The Mantis Variant - Book One - 14. Chapter 14 - Underground, Part One

With fresh bandages on Ilya's face and side, the three women left the mystic's shop and made their way back to Dozi's hidden home. One after another, they slipped inside behind the fan cage and began to descend into her chamber.

It was much colder down below than it was that morning when they left.

"What happened?" Agrell asked.

"Why is it freezing down here?" Dozi questioned the room at large.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Ilya leaned on her crutch. She raised her free arm. "It's there," she told the other two, and she pointed towards one of the gaps that led into another part of the basement.

Dozi stepped up and slipped into the space. "I can't feel any difference," she called behind her. "It's just cold."

Ilya reiterated. "No, it's coming from there. I can feel something different in the air."

"What does that mean?" Dozi yelled back. She stepped out into an open area that she used to store things. "I don't see anything, I can't tell why it's cold."

"Does that part go further?" Agrell asked.

"I mean," Dozi replied, "it does, but there's just a crawlspace with old ducting."

"Maybe I can fit through," Agrell called out to her. She did not await a reply and also slipped through the gap and followed Dozi.

"Hey, skinny girl," Dozi said as Agrell emerged. "It's right there, but I don't feel comfortable crawling through it." She pointed and peered into the narrow space that led deeper into the bowels beneath the rundown military buildings above.

Agrell called back to Ilya, "I think I can fit through. I'll see where the cold is coming from."

"How does she know the cold is from here? And why is it so fucking freezing?" Dozi pulled her bulky clothes tighter and shivered. "Well, go on, I guess," she said to Agrell and waved towards the small opening. Dozi then added, "Be careful!"

For quite a way, the passage only provided Agrell space to crawl, but she eventually emerged into a gap between two rusted metal walls. They seemed to be part of something larger, but she could not tell much about the old military equipment from where she was. The space between them led her to the explanation of why it was so cold.

A pale glow was coming from one side, and at first, Agrell was not sure what she was seeing, but then there could be no doubt; light was somehow making its way to the underground chamber. She approached a huge section of collapsed masonry and broken bedrock. Light was seeping in, but the pathetic glow did less to illuminate anything in the darkness than it did to simply draw her attention.

The scrawny young woman began moving one massive piece of stone after another. It felt so unnatural for her to be this strong.

The cave-in seemed precarious and Agrell did not want to cause another collapse. Once there was space, she squeezed through towards the opening where the gray glow was making its way inside. With it came the frigid winter air from outside.

Agrell turned in the opposite direction and was surprised to find a hidden fissure in the darkness. A massive crack in the stone led down deeper into the earth. She was curious about the opening in the bedrock and wriggled her way into the tight space. At some parts, she needed to squat down and shimmy under lower regions where the ceiling was right above her head, but Agrell managed not to get stuck and eventually came to a void at the end of the crack. She poked her head out and looked down.

The opening was in the wall of a stairwell. Upwards was blocked by much more fallen rubble, but the stairs below were clear. She climbed down from the hole and began to descend into the depths beneath Teshon City. Before reaching the bottom, Agrell saw a light and heard voices, and she paused. The stairs led to a hallway, and the talking was coming from a chamber that opened in one side of it. Agrell peeked around the door's frame.

Three bizarre people were toiling together, and in Agrell's mind, she described them in terms that made sense to her. One appeared to be a skinny woman covered in feathers. She was dressed in a pair of baggy cargo pants and a sleeveless vest. All of her exposed skin was accented with little strange curls that fluttered as she moved.

There was a second woman, and the only word Agrell needed to use that encompassed her was giant. She was abnormally huge, towering over the bird woman, with arms and legs the size of a normal person's waist. The giantess wore a patchwork outfit that was clearly made to accommodate her size.

Their third companion seemed to be a bald man wearing only a pair of underwear. His skin was an unnatural shade of green, not sickly, but almost plantlike. However, his primary peculiarity was that tiny crackles of electricity appeared to be sparking from his entire epidermis. The shocks traveled over the man's green skin, running up and down his limbs, and over his face and head and torso.

The three of them were carrying large objects wrapped in sheets, and Agrell was disturbed by the look of the things. One by one, the rigid forms under their pale shrouds were dropped into a stone well at the center of the room. Smoke was issuing from its mouth that coiled up to a chimney in the ceiling. Despite being deep underground, any fumes were syphoned away and the room was not hazy.

"What's the count up to?" growled the giantess.

"Who knows at this point," replied the green electric man. "Let's get the next group."

They dropped the last of the wrapped objects into the well and began to approach the door where Agrell was hiding.

She turned in surprise and jumped. To her further surprise, her jump launched her all the way up to where the stairs were blocked. She soared high on the fallen rubble and clung to the rocks above like a bat.

The giantess ducked through the doorway and entered the hall followed by the other two, but to Agrell's relief, they turned their backs on her and headed down the corridor in the opposite direction of the stairs. When they were gone, she let go of the wall and fell hard, but she landed upright on her feet.

She raced back down the steps, entered the room, and approached the well. Over its edge, she saw the churning orange glow of liquid magma. Whatever was dropped down the well was now gone. The rest of the room was empty. She returned to the hall and proceeded to the next room. It opened to yet another set of stairs that led further under the earth.

"Another 17," growled a voice. It came from below.

Agrell turned and sprinted back up to the stairs and hid in the darkness.

The three figures returned, and the giantess' arms were loaded with more sheet-wrapped objects. As they reentered the room with the well, Agrell crept back down to the doorway.

"We've lost so many," the bird woman said in a voice filled with sorrow. "Who else did you hear about?" she asked the green electric man.

The giantess grunted and lowered her burden to the floor. They continued to drop the things down to the fiery depths.

"Both of the stone brothers died," the man replied. "Three of the werefolk are dead. There's an entire group from the netherswamp missing, and let's not forget that ground zero was in the lab, so the angel and demon plus anyone who was in purgatory is just gone, just fucking gone."

"I overheard someone saying that the astral cave collapsed," the giantess added in despair.

"The submerged tunnel no longer exists," the green electric man continued. "There is a crack in the hypron chamber, and no one has been able to reach…"

Agrell was silent, but then the bird woman suddenly spoke over her companions.

"There's someone else down here," she said, and the three looked towards the door✪