De'Vas Chronicles Book 3: Chapter 3

Bo and Ash stood in an empty parking lot as they looked at the old abandoned mall in District 208. Normally such a large building would have been occupied by the paranormals for residential or business needs. This mall, though, had been in such a poor state that it was left untouched, except for a smuggler who was rumored to operate out of it.

“Looks like the place from Undead Shoppers: 4. Same shape and everything,” Bo said.

Ash looked at Bo.

“Seriously. Bringing up horror movies before we go into that creepy place?” Ash huffed at Bo.

Bo let out a laugh as Ash gave him a shove before they started walking to the nearest entrance. The metal door was rusted and the small windows on it were busted out. The whole place looked like it hadn’t been updated since the 1980’s. Ash tugged on the door but it didn’t budge.

“It’s locked and I bet the handles are chained, too,” he said.

“I got it,” Bo said.

He lifted the battle axe he was carrying and swung at the door. Two strikes and the orc had busted them down.

“So, remind me, what does Silver want us to find?” Bo asked as they entered the mall.

The door they broke down led them into what used to be a clothing store, though now the shelves and clothing racks were bare. A thick coating of dust covered everything and specks floated in the air. As they got deeper into the mall, they took out their flashlights and turned them on.

“Supposedly, there’s a goblin here who is dealing in magic reagents and is somehow smuggling them outside of De’Vas,” Ash stated.

 They made their way through the old clothing store to the security grilles that blocked it from the corridors of the mall. Bo readied his battle axe again, but Ash stopped him as he pulled out Riptide. The blade of Water Magic cut through the cheap metal of the gate with ease. Pushing the cut metal aside, they entered the mall.

Bo went first, keeping an eye out for any traps that might lay in wait for them. Ash looked around and silently cursed Bo for bringing up the B-rated zombie flick. The desolate mall was filled with graffiti, trash, and mold. The place screamed horror movie.

“Got one,” Bo said as he knelt down and pointed to a tile on the floor.

It took Ash a moment in the low light to make out what Bo was talking about. On one of the tiles, not larger than three inches, was a rune.

“I’m guessing nothing good would have happened if we stepped on that,” Ash stated.

Bo shrugged.

“Depends on the rune. It could set you on fire, stun you with lightning magic, or, if they’re a fan of the classics, an earth spike through your foot.”

Bo took off his backpack and opened it up. Ash watched as the orc pulled out a roll of reflective tape and outlined the title with it.

“Would it not be better to set it off by throwing something at it?” Ash asked.

Bo stood once he was done, though he kept the roll of reflective tape out.

“No. Depending on how they have it set up, it could set off a chain reaction. I served as a mercenary with a dwarf rune master who loved doing that. He would set stones with runes painted on them in the path of the enemy. The soldier would step on one and fifty of those stones would set off in an inferno,” Bo said.

Bo stood up and started scanning the floor ahead of them back and forth with his flashlight as they slowly moved through the corridor of the mall. The reflective tape caught the light and was easy to spot.

“Sounds like an interesting guy,” Ash said.

“Oh, he was a riot,” Bo said as he stopped and marked another title. “One time, he got drunk and disappeared from the army camp. We found him at a farm trying to ride a boar, saying it would be the perfect steed for a dwarf.”

Bo let out a chuckle at the memory.

“At least we know something is here,” Ash said as they made their way down the corridor. “No way someone would do all this if they weren’t protecting something.”

Bo gave a grunt of agreement.

When they came to a cross-section of the mall’s corridors they found more proof someone was there. The storefront to their left had been barricaded off with a wall of wood and metal. It was sealed to the ceiling with just one way in, a steel door barred shut with a metal pole.

They walked up to the door and Bo examined it closely.

“No runes on the door or the wall,” he said as his flashlight zipped around everything.

“They made sure to seal it up, no cracks to try and peek in there,” Ash said as he did his own scan of the wall.

Bo cast him a questioning look to which Ash gave a nod. The orc took hold of the metal pole and pulled it free before testing the door, which swung open.

The room was completely sealed. The only light came from a large vending machine in the back of the room. The glow from its light, advertising a cherry-flavored soda, illuminated several soda cans, bones, and feathers littering the ground.

“Have they been keeping chickens in here?” Ash asked as he scanned the ground with his flashlight.

“More like feeding the chickens to something I’d say,” Bo said his flashlight’s beam resting on a pile of bones.

“This is weird. All the cans are unopened and sitting up on the floor,” Ash stated before shifting his flashlight beam to the vending machine. “We have to be close since the vending machine has power.”

A shadow next to the vending machine caught Ash’s eye and he moved his flashlight over to the machine’s power cord, laying unplugged on the ground.

“Huh,” he said.

“What?” Bo asked his flashing light joining Ash’s on the vending machine.

“It’s not plugged in. Look.”

Ash’s flashlight’s beam went to the side of the vending machine and rested on the outlet which was currently empty.

“Oh, no. No, no, no,” Bo said as his light swept around them scanning the ground.

Ash watched as Bo’s beam went behind them and he saw a cluster of soda cans had appeared between them and the door they came through.

“We didn’t pass those coming in,” Ash said as his beam rested on the cans that had appeared behind him. “What’s going on, Bo?”

Bo was silent for a moment as he pulled back his battle axe as if readying to throw it, his flashlight on the cluster of cans.

“Run!” Bo shouted as he hurled his battle axe into the soda cans.

As the axe twirled towards the cans, they each shifted, turning from the cherry flavor soda into spider-like creatures with the same color pattern.

Bo took off and Ash moved right behind him. The orc snagged his battle axe as they passed by it. Ash cast one glance behind him and saw the vending machine shift into a giant version of the spider-like monster and began to pursue them, the smaller spider-like monsters right behind it.

They made it out of the steel door and raced down the corridor they came from.

“What the hell are those things?” Ash asked as they ran.

Bo had his flashlight out, and the reflective tape around the runes lit up, allowing them to easily dodge them.

“Mimics!” Bo answered.

Ash glanced behind them and saw the monsters following them. He pulled on his magic and sent a Bolt toward the vending machine. Thunder echoed in the mall as it slammed into it. A few of the small mimics curled up like dead insects, but the big one got back up, barely fazed by the lightning.

“Shit! My magic isn’t very effective on them,” Ash said as he caught up with Bo.

“Mimics have natural earth magic, so they have high resistance to lightning magic,” Bo answered.

Ash’s gut dropped as he saw the mimics start to step on the rune-covered tiles. The runes on the titles started to light up and soon other tiles, not stepped on by the spiders, did as well. Dozens of titles with runes on them began to glow, first a faint yellow, then orange that was shifting to a red.

The light they produced illuminated the corridor and Ash noticed the fountain ahead of them. The dry fountain was a knee-high elevated pool and was large enough for both Bo and Ash to take cover inside.

“Bo!” he started to say.

“I see it. It's probably our best shot. Run like hell!” Bo answered.

They dove into the empty fountain and quickly covered their heads. Ash had just gotten his arm over his head when he heard the explosion and felt the ground shake. Cries of dying mimics followed the blast as bits of tile and dust rained down on them.

Ash pulled Riptide free from his belt and activated the blade before peeking over the edge of the fountain, Bo did the same as he gripped his battle axe.

The corridor of the mall was now filled with dust, smoke, and chard mimic corpses. Bo and Ash gripped their weapons and stared into the dust and smoke, ready for anything that might come out of it.

“This is a lot more than what Silver thought would be waiting for us,” Bo said as he held his battleaxe.

“What kind of idiot would keep mimics?” Ash asked.

“No way this is just some smuggler,” Bo stated. “I’m calling it. We need more firepower to do this safely.”

Ash sighed and gave a reluctant nod of agreement.

“You’ll get no argument from me.”

They stood up slowly, keeping an eye on the smoke and dust.

Crack.

The sound was the only warning they received before the floor gave way and the fountain fell below along with a good portion of the the floor they were on. Ash pushed his magic into his body instinctively when the feeling of falling took hold. Ash, Bo, and the fountain fell a short distance before crashing. The force slammed them back on the bottom of the fountain.

“Bo, you alright?” Ash asked after letting out a groan and setting up.

The air was thick with dust and smoke.

“Yeah, just a few scrapes,” Bo answered. “I think, anyways.”

Ash looked up and saw the hole they had fallen through. A decent portion of the corridor they were in had fallen through with them. His first thought was the explosion caused by the ruins had collapsed them into an underground cave. Then he noticed how well-lit the edges of the rough earthen walls were against the darkness of the mall above. He could see points of light through the dust as it settled. The room they were in started to become clear. They were now in a wide-open room that was mostly empty except for a small workstation in the far corner and the rubble and dead mimics that had fallen with them. Ash looked at the workstation and saw a goblin cowering under the desk, as if fearful the entire room would collapse.

“There’s our target,” Ash said as he pointed Riptide in the direction of the goblin.

The sound of shifting rubble drew his attention. Ash cursed as he saw the vending machine mimic emerge from through the settling dust. He pulled on his magic and lifted Riptide.

“Bo!” Ash shouted to his best friend.

 “Damn it! your girlfriends are going to kill me!” Bo cursed as he lifted his battle axe and readied himself to fight.