The earth felt uncomfortably warm under their feet.
Mist roiled over the mossy neglected tombstones, illuminated by faint starlight, giving it a strange semblance of life as it snaked through the graves. Fog skirted away where they trod, following ever so closely behind their heels. The occasional scampering of an indiscernible something at the edge would rouse it, but only to disappear just as quickly, smothered out in the mist ...like it sated a hunger.
In the far middle of the loamy yard stood a decrepit stone piece, a statue of two women under a gazebo. One cradled her own arms, with nothing on them and the other held them covering her eyes, no one could see her expression for the weather had already taken it’s toll on her face. As they wandered further into the yard, they could smell the faint scent of decomposition lingering in the stale air, of compost, rotting wood and something else.
Max and Vigil walked towards the statues in silence, the only sound the quiet padding of their feet on overgrown grass. As they approached, they could see the stone covering of a single grave, lying between the two women. It was a raised slab, reminiscent of a sarcophagus, with cracks running through the stone.
Max knelt in front of the grave, running her fingers along faded script etched into the side of the stone.
“Tellus dormit,” she said quietly.
“The kingdom sleeps."Vigil hunched down to examine it, recognizing the carved words from a tome on rites.
“Tis' a dirge to appease the restless. In mass-graves.” He explained and looked around counting the headstones, it barely seemed a town - much less a kingdom. Then he took a step forward to the cover without any procrastination,
"Odd.” He mused and started looking for a corner to pry the burial open with. Max stepped back to watch him curiously. Eventually his fingers hooked onto a deep groove.
“Might want to cover your nose.” He warned then with a grunt and a pull, the heavy stone slab slid ever so slightly open. Though strangely, nothing too foul was seen. In fact, it was complete darkness inside. He tugged harder and this time the cover fell off to the side with a good bit of noise.
“Really?” she asked him, clearly amused, before stepping forward to look down into the grave.
“Well,” she said.
“The plot thickens.” There was a complete lack of any body at all, and instead beneath the surface of the graveyard lie a set of stone stairs, descending into utter darkness.
“Ready for a descent into hell?” she asked him with a grin. Vigil stood over and took a look for himself.
“Well, aren’t you reassuring.” The man chided.
“Torch?”She gave a short laugh.
“Nope. I don’t suppose you have one then?”“Lighter, ...but might have methane gas down there.” He remarked.
“Well if you start to get a headache and or suffocate, we’ll know. Now then,” Vigil frowned ever so slightly, she continued,
“onward?” She stepped gingerly over the edge of the tomb and began to walk down the first few steps, seemingly unperturbed by the increasing darkness. He followed behind, his vision quickly being of no help as he learnt to take each step carefully. Vigil could see Max’s silhouette leading the way, barely, and let that be his guide.
“Maybe I should walk in front?” He soon asked, feeling obliged. Though completely aware of how blind he was.
“It’s fine,” she replied blandly.
“I happen to have uncommonly good night vision anyways. I’ll make sure we don’t stumble into an abyss.” One could almost hear the smirk in her voice. Vigil just kept silent.
----------------------------------------------------
The stairs continued for longer than one might expect, spiraling further and further down as the opening behind them disappeared from view completely. Eventually the steps came to an end as the two found themselves once more on level ground.
Suddenly, Max felt a tap on her shoulder, turning around she saw Vigil pressing a gentle finger to his lips. He mouthed something at her then pointed at his ear. The both of them stopped in their tracks to listen, and for a moment all was silent ...- till they noticed the soft, barely audible gurgling of something wet.
Max looked around her, noticing a faint blue glow that seemed to be coming from in front of them. It just barely illuminated the small room they appeared to be in, hinting at something further ahead. Max glanced back at Vigil, jerking her head forward to signify that they should continue. She could feel something… wrong about the situation, but she wasn’t about to stop now.
The two quietly moved forward, their steps silent as they passed under an arched stone doorway.
As they delved further into the abyss, the gurgling became ever more obvious and the faint blue lights showed themselves as veins of eerie glowing substance that clung to the walls. Moss, it would seem, polka dotting the interior of the cavernous place. But it was still not enough for him to see. Vigil sniffed the air thoughtfully then after a moment, he picked out his lighter. Max, seeing his intention, put a hand out to stop him, but it was too late, and with a flick the room was bathed in a warm orange glow.
“Fuck,” Max muttered, as the scene ahead became all too clear, as did the fact that they were not alone in the ground. Before them were four of the most grotesque creatures either of the two had seen spread throughout the long room they had just entered. They were the color of old bone and flecked with spots of dried blood, an abhorrent combination of arachnid and human, elongated bodies of partially decayed corpses with spiders’ abdomens suspended by several long, thin legs that ended in sharp points. If the repulsive creatures had not known of their presence beforehand, it was obvious that they became aware as light flooded into the room, human heads with groups of clustered eyes turning to them as one let out a high pitched shriek, exposing rows of long fangs in the process.
Vigil stumbled backwards almost tripping, taken aghast by what he saw as his mind raced, but he held on to his lighter tightly - much rather being able to see any horror than hide from it. Max immediately went for her gun, backing up as she did so.
For a moment everything seemed to freeze, and then the spider closest to them darted forward with unsettling speed. Vigil on his instinct stepped between her and the abomination, bracing himself but another shadow leapt out from the darkness at him. Eyes widening, Max raised her weapon, pulling the trigger. The sound of the gunshot rang through the room, followed by an inhuman scream as the spider was hit in one of its eyes, leaving a stream of blood to roll down its face and causing it to momentarily halt in its tracks.
“-rrggh!” Vigil slid backwards across the floor from the tremendous force that hit him, he managed to remain standing after raising his arms to block it, but dropping his only source of light in the event. As the flame flickered it’s last dying breath, Vigil’s face was seen twisted into a snarl just as the thing readied to charge him once more. Then the light went out and the clink of metal was heard, followed by the glint of something silver deftly cutting across the air. The creature’s wretched gurgle followed.
Max cursed loudly as the first spider recovered and scuttled towards her once more. With another pull of the trigger it fell to the ground, spasming. She saw another surge forward despite the darkness and squeezed out another shot, constantly moving backward as she hit the creature in its abdomen.
“Vigil,” she shouted urgently , her voice still mostly steady.
“We should probably get out of here, don’t you think?”“Let's g---ARRRGH!” Vigil’s knife clattered to the floor as he felt a sharp jabbing pain pierce into his ribs, his hand instinctively grabbed the offender and tried to push it off, but the sudden shock was too much to bear. He could feel his breath escaping him as he watched a chittering figure bob in front of him, feeling every agonizing reverberation in his bones while being pinned to the wall. Finding himself running out of options, he grit his teeth and struggled to reach out to the satchel by his belt , grabbing the first thing he could find - something of glass - then with all his remaining strength, violently smash it into what he thought was the horror’s face. Moments later, He could hear faint sizzling and a roar, then what ever held him had pulled free while his body slumped back against the wall. But unfortunately, there was now something warm trickling down his left side.
Max turned her head sharply at Vigil’s cry, momentarily forgetting thee creature in front of her. Though injured severely, the monster used the opportunity to rush her. By the time she turned back to face it it was too late to fire her weapon, and the creature crashed into her, throwing her back against the ground as it attacked her savagely with it legs. With a grunt she kicked out, getting the wretched thing off before she scrambled to her feet, ignoring her new wounds before finishing the spider off with two shots in rapid succession. She kicked the body aside before turning once more to Vigil. There was still one creature in front of him, and Max quickly aimed before shooting it directly in the head, watching with grim satisfaction as it crumpled to the stone floor.
“Much …….-appreci...appreciated.” Vigil forced his words out at Max as his opponent fell dead again, he clawed at the wall as he struggled to stand, leaving deep marks in it’s surface - trying hard not to let his mind wander too much about his condition. Long as he could walk out of here, that is all he needed. ...But then he soon felt a strange yet familiar cracking sensation within his chest, clutching it he fell back down with a thud and hurriedly ransacked his pockets for a small blue vial -which he uncorked and gulped down the foul bitter elixir within.
Max looked down at him, narrowing her eyes.
“Uhuh,” she said, putting her gun back in the holster beneath her jacket. “
No problem.” She was starting to feel the sting of the deep lacerations that marked her arms as well as her own exhaustion. She started to move towards her companion when she noticed something on the ground, partially hidden by the body of the largest of the four creatures.
“The hell?” she muttered, crouching down stiffly to pull it out. It appeared to be a book, large and bound in leather, and covered in more than a little dark blood from the spider than had been on top of it. She frowned, both in confusion at not having seen the tome earlier, and in distaste to the acrid smell of the spider’s blood. There was a piece of paper sticking out from between the books pages, and she pulled it out, quickly unfolding it.
“-what?” Vigil asked her, letting out a series coughs then holding his breath, concerned about her exclamation.
“I think it qualifies as that clue you were looking for,” she replied dryly. She briefly looked over the contents of the note, too tired to pretend she couldn’t make out the scrawled writing even in the dark, before stuffing it back in the book and crossing the room to Vigil.
“Need some help?”Vigil looked in her direction but seemed to stubbornly cling to his pride, he shook his head quietly, then shakily pulled himself up and started to shamble slowly towards what he thought was the stairwell. Max shook her head, moving ahead to lead the way.
“Just follow the sound of my voice,” she said, slightly amused. They made their way back up the winding stairs, if much more slowly than before, until they found themselves once more in the graveyard and the moon’s light.
----------------------------------------------------
Looking up and now being able to see the sky once more, the stars seemed unusually bright tonight, then as soon as she stepped out,she heard something falling on the ground behind her. Turning around she saw her acquaintance’s hunched back disappear behind one of the pillars holding up the gazebo, he moved unusually fast compared to his slow amble earlier. As he slumped against it, she could only see his feet and a little of his reddened sleeve sliding out where he sat.
Max watched her companion’s actions with a quirked brow and a small frown.
“So I’m guessing you, what, need to go to a hospital or something right about now huh?”“‘m a surr--rr--vivor. So,” Came his voice, hoarse, and his breathing heavy,
“How did --see ...anyth ...down dare?” He continued to ask.
Max scoffed.
“Really?” she asked incredulously.
“That’s your first question? Not ‘what the fuck did we just find down there in a hidden church crypt’ but about my eyesight?”He closed his eyes thoughtfully then after a long moment
“...rr--right.” He said,
“What did -- find?” She held it up.
”We’ve got one fancy old book, and a note that was tucked inside of it,” she told him. She pulled the note once more from between the book’s pages.
“Shall I read it to you?” she asked sarcastically, ignoring his strange behavior as if uninterested, or even unimpressed.
“Kin--Kindly.”Max smirked as she unfolded the worn piece of paper.
“To think,” she read, “
that I could ever love you. You are a lonely creature, trapped, frightened, scared, and utterly devoid of caring. You find beauty in music, but are otherwise dead inside, looking for other, darker, ways to fuel your passion. You shamble through life, without purpose. The monument to your piety is one of falsehood. Destroy that which has been built in your honour, and tear down this masquerade of life."“Well?” she asked when she was finished.
“You said this cir-city was named in h--herr, Somabr-brra's honor.” Then he raised his head.
“Beauty in m--mmusic ….thrr theatre-kgh-” He muttered then coughed as he spoke too fast.
“...destroying the city.” He finished.
Max arched an eyebrow.
“Well doesn’t that sound lovely.” She glanced warily at the sky above them, still dark, before pulling out her phone to check the time.
“What the hell?” she muttered to herself, seeing the several messages and calls she had missed. She scrolled through the dozen messages Isaac and Emily, her employees, had texted to her.
“Shit,” she stated, looking back over in Vigil’s direction.
“The power’s out. All over the goddamn city. We’ll be lucky if they’re not already rioting out there.” She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“I need to get back to the bar,” she muttered.
“...You wanna come with? I could get Isaac to patch you up,” she added after a moment, remembering all too clearly the wounds he had sustained. She could smell the blood from where she stood.
“I-It’s happening alrrready ...go on ahead without mrr-me, will be ...fine.” He managed to grunt out,
Max rolled her eyes.
“Fine,” she announced.
“Stop by when you’re uh… feeling up to it. We’ll need to talk.””...rr-take care of yourself.” He muttered.
