Chapter 1
       Rebel was near the edge of the city, staring into the forest that surrounded it, one of her pistols in hand. She looks out, aiming, and a moment later a loud bang sounds out. Another moment, and a bullet whizzes past her, narrowly missing her head. Like every other time, it only bounced off the barrier of Nevermoor that kept her within. She didn’t know why she kept trying, especially since she kept getting the same result. The only condolence from this fourth try was that the bullet had not actually hit her.

       With that seemingly pointless experiment having gone about as well as she had expected, she holstered her pistol, and began to walk back through the city, barely glancing at the people around her. It was pointless to look, for they never acted or looked any different: their colors faded and dull, and the masses heading to and fro at this hour. It was rare to not see any sort of masses out here, with them only gone during parts of the night. She didn’t know where they all hurried to, day in and day out, nor why they ignored her and everything that she did. 

       Rebel did know, however, that being ignored by everything was not quite what she had expected. It was eerie, in a sense, for no one acknowledged her or anything she did. Even if she had shot someone, things would continue on- the person may perhaps go to the hospital later, but they all acted as though it was normal for a bullet wound to appear out of nowhere. 

       However odd the people of the city were, the city was much worse. It did things that ordinary cities did not, and always at night. Night was worse than the day, for it was when the city began to sway, warbling incoherently into the night, seeming to bend and break all the rules of what a city could and couldn’t do. It was different from the song that had lured her, but it still seemed to reach deep to her core, pushing her to do something, but as to what she had no clue.

       Night held other horrors, but Rebel preferred to not dwell on them any more than she had to, for as bad as the Nevermoor was, the rest was much worse. She tended to burn brightly on those nights, and she was thankful for the white flames that had made themselves known to her upon arrival in the city. They had come in handy many times already, and she had become more adept with them as a result of those hours. 

       While she did not enjoy the night, it did at least give her solace in the fact that she did exist, for she could hear Nevermoor and the night inhabitants always seemed able to find her. It was only in day that she was ignored, and in a way both sides were a blessing. Not being chased by nightmarish beings was nice, but so was the fact that it pointed to her still existing.

       As Rebel walked, she noticed that there was something somehow pinned to the wall of a building, its faded white a stark contrast to the dark black of the building. As she walked closer, she noticed that it had writing of some kind, though parts were smeared out by an odd gray stain of some sorts. It reminded her of ink stains that she had seen, but it was nothing like that.

       Despite standing directly in front of it, she found that she could not read what little of the writing that remained, and that there didn’t seem to be anything actually holding it to the building. With a small frown, she picked it off the wall, reeling back a step as she felt something seem to release. The paper now in hand, she found she could actually read it. It was odd, but the rest of Nevermoor was odd, so she didn’t put much thought into it.



      The words were puzzling, with so much blocked out in an odd manner. It didn’t look as though it had been crossed out; rather, as though some odd gray substance had been selectively applied, and then somehow didn’t spread further than what was desired. Rebel thought it was odd, but the mention of some sort of place was much more intriguing to her. The Underneath, and it seemed as though whoever ‘C’ had been, they had gone there.

       For Rebel, she figured trying to find a place was much better than just aimlessly going through the city, trying to find something or trying to see if anything would pass through the barrier. She didn’t know where this Underneath place could be, but it would have to be an opening in the ground somewhere. She figured that she could start near the center and work her way out, as she was close to the centerpiece of the city, a tall clock tower as dark as the rest of the buildings. Its clocks were the only things that stood out from the black, and even then it was not quite normal- they were all a darker red color, with white numbers and clock hands. She tried to avoid the clock tower, especially at night, for odd beings would roam about it. They weren’t the monsters that she saw elsewhere, but from what she had seen, she wasn’t sure she wanted to take her chances.

       The sun was beginning to set when Rebel finally found an opening in the ground. It was a staircase, leading down, broken lights lining the sides. With a glance up at the sky, Rebel created a flame beside her to act as a light source, then began to walk down the dark stairwell. As she did, she saw many instances of writing all across the area, all merely two words long- The Underneath. There was nothing to break the monotony of the writing save for the walls and ceiling behind it. The stairs eventually ended, and she was left looking at part of a train, its last use long ago. She did not know why a train would be here, underground- Nevermoor wasn’t a giant city, though it could take some time going around it on foot, as she had been for the most part. 

       The darkness down here, where there were no remnants of the light from the sun, seemed darker than it had the right to be, and she created another flame in the hopes of being able to shed some more light on the area. Rebel wasn’t noticing anything special about the area she was standing in, which must have been an old station for when the trains still ran in the city, which left only the train tunnels to try. The train obscured an easy entrance to one, so she elected for the opposite one, and began to walk.

       There was nothing at first, not even writing on the walls, but as she got further, she began to notice a singular symbol on the wall repeating. It seemed to be a bird of some sort, with two wings that curved around, with the head in the center, some feathers marked. The left wing extended further up than the right, and the head faced the left side, slightly bent down. It gave off the impression of being somewhat like a phoenix to Rebel, with its shape, but it clearly was not. Its basic shape was that, but it seemed to almost be dripping or something, and she felt a sense of dread just looking at it. It didn’t help that each one was a bright blood red, and fully filled in.

       Soon, it was difficult to see anything but red on the walls, and Rebel was looking down, trying to avoid glimpsing at the dark symbols. Just as suddenly as they had begun to appear, the symbols began to wane off, until the tunnel bore no signs of having any sort of odd markings once more. Despite all of Nevermoors oddities, Rebel kept feeling as though something was wrong down here in these tunnels, yet she continued on, having no better options. She hoped that it wasn’t those wretched symbols that the odd note had been referring to, yet she had seen nothing else here that had stuck out to her. As the thought crossed her mind, she noticed that the tunnel began to open up into another station. The rest of the tunnel that could be continued upon also had the remnants of a train within it, blocking easy passage, so she figured that if there was anything here, it had to be at this station.

       As she entered, she noticed that there was a scattering of newspapers here, the dates covering a wide range, a range she wouldn’t have thought possible. As she looked at these, a sound from behind caught her ear. Rebel wasn’t sure how long she had been in the tunnels, so for all she knew it could have turned night. As she turned, she upholstered one of her pistols, then put out one of her two flames, positioning the remaining one in a way that it could be useful if need be. 

       She stood there what seemed far too long, until something finally emerged from the sound. It was close to the other end of the tunnel, the one mostly blocked by a train, and she turned slightly to account for that. She wasn’t sure if extinguishing one of her flames had been the best idea, since she still couldn’t really see, but it was already done, so she just waited for whatever it was to draw closer.

       The first glimpse of the thing that had caused the noise was nothing like what she would have expected.

       “Hello?” She called out hesitantly, hoping that it wasn’t some mimic creature of some kind. “Are you someone?”

       There was no response at first, and she got nothing until the thing was in full sight of her. It was a person, dressed in a dark blue coat that blended into the darkness, and clothes that did the same. As he stopped in her view, she almost couldn’t believe it.

       “I am a person, yes.”

       She had gotten a response.


Features of Chapter 1:
*Wow, interaction
*Almost a cliffhanger
*Definition of insanity
*Creepy symbol (ref below (DCI Genesis logo), so y'all have a better idea. Imagine it flipped, red, and I guess dripping/more disturbing). 

*Far to much time spent on that note. Appreciate it.
*Actual characters that will remain relevant for more than one chapter

Formatting this time wasn't as bad since I didn't have to separate paragraphs like always- I put spaces in before hitting preview, so they stayed separate. I still don't like what it does to all my nice formatting but whatever. 
Also, I was expecting about 2 1/2 pages of writing to look longer here that it turned out.

Edit was for spacing consistency. I just realized I spaced this differently than the prologue and that could not stand.

Last edited by DarkLordRebel (7/09/2020 2:18 am)

Glad you liked it! Indeed, who could it possibly be down in these dark tunnels?

It is a shame with the limited cast, but not much I can do about that. Nice to look on the bright side of it though- there will be one character of mine for sure.

It's here!

Chapter 2    
     It was somewhat jarring to find an actual person after having been surrounded by the people that populated Nevermoor. The girl stood in front of him, a white flame hovering slightly behind her, casting a shadow in front of her. Her hair was a dark red, and she seemed to be wearing a light gray button down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. A jacket of some sort was tied around her waist, dark colored pants and even darker knee-high boots completing her ensemble. As Time looked at her, he could tell she was doing the same thing.

     “So, what’s your name?” The girl finally asked, lowering her pistol. “I’m Rebel, and man, it’s nice to see someone else here.”

     “Time.” He replied, then after a moment's pause, asked something that had been somewhat bothering him. “Why do you use a flame instead of a flashlight? They are available.” Rebel only shrugged.

     “Never really gave it much thought, I guess. Finding out I had this fire manipulation ability I just never thought about it, since they provide light.” She paused for a moment, looking at him again. “What brings you down here? I found this odd note and it mentioned this place. Still don’t know why I’m here but it is what it is.” She motioned towards the end of the tunnel that was mostly blocked by an old train. “I guess something might be down there, or on the opposite tunnel from the entrance I came in from.” Time didn’t reply at first, glancing back at the girl in front of him before turning towards the partially blocked tunnel.

     “I just wound up down here. I widened the entrance, then went down the tunnel a little ways, but the flashlight I had ran out of batteries insanely quickly, so I figured it wasn’t worth it to continue on without a light source, especially since I could get another one easily.” He could hear her footsteps now as she moved more towards his side.

     “Well, let’s go see what we can find down there then.” With that statement, Rebel began to walk towards the tunnel, the flame trailing behind her. Time wasn’t sure about her, but since he also wanted to find out what the tunnel had in store, and the fact that Rebel hadn’t shot him, he began to walk behind her.

     As the two walked through the tunnel, the atmosphere was a silent one, the only sounds the ones of the environment around them and the soft crackling the flame let off every once and awhile. Neither spoke to the other, only walking. 

     He wondered why he had come across a person at this point, and not earlier. Until now, he had believed that he was the only one here, since he had not encountered anyone else. With Rebel’s arrival, he wondered if there were others like them in the city, wandering and wondering why they were here.

     After some distance, the tunnel began to widen, indicating that another station area was ahead. As it did so, another flame suddenly appeared, this one off to the side and slightly ahead of the pair. The tunnel roof soon gave way to a taller ceiling as the full station came into view.

     Unlike the previous one, dim lights flickered around the area, and the hole where the tunnel would continue was completely blocked off. The outline of a person stood in the middle of the platform, facing a distorted metal box, something that likely used to be a functioning elevator.

     “Hello?” Rebel called out tentatively, finally stopping a few feet away from the figure, Time about a foot behind her. The figure did not reply at first, continuing to stand there. Rebel began to step forward once more, but as she began to do so, the figure finally reacted, turning quickly to face the two. It was a girl, her pitch black hair falling in waves around her face, a sharp contrast to her extremely pale skin. A thin black band covered where her eyes would be, though it did not cover the black markings beneath her that looked very similar to blood drips. A black cloak concealed most of her body, a pin with most of its coloration scraped off attached to the front. A thin smile graced her face for a moment before fading away.

     “Who are you?” Rebel tried asking a question once more, but Time wasn’t sure if they would get any answers. He had the odd feeling that the girl knew precisely where they stood despite how she clearly could not see them.

     “They wait they wait desiring desiring the unbinding yet again and again over and over the cycle goes on and on and on for they do not want an end time and time passes oh how it goes yet again and again everything repeats itself everything repeats itself darkness darkness we are all in the darkness”

     Whoever the person was in front of them, she clearly wasn’t right in the head. As Time began to step away, hearing nothing of use, he felt some force stop him. The girl paused for a moment, smiling bitterly at him before she continued on.

     “The darkness surrounds it shatters it binds it ensnares we are all here neverending nevermore the keys the keys they dance they sing they beckon they hide seven lanterns in the darkness that they conceal they keep the binding the waiting the binding the waiting the over and over and over the nevermore ensnared nothing nothing nothing happens everything remains remains they try they try ensnared bitterly we wait we wait she waits I know she she is there broken waiting they did it all did it all we all watch we all watch we cannot stop the keys the keys they dance the outsiders the outsiders must unbind the binds the binds and release release her” 

     After the girls last word, she pulls off the band around her eyes, revealing empty sockets, just as it had implied.

     “Everything had hurt so much. The vision hurt. I shouldn’t have, but I removed it, and with it I was bitterly awakened. We watch, always. We, Them, the Pair, we all watch, waiting waiting waiting it stands it stands the heart of everything the heart stands it stands it must fall it must crumble and perish and crumble and perish it is the end the end the end the beginning the beginning the beginning WE WATCH”

     The girl practically shouts the last words as she pulls the band back over her eyes and turns back around. 

     “That was… Something.” Rebel says after a long pause, and Time only nods, watching as she walks towards the blocked tunnel.

     “Echoes lurk echoes that can never see light once more they stay they hide they bide” 

     Rebel pauses as she hears the strange girl begin to speak once more, only this time there is more urgency to the words. 

     “Guessing we don’t look at that path.” She offers, then begins to walk back towards the entrance that she and Time had entered through. With one last look at the girl, Time begins to head over as well. As the two enter the tunnel, he looks back for a final time, the platform in sight, there is no sight of the girl, only darkened shadows.


     “So, key, huh? Guess something has to be unlocked; at least, that’s what I was getting from whatever she was saying.” Rebel says, not really directing it towards Time. “Guess we should go check the other tunnel side next, since we’re already down here.”

     As Rebel says this, she gives a faint shudder. He notices, but decides not to ask, at least not now, just giving a nod.

     The two continue on, passing back through the station that they had met at, but as they begin to head into the next tunnel, Rebel pauses for a moment before entering, keeping her eyes to the ground.

     As they get further from the station, Time begins to notice the appearance of odd symbols on the wall, their appearance fairly sparse throughout. Given that Rebel must have walked through here, he reasons that her current actions must be a result of these symbols, though he isn’t sure why.

     The station finally comes up, and with it, Rebels head. The opposite tunnel is blocked quite well, only narrow gaps open. It was similar to how Time had found the other tunnel, and despite the distance, he could sense that there were metal components. 

     “Alright, what now?” He heard Rebel ask, but he ignored her question, instead bending some of the metal out of the way. “Well, that works.” The tunnel, like all of the other tunnels, was dark, save for the flickering of the flames that followed the pair.

     The darkness here was different though, more oppressive than the rest of the Underneath, only growing as they continued on. The light from the two flames began to cover less area, soon only providing a dim glow to the area.

     The tunnel continued on for longer than any other tunnels had, eventually opening up into a smaller opening, one that could barely be given the title of station. The other end was completely blocked off by some sort of odd wall, its material a shining black. Old train coach cars were scattered around in various stages of disrepair, with one standing out.

     It was a silvery color, seeming to almost reflect what little light was in the room. Its windows were mostly still intact, the dark tints hiding what lay inside. A door hung open, seeming to invite anyone who made it this far to come into it and take a look.

     Other than the train car, the area had little else of note, save for a corner where the shadows seemed to pool darker than the others. As Time looked at the corner, it almost seemed to be looking back at him. He wound up turning away, looking more at the train car that seemed to demand attention in this place. Rebel was already walking towards it, and he watched her for a moment before beginning to walk towards it as well.

     He stopped before going in, instead looking around the exterior of the car some more. The silver coloring looked more recent, with chipped sections revealing a dark gray coloration with what seemed to be two red stripes, which matched the other train cars in the area. Also on one side was a faded image of a compass rose, almost unable to be made out. Something was intentionally drawing attention to this train car, though he was unsure why.

     “Hey, Time, you should come see this.” Rebels voice rang out, and after a last glance over the train car, Time headed to the interior. Rebel was standing near a row of chairs, a scrap of some sort of paper in her hand. 

     However, his attention was drawn to the ceiling of the car, where a larger image of the compass rose from the outside of the car was positioned. This one was in silver and black, with no other shades. As he looked up, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it had some importance that he couldn’t grasp. 

     “Hey, look at this.” The paper is thrust in his direction, and he takes it from Rebel. On it is an image of a key, though slightly faded.    



     “Seems we have something to find, eh?” Rebel said as he looked back up, her pale blue eyes looking right at him.

                                                                                                                                                              )*(

    Ten held his crossbow in hand, looking out at the creatures that walked the streets from his vantage point. He had found that they rarely came to the tops of the buildings for whatever reason, so that was where he spent most nights. He wasn’t sure how exactly he had been roped into this whole situation, but he had. As he watched, he noticed that some of the creatures that walked the streets were falling. He couldn’t quite make out the specifics from the distance that he was at, but it seemed to be another person, and not one from the midnight city. They were a light blue dot surrounded by the dark colors of the city, and he simply watched as the person moved through.

     Although going down to the ground was risky, he hadn’t seen anything like it in the time that he had been here, however long it had been. It was difficult to tell, for while Nevermoor had time pass, there was no way to tell if it was the same passing of time as what he was accustomed to. His mind set, Ten began the trek through the building back down, turning himself invisible before stepping out onto the streets. They wouldn’t be able to sense him this way, and he would have fewer worries.

     As Ten walked through the streets and the creatures that currently lurked, he wasn’t entirely sure where the person would be, or even how they would react upon seeing him. All he could do was follow the trail that the person was leaving behind- thankfully, the bodies of the things didn’t seem to disappear. Eventually, he caught a glimpse of sky blue, and he picked up the pace, trying to catch up to the person, though trying his best to not bump into the creatures.

     He glanced up at the starless sky for a moment, the blackness of it giving no indication as to how much longer it would be dark. He hoped it wouldn’t be for much longer, but it was always difficult to tell given the unchanging nature of the night sky that covered Nevermoor. He continued to follow, catching more glimpses of blue until the person finally came into sight.

     It was a girl, wearing a sky blue hoodie, black jeans, and a pair of worn dark brown boots, and wielding a large, double bladed axe that she was currently using to fight off the creatures. As she moved through the streets, he noticed that she was moving towards the central building, nearly invisible in the darkness of the night, the only hints of it being the illumination of the street lamps that were around.

     Ten had never ventured inside the building, only going so far as to see whether or not the door would open, which it did. However, it seemed as though the girl intended to go inside. He supposed it made sense, since the creatures seemed to rarely ever try and follow into a building.

     Once the girl reached the building, she did indeed dart inside, leaving the creatures on the outside, seeming as though they wanted to try and get in but didn’t dare to do so. Ten stared at the building for a moment, debating whether he should follow her in or not. He didn’t know her, but she was also the only other person that he had seen thus far, and seeing as she had chosen this building, perhaps there was something to it. His mind set, he went towards the door, and it swung open. He darted in, it closing behind him. The girl wasn’t facing the direction of the door, instead looking at the grand staircase that occupied the middle of the floor. He became visible again as he walked towards the girl, unsure of what to do next.

     “Hello?” He tentatively said, and the girl spun around to face him, surprise on her face. “Uh, I’m Ten. At least, that’s what everyone back home called me- it’s not my actual name. That’d be Devin, but Ten ended up sticking a lot more to me, so Ten it is.” There was nothing from the girl, so he decided to try prodding her a little. “What’s your name?” It seemed reasonable to him, though the girl was still looking at him oddly.

     “Oh… Echo.” Her voice was very soft, and she didn’t quite meet his eyes.

     “So, do you know anything about this place? I saw you heading towards it, so there must be something about it.” He asked, looking towards the staircase.

     “Just remembered it was here.” Another quiet response from her, and he just shrugged.

     “Alright then. You want to see what’s at the top of these stairs? Surely there’s something.” Ten offered, and she just nodded.

     With that, the two began to head up the staircase, rising upwards past where the eye could see.


Chapter 2, featuring:
*Chatty Rebel
*Terrible batteries
*Probably a terrible section to read through
*A key brought to you through google drawings
*Tunnels for like 3/4 of the chapter
*Another symbol (image below is shape, but the one here has only silver and black as its colors)

*More characters!
*More shadows
*Two cliffhanger-esque sections

I didn't post this in the middle of the night, though I did start it close to there, so yeah.
Sorry for the nonsensical part, but it had to be done.

Last edited by DarkLordRebel (7/19/2020 9:16 pm)

Indeed, what type of city would we have here without her?

S̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'t̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶s̶e̶v̶e̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶e̶.

@Time Thanks! She seems to be doing her job well.

@Echo Glad you like it so far! Maybe she'll be back at some point- who knows?

Oh look, a new chapter, posted late as Nevermoor chapters should be.

Chapter 3    
     Echo watched the back of Ten as they climbed the stairs, looking away every so often to try and see if there was any end in sight to the stairs. Each time she looked through the center opening between the curved stairs, there was no end in sight, simply more stairs. The only indication that the two were in fact moving was the coloration of the stairs, starting from a light gray at the foot of the staircase and had slowly darkened from there.

     It was hard to tell how long they had been climbing, and with such little indication of having made any sort of progress, she began to wonder if the stairs even led anywhere. There were many oddities about and within Nevermoor, so a seemingly endless staircase was not out of the question. The idea that there was no point to the stairs began to occupy her thoughts, causing her to wonder if there was even a way to leave the stairs now since arriving upon them, among many other things. Echo wasn’t sure if this had ever been a good idea, and as they continued upwards, she wondered why she had decided to go along with Ten, who had shown up out of nowhere.

     As she was occupied by her thoughts, she was almost entirely unaware of their slowing pace until Ten stopped abruptly, sitting down on one of the steps shortly after. Echo nearly ran into him, stopping just short of doing so. “I knew this building was tall, but I would’ve thought that we’d have reached something by now.” Ten remarked, placing his hands on a step behind him and leaning back. “Wonder how much further up we’ll have to go to reach the top. There must be a limit, or else why would this place even exist?” As Ten continued on, Echo lowered herself to sit on a stair a few steps below Ten, opting to position herself across a single stair, her back leaned against the wall. 

     She didn’t answer him at first, but she recognized the idea behind his final statement. While Nevermoor wasn’t normal, nothing she had come across before the stairs had seemed pointless, which pointed to something indeed existing at the top of the stairs. “I suppose, I suppose you’re right.” She finally said, not quite looking at him. “Hopefully we’ll find something.” She softly added a moment later, mostly to herself.

     The two sat there for some time, the only sound accompanying them the faint noise of a ticking clock, likely coming from the outside clocks, their conversation dying out quickly, for neither gave anything that lent itself to continuation. They eventually rose to their feet, doing so at roughly the same time as the other, and then continued on with their journey upwards.

     The higher the two go, the spiral of the staircase slowly begins to tighten in on itself, moving in slightly and covering part of the view of the open middle area. Three stops later, and an end to the stairs is finally in sight, a dark floor that is difficult to distinguish from the surrounding walls, but a floor nonetheless. She is relieved by the sight, for it shows that there is some purpose to the stairs, as well as indicating that there will finally be an end to the stairs. She can’t see Ten’s face, but by the way that he seems to move slightly faster, she figures that having an end in sight is also a relief to him.

     The stairs had been long, and she was glad to finally reach the landing that lay at the top of them. The landing itself wasn’t the largest, but there seemed to be more beyond it, as a large, ornate door stood at the opposite end. She watched as Ten went over to the door and pushed it, but nothing happened. 

     As Echo moved closer to the door, she noticed that there were seven openings that arced around it, each one of a different size and shape. “Guess we don’t have whatever’s needed to open this door yet.” Ten remarked, and she nodded in agreement.

     “Looks like, like seven locks.” She replied, her volume low, and Ten nodded in ways of agreement. 

     The two began to inspect the room, trying to see if there was anything else at the top of the stairs. As Echo ran a hand across the walls, she was met with the realization that there were some sort of engravings all along them, though it was impossible to make out what they meant, for there was nothing recognizable about them.

     The only other discerning feature of the landing area was a hole on the wall to the left of the door, with a few black feathers tinged in red laying on the floor nearby it. The hole seemed similar to a window, with clear sides and sharp corners, though there was no pane within it. It was large enough for a person to fit through it, and a handful of black feathers tinged with red lay at the feet of it. It was odd that such a thing was up here, and it gave off the impression that it had not always been there.

     Echo looked at the hole in the wall, stepping up onto the small ledge at the bottom of it, then looked out. It offered a view of one side of Nevermoor, all of the black buildings seeming to absorb what little light there was from the lightening sky. The suns had begun their slow rise, and the monstrosities that roamed the streets were beginning to thin out. As she looked down at the streets, the realization of how high up the two were struck her, causing her to turn and step down from the holes ledge. 

     “Hey, Echo, there’s something over here. Not sure how we missed it the first time.” Ten called out, motioning for her to come over and also look.

     It was a plaque of sorts, slightly lighter than the walls and sat on a wall near the area where the stairs ended. She wasn’t sure how they had missed it at first, for it must have been in the room the entire time. The top layer was coated in a grime of some sorts, making it near impossible to read. She leaned in closer, trying to see if she could make out anything on it. It was difficult, but she could just about make out the inscription on it.  



      She stepped back, making space for Ten to get a closer look, and looked back towards the door, and at the openings that surrounded it. Beyond that door was something that had been locked up, but no explanation was left. 

     “Well, this has been great. Oddly long staircase, and for what? A vague description, a door with seven locks we have no clue how to open, or if we even want to, and what essentially amounts to a window.” Ten remarks, slightly exasperated as he steps away from the plaque, striding to look out the window. “Well, guess we can look for those keys, not that there’s really much else to do.”

     Echo doesn’t respond at first, turning to look back at Ten, though he cannot tell at the moment. She still doesn’t know much about him, but at this point, perhaps partnering up with someone isn’t the worst idea. “Sounds like… It sounds like a plan.” She replies, and he turns around, giving a nod in response.

     “Great. Now, to get down from here.” The two walk back towards the start of the stairs, and Ten stares down the middle of the opening. “You reckon I can make it?” She wasn’t sure what he meant at first, and then she realized.

     “Maybe not the-” She starts to reply in an attempt to talk him out of it, but as she does so he jumps. Echo elects to not follow the questionable path that Ten has decided to take on the way down and instead heads back down the staircase, which has grown no shorter since arriving at the top.

     Upon her arrival at the foot of the staircase, she finds Ten standing in the center of the room, slinging his crossbow back around to sit on his back. 

     “Well, that hurt.” He says, a smile quickly spreading across his face before disappearing. “Now, where to start looking?” Her only response is a shrug, her mind going through what she knows of the city with nothing standing out. “I guess we can work our way outwards. Something has to appear, one way or another, after all.” Ten says after a moment, and she nods, figuring that its as good a starting place as any.

     With that, the two head out of the Citadel into the dawn of the new day, the suns still low in their ascent.A figure stands on top of a roof, watching the two depart, their cloak fluttering in the faint breeze that surrounds them. “Yes. We are aware. No, we do not know. Yes, we shall. We watch, always, lady.” They finger the pin on the front of their cloak before pulling up the hood, then steps back, fading into the shadows.

                                                                                                                                                   )*(     

    Rebel was standing behind Time, looking at the image of the key in his hands. “Do you think that something could be hidden on this?” He offered, turning over the paper once more, revealing the blank back. She shrugged, thinking the idea over before an idea came to mind.

     “Like some sort of invisible ink?” She responded, getting a nod in response.

     “I suppose, or maybe there’s something in the image, or something that we can lay over or under it and then get something else. Maybe it’s only a part of something else, and that’ll help us to find this key, or...” As Time began to list off possibilities, she began to slowly move one of the flames that currently floated around them closer.

     “Should we check for a heat based one?” She offered, breaking him off from the listing that she had begun to ignore.

     “I mean, we could, but there could be distortion that occurs, and I’m not sure that we would want to lose the one definitive fact that we know.” He replies, looking towards her. Rebel just shrugs before reaching her hand out.

     “Can I see it?” Time doesn’t hand it over, looking at her for a moment, before finally handing it to her. Once in her possession, Rebel holds it with the back facing up, and then brings a flame close enough. As the page begins to warm, words appear on the back. “Oh, would you look at that.” She says, a small grin gripping her face. After a few moments, the words are dark enough, and she pulls the flame away, looking at what has appeared.

     A rough sketch of what appears to be a map, with a X located in a rectangle takes up about half of the revealed space, with a handful of lines to the right of it.

     “Among the middle, where lines blur / The eyes surround, unending gaze / For those who tread, vile misery awaits / Within the twin trials of scarlet and gray / The flitted key awaits,” she reads out, looking back up once she finishes. “Well, it’s better than nothing, I suppose.” She remarks, handing the paper back over to Time, who takes it back without a word. 

     Rebel waits for a moment, allowing Time to have a good look over the paper before speaking once more. “Have any ideas on it? I’m sure we have leave the Underneath, but that is probably the worst map I’ve ever seen.” Time didn’t respond at first, continuing to look at the paper.

     “This is indeed a terrible map. Middle probably means the middle of something, maybe the city, but whatever this map is supposed to represent doesn’t look like that.” Rebel just shrugs.

     “Well, I suppose that we’ll just have to start looking at the possible areas; it’s not like we have anything better to do, after all.” She says, getting a nod from Time.

     “Let’s get going, then.” With that, the two begin to head back through one of the tunnels to one of the exit points of the Underneath. As they walk out of the area where they had found the paper over the key, the shadows in the corner move slightly before the color fades, matching the other shadows in the room.

     The two emerge, their eyes slightly squinted as they are faced with the light from the rising sun, brighter than what Rebels flames had been producing. With a wave of her hand, the flames dissipated, leaving the two standing at the foot of the stairs that led underground.

     “I wonder why it’s called the Underneath. Sure, it’s underground, but plenty of underground places don’t have some overarching name.” Rebel mentions, looking around the area the two stood in. 

     “Hard to say, and it’s not like there’s anyone around to tell us.” Time replies, looking around for a moment before settling on a direction that was to their right, and as Rebel turned to look as well, the faint outline of the tower could be seen, even above the other buildings, the tall point fixed to the top of it the main feature that was visible over the other buildings.

     The two began to walk towards the tower that acted as the central point of the city, with only the occasional remarks to the other, none lasting long. Upon reaching the tower, Rebel glances up at the clocks upon it before looking back at its base. Time had looked back at the map portion of the paper, before looking up.

     “Well, this doesn’t quite seem right. This tower likely holds some sort of purpose, but it doesn’t seem right for our key. Our best bet is probably to just work our way outwards through the city and hope that we find this location.” She nodded.

     “Yeah, not really clear on what that is, just some rough location. Hopefully we’ll be able to tell where it is once we get close.”

     The two begin the tedious task of walking throughout the city, doing their best to miss nothing that could possibly fit the place they were looking for.. Throughout, the sun continued its ascent, eventually beginning its descent, and the pair were still searching. As they neared another building, Time paused, and Rebel stopped a few steps after. 

     “This isn’t working well.” He said after a moment. “Surely there’s a better way to go about this.” She shrugged. 

     “I mean, probably, but what would we even do?”

     “Well, a more in-depth analysis of what we have would be a start.” Time replied, looking up towards the sky, where the sun was at the starting stages of setting. “We have plenty of time to find a spot before everything comes out, and then we can work on getting a better idea of what we’re trying to find, even if only by a little bit.”

     “Alright. Let’s get going then, I guess, and then properly analyze.” Rebel replies, and the two resume walking, though with a different purpose than the one they had prior.

The features of Chapter 3:
* Stairs
* An absurd amount of stairs
* No plague
* Questionable decisions
* Watchers
* Thorough wandering
* The start of analysis, which could very well lead to over-analysis but hopefully also to the key

Last edited by DarkLordRebel (8/15/2020 3:42 am)

I'm kinda wondering how ten survived that fall still lol

Ten had enough chaotic energy that he couldn't die from the fall lol

S t a i r s

At least you updated! :D