A gondola
After Kuscah's brief chat with the lizards, the party agreed that they seemed calmer than before and accepted Bajanna's explanation of the events. Nonetheless, moving past their wounds was not so easy, which resulted in some animosity between them.
Y'pakar glanced at the others and rubbed his aching wrists, recently released from confinement.
"Milord." The magitech knight called. "Shall we resume our mission?"
The holy quest for salvation. Whilst the humanfolk and beastfolk kings rested on their asses awaiting the apocalypse, King Ba'gunar wasn't as willing to do the same. Y'pakar was quite keen of fantasy tales and knightly novels, which was the reason why he worked hard to become a magitech knight and serve his king. However, precisely because of that, he understood better than most the oddities of his master.
What is it that makes a king? Greed? Honor? Refined modals? The answer Ba'gunar gives is none other than ambition. The only thing a true king should be careful about is never losing sight of who they are and who they want to be. Power erodes and corrupts and there is no one more powerful than a king.
S'naip sighed and pressed a hand against his partner's shoulder. "Give him a minute."
The archer also honed his mind through meditation, so he quickly understood what his king was trying to accomplish in his prolonged silence.
Who is Ba'gunar? He is the king of the lizardfolk, an ambitious figure who seeks his god in hopes of halting the end of the world.
In that case, who was the lizard who battled the humans? Was that Ba'gunar?
The conundrum tortured his soul. Despite owning many things, there was nothing more precious to the king than his own will… and it just got overruled and oppressed. If that wasn't enough, a whirring sound disturbed him for quite a while. Usually, only the short-tempered S'naip would get upset at this, but the king's foul mood was pushed against its limits.
"Blast it all! Shut up!"
The Lizard King, out of patience, plunged his sword into the source of the noise. The next moment, an enormous pillar rose from the floor. A door-like opening yawned within.
"Heh, guess it responded to the king's voice… or sword." Renova pointed out.
Bajanna held her scythe tighter. "Looks like it's saying, 'come on in'."
Ba'gunar was the first to step through the opening, quickly followed by his retainers. Then, he looked back at the other group.
"We're on our way to meet god. I presume your reasons to be here don't differ much."
Grace stepped forward, chest held high. "That's right. We need to find the Maker."
Her confident answer pleased the king. No doubts; no regrets. Only the determination to push on until achieving their goal. Ba'gunar grinned. "Well, you with me or not?"
Renova expressed her doubts about teaming up with someone they just fought, but Grace chuckled and dismissed her worries. Yesterday's enemy is today's friend, as Kuscah put it. Then, the mage glanced at Bahl. Despite her lack of words, the mercenary usually expressed her disagreement when things mattered. The mercenary was already on her way to meet up with the king, so that settled it.
"They weren't in control of their actions before." Bajanna told her as they lagged behind. "'sides, they share our same objective."
"I know… It's just… I don't understand."
"Hm?"
"What pushed the predators to chase us away and not the king?"
A valid worry. If her fellow beastfolk was right about the shadowy entity, were the monsters under its control as well? If so, what stopped the entity from casting the same magic over their entire group? Unless… they were doing already what it wanted. Why the fight, then? A test of strength for future puppets… or something else?
As a researcher, Renova was unable to disregard this matter.
However, the only thing she could do was prepare herself for the unpredictable possibilities. A sudden stop interrupted her train of thought.
"It's… gone?"
"What is, if we may ask?"
Ba'gunar pointed his electric sword towards the gaping hole at the end of the hallway, where a metallic cable descended into the shadows. "There's something like this in the Lizard Kingdom, too. A gondola."
Grace attempted to stretch her arms past the bulky lizard. "Um… If we can't go forward, can we move somewhere else, please? It's kind of stuffy in here. No offense, big guy."
"It's Y'pakar. No offense taken. This armor makes me bigger than I am."
"And he's not particularly small, either. My name is S'naip, by the way."
"I still have a bone to pick, tail nerd. You almost strangled me back there!"
"I did WHAT?!" The archer's groan echoed through the small corridor, injuring some sensible ears. "I refuse to believe that! I would never give my tail such a tasteless use!"
The female archer was unsure whether he meant that as an insult or… "Tasteless?"
"Yes! Would you ever use your bow to strangle someone?"
"Ah, I see. I guess I should had fought better, then. Sorry."
"It's… ugh… … It's also my bad for… you know… so… My apologies for your neck."
If the exchange between the bow-users wasn't weird enough, the others didn't even understand the point S'naip was trying to make or why Grace was so quick on the uptake. At least some harmony was gained from it, so all was good.
Bump.
That was all that was heard when a wall finished its sneaky course, sealing them inside the empty corridor. Renova cursed her carelessness and beat her fist against the wall. That thing wasn't moving, not without the right tools… or the necessary space to work with…
"Only one way left." The king concluded, raising many questioning looks. He pointed his sharp finger towards the darkness below. "We're taking the plunge."
The party's, lizard or otherwise, unanimous retort:
"What?"
Beyond the shadows, another group grew nervous. They had been descending for quite a while, yet nothing but solid rock was visible through the transparent walls of the gondola. Sunlight didn't reach down there. In its place, a volcanic glow emanated from fissures carved into the face of the rock. Brilliant red blended with mottled orange, bringing to mind the color of blood. Yet, strangely, it didn't generate any heat. The course of the descent had been initially vertical, but at some point the platform started curving sideways, leading the lift through the shadows of a huge underground cavern.
Silence had been the sole governor of the gondola ever since its departure. The seemingly endless walls of rock towering overhead became an oppressive weight on the soul. Nonetheless, despair was kept away by a powerful reason: curiosity, but it was a curiosity cloaked in fear.
Since the start of the descent, Sayu had been inspecting the light emanating from the circle of the platform, muttering things to herself and writing down some things on a messy-looking notebook. Amimari busied herself with assisting with… whatever the dancer was trying to do by setting loose the screws. The shadows weren't any more entertaining either way, so she had nothing to lose.
As for the soldiers, one of them crossed his bulky arms over his chest and stared down a certain old man who was pretending to take a nap. Olber had noticed the way Harold behaved around Mogha ever since they met him, yet he failed to understand his reasons.
"What's wrong with him, you ask?" Harold murmured with annoyance.
"I mean, sure, the old man's eyes are honest to a fault, but I wouldn't treat him so aggressively just because of that." To some degree, Olber was understanding of a certain fact: the girls were quite easy to gawk at. Their clothing –or lack thereof– contributed. However, he trusted Mogha would develop a numbness to their beauty, which would allow him to see past their bodily features, just as he did.
Harold furrowed his brows and ruffled his spongy hair. "That man is not a regular tour guide."
"True. He's capable of manipulating gravity." Even a soldier with scarce magic notions knew of how big of a deal that was. Graviton users were incredibly rare.
"But there's more." The roughrider continued, finally directing his eyes towards his compatriot. "He's hiding something sinister, captain. Some… great danger."
"Hmm… I don't know, Harold. Even if he's the cause of our latest skirmish, I feel like he contributed to the battle in his own way. Did you notice how the Devil Bats avoided him and the others?"
Harold noticed, but again, there was even more. When the archer clashed against the Sabertooths, had he lost his balance, he would have been gnawed to death… and yet, something sturdy and invisible helped him stand up straight despite the monsters' push. In fewer words, Mogha saved their lives. Shorthanded as they were, the roughrider was incapable of denying the old man's participation.
Still, his senses were usually correct about the weirdest things… and they screamed that Mogha was bad news. Until Harold discovered how or why, he would not cease to keep a close eye on his wrinkles.
Sensing this unwavering resolution of his comrade, Olber decided to give it a rest and change the subject. Something else pressured them… and it was rather urgent.
"Do you think you could… start teaching Amimari?"
"Are you really suggesting she should change her staff for a blade?"
The soldiers frowned. Neither of them liked the idea of pushing a sword onto her caring hands, but…
"…we're not ready for this challenge. The tower almost destroyed us. We were so outnumbered up there that Amimari felt pressured to take up arms!"
Olber halted for a moment to prevent his words from growing louder. The nurse directed him a look. Even though she didn't know what the men were talking about, she knew it wasn't good news. Whatever it was, Sayu didn't give her enough time to worry. The dancer was so passionate about the gondola's mysterious light sources she was already removing some clothes.
Noticing this, the soldiers turned their backs to the gaping cavern that stretched away in all directions. Something fluttered in the darkness, appearing and disappearing as it flew by the magmatic lights.
Fire-vomiting monsters. The wyrms had yet to notice their presence.
Olber was not optimistic enough to expect a safe descent. Sooner or later, they would be found. "You and I are not enough. If we are to search the Maker, we desperately need more fighters."
The roughrider let out a long sigh. Part of him wanted to convince Mogha to lend them his abilities in a more open manner, but his mistrust made him discard the idea. Sayu mentioned something about being able to weaponize light itself if her research went well, but she expressly requested them not to put their hopes on her too soon… and, in all honesty, putting a sword on Ami's hands would be the literal last thing any of them would do.
The cards fate dealt them were not enough.
Harold scratched his hair and glanced over his shoulder to check on the others.
"I don't know, man… Last time I checked, no healthy warriors were foreseen to pour down on us…"
Just as these words left his lips, his ears noticed something alarming.
Olber noticed it too. "What is that screech coming from?"
"There! From above!"
The soldier's warning alarmed the others and, soon, they were glued to the transparent walls. Their jaws dropped.
"Whoever claimed that sunlight doesn't reach here… you were wrong."
It wasn't exactly the sun that was descending upon them, however. Going down the gondola's zip-line, a dragon-shaped mass of heat traversed the darkness.
"Oh, no! We've been found!" Amimari cried.
However, nor Amimari nor her partners understood the true nature of this new dragon. Leading the way, Y'pakar sled down the cable with a hook on his one arm, whilst the other carried both Ba'gunar and Renova. The former pressed his sword forth to cast some light; the latter enveloped the rest of the group with a solar spell strong enough to repel the wyverns.
Behind them, S'naip utilized his ever-so-useful tail to hold onto Grace and Bajanna. Much to the ladies' discomfort, his member was so elastic the trip shook them in every possible direction and angle. One of them was on the verge of fainting, but at least the crazier one got to enjoy it.
Not envying the girls, Kuscah was left with the tough responsibility of descending along with the touch-hating Bahl. Much to his surprise, the mercenary complied much more docilely than he had anticipated. There was only one hook left in their provisions, so they didn't have many other choices. Holding her by the waist, the priest started preparing the right words to both thank and apologize to his unsociable companion.
"Ladies and gents! Our stop is nigh!" Ba'gunar howled, grinning like the madman his subjects faithfully considered him to be.
The fiery dragon landed on top of the gondola, causing it to shake violently and speed up its descent. The wind shook the roof invaders, but they weren't allowed to rest on their laurels: despite the lift's accelerated descent, flying creatures started assailing the gondola from everywhere. The Whitewyrms clawed into the metal and crept towards the tasty meaty treats.
"Blast! Get ready for a fight!"
Y'pakar and Renova combined their magic powers to push the predators away, but more and more winged monsters replaced the fallen. Their magic created a flurry of colors throughout to the cave that helped signaling the other predators where to go for prey. Devil Bats targeted by the archer's arrows; Blastosaurs that caught the blades with their infinite supply of teeth; and, finally, Aeropedes: flying insects with paralyzing secretions.
An Aeropede sneaked around the desperate swings of the priest and managed to land a generous bite on him. Frozen, Kuscah started sliding towards the edges of the roof and into the void. The despairing priest could only scream by the sudden pull of gravity.
Suddenly, Bajanna threw herself after her friend and grabbed him with all her might just in time. One of the slain wyverns got swept by the wind and pushed them off the gondola. In a desperate attempt at survival, she stabbed the transparent wall with her scythe and the pair hung from it.
"Help! Please!" The beastgirl begged, the strength of her frail arms quickly waning.
Realistically, though, her teammates were so busy fending off the monsters none could spare a moment to aid them. Kuscah's life was on her hands and all she could do was hang on. Even if her beastfolk strength allowed her to not immediately lose her grip, it wouldn't last much longer. It was only natural that tears swelled up on her golden eyes.
Suddenly, something pulled her scythe. The wind finally stopped when the soldiers dragged them into the gondola. Just as abruptly, a healing spell surrounded them, casted by a new face.
"You're safe now." Amimari forced a smile, worried over the increasingly noisy fight above.
Harold rammed the wall and only managed to harm his shoulder. "Damn! No matter how much we try to blast through, it doesn't break!"
A short old man ventured some words, tranquilly seating next to the nurse and the dancer. "That's what you would call a one-way-barrier, my good sir. You may enter, but you may not leave. At least, not until this thing stops."
"To your right!"
Olber's warning caused Harold to load an arrow and blindly shoot it to his right, piercing one of the wyverns that made it in. The dreadful nature of the gondola's walls: the vermin may enter, but none shall leave… neither dead or alive. More claws crept over the walls.
Battle above, battle below. Not even a single moment of peace could be found in or outside the gondola. The paralyzed priest could only wonder… Was that the Maker's will? Is there any purpose to the clash and the bloodshed?
No matter the answer, his participation was clearly denied. As a healer, nothing could be more tormenting than being unable to rescue those in need. His face contorted with regret. "P-Please… My friends from above… Help them!"
"I'm sorry!" Ami replied, clearly distressed.
Even if they could spare a moment, which the wyrms made to sure not to allow, their group lacked the means with which to lend them any help. After all, they were trapped inside a swaying jail.
Mogha sighed.
His blue eyes were filled with a sorrowful resolution. Instead of holding his staff from the strings, one of his hands held the rod firmly while the other ventured closer to the magic orb. A violent invisible force pushed off both the vermin and the warriors on the roof. Then, like formless strings, something pulled the latter into the cabin.
As soon as the deed was done, the gravity mage dropped his staff and fell on his butt, recoiling from the spell he just casted.
Mogha's gravity stunt only bought them a little time, though, as the wyrms' assault grew fiercer still. The now merged group of humans, beasts and lizards could only keep on fighting, counting the seconds until the relentless battle concluded.
"And… voila!"
The fight was not over yet, but a sweaty girl let out a huge sigh of relief as she took off her white jacket to vent a little. One of the hungrier dragons attempted to fly into the chamber, but it smashed its head against the transparent wall instead. If they act like a one-way barrier, all they had to do was revert its direction! While the others battled to the death, Sayu busied herself with adjusting the mechanism she had already studied in depth.
The end result: a death trap turned into the safest of lifts.
Sayu was so confident that everything would be alright that her heart dropped to the floor when someone screamed.
"Bajanna! What's wrong?!"
"IT'S ROTTEN! IT HURTS!"
"What is?! Where does it hurt?!" Amimari asked, trying to understand the source of her pain.
No one expected what the distressed girl did next, but someone understood why.