Chapter 73: Major Battle 14: The Assassins' Playground

Gadral's descent through the staircase felt like the most logical path to take. He knew very well that if he dared take the elevator down, it would be cramped with coworkers, or gods forbid it, shadow assassins. They would undoubtedly ask about his lunchbox, and he would be reticent to tell them about its contents. And to avoid answering those questions, Gadral decided on reaching the lowest floor of the dark mausoleum through the staircase alone. He walked down twenty seven floors, taking note that the dark mausoleum was thirty floors deep. Was the dark mausoleum an underground facility? Despite wanting to have that question answered, Gadral couldn't ask that question to any of the shadow assassin without being chewed out by them afterwards.

After reaching the thirtieth floor, Gadral was about to reach for the door that led out of the staircase before hesitation stopped his progress. He didn't know the layout to the rest of the dark mausoleum, which had caused him pause. After being given a quick rundown of the entire complex by one of the assassins, he was also told that he was only allowed to travel down five floors into the mausoleum, unless he was given permission to enter the lower levels. Now that he was at the thirtieth level, he didn't know where to go next. He didn't even dared take a peak at what was behind the door. He almost wished for Kay to intervene and directly give him further instructions. He grunted as he gently placed his lunchbox on the ground and leaned against the wall. Silence filled the staircase as he waited half of a minute before he was contacted by Kay again.

'I'm back. Sorry for the delay. Faddoh decided to try and patch my tank up with an adhesive tape. I'm making it look like his solution worked. Anyway, it looks like you already made it to the bottom of the staircase.'

Gadral sighed, but he was beginning to feel a pang of anxiety creep up his back. "As interesting as that sounds, I'm... Not exactly in a safe location. If I stepped out through this door, I'm going to be in another world of trouble."

'Ah, don't worry about it! There's nobody on the other side of that door.'

Gadral paused for a few seconds before sighing again. "That's... good to know. Where do I go after I'm through the door?"

'Let me silently read the minds of some of the shadow assassins first. It'll only take a few seconds. ... Mm... Hmm... Hum... Ah! Okay, I know where you need to go. Go past that door and follow the wall on your left. When you go past three doors, enter through the fourth door.'

"And the shadow assassins?" Gadral asked Kay.

'Nowhere on this floor. They usually come down here every once a week, but my zerg seems to be been very successful at dividing their attention lately.'

"I see." Gadral said, picking up his lunchbox and opening the door. He then began following the wall to his left. The corridors were a lot darker than normal. The upper floors usually had a more brighter tint of bright grey purple that splashed onto a mix of dark grey matte and black patterns. Down here, the inlay light sources were a deep violet that traveled across the walls, floor, and ceiling. Only lines and dots of neon violet lighted Gadral's way, and all of the surfaces were completely pitch black in color. When he came to the fourth door, he found that it was of heavy construction, and its entry was protected by an electronic keypad. "... I've came across a problem."

'Not to worry. I know the code that unlocks this door.'

"... How?" Gadral asked, surprised.

'You would be surprised how loud your species' thoughts are. The code for the door is: Obsidian, gold, iron, silver, copper, obsidian.'

"... Kay, this is a number pad. I don't see any selections for those codes." Gadral replied.

'And you'd be surprised to know that this door is voice activated. The keypad you're seeing is actually a fake keypad. It'll trigger the silent alarm system if you tried to press any of the buttons.'

Gadral blinked his eyes a few times. "... Uh... Obsidian, gold, iron, silver, copper, obsidian?" The heavy set of doors opened in front of him, revealing an incredibly darkened room. There were no dark purple lights within this room, which made it hard to see for Gadral's eyes. "... This isn't good. I can't see anything."

'Good thing for you that I learned the layout of this room. Follow the wall on your right until you find the corner. At the corner, take twenty steps along the other wall that the corner connects to. Be careful. There are some steps that lead upward. After you take those twenty steps, turn ninety degrees to your left and slowly walk forward. There will be a terminal in your path. Feel for a lever on the right side of the terminal, and pull it towards yourself. That should open a hatch behind the terminal.'

Gadral crept through the darkness hesitantly, but he did so with the instructions provided to him. It was difficult for him to navigate in this dark environment, but he knew that he couldn't turn back now. Turning back would mean angering Kay and his zerg swarm. But even then, he hated working for Gollog more, and it was a hate that was greater than his fear of the zerg organisms and their zerg commander. After making his way up a set of unseen steps, Gadral turned to his left and slowly inched forward with one hand searching for something to grab, while another held his lunchbox close to his chest. After his hand collided with a surface, he felt along his right to try and find a lever-shaped device to interact with. "So far so good."

'Ah-ah-ah hey! Don't jinx us here!' Kay warned. Gadral pulled back the lever and heard a heavy, mechanical sound coming from the center of the room. A source of illumination was produced from the center of this room, as an overhead light activated once the supposed hatch opened. Gadral leaned over the dimly lit console before him and saw that a square hole was slowly widening at the center of the room, its heavy plates of metal sliding under the flooring and slowly opening widely. It eventually made a heavy clank sound once the hatch had opened completely. Gadral thought he heard distant screaming coming from the hole. 'Alright. Now toss your lunchbox into the hatch. It should release its contents when it lands.'

Gadral carefully raised his lunchbox over his head. He could feel the contents inside slowly shifting around in what used to contain a delicious meal that a shadow assassin once delivered to him. But now, it contained a cross combination of creep and an embryo of a toxic nest that had its incubation halted. Gadral would admit that the trickiest part of getting the toxic nest into his lunchbox involved sabotaging Kay's bio-stasis pod, and then allowing some of Kay's bio-stasis fluid to leak into his lunchbox to let the toxic nest plant itself inside of it. He also had to make it seem as though a micro-fracture was the cause for producing the biological landmines that accosted the breaching team, which were summoned to contain the biological containment breach some time ago. But alas, Kay's plan was running quite smoothly, and the last part of his plan involved having Gadral throwing his lunchbox into the abyss that was before him. Gadral slightly leaned forward to look into the abyss, made barely visible by the overhead light source. "What is this?"

'The entrance into the immortal maze, I think.'

"Really? It's just a floor hatch." Gadral replied.

'That leads to a drop a mile deep.'

"It goes that far down?!" Gadral exclaimed, sounding somewhat dumbfounded.

'Eyup! The Pyramidal Guard Division's dark mausoleum is shaped like a four-sided pyramid, where the lower the levels you go, the more rooms become available on each floor. Below this floor resides the incredibly expansive immortal maze. The walls of the maze spreads outward in ninety degree angles. Such a wall shape creates a fairly effective surface that makes it impossible for even the most capable of climbers to crawl up and out of their prison. As you'd expect, anyone that is thrown into the hatch never returns. Unless they made friends with a shadow assassin, that is. And most people that have been thrown into this hatch are usually cursed with immortality first. But enough trivia! Throw your lunchbox in!'

Gadral nodded. He hefted the box over his head with two hands and prepared himself to throw it into the chasm that was past the large sliding hatch. After a hearty grunt, he threw his lunchbox into the black, square void. Once the lunchbox was gone from Gadral's sight, he sighed. "Alright. That's done. Now what?"

'Close the hatch, go back the way you came, and pretend this never happened. You know the way back, don't you?'

Gadral sighed. "Yes, I do. But what is my alibi going to be if somebody starts questioning where I had been?"

'Leave that to me! I'll just silently whisper into their minds 'Say, this guy is perfectly harmless. He doesn't need to be questioned, because I trust him!' or something along those lines.'

"Wonderful." Gadral said, pushing the lever back to its original position and quickly running to the door that he came through. He needed to leave the room before the overhead light had a chance to turn off. As he went through the door, he looked behind himself to see the hatch disappearing into a sudden darkness just as it closed itself shut. After a long glimpse into the darkness, Gadral huffed before he turned away and began jogging back to where he came from. "I hope this doesn't bite me on the tail later."

'Look at this way. If everything goes as planned, then you don't have to worry about anything nipping at your tail. Zerg included.'

Gadral rolled his eyes as he neared the door that led back to the staircase. "Well, that's one way of looking at it."

As Gadral left the vicinity of the dark mausoleum's lowest floor, the hurled lunchbox was still quickly falling toward the distant ground far below. The distance between itself and the floor lessened as time passed on. The immortal maze might have been a mile below the Pyramidal Guard Division's dark mausoleum, but it wouldn't take long for Gadral's lunchbox, filled with a toxic nest, to impact the ground.

The dark mausoleum's immortal maze was a bleak place. It separated many poor souls from the rest of Kiln, ever since Gollog forced them to live in an eternity within this dark prison. Much of the ground directly below the heavy sliding hatch was littered with various types of discarded trash or useless tools. Much of the heaps of garbage also contained biological materials that once belonged to living gilanians. Under the broken equipment and refuse laid bones, shed scales, feces, and rotted organs too putrid for any sane person to eat. Any trash that was left alone for a long time would eventually be overcome by a carpet of slow growing yellowish-green moss. Roving swarms of vaph rodents would often patrol this area for fresh meat and moss sprouts, using their little beaks to tear into what once could have been called food, or burrowing a new nest to raise their young. Nobody knew how the nickname of the mountain of bones and trash came to be, but it was called Broken Hopes by the first prisoners that ever had the misfortune of being thrown down there. The mountain would be the first thing that all immortally cursed prisoners would land on when they entered the immortal maze.

Further away from the center of the trash-covered lands were what the prisoners called 'The Spikes', which were areas that hasn't been completely covered by the mountain of refuse. They were so called The Spikes because the four sided shapes that dotted the area were tightly packed, rising ten meters high at the lowest part of the flow of the refuse, and were four meters squared at their base. When the trash was at the peak of these spikes, it became difficult to detect the tips, which sometimes stab at a careless gilanian's feet. The Spikes' spike tips were often used to kill vaph that strayed too far from their colonies, or worse, were used as instruments to impale other gilanians. Cannibalism was commonplace within this maze for not only the vaph, but also for the gilanians that lived in the maze.

There were a small number of unlucky and unfortunate gilanians that permanently lived in The Spikes, and they were less fortunate because of the conditions forced upon them. These few gilanians were trapped in tightly enclosed spaces with no way to crawl up, becoming stuck in their pits by tightly packed walls of oily plastic and right between the tall spikes. They were often fated to call out for help when they felt as though there was hope, or for any spare food that they could eat. Many of their calls were left unanswered, and were often left alone to eternally starve. Occasionally, gangs would send down a weakened gilanian with the trapped gilanians, letting the two fight each other to the death. The victor would almost always cannibalize the loser. Worse still, carpets of moss have also been known to grow over these pits the prisoners were trapped in, muffling their cries and preventing them from ever seeing any light ever again.

Further away from The Spikes contained what the prisoners had nicknamed The Hungerland Spikes. Tall pyramid-shaped forests of uniform spikes, devoid of any trash that sat betwixt them, was almost completely devoid of any life. Even the moss refused to grow between the tall pyramid shaped spikes. It was rare for gilanians to make their way through The Hungerland Spikes, but there were an even rarer few that survived in those areas, rumored to have developed a tolerance to their constant starvation. Despite such tales of surviving gilanians forcing themselves to live such a rough lifestyle in those desolate areas, it was also known that many gilanians that escaped into such areas rarely ever returned unharmed, or alive.

But at the furthest spike formations laid an incredibly gaunt and horrible display that awaited any gilanian unfortunate enough to become trapped in the immortal maze. It was here that a select number of immortally cursed gilanians were impaled at the tip of these spikes, rumored to be chosen by the shadow assassins of the Pyramidal Guard Division as their most prized prey. The shadow assassins often practiced their hunting techniques and various poisons on these unfortunate few, relentlessly testing them whenever the assassins had the chance to improve their lethal methods and skills. Their tests can become so violent that their prey would need new artificial organs surgically implanted into them after the tests were over with. If the tests were especially gruesome, then the shadow assassins would combine the two prisoners' bodies into a single, patch-worked entity. The prisoners essentially merge into a flesh golem of two broken personalities, whose minds were amalgamated together by a painful process that the shadow assassins used sparingly. When a shadow assassin grew bored of their prey, the unfortunate chosen would then be freed and allowed to mingle with the other prisoners at the center of the maze. Any freed prey of the shadow assassins were always targeted by the healthier prisoners, save for a select number of individuals that were too clever to outwit, were too strong to overpower, or had developed a large enough gang which protected them from the other prisoners.

When Gadral's lunchbox finally landed at the top of the mountain of trash named Broken Hopes, the sound it made upon its landing attracted the nearest, and smallest, scavengers within the immortal maze. These small scavengers looked similarly to bare-skinned rodents, but also have strong, curved beaks that could potentially sever a finger from a hand. Due to several years of living in the immortal maze, these small rodents had evolved without any fur on their bodies, which made them look quite different from their cousins that were still very abundant on the surface of Kiln, even after surviving twenty years against the zerg swarm. Their beaks were similar in shape to a macaw's, and their bite was almost equal in strength. They were normally a plant-eating species, but even down in the immortal maze, they were widely known to be carrion feeders as well. In their adult age, they can reach fifteen centimeters in length, but their infant and juvenile sizes often varies between one to three centimeters, and were usually born in fecund litters.

A small swarm of vaph began their investigation of the small thunk sound that disturbed their sleep cycle. When feeding time came, the vaph would vacate the mountain and let the hungrier gilanians fight over the scraps of still-edible refuse, only to move in again when the gilanians had their fill. But the hatch opened at an irregular time, and the immortal gilanian prisoners did not gather for whatever parcels of food that the shadow assassins decided to throw away.

When the small swarm of vaph neared the source of the noise, they had discovered something that they had never seen before in their short lifespans. A tide of purple slime grew over the trash at the top of the mountain, and it seemed to have spilled out from a white plastic box. The slime looked alive, and it wriggled around like there was something swimming in the sludge. One of the vaph scuttled close to the amorphous mass and took an inquisitive nibble at the sludge. The taste may have been horrible, but a vaph on the verge of starvation is notorious for eating nearly anything that it could get its beak around. As one vaph began to lick at the purple slime, others soon joined with it. Despite the musky and pungent flavor of the creep, it was actually very moist, and a water source in any amount was a heavily sought resource that all desert animals craved and coveted.

But once fifteen minutes of feasting on the creep had passed, the small swarm of vaph began to change in their behavior. Instead of darting around from one location to another, or chirping incessantly when they spot something to eat or found an intruder entering their territory, the vaph that fed on the creep became sluggish and clumsy as they tried to perform their scouting routines, while their chirping evolved into strained and coarse screeching.

Such weakness was not tolerated by the other vaph colonies that were nesting further down from Broken Hopes Mountain. Sensing this weakness, the more healthier, and larger swarms of vaph, ascended up the mountain and attacked the weakened vaph swarm that fed on the creep. In little time, the larger vaph swarms overtook the small vaph territory. The corpses were eaten, and the victorious vaph began to feed on the creep.

However, another fifteen minutes had passed, and the larger vaph swarms were also changing in their behavior. Even the vaph that feasted on the recently slain infected vaph were slowly being altered by the zerg's most dangerous pathogen, the Hyper-Evolutionary Virus. The infested vaph doubled in size after an hour had passed, and their skin slowly generated a cover of scales and carapace in odd formations. Their usually soft paws grew into powerfully muscular forelegs, which extended into long talons that were dangerously curved and sharp. Their beaks even seemed to leak a constant green drool. Rather than being able to speedily scuttle short distances, they either pulled themselves along the ground in an awkward manner, or launch themselves into a powerful leap at anything that wasn't infested by the zerg virus.

One vaph in particular was chosen to have a very special purpose. It could feel its insides tighten and widen as it was filled with the purpose it was chosen for, while it was waddling toward the creep covered trash at the top of Broken Hopes Mountain. Its new purpose was revealed when its intestinal growth exploded out from its gut, showering nearby infested vaph in a viscera of blood. The sacrifice revealed a small zerg larva, which had been growing inside of the infested vaph, exploding out from its unfortunate host upon its birth. As the larva came into existence, it made a cheerful chirring noise before it dug its mandibles into the nourishing creep, even if it derived little nutrients from it.

'Okay, little larva. Listen to me.' Kay telepathically said to it. 'You're going to have a tough time surviving in this environment, but I'm sure that with enough cunning and stealth, you'll be able to grow and evolve into a broodmother. You're inside of a place called the immortal maze, and it's very dangerous to you as you are now. Use the trash, vaph, infested vaph, and anything else available to you to convert into biomass and grow stronger. You should also grow a hatchery, some resource tumors, and a carbonation extractor. They will help you acquire bio-matter and accelerant. Use them to build up your swarm. When you and your spawn are strong enough, you can join with our allies and the rest of the swarm to fight against the Golden Star Empire. But more importantly, you need to rescue me from this containment chamber. After you rescued me, we'll need to find an exit out of the dark mausoleum, and join back with the rest of the swarm on Kiln. We have less than two days. Now grow, my little infant broodmother! Grow!'

With the instructions given to it, the larva took command of the surrounding infested vaph and directed them to search for materials that could be metabolized by the larva's stomach. Half were chosen to bring nutrient-rich creep to the larva, or sacrifice themselves to feed it instead. The other half would begin scouting for colonies of vaph nests further down Broken Hopes Mountain, attacking healthy vaph and bringing the wounded, weak, or dead to the larva. It would take a short while for the larva to acquire enough biomass, since the vaph contained very little biomass to derive from in the first place. But once it does gain the biomass it needed, it could then cocoon itself and become a queen. Once the larva becomes a queen, then the zerg within the immortal maze would grow at an exponential rate. It was only a matter of time until the larva develops a zerg brood within the immortal maze, and become the broodmother within the shadow assassins' Pyramidal Guard Division facility.

"Chief Catlak. I think you need to see this." Reported a breathless albino courier after he ran up a particularly high mound of garbage, which had a large, decorated hut sitting on the top.

A groaning voice replied to the courier. From within the large, decorated hut, there was a gilanian that wore a set of armor fashioned out of various bones, and a crown made of gilanian teeth and vaph beaks. He growled when his peace was disturbed. "Is there a shadow in our village again?"

"No sir." The albino courier explained. "The vaph are acting strange. They are attacking one another."

Another groan rewarded the courier. "This isn't anything new."

"New or not, Catlak, a swarm of them is coming into our territory right now."

"Huh... Ah, what the hell. Wake everybody up. Make them hunt for some vaph." The groan answered.

"Um... Of course, sir." The albino courier nodded and bowed. After talking to the gilanian named Catlak, the courier turned around and began bellowing to the surrounding huts, which numbered around sixty and surrounded the decorated hut on the hill of garbage. "HEY YOU FUCKERS! LISTEN UP! THERE IS A VAPH SWARM HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, AND THEY'RE COMING INTO OUR TURF! IF YOU WANT TO EAT SOMETHING OTHER THAN MOSS, THEN YOU BETTER START HUNTING! BUT REMEMBER THIS! YOUR FIRST VAPH KILL GOES TO CHIEF CATLAK! AFTER YOU GIVE HIM YOUR TRIBUTES, YOU ARE FREE TO HUNT AS MANY VAPH AS YOUR HEARTS DESIRES! LET THE HUNT BEGIN!"

Gilanian hunters, armed with long and sharpened rebar while wearing patchworks of cloth and hard plastics, came out of the tightly packed huts that surrounded the large decorated hut. The hunters would not continue their sleep with empty bellies, and they didn't care about eating the vile tasting vaph, whether or not they were freshly killed or cooked. Despite being immortal, starvation was their only reality in this eternal prison of theirs. To survive in this hellhole, even the fittest had to find a way to thrive and adapt. Some survive through muscle alone. Some survive by being smart. And some survive from having a gang to rely on.

As the hunters scoured through the land of trash, making sure that they don't step on any of the spikes that lined the floor, they saw the skittering and hopping forms of small and hairless rodents coming from the distant horizon. They seemed to be retreating from the mountain, looking as though something was chasing after them. However, Catlak's hunters cared little on understanding why the vaph that fled from their territory. As of then, they were now in Catlak's turf. The gilanian hunters paired off in groups of four, and ran toward the incoming swarm of vaph.

"Looks like they're starving, boys! Spear em'!" "They're moving fast! I think something scared them away from Broken Hopes!" "Might be Red Claw Goqqa digging for their nests again." "At this time?" "Well, the food door opened, didn't it?" "It did, but the scout said that only a box came down." "Maybe there was something in the box that made these vaph come here?" "Wait, Yalt said there was a box that came down the food door?" "It was a small box. Besides. Something that small would have already been gobbled up by the vaph." "True."

The teams of hunters were methodical in their hunting strategies. Unlike the vaph, which usually had short lifespans in this darkened environment, the immortally cursed prisoners of the immortal maze had years of experience in hunting vaph. Once their hunts were over, they would be eating very well for a good while. But that soon changed when the infested vaph followed after their smaller prey.

"Uh... These vaph look weird." "Shut up and hunt them. They're bigger, so they'll have more meat on their bones." "WHOA!"

When the gilanian vaph hunters attempted to kill the infested vaph, the infested vaph retaliated by launching themselves at their attackers. The hunters did not expect this change of behavior from their usual prey, but they adapted quickly by swatting them in the middle of their leaps. Some were not so lucky, since the talons of the infested vaph found purchase under their cloth and plastic armor, ripping through and slicing into their scales and flesh. There were a smaller number of hunters that were more unfortunate, which had been bitten by the invading infested vaph.

"These guys are more jumpy!" "I fucking know! Fall back! Take what we can and cut our losses! Don't let them bite the back of your ankles!" "I'm more worried about them biting my face!"

The hunters were forced to retreat from the infested vaph. Several of the hunters killed quite a few of the healthier vaph, but there were a few hunters that managed to slay a few of the infested vaph, despite their aggressive behavior. Once the hunters retreated, carrying with them the vaph that they hunted, a few had broken away to track down the vaph that ran past Catlak's turf town. But the hunters that returned came back to the turf they protected and piled their kills at the foot of Catlak's hut. A tall figure walked out of the large and decorated hut, which was the bone armor wearing Catlak, whom was their chief. Rather than expressing a smile at his hunters and congratulating them on their hunt, his expression had a frustrated frown instead.

After what had felt like a minute, Catlak growled out to his hunters with his hands to his hips. "What the hell happened?"

His hunters hesitated to answer him, save for a young and enthusiastic hunter. "You should have seen them, boss! There were weird looking vaph that were bigger than my arm!" He said, gesturing and gesticulating rapidly. "They had huge sets of claws! They jumped at our faces like we insulted their mothers! There's even a few of us that were bitten by their sharp beaks and stuff!"

Catlak raised his hand at the overeager hunter, gesturing for him to stop. "Can someone else make some sense before I put this whelp into a pit?"

Another hunter intervened. "It's true, Chief Catlak. Look at what we killed."

Catlak's face changed from an unamused glare to unexpected confusion when he saw the corpse of an infested vaph. He slowly leaned down and inspected the dead creature, taking in every detail that his eyes could decipher. But despite his keen appraisal, the dead infested vaph still made no sense to him. "... Did you see this, or any other strange looking vaph hunting the other vaph during your hunt?"

"I did, boss." Another hunter said. "Also, one of my boys got his neck chomped by those weird looking vaph. I'm afraid to report that he died."

Catlak sighed. "So we're now a man short, huh? Man, it's been a while since anybody died. I wonder when the shadows will drop some new prisoners through the food door?"

"Maybe this has something to do with the zerg we've been hearing about?" The young, overenthusiastic hunter mused aloud.

"That can't be true. You sure it's not some hokey that a crazy tried to pass onto you?" "The shadows keep us in the dark. I bet this zerg nonsense is just a story they use to keep us in line." "What's a zerg?" "I heard they were bio-genetically engineered animals that got loose, and they began reproducing at a rate that they can't control or something." "Wait a minute. How does this relate to the weird jumping vaph that attacked us earlier?" "I heard from a cousin that something in a zerg's blood makes you sick, and that you become one of them." "That's not how it works! I heard that the zerg are, like, a new telepathic species or something! They implant ideas into your head, draw you close to their nest, and then eat you whole!" "You're an idiot."

Catlak shook his head. "Settle down, everyone. I don't know what this zerg nonsense is, but it stops now. The vaph are smart enough to know that if they intrude into our turf, they'll become our food. If it'll make everybody feel better, I want some guards stationed at all the exits and entrances of our home turf. Kill anything that tries to get in, or tries to kill you." He leaned down and picked up the healthiest hunted vaph from the pile of offerings, but dared not to take any of the scales and carapace covered infested vaph or any that had vaph-related injuries. "Now fuck off and leave me in peace, unless it's something important."

Catlak's hunters looked at one another in uneasiness. "Uh... And the weird looking vaph, boss?"

Catlak sighed. "Kill and eat them, like you would any other vaph, you stupid idiot." After that, he turned away and carried the healthy looking vaph corpses in his arms and brought them to his large hut.

The hunters that were in Catlak's gang looked at each other with uncertainty, but they dispersed to fortify any openings that would let vaph into their homes, be it healthy, or infested with the zerg Hyper-Evolutionary Virus.

But as Catlak's gang fed heartily on the vaph they hunted, they were completely unaware of the infection taking place in their wounds and intestines.

Half and hour later, half of the population in Catlak's turf became ill. Pained groans and coughing fits perverted the air, while healthier gilanians tried to ease the sick so that their condition could improve, or attempted to euthanize them to prevent them from suffering further. Apparently, the cause of this sickness began with the gilanians eating the vaph that were attacked by the infested vaph, or had actually ate one of the hunted infested vaph. Many were relieved when the expanding and contracting swellings receded, and that the coughing and seizures finally subsided, but it didn't put everyone at ease.

But Catlak, the chief of the gang he led, was still uneasy about the sudden sickness that had came over his village. Even though he was glad that he didn't receive the sickness that his followers had contracted, it still left him with an instinctual gut feeling that made him nervous. He hated to admit it, but he felt as though he should commit to a diet that consists only of moss from then on. He huffed as he threw the picked-clean bones of the vaph he ate out of the only window of his large hut. "Puggyat. Can you tell me how my people are fairing?"

"Blugh. J-j-just a minute, boss." A sick albino courier said, holding his stomach.

Catlak turned to look at his unwell albino courier. He grimaced after he saw his gut swelling and receding rapidly before his eyes. "Oh gods, don't tell me you got sick too."

"It's okay boss." Puggyat said weakly. "I'm getting better. A few minutes ago, I was way worse. Trust me."

Catlak sternly stared at his courier before sighing. "... So uh... Are you going to go check up on my people?"

Puggyat nodded. "Of course, sir. Right away."

Once puggyat left his presence, Catlak leaned onto the only window of his large and decorated hut and surveyed his turf village. There was concern on his face. The bones of the vaph he ate filled his nostrils, but he knew that the meat from them was picked clean. At least his hunger was satisfied, despite the foul aftertaste that vaph meat often leaves on his tongue. He could use a cup of water to drink. He'll have to wring a patch of moss in order to get some.

But Catlak's attention was drawn away from his turf village when he noticed something that wasn't there before. He looked intently at the mountain of trash that occupied the center of the immortal maze, and saw that it was somehow different looking. The immortal maze was always dark, due to the emperor's fanatic insistence that the Pyramidal Guard Division's theme needed to be black and purple. However, when Catlak looked at Broken Hopes Mountain, he could have sworn that it had grown taller. And... Were there spikes on top of the mountain? His eyes widened even more when some big round thing suddenly rose above the top of the mountain. He couldn't actually see what it was since it was so far away, but his gut feelings were telling him that something was happening. "PUGGYAT!"

A distant running eventually came close enough to Catlak that the runner was revealed to be his albino courier again. "Yes boss?" He replied.

"I need to form a posse. We're going to investigate something that has recently gotten my attention. Spread the word to everyone that is well enough to follow me. We're going to Broken Hopes." Catlak informed his courier, seriousness steeped into his voice.

"Uh... Yes sir. Right away." Said Puggyat. Shortly afterwards, he turned away and ran to the surrounding huts, despite his intestinal unrest.

Catlak sighed. He didn't know what the huge ball-thing above the mountain was, but he had an adamant feeling telling him that this was not the usual mind game tactics that the shadow assassins usually employed. Of all the years he had lived in the maze, starting from his very birth years ago, he had never seen something like that before. However, with his curiosity getting the better of him, he was going to find out sooner or later.

Another hour had passed, and Catlak's posse was ready to leave for the mountain. After all of his hunters had donned and equipped several rebar spears onto their persons, Catlak had done the same onto himself. Having lived in the immortal maze for much of his life, Catlak intimately knew each and every kind of danger that existed in this cursed place. It was a hell that he had trouble surviving in, but it was also his home that he was forced to live in. Now that there had been new dangers introduced into the maze, he had to investigate them or suffer the consequences later.

Once he felt that his gang was ready, he walked down from his large hut on the hill and approached them. He then gave a speech to his posse. "Alright, you louts. Listen up, and listen to me closely. I don't want to have to put any one of you in a pit after this excursion is over. We'll be going to the center of the maze to inspect Broken Hopes. I'm willing to bet that he vaph swarm we had to deal with were chased away from there, and I'm guessing that the strange vaph that hunted them originated from there as well. We'll be going there to find out why. If anyone so much as decides to have second doubts and starts belly aching, then tough. You guys got ready for the trip, so you better do as I say. Got it?"

"Yeah yeah, we got it." "Ugh." "Should have stayed home today." Catlak's men grumbled. Catlak shook his head. He would have sworn that if his gang was any more unhappy about him being their chief, then he could see a potential mutiny happening in the foreseeable future. But whether they like it or not, Catlak was the only gilanian that had a natural affinity for diplomacy.

Complaints aside, Catlak also knew that there was something wrong within the immortal maze, and that he needed to bring protection with him. He wielded a rebar spear like a baton to get the attention of his assembled posse. "Alright, gang! Scouts at the front! Bruisers in the middle! Escorts around the bruisers and me! Evenly space out the callers! We're marching toward Broken Hopes Mountain right now!"

And with Catlak's posse beginning their march, Catlak's journey to Broken Hopes Mountain had begun.

Catlak's posse traveled toward the distant mountain for several minutes. As they made their way through the trash and moss covered maze, Catlak couldn't help but notice that the infested vaph were staying clear of his posse's march. That, and he didn't see the usual scurrying of the healthy maze vaph that often inhabited the clumps of maze moss. Not only did the moss feed the vaph, but it also provided them a beneficial nesting material for their young. However, the maze moss was incredibly bitter, due to the poor nutritional value it derived from the refuse that was dumped through what the immortally imprisoned gilanians called 'the food door.' But that had completely changed when a new breed of vaph had appeared one day, which began chasing and killing the weaker vaph. Catlak didn't know how, but his gut is telling him that this change began at the top of the mountain.

Asides from the vaph and the infested vaph, there was still plenty of dangers in the immortal maze that could seriously wound an immortal gilanian.

One of Catlak's callers called out. "One of our scouts is signalling! Something is up ahead!"

Catlak's eyes rolled as he sighed. "I hope it's not another weird vaph. Company, halt!"

As the posse ceased in their march, a rumble from the distance was heard. A hulking mass of muscles came closer to Catlak's posse, smashing the ground with every chance it got. It appeared as though it had long lengths of red heavy bandages that covered its body, being its only supposed form of clothing. It was three times taller than a gilanian, and its arms were longer than normal. Its claws were long and sharp, which also dripped in red. Its tail was quite long as well, dragging behind itself as it thundered forward. Its face was covered by several trailing bandages of red, but saber-like fangs grew from its mouth in a terrifying display. It appeared to be mad at the infested vaph that had entered its territory.

When the infested vaph were chased away, the monstrous thing took in a breath of relief. Despite its calmer disposition, Catlak's men grew very weary of this large newcomer. It was as if they recognized it. When its gaze centered onto Catlak's posse, it stopped its movement. It then spoke in a low growl as it settled itself into a territorial stance. "We see you, and we don't want you herre. You know that you don't belong herre in ourr turrf, and we want you gone." The thing growled in deep tones.

Catlak stepped forward slowly as he gently laid down his rebar spear and made himself look harmless. His arms were spread wide as he continued nearing the creature. He seemed to know this creature. "Red Claw Goqqa. It's been too long. Remember me? I saved your life once."

The thing called Goqqa huffed and grunted. "We know that you saved ourr life, but we know that we saved yourrs too. This does not make us frriends or allies. It makes us even."

Catlak nodded. "Even so, I would like to have some questions answered. Have you noticed that there are a new breed of vaph that's been hunting the other vaph?"

Goqqa stared at Catlak for a few seconds before slowly nodding. "We have noticed, and we do not like it. The vaph eat the moss, and we eat the moss. We do not like the vaph, because they eat ourr moss. Something chased the vaph into our home, and we chased them out. The new vaph is strrange. Looked like things called insects? Orr do they look like lizarrds? They hunt the vaph, but they trry to hunt us too. They must be prroduct of shadows. Shadows and empirre arre enemies to us."

Catlak sighed. "I see. ... How's Bayz?"

Goqqa growled again. "You stay away frrom herr. You hurrt herr once. She deserrves yourr absence. Don't ask me that again."

Catlak sighed again and lowered his arms. "She told you about our breakup, huh? Damn... Well... If you want to join our march towards Broken Hopes Mountain, I only ask that you don't kill or eat anyone in my posse. Go to the front of the formation with a scout. We'll need your tracking skills."

Goqqa shook his head and hissed as he lumbered toward the front of Catlak's posse. "We will join you, Catlak, but only because we sharre a common enemy. We mostly eat moss, but we arre opporrtunistic feederrs. Don't die, orr I will eat you."

Catlak nodded and sighed. "Company, forward!" Red Claw Goqqa was a notorious resident of the immortal maze, and he was called so because of his claws. They were usually stained by the blood of the intruders that dared entered into his territory, or by the vaph that ate any his moss. It was rumored that he constantly stains the bandages he wears with the blood of his victims and prey. He was also rumored to be the unholy offspring of a mongwedger and a gigantic gilanian. More than likely, he was a product of a merging between a mongwedger and several hapless gilanian prisoners that the shadow assassins were responsible for. Not only that, he was also an ancient resident of the immortal maze, and it was assumed that it was because of the experiment that he kept growing larger and larger as the years went by.

Catlak and his men knew better to hunt for vaph in Goqqa's territory, since many of them had fallen prey to his claws at several occasions. Since he was drawn so far away from his own territory, it became obvious to Catlak that the ecology of the immortal maze had became immensely imbalanced.

They didn't need to travel very far to find the next oddity that manifested in their environment. "Scouts are signaling us again! Something is up ahead!"

"Company, halt! Don't break your formation and stay here. I'm going up ahead." Catlak said as he marched past his escorts. As his posse stopped in their march, they parted and created a path for Catlak to go through their formations.

After jogging forward several meters ahead, he met up with the scouts that scoured the area ahead for any dangers. Scouting the land in front of a formation was a necessity, since a scout could tell the rest of their allies of the potential dangers that laid further ahead, such as rival gangs, or dangerous environmental hazards. However, as he met up with one of his scouts, which was assisted by Goqqa, Catlak saw something strange that was ahead of both of them. Once he met up with them, he leaned down and looked at the ground before him. It was the strangest growth that he had ever seen! He wanted to touch it, but he didn't have any clean water that he could use to clean his hands with afterwards.

One of his scouts gesticulated at the growth. "Yeah, I don't know what the hell it is either. I couldn't see another path around this vomit-looking stuff, so I signaled for you to come here and look at this."

Goqqa leaned down and carefully sniffed at the violet sludge. "Hmm... This smells of mold and stagnant waterr. We would not eat this. It looks like it makes the moss sick. It moves like tiny fingerrs wiggling underr the surrface."

Catlak shook his head. "Whatever this stuff is, it's blocking where we are headed."

His scout pouted. "If we can't continue forward, then can we head back?"

Catlak turned and stared at his scout for several seconds, sighed, and then slapped the scout's head. "The fuck you say? We walked all the way out here, and you think we're going to go back to our turf just because we got stopped by Gollog's demonically possessed diarrhea? Come here!" He said, grabbing at the scout.

"What?!" The scout said in surprise. But it was too late for the scout to react in time, since Catlak twisted the scout's arm and flung him onto the moving slime-covered ground. He nearly tripped over his own feet, but when he finally steadied himself, he shivered from the sensations of being on creep for the first time in his life. "Eeeeeewwwwwwww, it feels like I'm trudging through cold and possessed snot!"

"Does your feet feel like they're burning? Any pain?" Catlak asked.

"... Uh... No. I don't feel any pain. It actually feels like I'm standing on water. It still feels gross though." The scout answered.

"Cold gross snot or not, we need to go through it. Now tough it up and scout out the... area... ahead." Catlak berated and slowly lost his concentration when he noticed a shadow looming over himself and his company. It was a slightly darker shadow that added to the otherwise constantly gloomy light within the immortal maze. When Catlak looked up, he was surprised to see that a giant creature had drifted over his head. It was as though it contained hot air to keep itself aloft. It seemed to look down at them with a silent curiosity, being the only audience member to their conversation. After a pause of forty seconds, Catlak finally pointed up at the overlord and said something about it. "... The fuck is that?"

Both the scout and Goqqa diverted their attention to the floating zerg organism. The scout became scared and started running away in fright after a second of staring at the hovering orb of carapace. Goqqa tilted his head at the overlord instead. "... Currious... It is not a shadow. Is it from one of Gollog's darrk drreams?"

Catlak shook his head. "If this is another one of the shadow assassin's ploys or tests, then I'd doubt it. This thing is not exactly subtle. The shadow assassins specialize in subtlety, so this isn't like them to send a giant target in the sky, even if it's just so they could mess with us."

Goqqa huffed as he stepped backwards. "Then what is its purrpose? To float? We have not seen this thing, so we must say to you that we don't know what it does. Should we thrrow something at it?"

Catlak shook his head. "I don't think that'd be a good idea, Goqqa. We don't know what it does, so we'll just leave it alone. If we did throw something at it, then it might shoot laser beams from its eyes at us, or something."

Goqqa shrugged at Catlak. "We won't find out unless we trried."

Catlak sighed and shook his head at Goqqa. "Damn man. I almost forgot how much of a troublemaker you are."

Before they contemplated the idea of antagonizing the overlord, Catlak and Goqqa's conversation was interrupted by another party. "Leave the overlord alone. It has no wish to fight you, but I will not hesitate to eradicate you if you wish to tempt my brood with hostilities."

Catlak and Goqqa immediately turned toward the new voice to see a huge zerg queen standing before them. Her crown had developed much larger than any typical zerg queen, which bore naturally grown and spiky 'horns' on the side of her crown. Such horns were the symbols of a fully developed broodmother. She slowly glided across the creep with effortless grace and came to a stop a few meters away from the two gathered individuals. Goqqa walked back a few feet and hunched himself into a hunting stance. "This one talks! It has the same scales as the flying thing, but we can see intelligence in its eyes! Yet it talks with no mouth. What arre you?"

The broodmother creature held her hand up to them. "I am an enemy of the people that keeps you here in this maze. I seek to build my brood to attack the ones that has captured my swarm's commander. It was through him that my birth was possible, but I now intend to free him once I have the chance."

Catlak was almost at a loss of words. Was this thing really against the Golden Star Empire? He needed to find out more. "Uh... Ahem. Maybe you should be more specific with that answer. Let me rephrase my friend's question. WHAT exactly are you?"

Goqqa sneered and hissed at Catlak, but the broodmother paid no attention to their bicker. She bowed regally towards them. "I am known as a broodmother. Consider me as an evolved zerg queen, capable of commanding a swarm of minions that shares a bitter hatred with Golden Star."

Goqqa snarled. "That name. That currsed faction's name! We rrememberr!" He pointed at the broodmother. "You know of Gollog? You know of his generral? His commanderrs? His conscrripted arrmy?"

The broodmother shook her head. "Not personally, but my master is in need of my assistance. I once planned to hunt down every single being in this maze, both vaph and gilanian alike, but I have seen that another tactic can provide me with another opportunity. I realized that we shared a common enemy."

Catlak took a step towards the broodmother. "My enemy is with the shadows, and not with whatever the hell you or your zerg are. If the weird vaph things are your doing, then I only ask that you make them back off from my turf. They already killed one of my gang members, and I don't want that happening again. But if you really want to go and hunt down the shadow bitches that's given me and my gang nothing but trouble during our stay in this maze, then good for you. Just stay away from my turf."

"I apologize that the infested vaph has killed one of your kind. They will bother you no longer." The broodmother hissed and clacked her fingers together. "I also sense that you wish to be freed from this maze. I can provide an escape from this maze for you."

Catlak liked what he heard, but he was hesitant to accept such an offer. "Sounds to me like that has a catch."

The broodmother nodded at Catlak, and tightly clutched one of her claws. "If you join my swarm, then we can attack the ones responsible for your unethical treatment, and my master's containment. But if you refuse my offer, then I will let you remain here. These are the terms."

Catlak nodded slightly and turned to Goqqa. Goqqa hissed at the broodmother before turning to Catlak to begin speaking with him in a quiet manner. "This seems too convenient. We do not know its kind. This could be a trrap."

Catlak shook his head at Goqqa and gently patted his shoulder. "It's better than being tortured, Goqqa. If there is a slim chance that we can finally be freed, then it's a chance I'm willing to take. Besides. If it means I can finally go to a place that isn't in this swampy, dark dump, then I'm willing to risk it. When we're done here, tell Bayz that we finally have a ticket out of here. Okay?"

Goqqa paused for a few seconds, but then sighed. "We can do this. But we must learrn morre of this crreaturre beforre we go."

Catlak nodded and turned back to the broodmother. He then paused for a second. "... Uh... I don't think I caught your name."

The broodmother gestured indifferently. "I was not born with one, and I have not been given one."

"Hmm... Would you do me the honor of giving you one then?" Catlak suggested.

The broodmother paused for a few seconds, but nodded. "... I suppose I can humor your request."

Catlak nodded with a slight smile. "Then from here on out, I'll name you Broo. My name is Catlak, and I'm the chief of the Moss Field Hunters." But his expression became stern as he pointed at the newly named Broo. "But I also want you to know that if you betray me in any way, I will wash my hands of our business and go my separate way. Got it?"

The broodmother, now named Broo, bowed. "My intentions were only set on harming the Golden Star Empire, and freeing my commander. As such, I will make amends for any unintended inconveniences I may have caused upon you, or may cause at another time. As I have said before, I have no wish to fight you."

Catlak smirked, but he didn't really follow what Broo had said. "Uh... Okay then. So what do we need to do to earn our freedom?"

Broo pointed upwards. "We fight our way through that."

Catlak looked up at where Broo pointed and saw what she meant. "... The food door?"

"It is our only exit out of this place. To earn your freedom, you must join me. If we work together, then we can break through our containment, and free my commander. Once we attained our freedom, you may do as you wish."

Goqqa didn't seem convinced. "And how do we get to the food doorr? It is so high up."

Broo pointed at the overlord. "We fly up." She answered simply.

Catlak raised his eye brows incredulously. "Uh... We can't exactly grow wings, Broo."

Broo hissed. "I know you can't grow wings, you simpleton! I meant to say that you can use the overlord to carry you up there."

Catlak nodded. "Oh... That makes more sense. Use the overlord thing to float us up to the food door. Got it."

Broo shook her head and rolled her eyes. Her tone then became serious. "Spread the word to the other immortal gilanians in this maze. Tell them that to escape this place, they must join my swarm and attack the Golden Star Empire. Can you do this?"

Catlak smiled and pointed a thumb to himself. "Yeah, I think I can do that. Might have to explain a bit of this stuff to my gang, but they're gonna be happy to know that we finally found a way to escape this dump!" Catlak then turned to Goqqa. "Red Claw Goqqa, go to Bayz and tell her the good news."

Goqqa gave Catlak a low snarl. "We will tell Bayz what happened herre. But harrass herr again, and we kill you."

Catlak sighed as Goqqa began to quickly lumber away from him and the broodqueen. After a long pause of silence, Catlak shook his head and turned back to Broo. "... Sorry you had to witness that."

Broo gestured dismissively to Catlak. "My concern is with freeing my commander. You should be concerned with spreading the word that escape from this maze is possible."

Catlak nodded. "... Alright. Yeah. Okay." He turned around and waved goodbye at Broo. "I'll come back here after I spread the word. Oh! And make sure that you make enough of those overlord things to carry all of us out of here! One looks like it ain't gonna cut it!"

"I will spawn more overlords before you return. Of that, I can assure you." Broo bowed as Catlak began leaving. It seemed to her that the diplomacy within the Pyramidal Guard Division's immortal maze was quite strange. However, she cared little about understanding it. Her attention would instead focus on expanding her creep, spawning more minions, and as of then, spawning more overlords. She looked up at the food door that opened every week, glaring at it with patient zeal. Soon, her brood would grow in sufficient numbers, and be able to overtake the Pyramidal Guard Division's facility. To destroy the shadow assassins' facility would deal an incredible blow to Gollog's resources, and further demoralize his precious empire. Kay's capture may have been a distraction that had accosted him his connection to the swarm on Kiln, but it would prove to be only a passing inconvenience.

Broo will teach the Pyramidal Guard Division that the swarm is incapable of be contained indefinitely. They would break from their bonds and eradicate their enemies, no matter how they adapt against the zerg.

"-And that was how it happened." Goqqa said to a lithe-bodied albino gilanian that wore a worn leather-patched jacket and pants, and was sitting in a dome-like structure that had moss growing over it.

The lithe-bodied gilanian sighed when Goqqa told her the story on how this new faction, called the zerg, had came into the maze and made promises about escape and freedom. She had second doubts about the broodmother named Broo. "I don't like this, Goqqa. Of course Catlak would accept something like that. Escaping from this maze is all he ever dreamed and talked about!"

Goqqa tilted his head. "But frreedom frrom this place is good. To be frree is a desirre that we sharre."

The albino gilanian shook her head. "You said that the vaph were somehow changed. If they could change by some kind of disease, then it's a possibility that Catlak and his gang have been affected by that same disease. If I am to share in that freedom, then I need to ensure that I would be safe from whatever kind of sickness that he might be carrying."

Goqqa huffed. "Then what do we do now? We can't leave you herre. You pulled us from a spike. You made us no longerr impaled. You arre ourr only frriend in the maze, Bayz."

The albino gilanian named Bayz sighed as she shook her head again. "... I can't believe I'm actually thinking about doing this."

"Bayz?" Goqqa said, curious on what her answer might have been.

After a long pause, Bayz began to nod. "... Dammit, fine. I'll need to get my suit ready."

Goqqa nodded as Bayz got herself up and went into her supposed domicile.

A/N: Using the word vaph feels so similar to using a plural and singular word. Moose. Fish. Deer. Bison. Fruit.

Also, it feels to me that if I ever wrote a non-fanfiction story, then Catlak, Goqqa, and Bayz might be its main characters. :U