Realm of the Nine Circles: A LitRPG Novel by P. Joseph Cherubino & Amy Hopkins

Author:P. Joseph Cherubino & Amy Hopkins [Cherubino, P. Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Cherubino Press
Published: 2017-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The Noble Four, healed, buffed and rested, travelled on. An uneasy quiet had fallen between them as they contemplated the near-loss of the last encounter, and the near-certainty that the next one would be harder again. A trick like Kalmond had pulled was a rare thing. A universal realization settled over the party unspoken. There would be no easy escape from the next one.

The passage narrowed and the torches along the walls were spaced closer together. Bare stone became crumbled rock, which became dirt.

Keerna winced as something brushed her hair. A spiderweb trailed down from the tunnel ceiling, but that wasn’t what brought her hand to her mouth to stifle a scream. Thornbark slammed into her back, muttering an apology before looking up to see what had halted her steps. It took him a moment to sort the shapes from the shadows. When he made out the first tortured, withered head he swallowed, hard. When he realised the entire roof above him was crowded with them, he squealed, then retched to one side.

“That’s disgusting,” he said, voice shaking. “How’d they get them up there, anyway?”

“Some level designer on an acid trip probably made them,” Thuglar said. His own voice wasn’t much steadier.

Kalmond ushered them on, resolutely refusing to turn his eyes from the floor. Whatever was up there, he did not want to know about it. “Come on. It’s just decoration.”

The ‘decorations’ soon overflowed down the walls, turning a weary trudge down a passageway into a sickening journey, edging past outcroppings so no one had to touch the shrivelled heads. Each one was locked into a scream, hollow eyes above a mouth stretched wide. Some had hair; some did not. All looked to be incredibly old, which did nothing to lessen the horror.

Finally they reached a branch in the route. The left passageway was narrow, dark. The right was wider, well lit with torches and thankfully empty of adornments.

“Which way?” Thuglar asked.

“Right,” Kalmond said, just as Keerna pointed to the left.

“Kal, you know the drill,” she said. “Take the easy route last.”

“Doesn’t always work out that way,” he said. “Besides, we should be nearly done. Let's head straight for the boss and get the hell out of here.”

Keerna frowned. From what she’d heard of his reputation, it wasn’t like Kalmond to argue for a shortcut—not at work, and not in game. “What’s going on?” she asked, finally. The others stayed silent, waiting for his answer.

Kalmond turned haunted eyes her way. “Holly… after what we’ve seen? I just need a break, ok. If it looks like we need to come back, we will. I just need to get my head straight again. I can’t do that aced with what’s probably the heads belonging to the… the stuff we saw outside.”

The brains, she realised. He doesn’t think this was design work… he thinks it’s the game itself. Certainty dropped into her gut like a lead weight. The game designers worked under strict guidelines—they had to, to keep the rating accessible for the maximum audience.

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