Fantasy Kaizoic: Earth Reborn

[Da Doofus]

He would awaken to the feeling of an arm shaking his body. His head and body ached. He would open his eyes to darkness. Soubds of creaking metal and hollow echoes told him that he was still inside the Cricket.

"Kairo?" Rufus spoke in a whisper, his helmet's visor providing the only light in the interior. "Kairo, wake up. Come on man." Another series of shaking on his sore body.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo's dreams were not pleasant. With the terror from the unexpected fall still not dissipated, it seemed to manifest in his sleep. The sight of red team laying in pools of blood, his parents funeral, the images and scenes floated around in his head relentlessly. It felt like eternity before he would finally find himself waking up.

"Fuck!" he almost shouted as he jolted from his position. His body seemed to protest that immediately. His entire body felt heavier, but that didn't seem to bother him too much at the moment. His heavy breathing calmed down a bit as he regained his logical thought.
"Rufus?" He looked at him, almost as if he didn't expect him here. "W-where are we." His voice seemed weak.

 

[Da Doofus]

"I don't know, but try to stay quiet." He put a finger to the helmet's mouthpiece and pointed to a faint beam of light coming from a pair of punctured holes in the Cricket.

There were sounds outside; steady and slow breathing from multiple creatures. Given the apparent softness of the exhales, it sounded like snoring.

"I woke up about an hour ago, and heard one of them sniffing in here. Bastards are huge. Forty or fifty feet long I think." He gestured to the dirt filled driver's seat. "Had to drag you out of there before they knew we were in here."

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo seemingly remembered the huge claw that had dug into the Cricket at the moment of impact. Speaking of the the vehicle, he could clearly see the damage that had been done to it. They would probably have to leave it behind. Getting it out of the hole would most likely wake whatever creature Rufus had mentioned. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

After assessing the damage, he looked back at Rufus. His eyes expressed deep concern, both about how they were to escape, and for Rufus's well-being.
"This really is becoming a habit now huh? Ya know, with you saving my sorry ass." He said quietly, his speech being accompanied by a soft, nervous chuckle. "Are you hurt?"

 

[Da Doofus]

"Few ribs, I'll live." Rufus whispered, taking a peek outside, and turning on his helmet's night vision.
"I see them." He glanced at Kairo, showing his now-green visor.
"They look like frigging dinosaurs!"
Another peek outside. "Looks like we're in some underground cave . . . I see some bones . . .
Ok there are seven of them asleep out there." He paused.
"Hey, I think these are what Faolain was talking about. Nocturnal, right?"

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Sounds about right.” He said, trying his best to mask his worry. The way Rufus described the creatures did nothing to calm his mind.

“Guess this’ll be easy then. Just gotta walk out without waking them. Right?” He desperately wanted to be right.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Yeah . . . Just stay close and try to match my footsteps. I think I see a cavern past them we can fit." He looked at Kairo. "Have to tip toe right through though." He cautioned.
"You sure about this?"

 

[Chai_T3a]

He definitely wasn’t okay with this, but he definitely didn’t want to stay in this cave for any longer. Getting what you want usually means taking a few risks to get there. This seemed like one of those moments.
He took a deep breathe, before nodding his head.
“I mean it’s either that, or wait here to die.” He answered. There was one other thing he was concerned about though.
“We’re gonna take the plasma bore. Right?”

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus pointed at the dirt and rock filled driver's compartment.
"Took me an hour to dig you out of that. Didn't see the bore, and I'm not digging anymore."

One of the creatures huffed in its sleep, Kairo could make out a feathered tail being waved in the beasts's dreamstate.

 

[Chai_T3a]

The sight of the tail, in addition to Rufus's answer, was enough for him to completely give up on retrieving the plasma bore. It was going to a be a huge loss, but right now, the risks just weren't worth the reward.
"Yeah, you're right. Let's just go." He said.
"Lead the way."

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus prepared himself with some quick breathing, and lunged for the hole in the vehicle. He slowed at the height of his jump, and silently crept outside, and onto the rocky cavern floor.
His footfalls echoed quietly, but were fortunately drowned by the several snores of the theropods.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo got up from his seated position, much to the dismay of his body. He fought through the soreness and the aching and climbed out of the hole as well. He dreaded the thought of the trek back, keeping it as far in the back of his mind as he could. Besides, right now, he had to focus on not dying first.

He tried his best to sync with Rufus's footsteps, walking slowly and carefully to avoid making any noises. His legs would buckle tiredly on occasion, but he managed to stay relatively quiet. The biggest problem right now was probably the sounds of the creatures. He could hear their snores way to vividly. Him and Rufus must have been within 10 feet of one of them at any given moment. It unnerved him clearly, but he tried his best to stay focussed on calm. He had faith that they'd find their way out.

 

[Da Doofus]

The two stepped close enough to one of the sources of snoring to see a glimpse of its head.
It was very similar to a dinosaur in apearance. The head alone was large enough to swallow a small car whole, and its snout was narrow. Teeth poked from its gecko-like lips, and its skin was like glistening snake scales pale in color. A mane of blue feathers grew around its head and continued in a line down its shadow shrouded back.

It snorted as Rufus passed, and rolled over in its slumber, revealing its arms and claws, the index fingers tipped with a massive hook claw for piercing into prey.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo stumbled slightly, coming to a complete stop for a second as he looked at the beast. The monsters eyes itself we're probably bigger than the entirety of a small child. The thing could probably kill the two of them without even using any effort. He was beginning to wonder how Rufus could have survived in the Jungle for so long with these things walking around.

He looked back in front and continued on, taking a few hasty steps to catch up to Rufus. Hopefully they'd be long gone by the time these creatures woke up.

 

[Da Doofus]

They passed by more and more of the saurian predators, Rufus taking the utmost caution as they traveled through a cavern of death.
They entered a section with light from above, just near the route away from the beasts. The beam of moonlight came from far above them, from a crevice between two rocks.
Given the sheer distance between the light source and the ground, this meant that the two men were deep underground.

One of the beasts stirred, making chittering sounds and growling moans. These noises sounded almost exactly like those heard in the jungle that first night and since.
The Guest called them Tyravi.

 

[Chai_T3a]

The distinct sound that came from the creatures perked Kairo's interest. He recalled the several occasions he's heard the noise. That first night at camp, his time captive to the guest, all moments where he'd remembered the sound. That second instance in particular was something that seemed to dominate his mind. He'd remembered the name the Guest had given the noise. The Tyravi. It seemed that the creatures in the cave were the one’s who owned that name. He’d wished he’d brought a terminal with him. Or at least something he could snap a photo with. Stryx and Helen would probably have wanted the beasts documented. Guess the best they were going to get was a mental recount.

That is, if they could make it out in the first place.

He couldn’t help but feel a bit hopeless in this situation. From the luck he’s had the past day or so, he definitely wouldn’t be surprised if he’d never make it back to camp. Looking up at the ceiling of the cavern, he could see the small slit of moonlight coming from the outside. It was almost unconceivable that they managed to fall into something so deep. They could have been a few dozen feet from the surface. Besides, even if they got out, there could have been dozens of other threats waiting outside.

He continued to follow along, hoping they’d find the exit soon. Even if he wasn’t feeling confident about this, he definitely wasn’t ready to give up.

 

[Da Doofus]

They finally reached the small gap in the wall that was fortunately too narrow for the Tyravi to pursue should they awake.
The next few minutes were filled with claustrophobic passages, and the grinding of shoes on stone. Only the lights of Rufus's visor gave Kairo a beacon of their direction.
Finally, they reached another opening, and Rufus stood nearby as Kairo emerged behind him.
Before them was complete darkness, haunting their vision with a pitch-black void.

Rufus however, was dumbstruck at whatever it was he was gawking at with his visor's visual capabilities.
He pulled out a compact pocket drone that appeared to be the hoverlight model.

"You . . ." He began, flipping on the palm-sized robotic lamp. "You need to tell me if I'm seeing this right." The small robot's activation chime ringed in their ears, and it began to float from Rufus's palm.
"Fly forward at full brightness." Its owner commanded, and the utility drone obeyed.
A ring of light bulbs flickered on, making an aura of light around the circular flyer as it flew into the void, instantly revealing the cliff-edge the two stood on.
Further out, and encompassing the cavern floor, the light unveiled a grim but awesome sight. Crumbled skyscrapers and smaller ruined buildings spanning for miles within the huge cave space.
Pieces of what used to be urban railways portruded in random places between the ruins, only to end in cracked edges from when they were collapsed.

"I'm seeing this, right?" Rufus spoke softly, flabbergasted by the sight.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo wasn't any less shocked by the surroundings laid before him. For a second, he had seemingly lost the ability to even speak.
"Y-Yeah...I see it too." He said, still focussed on the decrepit city in front of him.
"How the hell?"

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus was silent as the illuminating drone flew across the view, shining light over a cracked and buried cave of ruins.

"I think . . . I think this is one of those cities that was lost in the First Emergence Event. I remember they used to tell us about them in school. When the continents started moving, big gaps in the ground opened, and swallowed up entire cities." He explained, in awe at the sight.
"How bout we find our way down and look around? Get a memoir or something." He nudged Kairo with his elbow.

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Yeah. Let’s” He said slowly. Still a bit shocked from the sight that lay in front of him. How in the world did they manage to stumble upon an underground ruins? Nothing about the past few days seemed to be adding up to him.

Still not nearly composed, he began looking for a way to trek down. Most of the land was steep, but there seemed to be a single inpromptu section where they could get down without dying. He patted Rufus’s arm to get his attention, and pointed at the area.

“That’ll work?”

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus glanced at the less trecherous pathway that he had pointed out, and nodded.
"I'll lead, and you follow my steps." He patted his shoulder and softly stepped onto the rocky ledges down. Starting the climb down, the two would find some of the portruding rocks they climbed upon were in fact heavily eroded pieces of water pipe or a stray piece of building frame coated in centuries of accumulated dirt and rust.

 

[Chai_T3a]

The way down was not an easy one. Even though the path could be trekked down did not mean that it wasn’t still dangerous. With that in mind, he made sure to keep caution as he walked down the cliff face.

“Stryx isn’t gonna believe this.” He said, his vision still focussed on the ground in front of him. “Probably think we’ve gone mad out here or something.”

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus grunted when he felt his footing loosen on a rock ledge.
"I think he's . . . A bit . . . " he moved onto a smoother ledge further down.
"Busy keeping the whole camp from panicking. Like I said, cat's out of the bag about the Guest and the rumors on the Noah."

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Mmm yeah that.” He jumped from a rock to the smooth ledge Rufus was on.

“Hope he’s faring alright. It would suck if the camp broke apart from the inside.” He continued.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Well . . . I hate to say I told you so, but when the Directors kept everything hush-hush, they screwed Stryx and the whole project."
They were nearing the cavern floor, the drone was hovering around them to provide light.
"You never said what the hell happened when the lizard took you hostage.
He just let you go?"