Legends of the Halcyon Era

Episode 10 - The Devil's Yard Journey, Part 8

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The Diggers entered a large passage that was mostly circular, save for the slightly flatter floor under their feet. Said floors were, like the walls, made of mottled black, green, and gray rocks. Occasionally, the other colors would fade as the tunnel took on an overall hue of green on black. The stone was covered by some sort of algae, whose pale green luminescence helped light the way ahead.

Unlike their previous excursion, the rock here appeared to be laid, rather than tunneled through, given away by the visible seams between each piece. Nevertheless, the angles at which they were placed made it difficult to tell where one wall ended and another began. To look further down the hallway was almost disorienting, as the hall appeared to twist about in many directions at the same time, casting doubt on where the passage led at any given moment.

And yet, as the Diggers proceeded on their way, the passage simply continued forth, only slanting down at a slight angle.

Nyte took point, followed by Fenix, Janine, and the now-mechless Xenos.

As they walked, the air around them became more humid and slightly warmer. Occasionally, a sound could be heard – a scraping here, a shuffling there, sometimes the odd scratch or sigh. The air was charged with the sensation that something could happen at any moment, and yet, despite the noises, despite the feeling that something was off... nothing.

"This sucks," said Nytetrayn, who activated the scanners in his helmet to see if he could pick up any sort of... well, anything.

"I want my floodlights back," Xenos whined.

Instead of floodlights, Xenos instead received a sudden slash across his back as something blue flashed by, leaving claw marks etched into his armor. The Air Pirate yelped as he fell flat on his face.

"Ack!" yelled Janine, who caught a glimpse of the assailant, and fired a uselessly late blast..

As Xenos got back to his feet and activated his saber, Fenix stood still and closed his eyes, bowing his head slightly. "Whatever this is, we can't see it, and apparently even infrared sensors are useless. If we can't use our eyes, we have to rely on our other senses."

"Great," said Nytetrayn. "We're under attack, and you're channeling Master Splinter." He proceeded to spray the hall in front of him with fire from the laser rifle. "Okay, now let's hope that means there's nothing in front of us now."

Indeed, there seemed to be nothing in the tunnel ahead of them. However, there were still footsteps which came from... above them.

Fenix whirled and fired his Gatling Arm at the walls, while Nytetrayn shot at the ceiling. He heard a hiss just before Fenix was knocked to the ground by another blue flash. He let out a grunt at the attack, while Nytetrayn fired at the ceiling above where Fenix had stood.

"Dammit!" yelled Xenos, as he unholstered his pistol as well. As he did so, he heard heavy breathing right behind him, prompting him to swing around and slash at whatever was there. The saber connected with something that screamed and left purple fluid behind. Xenos tried following up with a shot from his pistol for good measure, but to no avail, as the target of his aggression was no longer there.

Noting the fluid left behind, Nyte looked for something purple in the air, when a drop of purple fluid hit Janine on the shoulder. "Crap!" she yelled, leaping away as something heavy hit the ground where she had just been. Nyte and Fenix opened fire on the spot where Janine had just been, and a hideous scream rang out with a spray of purplish blood.

Xenos leaped at it with his blade, and something large stumbled backward, a purple and blue blur that was screaming in pain.

"Maybe we should, I dunno, interrogate it, before it's totally dead?" Nyte wondered aloud.

"Do we have to?" Fenix asked.

While the two Diggers pondered that, Janine kicked it in what she assumed was the head. The creature fell back, and it became visible, though the group immediately wished that it hadn't.

Vaguely humanoid in shape, the creature's skin was like that of a crocodile, mottled blue, purple, and green in color. The massive, clawed hands with which it had been attacking could now be seen, as well as feet which resembled both paws and hooves. Its heads were spherical, with bulbous, insectoid eyes and large mouths filled with jagged teeth.

Stranger still were the half-dozen tubes which hung from its stomach down to its knees, which pulsed and contracted rhythmically, as though breathing. Behind it was another, larger tube, which bore a conspicuous musculature and circle of teeth around the opening, which looked capable of biting... or sucking... on something.

"Uh, hello?" Nyte said, as Fenix backed away slowly. "We mean you no harm...?

The creature suddenly lurched forward, slashing at Janine with its claws, as it screamed in an unholy manner. Janine leaped back behind Nyte, shouting "Kill it! Kill it!"

Nyte opened fire with the Nyte-Buster. "Fine! In that case, we mean you lots of harm!"

As Nyte's shots made the fiend recoil, Fenix pulled out his grenade launcher and let one rip when it was clear of the others, resulting in an ear-piercing screech as the creature fell over and died.

"Okay," said Fenix. "That was gross."

"Let's hope that's the last we see of one of those," Nyte added, before turning to Janine, who was clutching tightly to Nyte and shivering. "You okay?" he asked as he patted her on the back, something he was only slightly getting more used to.

Fenix patted her on the shoulder, and said, "S'okay, he's dead now."

Xenos added, "He won't be back. We should get going."

"Right," Janine said as she nodded, then kicked the corpse in the nether regions quickly before moving on.

"Ouch," said Nyte. "Adding injury to... er, death, I see. You going to be okay?"

"Yeah," she said. "Kicking things in the nads is very therapeutic."

"I'll keep that in mind," Fenix said, as the group moved on.

To no one's surprise at this point, the path soon split into three directions. The geometry of the tunnel had become considerably less disorienting at this point, almost as though they'd gotten used to it. Despite this, they very nearly tripped over a stone casket in the middle of the floor before they saw it. Well, except for Fenix, who did trip over it with a yelp.

"You alright, Fenix?" asked Xenos.

"Yes," he said as he sat up. "I'm just dandy."

Examining the object, Nyte said, "It appears to be a stone casket..."

"We got that, Nyte," said Xenos.

"Should we open it?"

"Don't we usually?" asked Janine.

"Good point," said the younger Digger before he lifted the lid carefully.

Inside, they found a mass of gray, fleshy ropes, like the remains of numerous worms. Though the substance was organic in nature, it was also very clearly dead. Underneath the unsavory material, the corner of a metallic object could be spotted.

Nyte carefully removed it, and discovered that it was a Buster Part. More precisely, it was called the "Blast Expander," which significantly increased both a weapon's damage and energy.

"Wicked!" said Nyte with a delighted grin on his face.

"What's that doing here?" asked Xenos.

"Good question," said Nyte. "Okay, who here has a Buster?" Nyte raised his own hand, while Xenos grumbled and Fenix's right eye grew slightly larger behind his visor.

"Going once... going twice... sold! To the handsome gentleman in the fine hat!" Nyte said, installing the part with a smile. "I wonder if anything else is in here," he wondered.

"Go ahead and keep at it," said Xenos. "We'll just... uh.. play cards."

"Okay," Nyte said with a shrug, before converting to Buster mode and blasting at the organic material, much to Xenos' wide-eyed disbelief. "Dang," he said, after finding nothing else in there. "Hmm," he pondered. "I wonder if my scanner might have worked. Oh, well. Spilt milk, and all that."

"And potentially blasted relics," said the Pirate.

Nyte replaced the lid as he spoke. "Nah, it's clean. Well, clean as something like this can be, anyway. Shall we move on?"

"We shall," said Fenix, "but which branch to take?"

"We could use the scientific method," Nyte said.

"And which scientific method is that?" asked Xenos.

"I can guess," said Fenix.

"Observe," said the young Digger. As the others watched, he walked to the center and pointed at the first passageway...

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe..."

"I knew it!" Xenos shouted.

"Oh, fine. You come up with something better, then."

"Oh, continue. I just happened to know it."

Nyte continued, as Janine giggled, then stopped as Nyte landed on the first hall. "Guess we go with el-numero uno," he said.

"Sounds good," said Xenos, as he and Fenix started down that hallway. Nyte began as well, but Janine pulled Nyte aside for a moment.

"Um, Nyte," she said. "You didn't use your 'scientific method' to make any other decisions recently, did you?"

For a moment, Nyte stood like a deer caught in headlights, before saying, "Come on, we don't want to lose track of the others!" And with that, he took off down the first hall after them. After a moment of stunned silence, Janine floated down the tunnel behind them, as well.

The path made an abrupt angle, as it led back to the right. In the outside edge of the corner, there was a door in the wall, a smooth panel made of what appeared to be a polished black stone.

"Hmm," Nyte said. "I wonder what a door like that would be worth..."

"How do we open it?" asked Fenix.

"With the power of our friendship!!!" said Nytetrayn, who then looked from person to person to person.

"...no," said Xenos.

"Then again, we'd be lucky to open a can of those little sausages with the pull-ring if we used that."

Xenos decided to try pushing on it, which resulted in the door sliding open at the touch, which revealed a long, dimly-lit tunnel made of the same polished substance as the door.

"See, I've never had trouble with push and pull doors," Xenos said.

"Xenos is stronger than the power of our friendship," said Fenix.

"So is your breath," said Nytetrayn. "Let's go."

Fenix chuckled as he and the rest followed Xenos down the hall. Eventually, it opened into a vast, domed room. The room was hundreds of feet wide, as well as high, and in the center was an even darker spot: a hole which itself must have been at least fifty feet wide.

"Wow," said Nyte. "That hole must be at least fifty feet wide."

Xenos smacked him in the back of the head. "Stop that."

As the Diggers took in the spectacle, Fenix began counting down. "Four... three... two..."

Just then, a door slammed shut behind the Diggers.

"Right on cue," Fenix said, drawing his sabers from his back.

"Ah! Combat once again," said Xenos, as a loud noise echoed through the cavern, like a moan of pain from the gullet of a creature many times the size of a man. "I should, uh... probably get away from the hole," he said, flipping back and away from its edge.

"This oughta be fun," said Janine, as something very large, long, and grey slithered forth out of the hole: a massive, slimy tentacle, whose underside was dotted with suckers like those of an octopus.

"Oh no," said Fenix, taking a defensive stance. "I've seen how this anime ends."

Nyte and Xenos opened fire on it, causing it to wriggle and send another scream echoing through the cavern. More tentacles appear, at least a dozen, followed by two longer, thinner appendages bearing clawed, skeletal hands at their ends.

Nyte stood his ground and kept firing, while Xenos ran around the edge of the pit, taking potshots at the hands.

Finally, the center of the tentacled mass appeared, a massive human head with stringy black hair and pale gray skin, speckled with patches of oozing, black rot. Its white eyes stared outward at nothing, or possibly everything. The mouth was opened wide, as it let out another terrifying scream.

Xenos took a shot at one of its eyes, resulting in yet another awful scream as it shot a hand out at the Air Pirate. Xenos leaped back and slashed at the hand with his saber, while Fenix pulled out his Plasma Caster and loaded a charge, Janine fired beams of energy at it, and Nyte switched to targeting the head.

The monster screamed again, now taking out its anger on Janine as it lashed out at her with one of its tentacles. She let out a pained cry of her own as she was whipped across the room. It then screamed again as it turned its attention to Nytetrayn, whose shots had managed to open up a wound upon its head, and launched more tentacles at the shadowy-clad Digger.

"Perfect," Nyte said as he leaped up and over the attack and landed on the tentacle. He then ran up it until he got within point-blank range of the head, then started firing rapidly at it. The creature's cry was earth-shaking, as it lashed out at Nyte's face with another tentacle. It knocked Nyte off to the side, but he grabbed a tentacle and raced back to the head to retaliate, and shot the beast in the eyes.

Meanwhile, Fenix unleashed his plasma blast at the back of the thing's head, while Xenos dashed to catch Janine.

Fountains of blood poured forth from the creature's eyes as it screeched and retreated back towards the safety of the pit.

"Oh no you don't!" Fenix shouted, as he lunged at the creature and slashed it across its face with his beam sabers. It shrieked in pain, slashing at Fenix with its clawed hand tentacles, and shook back and forth in rage.

Nytetrayn leaped atop the head, and fired down into it, while Xenos took another shot at the eyes, and Fenix finished the job by stabbing it through the mouth. The creature fell over onto its side and lolled there, messing up the floor.

"I... feel almost guilty," Xenos said.

Janine looked at Xenos and said, "You're joking."

"What for?" Nyte asked.

"We just sort of shot first again. Ah, well."

"You know, we did," said Fenix, as he clapped Nyte and Xenos on their shoulders. "I've taught you well."

"Odds are still good it was going to try and eat us anyway," said Xenos.

"Meh," said Nyte. "It's become pretty obvious by this point. Now, then... is there anything of value to take here?"

The group looked at the mess of monster that laid before them.

"That was fairly pointless," Janine said.

"Okay, shall we move on, then?"

A light appeared at the end of the tunnel, as the corridor rejoined the other two branches before it continued on in another direction. On the floor in the middle of the junction sat two caskets of slimy green stone.

"Who wants to take a look?" asked Fenix.

"Aw, hell," said Xenos. "I'll do it."

"You do that," said Nyte.

Xenos flipped one of the caskets open, revealing it to be filled with small refractor shards.

"Lady luck smiles upon the pirate once more," Fenix said as Xenos tried to stuff them all away.

"Next one!" Xenos called out, as he pried the next box open to reveal a smaller, metal box labeled 'Bio Grenades.'

"Bio Grenades?" asked Xenos.

"Bio Grenades?" echoed Nyte.

"Bio Grenades," said Fenix. "Is that so hard of a concept?"

"No," said Xenos. "Just vague. I mean, what sort of biological are we speaking of?"

"Somehow deadly," I should hope."

"Or is it a biography grenade?"

"Don't be stupid, Xen."

"Alright," Xenos said, as he looked for some sort of fine print. "But anyway, if this thing creates a deadly cloud of poison gas, I'd kinda like to know."

"Same here," said Nyte.

"Ah, here we go! 'Warning: Disintegrates biological material on contact. Keep away from small children and stupid people.' See? This is good to know! That means I shouldn't let you or Nyte touch it."

"Yes, because I might shove it up your ass."

"I'd shove it up his nose, myself," said Nyte.

"Hey now," said Janine. "Play nice, boys."

"Which way?" asked Fenix.

"Any way."

"There are three: the two hallways we didn't take earlier that could have interesting stuff in them, and the way that goes forward. Do we explore a little or just move ahead?"

"Let's do a clean sweep of this one first."

"Okay then, right path or middle?"

"Right'd be the previous left," said Xenos.

"Okay then, left or middle?"

"Left works for me," said Nyte, and the group ventured off down the tunnel, Janine floating over their heads.

The path made an abrupt angle, as it led back to the right. In the outside edge of the corner, there was a door in the wall, a smooth panel made of what appeared to be a polished black stone.

"This again?" said Xenos, as Nyte pushed on it and it slid open at the touch, just as the one before did.

"You're losing your touch, dungeon," said Fenix.

"Bite me," came a disembodied voice, leaving Fenix with a bewildered expression on his masked face.

"Oh, so you finally heard it, huh?" said Nyte. "You'll miss him when we're gone."

A long, dimly-lit tunnel made of the same polished substance as the door opened up before them. Nyte led the way down the hall, and eventually, it opened into a vast, domed room. The room was hundreds of feet wide, as well as high. The floor was covered in a murky black water, with a thin bridge of stone leading a few hundred feet out to a platform that looked to be about sixty feet wide.

"Familiar," said Nyte. "But a different kind of familiar..."

After the group finished entering the chamber, a door slammed behind them. They pretty much ignored it, and went about testing the bridge before going ahead and crossing it.

As they approached the platform, a figure could be made out. It laid at the edge of the platform, halfway into the water. The part sticking out of the water looked like the upper torso of a man, but his skin was sickly green and hairless. Plus, he did not appear to be breathing.

"Great," said Xenos. "More zombies?"

At that, the man's head jolted up, and his blood-red eyes opened wide as he let out a shriek and slipped back into the water, with not even a ripple appearing upon its inky surface.

"Orrr... not."

Beneath the water moved something enormous, sending waves and ripples up to the surface. Its massive shape brushed against the bridge, shattering it into fragments that sunk to the bottom of the pool.

"Dammit," said Fenix, while Xenos sighed and armed himself.

"There goes our ride home," said Nyte.

"I can carry you guys back over," said Janine. "Except... the door's closed, right."

"It's time to fight," said Xenos.

"That should be the name of our mixtape," Nyte said, before adding, "Note to self: make a mixtape for the next time Fenix picks the ruin."

Fenix said, "I really am never going to hear the end of this, am I–"

Suddenly, a massive creature broke through the surface of the water, somewhat reminiscent of a sperm whale in shape, but with larger jaws filled with massive teeth. Where there would be pectoral fins, there were only wrinkles across a rubbery body that was several hues of cream and brown mottled together, giving it the appearance of a bizarre waterbound slug.

"EW," said Xenos.

Nyte fired a few shots from his Buster up at the creature, then paused. "Oh, wait, I think I know how this one goes," he said. "We wake it up, and it sends us all home. Except maybe Jan. She might be turned into a seagull."

"Wait, what?!" Jan said.

Before they could discuss it any further, the creature dove back into the depths of the water below. As Xenos tried to figure out a good angle from which to shoot it, the creature came back up to the surface and circled the platform, but it did not attack. Fenix had his Gatling Arm ready and Nyte activated the Nyte-Buster, but neither made a move to fire... yet.

Remaining under the surface of the water, the creature approached the part of the platform where the Diggers stood, then abruptly reared out of the pool and opened its mouth, revealing a long, fleshy appendage that was about the same thickness as a man's waist. This made sense, when at the end was the human torso the group had seen before.

Janine squeaked at the sight and hid behind Fenix.

"Aaaiiieee!!!" the creature yelled. "What ungodly things are you?!"

"Funny," said Nyte, "we were just about to ask you the same thing."

"Really? I thought you were just shooting at me."

"Eh, yeah. But in our defense, most everyone else down here hasn't been much of a talker. They mostly seem to want to kill us for no good reason. We just sort of figured you were another one of those."

"Yeah," added Xenos.

After a moment of staring at the Diggers and blinking, it said, "Oh. Well, I guess that's understandable. Hmmm, lessee... bipedal, mostly bald... oh, wait! You're humans, right?"

"Well, I'm not sure about him," Nyte said, gesturing at Fenix, "and she's not really... but... uh..."

"Well, they are," Janine said. "I'm a Reaverbot."

"Ahhhh...ahhh, Diggers then, I take it?" asked the creature.

Nyte gestured with his thumb at Fenix again. "He and I are Diggers. She's sort of an... assistant-Digger!"

"Kinda," added Xenos, still a little cautious. "I'm a Pirate, actually. But, here I am."

"The seventh human age, then... interesting. For as long as I've been asleep, I thought the Nuhvok had taken over."

"Uh... Nuhvok?" asked Xenos.

"Large insectoid creatures, composed mostly of what you call silicone, roughly... oh, eight of your feet in height, resemble beetles. They take over as the master race after the human race dies out."

"Yeee," Nytetrayn said, not liking the sound of that very much. "Anyway, I'm Nytetrayn, this is Fenix, Xenos, and Janine," he said, gesturing to each in turn. "And who might you be?"

Xenos nudges Nyte, pointing at a name displayed under the creature that says "Tsathoggua."

"I can see that, but I was hoping for more than a name," Nyte said.

"Well," said Tsathoggua, "that's hard to explain. See, I'm not really what you see before you, I was trapped in this body."

"...man, they sure picked one for you, didn't they?"

"My real form is far more... appealing, visually."

"So, you're not really a sperm slug?" Xenos asked.

"Yes."

"Who trapped you?"

"And what are you supposed to be," Nyte added.

"Unfortunately, with these mouthparts I can't pronounce my real name, or any of my old language..."

"Don't worry," said Nyte. "I think that's a bit of a stumper for us, too."

"I'm not sure what this body is supposed to be. It's a little better than you poor things, though.

"I dunno... these are pretty versatile," Nyte said, looking himself over.

"Hrm," was all that Xenos said, while Fenix nervously rubbed the back of his helmet

"As for the thing that trapped me, I really don't know. I do know my mind was caught in a trans-dimensional vortex, and then I was in this body. I recall seeing something that looked like a giant squid, though."

"So, any idea if there's a cure... or something?" Nyte asked.

Tsathoggua made a gesture resembling an awkward shrug. "Maybe, if I had my full faculties. But in this form, I'm sadly limited. A cruel irony..."

"Maybe we can help? Then you can tell us about the seventh age of humans, or whatever."

"You mean, you don't know?" Tsathoggua said, blinking in disbelief.

"Um... not exactly," Nyte said, looking to the others. "You guys know?"

Janine shook her head.

"Uh, nope," said Xenos. "Don't know anything about the end of the human race. Or that our history is cut neatly into seven ages."

"We don't even know anything about human history beyond what we know of the ancients," Fenix added.

"Indeed," Nyte said.

"Wow," Tsathoggua said, taking this all in as he settled down in the water so that he's up to his chest.

"We need to call you something," Nyte said. "How about 'Thog'?"

"That works."

"Cool," Nyte said. "So, Thog, can you tell us about these ages?"

"Well, human history started nigh over nine thousand years ago, if you use your method of measuring time, and measure history by the concept of time..."

"What else is there?" asked Nyte.

Thog chuckled. "I doubt I can explain the concept to you. See, unlike the true ascended races, humans are more like extremely intelligent animals. Marvelously technologically advanced, very intelligent, and possessing marvelous capacity for creation and destruction."

"Heard that one before," said Xenos.

"But you have limited capacity for vision, for instance, your insistence upon believing that time is a linear force. Consider dogs—they're intelligent animals, but they're colorblind. They can't see the whole picture. Humans, similarly, can only observe an event as it happens, and except for a few rare individuals, can only encompass one point of view as they do so."

"Well," Xenos said. "That statement makes a lot of what you've said make more sense."

"I suppose..." said Nytetrayn, the others nodding.

"I'm afraid I can't explain it much better than that," Thog said. "Your language just doesn't have words for this kind of thing. The terms 'dimension'... 'time'... 'space'... they're so limited. The inuit have numerous words that fit the English translation of 'snow,' but they all describe a different kind of it, a different way of seeing it, a different way of observing and describing the thing that is snow."

"...maybe if you could draw us a picture?" Nyte suggested.

"With only three dimensions?

"Maybe not," Fenix said.

"Oh, god," said Xenos. "How many do you use?"

"Y'know," Nyte said, "I've always wanted to know more about that. We have height, width, and depth. What else is there?"

"Well, I can't explain it really well," said Thog. "I was a historian, really. But there are more, and each master race can see different ones. My race, for instance, knew of twenty-five."

"Wow," said Nyte.

"That's... fairly... incredible," Fenix said.

"I was thinking like, eight," said Xenos. "Twenty-five?!"

"It can be disorienting, at times," Thog said. "My kind never developed a drink that caused inebriation, but if one became dizzy..."

"We have that. Um, I don't know we have any with us, but we definitely have drinks that'll mess you right the hell up," Nyte said with a smile.

"Yes, I am quite aware of that. I once visited your sixteenth century and entered a tavern.... but, that's beside the point..."

Xenos ran his hand down his face.

"As I was saying, the history of the human race is generally divided into seven sections, or ages, if you will. The first age, after your kind came into being, is called the Stone Age by your historians... or was, when they remembered it... Civilization was fairly rudimentary, with crude levels of technology and social structure."

"You soon grew out of that, of course... The high point of the first era came in Mesopotamia and Egypt, when cities first came into existence. Amazing levels of organization among the people, great edifices of stone were erected, building projects that rival even the works of my world..."

"That eventually gave way to the classical age, however, with the Greeks and Phoenicians. This is sometimes also called the Sadist age, for it was during this period that your kind first displayed its amazing capacity for causing your own species to suffer."

Nytetrayn nodded, only half-understanding. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on why.

"That age ended with the roman empire, a marvelous thing, a golden age with little competition for the next few millennia. Alas, it was conquered by other, less advanced peoples in the end."

"The Dark Ages followed.... Interestingly, it was at this point that elaborate suits of armor first came into widespread use, a tradition that continues to this day."

"Nyte looked himself over at this. Xenos made a thoughtful sound.

"Coming after that is what the inhabitants call the Modern Age, an era when much of the human race's former glory was restored. Technological advances came at a rapid pace, computers revolutionized communications, but that was only a precursor of what would ultimately change the face of the planet: artificial intelligence. I must admit, no other master race has discovered a way to artificially create intelligence. It was a unique achievement."

"Unfortunately, the Robot Age was torn by some of the worst wars of existence, especially when a noted scientist created a way to gift them with emotional response..."

Xenos looked at Janine, who was as surprised as anyone. This was all news to her.

"Well, I'll be," said the Air Pirate. "She's our greatest achievement ever."

"Wow," said Nytetrayn, as Thog proceeded to examine her. "Ah yes... the rare techno-organic type..."

"Techno-organic...?" she said.

"After the Robot Age, one of the earliest of the fabled 'Mega Man' model 'bots led the world into a new age of peace and prosperity..."

The smile dropped from Nyte's face, as he continued to listen to Thog, more intently now than before.

"This was the age of the people that you call the Ancients," Thog continued. "They created a way to synthetically create organic tissue, and used it to create a new kind of robot. Unfortunately, this led to one of the worst wars yet, and the techno-organic Reaverbots were enslaved or destroyed for attempting to commit genocide."

Janine's eyes became the size of large dinner plates. "We... wha...? What... what the hell are you talking about!? I... never...!"

The others were stunned. Fenix raised an eyebrow. "You're saying Jan's race tried to wipe out human kind?"

Nyte looked at Janine.

Thog nodded. "Under the leadership of a Reaverbot by the name of Sherman East, they rebelled and attempted to destroy all remnants of human society."

Janine looked ill.

"She couldn't have," said Xenos.

"She did try to kill us when we first met," Fenix recalled. Janine gave him a stricken look.

"Well, that was her job," Nyte said. "That, and listening to mechanical kangaroos thump around for all eternity. We don't even know if she was a part of the killing..."

"I think I'd remember something like this!" Janine shouted.

"They could easily have erased her memory. Probably would have..." Thog said. "Oh, the kangaroos? Yes, that was a common form of punishment."

"Finally, an explanation for the kangaroos!" exclaimed Xenos.

"Like I said, your race has an unusual talent for cruelty," Thog said.

Janine sobbed, and Nyte gave her a pat on the back. "Come on, Jan... it's in the past now."

"Are you okay?" Xenos asked her.

"Maybe," she said. "Or maybe it's not. What if... if all that comes back someday?"

"We can deal with it then," Nyte said, resolutely.

Fenix nodded. "I mean, we took you out once before, right?"

Janine smiled, a little.

"Nice, Fenix," said Nyte. "Real nice."

"We won't let it happen, Jan." Xenos said.

Tsathoggua rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Anyway, after that there was a few more years before the enigmatic great disaster, which caused most of the planet's land to be submerged beneath the seas."

"Which brings us to the present age, where you have little or no recollection of your past, and small remnants of a once glorious technology. You should die out in... oh, another thousand years or so."

"That's.... really cheerful," said Fenix.

"Indeed," Nyte concurred.

"Thanks!" said Thog. "Anyway, I have a request for you, now that this is all over and done with."

"Sure," said Nyte. "What?"

"See, I was brought here against my will, by something called the Reanimator, and this whole cave thing is really boring. So, could you please kill me?"

"Uh..." Nyte stammered, while one of Fenix's eyebrows raised.

"I won't fight back, just.... um, a shot through the chest, should suffice," Thog said, flicking a hand at the door through which they had entered, reopening it.

"Isn't there... something else we can do? Like, I dunno. There a way to change you back?"

"I've tried, God knows I've tried. Just, please..."

Nyte looked to Fenix. "You want to do the honors? Seems like some of the stuff he said put you in the mood–"

Just then, a shot rang out as a beam of energy tore through Tsathoggua's chest, and Janine floated back down to the platform from above.

Nyte waved to Thog's sinking body. "Rest well..."

He turned to the others. "So... what do you guys think of what he said?"

"Rather fascinating," said Fenix, "but considering he said he comes from another dimension, he could be screwed in the head."

"That's true. Let's get out of here, shall we?"

"Yes, please."

"Hmm... no bridge."

At that, Janine just grabbed Xenos under the armpits and flew him over to the other side, then returned and did the same for Nytetrayn and Fenix, giving them quite a view of the place in the process.

"Thanks," said Nytetrayn.

"Yer welcome!"

"So, shall we?"

"Yes, please," said Fenix.

As they headed out the door, Nyte said, "Too bad we couldn't help him, somehow."

"I think killing him helped," said Xenos.

"It's what he wanted," said Janine. "Could you imagine being trapped like that in a place like this for so long?"

"Well, he's different from us," said Fenix. "Maybe death freed him at last?"

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Nyte said, still not entirely confident in the answer.

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