Aruna and Kaivalya were eating at the butchery. The animals were seperated by one of the cooks that was preparing meals for guards so they could focus on patrolling.

The two nomads ate their part in front of the staff leaving them mortified.

The little boy had the idea of asking around while Aruna was stuffing herself silly with the insides of animals.

-"Know anything about adventurers passing by recently?"

-"Oi, ye miss’em they said they be goin to da pit."

-"Dapit? What is that?"

-"Ah dunno, mate. Tis’ like sum kinda adventurer spot. Nevah wen’ down ‘ere meself. I swear on me mum, dey didn stop talkin about eet."

-"Huh? Why is that?"

-"Said sumthin bout makin the mos’ of a quest. It be like sum kind of trial hole, or sum such. Ya could wait fo’ em to return ‘ere."

-"No dice. We’re in a hurry here. We need to get to an adventurer establishment."

-"Ah. Ye, mos doods wudn kno where it be."

-"Where the pit at, gentleman?" Asked the boy.

-"Dunno. Ask bern, he liv three doors right to manor."

Aruna fell to the floor feeling full. Her long black hair fell everywhere, yet retained their unique shape. Each large strand of hair diverted into smaller strands of hair. Like a branch with leaves, but replaced with spiky untameable ends of hair sticking out. 

She rolled and it wrapped around her like a thin cocoon. She stopped when the exchange ended.

-"What’s so special about a pit? Why would anyone go there?" She asked.

-"Sum say it’s bottomless." the cook simply said.

-"Well, this should be interesting" Commented the young boy, "Let’s go."

-"Can I take a moment to digest? I need to take a nap. It’s kinda late too."

-"You really want to take your time? Right now?"

Several thin pointy protrusions of keratin appeared on the girl’s hand. She slapped her upper chest, drawing blood.

It was painful, but it jerked her awake. All need to sleep was gone. The hand was removed, relieving pressure on the wound and letting blow flow out. Some reached the floor, making red dots.

-"Right. I guess I’m not sleeping tonight."

They walked out leaving stunned night workers to themselves.

The walk didn’t take long. They reached the building lot a few plots of land away that had a much bigger building at the center. 

The two nomads arrived before it and began counting houses they went passed. 

-"This one." Pointed out Aruna.

-"It’s locked. What luxury, they paid a locksmith. It’s all yours."

-"With pleasure."

A partial transformation later, she kicked the door off its hinges and into the first room slamming against its wall. The building shook. 

-"HUH?!" Yelled what they guessed to be Bern. 

-"Bring us to the pit." Demanded Kaivalya

The man yelled out for the guards but found his lips stuck together. An acrid taste filled his mouth. He recognized pine sap.

-"We won’t hurt you." Said the taller intruder.

She didn’t even wait for an answer. He found himself carried out of his own home on the shoulder by some unknown woman.

Kaivalya took the door placed it in front and used sap to glue it to the frame so it didn’t look broken. 

They looked around for guards and found many groups of them. They hadn’t noticed them coming in. What tunnel vision. 

Also, there were way more of them than in the other village. What favoritism. 

Bern tried to shake himself free by kicking and punching but nothing seemed to work. Her grip didn’t fail. He suddenly felt embarrassed as he went to sleep with only his underwear. The breeze of the night made him shiver.

He tried to push himself off his captor and managed to slip away. As soon as he fell to the ground, it became a hole. The walls of it were made of stone. A well had formed around him in an instant trapping him. It was too large for him to climb between two walls. They didn’t seem to have anything to climb on, as if it was a single big rock.

-"I said, bring us to the pit. Stop resisting or your hole is also going to be bottomless." Asked kai.

-"Why are you doing this to me?"

-"We want to meet adventurers as soon as possible. Our collective future depend on it."

-"How did you-?"

-"I’m a nature spirit. Something happened to a forest and its quickly spreading over the land killing things that aren’t part of it. I can’t let it spread further but I need to find a way to stop it. You are our best bet. Someone told us you knew about the pit and adventurer went in. Help us."

There was a silence.

-"Can’t you just ask me for directions?"

-"We’d like to make sure to reach the pit."

-"Do you often pull people out of their homes?"

-"Yes."

-"Stop doing that."

-"Is it a problem?"

-"Of course it is!"

-"Why?"

-"You can’t enter people’s homes!"

-"Why?" 

-"Because it’s their space. It belongs to them."

-"Ah. That explains it. We’re nomads we don’t have a space."

-"Can’t you at least give something in exchange?"

-"We don’t have money, but I’m sure we’ll find a way to compensate you."

-"Fine. I’ll do it."

Bern saw the two figure above go away for a moment, he thought they left. He eventually saw a vine extend down from the surface. He grabbed it and was pulled up the hole. 

Aruna was the one pulling and Kai produced the vine from the ground.

The breeze hit his torso again. 

-"Can I get a shirt?"

-"Sure!" Offered Aruna.

She began pulling up the wet bloody rag of a shirt she was wearing and handed it over.

-"You know, I’ll be fine." Said the unwilling guide crossing his arm around his chest. "It’s this way. I guided the adventurers to the pit. I’ll say it right now, those people are probably dead. The pit is no joke."

-"Lets hurry then." Simply said Kaivalya.

-"But they have days ahead of you, they aren’t back yet and they didn’t seem to be overly prepared either. Hell, we’re not prepared either!"

-"We’ll try to outpace them."

-"Fine suits yourself."

They began walking and after an hour they reached a gigantic hole in the ground. It looked like a crater. 

-"This is the pit. Now lets go back."

-"We’re not going back. You are."

-"You want me to go back alone? Just me? In my underwears no less? I can’t! The roads are too dangerous!"

-"Then you’re coming with us."

-"Oh. No. No. NO. There’s no way I’m ever going in there. So many people go in but don’t come out."

-"It’s that or you will be alone."

-"UGH. FINE."

The three slid down. Here and there were cylinders of metal. They seemed artificial but not man-made. 

-"You go in one of these to enter the pit." Explained Bern.

-"You’re a great guide Bern!" Said Aruna with a slap to his back.

He felt ashamed about receiving the compliment. Well, more ashamed about how embarrassed it made him. Who know that this was going to be how his talent would be recognized. He then remembered another thing.

-"Another thing. Creatures in the pit aren’t normal. Something drew them to the pit. So they aren’t limited to local species. Both monsters and adventurers are drawn here. I’m not either one of them, so I don’t know why that is. It’s just... there’s something unsettling about it. Thats all I wanted to say."

-"If you says so." Said Aruna

The unwilling partner turned around surprised. Surprised, he looked at his two captors. Anyone would have vomited in terror simply coming in the cabin. He had seen them often and he couldn’t exactly grasp how they made him feel. It was so sleek in design. Yet, it felt like it was made for torture. Seeing his two companions so resolute and indifferent inspired him with courage. They seemed inhuman. Like a child watching an adult, he looked at them in wonder. There was even a bit of excitement in him. He had the opportunity to enter the pit with human-like people of such unusual character. He’d be escorted, plus, he’d see things only the best could describe. Even better, he was going to rescue adventurers and not the other way around!

With such thoughts in his mind, he closed the hatch of the cylinder and everything went dark. It began descending slowly. Then it accelerated and kept accelerating. So began their way to the pit.

Eventually, there was a moment where it felt like they were actually falling. 

It came from everywhere at once. Everything began shaking. The sound echoed everywhere, it felt like it came from within the earth. It pierced the uneasy silence like a knife through butter. It felt ominous and overpowering.

It wasn’t a constant rumble. Almost like steps. Something was going on nearby. What could possibly make this?

Eventually, the room stopped shaking. The sound stopped. 

They began decelerating slowly until it stopped. Then the hatch opened.

Already, the atmosphere felt heavy. The trio felt a pressure on their body, inside their head and in their lung.

They were far, far underneath the surface. So far that air felt rare. Bern felt like he was going to explode or fall unconscious. 

There was an abundance of light. The floor was emitting it. It wasn’t too bright, but seeing a light source from underneath rather than above was disorienting. 

Here and there were colourful sources of light moving around.

Aruna immediately knew that they were monsters. 

She thought about the situation. If you became exhausted in here, you would probably get chased and killed. 

An interesting challenge. The goal here isn’t to be stronger. The goal is to be the most efficient creature on the floor. Even the strongest could become the weakest. More muscle mass meant needing more air. Being heavier meant having to do more effort to move around. Carrying a weapon meant getting tired quicker. Running away meant giving up on being able to defend yourself. Wearing armor meant not being able to last long. Even if someone was trained to be able to wear heavy armor for a long time, that meant only being useful a little longer. You only gain endurance from body conditioning. You don’t recover faster and even if you could recover faster, it only meant staying useless a little less longer. Taking a minute to recover rather than two doesn’t matter if you are crushed after 25 seconds. 

Learning was just the surface. Improving wasn’t enough. Becoming a master here may not even guarantee earning the passing grade. The cylinder size meant people could only arrive in small groups that were dispersed through the floor. 

Actually, maybe it wasn’t even a floor. What if every entry way lead to a different one? If that was the case, you will never receive help outside the group. Plus with the many entryways people couldn’t simply talk to one another about the first part of the pit. 

Aruna left the odd chamber and entered the room. 

Immediately, she learned something when her bare feet hit the ground. 

Sounds. The area dispersed any sound extremely well. All it took was a sneeze to get cornered and die. 

This further punished the strong. Raw power would only bring you trouble in here.

Aruna realized she was outmatched here. Senses meant nothing. What good would smell do if every monster was glowing? What good would superior hearing do if everyone could hear almost anything? Anyone who has sight could distinguish a source of light so having a better one was useless. 

This was an equalizer. Most would meet their limit here and it was only the first room.

They had to meet the adventurers and get out. How would they leave? Scratch that how would they even meet up with the adventurers in here? How far would they be in the pit?

Aruna stepped back in the room after stepping outside and closed the hatch again. 

Nothing moved. The cabin stood exactly still, mechanisms that would bring it up to the surface didn’t show any sign of activating.

The young woman wiped a bit of could sweat on her face and turned to the two confused men in the room. 

-"Alright. Any suggestions? I’m having second thoughts here."

She felt something that worried her. The pressure on her respiratory system was very slowly increasing . The cabin was either sealed shut or air was being vacuumed out. They couldn’t stay in the cabin to plan ahead without hyperventilating.

There was sound outside, it’s source appeared to be moving. Apparently, the hatch couldn’t be closed without making sounds and alerting monsters. 

It appears both pressure, depth and ventilation has been accounted for. It should have higher pressure, yet, it was lower. 

-"I don’t understand this place. My power comes from the earth. Within a cave or underground, I should be second to none. Yet, I don’t think life can be made here. The walls feel... unnatural. Anything produced by the earth is useful to me, yet these were transformed. I can’t reach the earth beyond it. I will have to use myself as a source." explained the spirit.

-"The air is bad here. Can you feel it?" Asked the huntress

-"Apparently not. Maybe it’s because my form is only partially physical." The boy said.

-"I know. I’ll transform completely and get ourselves out of here."

Hearing her say that with a straight face made Bern’s skin crawl. He had noticed Aruna wasn’t human, but he hadn’t expected this.

-"Maybe you can outrun monsters, but we don’t know the layout of this place. You will only gather them."

-"I can be a distraction then!"

Bern couldn’t believe his ears. If only he could have a fraction of that confidence... actually, scratch that. It would only bring him issues.

-"You’ll get cornered. We don’t know the exit." 

Bern suddenly felt himself start to lose hope. The air felt too heavy. He realized that suddenly he couldn’t breathe well anymore. He curled into a ball.

-"I’m gonna die. We’re all gonna die. I shouldn’t have trusted random strangers." He asked himself.

-"Okay. We stay together then. Let’s make as little noise as possible. I’ll kill what is in our way." Offered Aruna. 

-"Sure." Said the nature boy.

They opened the hatch and left. The little boy came back and answered the local resident.

-"Yep, you are completely right."

His arm became a large vine and coiled around Bern’s arm. It pulled him out forcefully and made him fly into the air. He felt his eyes get back inside his head as he accelerated. He landed in the room. It resonated hollow. His body ragdolled on impact and he rolled from the momentum before coming to a stop.

The human hurried to his feet. Lights and steps were approaching quickly. He finally saw the appearance of one. 

It ressembled the Warg he had heard of, but only in shape. It had no hairs. Its tissues were translucid. One saw its heart beat and muscles. Its teeth were on display at all times. On its face were two eyeballs, floating. Staring. Framed by distant bones. It’s flesh around it almost invisible. Its chest to the front had another organ that was giving off light the light.

The man turned heels and ran screaming. He knew he shouldn’t make noise but he couldn’t help it. He was so scared his gag reflex almost made him give back his lunch. 

He was running. How long? No one knows, time didn’t really matter now. 

Bern could see light before him, coming from behind him. It was getting brighter. He pushed his legs to the maximum, clenching his teeth. 

It suddenly disappeared. He had no idea of where he was going. It was dark but all around him were sounds. 

Maybe the light were leading to the exit? He hoped so. His lungs were already trying to recover, but he couldn’t stop now even if they felt like they were on fire.

The villager reached the lit area and saw a hatch in the distance after turning a corner. 

The man made a run for it. From nowhere, another creature appeared. It was right next to him this time, he could almost reach and touch it’s oily skin. It was more than twice its height and about to pounce on him.

Bern realized he made a mistake. Hiding was reversed. Monsters couldn’t hide in the dark. They could hide were the floor gave off light. He hadn’t notice the light it gave away among the other sources. He had passed a pillar and there it was. 

-"Watch out!" He heard behind him.

He turned back only to see two pungent, dirty feet approach his face quickly. One brushed his cheek leaving a trail of mud. His nose also picked up something foul pass by.

Turning back to the monster. The villager saw the girl with him swipe the strange warg across the neck. From 5 straight lines, blood bursted forth. Yet, Aruna wasn’t done.

The warg felt a sharp pain, yet it somewhat rejoiced. After waiting all this time, its meal came to him. It lowered its maw and anchored his jaw under the chin of his attacker. His maw came to a close on her neck.

His mouth was closed, yet he didn’t taste anything. His teeth hadn’t found anything to stop them from closing down completely.

It felt pain again. His attacked held herself by gripping the cut in his neck with her human hand.

With her transformed hand, she reached into the monster and found her target. The huntress gripped his luminescent organ, ripped it from its position and pulled it out along a wave of blood.

A rain fell on Bern. Tainting him red. The guide was finally glad he didn’t have clothes on and as disgusting as it was, the blood solved his problem with the cold. 

The creature cried out in pain before collapsing to the ground. 

His savior held out the bioluminescent item in triumph, still dripping with bodily liquids. 

Smaller creatures in the area scattered as the curtains of the fight drew to a close. 

Aruna had guessed correctly. Light also played a role in the dynamic between creatures. She looked down her transformed arm where new bite marks were. 

Something chomped down on her in the dark. It didn’t have any light and was black in color. The creature was small too. Her educated guess was that packs were formed and it was the lucky one that reached her. 

The man relaxed. He was speechless and a bit traumatised. Also, coming back from this was going to take a while. The huntress approached him. He had to say something. Between breaths he managed to summarize communication."

-"Thank you. Miss."

-"It’s Aruna. Here." 

She handed him the hot, shining, squishy, quaking monster gut dripping with blood. It made a nasty sound as it landed in his hands. It was large, heavy and veiny. The tissue texture was even more unpleasant.

-"That thing will keep you safe. Keep it on you and don’t let anything happen to it. Wait sagely by the exit for us to come back. I’ll go get Kai. If I don’t see you when i’m back I will skin you. Okay?"

Did she even have to ask?

His mouth moved on its own.

-"Okay."

His savior plunged into the darkness after his last syllable was pronounced. She hadn’t taken the path lit up.

Bern calmly made his way to the exit. None of the big monster were there. Many scary pairs of eyes were looking at him. 

He didn’t understand why the organ would keep him safe. Why the monsters kept their distance. Bern surprised himself by being calm, despite being surrounded by monster a little less than his height. He felt safe because that’s what Aruna said.

He chose to trust a complete stranger. 

His back resonated against the wall, next to the exit. The villager slowly slid down the floor, eventually reaching a ball. This time, he had a monster viscera giving off light against his chest. He was also covered in blood.

He still couldn’t really process what happened. 

Holy shit.

What a woman.