A Withered Root

As seen in

The Pit is a harrowing place. It was made by a higher being, driving its thumb into the world to set an example. With its depth still unknown and the disoriented magical currents forming its own ecosystem, it was only natural that researchers and adventurers would flock to this place. With everyone who tried to find the bottom of this imprint lost and/or presumed dead, the belief that there even is an end to this place is long gone, and every soul is advised not to venture too deep.

Kate Langridge, an elf of the aristocratic houses prepared herself for another dive down the Pit at a later time than usual. With a light backpack, bedroll, tactical vest and plenty of water on her person, she was ready to set out to retrieve an artifact she has been eying for some time now. The last thing she needed to prepare was her Divers Rank, permitting her to access the lower levels of the Pit without supervision.

"Looking for this?", a woman with frizzled brown hair and similar gear to Kate asked, dangling a metal charm in front of her. The Rank depicted a trees root system in black gold.

"Exactly right Connie, thanks. I'll be on my way then.", Kate said hastily, trying to snatch the charm out of her companions hand.

"Ah ah, not so fast. I'm coming with you. Don't go running off alone again.", Connie snapped back, smiling in her usual carefree way.

"No shot. You are not even two years out of basic training, you have no business in the root layers. We cut it too close last time, and we were 250 meters further up than I will go today. Sit this one out!", Kate tried to reason.
"You're no fun! I just want to see what it is like down there! You can take me with you as your convoy, right? Just tell the guard I'm with y..."

"No Connie. Not this time. I'll be back by tomorrows dinner. Be sure to save me one of Harrys spice bowls. See you then.", Kate said determined. She finally took the charm from her disappointed friend and walked off to the elevators nearest to her dropoff point.

Striding past the guard, flashing her Rank Charm and giving a slight nod, she entered the elevator shaft where pressed the lowest button on the panel. A quick steam whistle followed by the sound of metal gears grinding into each other followed, as the cabin set into motion. The ride down the levels took several minutes. Every hundred meters or so, an entirely new landscape emerged. from lush forests on level one, to desert planes, fluorescent sea lands, up until the final destination, the lower parts of the Volcanic Deepreach, under which the currently lowest level, the Roots, lie.

"Only a few tens of meters to go by foot", Kate thought to herself, as she put on her filtering mask, keeping out the ashen particles in the area.

She stomped her way through the muddy fertile ground towards the edge from where there was nothing but void beneath her feet, it seemed like. With rope and pick in hand, she descended downward, meter by meter.

Kate had been climbing for a good hour now, and with every step further down, a creeping feeling grew ever so slowly bigger in the back of her mind. It felt like she was walking through an otherwise bustling marketplace and a single malwishing person was watching her from afar.

"Something's coming for me", she thought. She slowed her descent down over time, almost unnoticing, her heart rate and adrenaline growing steadily. Gut feelings like this, though uncommon, are not foreign to Pitwalkers. Through experience and honed skills, this sixth sense is a key to many for survival in these barren lands. After another hour, Kate almost reached her checkpoint, one she set up at an earlier date. A relatively secured small cave where a bedroll and some canned food was already prepared by the diver. The feeling of being watched however is still ongoing. Normal predators would have either given up on her, or attacked by now.

"Whatever this beast is, it must be intelligent. Waiting for the right time to strike. A Cavetiger? No, they would at most go down to 400 meters. Nowhere near where I am.", Kate pondered. The Root territory is new even to herself. Unknown dangers lurk behind every stone.

Eventually, Kate prepared herself to camp in the cave for the rest of the day. She was in no rush and would need her strength finding her way through the Root Layer tomorrow. She took several protective precausions, such as an alarm spell on the entrance and released her small mechanical companion to help stand watch. If the enemy was that intelligent, he would not dare approach her layer with her obciously placed defenses. Kate took comfort in her situation and soon after everytrhing was set up, dozed off into a meditative state, listening to the ground, the vegetation and the small organisms around her.

She heard the wet moss dripping water, ants shoving a small speck of dirt and... footsteps? Attentive claws, some unknown four-legged predator. Also, human footsteps. Wait, human footsteps!

Suddenly it hit Kate: "The beast is not out for me, but for someone else!".
Instinctively, the Pitwalker sprung up, grabbed her bow and ran out to look for the two parties of the inevitable battle. She climbed up the cliff to the flatter plane where she just felt the moss grow as she was greeted by a:
"Hyieeek!"
, a surprised Connie screamed out.

"Connie? What are you doing here!", Kate asked exasperated.

There was no time for the embarrassed Connie to answer, who was oblivious to the danger she was in, as a scaley drakeling pounced out from the high grass field. It roared, bared its teeth and changed the color of its scales from the camouflaged lush green to red and black.

"Run Connie!", was the only thing Kate could bring her vocal cords to pry out her suddenly dry mouth before a wave of heat crashed over her and her friends heads.

Kate took aim and buried an explosive arrow in the scales of the enemy, and another, and another. Three explosions followed as the drake was just slightly stunned, preparing to tackle either one of the Pitwalkers.

Connie ran. She, now disoriented and is distress, ran towards the cliff's edge to climb down and hide.

"No! Don't get down, ther is no way to go from there!", Kate sreamed at Connie.

She knew that once the amateur diver was hanging on the cliff, she was like a fish stuck in the net of a fisherman. However, the scared girl kept on her escape.

"Argh fuck this. Hold on, I'm coming!", Kate desperately pulled out a smoke bomb from one of her vest's pouches and threw it at the drake before taking off in Connie's direction.

Kate ends up at the cliffs edge, finding Connie just above the cave entrance the blonde elf was just in moments ago.

"Roar!", the drake sounded, flapping its wings hecticly to clear a path for his bloodshot eyes to find their targets. It spotted Kate lurking over the cliffs edge and runs at her for a desicive end.

Seeing no way out, Kate channeled all her might and cried out:

"Come here then! Fucking rip me to shreds, if you can catch me!"

The drake raged onwards, being influenced by the Pitwalkers words and the magic they held, now only having eyes for her. She took one last breath and jumped off the cliff. She dove past Connie, sending her a last telepathic message saying:

"Don't you dare die now!", as she continued her descent downward, the drake following her at the heel. She fell and fell, her surroundings becoming ever darker, until she passed out, thinking she would awake, the gods know where, in her afterlife.

But where she awoke, a new life waited for her, or a second gruesome death, however you want to look at it.