Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 60: A New World

Kothar landed in pitch black darkness, on what felt like a bare rocky floor. Immediately, he summoned a ball of lightning to illuminate his surroundings, finding himself in a wide underground tunnel, broad enough for 16 men to walk through with room.

The tunnel was a rough oval shape and was covered in a hard waxy white substance, with strands of the same substance criss crossing the upper half, acting as supports.

"Kcchhckk, tttchh, kkchhk." A chittering sound rang through the tunnel, Kothar turned his head to find an insectoid head staring at him around the corner of the tunnel, tilting its head to one side curiously.

"I mean no harm." Kothar raised his hands high, letting the ball of lightning float by his side.

[Silane, any help with the translation?] Kothar said nervously, the insectoid was two times his height, and its mandibles were lined with jagged fangs that dripped with a fluorescent yellow substance.

[Just a moment. I believe he said, "How did another one get in here?"] Silane said to Kothar, as the insectoid rushed off, making more loud chittering noises.

[Now he's calling for reinforcements, I think we'd do well to make ourselves scarce.]

Silane added a hint of laughter in her voice. Amused at the predicament Kothar had gotten them into.

Kothar ran in the opposite direction that the insectoid had run, and turned right at the first tunnel he saw, he ran hard, turning down corridors and avoiding any sounds.

Kothar listened carefully, after almost running into a group of insectoids. While the residual mana of wherever he was, was high, the insectoids didn't cultivate mana, which made them virtually invisible to his mana sensing eye, since they would blend in with the ambient mana of the world.

He emerged into a large cavern, filled with a multitude of insectoids, the smallest of which were twice as tall as him, the largest almost four times his height. They walked on two powerful hind legs, and had another two pairs of limbs that they used to carry weapons crafted from the same waxy substance that lined the tunnels.

The insectoids seemed to favor spears, with only a few of them carrying short swords or clubs. Kothar slunk backwards, but it was far too late, the multitude of insectoids had seen the glow from his ball of lightning, and with a resounding chittering all rushed up toward him, climbing the walls of the cavern with ease.

Kothar backed up, right into the hard exoskeleton of a truly massive insectoid that glared down at him.

"Don't make this hard for yourself." Silane translated, as four pairs of chitinous limbs clamped onto his limbs, holding him tightly. Kothar fell limp, attacking the horde of insectoids would only lead to him antagonizing them unnecessarily. The best he could do was to comply with their demands.

They carried him deep into the caverns, and Kothar let his ball of lightning fizzle out, conserving his mana. After almost half an hour, the insectoid carrying him unceremoniously threw him into a deep shaft, Kothar plummeted, bracing for an impact but found himself landing in a soft web of criss crossed waxy fibers.

"Add him to the ledger, make sure you write in his biology, the Overseer wasn't happy when you left that out last time Ka-Nchck." One of the insectoids said the other, as their odd voices faded away in the distance.

Now alone in the pitch balck darkness of the prison-shaft, Kothar took a moment to collect himself. The fact that they hadn't immediately killed him meant that strange creatures appearing in their tunnels were not unfamiliar to them, and he was likely safe for now.

A strange coughing and growling sound filled the shaft, Kothar summoned a ball of lighting, staring in surprise to find that he was not alone within the shaft.

An equally surprised, and human face stared back at him, looking curiously at the ball he had summoned. The man had long dark curls and stubble covered his broad chin. He was dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit, and wore a metallic headset over his ears. The man looked curiously at Kothar and offered him a dark brown rectangular object.

[Silane?} Kothar called out, waiting for her translation.

[I don't think he said anything, I believe he was just clearing his throat.] Silane laughed as she explained.

"Can you understand me, friend?" Kothar spoke in the tongue of Ursten, as the man continued to poke the rectangular object towards Kothar. The man looked at Kothar for a moment, then tapped on his headset, before pulling out a cylindrical device from his jumpsuit, twisting thin rings all along its length.

"There we go. We can talk now. Yes, I can understand you, friend." The man responded with a smile, in perfect Ursten.

"Wow, that's some technology you have there. My name is Kothar, nice to meet you." Kothar returned the man's smile.

"I am Xerev. Now tell me, how did you get yourself into this mess? Did your spatial map malfunction like mine did?" Xerev asked.

"Unfortunately not, I'm here because I was messing around with an artifact I didn't take the time to understand first." Kothar replied with an embarrassed smile on his face.

[Why don't you tell him I warned you in advance.] Silane said snidely.

"Ah. No need to be embarrassed, my friend, my world would never have learned of the various realms if not for the first pioneer who interfered with things he scarcely understood." Xerev gave Kothar a grin.

"I guess you'll have no understanding of where you are then?" Xerev added.

"No, none other than it's likely a different plane than the one I was on previously." Kothar sighed.

"Well yes, I don't think they speak any human tongues on this plane. To be honest, there are worse planes you could have landed on, where their first response would have been to eliminate you rather than capture you." Xerev spoke animatedly, making sweeping gestures with his arms.

"This is Idwa, though the locals call it something incomprehensible. It's unique in that the entire plane is solid rock, all the way through, at least that's what is said. The plane is ruled by Omkhu, the mother of these charming creatures who brought you here. She's the one we'll be seeing if we don't escape from here." Xerev said with a grimace.

"Why wouldn't we want to see her?" Kothar asked the frowning Xerev.