Hey everyone, apologies for the delay, I've been dealing with some personal issues, and I'm making very significant life changes so I've been wrapped up in them. Don't worry I'm continuing this story to the end, so rest assured it will continue for your entertainment. It also didn't help my computer power supply faulted and shut me down for a while. Nevertheless I'm back, though I have to say I won't be posting as I've been periodically, like I said I have a lot in my personal life to deal with right now, but none the less, this story will continue. Here's a bit of action to get you interested again!
Ch13: Travel through the Depths
After bidding farewell to Samos and Keira, the group started off back the way they came. Samos instructed that the entrance to the sewers were adjacent to the tower they had come from, just across the old drainage ditch. They passed the tower and were making their way toward the bridge over the drainage. The sewer gate soon came into view, but before they could approach Spyro asked a question.
"How are we going to make it from here to the port through the sewers? Do you have some sort of map?"
"I agree," said Calidan, "exactly how are we going to navigate this underground maze?"
"There's a main sewer junction that branches off to all corners of the city, if we can find that branch, we can make our way to the port," answered Jak, "we know the port is on the south side of the city, so if we follow the south markers we'll find our way there."
"Alright then, lead the way," replied Calidan. They approached the sewer gate, and it already started to open, the horizontal gate locks exchanged sides, and the elevator was open for them. They all climbed aboard, and with that they started to descend. The ride was short, about 10 seconds, before they came to another city lock door. It just started opening upon their arrival and it eventually opened to reveal the underground sewer tunnels. The tunnel in front of them went down and toward the left like a water slide, only the path consisted of stairs and two drainage gutters on the side.
"Well this looks as inviting as much as it smells," said Sparx fanning the air in front of him. "I'm all for backtracking and finding an alternate route, anyone in?"
"Sparx knock it off," said Cynder irritatantly, "at least the path to follow is clearly laid out, we'll make our way through, as for the smell, bear with it, we're all in the same boat."
"She's right Sparx," said Spyro, "and the sooner we get through here the sooner we can come out, so let's move swiftly."
"Remember everyone stay on alert," said Jak catching everyone's attention while descending down the tube stairs, prompting the others to follow. "Nasty creatures live down here, so don't let your guard down."
He pulled out his gun finishing his statement, and requipped the blaster mod. Calidan also withdrew his Omega Fire, and set it on the rapid fire setting. As far as he was concerned, with all his time in the wasteland, this sewer was just another setting to be conquered. The dragons, remembering their last run through Haven's sewers, knew that the danger Jak was talking about was all too real, and who knows how much worse it may have become with the recent attack on the city. The tunnel curved around and then began descending straight down again, with the stairs in the middle as their only path. Jak realized these must be access shafts for all ends of the sewers, but he wasn't sure if this one led to the center junction they were looking for or not. The descent of this part of the tunnel was longer then they had expected, although they could see the bottom of the steps. The dragons decided to fly ahead to avoid overcrowding up top and scout ahead for their next target.
"Couldn't wait for us, huh?" asked Jak with a smirk.
"Hey, when you have advantages use em!" Cynder gloated.
"You could have done it as well, Jak, eliminate the risk of slipping on those sewer steps," added Spyro.
"Yeah, but then no one would be able to catch castoff here if he slips off," Jak commented turning his hand around to gesture at Calidan, who was becoming annoyed.
"Catch me? Your treading on thin ice buddy," said Cal.
"Then let's hope your reflexes are as fast as what you showed us earlier and break your fall," jabbed Jak.
"If the random insults are done boys," said Cynder before gesturing toward the hall behind her. "I believe we have a junction to find."
"We'll find it faster in flight," said Spyro opening up his wings.
"Agreed, just don't go crazy, these tunnels have limited accessibility, flying would be tricky down here," added Jak.
"We'll scout ahead diligently, and come back with a report," reported Spyro and flew ahead with Cynder right behind him.
"Woah! Hey don't forget your designated lantern is here! Wait up!" yelled Sparx as he zoomed after them.
"Designated lantern hah!" snickered Daxter, "consider that added to my log."
"Daxter," Jak said sternly.
"What?! He set himself up, or is all that eco your channeling really given you a thick head?" His statement caused Jak to sneer. "All I'm saying is bug boy sounds off a perfect example to push his buttons and you are not going to take advantage of it?"
"That is not the kind of advantage we or anyone needs, so you and Sparx find a way to get along this time, or you'll both be stuck in a bag permanently!" demanded Jak. Daxter winced, and returned to his shoulder upright position. Calidan ignored the whole conversation, from the get go he knew he didn't want to hear it, or be part of it. The silence continued as the path eventually reached level ground again. The two warriors found themselves in an elongated tunnel that seemed to lead to another junction. However, the dragons and the dragonfly who went ahead of them to scout were nowhere to be seen!
"Um, where are they?" asked Calidan.
Jak was immediately concerned, and started moving ahead to the open junction, with Cal in tow. The tunnel they were in was narrow, with the drainage tubes still on both sides of the walkway they were on. The smell seemed to become even more rancid as they continued on, but it was no surprise to them, and it made them all the more eager to get out of the sewer. As they approached the end of the tunnel that connected to the next junction, a light from the left caught their attention. They saw Sparx buzzing toward them and he seemed frantic.
"Guys! Guys! You may want to get moving, we have a situation up here!"
"What?" asked Jak.
"Come on!" he replied, immediately buzzing back the way he came. The two warriors raced after him, following the tunnel as it curled around clockwise. In the depths of the sewer that lay before them, they all wondered what they could have encountered down here. As they rounded the next bend, they found themselves in another tunnel, branched off the junction they had come from, however the scene was anything but calm.
"Raawwrr!" roared Spyro as he fired an inferno toward the metalhead grunts in front of him, enveloping them in fire. They screeched in pain as their bodies burned. Cynder was fighting one in close combat, attacking with blazing force from both her claws and tail. One last tail swipe left a nasty gash across the creatures face. More grunts were pouring in from the tunnel behind them, and were rushing like a mob.
"Looks like you guys found a fight," said Jak pulling out his morph gun and equipping his Vulcan Fury.
"Yeah, you could say that," replied Cynder knocking away her opposing grunt.
"Hope you don't mind if we cut in," Jak remarked while coming to Spyro's side and firing his Vulcan at the metalhead mob behind him. Grunts were being pelted by the force of his shots, some even falling. Not enough seem to be falling due to the randomness of his shots.
"You may want to go for a more direct approach!" said Calidan equipping his Omega Fire into rapid fire.
"I second that!" added Spyro, knocking away an approaching grunt with his claw.
"Ugh," grunted Jak, "you guys are no fun." He switched over to his scatter gun and open fired, blowing back the whole mob with one shot, those that didn't drop dead lay down stunned.
"Fun? I prefer not dying in the filthy bowels of the sewers to be fun!" remarked Daxter.
"I actually agree with the rat in this case!" said Sparx.
"What did I tell you about calling me a rat?!" yelled Daxter.
"Save it you two!" Calidan yelled back, as he shot down two more grunts with his Omega Fire. There were now eight grunts left, and the group of heroes was advancing toward them ready to finish them off. The grunts were screeching at them, hoping to intimidate them, despite their disadvantage. Although to the latter, it was more of an invitation.
"Time to end this," said Calidan, turning the knob on his gun. He aimed at their bases, and fired three bombs right in front of them. They stuck and began ticking, much to the confusion of the metalheads. Jak, Spyro, Cynder and the sidekicks shielded themselves, as Cal pushed the button on his gauntlet.
BOOOMMM!
The grunts were blown away by the compulsive force of the simultaneous blasts, thus ending the battle. The heroes unshielded themselves, and were left to witness the aftermath of the dead metalhead bodies surrounding them. However, they knew this was only the start of their sewer venture.
"Well," said Sparx, "I say that takes care of the slimy and gritty right guys?" His statement drew no response, other than Calidan saying aloud…
"So far the welcoming committee to this town has been nothing but hostile, and I'm definitely regretting ever coming here."
"Hey, wasteland or here, you are going to run into hostile forces, so cut out the complaints or were cutting you out," demanded Jak.
"Jak," complied Cynder.
"What? He was asking for it," said Jak.
"Hate to cut in here," cut in Daxter, "well actually I don't, because I would like to get out of this sewer hole as fast as possible, with all the fur on my body, so can we get moving again?"
"The path is clear again, it's best we keep moving forward," said Spyro. The others nodded in his direction and complied. They walked around the corpses at their feet and deeper into the tunnel that seemed to snake around through the depths.
Setting: Precursor Monk Temple
Miles away from the war ravaged city, the desolate wasteland had not changed in its form or usual manner of running any stragglers to their death. The temple though was quiet, having been cleared of odd strangers just a short time ago. The monks had also been doing some cleaning, removing some rubble left by a fallen monolith in the temple upper atrium. Other than that, everything was quiet inside, which was just fine for a certain precursor monk who was currently doing some more research into the strange archway mounted in a back chamber. It was the same one that had transported the dragons into their temple to begin with.
Seem was clear on her task, analyze the entire archway from top to bottom for any clues, while part of her team was also combing through the ancient texts kept within the walls of the temple library. They knew this archway had directed the dragons here, and now they were wondering if it could do the same in reverse. Could they activate it, and then open a portal into the dragon's world? No one from their world had ever set foot off world, not since the days of Mar.
Having set off the team to Haven City through the subrails, Seem turned her full attention toward the archway, giving it a full examination. Even though it proved still active given the passengers that had arrived recently, it was not responding at all since then. If there was a way to get the dragons to come here, there must be something to activate it to run it in reverse. So far there was no luck, research wasn't coming up with anything, at least right now, and there were no signs of any significant connections to the world of the dragons. She currently had a load of books in her hand, hoping they could aid in her interpretation of the runes on the archway.
"Master Seem," one of Seems monks came up the stairs to inform her from what was occuring elsewhere, "The monks have been skimming the histories for any notion of the dragons, but there haven't been any revelations as of now."
"We know they exist, so there is no question that they are there. Tell them to stop skimming, they need to read all the chapters of those records, skimming skips sections that could hold valuable information," Seem ordered.
"That could take weeks, maam," said the monk, "We're looking for one topic in a whole library of…"
"We can't afford excuses now!" demanded Seem, "the dragons are here without a return plan, and we must find a way to activate it again." The monk silenced himself and bowed in respect.
"If what the ancient one said is true, then the key to saving our world lies in the link between our two worlds, it's already proven to be recently active, so we know it is still there, there's just the matter of finding how this end of the link can be open to the other side," explained Seem.
"Any new epiphanies sister?" asked the monk.
"Nothing," she said, it's as if secrets of the Precursors have been completely blocked from all life, or erased! I have not felt such frustration in the many years since I was initiated here on my path to enlightenment."
"Are we about to have another Seem history lesson?" the monk exaggerated humorously.
"Shouldn't you be returning to your research? Seem asked again with apparent irritation.
"Where am I supposed to go?" he asked.
"Return to the library and assist in helping the others find the connection," she said.
"Yes maam," and with that he returned back the way he came.
Seem turned back to the books she had in her hand, wondering if they could truly help, or if this was just the start of a long night of research in the monk temple library. Though as exhaustive as this undertaking was, she was also curious to all the new secrets they could uncover this night. The monk library was vast and held secrets beyond her years, dedicated as she was, there was only a fraction of knowledge held within the library that she had took the time to study. Most of it was on the origins of the Precursors, and it was her entire life's work. Though now she was searching for secrets of the dragons, something completely outside her area of expertise.
"The answers lie somewhere within this library," she said to herself, "and we must discover them."
While Seem was currently alone in the arch chamber, the monks were working around the clock in the library, one of them was up atop a ladder pulling down some books from their ancient history section. Three others were down on a table combing through looking for anything related to dragons. The one who was conversing with Seem, the Head Research Monk, had returned to them and was walking by the bookcase, until he noticed something out of the ordinary.
"Huh?" he saw an open shelf clear of books and there was something along the shelf wall, some sort of carving. He put the books he was holding on the table, and immediately went over to the shelf to examine it.
"What is this?" he asked the others. However they didn't hear him, they were too consumed in their reading.
"Hey!" his remark finally caught their attention, including the one on the ladder.
"My brothers, what is this?" he asked pointing toward the side wall of the shelf.
"What is what?" Monk 1 replied, getting up from the table and walking over toward him.
"This inscription," Head Research Monk said, as the others walked over to look, they saw it. A creature was carved into the side wall, it had a long and serpentine like body, similar to the leaper lizards they rode on through the wasteland. However, there was a key difference, it appeared to have very large wings, and there was no further mistaking its identity.
"This creature," said Head Research Monk, "it's a dragon."
"In our own library?!" questioned Monk 2.
"Why did you not notice it before I came back?" asked Head Research Monk.
"We were too engrossed in the books, you and Master Seem's orders were to comb through the texts, you didn't mention anything else," replied Monk 1.
"It appears we have been searching in all the wrong places then," said Monk 3.
"If there is a carving of these creatures in our library, and it's been unnoticed until now," began Head Research Monk, "it's clear this was here to be discovered one day, without anyone told throughout the history of the monks."
"If no one was ever told, maybe it was meant to stay hidden," said Monk 4.
"With the arrival of the dragons on our planet again, then perhaps it's time this secret was uncovered again," said Head Research Monk. He examined the carving from top to bottom, and noticed that the tail of the creature dropped below the second shelf and toward the bottom shelf. He crouched down to see where the tail would lead. On the bottom shelf, he noticed the tail disappeared behind the books on the bottom. He started removing the books that were stacked up against the left side of the wall where the tail disappeared. He then saw it, on the back side of the wall where the tail tip was directed, there was a series of cobblestones, a column of two staked on top of one another. Several of these made up the base of the wall and stretched all along it, however this cobblestone that sat on top of its bottom piece had a mark, and it was easily identified, the Seal of Mar.
"Mar?" questioned the Head Research Monk. The others crouched down to see the mark for themselves. They were actually surprised to see the seal for once, normally it was something they saw every day, but not in this manner.
"This stone must be removed," deduced the Head Research Monk.
"I'll get a hammer and chisel," said Monk 1 and he turned back down the hall and quickly disappeared from sight. He wasn't gone long though, after about 5 minutes he returned with the tools in hand. The head monk started chiseling around the stones edges, breaking the clay that had held it in place for untold ages. Surprisingly, he noticed that the clay wasn't very deep, just enough to keep it secure. After a good 30 minutes of chiseling, the stone was finally loose.
"Here we go," he started pulling it out on the sides, slowly dragging the stone out from its resting place. Fortunately the shelf was high enough to allow him room to move it from up top of the bottom cobblestone. He removed it completely and upon its emergence they all noticed that it had a small slab sitting atop a clear opening, showing that the stone was hollow. He removed the slab from atop the stone, and inside, found a book.
"Another book?" said Monk 3. It wasn't one found among their usual collections, it was made of a shining metal, somewhat resembling gold. It was no bigger than a pocketbook, which is what allowed it to fit inside the stone in the first place. Its outer covering was highly decorated, and on it was a new kind of seal. It was a dragon head with four side tendrils and two horns, and embedded in its forehead was the Seal of Mar, its trinity like mark enveloping the entirety of the brow.
"I've never seen this sign before," said Head Research Monk.
"I don't think anyone on this planet has," said Monk 4.
The head monk took the book into his hands, setting down the stone it came from on the floor. He opened the cover, and found a full manuscript written in what appeared to be ancient Precursor runes. He couldn't interpret it completely, but he was sure with some more research into ancient texts he could decipher it. He turned a few more pages, and found a picture which shocked him. It was an illustration of the archway, the same one the purple dragon and his friends had entered from, and their appeared to be photographic details about it all the way onto the next page. He turned to the next page eager to see what was next, and found four more illustrations. They appeared to be ancient precursor artifacts, similar to what had been gathered around the wasteland. However if they were in this book that had been hidden with such extremes, they knew they must be crucial to the archway.
"We must inform Seem of this at once," said the Head of Research.
Setting: Haven City Sewers
The heroes continued traveling through the pipe path for about a half hour. A couple metalhead hoppers and grunts continued plaguing the path ahead for them, but they proved no match for the group. Between the dragon's elements, and the human's arsenal, they made quick work of them. However, Calidan was growing concerned as his munitions were running low, he had scavenged dozens of these bombs from Marauder camps, but now he had almost depleted half of his supply on hand. He knew he was going to have to resort to his guns rapid fire setting if he was going to remain dependable. Only problem was that it wasn't as strong as Jak's scatter gun or blaster, but it would have to do for now. The good news was they had found the center junction five minutes ago, and were now following the southern path as directed by the position markers they found at it. As their trek continued, a conversation began.
"These sewers are as long as I remember, and the stink is even worse," said Cynder.
"Yeah, sorry your return had to take a detour down here," replied Jak.
"Yeah, well I was just happy back home thank you very much!" complained Sparx.
"Sparx," said Spyro.
"What? I'm tired of us always being the adventurers! Why can't we just stay home and enjoy life for a change?"
"You mean you stay home and stuff yourself with butterflies?" remarked Cynder harshly.
"Didn't say it was a bad thing," said Sparx.
"Hey glowboy!" yelled Daxter, "I'm not a fan of the long distance travel either, but one thing I've learned that after everything we've been through is that you've gotta learn to take the good with the bad, so suck it up, or else things will really go downhill!"
"Wow Dax," said Jak, "big words coming from you."
"Yeah well, it just takes the right circumstances, and irritating punk," said Daxter turning to the dragonfly with a sneer.
"Watch it fuzzball!" yelled Sparx.
"Enough!" yelled Spyro, silencing both of them. "We have enough to worry about without you two at each other's throats, so grow up for a change!" Jak was kinda shocked, he wasn't used to seeing the purple dragon in an angry demeanor, except toward his enemies. Though he had to agree with him, he also had enough of their respective friends bickering.
"I agree, you two need to find some common ground, there is a lot at stake here, and we can't be fighting among ourselves," said Jak. The sidekicks finally decided to silence themselves, looking at the big picture for a change.
"Uh guys?" Calidan caught their attention further up the pipe, "are we going to find our way out of this sewer, or are you going to keep fighting?" They all sighed out of exhaustion.
"Are you all really a team? because so far all I've seen is a lot of dissension and disagreement. In fact, this kind of stuff is the reason I'm usually a loner to begin with," he continued.
"Hey!" Cynder called, "these two nitwits don't speak for the rest of us, and their quarrel is between themselves, we've fought together for the sake of our worlds and our friends before and we'll do it again."
"Cynder's right," said Spyro.
"Hmm," murmured Calidan.
"Look rogue," said Jak, "we may have just met, but I can tell you're a guy who doesn't like conflict, and this whole ordeal is about to get a lot bigger than you can imagine, so I'm saying this one last time, either come with us or go back into your hole."
"Go back? There's no going back from this, not after what we've heard," argued Calidan.
"Then no more complaining, so things got a little heated, it happens, what matters now is moving on and looking at the bigger picture," reasoned Jak.
"Fine, then I say we move on and get out of here," Calidan replied while turning around to move forward again.
Their conversation concluded, the group continued moving along the pipe path in front of them. Soon they came to another corner, it led to the right. Once they rounded it, they saw another sewer lock gate, and as they all approached it, the tumblers became active, shifting and unlocking in all the correct areas before splitting open. Another junction was revealed to them, and it was shaped like the inside of a snowglobe, one path leading up to a pillar, surrounded by black pit on all sides. It was clear, one misstep and you would be lost in the pits of Haven, at least for those who couldn't fly.
"Woah, watch your step," said Cal looking into the abyss.
"You should, seeing how you can't fly," replied Jak.
"Rub it in why don't you," he steamed.
"Well, we have our exit," said Spyro looking ahead of the pillar. It was a short tunnel leading to what appeared to be an elevator lock. Hopefully this one would lead to the surface.
"I am so there," said Sparx zipping ahead of them.
"Figures," replied Cynder. However, as Sparx was flying above the pit toward the tunnel, he stopped in midflight. Something was catching his attention, and in an unsettling way.
"Sparx what is it?" Spyro asked seeing that he had stopped.
"I'm feeling something under my wings, like a whirring hum," said Sparx looking down.
"It's not just a feeling," said Calidan, "I hear it too." They all heard it, it was a whirring hum like Sparx said, and the pitch seemed to be growing higher and higher. They looked around for a source but saw nothing active. They last looked to the pit, looking for anything out of the ordinary. For a few moments, there was nothing, until they saw shadows come out of the blackness forming shapes. Everyone took defensive stances, and Sparx was frozen in place. The figures emerged from the pit and surrounded them in the air.
"Oh great," said Jak. Metalhead wasps with jetpacks surrounded all of them. They outnumbered them eight to four, not counting the sidekicks. Sparx stayed back toward the wall, not even daring to get close to them. Numbers didn't matter to the heroes, they were close to exiting the sewer, and no metalheads were going to get in their way.
"Ready when you guys are," said Calidan.
"Wait for them to make the first move," said Jak. The wasps continued circling them, but they could hear their guns charging. But before the two warriors could reach their guns, the metalheads open fired. They ducked along the path in front of the pillar, just barely avoiding their fire. As they homed in again, Jak finally unholstered his blaster and shot from the ground.
BOOM!
One shattered dead, leaving seven remaining. As the other metalheads recovered from the shockwave of the explosion, Calidan unholstered his Omega Fire and switched it to the rapid fire setting. Another wasp flew right in front of him, charging his gun. Calidan rolled to avoid his blast, just barely. He pulled out his gun and fired, some shots making contact forcing the wasp to fly back.
The dragons took flight and started attacking the wasps in their own terrain. Spyro grabbed one and began kicking it in its gut. Once the wasp became unresponsive, he threw it back against the wall, and it exploded upon contact. Cynder came in between two wasps at the same time, and pulled up a wind twister, which sucked them both into a loop around her. She pulled up and out of the twister, causing the two wasps to impact each other and explode. Four wasps remained, and the tide was on the heroes side.
Jak shot at another wasp above him, causing it to recoil back, but before it could readjust itself, Jak shot him again. That wasp blew apart and fell into the abyss below, reducing the threat level further. Calidan kept shooting at the two wasps closing in on him, the rapid fire was keeping them at bay, but not inflicting much damage. The wasps found an opening in his fire and attempted to engage, only to be cut off suddenly by an electric bolt through the air which stunned them.
Spyro was flying in to engage them while Cynder dealt with the final wasp on the other side of the junction. Spyro noticed that both wasps were within linear range of his position and decided on one final shot. He activated his fire powers and comet dashed, plowing through the first one and finishing the second one by running into the wall where it burst on impact.
"Hey! I had them you know," Calidan told Spyro.
"I had a perfect shot," said Spyro, "though a little appreciation would be appropriate."
"Sure, sure," said Calidan dryly, which Spyro felt tested to. "Just not used to being rescued, is all."
"Knock it off, we cover each other backs," said Jak. "If we don't then we pay with blood from one of our own, and we can't accept that."
"Understood," Calidan strongly stated.
"Well, now that the pests have been exterminated," said Cynder, having finished the last wasp with a poison bomb, "can we please leave this sewer hole now?"
"Cynder! You don't have to tell me twice!" said Sparx, "freedom and fresh air here I come!" And he buzzed down the path from the junction platform that led to the tunnel which housed the elevator. Everyone else could just shake their heads, though they did share the desire to vacate the sewers now, they personally have had enough. The dragons flew up to the tunnel, leaving Jak and Calidan bringing up the rear. As they reached the tunnel and started walking toward the elevator, Calidan asked a question,
"Any chance you have any high quality armaments in this city I can get my hands on? I need an upgrade, because I won't last with what I have now."
"I thought you were the one who makes the best out of what you got," Jak said back, "Don't tell me you're going back on your declaration."
"That was in the wasteland," Cal argued. "Here in the city, there are resources everywhere, sounds like a free arsenal to me."
"Hey!" said Jak. "Weapons are not something that can be just handed out to anyone, you have to prove your dedicated to the protection of this city and its people. So you have a long way to go to even consider asking for munitions from the Freedom League!"
"ugh, really?" said Cal. Jak gave him a blank stare that ended the conversation.
"Fine, fine, let's just get to the surface."
The warriors approached the elevator which the dragons were already waiting by, and as the group was together once again the elevator lock tumblers began to activate again. The door opened up for them allowing them to take the trip to the surface. It was a good 30 second ride, but they found themselves facing another city lock. But before it opened, the newcomers were wondering to themselves, what were they in for now?
Hope you are all still enjoying the adventure, stay vigil, there's more to come!
