Chapter I

I wake up coughing. My eyes sting from all the dust. Though I’m able to keep them squinted and make out some of my surroundings. There’s the wall I slid down, and I can see the other side. Strange… the distance seems wider than 10 ft. I must have fallen into a cave.

When I stand up a throbbing pain shoots through my lower back, not to mention my head feels even worse now. I look up, I can’t see the surface, but I can make out an orange glow which gives me some light. So I can’t be that deep.

“HELLO?!” I shout, followed with a cough, “IS ANYONE THERE?! I FELL DOWN!” No response. I doubt anyone is nearby. Goddamnit… I lost my phone too. I search around through the debris for it, I find it eventually, completely smashed and unusable. Shit, now I’m screwed–before I can get my thoughts straight, I notice a patch of emerald grass where I picked up my phone. The dust settles a little, and I’m able to see more clearly. Sprinkled along the ground among the dust and rubble are more patches of grass. I had no idea grass could grow this far underground.

Something crunches behind me. I snap my head back to where the sound came from. I can’t see anything. Another crunch as beads of sweat roll down my face.

A dark shape crawls just into view. I can’t make out details, but I can tell it’s moving closer. The shape rises into a tall bulky figure–it moves towards me.

I run. Did a goddamn bear fall down here? I’m not sticking around to find out.

I run until my legs feel like lead, too heavy to move. My back and head are throbbing, but I think I lost whatever that was. I try catching my breath, but my breathing is strained and this damn cough won’t go away. Then a glare catches my eye. A light scans the terrain in the distance, it looks like someone with a headlamp!

“HEY! OVER HERE!” I shout, waving my arms, “Hehe, thank God someone–”

A sharp pain hits my chest, knocking me onto my back. My breathing gets even more labored. I try lifting my head, but I’m paralyzed. Heavy footsteps come nearer. Two bright spotlights like eyes loom over me. They get closer, hovering inches from my face. I hear what sounds like someone breathing through a respirator, slow and steady. Then a click, the light ceases and I see two round dark glassy eyes reflecting my own terrified expression. They belong to a masked figure. The mask is smooth, dark grey with 3 vertical slits over their mouth. It backs away, I can tell it's kneeling over me. It's wearing a long brown coat with black gloves and a helmet. It seems to be leaning on a long rifle propped on the ground. Its look over their shoulder and I notice another figure standing behind it. The other wears a dark violet hooded cloak with gold detailing around the cuffs and hood rim.

The masked one emanates a harsh distorted sound, like steel scraping on gravel. There’s rhythm and cadence in the noise, like they’re speaking, but not in any language I know. The hooded one replies, in a voice more akin to ice being crushed.

The hooded one walks out of view. At the same time, the masked one looks back at me, hovering its index finger over my face, moving it slowly from side to side. my eyes track it. It wraps its leathery fingers around my chin. I tried protesting, I tried doing anything, but couldn’t. The masked figure moves my head around, lets my face go, then clicks something under its mask and speaks in that awful voice. I can hear faint staticky words under the mask.

Looking over its shoulder, the figure calls out. Nothing.

The figure jumps to their feet startled and a large shape violently leaps out of the dust and tackles the figure who lets out a blood curdling scream. I see the figure out of the corner of my eye, getting mauled and thrashed by a monster, screaming and fighting for its life.

Whether through adrenaline or whatever they hit me with wore off, I was able to move again. I spring to my feet, not bothering to look back. I sprint past the hooded figure, who’s now laying face down in a pool of dark substance. I leave the screaming figure behind, then hear a sickening crack. The screaming stops.

This is the fastest I’ve ever run in my life. I don’t think I care about my head or back anymore.

I trip over a stray rock and roll over the rugged ground. I climb onto my hands and knees. My lungs are burning and I start wheezing. I see more lights in the distance and hear more metallic voices. I don’t know which is worse, those freaks or whatever’s behind me–

Something grabs me from behind, picking me up and binding my arms. My attempt at yelling get off me only has me coughing. I struggle but whatever has me is too strong. It drags me into a crevice in the wall and covers my mouth. My muffled cries ring in my skull.

A low hissing comes from the thing behind me. It sounds… like shushing. Hurried footsteps approach, the lights get brighter. I’m pulled further into the tunnel until we wrap around a corner. Hurried footsteps and metallic chatter passes us. I let out a muffled cough. One of the voices calls out, sounding curious. Light shines directly into our tunnel. My captor growls quietly and shifts me away from the light. Familiar heavy steps grow nearer.

One of the voices calls out, they sound alarmed, the light goes away as the footsteps become more distant.

The scaly limbs release me. I turn my head back to see what was holding me. A massive red scaled creature towers over me. Its eyes are bright yellow with vertical pupils, and its snout is long and wide. I’d scream in terror if I had more energy, but all I could let out was a whimper. It raises a finger over its mouth, it parts its lips revealing crocodile-like teeth and makes that low hissing sound again. It slides past me, lowers itself to the ground and crawls on all fours as quiet as a mouse. Its long tail with short triangular spines that climb all the way up its back, hovers just above the ground. It pokes its head out the tunnel and looks both ways, then turns to me and beckons me over.

Yes, Daisuke, that giant lizard is beckoning you.

It growls in frustration at my hesitation and waves its hand more aggressively. Well if it wanted to kill me, it would have done so. I trudge along behind, everything hurts and my lungs are still on fire. The lizard leads me away from where those people went. I cover my mouth to quiet my coughing.

More and more grass starts showing. It’s only now occurred to me how long I’ve been walking down here. I’m starting to think we’re not in a cave anymore. But that doesn’t make any sense, how could I have fallen down and NOT be in a cave?

The lizard stops in place and raises its hand. It looks at me then flattens its palm, lowering it to the ground. I crouch on my hands and knees and crawl behind them. My new friend is surprisingly good at communicating.

I see what my companion is worried about now, there’s someone standing not too far from us. Its back is turned, distracted by something. Without hesitating, the lizard rushes behind it barely making a sound. The lizard wraps its huge arms around the figure’s head and twists it with incredible speed and force. There’s a barely audible pop, and the figure drops to the ground. I think they’re dead. Without batting an eye, my scaly friend beckons.

I barely have the energy to stand back up. My walking has devolved to lumbering. I pass over the limp body. Don’t think too hard about it.

After what feels like an eternity, we reach the end of the stone walls. We step out into an open grassy area. There’s still an orange haze obscuring anything past 30 ft. The longer I stare into it, the more it resembles mist. My lizard friend leads me further out. Eventually they stop, lights burst out from the fog, blinding us. Metallic voices shout. We’re surrounded.