As she moved slowly to the skeleton she took a steadying breath when the light within its chest faded once again. The knowledge that the skeletal figure was mere feet away put her on edge. In the world she had come from, the idea would have been less concerning. There were several caves in Belize where the very same thing had happened multiple times when the field director cheaped out on buying batteries for cave lighting. In a world where horrible black goo seemed to be doing its best to recreate a Romero film it was a bit more concerning.

  The light eventually returned and the first thing her eyes fell on was a handle that was sticking haphazardly out of the ribs of the skeleton. It seemed to run straight through the strange azure mass that was radiating light. She gave the skeleton an apologetic look and reached up, easily pulling at the handle. She thought for sure it was a knife or sword, but to her surprise the head of a brass hammer emerged into the light. It was small for the skeleton it had found its home in, but nearly too large for her. With dawning concern she noted that pulling out the hammer had disrupted what appeared to be a phosphorescent fungus and broke it into pieces. When the light faded this time, it would be gone forever.

  She hefted the hammer in the fading light and studied symbols on its head that reminded her of symbols she had seen on the murals in the room she had fallen into. At its center was the same ‘Earth’ symbol that had appeared on her avatar’s wrist during the tutorial. Another glance up at the skeleton confirmed that it seemed to have very similar bone structure to the Vyre progenitors in those images.

  She whispered, “Sorry about this bud,” and slid the hammer into the loop that had held her sword. The light was radiating slower, meaning that it was likely to fade completely soon. She reached up to grab the post of the bed/couch and leveraged herself up next to the skeleton.

  She cast a concerned glance back toward the wall she had crawled through.

  “Alright Maria, you aren’t getting out of this place without light,” she said softly as she pulled off her backpack and pulled out one of her two remaining torches. She quickly lit it, and passed it back to her tail again. Pulling her shield from her back she went over the skeleton in the glow of the torch to assure she hadn’t missed anything. She resigned herself as she scooped up what appeared to be a few ancient coins and dumped them unceremoniously into her backpack.

  She gave the leering skeleton a final look and muttered, “Rest in peace.”

  She hopped down to the floor and brandished the torch around the room. The arch that would have taken her back into the hall she had escaped was blocked by fallen stone. She shifted the light toward the hole in the wall she had crawled through. It looked like it had collapsed from age. Crawling back into the room she had traversed in darkness she was taken aback. The entire room was filled with inert skeletal figures, all of them Vyre. A shiver ran down her spine when she realized that she had crawled through the room surrounded by the dead. The scene reminded her of the courtyard she had found at the strange abandoned facility when she had awakened.

  When she reached the stone blocks she had crawled through she found several of the bodies huddled there, and looking at the hole from this side it was clear that they had been trying to dig themselves free.

  She could still hear the distant clicking patrol of the metallic sentry. It didn’t seem to have noticed the light from her torch yet. Shield on her arm, she reached up and grasped the symbol at her neck again, calling upon the Stoneflesh arte. The cool energy washed over her again and she saw the stone at her feet creep up her legs forming a sheen of thin rock over them, her chest and arms.

  “This world is weird,” she whispered in awe.

  She huffed, pulled the hammer into her hand and ducked through the hole quickly. She weaved through the tight space with the torch trailing behind grasped in her tail. She emerged from the tunnel and charged in the direction of the patrolling creature. It turned and regarded her as she leaped through the air leading with her shield. She inexpertly brought the bronze hammer down crunching its dome into a dented mess. A leg shot out at her and bypassed her shield, skidding a layer of stone from her leg.

  She could hear the high pitched whine of its alarm starting to build. Blood pumping in her ears she brought the hammer across in an arc. The resounding crunch of the hammer caused the creature to flail and tumble over onto its back.

  It was still trying to call for help but something had broken inside. She used her shield to deflect the strikes of its flailing dagger-like legs and stepped forward repeatedly bringing the hammer down onto its underside. Before long it went inert.

  She stumbled backward and surveyed her limbs. With blooming terror she saw several points where the stoneflesh had been broken free by strikes she hadn’t even noticed. She winced when she noticed that one of the stabs had even broken through and cut deep into the shoulder plate on her left arm.

  She shook her head to ignore the horror of her first real fight and listened, thrusting the torch down the tunnel in both directions. Somewhere distant she could hear the incessant clicking of the automaton sentries but there was no hurried move to investigate. The stone covering her limbs crumbled to dust and fell to the ground.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Scanning the remains of the machine she flipped the hammer to its pick end and jammed it in between the top and bottom domes of the creature. She pried it open with a growl, moving slowly to make as little sound as possible. Pausing to listen once again, and hearing no change she studied its innards.

  Mostly it appeared to be filled with pulleys, gears, and springs all in varying degrees of poor condition. Two things caught her interest. There was a cut crystal at the center that seemed to swirl with some kind of dark energy. It was warm to the touch. She pulled it free and after studying it she put it into her bag carefully.

  What she originally thought was a quartz that passed for the creature’s eye was in fact a well cut cylindrical piece of glass. She took it as well, and after some thought yanked off the metal spider’s legs in hopes of repurposing the sharp tips as arrowheads.

  Turning away from the way she had originally entered the hall she continued on. There were certainly more of the robot guards this way, she could hear their legs clicking against the stone in the darkness. The hall she had initially ‘entered’ was a dead end, and she had her doubts about taking the downward stair as a route to escape the ruin.

  There had to be a way out of this place.

  Tightening her grip on the hammer, she approached the corner. Rounding it she was met by the sight of two of the machines, one of them missing two of its legs. The two of them were probing and digging into a pile of rubble and had yet to notice her light. She focused on the power of her stoneflesh arte and felt the cool energy wash over her as she rushed around the corner toward the two machines.

  The creature made no attempts to avoid her swings and simply moved forward with quick jabs and slashes. Their legs weaved in and thumped against her shield more often than not. A swing of the hammer sent one of them tumbling away to the wall. It struggled to right itself with its swarming legs.

  The remaining creature bounded toward her. She raised her shield to block the two legs spearing toward her torso. One of them thumped against the shield but the other slipped past and into her stomach with a grinding hiss. Stone fell away from the wound and dulled some of the impact, but not enough.

  Sucking in breath she brought the hammer down on its domed top. It staggered away, its bladed leg sliding free of her. The second creature rushed back in to replace it only to be met by several adrenaline fueled inelegant strikes from the hammer. It crumpled to the stones, feebly trying to move but clearly out of the fight.

  Maria bared her teeth in a snarl and charged the other. She bounded into the air and landed on top of it as it tried to stand. She brought the spiked end of the hammer down into the bronze housing, tearing a hole in its metallic hide. The hammer came down again and again and it finally staggered to a whining stop.

  Hissing pained breaths through her teeth she tumbled off the dead machine and up against the wall. She pressed her hand to her stomach and winced as it came away covered in blood and stone dust. She huffed and coughed, “What the fuck am I even doing?”

  She caught the sound of fast moving clicking from the darkness beyond and muttered another curse before stumbling to her feet and hobbling back the way she had come. She heard the machines pursuing her but dared not look back. Hurrying past the remains of her second victim she clutched at her stomach with her bloody hammer. Still the sounds behind her intensified and grew closer.

  A plan sprung to mind as she rounded the next corner back toward the stairs she had originally descended. She switched her shield arm to her stomach and rushed toward the stairs. The hairs stood on the back of her neck and she rolled as one of the pursuing machines landed where she had been standing breaking stone away with its descending legs. Scrambling back to her feet she continued the sprint.

  She saw the two staircases ahead in her light and angled toward the downward stairs. Skidding to a halt she turned and fought back at the fear as one of the mechanical spiders jumped toward her with legs out mere feet away. Her hammer arced wide and caught it in the side. The attack did no appreciable damage but it did send the machine tumbling down the stairs with loud and violent clangs. The second machine rushed in and she haphazardly managed a swing into its legs causing it to stumble. A third creature was hobbling toward them missing three of its six legs and barely functioning.

  She focused on the stoneflesh arte quickly. This time she felt light headed and felt a chill run to her neck. Screaming in defiance she rushed her current foe dipping a shoulder and leading with the shield to come up underneath it. Several blades slid across her skin and one actually stuck so deep into her shield that it got lodged there. The spider tumbled down the stairs following its comrade into the darkness, its broken leg hanging from the front of the shield.

  The stings on her forearms told her that some of the creature’s strikes had found their mark and bypassed her thin stone armor. The last of the metal menaces hobbled toward her, raising a single leg to threaten her. Groaning in pain she leaped forward and brought the spike of her hammer down on the threatening leg. The groan of metal and an echoing popping sound signaled the leg being torn free.

  The remaining automaton stumbled and tried to stay standing. Maria climbed onto its back without much trouble, aimed the spiked hammer toward the eye of the feeble creature and swung it down with tremendous force. The machine hummed beneath her for a few more moments before falling still.

  She slid off the back of the inert machine and onto the floor with a pained groan. She couldn’t hear the approach of more metal legs, whether because they were all gone or because she could not think straight, it didn’t matter.

  Maybe this was the true test of her supposed immortality?

  Maybe this was the end?

  Her eyes slid closed and she was enveloped by darkness.