NOVEL NEXT 34: Birchwood Dungeon
As we entered Birchwood Cave, the familiar sight of its cathedral-like expanse greeted us. Though I'd been here countless times during my childhood in Ferguson, its magnitude still impressed me. The massive entrance yawned wide, framed by twisted birch trees whose roots dangled over the lip like curious fingers.
Natural light poured in through the house-sized sinkholes in the ceiling, creating ethereal spotlights on the cavern floor. The lush greenery that thrived in these light wells seemed more abundant than I remembered—more emerald moss carpets, ferns and even birch trees than I had ever seen here.
"Is it me or is the cave greener?" I commented, noting the difference.
"Yes. Systemfall did something to the growth rate," Krysanthea confirmed. "But the layout remains the same."
We followed the team down the wide stairwell carved for tourists, descending down the limestone stairs toward the underground beach I knew connected to Ferguson Quarry's inlet. The steps felt familiar under my feet, worn smooth by years of visitors and countless school field trips.
As we reached the sandbar, I saw a raptor lounging on a folding beach chair at the edge of the sand, surrounded by an impressive array of weapons. Unlike the professional setup of the team, she had the air of someone enjoying a day at the beach, complete with a beer cooler beside her chair and a colorful umbrella planted in the sand. A small group of teenage dog prads were sitting on the sand, facing away from us.
"Hey! Finally!" she called out, her voice echoing across the cavern.
"Kirra," Krysanthea acknowledged with a curt nod. "Status report?"
"All quiet so far, sis!" Kirra replied, bouncing to her feet with kid-like energy that belied the large guns sprawled around her. Her scales were a slightly brighter blue than Krysanthea's, with turquoise splashed along her neck and forehead. Her feathery mane was mostly green like Kristi's, but also featured violet and orange accents within the peacock-style eyes. "No slime activity yet."
Her eyes landed on me, and her expression shifted from professional to delighted in an instant. Before I could prepare myself, she had launched forward and wrapped me in a tight hug.
"Alec! Oh my God, you're alive!" she squealed, squeezing me with surprising strength. "Kat said you were back, but I didn't believe her!"
"Hey... Kirra," I managed, trying to sound natural while my mind scrambled to place her in my memories.
Then it hit me like a hammer out of nowhere—Senior year of high school, being cornered behind the gymnasium by Kirra a day after the formal. Her claws digging into my arm as she leaned in close. "Stay away from that stupid dog if you know what's good for her," she'd hissed. "My sister likes you. What Kristi wants, Kristi gets. That's how it works in our family. Capiche?"
The memory faded as quickly as it had surfaced, leaving me momentarily disoriented.
"That's enough fraternizing, Kirra," Krysanthea called, her voice sharp. "We're on mission, not at a social gathering."
Kirra released me with a dramatic sigh. "Always so serious, Kristi," she mumbled, rolling her orange eyes. "Fine, fine. But you owe me the whole story later, Alec!" She winked before skipping back to her post.
Nessy had pressed closer to me, her fur bristling slightly. "You okay?" she murmured. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Later," I whispered back.
Kirra's head snapped at Nessy. The fuck she doing here? her eyes seemed to ask, while her mouth smiled wide.
Krysanthea quickly organized the team, setting up the operation. "Kirra will coordinate the disposal team as before. Once we've containerized the slimes, the runners will bring them to Kirra's volunteer team. Make sure they're all neutralized."
"No fret, I know my job," Kirra replied, a somewhat professional demeanor returning as she gestured to a group of seven volunteer prad dog teens now holding what looked like wooden spears with plastic tips and plastic swords. "My execution squad is ready."
With the beach team stationed at their positions and Ranger Wilson and Volunteer Michaels joining them, the rest of us—Krysanthea, Katerina, Kaledoniya, Grayfell, Lavros, Dr. Barksdale, Nessy and myself—prepared to descend deeper into the cave system along the familiar tourist path.
As we moved away from the sandbar, following the narrow path that wound into the darkness, Nessy leaned close to me.
"So, what happened back there?" she asked quietly. "You had a weird look on your face when Raptor Barbie hugged you."
"I remembered... things," I admitted. "Kirra threatened me about hanging out with you. Senior year. Right after the prom."
Nessy's ears flattened against her head. "Those effin' lizards," she growled softly. "A whole family of bullies. I always suspected they were behind some of the... incidents."
"Incidents?"
"My bike tires slashed. My locker filled with rotting meat. An 'anonymous' tip to the school administration that I was cheating on tests," she listed quietly. "Lots of stuff like that. Started right after you danced with Kristi at the formal."
Before I could respond, Krysanthea's voice came from ahead: "Quiet back there. We're approaching the chamber."
The tunnel widened, opening into another vast cavern. Unlike the sun-lit entrance, this space was dimly lit by permanent battery-powered lamps installed along the walls—remnants of the tourist infrastructure now repurposed for slime hunting. The lights revealed strange, glistening patches on the walls and floor—areas where the stone had been eaten away, leaving smooth depressions like giant acid burns.
Dr. Barksdale stepped forward, his instruments beeping softly. "Seismometer reports movement down below."
A hush fell over the group, broken only by the distant drip of water and the soft beeping of Dr. Barksdale's equipment.
Katerina checked her watch. "11:08," she announced. "Three minutes."
"Positions," Krysanthea ordered.
Everyone moved about, taking up stations around a dark tunnel entrance at the far end of the chamber. Buckets were readied, latex gloves checked, goggles adjusted. Katerina and Kaledoniya flanked the tunnel, weapons raised, while Officer Grayfell and Officer Lavros positioned themselves with nets ready.
"What's our job?" Nessy whispered to me.
"Catch slimes, put in bucket, don't die," I replied, hefting my bucket.
"Got it. Solid plan," she nodded, her tail wagging slightly despite the tension.
Dr. Barksdale's instruments began beeping more rapidly. "Movement," he reported. "Approximately 30 meters and closing. Faster than usual."
A dull, wet squelching sound echoed from the tunnel, growing louder with each passing second. The acid smell intensified—a sharp, chemical burn that made my eyes water even through the protective goggles.
"Here they come," Krysanthea said, her voice steady. "Remember—containment first, extraction second. Work in pairs. Alec, stay close to me and watch the others for now."
The first slime emerged from the tunnel—a glistening, translucent blob about the size of a basketball, its surface rippling with iridescent emerald patterns as it oozed along the ground. Then another appeared behind it, gliding slowly across the stone floor.
"Begin containment!" Krysanthea ordered.
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The operation moved into action with the precise choreography of a well-practiced routine. Pairs of rangers advanced, using their nets to scoop slimes into buckets, sealing the lids with quick, efficient movements. The slimes offered little resistance, allowing themselves to be captured with surprising ease.
Volunteer runners collected the sealed buckets, jogging back toward the beach in a steady relay. From the distant sandbar, we could hear splashes and triumphant shouts. Half of Kirra's team yeeted the captured slimes from the bucket into a deeper section of the inlet from a stairwell that led to a viewing platform while the others armed with plastic weapons below dispatched the waterlogged slimes as they re-emerged on the beach.
"Aight, Foster and Whitepaws - start helping out," Kristi said as the number of slimes increased.
"Seems to be going well," Nessy commented as we successfully captured our third slime, passing the bucket to a waiting runner.
"Too well," Krysanthea muttered, her amber eyes narrowed with suspicion. "I don't like this."
As if on cue, the rhythm of slimes emerging from the tunnel changed. They began coming faster, larger specimens pushing their way through.
Dr. Barksdale's instruments started chirping wildly. "Increase in size and number!" He barked. "Something big is coming through!"
"Look," Kaledoniya pointed toward the tunnel entrance. "A new one!"
A massive slime, at least three times the size of the others, was squeezing its way into the chamber. Unlike the smaller ones, which were nearly transparent, this one had a pulsating core of vibrant emerald-purple that cast an eerie glow across its gelatinous body.
At the beach behind us, something was going wrong too. We could hear shouts of alarm, and then Kirra's voice calling out: "Shit! Some of them are coming dry out of the water! The dilution isn't working!"
I heard the sound of gunfire.
The massive slime paused at the tunnel entrance, its amorphous body rippling as if assessing the situation. Then, with deliberate slowness, it began to divide—breaking off smaller portions of itself that moved with coordinated purpose toward the ranger teams.
"This isn't normal behavior," Officer Lavros remarked, backing away slowly as one of the offshoots approached her. "They've never demonstrated this level of tactical awareness before."
"Fall back to defensive positions," Krysanthea ordered.
Katerina raised her rifle, firing a burst into the nearest slime segment and then at the large slime ahead. The bullets passed through its body, leaving momentary tunnels that closed almost instantly.
"Bullets still ineffective," she reported grimly. "We need a new approach."
In the confusion, I found myself slightly separated from the main group, backed against the cavern wall with Nessy beside me. Three smaller slimes were slowly approaching us, their movements eerily coordinated.
"Any ideas?" I asked, glancing frantically around for an escape route.
"Hold on… I'm sniffing out their weaknesses," she stammered out, nose twitching as she inhaled. "Shit."
"What?" I asked.
"You aren't going to like this," she stated.
"Not going to like what?" Kristi hissed from where she stood.
"They can't be stopped here," Nessy said.
"What do you mean they can't be stopped?" Kristi growled.
"A quarter of them developed water resistance," Nessy explained quickly. "That big one is coordinating them. There's more big ones deeper in. Something is coordinating them from below. They've been breeding. Waiting… playing with us. Fooling us. This place is… it wants us dead!"
The rangers froze momentarily, exchanging wary glances. Katerina's golden eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, her grip tightening on her rifle.
"And we should trust the word of a dumb dog why, exactly?" she sneered. "How could you possibly know any of this?"
Officer Grayfell exhaled sharply. "Yeah, no offense Whitepaw, but that sounds like panic talking. These things don't have brains."
"They don't need brains!" Nessy insisted, her fur bristling with frustration. "There's a central intelligence coordinating them from deeper in the cave system. I can smell its control over them!"
"You can... smell control?" Officer Lavros asked skeptically, her fox ears flattening against her head.
Dr. Barksdale's instruments beeped frantically as more slimes poured from the tunnel. "Whatever the case, their numbers are increasing exponentially! We need to fall back!"
I watched Krysanthea's face as she processed Nessy's words. Unlike the others, she didn't dismiss the claim outright. Her eyes met mine across the chamber.
"Nessy can detect things others can't," she finally let out, her voice cutting through the skeptical murmurs. "I've witnessed it."
"You can't be serious," Katerina hissed. "Since when do you—"
"Since she tracked down Alec when I… couldn't," Krysanthea snapped back.
The massive purple-core slime pulsed at the tunnel entrance, almost as if it were listening to our debate. More offshoots separated from its mass, gradually sliding with ominous purpose toward the rangers.
Krysanthea's gaze darted between the advancing slimes, the tunnel, and her team. Indecision flickered across her features as she calculated odds and weighed options.
"We need to retreat and regroup," Officer Howlish urged, his bulldog face grim as he backed toward the exit. "Fall back to the beach and reassess with reinforcements. Maybe blow up the tunnel again."
A slime the size of a melon surged forward with sudden speed, catching a young volunteer off guard. The pradavarian wolf yelped as it touched his boot, the plastic immediately beginning to smoke and bubble where the acid made contact.
That single moment of genuine danger seemed to trigger something in Nessy. Before anyone could react, she grabbed me, lifting my entire body over her shoulder.
"No time!" she barked. "Alec, hold onto me!"
And then we were running—not toward the exit as logic would dictate, but directly toward the massive slime blocking the inner tunnel. Nessy moved with startling speed, dragging me behind her as she leaped over smaller slimes with preternatural agility.
"WHITEPAW!" Krysanthea's voice thundered through the cavern. "STOP!"
But Nessy didn't slow. As we approached the giant slime, she tightened her grip on my body. She picked up speed and ran sideways across the wall, past the large slime as I clung to her body.
We landed on the other side, in the tunnel beyond.
"What are you doing?!" I gasped as she sprinted down the narrow passage, the cave walls rushing by in a blur of limestone and shadow.
"If we don't stop the source, Ferguson's finished! There are thousands more waiting to emerge!"
Behind us, I heard Krysanthea's voice, closer than expected: "STOP, DAMN IT!"
Nessy skidded to a halt so abruptly I nearly crashed into her. We spun around to find Krysanthea standing just a few meters away, her sidearm drawn and pointed directly at us, her chest heaving with exertion. Despite her raptor physiology being built for speed, it was impressive she'd kept pace.
"What the actual FUCK do you think you're doing?!" she demanded, her amber eyes blazing with fury. "Running straight into danger like that? Abandoning the team? Are you trying to get yourselves killed?! Why don't you ever listen to me, paws?!"
"We're trying to save Ferguson!" Nessy shot back, her own voice rising with intensity. "Your plan doesn't work anymore, Kristi! The slimes have evolved—they've been letting you think you were controlling them while they built up their numbers! The whole 11:11 AM thing has been a trap! They're going to flood the town… today from the quarry itself while everyone is distracted here!"
A flash of movement caught my eye, and suddenly Kaledoniya was there, materializing beside Nessy with supernatural speed, a wicked hunting knife pressed against the husky's throat. The youngest Strand sister's violet-green feathers were fully extended, plumage vibrating with tension.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't slit your throat right now, dog," she hissed, the knife edge dimpling Nessy's fur. "You've just endangered my sister's boyfriend and the entire team!"
Nessy didn't flinch, her blue eyes locked on Krysanthea rather than the knife at her throat. "Use the volunteers to lead the slimes away from town," she said, each word measured and clear despite the blade against her skin. "They follow the vibrations made by people—the largest group of boots on the ground will draw them. They're blind and stupid individually, but they're being coordinated from below."
"You're… certain?" Kristi asked.
"Absolutely," Nessy said with determined eyes.
"The fuck you talkin' bout dog?" Kaledoniya growled.
"I can literally smell their weakness, their communication mechanism, the fact that they've been evolving down here for weeks," Nessy continued urgently. "There's something at the heart of this cave system—a core, a heart, a brain—whatever you want to call it. It's directing them, making them smarter. Without it, they will lose focus, stop melting people! Destroy the brain and save the town!"
Kaledoniya's knife pressed harder against Nessy's fur. "Cease your yapping. You are clearly delusional—"
"Kale," Krysanthea suddenly interrupted. "Put down the knife. This is an order."
Something passed between the sisters—a silent communication born of shared blood and history. Kaledoniya's knife wavered, then slowly withdrew from Nessy's throat. Nessy lowered me to the ground.
"You believe them?" the young raptor asked, her voice edged with disbelief.
"I believe... that our current strategy isn't working," Krysanthea replied carefully. Her gaze moved to the tunnel behind us, then back to us. "And I believe that if there's even a small chance they're right about a coordinating entity deeper in the caves, we need to address it. Pass an order to everyone above to lead the slimes around the forest using large numbers of runners."
The distinctive squelching sound of approaching slimes echoed down the tunnel, growing louder.
"What about you?" Kaledoniya asked.
"I'm going deeper with Alec and... Nessy," Kristi replied, the slight hesitation before the husky's name barely noticeable.
"What?! Why?!" Kaledoniya sputtered, sniffing the air. "It's dangerous down there! Do you have a death wish or something? You... You've been acting weird since you returned, sis! Why do you smell like you've been sleeping with both of them?!"