Call of the Abyss [Book 2 Complete]

A sudden ruckus roused Elaine from slumber. She shot straight up, throwing the thin hide blanket off in her haste.

"Eat now—we are not stopping again until midday!" Mr. Pitwyck shouted, banging a pot with a spoon.

Elaine sighed, a little embarrassed at being roused so violently, but also annoyed that she—along with her classmates—was the last to awake. Both groups of adventurers were packing, kicking dirt over the fire, and cleaning up. Her two companions were frantically packing, both looking about as rough as she felt.

She packed her things quickly but carefully, once again reaffirming that keeping caustic substances on her belt rather than in her pack with all her things was the best idea.

"What's the plan, Julia?" Mr. Pitwyck asked.

Elaine glanced over and noted that Julia was standing at the edge of the camp, staring into the forest—did she sleep at all?

She turned around and shot quick glances at everyone.

"How exactly does this work? Am I leading this job as if it were my own, or am I coaching the rest of you?" she asked, mostly directing her words at Mr. Pitwyck.

Elaine noticed the red-haired man bristling at her words, but Elaine wasn't sure why. She thought Julia was rather polite.

"Your job. My students and I are here to observe. The other adventurer parties have accepted this job, so you are all working together. Your addition was rather unusual, but I believe the Vice Master put you in charge specifically, which I would interpret to mean that you are doing the job, not just guiding," Mr. Pitwyck reasoned.

Julia nodded and turned around to face the group.

"What do you all know about undead?" she asked, looking between the two adventurer parties.

The red-haired man scoffed, but one of his comrades—a shorter, thin man with a wooden staff—answered.

"Low threat due to low intelligence. Weakest to blunt physical damage, though undead with more than bones still attached are susceptible to fire. Find the source of reanimation and break it—usually within the skull," he said succinctly.

The rest of the adventurers nodded. Elaine was impressed with how much information he presented so quickly and precisely.

"That's true of most undead. Anyone ever fought undead controlled by a higher power, like a Revenant or Wight?" Julia asked.

"A what? Fuck you makin' shit up for? Tryin' to impress us?" the ginger jabbed.

"I don't give a fuck what you think, Terrance, and I'd wager no one—not even your mother—does," Julia snapped.

A subdued chuckle went around the group. The red-head—Terrance, apparently—went red in the face, but Julia pressed on, ignoring him.

"The threat that lurks in these woods is not one you've likely ever faced before. I have, both in the past, and last night. They are called the Nashiin, and I don't intend to explain my whole life to you, but suffice to say I've had plenty of conflict with them.

"These are not your standard undead. There are more than just skeletons about. There are ghûls, with sharp claws and teeth and an animalistic instinct to rend the flesh of the living. There are Wraiths, emaciated and desiccated, but their cries and wails will burst your ear drums and render you unable to fight. There are Revenants, armed and armored undead with an intelligence approaching humans.

"They are dangerous not just for their combat prowess, but because they can command the undead under them. Any Nashiin accompanying at least one Revenant will not be the mindless shamblers you're used to. They will use military tactics: melee combatants up front, archers in back, and support behind them. They will shift targets depending on the situation.

"There are higher ranks above the Revenants, and you better hope we don't encounter any of those. I've fought them plenty, so I'm confident we can clear this infestation. However, I need you all to give me assurances," she said, stalking up to Terrance specifically and looking him dead in the eye.

"This is my mission, and I will get you all home alive. To do that, you must assure me that you are going to do what I say, when I say it," she declared firmly.

"The fuck you mean? You gonna hold my hand all the way—" he started, but a distortion of some kind—that was the only way Elaine could think of it—opened behind him, and Julia suddenly put her boot on his gut and pushed him through.

The adventurers gasped, and Elaine heard a thud from behind. She turned to find Terrance on his backside in the grass four or five strides away from her. There were no distortions—they probably closed after he was sent through. There was just Terrance, sitting on his rump, eyes as wide as saucers.

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"I'm not fucking with you, Terrance," Julia said sternly into the stunned silence. "If you can't take orders from me, that's fine. I'll send your ass all the way back to the city. The Shroud won't let me send you beyond the gates, but you'll be in sight of them.

"If you don't cooperate, you put not only your own, but everyone else's lives at risk, and I won't have that. So, you need to decide right the fuck now: can you take orders from me, or are you going home?"

Terrance's mouth flopped open like a fish several times before he mustered himself enough to stand. He faced Julia, his face growing serious.

"I ain't runnin'."

"That's not what I asked," Julia replied quickly.

A tense silence passed between the two before Terrance eventually nodded.

"I'll do what you say," he said simply.

Julia nodded and turned around toward the forest.

"Did you say you saw these undead—these 'nahsheen'—last night?" Mr. Pitwyck asked.

"Yeah, I drew them here with that explosion of plasma," Julia replied matter-of-factly, not even turning around.

"I…I see. Well, I suppose it is good to know what we are up against," Mr. Pitwyck reasoned, following behind Julia.

He motioned for Elaine's party to follow behind him. He had explained this formation in advance: Julia and Mr. Pitwyck would take the lead, and the two other adventuring parties would spread out, taking both the back and sides. This way, Elaine's party had allies on all sides.

"It was a small squad of Ghûls and skeletons under the command of a Revenant, who seemed to be acting as a captain. I dispatched them quickly, but I watched them long before, tracking their movements.

"They have a foul rot that accompanies their attacks. It is a virulent poison to the living. If you get hit, I can scour it out of you, but…well, just don't get hit," she said seriously.

That sounded like a joke, but the way she said it made Elaine shudder. Her choice of words wasn't comforting either. She wasn't sure she ever wanted to know what scouring poison out of her body would feel like.

They stomped through the brush, moving far louder and faster than Elaine had imagined when this job started. She had pictured slow, steady investigations that evolved into stealthy stalking operations, where they tracked down a big monster and killed it while hidden. Julia was simply marching straight through the forest, completely sure of herself, as if in defiance of Elaine's expectations.

They marched through a section that was oddly clear of vegetation on the forest floor, and Elaine felt a strangeness in the air. Her senses for magic and mana weren't the sharpest, but she could tell something had happened here.

"There was impressive magic used here—recently," Mr. Pitwyck mused, glancing around the likely artificial clearing.

"This is where I dispatched the Nashiin last night," Julia remarked, moving to the opposite end without even slowing.

"This is where the fight happened? A wonder we didn't hear it…" one of the Steel adventurers muttered.

"There was no fight. I eliminated them quickly and quietly. I want them afraid, but not so afraid that they flee their hole," Julia replied, venom creeping into her words.

Whatever her history with these specific undead, it was clearly deeper than she was letting on.

They continued through the forest for another hour or two (it was hard to tell), before Julia eventually held her hand up. The group stopped its advance and stood completely still, Elaine even attempted to breathe quietly.

"Why are we stopped?" one of the Irons whispered.

Julia glanced back at them before looking straight ahead.

"If you would, Lumenfall?" she said to the ferret on her shoulder—she talks to her ferret? That's so cute!

Suddenly a light shone from the ferret's eyes so brightly that Elaine had to close hers. When she opened them again, the entire forest had changed!

What was formerly a patch of forest similar to all the rest had become a…building. She wasn't sure what to call it, but it was a sort of triangle-shaped building made of a dark stone that almost seemed to absorb the light filtering through the forest canopy.

It was rundown and overgrown, with roots shifting the stone foundations, leaves and dirt collecting in corners, and pits and divots giving the entire structure a weathered look. Despite the overgrown, abandoned look—or, perhaps, because of it—Elaine was thoroughly creeped out. Nothing good could be going on in there.

Elaine walked carefully over to Julia, who turned around and quirked a brow at her. Elaine lifted her hand to the ferret and patted its head.

"Good job," she whispered.

Its fur was so soft!

Julia made a strained face, and the little ferret blew smoke out of its nose. Wow! How does it do that?!

Petting the ferret had calmed her down, and Elaine returned to inspecting the decaying building.

"This is where the Nashiin came from," Julia said, nodding toward the building. Her voice shook a little—she must be overcome with fear. Elaine understood well.

"I see…well, it's clearly a dungeon. That's…curious," Mr. Pitwyck observed, his hand on his chin.

"Was a dungeon," Julia clarified.

The group collectively turned to look at her, staring until she noticed and began to explain.

"Dungeons have spatial warps at their entrances. I'm sure all of you know this—it's why multiple groups can enter through the same door and yet never encounter each other.

"This structure is missing its portal. It would be there, normally," she said, pointing toward the top of the dilapidated staircase. "However, now it's just an opening into the obelisk. There's a newly-dug passage that leads down into the earth just beyond. I imagine that's where our Nashiin are hiding."

The group all exchanged looks—Elaine not being the only one confused for once.

Undead hiding in a not-dungeon? Exciting—and terrifying!