Once again they resumed their journey. The whole while, Lilium sensed the coordinates drawing nearer- -though they were still distant. The natural-born humans followed them as long as they could, but when the debris planes were replaced by ruined cliffs they slowed and eventually remained, watching as their guests headed out into the unknown, knowing that they would never again return.

The land beyond the village was barren, and it quickly descended into tunnels. What had made them was unclear, but it was apparent that they were old. At these, Hoig gave pause: they were beyond the world he had become accustomed to, and although they were listed on his maps the trail downward was one he had never taken. Few Delvers had, although occasionally a weathered marking could be found on the walls of the caves and brick-lined tunnels.

It took the better part of two days to descend properly through the crevices and into the lower reaches of the Depths. This was easy for Forth, who had wings, and for Hoig, who knew the techniques to descend properly without disturbing the creatures that clung to the walls or in the rivers that flowed from barnacle-covered pipes imbedded through the walls. Even Elrod was growing more adept at travelling, and Hoig stated as best he could that Elrod showed promise for a career as a Delver, one that Elrod seemed to have come to consider. His nearly indestructible body made him a near perfect candidate, and he took careful note of the path and whatever virgin scrap he managed to find as they passed into places few dared to go.

It was only Lilium who had difficulty. Much of it was physical; her body was simply too small to move easily over many of the obstacles that bipeds could climb over or through. In addition, she had no hands, only hooves. More than once, she found herself wishing she had telekinetic magic as her Canon progenitor did, but there was no luck in that regard. Magic, unfortunately, did not exist in the world, and that made things so much harder.

What was worse, though, was the mental strain of the descent. Many times, she was required to remain quiet for long durations, and this forced her to think. She had increased her effort on penning a nonfiction travelogue of her journey, as well as simultaneously reading some of the books that were already programmed into her vast memory cores. Her ability to do both of these while climbing through debris or trudging through contaminated water were, in her opinion, nothing short of miraculous- -but they did not protect her from the thoughts that were slowly infiltrating her mind. She kept recalling Roxanne, and hearing her cries as Morgana forced her to retreat. Though she had not seen Roxanne’s face as they left her behind, the version of it that her imagination had conjured haunted her.

Roxanne, a pony formed in the shape of her friend Rainbow Dash- -a pony that Lilium believed with all her metaphorical heart that she loved- -and she was gone. Not dead, necessarily, although it was likely. Morgana’s Blossomforth body had been destroyed, after all, and there was little chance that the Aetna-Cross soldiers had not done the same to Roxanne. Even if they had not- -a hope that grew increasingly thin as time passed- -Lilium became increasingly sure that she would never be able to return herself. The Depths would consume her, and leave nothing save for an empty shell to be incorporated into technovores.

Morgana most likely was aware of these thoughts, or shared them, but she was no help. She could speak without making noise, and could have reassured Lilium- -but she did not. She only waited, her obsession festering and growing within her. Lilium could not find where her mind was hiding, and certainly could not purge it- -but she felt that feeling emanating from her. A single-minded desire for the case. It was almost intoxicating, and soon she found it driving herself as well. What else lay in Morgana’s mind, though, she did not know.

When the descent slowed, the group found themselves at the edge of a mining shaft. It was an enormous oblique hole drilled through the earth, which from their perspective looked like a tunnel hundreds of feet wide, stretching out at an angle both upward and downward into a lake of black water where nothing lived.

This shaft, it seemed, was a smaller version of the same type of mining that had created Level C. The difference, it seemed, was that this one was uninhabited, deeper, and had apparently been far less popular. A few long, rusted lines trailed down it- -left by Delvers many decades before- -but there were no new monofilament ones. Even they had abandoned it.

Despite this, there was evidence that when the shaft had been dug workers had inhabited it. Small city-like structures were built in cylindrical offshoots. Much of them seemed dedicated to repairing and maintaining mining equipment, but a few had what almost looked like tiny- -and now deathly empty- -towns built into them. Hoig picked one, and led them through it.

As they walked through the streets of one of these collapsing resblocks, Lilium paused. She thought for just a moment that she had heard something.

“Hoig,” she whispered. “Did you hear that?”

Hoig tilted his head. “No,” she said. “Is bad to listen here. Ghosts, and worse. Things that deceive.”

Then, suddenly, a voice rang out through the darkness, echoing off the walls.

“Is- -is someone there?” it called. It was a woman, and sounded desperate and in great pain. “Wait! Wait! Don’t go! Oh God!Help me! PLEASE! Help me! Oh God, PLEASE!”

Lilium looked around, trying to isolate the location of the voice. “Hold on!” she called.

“No!” growled Hoig. “Don’t make noises! Stay quiet!”

“Help! Please help me! I- -before they come back! Before they come back! Is someone there? Wait! Wait! Don’t go! Oh God! Help me! PLEASE!”

“We can’t leave her!” cried Lilium. Before Hoig could stop her, she ran off into the darkness.

“NO!” cried Morgana. “Lilium! STOP!”

“I have to help!”

In seconds, Lilium had separated from the group. She followed the pleading voice, which was now weeping incoherently. “Don’t worry!” she called. “I’m here to help! Just keep calling! I’ll find you!”

“Please! Please help me! Oh God, PLEASE!”

Lilium isolated the voice from down an alley between two prefabricated buildings, a garage-hanger and an isolated resblock. She pushed her way into the darkness, slowing as her camera attempted to amplify the miniscule amount of light that was visible into something that would allow her to see.

“Hold on,” she said. “Try to stay calm. We can help you- -”

“No.” Morgana appeared at Lilium’s side. “No. Lilium. Please stop. NOW.”

“What is WRONG with you?!” cried Lilium, turning sharply to Morgana. “Someone’s down here! And she’s in danger! How can you just ignore that? She must be from the village, or- -”

“The village that doesn’t speak English? Lilium, I know what that voice is. You don’t want to be here!”

“NO! I don’t want YOU to be here! You can make yourself not care, but I can’t! I’m going to help her!” Lilium turned toward the weeping and took several steps forward. As she did, though, Hoig reached the edge of the alley. His light swept through the alley and revealed, much to Lilium’s confusion, that it was a dead end- -and empty.

“Is- -is someone there? Wait, wait, don’t go! Wait, wait, don’t go! Help! HELP ME!”

Lilium looked up suddenly, following the light. When she saw it, she cried out in horror. Sitting on top of a fragmented wall was the source of the voice: an incredibly gaunt, pale, naked, gray-skinned girl. As the light hit her, her oversized blue eyes narrowed into a pair of thin slits that were barely visible through her shoulder-length black hair. She did not move, and yet the weeping sounds continued. Lilium realized that they were coming from her: although the girl’s mouth barely moved, it generated the sounds.

“Help me! Please! Oh God, oh God! Before they come back! Please help me!”

All of these sounds emanated from her, spoken through a mouth filled with numerous rows of sharp teeth. They were not from a state of pain, though. She watched them with a horrible, hideous grin across her face, as if she were mocking them.

Suddenly her pitch changed. Her voice became soft. “Won’t you please help me?”

Then she began cackling. Hoig fired a bullet, sending it through her shoulder. The girl screamed and grimaced, but otherwise barely seemed to notice. She glared at them all in anger- -and then was gone, having retreated down the far side of the wall.

“We move,” said Hoig. “That one was young. Others will come.”

“But- -but- -”

“MOVE!”

Forth descended on Lilium, pulling her away. Hoig led them to the edge of the mining colony at a trot, with Forth’s eyes darting around the room until they reached the end of the corridor. When the path narrowed, Hoig turned and threw a small grende into the gap. It ignited in a plume of white light, revealing at least four sets of blue eyes that were watching them leave. Screams came from the room as the light blinded them, and Hoig was able to push forward without having to worry about the rear front.

When they finally did stop, Lilium found herself shaking.

“What was that? What was THAT?!”

“Nhumi,” said Morgana, darkly.

“We call them vampires,” said Hoig.

“Because they drink blood?” asked Forth.

“They do. After they strip the meat. And suck marrow. Cannibals. Monsters.”

“Evolved humans,” argued Morgana. “Humans that don’t hide what they really are.”

“I think I ate part of one at the flower party,” said Elrod.

“Wait,” said Forth, turning sharply. “You got to eat one? I want to eat one!”

“No,” said Hoig, motioning for them to move forward. “No, no, no. Vampires bad. Great much bad.”

“Really?”

Hoig looked up suddenly, firing before his light even struck the woman before him. She raised one hand as black fluid surrounded it and hardened into armor, deflecting the bullet before it could strike her undiseased gray flesh.

“Hold your fire!” demanded Morgana. “Lilium, I need you to project me.”

“I can’t without taking off my helmet- -”

“Just do it!”

Lilium took a step back, but did as she was told. She projected Morgana into the corridor, and through her glow it became possible to see numerous grinning shapes suddenly moving through the edges of the darkness. One among them did not. She sat on a rusted storage crate, her legs open and her body clad in nothing but black tattoos and long, greasy hair. One of her arms was fully black, and longer than the other, with a set of long claws instead of fingers.

The woman smiled. “Morgana. There you are. I was wondering where you were hiding.”

“Get out, vampire!” spat Hoig.

Jane Doe’s eyes narrowed, and she stood up. “Or what, bacon? Or should I call you Roast Pork?” She began to visibly salivate. “So much fat on you…I’d get parasites…” She laughed. “Not that I don’t have them already. I’ve eaten your kind before. So tasty.”

One of the vampires leapt forward, and with one swift motion Jane Doe severed his head. His body fell, taking a few more steps without it, and the others scattered. Jane Doe lifted the corpse and threw it to them; they immediately began devouring it.

“Pardon them,” she said. “We’ve been trying. Very hard. But so far there’s very few of us that have survived the grafting procedure. Only the strongest do. Which is only natural.” She shrugged. “Put down your stupid rifle, Bacon. I can’t be injured.”

“Yet only has one arm.”

Jane Doe frowned. “Yes. I know.” She flexed the artificial limb. “This always happens. They always- -ALWAYS- -go for my damn arm. Do you know how long it takes to grow an arm back? Not as long as an eye or a leg, but still damn long.”

“You seem to be doing fine,” noted Morgana.

“Better than you, at least.”

“We’ve come because- -”

“Because that one told you to.” Jane Doe pointed at Forth. “Yeah. I know. It took you long enough.”

Forth stepped forward and stared at the nhumi woman before her. “Why do I remember you?”

Jane Doe crossed her arms. “Because I was there when they made you. The new you. They say you can’t kill me. Programming modifications or some stupid technobabble shit. I don’t want to test it.”

“Then what?” demanded Hoig.

“You’re some spicy Bacon, aren’t you? I’m here to take you the rest of the way. Or to fight and kill you. Whichever you prefer.”

“That’s not even a choice,” said Morgana.

“Wait,” said Lilium. “You trust her? After what we saw- -”

“After you didn’t listen. I know her. She’s evolved, but not nearly as much as the rest of them. Lilium, you should k now by now. The Cult doesn’t offer choices. It makes demands.”

“Poignant. Fucking goddamn poignant.” With her arms still crossed, Jane Doe pointed one finger at Hoig. “But my orders are only for Morgana, the weapon-horse, and the potato man. You can go home, Bacon. They don’t want you.”

“Inot leave,” he said. “Will not.”

“Really?”

Hoig nodded. “Cult. You. Was it you? Took my daughter?”

“I’ve taken a lot of people’s daughters. In more ways than one. But the Cult doesn’t take porcs. Only humans, and only pure ones. Would you believe they even ignore us?” She gestured at her much more poorly trained compatriots. “Not that I care. Their methods and goals are all bullshit. I’ll tell you that right now.”

“Then why do you work for them?” asked Morgana.

“Why else? Because it pays well. But you’re immortal. So let’s see if I end up being right. Our kind won’t stay deep forever. Soon enough…”

“You’ll take the planet,” said Elrod.

“That’s my bet. Let’s see.” She looked at Hoig. “I can take the Bacon with us, but trust me on this, pig-man: you are not going to get what you want. Pray to whatever pig-god you have that they killed your daughter. Because if they didn’t, the alternative is hell.”

“Not care. Will face them.”

Jane Doe shrugged. Then she slid down from the crate she was sitting on, her bare feet landing on the ground silently. “Fine,” she said. “You will die, though. They will kill you, and I will eat you. I can guarantee that. I don’t give second chances. Turn back now if you want to live.”

“Hoig don’t. And won’t.”

Jane Dow smiled. Her many teeth were sharp, and stained with blood. She had eaten recently. “Excellent. I might even fry your skin. What do they call that?”

“Rinds,” said Morgana.

“Ah, the rinds! I love the rinds. Especially when you prepare them in front of the person they came from. Oh, I laughed so hard…”

“Are you ever going to shut up?” asked Morgana. “Because if you’re not going to do your job, I’ll go to Yggdrasil myself.”

Jane Doe frowned, but then shrugged again. “Sure,” she said. “I get paid either way. Follow me. And don’t slow down. You aren’t made of meat, but them? They don’t give a shit.”