The Researcher Radu

Corpse Carrier - Act 1 | Chapter 11 - Radu
One Hour and Thirty-Six Minutes After Juna Died

Specks croaked as Juna squeezed him. Her body language shifted. She curled her fingers and slid a foot backwards across The Mound’s slope. Even Juna seemed put off by the eerie Chasm.

The Chasm…

Theo hurriedly slung the backpack down and knelt beside it, prying the bag open and retrieving the occult-esque book. He slammed the faded purple novel onto a flat section of the slope near the pale man's workstation. Theo ran his index finger along the etched title, letting the incisions guide him as he studied it intensely.

Nothing.

He licked his lips and bent closer to the book. This time running his fingers along what the marks hadn’t completely scratched out—what barely remained of the original title—and through what fragmented lines that grated the tips of his fingers, he could vaguely make out the words.

Theo looked up at Juna.

“The Chasm,” he said. “That's the book's title.”

The pale man jumped in before she could respond. “My what a fascinating Fossil you have there,” the man said with intrigued eyes.

Fossil? What did the man mean by a Fossil?

“Are you talking about this guy?” Juna asked, extending Specks out by the armpits.

“No, No,” the man said. “The Fossil that boy pulled out.” He squatted next to Theo, balancing all of his weight on the tips of his toes against The Mound’s slope. “Sorry for being curious, I know it’s not polite to be so inquisitive of someone else’s Fossil, but I must ask where you found something of that magnitude and what rank it must be?”

Juna bent down and leaned into the circle. She squished Speck's head against her chin and mumbled. “Are you talking about the book? Because a fossil means animal bones hardened by rock from where we’re from.”

The pale man placed a hand over his mouth and glanced at Juna. “What an odd description of Fossils. I’ve never heard someone explaining Fossils quite like that. Is that what they teach down in The Second Layer?” His eyes then swung to Theo, and the pale man examined him as if he were a rock in his study. The man cocked his head. “I don’t see any DepthStones around your necks, though?" He suddenly looked down and widened his eyes, grabbing Theo’s wrist and pulling him in close. He studied the bracelet on Theo’s arm just beneath his watch, specifically examining the quartz stone encased in copper wire. “I’ve never seen a Gritborn declaring himself with such a DepthStone. Are you both truly from The Second Layer? Or could you have come from much farther down?”

“Look,” Theo said, snatching back his wrist, “we don’t know squat about this Second Layer, or about this book being a Fossil, or Gritborns and whatnot, and definitely not anything about this Chasm,” he said, pointing at the enormous fissure past The Mound. Theo palmed his face and hesitated on exactly how to say it, then eventually found the words. “We’re from Bakersville.” He pointed up. “From up there, above this place. We don’t know anything about what's going on down here.”

The man looked puzzled. Again, Theo somehow couldn’t properly explain the situation. Though the man considered the information and allowed it to marinate in his mind. The magnifying glass, and examination tools hanging by his belt likely indicated this man was a researcher—someone who would understand. So often new information would spring to light and challenge the balance of what we know. Things change and new discoveries are always made, shifting the old ones into fairytales. Researchers understood that. This man would understand that.

“I don’t understand that,” the man said, standing up. He pointed up, his arm outstretched higher than Theo’s. “There’s nothing up there for ten miles. They tried mining above centuries ago. It’s only rock and stone for the entire mine.”

Theo opened his mouth to speak, to argue the point in futility, but Juna pinched his waist before he could. She scooted in closer and sat on the slope, holding Specks close as the lizard-creature licked her forearm.

“We’re from another world,” she said.

Oh great, Theo thought, let’s act crazier than we seem.

“This whole stone cave,” Juna said, “all these terms and such you’re saying, and that giant split in the ground you’re calling The Chasm.” She shrugged her shoulders as if talking to a deaf person. “We don’t have a clue what they mean.”

“That makes sense,” the pale man said.

It does!?

The pale man carefully walked over to collect his research items. “Though I am a little shocked, I believe you. My name is Radu, and I’m tasked with studying the rocks and stability of The Mound. Because of that I am inclined to believe your story. It's a researcher's nature to believe the unknown.” He chuckled to himself. “Also you both are a tad darker than anyone I've laid eyes on, and your clothes are mighty detailed to be from Snatcher’s silk. I only assumed that's how everyone from The Second Layer looked, but coming from another world…” He nodded as he slipped the remaining rocks into a patch-work satchel. “Yes, that makes sense. It also explains why the boy’s eyes are so sharp and his face intense. I presumed you were angry but if it’s a natural trait for those from your world, then that explains it.”

Sharp eyes wasn’t a trait from their world. It was an unforgiving trait specifically to Theo alone, though he didn’t care to explain that to the pale man named Radu. Theo figured more important things needed to be explained first.

Juna, however, giggled and lightly kicked Theo’s shin and she stood.

Croak

Specks seemed to find it funny too.

“Okay, I'll explain everything on the way.” Radu fastened his satchel and nodded for the two otherworldly visitors to follow. “The Chasm works in mysterious ways, I wouldn’t be surprised if the pit decided to bring about a passing and send you both here.”

Theo and Juna looked at one another. Juna smiled, her amber eyes gleaming against her rose cheeks. Theo bit his lip, and took one last look at the immense split in the ground past the other end of the village. Once they descended down The Mound, he wouldn't be able to see it again. That thought worried him. A lot of things worried him.

But Theo had to stay diligent.

The two marched down the hill following Radu. The researcher made no attempt at communication until all three had reached the bottom of The Mound. They found themselves in a large crater-like area completely surrounded by The Mound. In the very center, close to half a mile away, awaited the bleach-wooded village. Radu continued his march to it.

“Let’s run a hypothetical here,” Radu suggested, rotating his finger in the air. “If the two of you are actually residents of another world, then that's a first. The Chasm has done drastic things, sometimes sending Snatchers to Ground Zero, to even planting crops on the outskirts of The Mound to help the village grow.” He remained walking as he glanced back at the two otherworldlings. “I believe you both, because I believe what The Chasm is capable of.” He nodded towards the backpack Theo carried. “I can only assume The Chasm sent that Fossil to your world in order to send you here.”

Theo glanced at Juna. Soon he would have to ask her about where she really found this book, though that would come later. Bigger questions needed to be answered now.

“Okay,” Theo dragged out, still wary about the legitimacy the pale man offered. “Why do you keep calling the book a Fossil? Is that supposed to be a term for something specific?”

“Something specific would be a stretch. Fossils can be anything. Whatever the Chasm deems a Fossil, will harden to a Fossil.”

“Okay…”

Radu chuckled. “I’m not too sure how to explain a Fossil without saying the word.” With a finger, he tapped the hammer strapped to his hip. “They are items that are hardened by the Chasm. Typically the further down you find a Fossil, the more power it holds.”

“Power?” Juna asked.

“The Chasm’s life,” Radu said without hesitation. “Fossils are items lost deep within the Chasm, infused with its own life, and hardened into an item beyond our own comprehension. That would describe your Fossil there, wouldn’t it?” Radu chuckled and turned back around.

Juna leaned over to Theo and matched his strides. “Probably artifacts or relics from our world,” she whispered.

“Yeah, but those are from video games and fictional stories.” Theo glanced over his shoulder at the backpack. “If that creepy book is really what brought us to this world, then we have no reason not to believe him.”

Even mentioning another world left a salty taste in Theo’s mouth. He hoped he wouldn’t need to say it for long.

“So how do we get back to our world?” Theo asked.

“I ain’t got a clue. That’s for you to ask the Chasm about,” Radu gestured.

“You keep talking about the Chasm as if it’s alive,” Juna said. “Is it?”

Radu simply chuckled at the question. He held his words, almost as if biting his tongue, then proudly spoke.

“Ask the Gritborns that.”