Catalyst Craft (Soulship Book 6) by Nathan Thompson

Author:Nathan Thompson [Thompson, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

“I mentioned it earlier,” I said out loud, for both Nestor and the Beacon’s benefit. “The creature can duplicate voices it hears. Those two languages probably belonged to the men who died defending the rainbow bridge. Expect the thing to duplicate other sounds as well, such as a child's voice or a small animal. Possibly even our own, if we get separated.”

Runes and carvings flickered to life all along the stone walls as Aurora suddenly shivered.

“Ooh.” The Eosian Beacon rubbed her shoulders. “That felt very strange. But I think the bridge deactivated.”

“Yeah,” Nova said as she and Mota shuddered next. “I felt it, too. This mission has been so weird. I feel like we’re getting punished for having such an easy time with all the other missions we’ve had on these planets. But if the bridge is gone, maybe we can contact Vessa now. Not that I understand why it prevented our reaching her in the first place.”

I didn’t either, but given how she was still able to contact us during the snowstorm, I couldn’t think of another explanation. I tried giving the connection a single tug, as if I was preparing to teleport.

The link felt barely active, but Vessa responded a few moments later.

Jasper? Nova? Are you alright? Can you finally hear me?

I could not help sighing in relief.

“Oh thank every outlawed religion,” Nova gushed out loud. “Vessa, we’re inside some mountain containing the remains of an ancient civilization. It seems to be derived from multiple people groups, and we're currently being haunted by at least one more of those wendigo things—which may or may not have been sent here by an early-stage Glorious-Jerkwad.”

Are you… Vessa’s voice trailed off temporarily, before returning in full-strength. In danger…now?

Nova gave me a concerned look.

“Vessa, you’re breaking up a bit,” my blonde friend said worriedly, “but no. A wendigo tried to follow us inside and fool us by disguising its voice, but well, Jasper.” She gestured dramatically in my direction. “So we kept it outside with fire until the door closed. We have no idea what else is down here though. The writing all claims this place is full of treasure and knowledge that is ours for the taking but must be kept away from the wendigo, but we don’t know if any of it is still here, or if it’s even going to be worth our time, since we already found all the treasures you sent us here for.” The valkyrie pointed to the cave’s ceiling. “So it’s up to you: do you want us to turn things into some classic archaeological adventure and search this place from top to bottom, or do you want us to just quit while we’re ahead and teleport back to the ship? And then maybe carpet-bomb this place until it’s one hundred percent creepy-folklore-free?”

My childhood friend winced and looked about.

“That was a long explanation,” she whispered to me, “do you think she caught it all?”

Yes…heard…everything… the Soulship’s main body replied, though with a noticeable delay between her words.

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