Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Continued from here (The Mind Flayer II)



Scalvoris became smaller and smaller as Maxine free fell into the massive fissure. Before long its sunlight and the sounds above dimmed and muffled. Then all of it was gone. A deep blackness took its place that was so dark the Rusalka wasn't confident her eyes were still open. It didn't matter. This was a place for ears. She didn't need to see to know what pit she'd been swallowed by. She had surrendered herself to this familiar place before.

The sensation of her feet on solid ground occurred to her. A cool, moist puff of air tickled her flesh. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. While there was no crowd, no opening street expanse complete with buildings, and no light this place was far more vivid in detail than the last scene she'd endured. A distant drip drip drip tickled her ears. The smell of sediment, filth, and death filled her nostrils.

Level Seven was always more of a living body dumping ditch than a prison.

Max rubbed her thumbs along the pads of her other fingers. It was a silly, childish thing to do: checking to see if a single frayed, hopeless thread of colored rope had followed her down into this unforgiving punishment. She only felt the humidity of the air gathering on her skin.

"Most interesting..."

Maxine's frame froze. The voice wasn't Ana's. It belonged to someone else who very much belonged here in this place with her. The cursed woman's brow knit and her eyes opened, not that they helped much. A silhouette somehow darker than the enduring blackness embracing both of them stood before her. Adrenaline opened in her veins. Fear, suffocating and dense, followed in the voice's wake.

"Maxine, Maxine," Audrae whispered in her purring, smoky voice. "You do know how to get into trouble, don't you?"
"I've forsaken you," the Rusalka responded in a quiet, low growl.
"Forsaken? Me?" The Mistress of Darkness sauntered closer, giggling. "My darling, where would you be without me?"

The cursed woman pressed her lips together. The Mother of Shadows reached a hand out as she circled her mark, tracing up along Maxine's body from leg, to hips, to torso, all the way up to her neck as she had so long ago. Maxine didn't dare raise her voice. Not here. Sound in Slags Deep heralded death and yet not a creature dared make itself known with the Immortal here.

Do they feel it too?

Suddenly Audrae's fingers ran up Maxine's face, across her lips, and laced themselves deep in her hair.

"I know you wouldn't dare forget the trial I gave you this." Audrae's clawed fingers curled together, her grip slightly tugging at the scalp where they both knew her blessing laid hidden.
"I don't serve you," Max responded firmly but not daring to raise her hand to free herself. "Not anymore."
"You're no servant of mine, Maxine. You never have been."
"What then?" Maxine's hands curled at her sides, eyes wild where they stared into the Immortal's dark shadow. "You came for me when I was in trouble, true. Your gift gave me an edge to survive this death sentence. That's a fact." Audrae retracted her hand from Maxine's scalp when she felt her angry favored lean toward her. Maxine's voice rose despite herself. "But when I needed you the most you sat next to me, and you sold me out to Famula!" She dropped her forearm and gestured to her exposed skin with her other hand. No doubt that the Immortal of Shadow could see the winding chain tattoo that shackled Maxine's body. "What am I then to you that you could watch, a part of her game, while she gave me this?!"

Chest heaving, the Rusalka steadied herself for the incoming wrath of an Immortal. Instead Audrae was silent. Her shadowy hand floated to cup Maxine's cheek.

"Something of a daughter."

The hand vanished thereafter and the Mother of Shadow along with it.

Maxine stood alone in the dark tunnels of Level Seven, letting the sensation of the touch linger on her skin and in her mind.

Then a giant fireball launched over her head, lighting the world ablaze in offensive light followed by the resounding clunk of a massive, locking door behind her.

The Run.

"Maxine, no known last name, marked by Chrien," a woman's voice boomed through The Beneath, echoing throughout the tunnels. "Found guilty of multiple counts of murder, of inciting a riot, disturbing the peace, resisting arrest, and hosting a protest in Scalvoris Town without a permit. Also under suspicion of a litany of other murders, thefts, destruction of property, and so forth, the guilt of which may be determined at a later time. For these crimes, you've been given a sentence of 68 arcs. This time begins immediately, and you will serve it out in level seven. Make haste, Ms. Maxine Chrienborn."

Light from the fireball crept along the floor, walls, and ceiling of the Level Seven duplicate like drawing a curtain back inside an infested home. The subtle hiss in the distance of creatures flinching from its oppressive glow reverberated through the tunnels. The cursed Rusalka felt the light rise over her back and hang over her like a spotlight before continuing on its path. The sound of claws and calloused, rotting feet scampering back into the shadows followed suit. Maxine should've been gone out of her boots the moment she recognized the signal. Instead she was rooted far too long in place, gazing at the shadowy space Audrae disappeared into until it too was evaporated by fiery light.

Time to go already passed.

Maxine started her sprint as the only light in the tunnel started to fade. Silhouettes peeled themselves from the wall as she passed by. Once the fireball burned out her enemies became practically invisible. Instinct, fraying memory, and sound guided her way through the darkness. It seemed the whole level was nothing but the sound of feet: whether they be fleeing or pursuing. She could almost feel the hot breath of her hunters on her neck.

Maxine caught herself when her shin struck what must've been a body, though she didn't know if it was dead or alive. Her opposite foot stomped the earth to keep the rhythm of her run and balance to continue. Whatever was right behind her wasn't so lucky. She heard the sound of something thumping hard against the stone ground, and then what she could only guess was a small collision of bodies that were just behind.

Bought time.

A hand dared to reach out to feel the wall, and she made the turn the second she sensed an opening in the tunnel rock. The pile-up wouldn't last long. They'd kill each other for a moment, but once the dam was clear the bloody river would continue its violent flow in pursuit of her. There was never a more literal moment where she needed to be a step ahead of her enemies.

"Hello, My Love..."

Maxine's running skid straight to a halt. Her brow knit and her eyes searched the darkness. She knew that voice. She'd heard the same one, the same words, with Ana in that weird obsidian corridor. Her hands reached out toward her sides to steady herself. Her head slowly shook.

This isn't real.

Her palm touched the rough, cold tunnel wall. A sound like savage, mongrel dogs scrapping rung out nearby.

It's as real as that earthen spike coming up through my foot. That pain was real.

An excited whoop behind her revealed her pause was a second too long. The lithe creature of the shadows was on her before she could open the distance between them again. A bony, ravaged hand caught her swinging arm. Max turned with the tug and slugged the creature in the face to free herself. As soon as she turned to desperately build momentum again, she felt another catch up where the other failed.

"Murderer!" the inhuman sibilation sprung as the next set of hands grabbed Maxine's shoulder. The fleeing newcomer smashed her elbow into the offender's ribs. The creature howled before it crumbled backward into the dark. It did its job. The interruptions had brought the cursed Rusalka to nearly a dead stop in the wake of a tide of ravenous bodies. There was only one rule when it came to The Run: never stop. Maxine had broken that one rule.

"Thief!" another Level Seven resident growled from the floor, catching her ankle before she tugged it free.

"Liar!" came a huff before a swift backward kick knocked the filthy man back.

"Brigand!"

"Cheater!"

"Butcher!"

A heavy, reeking body slammed into her back and wrapped wiry arms around her torso. The momentum carried them toward a tunnel wall where Maxine's face smashed against the abrasive surface.

"You think you're any different from us?" his deep, throaty chuckle howled directly into her ear. "You think you don't deserve to be here? You honestly believe you're any better?" The weight of other, smaller bodies behind his ground her cheekbone against the rocks. "Make no mistake. This is exactly where you belong!" Maxine grit her teeth, wincing at the crushing sensation on her face and the grimy hands she could feel reaching around past the one who ensnared her. His sweat dripped on her from his soaked hair. "And this is where you're meant to die."

Maxine smashed her head backward into her captor's nose, eliciting a sickening crack that would've made her smile in any tavern. The man howled and leaned away, opening that coveted space for her elbow to slip inside his hold to drive into his solar plexus. Her knee lifted and her heel planted against the tunnel wall. In a beat she'd launched herself backward, rotating to strike her foe with her leading shoulder. He knocked back into the fray, and the mindless fools who had lost themselves sooner than him pulled him down to the ground for punishment.

I am different.

The rabid breaths and shuffles reminded her a small semi-circle was beginning to form.

I got out.

"Traitor!"

The shrieking criminal foe sprinted full tilt toward her in the darkness, breaking rank to launch themselves airborne. Maxine faded to the side, let her land, and then slammed her straight to the floor by her throat. Like a pack of lichens the rest followed the first's bold step. Maxine threw everything she had at them, working to find an opening to escape through and continue her run. More were coming. She could hear them beyond her own conflict, following the sound of fresh meat tiring against the league of greater villains.

A dark purple glow illuminated from the stones behind her, and without a chance to react, arms had looped around her and tugged her through an opening in the wall.

Grimy, fingernails scratched at the inside of the hole in the rocks. Desperate arms ripped themselves apart on the sharp stones, reaching for Maxine as she was yanked out of reach and then out of view. The cursed Rusalka was dropped unceremoniously on the floor. Wild-eyed, she flipped herself over onto her chest and did a push-up to get her feet quickly underneath. It took her a moment to first notice the obsidian floor had returned. Then she spied Ana before her, wiping her own forehead with the back of her hand.

"That was high speed," the mysterious blonde woman observed, blinking.
"How did you?" Maxine asked, pausing to look over her shoulder toward the hungry killers. Instead she found the opening to The Beneath had vanished entirely. "Where did you come from?"
"I've been here the whole time."
"Last I saw you, you were standing with The Elements in Scalvoris." Max shook her head, wagging her finger. "No, fake Scalvoris. None of this is real. Right?"
"It's real," Ana answered earnestly. "And it's also not real."
"Back to this shit, are we?"
"I told you this whole thing is a bit more...complicated than the simple explanation you want."

Maxine returned to her feet and brushed herself off. Naturally, and much to her irksome irritation, the soot and general disgustingness of Level Seven had vanished from her skin and clothes on its own. She ran her fingers through her dark raven hair.

"Okay," Max sorted herself. "Fine. Can we--can we just take a second?"
"Of course," Ana answered with an encouraging nod. "Go ahead."

Max let her back hit the reflective black surface of the obsidian hallway, and slid down its length until she was seated on its identical floor. She drew her knees in toward her chest. Shaky fingers shook through her hair again.

"Fuck!" the ex-convict abruptly shouted with a slam of a fist against the wall behind her. Her hands interlaced behind her head and her elbows rested on her knees. One of her feet tapped incessantly against the floor. Her eyes caught her own reflection on the glassy floor and she promptly squeezed them shut.
"Max?" Ana's voice quietly raised after a minute or so of watching.
"Just...just give me a little bit, yeah?"
"Sure."

For what felt like forever to the ex-convict, the pair remained in mostly silence. It could only last for so long. Sooner or later they would have to move on from it. They both knew it.

"That's the place you dream about," Ana pointed out rather than asked. "The bottom of Slags Deep. That's the place your mind always goes."
"Mhm," the ex-convict hummed her confirmation. "A bottle and a smoke, and I can get on with it quicker. Of those I have neither right now. And that was...vivid."
"But the same?"
"No."
"Different how?"
"They don't usually talk when they're chasing me," Maxine explained with a sigh. "They're still the same monsters they were. Smells the same. Looks the same. Feels the same. But this time they talked. They never talked before I don't think. Not even when it actually happened. They're more...husks and ghosts than people."
"Why did their speaking change everything? What did they say?"
"They...accused me of things. Things they say I've done."
"What things?"
"My crimes. The things I was charged with when they sentenced me down there. Its like they weren't just trying to get me. They were trying to suffocate me with what they were saying. It's stupid. We should stop."

Maxine dropped her hands from her head and let her wrists balance on her knees instead. Ana eyed her, tapping an index finger on her chin.

Maxine raised a brow at her, "What?"
"Did you disagree with them?" Ana let her wagon of thought start trudging.
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"I--I don't know."
"I think you do have an answer, and I think the answer is what bothers you."
"What do you want me to say? Yes, that I've stolen and cheated? Yes, I've been a thief in the woods and I've butchered. That I'm a fuckin' murderer." Maxine rolled her eyes and pushed up from the wall. "No one in that fuckin' town needed a trial to determine all that. Maxine's a piece of shit criminal and the sky's fuckin' blue. Case closed."
"And you're just like them, the husks and ghosts sentenced down there too?"

Maxine ground her teeth together. Her dark eyes glared into Ana's unwavering face. The blonde guide didn't offer an ounce of a hint at what was going on behind her blue eyes. The cursed Rusalka adjusted her jaw and shrugged. Her arms folded across her chest.

"You want me to say I think they were right to put me in that hole?" Max scoffed. "I wouldn't dump a body to rot in that fuckin' place, and you want me to what? Absolve all of them for putting me in there to die?"
"I'm not asking you to admit it was right," Ana attempted to clarify, holding up a palm. "I'm asking if you think its impossible that they were just like you? That they didn't struggle, do things they probably regret, and wind up down there just like you did? Maybe committed crimes even less extreme than your rap sheet?"
"There's two paths in The Beneath," Max frowned. "The insanely probable one: you die. Most die in The Run. Another portion get ripped apart, starve, have some sort of accident, or kill themselves within the first trials. If you survive the first trials you're just running down the hour glass. Eventually you get got. They kill you outright or you're too weak or injured to fight. In a couple seasons, even if your body is alive, you're fuckin' dead on the inside. That's what you saw in The Run. Ghosts and husks of people turned desperate, hungry, bloodthirsty shells of whatever they were. Cowards hang close to The Run like that. They don't last long either. Their bodies want to out of fear and instinct, but their minds are just craving that hunt so someone else can give them the one-way ticket they won't cash themselves."
"And the other path?"
"You cheat."
"But you don't ever escape."
"Never." Maxine tapped her temple. "You have to sacrifice pieces of yourself, die inside, to survive for the time I was down there. I'm different only because I got out, but I'm still trapped in there like everyone else."

Maxine paused, pressing her lips together. She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. The shake was finally starting to leave her limbs and the sweat that had been on her skin stopped beading on her pores.

"Fuck," the cursed Rusalka laughed. "If I wasn't any different from them before, we're all made the same when we're down there. Isn't that the damnest thing?" She turned her arms over, peering at the chains that danced along her skin. "I was just some parentless kid from no where. I never killed anyone before I got to Scalvoris. I smoked and drank like everyone else my age, got in some fights. But all this?" One of her fingers traced the image of a single chain link. "The lying, the stealing, all the killing? Rioting against the government? Pulling blades on some of the people I've pulled blades on? Fucking Immortals. Everything got so...out of control...so quickly I never had a chance to see it. And now I'm everything that they say that I am."

"Come," Ana walked toward Maxine and dared to place a hand on her arm. "There's something I want to show you."

They walked down the length of the mysterious, obsidian hallway until Ana paused in front of a worn, painfully ordinary, wooden door. A smell, familiar and equally ordinary, wafted from the other side though Max couldn't readily identify it. Ana smiled at her expression. The guide turned the knob, opened the door, and the pair wandered into the bright light of an Etzori hot cycle day.