The light vanished as fast as it appeared.
Arthev didn't crash or stumble. The teleport was smooth, dropping him gently onto a hard, freezing floor. He opened his eyes, his pupils widening to handle the dark.
The hot, bloody smell of the jungle was gone. Now, the air tasted like cold metal, ozone, and old dust. It was dead quiet.
Arthev stood up. He was on a thin metal walkway over a massive, bottomless hole. High above, the ceiling was lost in the dark, but blue lights pulsed along the walls every few seconds. Thrum. Thrum.
The place was huge. It felt like someone had hollowed out a mountain and lined it with smooth grey plating.
"Where the hell are we?" Shukaku grumbled in his head. "This doesn't feel like earth. It feels... empty."
"The metal is weird," Matatabi added. "It's non-conductive to soul power at all, but it's tough as hell. Arthev, look at the walls."
Arthev looked. The grey metal wasn't clean. It was covered in thick, gross red roots, the same ones from the forest, but way bigger.
They looked like giant veins. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
The roots were trying to crush the metal walkway, but the facility was fighting back. A section of the wall suddenly glowed with blue lines.
BZZZT.
The light scorched a root, turning it to ash. The root hissed and pulled back, only to start crawling forward again a second later.
"A stalemate," Arthev muttered. "The building is trying to kill the weeds, and the weeds are trying to eat the building."
"I bet the weeds are winning," Shukaku chimed in. "They look hungrier."
Arthev checked the pendant in his hand. It was cold and dark now. He shoved it in his pocket and started walking.
The path led toward a big central hub. As he moved, he passed giant glass tanks. Most were smashed, but a few were still sealed.
Inside one, a wolf-like creature floated in yellow liquid. It had roots instead of legs and flowers growing out of its eye sockets.
A label on the glass read: Specimen 402. The writing was sharp and jagged, nothing like the local language.
Click. Whirrr. Click.
Arthev stopped dead.
The noise came from the shadows ahead. It wasn't the wet sound of a monster. It sounded like gears.
"Ishobu, hide me," Arthev whispered.
"Masking your presence now," Isobu said softly.
A cold wave of energy washed over him. Isobu's power masked his heat and his scent, making him a ghost in the dark. He pressed his back against a cold metal pillar and held his breath.
A machine crawled out of a floor hatch. It was the size of a dog, with a round metal body and six legs. It looked like a bronze spider.
Tikka-tikka-tikka.
It scrambled up the wall, ignoring gravity. It reached a patch of red moss blocking a vent and swapped its front legs for tiny circular saws.
ZZZZZT!
The drone sliced the moss into bits. Then it sprayed a blue mist that dissolved the leftovers.
"A janitor," Arthev said quietly.
The machine finished and paused. Its head spun around, scanning the walkway with a red laser.
Zip.
The light passed right over Arthev. Since he was cold and still, the drone didn't see him. It clicked once and disappeared back into the hatch.
"This place is on autopilot," Arthev realized. "It's been fighting this war for millions of years."
He kept moving. The pulsing sound was getting louder now. It wasn't just a sound, it was a vibration he could feel in his teeth.
THUMP. THUMP.
The walkway opened up into a giant circular room. In the very center, a platform hung from massive chains and cables. Something on that platform was glowing with a gross, bright red light.
That was the source.
But there was a problem. A bridge led to the platform, and it wasn't empty.
Arthev crouched behind a railing. Patrolling the bridge were three big robots. They were human-sized, hunched over, with long metal blades for arms. They moved with weird, twitchy jerks.
The worst part? Red roots were growing right into their metal joints.
"They're hacked," Matatabi whispered. "The plants are inside the machines. The biological gunk is driving the tech."
Arthev frowned. "Great. So the security guards are zombies."
He checked his energy. He was topped off. The beasts in his head were bored and ready to break something.
"We need to get across," Arthev said.
He stood up and stopped hiding. There was no way to sneak past a bridge this narrow. He stepped onto the metal floor.
CLANG.
The sound echoed through the whole chamber.
The three scythe-drones snapped their heads toward him. Their eyes flashed a violent red.
BEEP. INTRUDER DETECTED. WEED SPOTTED. COMMENCE MULCHING.
They let out a sound that was half-scream, half-radio static and charged.
SCREEEEEE
Arthev cracked his neck.
"Fine," he said. "Let's do some gardening."
To be continued.....