The Power of Ten

Chapter 13-355: A Legion Descends

“Heaven and Hell,” Legion swore, and their gaze flickered to Europe. Queen Rayetizvisha had known there was something down there, but had not bothered with the scale. It wasn’t her job... and again, Old Things lived down there.

Traveler had Commune with Nature going there when they had rescued her family, too.josei

That situation was even worse, with an incredibly developed subterranean world even more populated than North America. Traveler could only grimace and stare with deep interest, looking at the levels and networks and underground seas and magma chambers, feeling invisible hands of great power moving massive amounts of energy around to allow life to flourish there.

They looked to where Traveler had ridden along the coastlines, and saw that the Felldeep did indeed extend out under the oceans, but only along a few strong extensions, nowhere near the numbers and extensive arrays and levels present under the continents.

Detroit...

There were two cave systems reaching up to connect to Michigan. One came up into the salt caves under Detroit... and was directly beneath Heavenbound Hall.

They had known there was a link to the Felldeep there, as the allied crysmal that granted Earth Pacts dwelled below the Hall. Seeing the awareness of that cave system stretching out and down and connecting to a great cavern a mile below and a dozen miles away was a bit more in the face. After all, Master Fred had never gone down there, sticking to the city and surface above...

And Traveler’s awareness went out far more than a dozen miles, of course!

“That level of existences could not have possibly existed in reality before the Shroud,” Legion declared firmly. Geological surveys would have located them long ago... or even recently. “More pocket dimension nonsense, suppressed by the Shroud?” they deduced.

Traveler inclined her head. “Magic that could sustain a pocket dimension could certainly do so to the same area if forced back into reality, and if they all link up, you in effect form a planet-wide Formation that alters reality to suit its needs. Geological surveys basically involve setting off bombs and reading the echoes of the shockwaves. That is basically identical to very, very tiny earthquakes. How susceptible do you think such things are to earthquakes?”

“Not at all,” Legion sighed, shaking their head. “So, until you came in with a Commune with Nature, there was no way to sense these things...”

“Now consider how big the planet is, how fast I move, and how much mapping I can actually do.”

Legion frowned. “You are leaving the continental mapping to others who reach Nine or Ten... if the Druids are willing to do so.”

“Happily, there are Good people with biases for Nature. Shamanic Traditions are just that, traditions. They are gaining their Levels like everyone else, and will be able to start undertaking the work, even if not at the speed that I can.”

Legion nodded agreement. The workload had to be spread out and people had to take responsibility, especially now that the sheer scale of what the world they were on was gradually becoming more and more obvious to them.

An entire continent had been moved around and away. What was the Felldeep in comparison?

But a Hollow World... the mind boggled to consider such a thing even possible.

“Crap.” They suddenly realized the true significance of that. “It might have a Shroudzone...”

And that meant the Shroud would not go away until it was down.

Traveler smiled grimly. “So, do you know someone who can zip around very quickly and find out?” she asked with a sigh.

Legion quirked a small and regretful smile themselves...

--------

Legion Rode the Light down underneath the ice without difficulty, stepping from dim light to dimmer light, a brighter jagged ceiling that went on for miles, suspended over a yawning abyss of darkness.

There were undead creatures circling slowly above the empty, Div-Warded area below, part of the alarm and response system of those who controlled this area.

Devilsight and Watersight meant they had no problems whatsoever looking through the water down here; it was as clear and open as the sky. Combined with the Eyes of Heaven alerting them to Evil presences all around them, evading the undead sharks, orcas, squids, and even a mighty undead sperm whale wasn’t all that difficult for them.

The most basic Whim of a standard Wavepact let one hold their breath for an absurd amount of time, while the second tier let one breathe underwater. The Whim also gave you a Swim speed based on your Ranks in Swim and your Tier. Stacking all that on top of the basic hydrokinetic control borrowed via Binder from a nereid and sirine meant they were moving through the water more smoothly than a marlin, and even faster. The control of the water made for a smooth and controlled passage, tamping any waves of motion down to nothing around here so the likes of the fish and sharks couldn’t feel them at a distance.

It was the first time they’d truly undertaken any kind of a mission underwater, and the immensity of the ocean about them, slumbering power kept dormant by the Shroud, was truly impressive, little different than flying through the raw power of a great storm.

They could easily have spent hours swimming around, just experiencing the sensations and seeing the sights and fish of the deeps, and rapidly realized why Wavebound were often absent from land for so long. The nereid and sirine also exulted in the sensation, especially the total lack of danger from being so physically powerful and even more aware than they had been in the past.

The world under the sea was addictive with so much to see and do, and even in these waters with so many undead about, there were small fish, plankton, jellies, and the like drifting about in the eternal cycle of life.

The drifting life formed the visual restriction here, giving them a visual range largely dependent on the size of the objects. Since the powers here, the Illuminati being the most likely, were using large and mindless animal undead, it was simple to see them at a distance and avoid their patrol routes easily enough.

It looked like a volcanic crater below, but cold and dead, broken in places, and its true form obscured by collapses and time.

Something is wrong with that, they deduced, because that looked like something a submarine cruising by would read and ignore, so why would there be a Div Ward here?

They spiraled around and down, sinuous flows of water streaming past them, cloaking their passage as they headed for the bottom.

A lilitu’s True Sight kicked in when they were sixty feet away from the illusion, and an empty rocky sea bed covered with the cold dust and slime of millennia suddenly became something very different.

The top of a Dome of Force, encapsulating a land at the bottom of the sea.

It looked like a temperate forest of sorts, complete with bright sunlight (even brighter than the surface under the Haze). In the center of the forest, almost overgrown with flowering vines and creepers, was a stepped Pyramid in an ancient style, lofty and massive... and big enough to cap that shaft plunging into the depths entirely.

There was also a Black Sea Brine zombie standing on the Dome about every ten feet.

They quirked a small smile. If they were not invisible and wave-nulled, they would have been swarmed approaching this close to the Dome already. They surely could have escaped easily, but would have also raised an alarm. Traveler had said that Black Sea Brines were not mindless, if simple-minded. By their attire and hair styles, rotting yet enduring, they looked to mostly be taken from dead Slavs, although those standing over there looked like the remnants of a German submarine crew from the Second War...

Obviously, they couldn’t get through the Dome beneath them. They considered the problem from several angles, including that of the water and random sea life, pondering the dimensional construction involved, and the age of whatever was involved here.

The simplest solution... They pondered together, trading ideas among themselves with telepathic speed and the shadow of Cadence at work.

Still invisible and wrapped in a bubble of pressure modulation that swirled the water in front and around them behind them as they moved, they touched down on the Dome.

And passed right through.

With a swirl of water drawn about them, they passed through the field of dimensional force and into the sky above the sheltered forest below. The Brines standing guard, as they had for unknown years, barely twitched at the random current that swept past them.

The simplest solution was elitist, having the field require Class Levels at Ten. That way, a lich could pass through, but the Class-less, although powerful, Brine undead could not, nor could any natural creature relying on size and strength, including most of the marine races...

------

The Stillflight Field welcoming them was not anticipated, but that was fine. That was what Angel Walk was for.

They flipped out their wings just to direct their glide down. A plummet became a drifting, and they easily took control of their path of descent.

There were birds here of species they didn’t recognize, but were happy to note for those watching with them. The advantage of seeing without eyes was that it was totally possible for them to focus on different things without any difficulty whatsoever, share and process it, and Master Fred would then simply mark what was tactically significant. The rest was sent off to those watching through the Marklink.

A certain Ghoul Sage named Gillcruks, wheedling a promise that at the very least he would be allowed to withdraw to Leng once the Shroud fell, had confirmed that there was known to be a Hollow Earth or something similar connected to the Earth, although its connections to Leng itself had been tenuous at best. Still, Old Gods were known to roam there...

Whether or not it had much magic in the interim seemed to be the question. Was the tunnel down there accessible before the Shroud? If so, that might mean the place existed while the rest of the world had no magic.

The Illuminati had definitely known about it, considering how old some of those Brines were. Secondary note, given how old the undead were: nothing had invaded and fought with them successfully to contest for control of it.

There was probably a walking access point along the perimeter, a submerged cave or cavern system, but equally likely it had been closed off by the Illuminati. The necromancers could all spellcast, and forcing someone to fall from the ‘sky’ was another nice way to control access. Getting through and plummeting to your death if you weren’t prepared with a Featherweight or something similar was a good thing for undead chuckles...

They came down in the trees, looking around for any sign of guards, noting statues that weren’t crumbling with age around the Pyramid, and closed doors leading inside. Did the Illuminati keep someone permanently on station here? The place wasn’t that large...

They sniffed, noting many scents typical of an intensely closed ecosystem. Bugs, birds, reptiles, some small mammals that were likely rodents; nothing was intense enough to be very large.

Ah, there it was. The necrotic stench of the undead, eternally rotting, never being consumed...

It was low but pervasive, so the undead didn’t go wandering about, and had just been here a long time. The constant sunlight was probably why. Was there even a night here? No reason for it to be...

Regardless, the Pyramid ahead was the goal, and likely a mixture of Constructs and Undead. Well enough. If those statues Animated, that would make for a fine Baneskull to start up for their collection. Carving them up was one of their downtime projects, although they usually worked on Cultivators, Undead, Fiends, or Axiomatics.

They had a Golembane Scarab on their Vest, so the last thing they were worried about was being able to harm these things, even if Idiot wasn’t made of Full-Tempered Adamantine and should be able to chew into anything a Construct was made of...

The Anathema Feat was a nice thing to have in such situations...