“I don’t think we’re anywhere near the mainland,” Boko said, shaking his head. “If we were, we’d have been able to see Hekaton rising above the ridge—this place is well and truly secluded.”
August said nothing to the explanation, unable to really put something like that into perspective—he’d heard about the size of it and the population of people who’d lived there, but it was kind of hard to imagine. They kept the pace around the lip of the crate, staying well away from the Otrogon, none of which seemed truly aware of their passing, whatever sense they used to navigate their surroundings not tuned for the kind of distance between them. The camp vanished from their line of sight entirely, the massive trees below obstructing their view until they were finally facing direct south—only the cliff ahead of them and the ocean beyond it.
“This crater doesn’t look right,” Boko said, eyes on the lake below. “The flat ring, halfway up—it’s too even to be natural.”
“You’re right; it kind of looks like a quarry, honestly,” August said, following his gaze. “Maybe the Gaians did find Devil’s Nest after all—I can imagine them digging everything up here, and enough rain over a long enough period of time could have made the lake.”
“What is everything, though?” Boko wondered.
“Ore?” August guessed, “Some kind of precious mineral? Maybe just stone.”
Whatever might have been here before was long gone, but he was right, and the longer August looked at it, the more artificial it really appeared. He glanced back over his shoulder, looking to the north, far past the crater, towards the other more distant lake, and wondered if that one had been created through the same motivation. It didn’t possess the flat ring like this one had; the water level was completely level with the surrounding earth.
The massive Otrogon was still missing, and now that he had a direct visual of the distant bamboo, he was left to truly wonder where it had gone—maybe it was tucked away somewhere deep inside. They reached the cliff edge, and the end of their journey to the south, before turning east to begin their descent. The Otrogon seemed to be almost non-existent in the area around the cliff, much like they had the first time he’d made the journey. It left him to wonder if they were avoiding the cliff or if it was something else beyond his comprehension.
“Do you know how they sense their environment?” August asked before reaching up to scratch at Ladybug’s fur. “The Otrogon, or the Efkini, I mean.”
“It’s probably some form of short-range echolocation,” Boko said, glancing over. “That’s a very common trait for experiments—eyes are expensive to include, or so I’ve heard.”
“So anything without visible eyes is probably going to be tracking us by sound?” August said, frowning. “Not exactly the most reassuring bit of knowledge I’ve ever heard.”
Maybe they were avoiding the cliff then—if they couldn’t sense the ground, they were probably just doing the obvious thing and staying clear away from what probably felt like a bottom drop. August wondered if he could extrapolate that to include the lip of the crater to explain why none of them seemed to be interested in making their way down to the lake. The downward slope made it both easier and harder than he remembered. Easier because he wasn’t fighting the incline, but harder because it required more care when choosing his footing.
He spotted the same twisted tree he remembered from the first time, stubbornly clinging to the cliff. The sparse outer edge of the bamboo began a dozen meters before it, the gradient of thin to densely packed shoots much more visible from the angle of their approach. A series of wide, car-sized channels were already visible in a mess, one of which could have only belonged to the mammoth-sized Otrogon he’d been keeping a lookout for.
“Scratch that idea of going into the forest,” August said, pointing it out. “The biggest one is in there somewhere—I don’t want to risk drawing its attention.”
“Next time, then,” Boko said easily. “We can start out here—you got that axe you were talking about?”
August removed it from his inventory, took hold of the thickest part of the bone head and handed it over, handle first. Boko flipped it up, barely even looking at it, and then snatched it out of the air with another hand, moving to bounce the blunt end against his shoulder. August pulled out his own axe and followed behind the Voithos as he reached the first of the shoots.
He moved away, giving him space to work, and picked out his own target. The [Bone-Axe] bit deep into the bamboo on the first strike, and August almost sighed in relief at how much easier it was than attempting to cut through the log. The sound of the first victim rang out, a pulling, dragging noise from above, as it came free, and then the shoot hit the ground. August glanced over for a moment and watched Boko’s next hit, the head of the axe cutting through a brand new shoot in a single strike—yeah, he’d been right; only a single one of them was really needed for this.
He returned to his own task, a dozen strikes getting him all the way through, and he guided the shoot down to the ground. He hooked his hand underneath it just to see if he could lift the thing, and it came up easily before he vanished it into his inventory. It was a shame that they had to take such a roundabout way to get here because the rate at which Boko could collect the stuff was even faster than he’d expected.
Maybe in the future, after they’d cleared out all of the Efkini, they could cut a path straight up out of the crater, so it was a straight shot there. August cut his second one down and then moved to collect the dozen that were already lying on the ground between them.
Ameliorate: Intersect is now live! If you're interested in a first-person, apocalyptic urban survival scenario where 99% of humanity has developed superpowers and then gone completely insane, go check it out. It has sex, cool powers, and damaged characters.
Reroll: Shatter is now live!
If you like my work and want to see more of it, you can find links to all of my books on my website:
Elbowsnapper
If you want to show some support, go check out my Patreon:
Elbowsnapper is creating Original Fiction, NSFW Fiction, Web Serials. | Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Patreon Early Access:
Contention - Mondays & Fridays.
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 2 - Mondays and Fridays.
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 1, Audiobook.
“I don’t think we’re anywhere near the mainland,” Boko said, shaking his head. “If we were, we’d have been able to see Hekaton rising above the ridge—this place is well and truly secluded.”
August said nothing to the explanation, unable to really put something like that into perspective—he’d heard about the size of it and the population of people who’d lived there, but it was kind of hard to imagine. They kept the pace around the lip of the crate, staying well away from the Otrogon, none of which seemed truly aware of their passing, whatever sense they used to navigate their surroundings not tuned for the kind of distance between them. The camp vanished from their line of sight entirely, the massive trees below obstructing their view until they were finally facing direct south—only the cliff ahead of them and the ocean beyond it.
“This crater doesn’t look right,” Boko said, eyes on the lake below. “The flat ring, halfway up—it’s too even to be natural.”
“You’re right; it kind of looks like a quarry, honestly,” August said, following his gaze. “Maybe the Gaians did find Devil’s Nest after all—I can imagine them digging everything up here, and enough rain over a long enough period of time could have made the lake.”
“What is everything, though?” Boko wondered.
“Ore?” August guessed, “Some kind of precious mineral? Maybe just stone.”
Whatever might have been here before was long gone, but he was right, and the longer August looked at it, the more artificial it really appeared. He glanced back over his shoulder, looking to the north, far past the crater, towards the other more distant lake, and wondered if that one had been created through the same motivation. It didn’t possess the flat ring like this one had; the water level was completely level with the surrounding earth.
The massive Otrogon was still missing, and now that he had a direct visual of the distant bamboo, he was left to truly wonder where it had gone—maybe it was tucked away somewhere deep inside. They reached the cliff edge, and the end of their journey to the south, before turning east to begin their descent. The Otrogon seemed to be almost non-existent in the area around the cliff, much like they had the first time he’d made the journey. It left him to wonder if they were avoiding the cliff or if it was something else beyond his comprehension.
“Do you know how they sense their environment?” August asked before reaching up to scratch at Ladybug’s fur. “The Otrogon, or the Efkini, I mean.”
“It’s probably some form of short-range echolocation,” Boko said, glancing over. “That’s a very common trait for experiments—eyes are expensive to include, or so I’ve heard.”
“So anything without visible eyes is probably going to be tracking us by sound?” August said, frowning. “Not exactly the most reassuring bit of knowledge I’ve ever heard.”
Maybe they were avoiding the cliff then—if they couldn’t sense the ground, they were probably just doing the obvious thing and staying clear away from what probably felt like a bottom drop. August wondered if he could extrapolate that to include the lip of the crater to explain why none of them seemed to be interested in making their way down to the lake. The downward slope made it both easier and harder than he remembered. Easier because he wasn’t fighting the incline, but harder because it required more care when choosing his footing.
He spotted the same twisted tree he remembered from the first time, stubbornly clinging to the cliff. The sparse outer edge of the bamboo began a dozen meters before it, the gradient of thin to densely packed shoots much more visible from the angle of their approach. A series of wide, car-sized channels were already visible in a mess, one of which could have only belonged to the mammoth-sized Otrogon he’d been keeping a lookout for.
“Scratch that idea of going into the forest,” August said, pointing it out. “The biggest one is in there somewhere—I don’t want to risk drawing its attention.”
“Next time, then,” Boko said easily. “We can start out here—you got that axe you were talking about?”
August removed it from his inventory, took hold of the thickest part of the bone head and handed it over, handle first. Boko flipped it up, barely even looking at it, and then snatched it out of the air with another hand, moving to bounce the blunt end against his shoulder. August pulled out his own axe and followed behind the Voithos as he reached the first of the shoots.
He moved away, giving him space to work, and picked out his own target. The [Bone-Axe] bit deep into the bamboo on the first strike, and August almost sighed in relief at how much easier it was than attempting to cut through the log. The sound of the first victim rang out, a pulling, dragging noise from above, as it came free, and then the shoot hit the ground. August glanced over for a moment and watched Boko’s next hit, the head of the axe cutting through a brand new shoot in a single strike—yeah, he’d been right; only a single one of them was really needed for this.
He returned to his own task, a dozen strikes getting him all the way through, and he guided the shoot down to the ground. He hooked his hand underneath it just to see if he could lift the thing, and it came up easily before he vanished it into his inventory. It was a shame that they had to take such a roundabout way to get here because the rate at which Boko could collect the stuff was even faster than he’d expected.
Maybe in the future, after they’d cleared out all of the Efkini, they could cut a path straight up out of the crater, so it was a straight shot there. August cut his second one down and then moved to collect the dozen that were already lying on the ground between them.
Ameliorate: Intersect is now live! If you're interested in a first-person, apocalyptic urban survival scenario where 99% of humanity has developed superpowers and then gone completely insane, go check it out. It has sex, cool powers, and damaged characters.
Reroll: Shatter is now live!
If you like my work and want to see more of it, you can find links to all of my books on my website:
Elbowsnapper
If you want to show some support, go check out my Patreon:
Elbowsnapper is creating Original Fiction, NSFW Fiction, Web Serials. | Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Patreon Early Access:
Contention - Mondays & Fridays.
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 2 - Mondays and Fridays.
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 1, Audiobook.
