The Dead God
The air was hot, hundreds of voices yelling over eachother in a monstrous orchestra of drunken hoops and hollers as Dex rubbed his temple. His scar had been acting up, a wound he recieved from a bounty hunter a few years back, but it never stopped making his head hurt when something bad was about to happen. Groaning, he kept an eye on what held the crowd’s attention, the many holonet videos above their heads coming to life as a fighting known as ‘The Fist’ broke his shock boxing glove against the other’s face. Almost as if planned, the crowd roared in unison as the latter competitor fell to the mat and began to bleed profusely; the camera panning out as announcing began the countdown.
Crowds continued to cheer through the counting, but as the winner was called Dex could only shake his head and offer a soft curse under his breath. He just lost another hundred credits he didn’t have, and given a few hours the loan shark looking for his money would be hot on his tail. Just a day he’d told him, but as they passed onto just over a fortnight he knew it was time for the debt to be collected.
Across the table from him, another man with short, shiny black hair and a rugged beard sat down. His eyes were beady, but his shoulders were broad and his voice was thick; slapping the table with a jolly stature hinting at the level of intoxication he had.
“Oy’, I told ya’ he was a ringa’!”, the bear of a man echoed out.
“Anotha’ twenty credits in ‘mah pocket, Dex!”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t rub it in.”, Dex offered in a rather defeated tone. The man in question was long time companion Voran, a bouncer and enforcer for cartels all over the galaxy. At current, the two were unemployed, and although it was draggin on Dex, Voran still found a way to enjoy his day through the bottle or women.
“Ah, bud, lighten’ up. I’ll even buy the next round!”
Voran, as promised, called over a waitress and gave her the credits required for another two drinks of some local brew. It didn’t taste half bad, but to say they had better would be an understatement all things considered. However, before the two drinks could make their way back to the thirsty, their duo turned into a trio as a young lithe man sat down with them.
Olly was a man of ill repute, notorious for his addiction to spice and his connections to the underworld. He wasn’t highly respected amongst the criminals on Barbatos, but the fact was he hadn’t worked an honest day in his life, and that life led to alot of people. Being a mediator between a number of large factions had its perks, as he was paid handsomely when something went well; though on the opposite end of the spectrum so too did it sting when a deal went sour. As of current, Olly was on the receiving end of a bad string of events that ended in the latter.
“H-hey fellas-”, the twitchy eyed youth said through a chattering jaw.
“Oy’ Olly, how goes it?”, Voran asked.
“O-Oh nothin’, just uh, you know, things… and stuff…”, he said as his voice trailed off.
“Well, I can see how this conversation is going to go. Voran, lets -”, Dex began before the spice addict interrupted.
“No! No, no no, Dex listen man, I uh, I got a job for us.”, he said as he watched the group around them.
“You ever heard of that uh, old legend out in the m-mountains?”
“No, Olly, I haven’t.”, Dex offered in an annoyed candor; already annoyed by the notorious hijinks of the tweaker.
“W-Well, neither did I until I uh, got asked to uh…”, Olly seemed to pause.
“- I-Investigate it, by one of ‘The Human’s men. Says h-he wants some proof a l-lab or something is down there. I t-told him I got the b-best two scavengers there ever w-was, I did.”, he said through an almost forced joy.
“What? No, I’m not chasing some myth for you, Olly. Not this time.”, he said through a growing anger that crept its way into his jaw.
“Dex, c’mon aren’t we friends? I e-even put in the good word for you!”
“No, Olly-”, Dex began as he slowly stood.
“-I’ve got about a smuggler’s dozen of problems, and you’re starting to be one.”
“D-Dex! Please, Dex, c’mon! I’ve…”, he began to stutter heavily, likely a mixture of nervousness and outright spice withdrawal.
“I’ve a-already taken the money, Dex, please.”, he pled.
“Well, lets hear ‘em out now…”, the kind hearted giant interrupted.
Dex frozen in place, passing an annoyed expression to Voran before slowly creeping back into his seat. It wasn’t the first time the titan had let his equally sized heart take the best of him, and as notorious as Olly was for getting jobs that paid, so too was he well known for karking them up. The pain in his temple kept up through the entire conversation, likely the result of a poorly placed bet still having stressful repercussions; yet he held through the pain for the sake of a friend.
“I-I took the money, b-but Dex I swear, I’ll g-give you a cut!”, Olly pleaded, holding his hands together on the table like a lowly beggar for a piece of bread.
“How much?”, Dex said quickly. If he was going to get involved, he at the very least needed something to make up for it.
“Fifteen Th-Thousand!”
Dex paused for a moment, almost mulling it over. Fifteen thousand credits to make an expedition to the mountain, find proof of some random lab, and come back to deliver it to the third party. That… seemed too easy…
“Fifteen… each of us?”, he asked.
Voran kept quiet, he knew Dex was the charismatic one between the two; and if that number was true, then he’d have a strong reason to get involved. It was by far enough to pay off both their debt, but both of them knew Dex was more than desperate for it.
“W-well…”, Olly began, before being interrupted.
“Each.”, Dex reinforced.
“F-Fine. Just h-hurry-”, Olly began as he pulled an aging map from his pocket.
“He s-said this was how to g-get there…”, he said as he spread it across the table.
Dex quickly folded it back up and pocketed in his jacket, placing it directly next to the DC-17 Hand Blaster holstered just under his outermost layer of clothes. It had served as a trusty companion for some time now, mostly for its reliability than anything else. A smile spread across Dex’s face for the first time in days as he leaned forward to Olly, patting his head and offering confidence;
“Don’t worry, Olly. Consider it done.”, he chuckled. As the two stood and began to walk, Dex took a moment to stop and turn back;
“One more thing-”, he said as his tone turned sour, “If we don’t get those credits, Olly, you’ll be the only thing getting sent underground.”
Olly turned pale, quickly turning back as the waitress returned and set the drinks down, just late of those that ordered them. Dex and Voran were busy, now focused on the goal of income for the sake of paying their debts. After that was done, then they could drink a bit more.
Afterall, Dex had already reasoned they’d have it done in a matter of days.
---
Dex sat quiet, slouched in the pilots seat of their freighter. The windows streaked as raindrops formed and ran off, the arcs of lightning in the dense fog of the clouds illuminating the cockpit with a violent blue flash before subsiding. In his hand, he twiddled with a piece of thread, a habit he’d kept since he was but a child.
Voran shrunk his behemoth like frame to fit through the doorway, moving to sit on the copilot seat with the aging criminal. The soft scratch of his beard seemed to announce his presence, as he kept a very quiet nature about him even as he walked over the aging metal of the ship. He drank from a small mug, the scent of black Caf filling the small enclosure before he sat with a soft groan of both himself and the chair.
“Whatchu’ thinkin’?”, he asked as soft as the brute could.
“I’m thinking Olly better pay up.”, he quipped, “Thinking I should’ve asked for some of those credits before we left.”
“Bah, e’ll be good to his word. Bet on it.”, he offered back with a reassuring confidence.
If nothing else, Voran had a history of good bets between the two, and it made for a dangerous duo. Dex might have been the charisma, but Voran often contradicted his brutish appearances with a stunning intelect, most notably in prediction. Of people, of situations, the man was just a good read both inside and outside the ring.
“Any ‘dea what we might find, Dex?”
“Empty caves, maybe some Imperial holdout that nobody bothered cleaning up. Who knows?”, Dex offered as the twine tightened around his finger.
Thunder shook the ship slightly of its coarse, forcing the autopilot to correct itself and continue on the way.
“I’m hopin’ we find some treasure.”, Voran chuckled out, his belly moving in time with his laughter. It brought a faint smile to Dex’s face before he simply shook his head, knowing Voran was simply jesting.
Soon enough, the storm began to subside to more open skies, nothing but an endless mountain range on the horizon. Although many hundreds of miles away still, the distant shadow of Orobas Mons eye’ed them with an imposing stature, dwarfing all but the largest of neighbors near it. Many considered itself one of the many natural wonders in the galaxy off sheer size alone; though Dex was convinced it couldn’t be the biggest. He’d seen far too many places to believe any one of them was the best in their respective categories. Many made the claims, but someone would always come along and dethrone it.
Sighing as the miles began to close, Voran glanced to Dex with a faint weariness in his eyes. His voice seemed to match as he spoke up;
“Dex… You uh, nervous at all?”, the man whispered.
“What?”, Dex asked.
“Nothin’, just got a bad feeling is all.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Voran. Unless that Sith lord is still in there, we’ll be just fine.”, he offered with a faint smirk.
Still, something about the imposing nature of the mountain upset him just as it had Voran. Its not as if they hadn’t heard the rumors, not of the mountain so much as the system in general. Left and right someone had a ghost story to tell, about men and children going missing in the night, and it put a certain strain on the workers in the region. More and more, only men of hardened demeanor and iron wills made it for long, at the very least a mundane appreciation for anything supernatural.
Dex quietly pulled the map from his pocket and glanced it over. Much of it was covered in an unknown language, something he’d never seen before, but the design certainly seemed intelligent. Its age made him wary to man handle, as even turning it open he swore he could feel it crumble in his touch; while on its pages the colors had faded substantially, and all that was left was the black that helped to outline its many features. It was suprisingly detailed at that, as even without the words to guide him, he could make out which of the areas on the map were Orobas Mons and what wasn’t; while opening the active satellite images of the area on a nearby holonet computer offered him the perfect opportunity to define an actual entrance.
With some confidence, Dex quietly set the map back in his pocket and glanced towards the place defined by the map as to where it must have been, through it appeared entirely covered in snow. Closing, however, provided more context, as the shimmering blackness of something mostly covered by the white cover caught his attention. Quickly relaying, he nudged Voran to tell him;
“Found it. Get the coats, it’s going to be cold.”, he said as he took control of the ship, nudging it out of autopilot with the slightest shuffle of the stick.
The ship groaned as it was forced to compensate, pulling the slightest amount of G’s as it twirled as nimble as a few ton freighter could; bringing it to a slight hover just above the incline of the mountain below. Locking the system, Dex moved to stand and meet Voran at the rear of the vessel.
Soft sounds of depressurization came through as he met with his friend, already wearing the heavy winter gear they’d need to stay comfortable in the elevation. Orobas Mons was notorious for killing the thrill seeker who wished to climb its entirety, and had only been done a few times; lucky for them they weren’t going the full way, but the danger nonetheless was very real. Throwing on a soft beanie and a pair of flash resistant goggles, he motioned for the two to depart.
A rope descended before them, the first to make it down being Dex. Using simple rappelling gear, he made it down with ease, watching as snow was thrown this way and that; though his eyes never left the distant obsidian like peak within the snow. Using a vibroclaw, he quickly sunk it into the nearby cliff and waited for Voran, who followed in short order.
As the piece that helped their descent moved back to the ship, the ramp slowly closed and the noise of its engines picked up as it moved for orbit, the predetermined location for the ship to wait at while its masters moved below. Voran readjusted his backpack as the two began to move, but it was Dex who called out to Voran over the roar of the surrounding wind;
“Black spot, 2 O'Clock!”, he called out.
Voran simply nodded, snow slowly beginning to fill out his beard in a speckled mess of hair and ice. The two moved slow, as despite their confidence to achieve the mission, neither were exceptional climbers. Not in this weather, and certainly not at this altitude.
The air was thin, and made their movements even harder, but after almost twenty minutes the two made it the short distance to the spot in the snow Dex had called out. Only a portion of its crest seemed to poke out, and as Dex brushed the snow aside he couldn’t help but notice how smooth it seemed. Its surface had been polished perfectly, with no sign of machining or tool marks evident, yet even still it didn’t seem to reflect light so much as it simply absorbed it. The snow around it made a harsh contrast to its obsidian nature, making Dex glad he wore the goggles.
As he messed with its surface, he couldn’t help but feel he was making little progress. Through the glove, nothing came of touching the pyramid, with no obvious buttons, levers, or other mechanisms he couldn’t help but think they had already hit an impasse. A soft groan left his throat as he moved to pull one of the gloves off and feel the pyramid with a more thorough investigation. It was only as his bare skin touched the pyramid that he could feel something different beneath him, as if the very snow had come alive and began to shift.
He glanced to his partner, fear suddenly in his eyes as he tried to scream to him; but as his gaze met with Voran’s, he could already see his friend had been sucked halfway into the snow already, his gladiator like form fighting tooth and nail against the draw of whatever pulled him under. Dex, knowing that if Voran couldn’t escape through brute force, he certainly couldn’t; forcing him to suck in as deep of a breath as he could and hold it as he fell into the snow.
The embrace of the snow was cold, covering him as soon as his head went under with a blistering sensation that covered his body. No matter how long he held his breath however, he never seemed to come out from the snow; forcing his lungs to begin to burn for the sensation of air. Dex began to wrathe despite his attempt to hold still as seconds turned to minutes, with nothing but the blackness around him and the snow to hold him still. Quiet, desperate pleas for life tore at him as his body gave in and gasped; filling his mouth with ice. He tried to cough and sputter, but as the final pieces of oxygen left his lungs he could do no more than fight the dying of the light.
Dex could feel himself slip into unconsciousness. It wasn’t a stranger of a sensation, but where there was usually a soft serenity to the darkness, now he could feel only a creeping disgust. The pain seemed distant, but never ceased as he relinquished himself to death.
---
Darkness surrounded Dex as he slowly awoke, met with nothing but pain in every breath and the endless black abyss around him. He desperately grasped for air, sucking down what he could to find it was as frigid as the air outside; forcing him to seize in a fit of coughs that only amplified the pain he felt. It was the cough however, that identified the pain as a series of fractured ribs on his right side.
With pain in his chest, Dex moved his hands towards his pocket, pulling from it a glow stick that lit up his surrounding in a sickly green hue. Before him was a cave with a single path downwards, far enough to lose his light within it, ceding once more to the darkness. There was no definitive way they could have ended up within the room, but he couldn’t help but feel like he fell. The area above however, was solid granite; offering no hints at some secret passage he might’ve ran through.
Groaning, Dex moved to a seated position, completely surrounded by absolute silence. He ripped the goggles from his face, tossing them aside as he clenched his jaw. Dex eventually called out into the darkness, feeling a sharp pain in his throat as he cried out;
“Voran! You alive?”, he said with some desperation.
The soft churns of a grown deeper in the cave gave a hint as to where Voran might’ve been. Forcing himself to close the distance between the two, he dragged himself up and towards his friend with great effort before spotting him, face up only a few meters away. His backpack’s straps had broken, landing a few meters from even that, but Voran didn’t appear injured.
“Where’s it hurt, buddy, c’mon where are ya’?”, Dex asked as he kneeled down and tapped his face with some gusto. Getting him out of shock would the first and only thing he could do.
“Roight where ya’ hittin’ me, you scruffy lookin’-”, Voran began.
“Oh, you’re alive! I thought I lost you!”, Dex cried out as he gripped the man’s hand. It was only then he realized one of his hands wouldn’t bend.
Voran couldn’t see yet, but the beginning of frostbite had began to take his fingers from him, on the hand he had taken the glove off of to touch the pyramid, as each turned black and full of necrosis. It was impossible to tell how long they’d been out, but it was enough for him to start losing sensation in his hand none the less, the only reason he couldn’t feel the absolute pain he should be.
Before Voran rose up, Dex quickly tucked his now dying hand into a pocket, forcing a smile to bearded giant. Voran eventually returned it, slowly picking up the backpack that had snapped and retying the straps that he was able to salvage. Dawning it, he glanced down the tunnel as he too got his bearings.
“Where we at?”, he asked with the wonderment and fear of a child.
“I uh… I don’t know. Inside the mountain, I suppose…”, Dex offered as he stood, holding back the pain of his numerous injuries. Voran didn’t need the extra worry, not right now. They’d deal with it when they had a chance.
Voran stared into the darkness for a moment, glancing back to Dex with what could only be described as inspiration as he motioned him to follow;
“Well, let's get what we came for, aye?”, Voran offered with a smile.
Despite the cold, it warmed him, if only slightly. Dex nodded instead of answering, taking a moment to follow. The cave they walked in seemed to stretch forever, minutes beginning to pass as the group moved through the darkness with nothing but a glow stick to lighten their path. Something about the green made Dex feel sick, but he didn’t want to mention that to Voran; just another thing they didn’t need to worry about.
Thirty minutes, an hour passed before the cave network changed. Climbing, forks in the caves, all seemed to look vaguely similar, and he couldn’t tell if they were any closer or farther from getting out; only that they were going somewhere. Wherever that was, he didn’t know, but as the cave began to give way to an opening that unsettled him even before he could make out what it was.
A black wall blended itself with the edge of the granite, one that looked dangerously like the pyramid they had touched prior. Its abysmal darkness seemed to suck down the green of their light, restricting how far they could see by sheer presence alone. Furrowing his brow, he closed the distance with Voran in tow;
“I think we found it, Dex…”, Voran said coldly.
“Yeah, I suppose we did.”, it was the only thing he could respond with. What scared him more was what would happen if they touched the black again.
It took Dex a moment to gain the confidence to step into the opening; but nothing happened as he stepped within. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all the same black material, the hallway a perfect square they walked down; but nothing gave them the impression they were even making progress as the sight of the opening disappeared behind them.
Ten, twenty minutes; and hallways began to form splintering off from the hallway they went down. They were no different than the one they were down, at least not in appearance, and so the group moved past them. In theory, going straight at least gave them a chance to make it to the core of whatever this place was; so they thought.
After a few minutes, he heard Voran’s feet cease their progress; if only for a moment. Dex looked back to see him, staring down one of the hallways with an intense look about him. Everything about him seemed tense, ready to recoil at the slightest touch. It wasn’t often such a brute of a man held such a stance, but it unsettled Dex as he offered a shaky tone;
“V-Voran, what’s up man?”, but Voran offered no response.
“Voran!”, he called out once more.
“I saw them, Dex.”, he said idly.
“Saw who?”, he asked back.
“My family.”
With that, Dex went a little sour. It’d been years since Voran had spoken of his family, even to Dex; the memory far too much of a pain for the aging criminal. Voran had a wife and a daughter, years before; keeping them supported through enforcing for a local syndicate. Deals went south, and he got caught in the crossfire of a cartel war; ending with him killing the other group’s second in command. In return, the syndicate they were at war with made peace, but not before attempting to assassinate him with a bomb. The trouble was, the bomb was planted in their home while he was gone, and when the family came back, he wasn’t with them. He said there wasn’t enough left for a funeral, and he only ever told the story to Dex once while exceptionally sad and drunk; but it stuck with him.
“What? No, you cou-”, he began.
“I saw ‘em.”, Voran offered as he turned back to Dex. His eyes had watered enough, though no tears were shed yet.
Dex offered no response, nothing could be said to help the bear out. He sighed, and after a moment he thought of only a few words;
“It’s just the place getting to you, Voran. C’mon, lets get out of here.”
Voran offered no response, only following with a more humbled demeanor. His shoulders were held tight, and his gaze was down; concealing his face from the sharp glow of the stick Dex carried. He could feel the pain in his hand beginning to spread, and knew if he didn’t get medical help, the necrosis would poison the rest of him soon enough.
He really wished he brought some bacta right about now.
---
Hours passed, and no changes had found their way in their path. The two were tired, settling in the middle of the hallway some makeshift camp; scarfing down what nutrient packs they brought with. They hadn’t expected to stay here more than a day or so, and judging by the amount they packed, they wouldn’t last more than a week.
“Dex, how you handlin’?”, Voran asked as he stared at the ceiling.
“Handling, Voran. I’m handling.”
It was the only words the two would share before they fell asleep. Dex wasn’t sure when it happened, only that he had no dreams that night; nothing but that constant all consuming blackness held his attention for hours. It was only when he heard something stir in the darkness, did he awaken from his slumber.
He called out as he woke up;
“Aye, Voran! Voran, you awake?”, he called out into the darkness as he made a pained attempt to stand.
“They’re here, Dex. I can’t believe it…”
“Voran, what are you-”, he said before he froze.
His family.
“Voran, they’re not real. Where are you at buddy?”, he called out.
He could hear the soft laughter of the man somewhere deeper down the hallway, but there was no way to tell how far he was at this point. Dex made the desperate move to reach for another glow stick, cracking it as it lit up his surrounding; only to reveal nothing but the hallway.
“Voran, c’mon stop playing…”
Fear began to overtake him as he began to take a few steps towards where he heard his voice. Step by step, he couldn’t help but feel something following behind him. His walk turned brisk, and from brisk to a jog, only to end up in a blistering sprint for the end of the hallway. He ran from something for anything, something to offer some reprieve.
“Voran!”, he cried out. It was the only thing he could find comfort in, that he would catch his friend in front of him, waiting for him.
“Please, buddy, please where are you?!”, his voice began to break out in a blind panic.
His ribs tore at his lungs as he ran, only to feel his footing fall out from under him; letting nothing but his head catch his fall. He hit the obsidian like floor with a pained grunt, sliding a few feet as the glow stick was thrown from his grasp further down the hall.
Laying there, he could feel the sensation of something creeping up his leg, its thin, spindly fingers tugging at his clothes. Something in him kept him from moving, paralyzed by fear and instinct as this creature seemed to huff. It took it only a moment to reach his face, and in the darkness he couldn’t make out any of its features, only that its breath was hot and stunk of pestilence.
Then it spoke.
The sound of scraping metal could only compare to its harsh tones, but it whispered just over his own frozen breaths. Its voice carried with it impending doom, and Dex could feel it strike daggers into his heart from sheer terror;
“I saw them, Dex.”, he said with quiet disregard.
“My family.”
Dex took in a sharp breath, reaching out to swat the thing aside in the hopes of running just a bit further, for his life, for anything that mattered to him. Yet as his fist met with where he thought it could be, it simply hit muddled air, nothing to be seen nor felt. All his anger, his fear, spent on a strike that met nothing.
Then he felt it, the sharp pressure of what felt like a blade cross against his neck. His voice fell silent, as he grasped for nothing. The warmth of his blood contradicted the cold he felt, but death terrified him far more than whatever this creature did, and his body filled with adrenaline only to lift and falter back down.
He had slipped on his own blood, and as his vision began to fade despite the blackness, he could hear the distant, familiar laughter of his long time friend; yet something was off. It was a harsh mimicry of him, copying the joy he felt and spreading it like a malignant cancer through those accursed hallways.
It both terrified and enraged Dex, but his body wouldn’t listen to the commands he gave as it ran out of its life. Gurgling was the only effort he could make as his life slipped away, in the inside of a broken tunnel.
He was scared. Not just for himself, but for Voran. He didn’t know where he was, he only hoped he’d make it out.
Those were his last thoughts as death overcame him.
Crowds continued to cheer through the counting, but as the winner was called Dex could only shake his head and offer a soft curse under his breath. He just lost another hundred credits he didn’t have, and given a few hours the loan shark looking for his money would be hot on his tail. Just a day he’d told him, but as they passed onto just over a fortnight he knew it was time for the debt to be collected.
Across the table from him, another man with short, shiny black hair and a rugged beard sat down. His eyes were beady, but his shoulders were broad and his voice was thick; slapping the table with a jolly stature hinting at the level of intoxication he had.
“Oy’, I told ya’ he was a ringa’!”, the bear of a man echoed out.
“Anotha’ twenty credits in ‘mah pocket, Dex!”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t rub it in.”, Dex offered in a rather defeated tone. The man in question was long time companion Voran, a bouncer and enforcer for cartels all over the galaxy. At current, the two were unemployed, and although it was draggin on Dex, Voran still found a way to enjoy his day through the bottle or women.
“Ah, bud, lighten’ up. I’ll even buy the next round!”
Voran, as promised, called over a waitress and gave her the credits required for another two drinks of some local brew. It didn’t taste half bad, but to say they had better would be an understatement all things considered. However, before the two drinks could make their way back to the thirsty, their duo turned into a trio as a young lithe man sat down with them.
Olly was a man of ill repute, notorious for his addiction to spice and his connections to the underworld. He wasn’t highly respected amongst the criminals on Barbatos, but the fact was he hadn’t worked an honest day in his life, and that life led to alot of people. Being a mediator between a number of large factions had its perks, as he was paid handsomely when something went well; though on the opposite end of the spectrum so too did it sting when a deal went sour. As of current, Olly was on the receiving end of a bad string of events that ended in the latter.
“H-hey fellas-”, the twitchy eyed youth said through a chattering jaw.
“Oy’ Olly, how goes it?”, Voran asked.
“O-Oh nothin’, just uh, you know, things… and stuff…”, he said as his voice trailed off.
“Well, I can see how this conversation is going to go. Voran, lets -”, Dex began before the spice addict interrupted.
“No! No, no no, Dex listen man, I uh, I got a job for us.”, he said as he watched the group around them.
“You ever heard of that uh, old legend out in the m-mountains?”
“No, Olly, I haven’t.”, Dex offered in an annoyed candor; already annoyed by the notorious hijinks of the tweaker.
“W-Well, neither did I until I uh, got asked to uh…”, Olly seemed to pause.
“- I-Investigate it, by one of ‘The Human’s men. Says h-he wants some proof a l-lab or something is down there. I t-told him I got the b-best two scavengers there ever w-was, I did.”, he said through an almost forced joy.
“What? No, I’m not chasing some myth for you, Olly. Not this time.”, he said through a growing anger that crept its way into his jaw.
“Dex, c’mon aren’t we friends? I e-even put in the good word for you!”
“No, Olly-”, Dex began as he slowly stood.
“-I’ve got about a smuggler’s dozen of problems, and you’re starting to be one.”
“D-Dex! Please, Dex, c’mon! I’ve…”, he began to stutter heavily, likely a mixture of nervousness and outright spice withdrawal.
“I’ve a-already taken the money, Dex, please.”, he pled.
“Well, lets hear ‘em out now…”, the kind hearted giant interrupted.
Dex frozen in place, passing an annoyed expression to Voran before slowly creeping back into his seat. It wasn’t the first time the titan had let his equally sized heart take the best of him, and as notorious as Olly was for getting jobs that paid, so too was he well known for karking them up. The pain in his temple kept up through the entire conversation, likely the result of a poorly placed bet still having stressful repercussions; yet he held through the pain for the sake of a friend.
“I-I took the money, b-but Dex I swear, I’ll g-give you a cut!”, Olly pleaded, holding his hands together on the table like a lowly beggar for a piece of bread.
“How much?”, Dex said quickly. If he was going to get involved, he at the very least needed something to make up for it.
“Fifteen Th-Thousand!”
Dex paused for a moment, almost mulling it over. Fifteen thousand credits to make an expedition to the mountain, find proof of some random lab, and come back to deliver it to the third party. That… seemed too easy…
“Fifteen… each of us?”, he asked.
Voran kept quiet, he knew Dex was the charismatic one between the two; and if that number was true, then he’d have a strong reason to get involved. It was by far enough to pay off both their debt, but both of them knew Dex was more than desperate for it.
“W-well…”, Olly began, before being interrupted.
“Each.”, Dex reinforced.
“F-Fine. Just h-hurry-”, Olly began as he pulled an aging map from his pocket.
“He s-said this was how to g-get there…”, he said as he spread it across the table.
Dex quickly folded it back up and pocketed in his jacket, placing it directly next to the DC-17 Hand Blaster holstered just under his outermost layer of clothes. It had served as a trusty companion for some time now, mostly for its reliability than anything else. A smile spread across Dex’s face for the first time in days as he leaned forward to Olly, patting his head and offering confidence;
“Don’t worry, Olly. Consider it done.”, he chuckled. As the two stood and began to walk, Dex took a moment to stop and turn back;
“One more thing-”, he said as his tone turned sour, “If we don’t get those credits, Olly, you’ll be the only thing getting sent underground.”
Olly turned pale, quickly turning back as the waitress returned and set the drinks down, just late of those that ordered them. Dex and Voran were busy, now focused on the goal of income for the sake of paying their debts. After that was done, then they could drink a bit more.
Afterall, Dex had already reasoned they’d have it done in a matter of days.
---
Dex sat quiet, slouched in the pilots seat of their freighter. The windows streaked as raindrops formed and ran off, the arcs of lightning in the dense fog of the clouds illuminating the cockpit with a violent blue flash before subsiding. In his hand, he twiddled with a piece of thread, a habit he’d kept since he was but a child.
Voran shrunk his behemoth like frame to fit through the doorway, moving to sit on the copilot seat with the aging criminal. The soft scratch of his beard seemed to announce his presence, as he kept a very quiet nature about him even as he walked over the aging metal of the ship. He drank from a small mug, the scent of black Caf filling the small enclosure before he sat with a soft groan of both himself and the chair.
“Whatchu’ thinkin’?”, he asked as soft as the brute could.
“I’m thinking Olly better pay up.”, he quipped, “Thinking I should’ve asked for some of those credits before we left.”
“Bah, e’ll be good to his word. Bet on it.”, he offered back with a reassuring confidence.
If nothing else, Voran had a history of good bets between the two, and it made for a dangerous duo. Dex might have been the charisma, but Voran often contradicted his brutish appearances with a stunning intelect, most notably in prediction. Of people, of situations, the man was just a good read both inside and outside the ring.
“Any ‘dea what we might find, Dex?”
“Empty caves, maybe some Imperial holdout that nobody bothered cleaning up. Who knows?”, Dex offered as the twine tightened around his finger.
Thunder shook the ship slightly of its coarse, forcing the autopilot to correct itself and continue on the way.
“I’m hopin’ we find some treasure.”, Voran chuckled out, his belly moving in time with his laughter. It brought a faint smile to Dex’s face before he simply shook his head, knowing Voran was simply jesting.
Soon enough, the storm began to subside to more open skies, nothing but an endless mountain range on the horizon. Although many hundreds of miles away still, the distant shadow of Orobas Mons eye’ed them with an imposing stature, dwarfing all but the largest of neighbors near it. Many considered itself one of the many natural wonders in the galaxy off sheer size alone; though Dex was convinced it couldn’t be the biggest. He’d seen far too many places to believe any one of them was the best in their respective categories. Many made the claims, but someone would always come along and dethrone it.
Sighing as the miles began to close, Voran glanced to Dex with a faint weariness in his eyes. His voice seemed to match as he spoke up;
“Dex… You uh, nervous at all?”, the man whispered.
“What?”, Dex asked.
“Nothin’, just got a bad feeling is all.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Voran. Unless that Sith lord is still in there, we’ll be just fine.”, he offered with a faint smirk.
Still, something about the imposing nature of the mountain upset him just as it had Voran. Its not as if they hadn’t heard the rumors, not of the mountain so much as the system in general. Left and right someone had a ghost story to tell, about men and children going missing in the night, and it put a certain strain on the workers in the region. More and more, only men of hardened demeanor and iron wills made it for long, at the very least a mundane appreciation for anything supernatural.
Dex quietly pulled the map from his pocket and glanced it over. Much of it was covered in an unknown language, something he’d never seen before, but the design certainly seemed intelligent. Its age made him wary to man handle, as even turning it open he swore he could feel it crumble in his touch; while on its pages the colors had faded substantially, and all that was left was the black that helped to outline its many features. It was suprisingly detailed at that, as even without the words to guide him, he could make out which of the areas on the map were Orobas Mons and what wasn’t; while opening the active satellite images of the area on a nearby holonet computer offered him the perfect opportunity to define an actual entrance.
With some confidence, Dex quietly set the map back in his pocket and glanced towards the place defined by the map as to where it must have been, through it appeared entirely covered in snow. Closing, however, provided more context, as the shimmering blackness of something mostly covered by the white cover caught his attention. Quickly relaying, he nudged Voran to tell him;
“Found it. Get the coats, it’s going to be cold.”, he said as he took control of the ship, nudging it out of autopilot with the slightest shuffle of the stick.
The ship groaned as it was forced to compensate, pulling the slightest amount of G’s as it twirled as nimble as a few ton freighter could; bringing it to a slight hover just above the incline of the mountain below. Locking the system, Dex moved to stand and meet Voran at the rear of the vessel.
Soft sounds of depressurization came through as he met with his friend, already wearing the heavy winter gear they’d need to stay comfortable in the elevation. Orobas Mons was notorious for killing the thrill seeker who wished to climb its entirety, and had only been done a few times; lucky for them they weren’t going the full way, but the danger nonetheless was very real. Throwing on a soft beanie and a pair of flash resistant goggles, he motioned for the two to depart.
A rope descended before them, the first to make it down being Dex. Using simple rappelling gear, he made it down with ease, watching as snow was thrown this way and that; though his eyes never left the distant obsidian like peak within the snow. Using a vibroclaw, he quickly sunk it into the nearby cliff and waited for Voran, who followed in short order.
As the piece that helped their descent moved back to the ship, the ramp slowly closed and the noise of its engines picked up as it moved for orbit, the predetermined location for the ship to wait at while its masters moved below. Voran readjusted his backpack as the two began to move, but it was Dex who called out to Voran over the roar of the surrounding wind;
“Black spot, 2 O'Clock!”, he called out.
Voran simply nodded, snow slowly beginning to fill out his beard in a speckled mess of hair and ice. The two moved slow, as despite their confidence to achieve the mission, neither were exceptional climbers. Not in this weather, and certainly not at this altitude.
The air was thin, and made their movements even harder, but after almost twenty minutes the two made it the short distance to the spot in the snow Dex had called out. Only a portion of its crest seemed to poke out, and as Dex brushed the snow aside he couldn’t help but notice how smooth it seemed. Its surface had been polished perfectly, with no sign of machining or tool marks evident, yet even still it didn’t seem to reflect light so much as it simply absorbed it. The snow around it made a harsh contrast to its obsidian nature, making Dex glad he wore the goggles.
As he messed with its surface, he couldn’t help but feel he was making little progress. Through the glove, nothing came of touching the pyramid, with no obvious buttons, levers, or other mechanisms he couldn’t help but think they had already hit an impasse. A soft groan left his throat as he moved to pull one of the gloves off and feel the pyramid with a more thorough investigation. It was only as his bare skin touched the pyramid that he could feel something different beneath him, as if the very snow had come alive and began to shift.
He glanced to his partner, fear suddenly in his eyes as he tried to scream to him; but as his gaze met with Voran’s, he could already see his friend had been sucked halfway into the snow already, his gladiator like form fighting tooth and nail against the draw of whatever pulled him under. Dex, knowing that if Voran couldn’t escape through brute force, he certainly couldn’t; forcing him to suck in as deep of a breath as he could and hold it as he fell into the snow.
The embrace of the snow was cold, covering him as soon as his head went under with a blistering sensation that covered his body. No matter how long he held his breath however, he never seemed to come out from the snow; forcing his lungs to begin to burn for the sensation of air. Dex began to wrathe despite his attempt to hold still as seconds turned to minutes, with nothing but the blackness around him and the snow to hold him still. Quiet, desperate pleas for life tore at him as his body gave in and gasped; filling his mouth with ice. He tried to cough and sputter, but as the final pieces of oxygen left his lungs he could do no more than fight the dying of the light.
Dex could feel himself slip into unconsciousness. It wasn’t a stranger of a sensation, but where there was usually a soft serenity to the darkness, now he could feel only a creeping disgust. The pain seemed distant, but never ceased as he relinquished himself to death.
---
Darkness surrounded Dex as he slowly awoke, met with nothing but pain in every breath and the endless black abyss around him. He desperately grasped for air, sucking down what he could to find it was as frigid as the air outside; forcing him to seize in a fit of coughs that only amplified the pain he felt. It was the cough however, that identified the pain as a series of fractured ribs on his right side.
With pain in his chest, Dex moved his hands towards his pocket, pulling from it a glow stick that lit up his surrounding in a sickly green hue. Before him was a cave with a single path downwards, far enough to lose his light within it, ceding once more to the darkness. There was no definitive way they could have ended up within the room, but he couldn’t help but feel like he fell. The area above however, was solid granite; offering no hints at some secret passage he might’ve ran through.
Groaning, Dex moved to a seated position, completely surrounded by absolute silence. He ripped the goggles from his face, tossing them aside as he clenched his jaw. Dex eventually called out into the darkness, feeling a sharp pain in his throat as he cried out;
“Voran! You alive?”, he said with some desperation.
The soft churns of a grown deeper in the cave gave a hint as to where Voran might’ve been. Forcing himself to close the distance between the two, he dragged himself up and towards his friend with great effort before spotting him, face up only a few meters away. His backpack’s straps had broken, landing a few meters from even that, but Voran didn’t appear injured.
“Where’s it hurt, buddy, c’mon where are ya’?”, Dex asked as he kneeled down and tapped his face with some gusto. Getting him out of shock would the first and only thing he could do.
“Roight where ya’ hittin’ me, you scruffy lookin’-”, Voran began.
“Oh, you’re alive! I thought I lost you!”, Dex cried out as he gripped the man’s hand. It was only then he realized one of his hands wouldn’t bend.
Voran couldn’t see yet, but the beginning of frostbite had began to take his fingers from him, on the hand he had taken the glove off of to touch the pyramid, as each turned black and full of necrosis. It was impossible to tell how long they’d been out, but it was enough for him to start losing sensation in his hand none the less, the only reason he couldn’t feel the absolute pain he should be.
Before Voran rose up, Dex quickly tucked his now dying hand into a pocket, forcing a smile to bearded giant. Voran eventually returned it, slowly picking up the backpack that had snapped and retying the straps that he was able to salvage. Dawning it, he glanced down the tunnel as he too got his bearings.
“Where we at?”, he asked with the wonderment and fear of a child.
“I uh… I don’t know. Inside the mountain, I suppose…”, Dex offered as he stood, holding back the pain of his numerous injuries. Voran didn’t need the extra worry, not right now. They’d deal with it when they had a chance.
Voran stared into the darkness for a moment, glancing back to Dex with what could only be described as inspiration as he motioned him to follow;
“Well, let's get what we came for, aye?”, Voran offered with a smile.
Despite the cold, it warmed him, if only slightly. Dex nodded instead of answering, taking a moment to follow. The cave they walked in seemed to stretch forever, minutes beginning to pass as the group moved through the darkness with nothing but a glow stick to lighten their path. Something about the green made Dex feel sick, but he didn’t want to mention that to Voran; just another thing they didn’t need to worry about.
Thirty minutes, an hour passed before the cave network changed. Climbing, forks in the caves, all seemed to look vaguely similar, and he couldn’t tell if they were any closer or farther from getting out; only that they were going somewhere. Wherever that was, he didn’t know, but as the cave began to give way to an opening that unsettled him even before he could make out what it was.
A black wall blended itself with the edge of the granite, one that looked dangerously like the pyramid they had touched prior. Its abysmal darkness seemed to suck down the green of their light, restricting how far they could see by sheer presence alone. Furrowing his brow, he closed the distance with Voran in tow;
“I think we found it, Dex…”, Voran said coldly.
“Yeah, I suppose we did.”, it was the only thing he could respond with. What scared him more was what would happen if they touched the black again.
It took Dex a moment to gain the confidence to step into the opening; but nothing happened as he stepped within. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all the same black material, the hallway a perfect square they walked down; but nothing gave them the impression they were even making progress as the sight of the opening disappeared behind them.
Ten, twenty minutes; and hallways began to form splintering off from the hallway they went down. They were no different than the one they were down, at least not in appearance, and so the group moved past them. In theory, going straight at least gave them a chance to make it to the core of whatever this place was; so they thought.
After a few minutes, he heard Voran’s feet cease their progress; if only for a moment. Dex looked back to see him, staring down one of the hallways with an intense look about him. Everything about him seemed tense, ready to recoil at the slightest touch. It wasn’t often such a brute of a man held such a stance, but it unsettled Dex as he offered a shaky tone;
“V-Voran, what’s up man?”, but Voran offered no response.
“Voran!”, he called out once more.
“I saw them, Dex.”, he said idly.
“Saw who?”, he asked back.
“My family.”
With that, Dex went a little sour. It’d been years since Voran had spoken of his family, even to Dex; the memory far too much of a pain for the aging criminal. Voran had a wife and a daughter, years before; keeping them supported through enforcing for a local syndicate. Deals went south, and he got caught in the crossfire of a cartel war; ending with him killing the other group’s second in command. In return, the syndicate they were at war with made peace, but not before attempting to assassinate him with a bomb. The trouble was, the bomb was planted in their home while he was gone, and when the family came back, he wasn’t with them. He said there wasn’t enough left for a funeral, and he only ever told the story to Dex once while exceptionally sad and drunk; but it stuck with him.
“What? No, you cou-”, he began.
“I saw ‘em.”, Voran offered as he turned back to Dex. His eyes had watered enough, though no tears were shed yet.
Dex offered no response, nothing could be said to help the bear out. He sighed, and after a moment he thought of only a few words;
“It’s just the place getting to you, Voran. C’mon, lets get out of here.”
Voran offered no response, only following with a more humbled demeanor. His shoulders were held tight, and his gaze was down; concealing his face from the sharp glow of the stick Dex carried. He could feel the pain in his hand beginning to spread, and knew if he didn’t get medical help, the necrosis would poison the rest of him soon enough.
He really wished he brought some bacta right about now.
---
Hours passed, and no changes had found their way in their path. The two were tired, settling in the middle of the hallway some makeshift camp; scarfing down what nutrient packs they brought with. They hadn’t expected to stay here more than a day or so, and judging by the amount they packed, they wouldn’t last more than a week.
“Dex, how you handlin’?”, Voran asked as he stared at the ceiling.
“Handling, Voran. I’m handling.”
It was the only words the two would share before they fell asleep. Dex wasn’t sure when it happened, only that he had no dreams that night; nothing but that constant all consuming blackness held his attention for hours. It was only when he heard something stir in the darkness, did he awaken from his slumber.
He called out as he woke up;
“Aye, Voran! Voran, you awake?”, he called out into the darkness as he made a pained attempt to stand.
“They’re here, Dex. I can’t believe it…”
“Voran, what are you-”, he said before he froze.
His family.
“Voran, they’re not real. Where are you at buddy?”, he called out.
He could hear the soft laughter of the man somewhere deeper down the hallway, but there was no way to tell how far he was at this point. Dex made the desperate move to reach for another glow stick, cracking it as it lit up his surrounding; only to reveal nothing but the hallway.
“Voran, c’mon stop playing…”
Fear began to overtake him as he began to take a few steps towards where he heard his voice. Step by step, he couldn’t help but feel something following behind him. His walk turned brisk, and from brisk to a jog, only to end up in a blistering sprint for the end of the hallway. He ran from something for anything, something to offer some reprieve.
“Voran!”, he cried out. It was the only thing he could find comfort in, that he would catch his friend in front of him, waiting for him.
“Please, buddy, please where are you?!”, his voice began to break out in a blind panic.
His ribs tore at his lungs as he ran, only to feel his footing fall out from under him; letting nothing but his head catch his fall. He hit the obsidian like floor with a pained grunt, sliding a few feet as the glow stick was thrown from his grasp further down the hall.
Laying there, he could feel the sensation of something creeping up his leg, its thin, spindly fingers tugging at his clothes. Something in him kept him from moving, paralyzed by fear and instinct as this creature seemed to huff. It took it only a moment to reach his face, and in the darkness he couldn’t make out any of its features, only that its breath was hot and stunk of pestilence.
Then it spoke.
The sound of scraping metal could only compare to its harsh tones, but it whispered just over his own frozen breaths. Its voice carried with it impending doom, and Dex could feel it strike daggers into his heart from sheer terror;
“I saw them, Dex.”, he said with quiet disregard.
“My family.”
Dex took in a sharp breath, reaching out to swat the thing aside in the hopes of running just a bit further, for his life, for anything that mattered to him. Yet as his fist met with where he thought it could be, it simply hit muddled air, nothing to be seen nor felt. All his anger, his fear, spent on a strike that met nothing.
Then he felt it, the sharp pressure of what felt like a blade cross against his neck. His voice fell silent, as he grasped for nothing. The warmth of his blood contradicted the cold he felt, but death terrified him far more than whatever this creature did, and his body filled with adrenaline only to lift and falter back down.
He had slipped on his own blood, and as his vision began to fade despite the blackness, he could hear the distant, familiar laughter of his long time friend; yet something was off. It was a harsh mimicry of him, copying the joy he felt and spreading it like a malignant cancer through those accursed hallways.
It both terrified and enraged Dex, but his body wouldn’t listen to the commands he gave as it ran out of its life. Gurgling was the only effort he could make as his life slipped away, in the inside of a broken tunnel.
He was scared. Not just for himself, but for Voran. He didn’t know where he was, he only hoped he’d make it out.
Those were his last thoughts as death overcame him.