Elysium's Multiverse

Chapter 129

Chapter 129

“Alright, we’ll come up with a name for our new city after you cull the opposition. Remember not to just butcher anything in sight, I mean that, and catch you later.” The call with Allie ended, and he deposited the black communication bauble in his bag of holding. Riven thumbed through the pages of one of the large books he’d taken off the dwarves, walking behind Snagger down the underdark tunnels with a gleeful grin and gave Athela a loving pat on the head. “You play fetch nicely! Who’s da good dawg!”

*SMACK*

“OW!”

“I’m NOT a dog! I’m a princess. Hmph!”

Riven imbued a command. “Bark for me.”

“WOOF! Hey!”

“Sucker.”

Athela pouted and folded her arms over her chest. “Not fair!”

“What’s not?”

“Don’t use my contract like that! I feel violated.”

“You signed up for it, girlfriend!”

Riven gave her a wide teasing grin and then stuck his tongue out while pulling his cheeks apart, crossing his eyes and making a stupid face. She tried to hide her amusement under an eyeroll and a quick twist of her hips - walking further ahead with her long black hair swaying behind her while pretending to act disgusted.

“Ugh. You humans are immature.”

“Vampire, not human.” Riven cackled to himself and went back to looking over the notes scribbled into the text. It was one of many items Athela had scrounged up, and it wasn’t anything magical but it was a condensed list of valuable ores and where to find them via instructions and maps drawn out on the parchment. It contained all the information the dwarves had accumulated so far in their scouting missions for this particular group Riven had killed, and it looked like they’d spent weeks at a minimum jotting it all down. They even had Snagger’s nest listed as a potential zone for ‘extermination’.

Mesha the white-furred ratkin rogue was not far off further down the tunnels, occasionally giving the book Riven was holding inquisitive stares, but she’d always turn away when she saw Riven’s eyes dart over to her. He caught on pretty fast though and intentionally caught her in the act mid-stare a few minutes later while hopping over a small cave pool.

“Interested in the contents?” Riven snapped the book shut and casually tossed it over to the ratkin female, smiling to himself as she hastily nodded with a light squeak of appreciation and then began to thumb through the pages herself.

The footsteps of their party, namely Azmoth, echoed across stone walls as the path narrowed and spilt off into four different directions within a small cave and crossroads. Snagger took them left, and they began to descend deeper into the underdark after a spiral loop. These were likely once huge lava tunnels, no doubt, a vast and intricate network of them. That they were intricate only became more apparent the further they walked, and they soon found themselves on one of the most curious trips Riven had ever been on before.

Some of the caverns they passed through were many miles high and even many more miles wide, leading to large ecosystems of cave-dwelling creatures like various species of bats, huge black or purple snakes, glowing green mushrooms the size of trees and moss clumps that created literal hills. Neon-teal grass, fungi and molds were seen in abundance, creating forests that were rampant with tiny rodents, brilliantly colored salamanders, ants the size of small dogs, and other insects of various types. Pools of crystal clear water with bioluminescent or pale white shrimp could be seen feeding on plant algae, with larger, blind, squid-like creatures even further in the darker recesses of the lakes or basking on the shores underneath the canopy of glowing mushrooms. They got attacked twice, once by a large spider-like creature that Athela actually spoke to and sent away without anything more than an initial scuffle - much to Riven’s amazement, and a small group of chitinous giant centipedes. The orange armored centipedes here each weighed a couple hundred pounds, but Riven annihilated them easily enough with a few spells. He didn’t even break a sweat in the attempt. Otherwise Snagger and his cousin Mesha did a good job of keeping everyone out of the dangerous areas and away from conflict.

“It’s very pretty.” Riven muttered under his breath while they marched along the outer edge of one of these caverns, looking down at a large pit where a flock of brilliant pink cave birds were bathing at a central lake.

Snagger approvingly smiled back at him, still gingerly clutching the armpit that’d been stitched back together by Athela with one gauntleted hand. “We are close-near to the brood! Wait-stop until you see-view our nest-city! It is much-very nice-pretty as well-well!”

Snagger was telling the truth.

It took nearly an hour after that to get there, and it’d been nearly an entire day of traveling through the underdark with once stopping for a short exchange of naps and standing guard, but they finally arrived through a small tunnel entrance at an overwatching point.

The nesting cavern was absolutely massive, unlike anything Riven would have thought even closely resembling possible. It spanned for at least a couple dozen miles, maybe even a hundred miles directly in front of him, but due to the twists and turns in the distance it was hard to tell just how vast this cavern system was. Thousands of bioluminescent vines hung down from the ceiling, some in clusters that hung dozens of feet and others by themselves that were not as long, giving light to the otherwise dark interior of the cavern. Pools of glistening water rippled with underground waterfalls that came down from the ceiling above, with rivers snaking their way through an absolute clusterfuck of activity with no rhyme or reason to it. There was barely any organization, with most of the structures either being made out of hardened clay, a dark brown wood-like substance, or stone.

The vast majority of these structures were divided up into large mounds or hills anywhere from the size of a large house to the size of a football stadium that held dozens or even hundreds of small caves or tunnels apiece. These mounds were truly the only glimpse of organization in the entire city, but many of them also had beams made of a strange dark brown substances similar to wood with very rough texture that created a network of roadways above the mounds leading to various points. The beams themselves looked very similar to what construction workers would use back on Earth to set up support platforms while building large buildings or towers downtown, but this was on an entirely different level than that. Taking in the rag-tag fiesta of nonsense construction here in Snagger’s nest made Riven’s head hurt, and some of the wood-like beams even led to nowhere at all just to hover above the city as if they’d been left half-completed.

Hundreds of thousands of ratkin, most of them about Mesha’s size and a lot smaller than Snagger was, scurried back and forth over these hundreds of mounds or beams above while diving in or out of the holes leading into the mound interiors. The hills of clay and stone had not only been created on floor level, but had also been created up the sides of the cave 45 degree angles and somewhat steep drops down, with most of the ratkin easily making their way back and forth across these structures via climbing.

Riven himself probably would be able to climb up and down those inclines, but he’d personally be worried about falling as it seemed just a bit unsafe. He’d definitely be avoiding the beams if at all possible as well.

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Aside from the tunneled hills, the beams, and scurrying bodies, or the congregations of ratkin drinking from the lakes, there were also a couple of what Riven assumed to be shops topside that were more exposed than whatever infrastructure was present inside the hills of caves and holes. He saw an open, glowing forge with green plumes of smoke wafting into the air atop one of the mounds busy with activity and buying customers. He saw another mound nearby displaying a large collection of jewelry that was no doubt enchanted from the remnant mana Riven could sense even at this distance, with display cases of glass under guard from the shopkeeper’s employees. Yet another vendor at the base of another mound that was selling leather and chitin goods they’d no doubt made from dead animals found in the underdark.

*KABLAM*

The nearby forge exploded with red light, sending a couple dozen ratkin screaming through the air and to their deaths while still aflame until they landed with crunches and crashes.

“That nest-family is-is experimenting with fire-chemicals, insane-crazy they are!” Mesha cackled, pointing a small clawed finger at where dozens of other ratkin had begun coming out of the mound beneath the forge to start cleanup or help the survivors of whatever had been going on there. “They make-create weapon-gadgets and are very rich-wealthy!”

“Come-walk, we must go talk-speak to another!” Snagger said, waving at Riven and his minions to follow and perking his large rat ears up at the sounds of the nest-city below. “Follow me-me!”

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Riven’s presence was noticed immediately by the surrounding ratkin upon their approach. But seeing that Riven was walking alongside Snagger and Mesha while talking to them about their nest put many of the ratkin at ease - who then only gave Riven and his demons curious glances before returning to whatever work they’d been up to before his arrival.

The further Riven walked, the more he realized that this city was truly a rag-tag sprawl of various buildings on the insides of these hill-like mounds that were more unique than he’d originally thought. Passing through the crowds of curious onlookers that shuffled about him, he was able to see inside a lot of the mounds through the caves adorning them to get a better idea of how these ratkin lived their lives.

There were family residences, more shops, areas for crafters, storage areas full of mushrooms and grains or equipment, there was even a colosseum where Riven paused to watch two large rat-kin even larger than Snagger battle it out in a brutal match to the death. The crowds roared their approval and swapped bets before the final blow smashed the other rat-kin’s skull in, and a couple squabbles broke out just after that with knife and claws flashing in the dark - likely because one side didn’t want to pay the other when their bets fell through. More died in those scuffles, goods traded hands, and the dead bodies were promptly disposed or ignored while society just kept on going like nothing had ever happened.

“Is it normal that people just get murdered out in the open like that?” Riven asked, glancing over to where another small rat-kin had been stabbed in the throat and tossed out of one of the tunnels - only for his body to be dragged away by a random passerby.

Snagger glanced over, then shrugged. “The nest-brood has high-many births, we multiple-produce our kind fast-rapidly! When you are mark-branded by the kin leaders, you-you gain protection from rules-laws. Before mark-brands, you are not-not protected-saved by rules-laws.”

The larger rat-kin pulled down his vest to display a large triangular marking that’d been burned into his skin. Mesha did the same, showing her own mark, and Riven’s eyebrows raised.

“How do people know if you have the mark?” Riven asked curiously, folding his arms and watching yet another scuffle break out to his right. “And the others, they’re not protected by your laws at all? Is this like a caste system?”

Snagger paused, trading a look with the smaller cousin of his. “What is caste-system?”

“It’s a social hierarchy where one group of people is considered better than the others, it dictates who you can marry, who you can socialize with or what you can do for work - that kind of thing.”

Mesha vigorously nodded. “Yes-yes! Like-similar to that. The mark-brands are given to us and magic identifies-signals us to other clan-nest kin as high-mighty citizen-kin. Rat-kin are high-citizen or low-citizen kin, with low-citizen kin not-unable to be protected by rules-laws. Must earn-collect mark-brand from queen or brood-nest mothers to earn-acquire one. So kill-fighting low-kin is not rule bound-enforced, can kill-fight them without punishment. If a kin kill-fights us-we, as high-kin, gaurds and other citizen-ratkin enforce rules-laws to defend us. It is known.”

“So I could just go over and murder a ‘low-kin’ person and not have anything happen to me?”

“Only if you are-be high-kin. You are not rat-kin, so does-is not applied to you-you. If I-we want to fight-kill low-kin, we can attempt-try, but they can fight-kill us back and take-obtain our mark-brand.”

“Kinda fucked up.” Riven frowned while crossing his arms disapprovingly.

Mesha snorted in amusement, sidestepping a larger ratkin carrying a steel pole into one of the tunnels nearby. “We overpopulate-breed fast, it makes us-we strong-fit for survivors. But with beard-men dwarf-fighters attacking-warring us, queen-kin has told us-we to try and hold off customs-traditions to save our numbers-kin for war.”

Riven felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to see Snagger looking down at him rather hesitantly.

“Is it alright-ok if we take-show you to the brood-mother? Want to know many thing-happenings of top-surface, of new world ally-friends and fighter-enemies.”

Riven’s eyebrows raised. “Like, the queen of your city?”

The larger ratman rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck with a toothy grin that looked a little weird coming from a humanoid rat, but nevertheless it was obviously friendly. “No! We take-show information on world-planet to brood-mother, Mesha and I’s brood-mother, head of family-nest - not city-nest. It is our brood-nest. Queen-mother look-seeks for new friend-allies and information, but not important enough for us-we to get audience. That why we take-show to brood-nest instead of city-nest.”

There was a long pause as he considered this.

“Huh. Sure thing, that’s fine with me. Not sure if I’ll be any real help but I’ll answer what I can and what I know.”

That was more than enough for Snagger, and he along with Mesha led the way while beckoning Riven and his two demonic familiars to follow.

Mesha and Snagger eventually led them to a checkpoint along the city’s inner perimeter where the crowds started to thin and things became more organized. A wall had been erected here, encircling one of many larger compounds that sometimes had two or three mounds apiece. This particular mound was singular, but nevertheless was heavily guarded and much larger than many of the other mounds in the area.

Guards outfitted in leathers similar to Snagger’s own from a stone tower overlooking a path called back and forth with the duo, holding crossbows and asking about Riven and the demonic servants, but neither the guards nor any of the other ratkin passing them by seemed to mind that Riven was a vampire. Nor did they seem to care that he had demons with him either. The most that continued to happen were a few curious glances, but none of them were hostile and Riven even got a few open smiles. This only confirmed what Snagger had originally told him about the underdark, that ratkin here were used to vampires from their old world - and it was rather encouraging after the absolute looks of horror or hate from elves and humans he’d received on the surface.

After the checkpoint was over with and Snagger told the guards of the dwarven scouting party that’d attacked them, he proceeded to explain he was bringing in outsiders to see their brood-mother. The guards let them pass without much issue, knowing Snagger and Mesha already, and their group entered the compound to travel into the mound with minimal incident after that.

However, one of the guards hopped down a ladder and rushed off to tell the military of the dwarves’ presence. According to Mesha, the dwarves had been encroaching on their territories but had never ventured that close to the city yet.

“The dwarves grow fierce-aggressive.” Mesha commented when they entered the mound through a large cave entrance, entering a bustling rat-made cave network of merchants, food carts, and ramshackle buildings of various makes. “They kill-butcher us-we, take our goods-things, want our city-spawn.”

Riven had overheard Snagger and his cousin Mesha talk about the dwarves in brief snippets along their travels, but still had little to go on and wanted to clarify a few things. “So why are your people at war with this group of dwarves?”

Mesha nodded and squeaked loudly at a bunch of young whippersnappers that chittered and laughed while playfully racing underneath Snagger’s legs. “Yes-yes, the dwarf-wretches kill us, attack us-we, take our shiny things because they want-need our land-things. They hunt-kill us and leave message-threats telling us-we to leave. The queen-mother and many brood-mothers have led battles against dwarf-wretches, we win-attack and lose-attack both. We try to make peace-sign with dwarf-wretches, but they say no-refuse.”

Huh.

Riven didn’t know Mesh or Snagger very well, but based solely on how the dwarves had tried to ambush Riven and the rest of them he couldn’t help but be a little biased against the dwarves now. He shook his head. To think he’d have met dwarves, elves, orcs, demons, and even ratkin since leaving Earth only about two months ago? It was all very surreal. That being said he was very excited to explore this underground sanctuary of civilization, and was pretty sure he was the first person from Earth to get a good look at any rat-kin city since the worlds had merged.

To go where no man has gone before!

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