World of Night

So Lost Down Here

“Dom! Dominic!” Karl yelled desperately as he raced through the streets, “Dom! Where are you?” Karl ignored the curious and sympathetic looks he received and rushed through the crowded streets. “Shit!” he came to a halt at a crossroad, frustratedly glancing around. “Where the fuck did you disappear to?” He looked around once more but was unable to make out a human face he knew among the elves, ghouls, trolls and other beings that walked the streets. Sighing he decided to turn left, hoping that he would be able to find Dominic again.

He shuddered as he thought of what the elders would say – and do – if they knew that he had lost his charge. He frowned. They probably knew already anyway.

“Dom!” he yelled again, racing after a mop of blond hair he had just seen vanish around a corner. “For fuck’s sake, wait!” He almost jumped round the corner, arms flying wildly as he tried to keep his balance when he suddenly crashed into something soft but unyielding.

For a moment he just sat on the ground, a throbbing pain clawing through his backside before he slowly looked up. “Oh shit,” he muttered, as he saw whom he had run into, already knowing but still dreading what would come.

~***~

Slowly Dominic tried to wipe the sweat from his brow, almost pinching himself in the eye in the process as he stumbled on. He moaned when his stomach gave a low rumble. He did not know how much time had passed but he could have sworn that he had been staggering down the steps for days now. At least it felt like that. He frowned, trying to remember. Had Karl not said something about the time passing differently down here? Maybe. He was not sure anymore. Too much had happened.

He almost fell as the steps suddenly ended. A looped grin spread on his face as he looked around. He was standing on a round platform, perhaps two or three meters in diameter. The ceiling was low and the rough walls seemed to close in on him just on all the other platforms he had encountered so far. Only that this time a tunnel led away from the platform instead of more stairs. He shivered as he stumbled into the tunnel, grasping the walls for support and breathing heavily. His lower lip cracked. Shivering he stumbled on, still suffering from the unnatural heat in the tunnel, that cursed through him like a fever.

“Holy fucking Christ!” he grumbled, licking his lips. The pain made him realise just how thirsty he was. So far the only water he had seen in the cave systems was the river in the main cave. And he did not know if that was drinkable. It did not matter anymore, anyway. He was to far away.

He paused again, unable to walk more than a few meters at a time. The red-golden light of the cave world had dimmed to a shimmer but he did not care. He had the feeling that the tunnel was leading him upwards again; slowly but steadily. Dominic’s eyes widened as his hand suddenly encountered something wet and sticky.

Frowning he glanced at his fingers, moving them in front of his face but he was unable to make out what the sticky substance was. The threads of the white mass that covered his hands were still connected with the rest of the stuff that hung on the wall. He pulled his hand back, finally succeeding in freeing it and stumbled into the opposite wall, which was also covered with cobwebs, he realised now. A silent scream escaped from his dry lips as he staggered from wall to wall, entangling himself more and more in the gigantic threads. His breath was no more than a hissed gasp as he finally ceased to stagger on, leaning against a wall with the left side of his body and his right hand bound in the sticky threads.

Looking up, he stared in amazement, shudders running through him as he saw what he had almost run into. The tunnel was perhaps three meters high and two meters wide. Suddenly he noticed that some sort of asphalt covered the floor, whereas in the caves the floor had been of stone and the walls hewn out of the rock. The walls here were mostly smooth and black, where not covered with glistening cobwebs. And even stranger was that no more than two meters away from him an entire cobweb hung in the tunnel. A web, that filled the whole space between the walls, ground and ceiling and seemed to go on forever.

He froze, his eyes widening as he slowly realised just how big a spider would have to be to be able to build such a net. For endless seconds he stared helplessly at the intricate pattern of evilly glittering threads that were woven all over the walls. Slowly he blinked a few times. The spider would have to be big. Very big indeed. He stepped back, stumbling over the threads that seemed to have wound themselves around his ankles. He gulped. The echo of his faltering steps crawled hollowly along the walls, menacingly fading into distance.

He could not go back, it was too far and he was too tired to climb up the steps. Somehow he had to get through the cobweb; it was his only way of escape. Desperately he looked for a way through the net. A weak grinned spread across his face. The branch-like stone came in handy. Slowly he fought his way through the tangled web, pausing after each stroke with the stone as the threads parted unwillingly in front of him. Deeper and deeper he ventured into the tunnel, steadily fighting his way forward.

~***~

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Still blinking Karl looked up at the bulky figure that shoved itself between him and the man he had run into. “I’m talking to you, you stupid oaf!” the blond roared, green eyes glaring daggers at Karl. “Are you too stupid to watch where you’re going?”

“Harry, please,” the man Karl had run into interrupted, “I know him, let him be.” He stepped forward, helping Karl to his feet. “I’m sorry, mate. Sometimes I think I’m dating an orc.”

“You can say that again,” Karl mumbled, rubbing his chin, “I don’t think you’ve introduced me to your…” he eyed the fuming blond man from head to toe, “orc of choice yet…”

“And why should he?” snapped Harry. “I surely don’t have to know people like you…”

“Karl, this is Harry, Harry, this is Karl,” Craig sighed as the two men continued to glare at each other, “Please guys, behave.”

“Okay,” Karl reluctantly inclined his head, “As Craig said, I’m Karl, an old friend. And you are?”

“His boyfriend, in case you hadn’t noticed,” growled Harry, “So what’s the hurry?”

“Oh… um…,” Karl scratched his head, “I’m just looking for someone….”

“Boyfriend gone astray?”

“Harry, stop it!” Craig pushed Harry back, trying to put a safe distance between the two other men, “That Dom you’re thinking of,” Craig continued as he turned back to Karl, “He is in some sort of danger… there’s something… something lurking close to him… I don’t know… can’t see, it’s…”

“Craig!” Harry rushed forward, catching the younger man in his arms.

“Craig, can you hear me?” Karl knelt down beside Harry, who was cradling Craig’s limp form to his chest. Craig’s pupils were rolling wildly under the closed eyelids.

“No!” Karl grabbed Harry’s hand as the blond tried to pat Craig’s cheek, “It’s just a vision, he’ll be alright when he wakes.”

“And you know this because?” Harry retorted, lashing out at Karl.
“Because we have known each other for years, that’s why.”

“’Kay…” Harry nodded slowly, his eyebrows almost meeting over the bridge of his nose, “What can we do?”

“Do you have a house down here?”

“Yeah, but…”

“Where?”

“Just a block from here.”

“Let’s get him to bed then. The street’s not the best place to lie in.”
Harry staggered to his feet, carefully cradling Craig close to his chest. Curious looks followed them from all sides as the strange trio slowly walked on.

~***~

Labouringly he staggered on, blindly slashing at the cobwebs in front of him. He barely managed to sever them even though they seemed to be singed and frizzled in some places. The light was becoming fainter and fainter and had now dimmed to a reddish shimmer that was only able to illuminate the tunnel because it was reflected on the silvery threads which now looked almost blood-red.

Shaking he grasped the wall to support himself as the earth shook beneath his feet.. Small stones rained from the roof of the tunnel, some of them falling exactly onto his neck, tumbling down into his pullover. He was too tired to shake them out. The earth trembled again, throwing him against the wall and tangling him in the singed remnants of the once intricate cobweb.

“Who’s there?” he called, his voice quivering as he hoped to hear the sounds of a subway train racing through the darkness. A low rumbling and grumbling was the only answer he received. With eyes wide open he looked back and then, cautiously, stumbled forward.
Suddenly the walls around him widened into a vast cave. He could not say how big it was but he guessed that it was almost as big as the main cave of the city he had seen. He shuddered.

If only he had stayed upstairs. He gasped, a pained exhalation of air, as he saw something move to his right. Something big that looked as if it was of a dirty white but seemed to be orange in the strange light. Big round eyes as black as the night stared at him from something that resembled a face of some sort. Each of the three eyes was as big as his head, if not a little bigger. He stood paralysed as the thing slowly moved – slid – towards him, a scream still frozen on his lips.

~***~

“Could you get some water?” Harry nodded, already rising to his feet. At the door he turned and looked back once more. His heart contracted painfully as he noticed just how white Craig’s face looked against the black pillows of the bed. Their bed. So why was Karl the one staying with his lover? Craig needed him! He hesitated for another moment and then, quickly, made his way to the kitchen. Water. Craig needed water. He had never seen Craig like this, never in the whole six months they knew each other now.

“How is he?” Harry asked at once as he stepped into the bedroom.
“I’m alright.”

Harry’s heart leapt joyfully. “Craig! Thank God, you’re awake again! What happened?”

“Not much,” Happily Craig took the glass of water from his lover’s hands, gesturing for Harry to sit down next to Karl while he sipped at the clear liquid, “I had a vision. A very… intense one…,” he continued with an unreadable look at Karl, “We have to go at once. An hour ago, if possible. And we need weapons.”

“Weapons?” Harry frowned. “What for?”

“And where do you want to go?” Karl completed, taking one of Craig’s hands into his.

“You can’t go anywhere in your condition!” Harry interrupted, swatting Karl’s hand away, “You just had some sort of collapse!”

“We have to go,” insisted Craig, “I told you, I had a vision! I’m alright. People will die if we don’t go! All of us…”

“Wait… wait a minute…” Karl silenced both Craig and Harry by holding up his hands, “Where do we have to go, who is in danger and who will die if we don’t go?”

Craig sighed, pushing himself into a sitting position, “The lost stairs.”

“The lost stairs?” Harry repeated, eyes wide as he stared incredulously at Craig, “Have you gone mad?”

“Please Har,” Craig’s pleading gaze travelled between Harry and Karl and back again, “We have to. Dominic will die if we don’t!”

“Who’s Dominic?” Harry asked, while Karl merely gasped in shock.

“Dom?” he whispered, “Dom’s on the lost stairs? But how? I mean…,”

“You were thinking of him when you ran into me,” Craig explained, his eyes dead serious, “Your thoughts were so strong that I… picked them up… I was too surprised to shield myself from them…”

“Oh God, no…” Karl croaked, “The elders placed him in my care.. what if?”

“Craig,” Harry started, but his lover silenced him once more.

“No time,” Craig pointed at a small oak drawer in the far corner of the bedroom, “Over there, right behind it.”

“What?”

“I hid an automized uzi and a sword there,” Craig explained, smiling nervously at Harry, “I know how you feel about weapons in the house love, but…”

“Later…” Harry mumbled, staring at Karl, who was already pulling and shoving the drawer away from the wall. “Who else?”

“Who else what?” Craig stared uncomprehendingly at Harry.

“You said people would die, if we didn’t go. Who else beside that Dominic?”

“Many,” Craig whispered, casting his eyes to the floor. “Because whatever danger Dominic is in will come up here if we don’t stop it…”

“And what is it?” Karl asked, carrying the bundle he had found behind the drawer to the bed.

“I don’t know.” Craig frowned, taking the bundle and unwrapping the grey woollen blanket, “I didn’t see it… I only know that we have to stop it.”

Karl nodded, taking the sword and slashing experimentally at the air a few times, “A good weapon.” Karl’s grin made Harry want to run and hide.

“Craig?” Harry tore his gaze from Karl and the sword and turned back to the bed. Craig was already loading the uzi. “How far down the steps is this Dominic?”

“I knew it would still work!” Craig exclaimed happily as he pushed the last bullet into its chamber.

“Craig,” Harry sounded clearly exasperated now, “How far?”

“All the way.”

“All the..?” Both Harry and Karl stared unbelievingly at Craig.

“You know,” Karl stared, sitting down on the bed with the sword resting on his knees, “That we cannot go down there. There’s evil down there that does not sleep. It’s why they’re called the lost stairs in the first place. No one ever returns from down there. They’re all lost.”

“We have to go,” Craig insisted.

“To stop that Lostzilla of yours, yeah, sure. Anything else?”

“We will manage Karl, I have seen it.”

“Good,” Harry nodded reluctantly, “I trust you. If you say that we will come out of this, then we will. I’m coming with you.”

For some minutes Karl just fiddled with the handle of his sword, studiously avoiding to look at Harry and Craig, who were both gazing expectantly at him.

“Very well,” he acceded finally, “I will stand by you. Do you think the portal down there is still functioning?”

“It should be,” Craig grinned, “As far as I know the elders didn’t succeed in closing it.”

“Then let’s not waste any more time,” Harry decided, “Craig, you take that.. thing,” he pointed disgustedly as the uzi and then turned to Karl, “I assume you know how to wield a sword,” he said dryly.
Karl merely grinned, playfully caressing the blade.

“Then let’s go. The nearest portal is only two blocks away.”
Without a further word the three left the room, dreading what lay before them but all of them resolved to sand by their decision.

Only minutes later they were standing in the middle of a circle of white stone, surrounded by a ring of hieroglyphs, holding hands as they chorused words in an ancient, flowing language. None of the passers-by gave them a second look as a green light shimmered around the, and cold grey mist flooded the two concentric circles.

When the mist cleared again all three of them had vanished.

~***~

It was a worm, Dom tried to tell himself, just a worm. Nothing more. The only problem was that he was not used to worms which were as big as a whole fucking bus. Just a worm. And the thing had teeth, he suddenly noticed. Long rows of yellow and orange shimmering teeth with small holes and crown spots. Very big teeth that looked rather sick in the strange red twilight. Growling the worm slid closer. Since when did worms growl, Dominic wondered. He stared at the thing, helpless and without a clue what to do.

~***~

They had changed positions during the journey through the portal and were now standing with their backs to each other in a defensive stance, weapons drawn and ready. Slowly the mist faded away and the green light dimmed, revealing another vast cave, which was between 40 and 50 meters in diameter and about five meters high. The walls were black and smooth but it was obvious that they had once been worked on to build another cave for living and were now covered with singed silver cobwebs and something else.

“Good heavens,” Craig breathed, “What is that?”

“Looks like some kind of cobweb,” Karl offered.

“Yeah, but how big does a spider have to be to build such a net?”

“It’s not the spider that worries me,” Harry stepped from the platform, nervously wiping his hands at his jeans, “It’s the question what kind of monster would be able to kill such a spider.”

“What?” Craig and Karl squealed in unison, staring at Harry.

“The cobwebs,” Harry pointed at the nearest wall, “Have been singed, destroyed. By someone. Or something. And over there,” he pointed at a corner, “Lies the carcass of one damned big spider. Or what’s left of it.”

“Oh fuck.”

“But where’s the thing that killed the spider?” argued Karl, “Shouldn’t it have noticed us by now? What if it’s hunting Dom?”

“I’m not exactly keen on meeting that thing,” countered Harry, glaring at Karl.

“We have to,” Craig interrupted them, “That way,” he nodded at a tunnel to their left, “Dominic’s not far away, come on..”

Quietly Harry and Karl followed Craig, cautious not to walk too close together.

~***~

He screamed as the strange worm growled once more, an unwilling yelp of panic that finally tore him out of his paralysis. He whipped around, fear giving him new strength as he raced through the cave, trying to get as far away from the strange creature as possible. And as fast as he could. Somehow he did not doubt that he must look like some very dehydrated snack.

He stumbled over small stones and burned threads of cobwebs but somehow managed to stay on his feet. He turned into a tunnel, not even noticing that it was not the one he had come through. After some time he turned, looked back and screamed again. The tunnel was big enough for the worm. And the creature was fast, very so.

~***~

They stopped as they heard the first scream, trying to locate its point of origin.

“He must be close,” Karl whispered, lifting his sword. Craig nodded. Fast steps echoed through the tunnel, closely followed by a second scream. Karl wanted to charge but Craig held him back, “Just a moment,” he whispered, “Harry,” he continued without looking around, “As soon as you see it, do something!”

“Okay.”

Only now did Karl notice that Harry was the only one without a weapon. The footsteps were coming closer and closer but there was also another sound, a roaring growl and the sound of something hard sliding across stones. Karl’s eyes widened as he recognised the second sound.

~***~

Dominic stumbled on, knowing that the creature was almost directly behind him, that it had almost caught up with him. He doubled his efforts, the fear for his life urging him on as he desperately tried to escape. He sped round a corner, heard someone yell something and passed into blackness while everything happened at once.

~***~

For endless seconds they stood waiting, gazing nervously at the turn the tunnel made in front of them. They could not see what was coming. Karl shifted his weight onto his other feet. Maybe it was better that way.

All three of them were holding their breath and then Dominic rushed around the corner, nearly knocking Craig over, closely followed by a gaping black hole that was filled with partly-decayed sharp teeth.

“Now!” screamed Craig, pulling the trigger and empty the whole uzi at the worm. Myriads of stones were lifted from the floor and suddenly hurled themselves at the creature. Dumbstruck Karl stared at Harry.

“Karl! Now!” Craig yelled, as the worm yowled, raising its head as far as the tunnel permitted. Without thinking Karl rushed forward, sword raised over his head and buried it deep within the soft flesh of the worm. The creature roared again, throwing Karl off his feet and vanishing into the tunnel, leaving a spotted trail of red.

Karl sat on the ground, panting with his sword shaking in his hands and stared after the beast. He could barely believe that he had managed to hit the only spot of the worm’s body that was not covered with small hard scales.

“Karl? Are you alright?” Harry suddenly asked, laying a hand on the younger man’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I guess I am.” Karl blinked again. “Why didn’t you tell me that you’re a telekinetic?”

“We didn’t really have the time for that. Is it dead?”

“No,” said Craig, “But dying. We’re safe.”

“Oh my God, Dominic!” Karl scrambled to his feet, turned around and quickly ran to Dominic, who was lying unmoving on the floor. Kneeling down he felt for Dom’s heartbeat with shaking hands.

“He’s okay,” he said finally, relief sounding in every syllable. “Just weak and tired.”

“We have to get him back to the main cave,” Craig stated, “Have to get him to a healer. Can you carry him?”

Karl gathered Dominic’s lifeless form into his arms, staggering slightly as he stood up. Silently the three started towards the portal, still afraid that the worm might follow them.