Interlude

Universe #6679012-22 (Skallaa’s Society for Inter-Dimensional Matters [SSIDM] Designation)

It had many names, but none that it gave itself, so as far as it was concerned, it had no name. Although, sometimes, while watching galaxy-spanning empires rise and fall, or the secret things that the lesser beings of its reality would kill to know (and die knowing) play out, it would idly contemplate giving itself one, but alas it never did, for the idea never really held much merit.

How would it even go about naming such a thing as itself? After all, the best names were simple to say and easy to recall, it was why nicknames were so prevalent among creatures with peers. And it was no secret that it was anything but simple.

Besides, if it was being honest with itself, it didn’t really mind the many names it was called. It might even say it... enjoyed it. That it enjoyed how different peoples had different beliefs of what and who it was. Like the Shing-sha, who knew it as Ging, god of wrath and destruction; or the Ssasssherss, to who it was called the Life-giver, Sssshissssslos; or to those cave dwellers in that very fascinating dimension to who it was simply funny water that came through a portal.

Yes, it certainly enjoyed this. But what pleased it most was that it could still enjoy things like this even this long into an existence as dreadfully lengthy as its own.

Sometimes it wished—no! No wishing.

Just enjoy the little things.

*****

Myles’ POV

The tunnel twisted and turned, and had a definite downward slope to it which let Myles know that they were headed deep underground. The only light came from a small rock Seeng held above her head which radiated a soft yellow light, but in the otherwise pitch-black of the tunnel, it might as well have been a torch, lighting up everything for maybe a dozen feet. The walls of the tunnel were very smooth, which made Myles wonder how long it had taken Atakarr’s people to build it, since a tunnel this smooth could not be natural. Well, he thought so anyway, though he could be wrong. Myles wasn’t exactly an expert on caveology... or whatever the study of caves was called; spelunkology?

“What even happened to Frezz?” Seeng asked from the front where she led with the light.

They were only three now, Paan having stayed back at his post, albeit unwillingly, and they walked single file, even though the tunnel could take them two abreast; Seeng leading with Myles trailing at the back.

“He thought he was the Jungle Knight,” Atakarr replied.

Seeng stumbled in shock, then turned to look at Atakarr as she kept walking. “He actually tried to swing from branch to branch?”

“Emphasis on tried,” Atakarr said, then she sighed. “I never should have taken him.”

“Nah, don’t blame yourself. He’s the one who pestered you to.”

Atakarr said nothing to that, but it was clearly a thoughtful silence.

Myles was thinking too. About how this Frezz guy was dead... just like that, it seemed, and how Seeng seemed so cavalier about it. Considering he hadn’t even been here a day (or had he? It was hard to tell. [Healing Coma] still had over six days to go though so maybe he hadn’t) and he’d already almost died more times than he cared to count, Myles had known when he met Atakarr that life for her and her people must be very hard. But nothing quite drove that fact home like seeing a girl his age (or who looked it anyway) shrug off a person’s death like it was no biggie. Especially when said person’s corpse wasn’t more than ten feet from her.

“Seeng?” a voice called ahead of them, startling Myles. He noticed then that the bend up ahead had light coming from it that he hadn’t noticed before.

“Yeah, Beero, it’s me,” Seeng said. “Atakarr’s back too. And you won’t believe what she found.”

‘Did she just refer to me as a what?’ Myles thought.

“Yeah? What’d she find?” Beero asked as they took the bend and came face to face with him.

“Look,” Seeng said, pointing at Myles, and the teen had never felt more self-conscious in his life than he did in that moment.

Beero had the expected look of amazement on his face as he stared at Myles. “An other,” he whispered.

Seeng smiled. “Even crazier,” she said. “He’s a beyonder.”

Beero’s eyes, if possible, got even wider. “Atakarr, where did you find—”

“I didn’t find him,” Atakarr interrupted, “he found me.”

“Oh. I see,” he said, then: “Frezz didn’t make it.” Not a question. No discernible trace of sadness or surprise either.

“No.”

“Well, he’s with Tarre now,” Beero said.

Atakarr made a non-committal gesture. “We should get going. I’m tired and thirsty, and I imagine Myles is too.”

“Oh, yes.” Beero stepped aside.

“Later, Bee,” Seeng said as they walked away, Myles feeling Beero’s gaze on his back all the way.

After almost another minute of walking, with Myles wondering just how far underground they were going, a light appeared at the end of another bend and Seeng called out. “Dadaan.”

Someone stepped around the bend, holding a glow-rock of his own. He was tall, taller even than Atakarr who was well above six feet herself, and it was obvious that he would have been burly too, if he wasn’t as skinny as everyone else Myles had met so far.

“Hey, Dadaan,” Seeng said.

“Hey, Seeng.” Dadaan’s voice was low and scratchy, but in a nice way. “Atakarr. Frezz is dead?”

“Could you get him to shut up otherwise?” Seeng asked. “Anyway, look.” She pointed at Myles, who had been trailing at the edge of the reach of the light.

‘Cue look of amazement,’ Myles thought. Although he had to admit that Dadaan was a lot cooler about it than the others had been so far.

“Atakarr? ” Dadaan asked, looking to her for an explanation.

“Myles is a beyonder,” Atakarr said, handing her spear to Dadaan, who took it quietly. “He has some kind of unique gift for languages, so he can speak Deran already.” She passed Frezz’s corpse to Seeng (the weight of which the skinny girl bore quite well), then rolled her neck and shoulders in relief. “Where’s Elder Raad?”

“At the pool, I think,” Dadaan said.

“Thanks. Myles, come.” Atakarr walked around the bend and Myles and Seeng followed.

There were three glow-rocks on the floor by the wall and Atakarr picked one of them without even stopping.

“You own pool?” Myles asked, the first words he’d spoken since entering these tunnels.

“It’s our water supply,” Atakarr explained.

Ah, so there was water here after all. No wonder the Deran (?) lived so far underground, it was the only place water would be on a rock like this.

The tunnel was branching off now, even as it twisted and turned still, and since Myles had always had a terrible sense of direction, within a few seconds he had no idea which way they’d come through; the place was a literal labyrinth.

“See you, Myles,” Seeng called as she veered off into a different tunnel to the left, and Myles waved awkwardly, wondering where she was going.

A system alert distracted him from his thoughts.

Ding!

Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill [Sense of Direction].

Sense of Direction_ Lv. 1/15

Type: (passive)

Improves your awareness of your orientation in space per skill level.

Would you like to slot in this skill?

«Yes» || «No»

‘Yes,’ Myles thought, slotting in the skill, and somehow, he didn’t feel as turned around anymore. It was a minimal difference, and if he didn’t already know what the system could do he probably would have assumed it was all in his head, but it was better than he’d been a minute ago.

On a whim, Myles decided to go through all the skills he’d already slotted in, accessing that well of knowledge of his system information that was always sitting at the corner of his awareness waiting for him to come calling.

SKILL SLOTS: 13/15

Healing Coma_ Lv. MAX || Regeneration_ Lv. 8/99 || Tough Cookie_ Lv. 4/500 || Nimble_ Lv. 8/500 || Physical Exercise_ Lv. 5/250 || 8th Sense_ Lv. 3/50 || Parkour_ Lv. 5/50 || Rush_ Lv. 1/25 || Fleetfooted_ Lv. 1/25 || Pain Resistance_ Lv. 2/15 || Tongue Of The Deran_ Lv. 2/10 || Mental Fortitude_ Lv. 2/50 || Sense of Direction_ Lv. 1/15

Myles worried a little at only having two skill slots left, but he quickly shook it off. He was already stronger, faster, and tougher (among a dozen other things) than he’d ever been, and this was with just the skills he currently had, which were all still low level. He didn’t need more skills, he just needed to level up the ones he already had. Besides, if worse came to worst he could always unslot a few skills to create some space, like [Healing Coma], which came in maxed, so no loss there.

Of course, that was only one skill though, and that really wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things.

Myles shook off the thought a second time.

The tunnels they walked through now were all lit by glow-rocks dropped by the walls every dozen or so feet, even though they still hadn’t come across anyone.

Myles was just beginning to wonder how much farther until they got to where people were, when he heard the shrieking laughter of children. The sounds were coming from the entrance to a wide, brightly lit tunnel up ahead, and Atakarr led him to it without hesitation.

The tunnel was short, and led to a large cavern that glowed like the sun, due, in part, to the innumerable glow-rocks scattered all over the ground, but mostly because of the pool of liquid sunlight that covered over half the available floor space.

The pool was sourced by a steady stream of glowing yellow water pouring down from thin air maybe sixty feet above the pool, and where the pool itself overflowed, the water ran off in a thin stream to parts unknown. One would think that all this yellow would be hard on the eyes, but it wasn’t, it was beautiful.

Around the pool played several children, maybe five or six of them, splashing and laughing, with an elderly woman sitting and watching to a side. The woman saw them first. The children however, were much louder about it.

“Atakarr!” They screamed discordantly, then proceeded to rush the young woman, hugging her around the legs and completely not noticing Myles’ existence, unlike the older woman, whose eyes, since they walked in, had not moved from him.

The woman, who it was safe to assume was Elder Raad, rose and walked toward them, at the same time the children finally noticed Myles.

“Atakarr, who’s that?” One of the kids asked.

“That’s Myles. He’s a beyonder,” Atakarr was ostensibly talking to the children, but Myles got the feeling she was also talking to Elder Raad.

“Wow, really?” asked one child, even as another inquired, “why doesn’t he have horns?” And another exclaimed, “are those his feet?” And a fourth blatantly stated, “his ears look funny.”

Elder Raad clapped her hands, loudly. “Children, go play somewhere else. I need to talk to Atakarr and our... visitor.”

“Aww, but Elder Raad we—”

“Now,” she said, tone brooking no argument.

The children bade Atakarr goodbye and left, gawking at—and “whispering” about—Myles the whole way.

“So, he is Myles? A beyonder?” Elder Raad asked Atakarr as [Mental Fortitude] went up a level.

Myles did not know why (especially since all the evidence so far would suggest the exact opposite), but he had expected Elder Raad to be more... well, clothed. Instead he was facing a nude older woman who, annoyingly enough, seemed more comfortable than he, the guy wearing clothes.

That aside though, Elder Raad certainly had that whole wise elder thing down pat. Her voice was deep—but recognisably female—and soothing, her posture just the right amount of stooped as she stood with hands clasped behind her back, and her eyes had that aura of wisdom that made everyone believe she knew everything. Simply by aesthetics alone, Elder Raad had earned the Elder part of her name.

“Yes,” Atakarr replied. “And he speaks Deran.”

Elder Raad looked at Myles in even more interest. “How did you learn?” She asked him.

Myles nearly sighed. “I own gift for language.”

“Quite a useful gift to have,” Elder Raad said.

“That what she say.” Myles pointed at Atakarr, who had made her way to the pool and was now drinking from her cupped hands, which reminded Myles that he was actually very thirsty.

“Um, can I...” Myles gestured at the pool.

“Of course,” Elder Raad said. “Feel free.”

As Myles walked to and knelt by the glowing pool, Elder Raad asked, “What of Frezz?”

Myles tuned out Atakarr’s response as he dipped his hands into the cool liquid. He noticed immediately that it had a notably thicker consistency than water, and between that and the glow, whatever this liquid was, it wasn’t the water he knew. Myles brought some up to his nose and sniffed; no discernable odour, though that wasn’t really saying much.

Still, he was thirsty, and Atakarr just drank it without melting, so he pressed his hands to his lips and took a sip. The liquid tasted funny, like it was spiced, but mildly. It wasn’t bad though, so Myles just shrugged it off and drank till he was full.

“Atakarr tells me you don’t remember how you came to be here?” Elder Raad asked.

“No,” Myles confirmed.

Elder Raad hummed thoughtfully, then said, “Myles, I’m afraid I’m going to have to do something that might make you very uncomfortable.”