THE DEEP (Revised on 12/28/23)

Krone stood in the entrance of an enormous cavern. A cool breeze blew past his bruised and bloodied brow, soothing his once pallid face. His men stood in a semicircle a few feet behind him, staring out at the surreal vista. For the first time since his conversion, Krone felt free and alive. Throughout the journey into the deep, both he and his men had lost their gaunt, washed out complexions. Time had rolled back and so had everything that had happened in the future. They were normal again. Or as normal as a band of brainwashed foot soldiers could become. But with the confusing return of free will, so too, came the return of fear, weariness and hunger, and all the other long forgotten emotions men carry in their hearts.

None of the interlopers knew how long they had been underground. Days, weeks, maybe months. Darkness has a way of distorting time. To them, it felt as if the journey had taken years and the idea that they would have to make a return trip out carrying a heavy obelisk seemed impossible.

Not that any of them spoke about the mission that had brought them into the bowel of M6-117. Free from the influence of conversion, the wants and whims of a distant Lord Marshal mattered little. For the first time in countless years, they were free to do as they pleased. And what they pleased was forgetting it all.

Miles ahead of them, a narrow golden beam shot up from the horizon. Its blinding brilliance pierced the dense cloud cover. Fire filled the choked off sky, orange light parted the cloud cover and a hidden world of unimaginable beauty opened up. The beam doubled in width, then tripled and struck the top of the cavern, exploding in a white hot corona. Moments later, a massive shock wave spread outward, kicking up dust and flocks of screeching birds. Bolts of electricity snaked outward and faded. Frightened wildlife filling the massive caver settled into the dense forests below. Every mouth fell agape at the wonder and awe before them. M6-117 was a hidden world within a world.

During the early days of their journey, the passage of time had slowed to a grinding halt as the weary soldiers stumbled aimlessly through the dark descending tunnels. Back then, they never imagined such a terrifying place existed. Back then, hungry, needful things beset them on all sides. Some cutting them off from the surface, others trying to prevent them from reaching their goal. Either way, forward or ahead, would end in a slow, bloody slog filled with certain death.

None of the men left in Krone's company dared to venture a guess how deep they had descended into the core of M6-117. They all suspected it was hundreds of miles. No matter how far they had descended, each of them longed for the bleached out hellscape high above.

A golden blast surged from the tunnel's right wall. It caught Krone's attention as it raced across the tunnel floor, tracing a path along a vein of gold ore that bisected the opening. The surge of energy stopped beneath the tip of his right combat boot and pulsed like an angry red heartbeat. An ancient eye had found them. The unnaturally straight line separating the tunnel floor from the grassy cavern on the other side caused him to draw his foot back. A blue glowing boot print pulsed and then faded away, leaving nothing but an uneasy sense of dread. Whatever lived in the deep knew it was no longer alone.

If Kone hadn't been on guard, he would have missed the flash completely. As it was, he looked around at the group and realized no one else had seen the strange flash or the glowing footprint. They were all caught in the view in front of their faces.

Krone had become suspicious after the chaotic journey into the planet's core had claimed many of his men and almost ended his life. The deep was a strange place filled with savage horrors and pitfalls the likes of which none of them had ever seen before. 

During the early days of their journey, the party had eaten little, other than what they had brought with them from the future, and that wasn't much. A few things forgotten in pockets. The trip was not supposed to take long. What little water they had found along the way came from brackish pools tasting muddy and metallic. One of his men had died from a fever brought on by a tainted pool of water. A few days after the first death, their paltry flashlights had dimmed as much as their waning spirits. Eventually, the batteries in their lights became as empty as their aching bellies.

That's when bad got worse. Without light to warn them of approaching raptors, the only thing they had was a single tracker, and that was a sad substitute for sight. So, darkness took them into its icy embrace, cloaking the slimy howling things scurrying in the musty, stall air. It grated at their wills to go on. Day after day, creatures hungry and unkind attacked from all sides. And day after day, they made less headway. Time was not the only thing to slow their march.

Then, as the surface rose further above, the steep tunnels became an unpredictable network of crisscrossed crevices and crumbling sinkholes that swallowed the unwary without warning. They were lost in a world where every step could be their last. But they forced themselves onward, not knowing why or where they would end up.

Screaming things dragged blind men away as the helpless comrades fired at ghosts in a black void. In those bleak times, life and death became a game of chance. And chance seemed determined to keep the Necromongers from the prize buried somewhere deep beneath their feet.

When all seemed hopeless, they decided to turn back. but they were lost in the snaking tunnels with no way home. Not that any of them had homes. They were alone in a galaxy that did not know them or want them. They were half dead shells walking through the bowels of hell and no one knew or cared they were there.

Pushing deeper into the core, pale blue lights rose out the mile deep fissures that surrounded their every move. Some believed they had gone mad. Others fell on their knees and gave thanks. Krone remembered what the traitor said from his cell. M6-117 holds many secrets. One is that life prospers in the depths. Krone stared down into the lights. He meant to find that life. He meant to survive.

As narrow rocky walls opened into giant caverns filled with stalagmites and stalactites, a thin layer of bioluminescent moss spread across every surface. The dull glow chased away the darkness and with the glow came sight. They could see as if dawn were peeking over the horizon. With the sunless sky also came a sudden end to the raptor attacks. But hunger, fatigue and exhaustion remained. Each of them had lost weight. They were shadows of the giants they had been.

The weary men trudged through vast caves filled with glowing vegetation and ankle deep grasses. Swirling clouds of insects buzzed around their heads as the air became cool and moist, and soon, meandering streams divided the growing fields. Bubbling waters teemed with an abundance of aquatic life. They caught their fill with weary hands and feasted with cracked and sore lips. None cared if the fish were poisoned. The hunger gnawing at their bellies was sharp and relentless. They lay on muddy banks, eating to their fill and slumbering peacefully on soft beds made of green grass. And time passed as thoughts of Necromongers and missions drifted away.

Further on, the vegetation grew taller until lush forests rose all around them. Enormous trees thousands of years old teemed with chattering monkey-like creatures, bizarre birds, and strange creatures of all kinds. And all of it added to the growing light. All of it emitting its own light.

Deeper still, a series of large chasms, miles high cracks torn through the mantle of the inner planet, stretched forward for miles. Giant grasses shot up shoulder high and spread over gently rolling savannas that were surrounded by jagged mountains and old-growth forests. Thousand foot waterfalls churned up roiling fog banks and billowing clouds floated in a pale blue sky. The top of the caverns rose so high it disappeared.

Many days passed and the Necromongers finally arrived at a small opening in a mile high granite wall. An endless valley rolled out behind them. Their path narrowed to two choices. Through the man-sized opening or return to the surface. They moved cautiously through the narrow opening and came to a small opening, revealing a massive expanse too big to estimate. The sound of crashing wave drifted out, carrying with it the scent of salty seas.

Krone stood in the opening, 10 yards from the edge of a sheer cliff that dropped miles into the enormous sea far below. For the first time in his life, he felt small. Its beauty made him remember the warning.

"What was it he said?" Krone thought aloud. Sitting there in his prison cell. Smiling out with that infuriating grin plastered on his withered face. "You will know I speak the truth when you enter the realm of light and gold." He looked at the line of glittering ore inches from the tip of his boot and then up at the sky. "The crazy bastard was telling the truth."

A pristine line of gold lay at Krone's feet as if someone had recently used a ruler and gold paint brush to separate rock from grass. How long it had actually lain there or who had placed it there, he couldn't say. He imagined it had been there forever, since the beginning of time. And not a single blade of grass had ever spread to the tunnel side.

"Is that Gold?" Billings asked, bending down to get a closer look at the line.

Krone laughed at him. "What's a Necromonger going to do with gold?"

"In case you haven't noticed the obvious." Billings replied as he turned to face him. He gestured at his lack of round neck scars left by the conversion process and then to his non-pallid complexion. "We're not Necromongers anymore." Billings pushed past him, stepping on the gold line. he walked out onto the green grass and breathed in the cool moist salt air wafting up from the shoreline. The angry red flash passed by again, Billings blue footprint wafted smoke and Krone stepped back.

"It'll come back when we go home." Krone said, not really considering going back to the Lord Marshal or his armada. He was done with that life. But first, he had one last task to complete before he left this place for good. He needed to see it, for himself. He needed to know if the traitor was telling the truth. If it were a lie. If such power actually existed.

"Yours might," Billings snapped, and spit at the grass near Krone's feet. It struck the burned footprint and spattered the ore. The ore arc. Billings missed it. They all missed it. Except Krone. Billings turned to the others, gestured to the ore and added, "Save me some, boys. I think I'll need a little cash for when we get off world." He turned to Krone with a smug sneer and said, "As for me, I won't be going back with you. Ever." He strolled over to the edge of the cliff to get a better view of a world no human eye had ever gazed upon. It beauty stole his fear.

"I wouldn't do that," Krone warned, shaking his head at Billings. He threw up a thick barrier of outstretched arm, preventing any of the others from crossing the ore and shook his head no. "Don't," he whispered, gesturing down at the unnatural gold line as if it shouldn't be there. It began to glow and his men took a wary step back.

In the distance, the clouds parted and the sound of pounding waves crashing against rocky beaches reached their ears. A deep blue sea stretched out for untold leagues. Flattening the horizon. A large green island rose out of a swirling bank of fog. Krone thought that with its cut off shores and dangerous mountain terrain it would make the perfect hiding spot. "There," he said, gesturing to the island. "We need to go there."

"What is this place?" Billings asked, mouth agape with awe and wonder.

Krone gestured for Billings to come back behind the ore and said, "Come back and I'll tell you."

"I don't take orders from you anymore." Billings said turning with a scowl of hatred. "So, you can either tell me now or come take a fucking flying leap."

"Have it your way." Krone replied in a blithe tone. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Billings shot him with a frown weighed down by years of unspoken insults and expletives and turned back to the view. He was his own man again. He would never listen to Krone again.

"It the Garden of Eden." Levens said, stepping around Krone and over the line. Krone grabbed his arm and stopped him from moving any further.

Something reptilian screamed in the near distance. The sound seemed to surround them on all sides. Everyone looked around and threw up their weapons. Billings held up the tracker. He saw nothing out there.

Krone's right eyebrow went up, and he whispered, "It's not. It's the seventh level of Hell disguised to look like Eden." He pulled his right toe back from the gold ore a second time and saw the same blue tinge fade away. He suspected that whatever was out there knew exactly where they were. He dragged Levens behind the line. Looking up, he searched the cloudy sky and said, "last chance, asshole. Come back now. And maybe you'll live long enough to spend some gold, after all."

"And you can go-" Billings began, turning around as something large and black swooped down, snatching him up with enough force to tear him out of his boots. A bloody boot landed on the line of ore as the beast flew away with Billings' wriggling corpse flopping in the breeze.

Krone looked over his shoulder at the remaining men and asked, "Anyone else want to go out and look over the cliff?" No one moved. No one said anything. They just watched the creature fly over the horizon with Billings' body in tow. "No?" Krone added, turning to each man in turn.

"Please tell me that's not the only way down?" Levens asked, moving sideways along the line. He took great care not to step on the grass as he checked the area for a way forward. He needed a reason to forget what he'd just seen.

"Stupid bastard," Hodge said, angrily kicking Billings' boots over the edge. "What a waste. Just to make it all this way and…" He sighed sharply, shaking his head. "Just stupid."

"He was right about one thing, Hodge." Krone said, turning back to the view with a shrug. "He won't be going back to the armada."

"Ever," Hodge added with a disgusted sneer.

"And neither will any of you, if you don't get your heads out your asses, right now. Whatever is operating this place, wants us gone, or dead. We're not wanted here."

"Pity we could have used his help. He was a good man." Hodge said, turning his attention to the rocky side of the cave mouth. He knelt down, dropped to his hands and knees and crawled along the outside of the Golden line. "You warned him."

"You did," Levens said, looking suspiciously at Krone. "About that. What gives? Since when do you give two ripe shits about anyone but yourself?"

"Harsh," Krone said in a distracted voice. He had his nose a few inches above the gold, inspecting it through squinted eyes.

"But true," Hodge called out with an out-of-place air of playfulness in his voice. There was something about the light down there that just wanted to make you think things were going to turn out all right. Or maybe it was because he could feel something other than anger and hatred.

Levens worked his way about 75 feet down the line in the opposite direction. He stood with his back to them, looking at something. "There's a passage leading down over here." he said, turning to them. "I think it might be safe. It doesn't cross the line and there are steps leading down.. They look like they were placed here yesterday. "

"Steps," Hodge said, looking to Krone for confirmation he heard right. "Did he say step?"

"I think from here on out, it's safe to assume that everything we encounter down here is most likely a threat or a trap. Agreed?" Everyone nodded as he gestured for them to huddle up. "Someone or something doesn't want us here."

"Before we go any further, I have a few questions." Levens said, looking to Hodge to back him up. "Because you know way more about what's going on down here than you're sharing."

Hodge nodded in agreement and said, "like, why are we down here? Because none of us want to complete this mission. Not even you. We could have taken their ship and gone anywhere."

"Because stealing the devise was never our mission. The traitor sent us here to protect it."

"Did you drink some foul water?" Levens asked. "Since when have we taken orders from him?"

"And that's exactly what I said when he offered me the deal." Krone replied.

"What deal?"

Krone turned to them and said, "Before we came, Vaako sent me to speak with him. He knew much of the plan. He told me it was a lie. That our mission would change and that he… and he alone… could get us back home. But there would be a price if we wanted his intervention."

"Didn't we already establish that none of us wants to go back there?"

"Not there. Back to the ones that were taken from us. He'll send us to our families. To a time before they took us. We can take them and leave before the Necros attack. But only if we protect the obelisk from the deceiver."

"And how will he do that, if we're all dead?" Leven asked?

"Why didn't you tell us any of this earlier?" Hodge demanded.

"Like I said, I believed he was full of shit and I was a loyal servant of the one true master."

"And why believe him now?" Hodge went on. "Why trust him to follow through? Even if we succeed, he is still locked in his cell and we are here."

"It's unlikely any of us will ever see the surface again." Leven said. "Not without help. The only way back, is forward."

Krone nodded and said, "Then, It comes down to one question. What are we willing to do, for a chance to see your families again? To erase the stain of abandoning our loved ones to die in our places. What would you risk to erase that sin?"