Niko’s mind jarred from the impact, a loud groan slipping past his clenched teeth as he smacked against something that felt a lot like cement. He gasped painfully against the lack of air his lungs were taking in, the breath having literally been wrenched from his chest at the forceful collision. He crawled forward, tears coming to his eyes as he desperately tried to breathe again, mouth wheezing against the air he was unequipped to intake. Dust puffed up around his crumpled form, creating a cloud of dirty air that stung his eyes and made what little attempt at breathing he was making fail. 

The fall hadn’t felt all that far, but it was clearly enough to cause plenty of pain. The rats should be satisfied with this amount of payment, but he doubted they’d have much sympathy for his predicament. He had, after all, done this to himself, though the slippery state of those stairs should definitely be called into question. 

When the air finally permitted him to breathe, he gasped it with an insatiable hunger, greedily sucking in pained gasps as he crawled further away from the base of the stairs. Skittering from above drew his attention, noticing with growing dread the flicker of light and scurrying shadows from the top of the long set of stairs. 

They were coming. 

He lugged his pained body to its feet, wincing when he felt a sharp throb in his left ankle. He might have done some actual damage. Stupid rats. 

It was too dark down here, the little bit of light coming from the crack under the door above, which was also where the danger was about to spring from. Niko stumbled around the darkened room, running his hand along a wall in hopes of finding a light switch of some kind. 

Something he was eternally grateful for in this strange new world was the fact they had actual electricity. It was just a bit different, powered by something more magical and used in slightly different ways. But lights seemed basically the same as on Earth, so he knew there had to be something down here that would get the bulb glowing. If he was going to be eaten by rats, he wanted to at least be able to see them while it happened. 

That might seem worse, if he was being honest, but being torn about while in complete darkness was just too daunting an experience to consider. 

Niko felt something weirdly squishy along a large section of the wall, causing a stutter in his steps and frantic, blind stumbling. He was seriously freaking out about what might be down here. 

Anything was possible in this strange new world that he had no instructions for. Plu was virtually useless, after all. Though, at least he still had that stupid coin that probably held the souls of his victims for all eternity, or some such dark thought. 

He fumbled his fingers along its surface, clutching it tightly as he crept back towards the squishy wall. 

Eventually, Niko felt a switch, clicking it as fast as possible and illuminating the room in a soft glow. It seemed like any other sort of cellar, various barrels lining the corners, crates and boxes stacked all along the edges. Nowhere good to hide, either. He let out a frustrated sound, clenching his teeth as he heard the pitter patter of tiny paws coming to kill him. 

There was a sound behind him, near one of the corners he’d looked at less closely. It was a squishy sound, like sludge sliding down a wall, plopping and squelching in a disgusting volley of sound. 

He felt fear creep along his spine, a shiver racing across and causing a plethora of goosebumps to rise. He turned slowly, hand shaking as he gripped the coin tighter. 

The light was coming from a single bulb, swaying on a wire near the ceiling furthest from the set of stairs. It created shadows every time it swung about, forcing him to focus more in order to see what had made that strange and frankly terrifying sound. He took shaky, slightly limping steps closer, coin at the ready as he drew near.  

There were some giant wooden crates stacked in haphazard tandem, obscuring a portion of the room in shadow and keeping Niko on the edge of his seat with each slow movement. 

As he drew near, he spotted a purple fruit lying atop one of the crates. It looked like a grape, though it was more the size of an apple. It also seemed to glow with a sort of luminescence, a purple, fizzy haze wafting across its squishy surface. 

Looking closer, his nerves shot at the proximity, Niko noticed the fruit seemed to still be attached to a vine, its green tendrils snaking behind and obscuring whatever the rest of the plant looked like.  

He held his breath as he peered around the crates, fingers clenched so tight around the coin they had gone white. 

The floor creaked slightly as he put more weight on a rickety board, breath frozen in his chest in fear as the other side came into view. 

There was a hole in the boards here, darkness creeping off into whatever lay beyond the wall. The vines slithered along with it, obscured and hidden by the unknown that stretched ahead. 

As bad of an idea as it was, Niko really wanted to know where it led. Anything seemed better than the literal horde of ferocious rodents intent on maiming his because of a slight infraction. 

He took a deep breath, glancing around before deciding to see where the opening led. It was just barely big enough for him to squeeze through, light filtering in from the hole behind him and illuminating a little ways ahead. 

It occurred to Niko, through all this stilted exploration of his, that the rats had been quiet for a while now. He could hear the faint chittering from the door still, far away and muted. But for some reason, they hadn’t entered the basement yet. 

He’d find comfort in this, except now all he could think of was that whatever was down here might be scarier than they were. Why else would they hesitate at the door? 

Maybe it was just a fear of underground spaces, like claustrophobia or something. They were rats, though, so that seemed a little far-fetched. 

A loud squelch came from below, and Niko felt something soft and squishy beneath his foot. 

He froze, slowly looking down at where he was stepping.  A shaft of light was coming through the hole behind him, silhouetting his shadow, and landing on the giant, purple green vine he had stepped on. 

Gosh, he wished he had a flashlight right then. Following the vine further into the dark, Niko could vaguely make out the shape of some large plant at the center of the hidden room. 

As he got closer, its center began to emanate a soft, purple light. Tendrils of smoke floated around it as the vines began to move in an uncoordinated, jumbled mass. Niko sucked in a breath, eyes glued to the strange display as the giant plant began to spin around. 

After a moment, Niko was met with the other side of the plant as it blinked glowing blue eyes at him. They had a slit like a cat, eyelashes made of drooping grass, and pupils consisting of some kind of white liquid that dripped into the iris every couple of blinks. 

“Oh. Hello there. I wasn’t aware of any visitors coming today.” He had a gravely voice, accent sounding Russian with its pronunciation. 

The creature  reached out a tentril of vine, a bundle of grapes making up the hand and fingers in a strange show of human likeness. 

Niko hesitated, unsure if he should be mingling with strange planets in dark, magical basements. 

Then again. 

What else is new? 

Niko grasped the floppy appendage, holding back a grimace at the slimy feel of the grapes as they shook “hands”. 

“My name's Antonov, it's a real pleasure.” 

“I’m Niko.” 

And with that, they were officially more than strangers.