Legends of the Halcyon Era: The Devil’s Yard Journey – Part 6

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Legends of the Halcyon Era

The Devil’s Yard Journey

Part 6

by

David Oxford/LBD “Nytetrayn”

*****

The Diggers found themselves in the familiar confines of the main floor after stepping through the door to the Moon-Bog. As before, the door shut tight as soon as everyone went through.

This time, however, they watched as the door vanished from their sight, albeit in a most peculiar way. As the door disappeared from sight, it did so with a flicker – as though whatever had been maintaining the door’s existence suddenly stopped doing so.

“Strange,” said Nytetrayn, as he felt around the wall for a sign of the door, only to find no trace. “There’s definitely something up with this place.”

“What was your first clue?” asked Fenix. “Was it the zombies? You can be honest. It was the zombies, wasn’t it?”

“These things might be extraterrestrial in origin,” suggested Janine.

“Or maybe they’re demons,” said Nytetrayn.

“Or Lovecraftian,” added Xenos.

“I’m not sure which option I like the least,” Janine said.

“I’m going to say the demons would be worse,” said Nytetrayn. “At least aliens don’t eat your soul.”

“They don’t seem particularly demonic,” said Fenix. “I mean, they’re solid, right?”

“Yeah, but Lovecraftian stuff is both demons and aliens at the same time,” said Xenos.

“Eek,” said Nytetrayn, flatly. “Can’t we just deal with our own demons without worrying about another planet’s?”

“They kill ya’ by dropping bundles of paper on you and causing a heart attack.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“You should read the books sometime.”

“I’ll put it on my ‘to-do’ list, if we ever get out of here,” Nyte said, then muttered, “somewhere near the bottom, if they’re like this.”

“Bundles.. of… paper…?” Janine asked.

“I’ve read lovecraft but I don’t remember that part,” said Fenix, “and…”

“Yeah, I read it a while ago,” said Xenos. “Think it was ‘Call of–’”

“Wait a minute, that’s it!” shouted Fenix, interrupting Xenos. “Zombies, water monsters, giant snakes… this is all stuff right out of horror movies!”

“Or ancient mythology,” said Xenos.

“Okay, so how does that help us?” asked Nyte. “I mean, I figured that much out back with the Necronomicon bit.”

“I… have no idea,” said Fenix. “But it might give us some clues about how to beat these things.”

“Always use the corny plot device?” asked Xenos.

“Didn’t the protagonists in Lovecraftian stories usually die at the end?” Janine asked.

“Go mad and die, yeah.”

“Well, at least being insane will make it easier,” said Fenix. “Though, none of us went nuts at the sight of Dagon, which is what happened to the guy in the book…”

Nyte looked at Fenix, and said, “I am so choosing what we do next weekend.”

“So… we’re supposed to treat this like a horror movie?” asked Xenos. “We’re suppose to watch busty women run past the front door and up the stairs where they’ll be cornered by the axe murderer?”

At that, Nyte looked at Janine, then at Xenos. “So, who would win, the axe-murderer, or Jan?”

“Jan,” said Xenos.

“Maybe… the things Lovecraft wrote about were real?” Janine suggested.

“Didn’t he say that it was absolutely hilarious and silly to think his stories were real?”

“Maybe that’s what he wanted people to think?” Nyte suggested.

“All the more hilarious if it was real,” said Janine.

“Or if someone made it real,” added Fenix.

Nyte’s stomach made a sound again. “Well, I know one thing that’s definitely for real: my hunger. What do we have with us?”

“Hey Xenos, could you pop the trunk?” asked Janine.

Xenos pulled something, and the storage hatch on the back of the mech popped wide open. Janine rummaged around the trunk and pulled out a large bag. Meanwhile, Fenix gingerly got up out of the mech and tried to walk around a little to test his legs.

“Ahhh, thank goodness, it’s intact,” Janine said.

“Do I want to know what that is?” Fenix asked.

As Janine opened it, she said, “Xenos’ robot helpers were kind enough to pack some survival gear, including some food.”

Nyte perked up. “Food, you say?”

“Yes, lessee…” she said. After she rummaged around a bit, she pulled out two fine hams. When she looked back up, Nytetrayn had a napkin around his neck, with a knife in one hand and a fork in the other. Chuckling, she handed the hams to him.

“That works,” he said. “Let’s eat!”

“Yummy,” said Fenix.

“I think there’s some more,” she said, as she continued to root around. Soon, she pulled out a few canteens, a large cheese, and a slightly-squashed loaf of bread.

“If Steel ever comes back, don’t let him see that,” Nyte said of the bread.

“Here,” she told Nyte. “Make yourself useful and fashion a meal.”

“You got it!” Nyte said, as he enthusiastically got to work slicing hams, cheese, and bread, fashioning a few decent ham-and-cheese sandwiches, triple-decker style. Everyone took a sandwich and dug in, Nytetrayn happiest of all.

Fenix finished first, and after putting his helmet back on, looked around at the remaining doors. “The energy readings I’m getting… never noticed this before.”

With a mouthful of sandwich, Nyte asked, “Fom wher?”

“The doors… the ones we’ve been through already – or rather, where they were – are flatline, but the other two on the side have energy signatures behind them, deep below.”

Nytetrayn swallowed his bite of sandwich, and suggested, “Maybe it’s those things we keep killing.”

“They’re nothing I can identify,” Fenix continued. “Similar wavelengths to each other, but different frequencies.”

“What about the third?”

“Maybe… the middle door has another signature similar to those two, but there’s also a high level of refractor energy.

Janine took a swig from the canteen of beer, and asked, “How high?”

Chucking, Fenix said, “Refractor crystals the size of my guns, kiddo.”

“Cool. I guess.”

“So! shall we move on?”

Nytetrayn finished his sandwich, and said, “Sure!”

Raising a fist, Janine said, “Yes! Onward!”

Xenos downed what remained of his sandwich in a single bite, then hopped back into his armor. “To fame! Fortune! And really big uglies!”

Janine laughed, but before anyone could react, the laughter was cut short as a giant hand grabbed her and dragged her up and out of sight. From somewhere, a disembodied voice simply said, “Damn.”

“Uh… that’s not supposed to happen to us, is it?” said Nyte, still wide-eyed at what had transpired. “And who said that?”

“This place is weirding me out,” said Fenix.

“I hear that.”

After a moment of wide-eyed, slack-jawed speechlessness, Xenos finally spoke up: “We have to kill that hand.”

“We do,” Fenix concurred.

“Yeah,” said Nyte. “With Steel and Adam, it was one thing. But this time, that hand has gone too far.”

Xenos just quietly looked at Nyte for a moment.

“…what?” the young Digger asked, while Fenix died laughing.

“What I really wonder is,” said the Pirate, “how did it do that?”

“Do what?” asked Fenix.

“Kidnap Janine. I mean, she’s not exactly helpless.”

“Took her by surprise?”

“It’s not like a hand can just come in and grab her at any moment!”

“It just did,” said Nytetrayn.

“Anyway, let’s move on, shall we?” said Fenix. “I’m sure the sooner we get through the rest of this door malarky, the sooner we’ll find out what’s going on with the hands.”

“Perhaps,” said the disembodied voice from before.

Xenos looked around curiously. “What is that voice?”

“And who keeps joining our conversations?” added Nyte.

“What voice?” said the voice.

Meanwhile, Fenix went over to the nameless door, and gently rapped on it. As it noiselessly swung open, he looked to the others and said, “Don’t tell me you two are starting to go insane.”

Nyte shook his head, while Xenos groaned as they went through the door.

“You don’t hear it?” the Air Pirate asked.

“No,” he replied, as he walked down the corridor into the Nameless City. The other two followed, Xenos shining some lights ahead of the group.

The hallway stood over twenty feet high and ten feet wide, with floors made of a featureless gray stone which bore no joints, nor any cracks, as though it had all been carved through one single piece of enormous rock. After the Moon-Bog, the air was mercifully devoid of any scent, though it seemed to cool them with a strange, uneven breeze, its source unknown. While one would expect such a place to be shrouded in pitch black, this path instead proved to be lit by incandescent bars on the ceiling which glowed to life as one approached them, and faded back to darkness when they’d passed.

As Nyte observed their surroundings, he said, “Looks like this hallway was made for someone big.”

“That’s good,” said Fenix. “Room to fight… and without Jan, we’ll need space to maneuver.”

“We’ll have room to maneuver as long as this tunnel doesn’t get filled by some giant,” said Xenos.

As they proceeded along their way, a hollow could be seen in one wall. It was regularly shaped and smooth, as though it was some sort of shelf.

“I see a hollow in one wall,” said Nytetrayn. “Regularly shaped and smooth, as though it was some sort of shelf.”

“You don’t say,” said Fenix.

“Amazingly descriptive, kiddo,” added Xenos, as he wheeled in closer to get a better look. “Shut up for a bit while we check it out.”

Nyte just sort of rubbed his face under his eye, making a rude gesture towards the two.

As Xenos examined more closely, he saw on the shelf a small lens of red crystal. “Mine!” he shouted, grabbing it and stashing it. This time I’ll put together the funky boss killing zappy weapon of focusing red crystal doom!”

Fenix just shrugged. “Whateva.”

Nyte looked to see what else was on the shelf, and was only greeted by a carving of a hand making a rude gesture at him.

“Sometimes I have to admit, the people who constructed these ruins knew what their crap was about,” Fenix said. “Mm-hmm.”

Nyte took the carving and examined it, before putting it away in his pack.

Just then, a gravelly cawing sound was heard, followed by a harsh odor that assaulted the Diggers’ senses. Seconds later, a black shadow appeared in the distance ahead of them, advancing towards our heroes in a storm of flapping wings and raucous cries.

As Xenos shone his floodlights on the shadows, it was revealed to be a horde of ravens, which quickly descended upon the interlopers. They pecked and cawed madly, screeching in a fit of hunger and rage.

Nyte let out a yelp as he ducked down and rolled to his back, now armed with the Nyte-Buster and firing around at the birds above.

Fenix fired off his Gatling Arm into the crowd of crows, shouting “Buzz off!” A sickly-looking vulture gave Fenix a dirty look before it went down. After a moment’s pause, Fenix fired some more.

Meanwhile, Xenos had closed the cockpit of his mech, and attempted to deal with the ravens trapped inside first.

“Any idea how fried raven tastes,” Nyte asked.

“Bad,” Fenix said.

Eventually, all the birds had been felled by the Diggers.

Panting heavily, Nyte soon said, “I cannot help but feel all of this has been planned, as though we were in an insidious game of some sort.”

“That’s insane,” said Fenix.

“Punkass brat,” said a familiar, disembodied voice.

“The voice again!” shouted Xenos.

“Would you shut up about the voices?” said Fenix. “You’re obsessed with the voices!”

“Voice? What voice?” asked Nyte. “I hear no voices. Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalajerk. Let’s move on, shall we?”

As Fenix led the way further down the corridor, the path slanted slightly to the left. In a small hollow carved out of the corner, a metallic object glittered slight–

“Dibs!” shouted Nyte, diving at the object and looking to see what he’d just acquired. It was a targeting scope of some kind, equipped with laser sights, and a magnet on the bottom which allowed it to be used with just about any weapon. The three red dots emitted by the laser marker struck an odd sensation of familiarity.

“Ooh, nift,” said Nyte, who promptly attached it to the Nyte-Buster.

“A question,” said Xenos.

Fenix responded with a “Hm?”

“This place seems pretty ancient.”

“And?”

“Ruins tend to sort of have that about them,” Nyte said.

“So,” Xenos continued, “why is it filled with high tech weaponry?”

“Dunno,” said Nyte.

“Dungeons are always like that,” said Fenix.

“Yeah,” Nyte said. “It’s crazy.”

“I thought most of them were like… metallic,” said Xenos.

“They vary,” said Nyte.

“It’s generally believed that these ruins were left behind by a super-advanced race with high levels of technological sophistication,” said Fenix.

“And their Reaverbot friends,” added Nyte.

“It’s possible these ruins were here before the ancients, and they left their stuff behind, too,” said Fenix.

“The ancients were a weird bunch,” Nyte said, testing the targeting sight on his new toy. “Not as weird as some museum curators I’ve met, though.”

At that moment, a giant hand dropped Adam Powers on the ground in front of the others. While Fenix looked on, stunned, Nyte took the opportunity to try shooting down the ceiling above it, but to no avail and much annoyance.

“Well, thank you, Mr. Hand!” shouted Xenos. “Now, where’s our sweet, sweet Janine?!”

“‘Mr. Hand’ took her away, remember?” said Nyte.

“And I want her back!” Xenos said with a distressed look on his face.

“Momma’s boy,” said Fenix.

Meanwhile, “Mr. Hand” extended its middle finger at them as it disappeared above them.

Fenix sighed. “So, how are you, Adam?”

“Okay,” Adam said.

“What’s it like in there, anyway?” asked Nytetrayn.

“He told me some funny stories. And offered me a drink… of acid.”

“What kind of acid?” asked Fenix.

“Citric?” suggested Xenos.

“The kind that screws with your head,” Adam said. “Luckily for me, I didn’t drink any of it.”

After a moment of regaining his bearings, Adam perked up with realization. “Wait, the hand stole Janine?”

“Yep,” said Nyte.

“Evil, evil hand,” added Fenix. “Curiouser and curiouser…”

What was becoming an all-too familiar voice echoed out once again: “Talk to the hand, morons.”

“Why?” asked Nyte. “The hand don’t talk back.”

“Yeah,” Xenos shouted, “I’ve got a few questions to ask you, Mr. Hand!”

While the disembodied voice cackled maliciously, Nyte said, “I really doubt it’ll tell you where it got its nails done, Xenos.”

“But they’re so nice,” he replied with a pout.

Fenix and Adam cracked up at this.

“So,” said Fenix. “Shall we move on?”

The others agreed, and they did just that.

The passage remained unremarkable beyond its normal level of strangeness for some time. The group eventually came to a fork that split the passage in three directions. The middle path continued onward, the left and right passages led to small, lit rooms. As the Diggers approached, a bestial scream echoed through the passage.

Adam stopped to scan the branches before readying his Buster.

“Hrm,” Xenos said as he turned his floodlights down the middle pathway.

The second his lights pierced the darkness, a freezing wind blew through the halls, accompanied by the thud of something massive hitting the floor. . It was bestial in nature, with a sturdy body carried by four clawed, powerful limbs, and leathery wings that spread out from its shoulders.

Yet despite all this, its most prominent trait was its head. Or rather, the lack thereof, as only a hump existed where one should be. A hump that opened to reveal a three-lidded eye which glowed with power, and demonstrated it by unleashing a furious white-hot blast at the group.

The Diggers leaped out of the way of the blast, but before they could retaliate, the creature stormed at them like a freight train, letting out a hollow moan as it dove at Xenos’ mech, swiping at the machine with its sickle-like claws.

Adam opened fire with his Buster, while Nyte and Fenix did the same with their respective Gatling weapons. Meanwhile, Xenos unleashed both beam launcher cannons at the monster, bringing it to a halt. It screeched as the blasts slammed into it, but when the smoke cleared, no mark could be seen on its hide. The creature opened its eye once more, and released a blast of incredible power at Nytetrayn.

Nyte leaped up over the blast, coming down on the beast’s back. He switched his Buster to Nyte-Saber mode… and remembered that it has no neck to slice.

“Nuts.”

Nyte sighed, and instead tried to slash at the hump-thing, only for it to roll in mid-air as it tried to scrape the Digger off against Xenos’ mech. As it passed by, Fenix tried to slice at the creature with his twin beam sabers, and Xenos himself yelled out and bashed at it with one of the mech’s arms. It continued to scream horribly, despite showing no signs of visible damage from all their attacks.

Xenos switched to a pair of grenade launchers, while Fenix pulled out one of his own, pairing it with a shotgun in his other hand, and they let loose at the hump. Adam ran behind Xenos’ mech and dove underneath it, using it as cover while he took aim at the creature’s eye and fired.

The creature hit the ground as its movements grinded to a halt, staggered by the attacks. Even still, it opened its eye and let loose with a massive blast of energy at Adam, who tried to dodge, but was caught by part of the blast and sent flying backwards. He landed several feet behind the mech.

Fenix fired another few rounds, and Nyte joined in with his Gatling Buster, aiming for the eye. The creature shrieked, staggered, and hunched over. Adam slowly got to his feet and shook his head to clear the cobwebs, then jumped back into the fray, attempting to hit the creature in the eye whenever possible. Xenos fired another grenade round into the thing.

“I… I think we’re weakening it!” said Fenix.

As he said this, the monster let out a bone-chilling cry whenever it was struck in the face. Meanwhile, a bubble of sorts seemed to be swelling up under the skin of its left shoulder. It started to back away, pawing at its tightly-closed eye as its other shoulder and back now began to swell, too.

Nyte leaped off the creature and regrouped with the others. “Uh, guys?”

“What?” asked Adam, as he tossed a plasma grenade at the beast.

“I think this thing is gonna blow!”

The creature let loose an unbearably loud scream as the plasma grenade went off, its eye now swollen shut and its body misshapen by the bubble-like protrusions emerging from its skin.

“Maybe,” said Fenix, “maybe it’s been absorbing all the energy we’re throwing at it?!”

The monster began to shudder and quake violently.

“Back up!” Adam shouted, as he took his own advice with great haste and covering his face. Fenix took cover behind Xenos’ mech, while Nyte took shelter underneath.

The creature let out a small, kitten-like squeak, right before it exploded.

While the explosion took out a good chunk of the flooring, the Diggers found themselves little more than singed.

“…that was fun,” said Nytetrayn, who took out his energy canteen and took a swig.

“More than humans should be allowed,” said Fenix, who took out a beer.

Adam picked himself up and dusted himself off, and checked all his joints to make sure they were still in good working order.

Xenos coughed.

“You guys okay?” asked Adam as he approached, while Nyte crawled out from under the mech.

“Great,” said the Pirate. “Just wonderful.”

“I’m good,” said Nyte.

“Just dandy,” said Fenix.

“Lovely,” said Adam. “I hope that was worth it.”

“The worst part is, I think I’m starting to get used to it down here,” said Nyte.

“Could be worse,” said Adam. “We could all be wading in alien sewage right now.”

Fenix just gave Nyte a look, then slapped him around a few times. “Pull yourself together, man!!!”

“…thanks,” said Nyte. “I needed that.”

Nyte then slapped Fenix once, though not too hard – just enough to generate a gong-like sound inside the older Digger’s helmet.

“…and that,” he added.

Adam and Xenos chuckled.

To be continued…

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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!