The Mehliad

Chapter 48
Continuing the tale of young Dan Fogelberg (no not that one), who fell asleep in a storm and woke in a fantastical, creepy land. Beyond that, your guess is as good as ours.

Aoelh had rescued me from two grotesque Mortimer and Monte impostors, and now we had to find Goggles before we could escape Wootazon. While everything looked the same outside, inside was a different story. It was a sprawling labyrinth choked with vines, vegetation, and some sort of techno-organic tendrils that glowed with a sickly yellow light.

Then we saw them.

Amazombies. Thousands of them. They were in perfect 3.5’ x 3.5’ cubes, lined in rows that went on to the horizon. The impossible geometry of this place nearly broke my brain. Each one stared at a screen. Tubes fed into their heads and out of their asses. Their muscles were atrophied and nonexistent.

“Where is he?!” I shouted. They didn’t so much as look up. I lifted the axe and brought it down quickly on an Amazombie’s monitor. The screen exploded in a shower of sparks, and immediately it began screaming.

“Unproductive! Unproductive!” It sounded like it was in terrible agony. Aoelh shot me a judgmental look, but I assured him I hadn’t hit flesh.

Tendrils descended from the ceiling, pulsing with yellow light as they coiled around the creature’s neck. With a terrible snapping sound, it went silent and limp. They pulled the body up into the ceiling. Shortly, they returned, bringing a new body and replacing the monitor setup. It immediately went to work staring at its screen without so much as acknowledging us.

“Hello, Dan Fogelberg,” a soft, effeminate voice echoed from the air around us.

“Who is that? Where are you? What have you done with my friend Goggles?”

“I am everywhere. And I know what you want.” The rows of cubes suddenly split, parting into two separate sections and spreading out to leave a path wide enough to walk. Aoelh shot me a fearful look. “Come,” the voice said.

We started walking down the path.