Legends of the Halcyon Era: The Devil’s Yard Journey – Part 2

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Legends of the Halcyon Era

The Devil’s Yard Journey

Part 2

by

David Oxford/LBD “Nytetrayn”

*****

Fenix pushed a button, opening the door into a corridor of somber grey stone, which led to a large intersection of some kind further down the way.

“Do we really want to go in there?” the pirate asked.

“You have a better idea?” Fenix replied.

“How about we just sit here and hope the other door opens?” Janine suggested.

“Maybe we should just look for another ruin?” Nyte said.

“I don’t think that will work,” Fenix said. “This is the only door I can see.”

“D’oh,” said Nyte.

Fenix led the way down the corridor, Janine grumbling as she went.

The group found before them a massive hexagon of decayed, slimy, stained gray stone, with doors surrounding them. To the right was a tall door made of ancient, black stained wood, bearing a wrought iron plate bearing the words “Potter’s Field” upon it. To its left, an ornate gate of wood and steel, inlaid with tarnished bronze, but with no name written upon it.

On the left stood a gate of white stone, etched with the image of a massive creature. Its head resembled an octopus, but the body was like that of some draconian nightmare. Tentacles were intertwined over the entirety of the door, all but obscuring the nearly illegible runes spelling out “Sarnath” carved beneath. Further left was a metallic door which bore a slimy texture, as though it were wet, with only a symbol of a crescent moon marking it.

Finally, the middle held a massive gate of black stone, or perhaps metal, with strange, arcane symbols that were more like twisted caricatures of serpents, tigers, and men, but fragmented and blended together, dripping with blood as red as rubies. In the middle was a round seal with the words “Necronomicon ex Mortis” emblazoned across it.

“I think I just wet myself,” said Janine.

“Me too,“ added a very spooked Xenos.

“So, where to?” asked Fenix.

“Let’s see,” said Nyte. “We have our choice of death, bad breath, or… what was the other?”

Before anyone could answer, footsteps could be heard, though no one could say from where. Another sound began to echo throughout the hall. “Sounds like… wings,” Janine said.

At that, hundreds of huge gaunt, bony bats descended with a maddening symphony of soul-freezing screeches and the whirring of membranous wings, eyes glowing green and fangs glistening. But just before they reached the travelers, they vanished, all traces of them lost.

From somewhere else in the dungeon came a deep, baying cry which sounded like it was being torn from the throat of some demonic hound. Of course, a dog that could make such a noise in the first place must surely be a monster in itself.

Fenix made a squeaking noise, and Janine leaped into his arms. Nyte looked at him and said, “You are so not picking our next trek.”

“Okay,” Xenos said, “Why did you have to pick a place tied to the end of the freaking world?!”

The word “world” echoed throughout the chamber.

“It was a legend!”

“…and why do you get the girl?!”

“Because I’m the only one who can carry her. Really, she’s heavier than she looks.”

Janine glared at Fenix, getting back onto her own two feet. “So, where to now, oh great leader?”

“Hasn’t pretty much every legend about the dungeons turned out to be at least somewhat true?” Xenos asked.

“…they have?” Fenix asked, eyes wide open.

“Well, to my knowledge, yeah. I mean… let’s think about what those legends are: old info being retold for generations, old info that got started when these places were made!”

“And nobody thought it would be fortuitous to mention that?!”

“I wouldn’t know,” admitted Nyte, who was still newer at Digging than his partner was. “‘Course, I guess those scripts about the kangaroos were true…”

Janine looked more nervous with each passing minute.

“Well, I dunno!” Xenos continued. “I thought maybe you knew what you were talking about!”

“Look, we don’t have time to argue this right now,” Fenix said. “I have little doubt that this place does have one thing in common with the other ruins I’ve been to, that being that there are nasty things inside waiting to twist off our heads.”

“Sounds right,” said Nytetrayn.

“That’s comforting,” Janine said.

“Hey, Janine, you still have enough juice to blast everything?” Xenos asked.

“Oh, yeah, sure. I can kick just about anything’s behind, I’m cool.”

“Good. Alright, lead the way, O fearless leader!”

“Yeah,” Nyte said. “Lead the way, Jan.”

Fenix just gave Nyte a look.

“…what?”

Ignoring that, Fenix said, “I suggest we tackle the doors in the order of that poem. Potter’s Field was first, and that door over there says ‘Potter’s Field’, so…”

At that, the door marked “Potter’s Field” began to slowly creak open with the sound of rusted metal grinding against rusted metal, with a sprinkling of dried earth falling to the floor. Beyond the doorway lay a hall, or perhaps more accurately, a tunnel, with gray stone acting as the floor. The surrounding walls and ceiling seemed less built and more dug out of the dirt and rock, the odd root of a tree from far above sporadically poking through. A musty stench wafted out of the doorway, smelling like a tomb.

“Janine has the firepower, it only makes sense for her to take point,” Nyte said. “Face it, buddy, your looks just aren’t doing it this time.”

“But… but she’s… argh, nevermind,” Fenix groaned.

Janine led the way down the tunnel, while the only source of light, the yellow candles flickering along the walls, flared up each time the group drew nearer to them. As they progressed, the tunnel became increasingly more cramped, at least for the larger members of the group, dwindling to only a little over six feet in height, and only barely as wide. The tightening quarters, combined with the drab light and sickening scent of decay came together to form a sensation of suffocating claustrophobia.

“She’s what,” Xenos asked Fenix quietly. “Personally, I wouldn’t complain too much about walking behind her.”

“I don’t like letting a woman walk between me and danger,” Fenix said. “It goes against my grain.”

“That’s very sweet,” Janine chimed in, “but I am the one here who kicks the most behind.”

“You chivalrous old coot,” Xenos laughed. “Let the lady kick ass! She likes it! Right, Jan?”

“You betcha!”

“Works for me,” Nyte added.

A little further, Janine paused. “Um, guys? Do you notice something odd? The marks on the walls… the direction this tunnel was carved from…”

Nyte and the others began to look at the walls more intently, but cautiously.

“Oh my lord,” Fenix said.

“I… I think it was carved from below,” Janine said.

“How does that work?” Nyte asked.

“Well,” Fenix said, “these marks on the stone… they’re not from any kind of earth-moving equipment I know. Someone dug this tunnel with their bare hands.”

“Oh.”

“That’s not good,” Janine said.

“Jeezus, please don’t make me think about stuff like that,” Xenos said. “Because if it’s anything other than mole people I’ll need to steal some new pants.”

“So then, what’s all this mean?” Nyte asked.

“It means we should be scared shitless,” Xenos replied.

“Why? Shouldn’t they all be dead?”

“Zombies, undead monsters, H.P. Lovecraft… never trust a man named Lovecraft. He makes toys, and not normal toys.”

“…love toys?”

Xenos patted Nyte on the head. “Stay innocent.”

“Now then,” he continued, “I think I’ve broken the scary-ass atmosphere enough. Let us move on to be assaulted by very lonely zombies.”

Nyte mulled this over, then asked, “Hey, Janine?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t suppose you have enough juice to blow that first door off its hinges, do ya’?”

“From what I saw of the thing, it was a hell of a lot sturdier than ol’ Uni.”

“Darn,” Fenix said.

“The faster we go, the sooner we get through it. The way this place is built, I imagine there’s another entrance somewhere.”

“Sounds good,” Nyte said. “Lead the way.”

As the group continued their way down the tunnel, they came upon a number of rectangular stones, apparently shaped by mortal hands, which emerged from the ground. About a dozen in all, they were arranged in four rows of three each, and as the lights around them flickered to life the names and dates engraved upon each stone brought the truth to the fore: the hall was littered with tombstones.

“If you didn’t see this coming, raise your hand,” said Fenix.

Janine raised her hand. “I was hoping it would get better.”

“I suppose it is par for the course,” Nyte said. “Better than having zombies moving –”

Suddenly and without warning, the ground trembled slightly as something on the floor in front of one of the foremost grave markers started moving. The earth bulged upward before falling away, as it revealed an object which resembled nothing so much as a desiccated, skeletal hand reaching outwards and upwards. A strange, muffled moaning could be heard from underneath the floor, as though someone were trapped beneath their very feet.

“Somebody hold me,” Janine said.

The floor exploded to the left and the right of the hand, revealing a pair of bodies. These were not emaciated from a long burial, but instead covered horribly in dry flesh that had only just begun to rot, with clothes hanging in tatters around their bony limbs. White eyes stared sightlessly ahead as tooth-filled mouths opened unnervingly wide to let out fierce, unintelligible shrieks of rage from having had their long rest disturbed.

As the corpses jerked to their feet in a mockery of life, they lurched forward, hands reaching out like claws eager to rip the living flesh from the bones of the interlopers.

Meanwhile, the first hand had broken further from the ground that had once contained it, revealing yet another twisted zombie. Behind it, more groans could be heard as the floor began to bulge before bursting forth, filling the hall with shrieking, half-decayed liches.

Cursing, Janine unleashed a wave of flame at their aggressors, bringing the first wave down, howling in pain. The others kept approaching.

“This is why I said she should be in front,” Nyte told Fenix.

“Yes, so she can be terrified out of her mind,” Fenix said as he started opening fire with his machine guns.

Janine screamed and peppered the hallway with blasts of energy, as Xenos let loose with his twin Busters and Nyte opened fire with his own, repeating “Whywhywhywhywhywhy…?” all the while.

Soon, the hallway goes quiet. Nothing remained but numerous piles of charred flesh and shattered bone. Once things had settled, Janine promptly threw up, while Xenos fought off the urge to do the same.

Nytetrayn looked at Xenos. “You can pick what we do next time.”

“But you guys didn’t want to raid the town!” he said. “How about this: Next time, you two can go digging, and Janine and I’ll pillage a village. How’s that? Sound good? Hmm?”

“We’ll discuss it later,” Nyte said. “All I wanted was a big refractor…”

“By all accounts, there is one down here,” Fenix said. “We just have to get past the zombies.”

“I meant without triggering the end of the world!”

“Look,” Fenix said. “So long as we can kill whatever’s down here, we’re good, right?”

“I guess so,” Nyte said with some reluctance.

“Yeah, and as long as I’m around, there’s not a whole lot you can’t kill,” Janine added.

“…true.”

“Can you take on the destroyer of the world?” Xenos asked Janine. “Please say ‘yes’.”

“Never seen the guy,” she said, still on her knees and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “We’ll find out when we meet him.”

Nyte looked to Xenos again. “So, tell me: does pillaging involve this much vomiting?”

“Not really,” he said. “Also tends not to involve ancient evils and big-ass curses.”

“Watching you guys steal candy from babies would make me vomit,” Fenix said. “And I can assure you, throwing up inside this helmet is not pleasant.”

“Babies? Candy? Jesus, I’m a pirate, not a thug!”

“So stealing is only wrong if it’s from children?”

In a lower voice, Xenos added, “I have some dignity. I only steal any valuables the baby may have…”

Nytetrayn just turned his head away and rolled his eyes.

“It… it’s okay,” Janine said, as she got back to her feet. “I’m alright. Let’s go.”

Looking to Fenix, Nyte asked, “Where did you get the info about this place, again?”

“A guy I know, an investigative reporter. He’s been researching odd ruins, and this was one of the more bizarre ones.”

“Never use him as a source again,” Xenos said, “that is, unless you like making women throw up.”

“Why can’t we ever explore a normal ruin for a change?” Nyte asked. “Anyway, let’s get moving. The sooner we do this, the sooner we die. Or get out. Whichever comes first.”

“Hey! Energy signature ten times our last big take, remember?”

“Oh, yeah… right” Nyte said. “Still, I never said it would be worth invoking Satan to get.”

“There are refractors down here the size of my guns! We just have to find them!”

“You certainly know how to put things in perspective, you know that, Fenix?”

“Right, let’s go then,” Fenix said, cackling as he led the way down the hall.

The others followed, Janine walking beside Xenos, hugging herself and looking around warily. Meanwhile, Nyte had his Buster in saber mode, and dragged the tip along the contours of the wall as he walked.

As the tunnel continued, they spotted a small hole that was roughly the size of someone’s head that had been clumsily scooped out of the wall. Inside could be seen an object that glitters metallically.

“Hey, what’s that?” Xenos asked. “The key to our impending doom? Or sparkly goodness?” He zipped up to the hole in the wall, saying “money money money” as he reached in for his prize.

“Gee,” Fenix said. “You guys are just making this horrible experience so much better!”

Nytetrayn decided to let the newbie have the find. At least, until he got a better look. He then decided “the hell with that,” and grabbed the item. “Lemme see that…”

“Hey!” Xenos shouted.

Janine took a peek as well. It was a round disc-like object that was about an inch thick. “Looks like a beam saber upgrade, and an old model, at that.”

“How old?” Fenix asked.

“I’m not sure, it just looks archaic to me.”

Xenos clubbed Nyte over the head with one of the massive, robotic arms of his suit. “What’re ya doin’, shoving me outta the way like that?!”

“Uh, appraising?” Nyte said as he rubbed his helmet.

“Like hell you were. I thought you Diggers were like archeologists or something. You could’ve broken it!”

“I’m a professional. ‘Sides, it’s metal. It holds up well.”

“Gee, Xenos,” Janine said. “I had no idea you were so… violent.” With a smile, she added, “I kinda like it.”

Xenos rubbed the back of his head with his normal arm.

“Jan, your libido must be one of the most powerful I’ve ever come across,” Fenix said.

“Actually, I’m just trying to make him blush,” Jan said. “But, a little cuddling would be nice in this place.”

Xenos had already turned his attention back to Nyte. “But what if it were glass? Or just really old?! That’s not what I call professional.”

“Okay,” Fenix cut in. “Stop arguing about it, and find out what the hell it is!”

“Fine, fine,” said Xenos. “But I don’t take kindly to being pushed around by kids.”

“Well,” Nyte said as he closely examined the disc, which was really more of a short, metal cylinder that contained several thick crystal lenses, “you can call the shots when we do your thing. How’s that?”

“You think I’m totally inept when it comes to treasure, don’t you?”

“No, not at all,” Nyte said, almost taken aback at the sudden hostility.

“Then don’t pretend to know so much more than me. Capisce?”

“I just think Diggers know more about the digging thing, and Pirates know more about the software business… er, pirating thing.”

Xenos stifled a chuckle at that.

“Am I going to have to restore some order here?” Jan asked.

“Okay,” said Xenos. “You’re cute in a naive sorta way. I’ll lay off you for now.”

“Janine,” Nyte said, turning back to her. “You said this looked like some sort of beam-saber attachment?”

“Yeah,. I think you stick it on the end of a beam saber and it makes it more powerful or something.”

Since Xenos’ only sword was a physical blade for show, and it would throw off the balance of Fenix’s twin sabers, Nyte decides to stow the piece away until he can adapt it for the Nyte-Buster.

“You know what just occurred to me?” Xenos asked. “Don’t you Diggers usually have some cute Spotter who stays up top and does all the maintenance work for you, and gives you layout info on the dungeon, and what not?”

“Some do,” Nyte said. “We just sort of navigate ourselves.”

“We prefer to play it by ear,” Fenix added. “We always dug solo before we met up, and old habits die hard.”

“…right,” Xenos said.

“Well, let’s run along then,” said Janine. “This place is drafty, and I think there’s something in the air that’s petrifying my hair as we speak.”

With Fenix continuing to lead the way, the shadows ahead grew deeper and darker. Eventually, the group could only just make out through the candlelight ahead that the path split into different directions. But before that fork in the road, half a dozen skeletal corpses assuming horrible poses were chained to the wall, little more than bones sparsely covered in strips of cloth and flesh.

“Aw hell, not again,” Janine moaned.

Rising from its slumped position on its partially-collapsed rib cage, a skull rose atop the body of one skeleton, a demonic red glow visible from somewhere deep within the darkness of its eye sockets. The rattling metal of the damned filled the tunnel as the skeletons ripped their chains free from the walls, stumbling to the floor and turning their soul-stabbing gazes upon those who set foot into this place, upsetting their ancient slumber.

“Well, I was about to offer to light stuff up,” Xenos said as he flipped out his frontal chainguns.

The leader of the skeletons charged forward, its mouth screaming wide open, yet bereft of any sound. The others followed, all bearing sharpened fingers they waved about in front of them in an effort to grasp, rend, and tear any soft flesh they might come into contact with.

“Screw this,” Fenix said, unholstering the plasma caster from his leg and letting loose on the leader of the pack. Its rib cage was disintegrated with a single shot, the rest of the body seeming to fall in on itself.

Xenos let loose with his artillery, reducing the bone piles to bone chips, while Janine reduced the remains to ash by tossing a few bolts of energy at them. Caught in the back of the narrow passage, Nyte disappointingly held his fire, clapping when the rest were finished.

“That was almost fun,” Janine said.

“Indeed,” Fenix agreed. “This is actually pretty easy, for all the bellyaching you guys are doing.”

Janine rubbed her stomach, which didn’t seem to be aching at all.

“Eh, I just don’t like being stuck down here,” said Xenos. “The zombies, I’m cool with. Fought some Diggers uglier and smellier than them.”

“Like Nyte?” Fenix asked.

“Hey!” Nyte yelled, before booting Fenix in the bum.

“Not quite that bad,” Xenos said while snickering.

Fenix let out a yelp, and whirled around to whap Nyte upside the head. Nyte ducked, causing Fenix to whack Xenos in the chestplate instead, giving off a loud “clang”.

“Aw, crap,” Fenix said. “I think I scratched the paint,” he added as he examined his knuckles.

“Do you guys ever solve anything without violence?” Janine asked the group.

“Well, yes,” said Xenos. “But you’re here, so we have to act macho.”

Shrugging, Nyte added, “Violence tends to end arguments much more conclusively.”

Janine set off down the hallway, towards the fork in the road, with Fenix chuckling as he followed. Nyte and Xenos followed, the latter setting his suit to march on all fours.

A glow brighter than any light seen in the tunnels to this point lit up a large area, a magnificent chandelier hanging from the ceiling and illuminating the travelers’ way.

“Wonder how much we’d get for that,” Nyte said, while Xenos pondered the notion and swung an advanced eyepiece out and zoomed in to appraise the item.

The path before them split into three more tunnels, with the center one continuing the path they were on, and the other two spreading out to the left and right. But in the middle of this hub sat three chests, comprised of ancient, rotten black wood and rusted black iron, much different from the chests they were used to dealing with.

“Three chests, four of us,” Nyte said.

“Well,” said Xenos, “seeing as you grabbed the shiny thing…”

“Fair enough,” Nyte said. “I guess you three get to reap the spoils here.” He then pulled out the saber piece and looked at it, hoping he didn’t screw himself over before putting it back.

Xenos walked up to one of the chests. “May I? Or do you two want to go first?”

“Go on,” Fenix said, nodding.

Xenos gleefully threw the chest open, revealing a pile of Zenny. “Moolah!” he shouted, before stuffing it into his armor.

Nyte just gritted his teeth as he smiled.

“We can probably split it even, anyway,” Xenos noted, much to Nyte’s relief.

Fenix opened the second chest, which was empty, but for a small shotgun shell-shaped cartridge ingrained with unusual, arcane markings. “Looks like a plasma caster shell,” he said as he pocketed the item. “Cool.”

“You know what?” Xenos said. “Where the hell are our manners?! Shouldn’t ladies go first?”

“Too late for that, I’d say,” said Nyte.

“I’m not really a lady,” Janine said. “Besides, don’t chests in places like this usually have traps?”

“True,” said Xenos. “But then again, you’d probably blow the trap up before it’s done springing.”

“I don’t like things jumping out at me. It reminds me of the kangaroos,” Jaine said, shuddering at the thought.

“What is it with you people and kangaroos?!” Xenos asked.

“A chilling tale, friend,” Nyte replied.

“Nyte,” Fenix said. “Be a good boy and open the potentially trapped chest for Janine.”

“So just open it from the side,” said Nyte. “Traps are usually set to attack the front.”

Janine moved to open the chest, which suddenly sprang open all on its own. As she looked inside, her eyes widened to the size of saucers before slamming the lid shut and blasting it with a ball of energy, completely and utterly annihilating it, leaving no trace but a black scorch mark on the ground surrounding where the box had once been.

Janine screamed in frustration, before burying her face in Nyte’s chest, sobbing. “Dammit, I hate this place!”

Nyte’s mind froze for a moment, before making some sort of attempt to comfort Janine by awkwardly patting her on the back.

“Um, so… what now?” he asked.

“Uh, well, we pick a path,” Fenix said.

“We loot the tomb of whatever bastard was sick enough to leave… that, there,” Xenos said, pointing at the scorch marks.

Suddenly, huge, glowing eyes appeared in the tunnels heading forward and to the left, accompanied by the sound of unspeakable things rushing in their direction, wailing loudly all the while.

“Oh, hell,” said Janine. “This is creeping me out. I don’t wanna blow up more skeletons right now, guys!”

“That’s alright,” said Xenos as his armor stood back up, deploying its chainguns and missile launchers. “We’ll take care of the senseless destruction!” Nyte nodded in agreement, readying his Nyte-Buster.

“I say we run,” said Fenix. Nyte and Xenos looked at him. “I mean, those eyes are frickin’ huge.”

Nyte looked towards the eyes, then back to Fenix. If he was ready to run, then it was probably a good idea. “Sounds good.”

With that, Fenix started down the rightmost tunnel, Nyte and Janine following, with the latter staring back at the pursuing eyes.

“Uh, right,” Xenos said, converting his armor back into its four-legged mode and chasing after, his armaments pointed behind to cover them if needed.

The tunnel went on for many meters before the sounds of their pursuers began to catch up with them. Out of the darkness, their pursuers leaped abruptly, revealing themselves to be… a pair of two-foot skeletons with watermelon-sized heads. They screamed and shrieked and giggled hysterically.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Fenix said before grabbing one and crushing its enormous skull, while Xenos blasted the other one to bits. Janine winced.

“What in the bloody blue hell were those?” Nyte asked.

“A practical joke?” Fenix offered.

Just then, the ground began to tremble, dirt trickling down from the ceiling as an ominous rumble filled the air.

“That can’t be good,” said Nyte.

“The big’uns are coming,” Xenos said.

“That’s not a zombie!” Janine shouted as she pointed in the direction from which they came.

From out of the darkness came a vast boulder, rolling towards the group and picking up speed as it traveled.

“Why are we being chased by rocks?!” Janine yelled as they began to run in the opposite direction. “Does the very planet hate us?! I can’t take it anymore!!!”

The tunnel carried on for many more meters before the trail of candles stopped, giving way to darkness. Undeterred, the boulder continued to roll onward.

“Hm,” Xenos said. “Could it be possible to stop it?”

“Where would the fun in that be?” asked Fenix.

“Maybe,” said Nyte. “Try it, and let us know how it works out, eh?”

“I don’t think my suit’s tough enough,” Xenos said as he flipped on some floodlights to illuminate their path forward.

Janine flew on ahead, whimpering. The path soon came to an end, the ground beneath them replaced with a vast, bottomless pit. “Look out!” she shouted back to the others.

As they gathered by the edge of the pit, Nyte tried turning back and opening fire with his Nyte-Buster and Gatling Buster, but to no effect. “Scrap…”

Janine swooped over and grabbed Fenix and Nyte by their hands, yanking them off their feet and into the air.

“Hey!” Xenos shouted.

“I don’t think I can lift your suit!” she said.

As the boulder rolled ever closer, Xenos began to panic, trying to find some way to get his suit out of the way.

Suddenly, Nyte grasped Jan’s arm in return, surprising her somewhat by his sturdier-than-expected grip. “Janine,” he said firmly, “get ready to swing me towards Xenos, and whatever you do, don’t move, and don’t let go!” She nodded and held on tightly as she began to swing Nyte like a pendulum in Xenos’ direction.

“Xenos! Grab my hand, and don’t let go!!”

“…now he tells me!” Xenos said, glancing back at the boulder before taking a running leap out of the opening, reaching out and taking hold of Nyte’s hand as Jan held on tightly.

“Are you insane?!” Fenix screamed

Nyte grabbed the armor’s appendage, and using all of his might combined with the mech’s own momentum, swung Xenos across the chasm. “Jan, stop floating!” As Xenos’ armor flew across the chasm, it pulled Nyte, Jan, and Fenix in tow, all screaming until they hit a small ledge on the opposite side of the pit and the boulder rolled off into the abyss beneath them.

“I’m gonna kill the boss zombie thing or whatever’s at the end of this tunnel,” Janine said.

“Me too,” Fenix added.

“Same,” said Nyte.

“I… am so glad I went before we came down here,” Xenos said.

“Excuse me?” said Janine.

“Fenix,” said Nyte, laying on his back.

“Hmm?”

“In answer to your question… crazy like a fox!” Nyte said with a light chuckle and a cough.

“…let’s just get back to the other side,” Fenix said, too worn out to groan.

“Sounds good,” said Janine, who proceeded to toss Fenix back to the path on the other side, screaming.

Nyte rotated the shoulder he used to catch Xenos and his mech, making a popping sound.

“Ready, guys?”

Nyte just nodded nervously.

“Uh… again?!” asked Xenos. “Fine…”

“Jump, Xenos!” Janine shouted down from her pivot position up above. Xenos’ suit wound back and jumped out, where Janine was able to swing him back to the path, where Fenix screamed and ran out of the way as the armor landed with a heavy thud.

Afterwards, Janine came down and carried Nyte over the pit, landing and brushing herself off. “Well,” she said, “that was an interesting little side venture.”

“I have a headache,” Fenix said.

“We all do,” said Xenos. Looking to Nyte, he said “You’re pretty tough. Most people’d be on the ground, screaming right now after something like that.”

“Yup!” Janine said. “That deserves a reward!” And she pecked Nyte on the cheek.

Turning a shade or two of red, Nyte just rubbed the back of his head and said with an almost embarrassed expression, “Just did the first thing that came to mind…”

The group took a moment to catch their breath. Fenix sat down, breathing heavily, while Nyte pulled out his energy canteen and took a sip before taking another moment to examine the saber piece he got earlier. Normally, it could be equipped immediately, but it would require some modifications to work with the Nyte-Buster’s saber mode. Janine leaned back against Xenos’ armor and rubbed her head.

“Well, that was… invigorating,” Fenix said.

“Indeed,” said Nyte, as he put the piece away and passed the energy canteen to him. Fenix nodded in appreciation before pulling his helmet off and taking a swig.

Xenos wore an expression of shock and terror on his face as he beheld Fenix’s own.

“Why are you staring at me? Is there something on my face?” he asked before he started poking and rubbing around his head, trying to find something that was not there.

“I’m not,” Nyte said, before taking in the reaction. “Oh, you mean him.” He offered the canteen up to Janine, who took a mouthful before handing it back.

“Nothing,” Xenos said as he hastily resumed a normal expression.

Nyte knocked on Xenos’ armor. “Want a drink? Or do you have a cooler in that thing?”

“Thanks!” he said, accepting the canteen and taking a huge gulp before handing it back. Nyte capped the bottle and stood up as Fenix got to his feet and replaced his helmet atop his head.

“So! Everyone ready to go?” the older Digger asked.

“Give me just a sec,” Janine said, as she stood up and did a few stretches and quick exercises, unaware of the attention she was drawing. Fenix stared, whereas Xenos just coughed and reactivated his suit while trying not to follow his companion’s example. Janine finished up, nodded to herself, and turned to face the others. “Alright! I’m ready!”

Already partway into the tunnel and waiting, Nyte asked, “Hey, you guys coming?”

“Um, sure,” Fenix said, as he tried to dedicate what he’d just seen to memory.

Nytetrayn let him take the lead, while the rest followed in their own ways as they headed back to the fork in the road that led them here in the first place.

To be continued…

—–

Legends of the Halcyon Era is a work of fan fiction set in the world of Mega Man Legends. It is largely adapted from a series of freeform RPG sessions, combining ideas from several contributors, and further fleshed out here in a prose format.

David Oxford, also known as LBD “Nytetrayn,” is a lifelong Mega Man fan who, along with his wife Nadia, has co-written the Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide and Mega Man X Maverick Hunter’s Field Guide from UDON Entertainment, and runs The Mega Man Network (themmnetwork dot com). You can also find him on Twitter @LBD_Nytetrayn and @themmnetwork, and on Twitch and YouTube under the name “Nyteworks.”

You can also find Legends of the Halcyon Era as it updates at Archive of Our Own.

Thanks for reading!