ALL NOVEL 1.57: The den
Henry landed on the entrance to the Trickster kraken’s den and watched as a few dozen hatchlings scurried out, away into the open sea behind him. A few others stayed still and watched.
[Trickster Hatchling]
They looked a lot like how he looked back when he’d woken up. Though these were significantly smaller, and their skin was still somewhat translucent.
“Interesting. No levels or ranks…”
“[They’re so tiny,]” said Maurice. Henry had him in one of his arms as they watched the remaining hatchlings slowly adventure out, while a few seemed too scared to leave. Or maybe they just wanted to stick around.
“[Most have already left, probably.]”
Henry left the tiny octopuses to their business and swam into the dark cave. As his eyes quickly adapted to the darkness, he noticed how smooth the tunnel seemed to be.
Well, if you could call it that.
It was angled down. A bit narrow for four or five yards, barely wide enough to let him swim through, then it began progressively widening until it opened up into an oblong chamber.
The edges of the chamber had some blue-white luminescent moss growing, but it wasn’t enough to really illuminate the cavern. Still, it was better than nothing. Boulders with more glowing moss on them showed heaps of random items. At the end of the chamber, a narrow tunnel led to another area.
“[Treasure?]”
A few more hatchlings scattered when Maurice came close to one of the heaps at the entrance of the chamber. It seemed to be a repository of a bunch of random items the kraken collected. Rocks. Some shells. Oddly shaped boulders–
Henry leaned forward, eyes wide. “[Is that… damn. That’s a big pearl. Maurice, look at this. This comes from–]”
Maurice was already setting aside every shell he could find, frantically looking for more. The crab looked up, froze when his eyes landed on a pearl that was almost the same size as him, then scuttled closer. “[Wooah. What is this?]”
Henry put the pearl down on the floor so Maurice could examine it. “[It’s called a pearl. I’ll explain later. But it’s definitely considered a treasure, especially for how large it is. Well… back in my world, that is.]”
Henry roamed in the chamber for a few seconds, and as he went toward the next chamber, he noticed the remains of hatched eggs–along with a few unhatched–lining the wall. “[This must be where it took care of its eggs.]
This area seemed to have been some sort of living space. Where the kraken had kept its trinkets and took care of its eggs. Henry glanced down the chamber at the other tunnel. “So what’s in there?”
Henry began angling himself to swim toward the second chamber, then paused and turned back. “[Maurice, let’s check the second area first, then we’ll come back and pick stuff up.]”
Maurice had been haphazardly stacking the shells–and the single pearl–in a stack. He looked up, despair radiating out of him. “[I don’t have space for these! I don’t want to throw out the kraken roes.]”
“[I’ll carry them. Don’t worry about it. Come on.]”
The crab scuttled closer, then hesitated. Henry sighed and swooped close to the pile. He eyed the items for a moment–for easier retrieval later–and popped them in his Maw by wrapping his arm around them.
“[Stored. We’ll come back, don’t worry.]”
Henry picked Maurice up and swam toward the second chamber. There wasn’t much moss in this tunnel, but amazingly, Henry could see perfectly fine. To be fair, everything was in different shades of gray. But that was better than nothing.
This second tunnel was barely a few yards deep, after which the cave opened up in a chamber barely wider than the tunnel itself. It had a somewhat triangular shape, and one or two hatchlings had found their way here. In the middle, a few more boulders and shells were on the uneven floor. The same moss gave enough light to allow them to pick up some of the details of the chambers, and Henry decided to throw a couple of samples of the moss in his storage. Maybe with a boulder as well. For now, he just picked one of the smaller boulders and used it as a light to examine the edges of the chamber. He slowly made his way to the wall and noticed sharp, lighter-colored stones lining the bottom of the wall. He glanced up, and found the same rock formation above.
Henry’s eyes went wide. He took a step back, his torch-boulder held high–and a shiver went down his arms. He looked around the ‘chamber’, then to confirm what he was already sure of, he visualized the path they’d taken to arrive here.
It fit. “[Holy… shit.]”
“[What? Also, there’s something here. Something valuable. I’m feeling something. Put me down I’ll find it.]”
Henry absentmindedly put Maurice down and triple-checked his facts.
A long, narrow entrance into the mountain. A smooth tunnel that opened in a wide and long oval chamber, which in turn was connected to a small triangular chamber through a small and short tunnel. The triangular chamber had perfectly symmetrical white conical ‘rocks’ lining its walls.
Tail. Torso. Neck and head. And those sharp rocks were the teeth.
“No way.”
Henry approached the sharp rocks. It was obvious now. They were in the mouth of a dead sea monster. But something didn’t click.
“This makes no sense. I’d understand if it was just a skeleton… but how did this happen?”
It was as if this monster had been encased in the mountain. Flesh and all. Then the flesh melted away, and that in turn left the ‘cave’. But how would that even happen?
A mountain grew around it? Instantly? Did it somehow teleport half-way into a mountain and instantly die? Did it dig into the island’s foundation, then it all caved in around it?
Currently, Henry was the largest he’d ever been. And right now, he was swimming in the jaw of a sea monster. A C-rank kraken had been using this space as a nesting ground.
Henry approached the teeth and began examining them, trying to outline the shape of the jaw to at least have an idea of what this had been, when Maurice spoke in his mind and made him almost jump out of his skin.
“[Henry? I think I found it…]”
The kraken looked up and crossed the short distance separating him from Maurice.
The crab backed away and pointed. Henry’s eyes followed the claw, and his sight landed on one of the conical teeth. When he traced the tooth up, he saw what Maurice meant. A shiny, multi-colored turtle shell. The tooth had punched straight through its plastron and out of where the turtle head would have been. The top of the shell was mostly fine, aside from a large gash on the side.
Henry swam up, then gently–but firmly–dislodged the shell from the tooth it had been stuck on. He turned it in his arm, examining it.
Was that how this creature had been killed? It tried to get the turtle and ended up teleported into the mountain–along with the turtle?
“[That’s the same as mine, right?]”
Henry looked back down at Maurice, then swam down closer, eyes still on shell. Then he looked back to the tooth. “[Yes.]”
Was this turtle connected to Henry’s? Was that why it had come to this area? They were supposed to be rare, if Henry recalled his conversation with the whales and the System correctly.
[?]
Henry grumbled. “[Is Identify telling you anything?]”
Maurice looked at the shell for a beat, then back up to Henry. “[No.]” A few seconds later, the crab spoke again. “[It feels weird. Like…]” Maurice struggled, eyes on the shell. “[...I don’t know. Like… my shell is vibrating. Inside.]”
A reaction between shells? Henry moved the shell away from the crab, just to be safe. He eyed what remained of the turtle, and when he turned his mana sight, he didn’t notice anything special. But he knew better. “[I think we should look into it later. These things are… unpredictable. We’ll look into it once we’ve got a way to make sure it won’t go bad. Alright?]”
Maurice was still for a moment, eyes focused on the shell. It wasn’t greed, Henry knew. It was a mix of curiosity and worry. Then, finally, Maurice tore his eyes away from the shell and stepped away. [You’re right. Let’s store it and we’ll think about it. Plus, I already have one shell. That one should be yours. Considering. You know…]”
“[Stop that. We should just be safe. We don’t need to figure everything out right this second,]” Henry said, then sent the shell into his Maw. It landed in his spiritual stomach like an anvil. “[Ugh. It feels heavy.]”
Maurice rubbed his claws together and looked around. “[Were you saying something? Earlier?]”
It took Henry a second to recall his discovery, then the knowledge jolted through him like lightning.
“[This is something’s head. Those are teeth. The whole cave used to be something’s body.]”
Maurice stared up at him, rubbed his eyes, then looked back at where the turtle shell had been. He turned back to Henry, paused, then looked back at the teeth. Henry could literally sense the crab struggling to put the pieces together.
“[Wha–how? WHAT?]”
