Chapter Text
“Cub.” Doc greets the man. “It’s been a while.”
”Doc!” Cub approaches them and shakes Doc’s hand. “It’s nice to see you again.” He turns to Martyn. “And you must be Martyn.” He holds out his hand.
Martyn takes it. “That’s me.”
”The name’s Cub.” He takes a step back and gestures for them to follow him back down the branch of the cave where he had emerged from.
They are led to a room, the rock walls shaped to create a more square room. A bright lightbulb lights it up, which Martyn’s eyes have to get used to after walking through the dark cave. A desk is set up on the right with equipment that Martyn has never seen before, and a large terrarium is placed in the far left corner in which the same glowing algae that runs over Cub’s face, growing over hanging vines, mossy stone and leaves. There are a few strange small creatures wandering aimlessly, with similar antennae growing out of their heads as Cub has.
“I must say that when you said you build a bond with the sculk, I was not exactly expecting this.” Doc says, looking into Cub’s bright cyan eye.
Cub chuckles. “What can I say? It’s the best way to study it.”
“By letting it infect you?” Doc asks, an eyebrow raised.
“By connecting with it.” Cub corrects. “The sculk is connected to a type of hive mind. Down the other path from the cave back there is an ancient city, fully taken over by the sculk, a large system of knowledge that I have gotten myself access to.”
Martyn stands in front of the terrarium, one hand on the glass. He calls to his listener magic, humming and looking for any reaction from the sculk. When he stops from the lack of any observable response, he looks back to see Cub staring at him, the sculk antenna glowing and clicking.
“I see.” Cub says. “You’re a Listener.”
The confidence in his statement catches Martyn off guard. “Yes.”
“The sculk is very appreciative of your kind. Good allies with comforting magic. Though it is confused by the seeming lack of any of you around in the past year.”
Doc raises a curious eyebrow at that. Martyn looks away, back at the terrarium and changes the topic. “Is this soundproof?”
“Yes. It is completely separated from the main sculk hive mind. It allows me to study it in more controlled and safer conditions. The city is dangerous to be in the sculk has a defense system, it takes over dead creatures, turning them into these creatures I call Wardens that can easily take care of anything it doesn’t want there if it makes itself known. By connecting myself to the connected stream of consciousness, I am not seen as a threat anymore.”
“And if we would enter the city?” Doc asks.
“Martyn would be mostly fine as well, I believe. Your magic calms it. And Doc, you probably will be fine as long as you stay very quiet.”
“Great.” Doc says, clearly thinking quite the opposite.
“You could also stay here in safety if you don’t want to be quiet.” Martyn suggests.
“Not happening.”
They decide to go to the sculk-infested city after Cub tells them some more safety regulations. As they reach the edge of where the sculk starts in the other cave, their voices lower to quiet whispers.
Martyn crouches in front of the sculk and reaches his hand out, touching it. It has a strange texture, almost sludgy. The small glowing light cyan spots look like a type of fungi, like small mushrooms growing throughout the thin dark layer covering the rock. He once again uses his Listener magic, projecting small waves of sound from his voice. The small fungi glow bright as the sound passes, accompanied by clicking noises from certain larger vine-like fungi, lighting up the cave in long waves, disappearing from his vision as the cave makes a gradual turn. Martyn notices that the range that it travels seems longer than what he intended to do. Vibrations also seem to come back to him, vibrations of what sound like heavy footsteps.
The sight was almost mesmerising. Martyn continues looking until he feels a strange sensation on his hand. He looks down and sees the sculk slowly climb onto his hand. He feels a too familiar type of tug on his mind and he quickly retracts it and shakes it, trying to rub it off his hand. He looks at Cub with a panic, who takes a step towards him and takes his hand to look over, studying the small bit of sludge that remains on his hand.
“Huh. That’s strange.” Cub curious eyes meet Martyn’s wide eyes filled with panic. “You have to tell me how your magic works.”
“Get it off me.” His voice is tense, putting up defenses in his mind to try to stop the sculk from invading it.
”It might be safer for you to keep it for now.” He goes silent for a moment, looking Martyn’s hand over once again. "I’m curious how-“
”I said get it off!” The sculk around them glows brightly as he yells.
Cub nods and helps him get the thin layer of the dark sludge off his skin. When it’s gone, Martyn feels the tug at his mind disappear and he takes a deep breath. His voice quiets back down to a whisper as he takes his hand back. “Thanks.”
Cub leads the way down the cave, Doc and Martyn following him, more tense and cautious.
As they reach the end of the narrow passage, they reach an opening to a gigantic cavern. Sculk spreads far, small glowing dots stretching far, climbing through the rubble of different structures. Martyn can see what he assumes is one of those Wardens that Cub told them about.
“This is huge.” Doc says quietly as he takes in the sight.
“It really is. I myself have not been able to explore this whole place yet.”
As they continue further into the cavern, they pass some of the structures. They are made out of stone, though seemingly a lighter rock than the dark type that is found underneath the layer of sculk. Ripped up banners are hung on some of the walls of dull colors of red, the vibrancy of the colors seemingly having faded over time.
Doc takes one of them in his hands. “Is this a Dogwarts banner?”
“Yes, it is.” Cub tells him. “This used to be a part of the kingdom, hybrids that are more comfortable in dim light or darkness would stay here until the sculk ended up taking it over and everyone had to flee.”
“I didn’t know about this place.”
“I found records about it here, that’s how I found out. It's very old”
Cub suddenly holds out his hand, signing for Martyn and Doc to stop. They immediately freeze, standing completely still and silent.
A warden passes by a few meters away from them. From closer, Martyn can see it in more detail. It is large, and a large glowing heart thumps in its chest, visible below an open ribcage. It stops for a moment. A strange sound emerges from it, almost like it was sniffing. It turns slowly towards them.
Cub signals them to move back. They take careful steps as to not make any noise as they move around the building, continuing into the city the other way around, avoiding the warden.
Near the center of the city, Cub brings them to a small house, most of the structure still standing strong, though some parts replaced with newer stone and the same type of glass that covered the small terrarium back in the lab.
“We are completely safe here.” Cub says, voice loud again. “I have made these walls completely soundproof, the sculk can’t hear us in here.”
It feels weird for Martyn. He often is able to hear even just small things far in the distance, meaning that it is never fully quiet for him. But here, he isn’t able to hear these things, out of their voices, it is completely quiet. He is not sure if he likes it.
”You ready to see a demonstration of what sculk can really do?”
”Absolutely.” Doc says, a hint of excitement in his voice. Martyn nods.
Cub moves towards a lever fixed to the ground and flips it. Immediately the sculk outside starts glowing brightly in waves originating from some type of contraption in the middle of the open space in front of the thick window. Martyn presumes that it is some type of sound machine.
It doesn’t take long before multiple wardens limp towards it at a fast pace. It is hard to exactly what they look like in the dimly lit cavern. They are all large, though with some slight size and shape variation. From what is visible through the window, they seem to be roaring as they near it. Some close in, ready to smash it into pieces, while others stay back. The ones that stay back let out a screech towards the machine, waves of the sound visible, so loud that a small bit of the sound manages to get through the soundproofing.
It doesn’t take long before the machine is seemingly destroyed and the Wardens wander away again. A shocked silence spreads in the room.
Cub is the first to speak up. “I have to remake it every time that I do that.”
Martyn nods. “I can tell. Seems very deadly.”
“This could give us a huge advantage against the Sand Kingdom if we figure out how to weaponize it.” Doc says thoughtfully. “But how would we prevent it from attacking our own?”
“As I said, since I have connected myself to it, it doesn’t see me as an enemy.”
“That could work, though I don’t know if everyone would be as willing to do that.” Doc thinks for a moment. “This could be good for a final defense if needed, if we end up desperate to hold them back.”
“I am currently working on trying to find another way to make the Wardens peaceful with people, though I have had no success yet.”
They decide to go back to the lab. Cub first grabs the now broken sound machine to remake a new one for later. They trace their steps back towards the entrance of the city.
They pass near another warden, its loud, thumping heartbeat matching Martyn’s own. They start to pass by, but then Cub stops Martyn abruptly, causing Doc to bump into him, letting out a short string of swears, quiet, but still loud enough for the Warden to pick up on it. It turns sharply towards them, roars, and approaches them at a fast pace.
“Run!” Cub says. Doc and Martyn start running towards the exit, away from the warden. Cub follows not far behind. Martyn looks back at it as he hears it slow down. His hope that they have gotten away is quickly extinguished as it seems to take a deep breath in, charging up a destructive screech.
It is aimed at Doc, though he doesn’t realise, solely focused on running away.
“Doc!” Martyn shouts at him as he runs at him, knocking him away, leaving himself just at the edge of the blast range as the loud sound is released. The shriek is deafening. Martyn clutches at his ears as he stumbles forwards, unable to make a sensible thought for a few moments.
Once his mind starts working again, he feels his ears ringing and he has a splitting headache. He can tell that there are voices trying to talk to him, though struggles to tell what they are saying
He blinks his eyes a few times, focusing on trying to see his surroundings again. A set of hands hold him, pushing his arm around someone for support. He stumbles along, being led towards a brighter area. He assumes that it is the cave by Cub’s lab, though he still struggles on focusing his eyes on anything.
Martyn groans at the change in light. The hands holding him sit him down on the cold and rough surface of the cave floor. His back is propped up against the rocky wall as he feels the opening of a glass bottle pressed against his lips, pouring a sweet liquid into his mouth he is able to recognise as a health potion, which quickly softens some of the pain.
The ringing in his ears seems to slowly decrease again as well. He holds his hurting head in his hands, closing his eyes for a moment.
When he opens his eyes again, they manage to focus better on the shadows of the rocky surface of the cave. His gaze moves over to a figure that sits next to him. Doc is saying something, he realises and focuses to listen to it over the persistent ringing off his ears.
“Can you hear me?” Martyn hears him say, which he responds to with a nod. He notices a tinge of worry in Doc’s voice and face. “Good. How are you feeling?”
“I’ll be fine.”
Doc looks at Cub, who approaches the two, with a doubtful expression on his face. “He’ll be fine.” Cub affirms, he crouches next to Martyn with a piece of white cloth. He presses it against his ear and Martyn suppresses a flinch. As Cub takes the cloth away again, Martyn can see a small dark red smudge on it, which he frowns at. “You were just out of the way of the main blast. I don’t think it will cause anything permanent, but it will take a while to fully heal. You should let someone else take a look at it when you're back at the castle.”
“Will he be able to go back today?”
Before Cub can reply, Martyn speaks up instead. “Just give me a bit longer, then I’ll be good to go.”
“Maybe you should wait until tomorrow. Give yourself some more time to recover before you leave.” Cub suggests.
“Ren is expecting us to be back tonight.” Martyn says.
“Right. He’ll be worried out of his mind if we don’t hold ourselves to that.” Doc sighs. “Fine. We’ll go today.”