pulsed so close here that I almost expected to see it in the air. We would be at the rift soon.

The rest of the soldiers followed ten feet behind me, with Linnea another ten behind them. I hoped that would allow them to provide covering fire, while still allowing me to take the bulk of the attention if we were attacked.

It was a formation I’d used multiple times since our fight with the insects, and it usually worked well. Only against multiple smarter beasts did any get past me. Given the signs we’d seen, that wasn’t something I was afraid of.

Given the teeth marks on the bones we’d found and the general size of the tunnel, I was expecting a single colossal beast instead.

The tunnel forked ahead, but I didn’t even pause before taking the left path. This close, I didn’t need to spend any time to feel where the rift was.

It was so very close, and I crept forward, expecting to see it around every bend.

Then, at least, I peeked around a corner and had to suppress a gasp. Before me was a massive carven bathed in a sickly yellow light. It spread from a pulsing rift in the center of the room and reflected strangely off the mass of water above.

It was astonishing to see a ceiling made up of apparently levitating water, yet that wasn’t what drew my attention.

That honor went to the three massive tentacle beasts arrayed in a triangle around the rift.