Chapter 2
The six M'arrillians waited to find anything they could do. Dror'niq continued watching outside and saw nothing. Milla'iin stomach grunted once again, but a little more loudly than before.
Phelphor couldn't sit and do nothing, so he stood up and looked around. His footstep resonated on the ground. He looked around him and saw nothing interesting than record shells in the shell case. He opened his ears and heard nothing.
"Bwa! I'm getting a little paranoid. None of them are inside," Phelphor told himself alone.
"Greeen," a voice said not far from him.
Phelphor stopped and looked around. He saw nothing, but he remained on guard.
"Who's there?" Phelphor asked uneasy.
"Greeen," the voice said closer than before.
Phelphor turned around and saw nothing. He looked around him and his breathing accelerated. He then felt something touching his shoulder.
"Greeen," the voice said near his ears.
Whatever was touching him pinched his shoulder and Phelphor shouted in fear. He grabbed the hand that pinched him and felt it was a jelly hand. He turned around and saw Aval'par looking at him with his tentacles convulsing. He then laughed at him.
"By the Cothica!" Aval'par grabbed his belly and continued convulsing. "I got you!"
Phelphor grunted: "This is not the time for this!"
"You shouted like a female chaotic player! Ouch! It hurts," Aval'par whined in pain.
Phelphor glared at the chieftain and walked away.
"Stop laughing at me!" Phelphor grunted.
Aval'par followed him and said: "Come on! You should recognise my voice without any trouble."
Phelphor stopped and faced Aval'par: "What if it wasn't you?! Also it's the worse time for this!"
Aval'par crossed his arms and said nothing: "It's more manageable when there's something to laugh about."
"On my behalf," Phelphor replied.
"You were the only one alone Phelphor. You are an easy target for jumpscare," Aval'par replied.
"Listen t-" Phelphor was cut.
"Something's happening outside!" Dror'niq shouted.
Aval'par picked Phelphor and flew near Dror'niq. The other chieftain joined them and only Vitar'zu was on the floor.
"What's going on out there?" Vitar'zu asked.
The others looked outside and gasped.
"There's a lot of Kha'ralls coming here and I'm sure they are saying greeeen," Aval'par replied while saying green at Phelphor face.
Phelphor punched the chieftain stomach.
"Argh! You could have some humor," Aval'par whined in pain.
"How many?" Vitar'zu asked.
"Around 30. We need to find a way to escape. They will be here in a few minutes," Ihun'kalin said.
"How can you estimate it?" Milla'iin asked.
"Hello! I don't have a big eye for nothing," Ihun'kalin replied.
"I thought it was just bigger, not better," Dror'niq replied.
"Well it's also better," Ihun'kalin grunted.
"We don't have time for argument! How do we get out of here?!" Vitar'zu shouted.
"Flying!" The other M'arrillians, except Phelphor, replied.
"We're doomed Phelphor," Vitar'zu replied.
"I can transport Phelphor," Aval'par said.
"Who's going to transport me?" Vitar'zu asked.
The three other M'arrillians whistled and looked at the ceiling. Vitar'zu clapped loudly with his pincer.
"We have three volunteers," Vitar'zu said.
"By the Cothica! Alright!" they shouted at the same time.
"Where do we go?" Dror'niq asked.
"Let's get out of the Deep Mine," Ihun'kalin said.
"No!" the others replied.
"Let's try the armory. It's well protected and some battlegears could help us," Milla'iin suggested.
"Armory it is!" the others agreed except Ihun'kalin.
They heard a loud sound hitting the entrance. They looked at the door and gasped when they heard the sound of the door cracking.
"There's going to burst the door anytime now!" Vitar'zu shouted. "Bring me up there!"
The four M'arrillans who could fly picked him and lifted him to their location and dropped him there.
"You're not light," Aval'par commented.
"My exoskeleton is heavy," the Kha'rall replied.
"Okay. We have to create another exit there," Phelphor said.
"You don't give the orders!" the chieftains shouted.
"Enough already!" Vitar'zu shouted while he used his pincer to break the window. After three hits, the window broke. "Don't complain like babies when the idea is smart or logical!"
Aval'par grabbed Phelphor and flew thought the holes. The door for the entrance broke and the infected entered in the Record Shell. The two other chieftains and Dror'niq grabbed Vitar'zu and flew away. The three grunted in pain while transporting the heavy Kha'rall. When they reached the ground; they dropped Vitar'zu on the ground and grunted in pain when the weight was released from heir tentacles or arms.
Aval'par dropped Phelphor and they looked behind them.
"They are not far from us," Phelphor said.
The others looked and nodded.
"Let's go to the armory," Aval'par said.
"Wait!" Milla'iin shouted.
"What?!" the others shouted.
Milla'iin saw some food and picked with his tendrils. He ate them voraciously and the others did the same. None of them knew when they will find some food.
"Don't eat them all," Dror'niq said. The others grunted at him. Dror'niq lifted a shell he found on the ground: "We should bring some and put them I this shell." He saw the chieftains about to argue. "No time to lose!"
They grunted and picked food without caring if they pay or not, the infected won't need it anyway.
"Okay! Let's go!" Vitar'zu ordered while Dror'niq gave the food shell to Phelphor. Phelphor grabbed the shell without complaining.
"Greeen!" they heard.
"Time to go," Ihun'kalin said.
They walked away while Ihun'kalin flew higher than the others.
"I'll check forward and see if you might end up surrounded by the infected," he said to the others.
"Okay!" the others nodded.
"Hey! I should be there and not you!" Milla'iin replied.
"Better eye than yours," Ihun'kalin replied.
"Dammit!" Milla'iin grunted.
They passed at the resident section of the town. They were surrounded by a lot of shell of different color. The residences were empty.
"Careful! They are a few to your left," Ihun'kalin warned them.
Vitar'zu looked to his left and saw some infected: "To the right!"
"No! Some are also to the left, but not aware of your presence! Move forward a little before moving to the right," Ihun'kalin said.
They continued walking forward until Ihun'kalin told them it was safe to move right. They continued that way until they were close to the armory.
"We're almost here," Vitar'zu said.
"Greeen!" they heard.
They looked behind them and saw the Kha'ralls coming at them. It wasn't only them, they were fluidmorphers and some chieftains painted with green coming at them.
"Run!" Phelphor shouted.
They ran and flew at the direction of the armory. The armory wasn't like the Record shell or the usual residence with the shape of shells. It was mostly the form a square painted in red and green. It was made of solid coral made to resist enemy troops and also so the enemy won't easily have access to the weaponry. They entered in the armory and looked behind them. The infected were coming closer, but they were still a little far away.
They closed the door and locked themselves in. Vitar'zu pushed against the door and looked at the others: "Bring anything you can to barricade the door!"
The others nodded and brought everything they had. They pushed at table made of Coral against the door. Vitar'zu moved out of the way and pushed the table. They heard the infected hitting the door.
Vitar'zu pushed harder now and grunted when he felt on his exoskeleton every time the infected hit the door. Aval'par moved by his side and helped him preventing the door to open until it was fully barricaded.
"Why do we need to barricade ourselves? You lock the door," Milla'iin asked.
"If there is one thing we should know. It's that there's a lot out there that might try to come in. This door might not resist all of them, so barricading it will give us more time if the worse is to happen," Vitar'zu replied turning around and checking inside.
Milla'iin didn't reply, but the others, except Vitar'zu, saw that he rolled his eyes.
"First thing first, what type of battlegear will be efficient for us?" Vitar'zu asked. He looked at the others and waited for them to answer.
"You want our opinion?" Ihun'kalin asked.
"I'm not sure what's the best battlegear to obtain are," Vitar'zu replied.
The chieftain said nothing.
"Since they react against aggression, maybe it will be best to equip with battlegear to restrain them," Phelphor suggested.
"I agree," Dror'niq nodded.
"What type of battlegear we have for that kind of situation?" Aval'par asked before he face palm. "Forget the question, It never happened before. Let's go with restrain battlegear."
They looked deeper in the armory. It was dark and they couldn't see well. The light stone weren't shining anymore. Not only that, but the door made loud sound when the infected tried to force the door.
"You remember there's three floors in there," Dror'niq said.
"That's going to take more time to find it. Anyone know where those battlegears are?" Phelphor asked.
None of them replied. None of them were in charge of managing and distributing the gears for the war.
"Let's disperse and find the battlegear then," Milla'iin said.
None of them moved.
"I don't want to enter in there alone," Dror'niq expressed his thought.
"I think we should separate into two groups," Vitar'zu said.
The chieftain grunted. It was clear that Vitar'zu took command of the small group.
"Maybe into three teams of two since we have three floors," Aval'par suggested. The others looked at him. "We will find the battlegear faster. We don't know how long the door will hold on."
"What's the team?" Vitar'zu asked.
"Me and Phelphor will take the second floor," Aval'par replied picked Phelphor hand and moving in the darkness.
The four others heard a bang.
"Ouch! It would have been worse if I hit a sword and not a hammer!" Phelphor shouted.
"I'll go with Ihun'kalin for this floor and you two go to the third floor," Milla'iin said. "I prefer to be with another chieftain."
The two others didn't reply. Milla'iin and Ihun'kalin flew away. Dror'niq and Vitar'zu heard a loud sound and Milla'iin complaining in pain. The two giggled at the chieftain pain.
"Okay. Let's move to the third floor. I hope we will find some light too," Vitar'zu said.
At the top of a hill, outside town, the chaotic players watched the six M'arrillian divided into three teams.
"They did the things that no one should do in situation like this, splitting up," Peyton commented with a smile.
"They never saw any horror movies, so they don't know they just do a cliché," Tom replied.
"This is getting interesting," Eel'Soprano said before laughing. "The Cothica let them one big surprised in here."
Serena looked at her friend: "What's the big surprised?"
"Watch and enjoy," Eel'Soprano replied.
Milla'iin and Ihun'kalin looked around them and saw nothing. It was too dark to see. Ihun'kalin hit a shell case.
"Argh! My eye!" Ihun'kalin grunted in pain.
"You sure saw that one coming," Milla'iin commented before laughing quietly.
"Well you didn't see the roof Milla'iin," he replied. "Now shut up and try to shine a little."
Milla'iin body started to shine like he usually did when he wants to be seen.
"We can see at least mister living candy pink flashlight," Ihun'kalin said.
"...Don't call me that," Milla'iin replied.
They started searching for the right battlegears. They looked around and they saw nothing really appropriate for their situation.
"There's only explosives: Electric explosive to paralyze the prey, water explosive where the bomb suddenly turned into water when the enemy is at range of the explosion and a few others I don't want to name," Ihun'kalin grunted.
"It's only one section and...Why are the explosive put here where anyone could take it. Do you imagine if children had the idea to enter in here and pick one?" Milla'iin asked.
"Yeah. If they exploded it here, the armory will blow up and maybe the entire Deep Mine...Maybe even the underworld with it," Ihun'kalin replied.
"When this crisis is over...If it ever is...Let's moved those battlegears around to a safer floor," Milla'iin suggested.
"Agree," Ihun'kalin replied.
They continued searching, but nothing that can help them.
"This floor is a waste of time. I hope the others will find something," Milla'iin grunted.
"Me too. Does it piss you off that Vitar'zu took command?" Ihun'kalin asked.
"Yes! He's not a chieftain or a member of the oligarch!" Milla'iin shouted.
"He's making good decision so far and-" Ihun'kalin was cut when they heard something falling on the ground.
They both gasped and looked at each other's.
"You go first," they said at the same time. They said nothing else and heard another sound.
"One of us had to go first," Ihun'kalin said.
"That's going to be you," Milla'iin replied.
"You are shining in the dark. You will have a better range of vision than if I'm going there first," Ihun'kalin replied.
Milla'iin closed his eye and grunted: "Fine."
He flew first and Ihun'kalin followed him behind.
Phelphor and Aval'par searched around for the right battlegear. They could hear below the infected trying to enter. Phelphor shivered and glared at Aval'par. He could barely see his weak glowing purple body.
"You better forget about scaring me," Phelphor grunted at him.
"I do not intend to scare you. We are in danger and we have no time to lose fooling around," Aval'par replied.
They searched around and they only found armor battlegear and shield made of coral.
"Those aren't going to help us," Phelphor commented.
"No. They want to pinch us. The armors aren't protecting my tentacles," Aval'par commented.
"We are both pinched, but thankfully not to blood," Phelphor said.
They continued searching silently. Aval'par grunted when his face hit a shield and grunted in pain. Phelphor chuckled at his pain.
"Karma strikes you back," Phelphor said.
"*Perim swear* karma! Karma is a chaotic player invention and if it was real, we would have reclaim Perim," Aval'par replied.
"For them, it's the opposite. I'm sure they believe we have what we deserve," Phelphor replied.
"I hate chaotic player. Because of their distraction, I exploded in pieces. I was so painful. Do you know how hard it is to act as if nothing happened to look threatening?" Aval'par replied.
"That...came out of nowhere," Phelphor replied.
"Shut up," Aval'par grunted.
They continued searching. Aval'par grunted about the chaotic player being a pain in the ass. Phelphor was a little annoyed by it and needed to find a distraction.
"Why did you want to team up with me?" Phelphor asked uncertain.
Aval'par stopped grunting and looked at Phelphor: "Why? The other chieftain...I just can't stand them; Especially Milla'iin acting all superior over me a few times. He stopped when I hit him where it hurts. Vitar'zu is acting like a boss over me and I don't really know Dror'niq. In other words, I don't dislike you or uncertain about you."
"So it's because you can order me around," Phelphor replied.
"A little of that," Aval'par admitted.
Phelphor and Aval'par finished searching the second floor and found nothing.
"Okay. There's officially nothing here," Aval'par concluded.
They heard two voices screaming at the ground floor. Phelphor and Aval'par looked at each other's.
"Do you think one infected is here?" Phelphor asked shivering.
"Maybe," Aval'par replied.
"Should we help them?" Phelphor asked.
Aval'par thought loudly about it and put his tentacle arm on his forehead, over his big eye. "I think we should help them. Maybe they have the battlegears we needed."
They climbed down to the ground floor.
Vitar'zu and Dror'niq looked around for the right battlegear, but the saw nothing.
"We are just blind. Urgh!" Dror'niq grunted painfully when he hit a wall.
"Where are you?" Vitar'zu asked.
"Just over you," the fluidmorpher replied.
"Okay. We just have to wait for our eyes to adapt of the dark and we might have a chance to find something. Maybe there's a light stone somewhere," the Kha'rall said.
"I hope there's one to find," Dror'niq said.
They waited for a minute and their eyes adjusted to the dark. After this, they started searching around.
"Vitar'zu,"
"What is it?"
"Do you think we're going to survive all of this?" Dror'niq asked.
"Don't worry about it. We are not going to be infected like them. I just feel like I'm going to be retard to say green all around. Do you imagine it?" Vitar'zu asked. He saw Dror'niq looking in the air and chuckled. "Don't imagine it."
"Come on. We have to find something to laugh about and you being OOC is funny," Dror'niq said with a smile.
"OOC? What kind of stupidity is that?" Vitar'zu asked.
"It's short for out of character which means not acting as someone normal," Dror'niq answered.
"Oh. It's better that way. You don't lose time saying it and-. Speaking of saying anything...Why didn't we use telepathic ability to communicate until now?" Vitar'zu asked.
"What do you- By the Cothica. We totally forgot about it," Dror'niq said.
"We are such idiot," Vitar'zu face palm with his pincer. A loud sound resonated and the Kha'ralls grunted in pain. "Ouch! Face pincer is just painful. Anyway, I'll communicate with the others when we find the battlegear and-"
"Found them. They are also all put at the same place. You know what's weird." Dror'niq asked with confusing in his voice.
"What's weird?" Vitar'zu asked.
"It's the fact that we protect more the non-lethal battlegear over the lethal one," Dror'niq said.
"That's...true. Dammit. No wonder we lost the war without mind control," Vitar'zu said face pincer again. He grunted in pain and looked at Dror'niq. "You are lucky you don't have a pincer. Face pincer is really painful, even with an exoskeleton."
"I believe you," Dror'niq nodded with a smile.
"Let's warn the others," Vitar'zu said. {Come to the third floor now. We found the battlegear we need.}
{Wait. We forgot we could communicate with our mind. We are so stupid!} Aval'par shouted.
{Well...We are stupid. Anyway...Help! We need help!} Ihun'kalin shouted in their mind.
{What is it?} Dror'niq asked.
Milla'iin and Ihun'kalin backed away slowly as they saw the source of their fear coming closer.
"Greeen," the Kha'rall said.
"Blak'drin?" Ihun'kalin asked.
"Greeen," Blak'drin said.
By Blak'drin side, more infected were coming at the M'arrillians. They turned around to fly away, but they saw they were surrounded.
{Come to the third floor now. We found the battlegear we need.} Vitar'zu said.
Despite their situation, the two chieftain tentacles palm on their eye. They grunted and cursed their oversize eye.
{Wait. We forgot we could communicate with our mind. We are so stupid!} Aval'par shouted.
{Well...We are stupid. Anyway...Help! We need help!} Ihun'kalin shouted in their mind.
{What is it?} Dror'niq asked.
{Infected!} The two chieftains replied.
"Greeen!" Blak'drin said.
The two dodged the pincer near their tentacles and put themselves back to back.
{We are almost here.} Aval'par warned.
{Once you are done, come to the third floor. We already picked the battlegear. We are trying to find a way to escape.} Vitar'zu replied.
Milla'iin was pinched at one of his tendrils and grunted in pain. His tentacle slipped through the pincer and Milla'iin sighted relief when he saw his tendril wasn't bleeding.
{You better act fast. We are going to attack!} Aval'par warned.
{Do it!} Ihun'kalin shouted with his mind and dodging another pincer.
"Rip Tide!" Two voices shouted.
Water smashed the Kha'ralls. The two chieftains knew it was Phelphor and Aval'par. Ihun'kalin and Milla'iin attacked those who were closed to them and immediately flew away.
"GREEEN!" The infected screamed.
They infected charged at the four non-infected. They escaped the infected and climbed to the second floor. When they were at the second floor, Phelphor grabbed a shield and turned around. He saw one of them almost reached one of Aval'par tentacles. Phelphor threw the shield and hit right at the face of the infected. The infected grunted in pain and screamed green again.
"They're getting closer!" Ihun'kalin shouted when he reached the stairs.
They climbed the stairs and reached the third floor.
Milla'iin took the lead with his shining body and looked around. He saw Vitar'zu and Dror'niq opening a hole on the ceiling. It was done and Vitar'zu sighted.
"Hurry!" Vitar'zu shouted.
Dror'niq picked long seaweed attached with two coral. He spun it in the air and threw it at the infected. It trapped on the legs of two Kha'ralls and they felt on the ground. The others lost sometime moving around him.
"Here Phelphor!" Vitar'zu said. The Kha'rall put his hand over his pincer.
Phelphor nodded and jumped on the hand. Vitar'zu threw him on the hole and Phelphor was out.
"It's my turn!" Vitar'zu shouted.
The others would protest to be the first, but the situation wasn't fit for it. They lifted him and Phelphor grabbed him and pulled.
{Okay! Let me climb!} Vitar'zu ordered.
They let him go and attacked the infected and pulled them away.
Milla'iin flew outside when it was his chance and looked at the others inside. Dror'niq threw his best attack before flying outside.
"Come on you two!" Vitar'zu shouted.
Ihun'kalin tried to fly away, but the infected Blak'drin grabbed one of his tentacle legs.
"He got me!" Ihun'kalin shouted.
Aval'par tried to free Ihun'kalin, but when he fired Coral spike, one Coral soldier stood in his way and was hit instead.
Ihun'kalin was surrounded by Kha'ralls moving their pincer closer to him.
"HELP!" Ihun'kalin screamed.
Blak'drin started pinching the chieftain and the others followed up. Ihun'kalin shouted in pain, but he felt blood on his tentacles and saw he was bleeding.
"NO!" Ihun'kalin screamed powerlessly.
The M'arrillians saw this. Aval'par was about to help him but: "Run! It's too late for me!" Ihun'kalin ordered at Aval'par.
Aval'par hesitated when he heard his comrade shouting in pain. He reluctantly flew at the exit, but someone grabbed his feet and he grunted in pain. He looked down and saw another Kha'rall pulled him down.
"GREEEN!"
Phelphor fired ice spike at the face of the infected, grabbed Aval'par tentacle arm and pulled him out to safety.
"That...That was close," Aval'par said on his knee.
"Let's seal the hole," Vitar'zu said.
They heard Ihun'kalin continuing screaming for a while until he stopped. They looked down and saw some of the infected dragging Ihun'kalin who was only partially conscious. The five remaining M'arrillians sealed the hole with their ice attack. They didn't move for a while.
"By the Cothica...I should have been the last," Vitar'zu said.
"True," Milla'iin replied. His voice was weaker than usual and he seemed like he just said a fact.
"Let's grab the battlegears," Aval'par said.
They picked up the battlegear and said nothing for a few minutes.
"What are we going to do now?" Dror'niq asked with fear in his voice.
"We...We can't stay in the Deep Mine anymore. We will only fall one by one," Phelphor said.
"...We should have listened to him when he said we should get out of here," Vitar'zu said quietly.
"How can we reach the gate without the tribes trying to kill us?" Milla'iin asked.
"We will try and talk. It's either taking the risk of getting killed or getting infected and shouting green while trying to pinch anyone not green...Sadly, that doesn't included Maxxor," Aval'par said.
"Let's go," Vitar'zu said.
They looked at the sealed roof quietly.
"Maybe the other tribes will find a cure and bring out tribe back to normal," Dror'niq said.
"They aren't going to help us Dror'niq," Milla'iin replied.
They walked away at the direction of the exit.
To be concluded
AC: Here's the second part of the story. I hope you liked it.