“I really need to stop going over theirs for dinner, don’t you think so too Mr. Royale?”
“Meow”
“You agree too? Hmm, I really should then” The guy talking to a cat was me. I just came back from the dinner, freshened up a little, changed into my pajamas, and plopped on the bed while Mr. Royale stood on the window frame and looked out the window.
The dinner was more exhausting than I expected it to be. I don’t recall the Ruslanova and the Choi family to be such imperialists. What has changed?
Sure the Emperor has made many life-changing changes, something none thought were possible. Trade routes are secured and flourishing, border security has grown redundant as all three of the empires are part of a peaceful treaty and happily trade knowledge and resources and are flourishing independently.
Granted all the scientific improvement and the conveniences people have become reliant on.
But do any of them justify forgetting the almighty who made all that possible? Forgetting your father just cause you gained new toys?
I don’t think so! How can they be so ungrateful!? They’ll pay for this.
I’m sure!
“Come Mr. Royale, let us just sleep. There’s no point spoiling my mood thinking over what people do and don’t. I can’t change the public but I can at least ignore them till they suffer the consequence of their action” I waved to Mr. Royale who jumped on my bed and curled himself on the pillow I prepared for him.
Covering myself with the blanket, I spoke to Mr. Royale one last time.
“Good night!”
“Meow!”
‘Let’s just assume that was a good night and not a shut up’ With that thought I shut my eyes and tried to fall asleep.
----------------------------------------
“Good morning Oliver” a much happier Aline greeted me with a small smile on her face.
“Good morning Al, lovely day isn’t it?” I greeted back with a casual question.
“Much better than yesterday at least. Talked to some friends, drank a little, just one bottle of Skov, and the next morning I woke up as good as new” She waved her hand in front of her face as if it was nothing.
“Neat?”
“Of course, you think I’ll contaminate my alcohol?”
“Wow….. you should invite me to one of your parties someday. Lemme learn from the master in this art?”
“You are not worthy to be apprentice, yet. Survive the 8th shot of terilla, and then we’ll talk.” she rejected my request with a mean smile.
“I’m so hurt” I pressed my hand on my chest and tried to paint a pained expression across my face.
“Yes sure, let’s get to work now. We need to find captain, or at least find clues about where they might have detained Captain till the others come back as well as to find clues behind the mystery of Morgan’s death. The church believes Morgan after waking up either might not be too much of a help and we need to be ready. These are the current top priority missions of the church.” Aline spoke now a serious expression across her face.
“What of finding the ones behind the attack? Someone able to get their hands on the mayor’s token has to be at high places in the brethren and could potentially lead us to captain.” I asked, confused as to why the church didn’t think of catching bigger fish and rather go for hatchlings.
“The Emperor….. he has butted in the case and declared it a case of terrorism against the empire thus taking custody of the case in search of the handlers and upper echelon behind them” Aline complained as a trace of anger and resignation flashed across her face but she got over it quickly.
‘The emperor again huh….’ Internally sighing, I too decided to not dwell on him and focus on the orders.
“So do you have any leads on this matter, something the church might have provided or are we going completely blind here?” I questioned.
“The church has employed the information department, spy cell, the owls and also used the police information networks to compile an extensive search on any illegal trading of items useful for capturing or ambush and recent human trafficking trades in the city” she fished out a file out of her coat’s inner pocket and handed it over.
This was basically a list of all kinds of trades and deals of our search filter in the undercity and the top.
It was detailed with a list of criminals, merchants, organizers, store owners, the organizations they work for, to whom the credit belongs to, the list of trades made by them, and various other official jargon.
‘Hmm human trafficking has taken a small hit in the past days, even among the ones sold, there’s no resemblance of captain or anyone with an unusual amount of makeup.
‘Nor has there been any trades in human-sized or anywhere near big enough cages. Tear gas, paralyzing poisons, handcuffs, zip ties, and straitjackets are all accounted for. The sales are there and most of them are either still unused, or their use has been listed.’
Flipping the page I continued reading.
‘Perhaps abandoned houses, factories, or a warehouse at the docks? None of them feels right though…. Hmm?’ finally something caught my eye
“Why are there only 52 abandoned warehouses listed here? Is there perhaps another list?” I asked Aline, slightly perplexed as she would’ve given it to me directly if she did.
“No, this was all that was given to me. Why? Is there a problem with it?” Aline asked with a frown as she moved to stand beside me and check the list with me again.
“The abandoned warehouses in dock 3 are supposed to be more than this. If I remember correctly, many of these warehouses are filled with vagrants and homeless. The mayor let them be since it’s better than them roaming on the streets.
“But on the one condition that should the government ever need the building of their use, the residents would have to pack up and leave. Do you think the government has plans for those warehouses?” I asked, cause if not, then this case is gonna go in a very….. interesting direction.
“I don’t know for sure, but let me confirm from my informant. I was gonna meet him for some information on substances that can induce suicidal thoughts in a person. Wanna join me there?” she offered, and since I have nothing better to do…
“Sure. What about the substances though? Asking for Morgan?” I questioned as we started walking.
“Yes. I don’t think he would have done something like this on his own. I’ve known him for years. He, me and Matheo have joined the order in the same year. As you can imagine, it was a record-holding year as no city has ever seen 3 new members in the same year.
“Although there have been times he has been depressed, we all have been at once in our lives, he knows when to lean on others for support.
“He’d never make such a foolish decision. While being in the order that too? He’s not a masochist to kill himself for shits and giggles.” Aline spoke with a stern look
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Okay, that…. was news. I never knew they actually started together.
I am starting to realize something, I hardly know anything about teammates. Have I always been this ignorant and anti-social?
“Anyway, the point is, Morgan would never do it if not under an influence and that’s what I’m after. Finding who did it and how? And if I can help him out.” Aline continued, ignorant of my internal thoughts.
“But Al, we know it’s the brethren, and we also know what they can do. So how can we ever say they used something like a drug instead of whatever mystical means they possess?
“Not to mention this can be an independent act of another smaller organization trying to blackmail him?” I questioned. Honestly going against the brethren, we need to be prepared to be shocked by all kinds of mystical methods. I’d much rather it be a smaller organization testing the waters than to find out they can bend someone’s emotions too now. How are we supposed to deal with that?
“He wasn’t blackmailed. I don’t know what kind of dirt can you even find on him, but blackmailing someone from the order is the stupidest thing a normal organization could do, and not something any big ones bother to.
”Not to mention if he really was being blackmailed, there’s no point in asking him to commit suicide now. Forcing him to leave the order sounds like the first logical step. Of course, unless the person behind is a sadist, but then it destroys their whole purpose as we’ll be able to guess this fairly easily and will be onto them.
“So this eliminates the chances of it being an individual act or a coincidence from other smaller organizations. This means the brethren were behind everything, and I wanna know how they did it before passing it off as magic mumbo jumbo” Aline analyzed in a hurry and I can feel her getting a little irritated by it.
Sensing her tone, I backed away from the questioning. It’s not like I haven’t thought of those things, I was just trying to probe Aline with my questions and to ensure she isn’t going into it without thinking things through.
“As long as you know Al. Let’s go meet that informant of yours”
“Hmm” With a nod she started walking ahead of me and caught a carriage for 37th Street.
----------------------------------------
“You know when you asked the carriage for 37th street, I had this feeling. But you didn’t tell me your informant was in undercity" I looked at Aline who stood by my side with a questioning look.
“Only the best informants live here Oliver, if you wanna get somewhere in the order, now is the time to get yourself one too” she spoke as she winked at me and walked ahead.
The undercity wasn’t exactly a city. It was more like a hub. A hub for gamblers to gamble their lives, thieves to hone their skills, lust to start a business, and for the homeless to build their graves.
Every information in the city flows through these alleys and every coin traded here is a bastard of honest money.
As for the way to enter the undercity?
As Aline continued walking down an increasingly dark alley, she suddenly stopped, beckoned me to stand beside her, and started tapping her legs on the ground.
One right tap, two with the left, one left after a short break, and three quick right taps.
After this small tap dance, she knocked on the wall beside her at a certain spot in the same beat with her hands and started walking again.
‘Is that how you enter the undercity? Granted I’ve not been here before, but this style feels a little…. fancy given their reputation. I guess as they say, do what they don’t expect you to.’
Finally after walking for a while, we reached the end where there was nothing but a pipe, big enough for a huge man to fit in comfortably, going down towards the sewers. Saying it smelled was an understatement.
“I don’t know about you Al, but I came in after a shower and proper breakfast. I don’t wanna waste both of them here.” I complained to Aline. Did she really think of going from here? There’s no way this is the only entrance right?
“Oh c’mon Oliver, what’s a little dirt for the great purpose of saving the city?” she smiled at me but looking at my increasingly irritated expression, she backed down “Okay okay, just messing with you. Though this is the entrance, there’s something special here”
Then she moved ahead and tapped on one of the posters that stuck on the wall. It was one of the myriad posters stuck there with the only distinguishing feature being the image of a large owl with one eye red and the other blue. To be precise she taped the red eye and it clicked like a button.
Sounds of gears turning emanated from the walls and a portion of the wall beside the pipe opened up revealing another pipe. Similar, but cleaner and definitely designed for travel as I could see it light up brightly from inside.
“Ta-da! This is the way to go. Just follow me and try to keep an eye on what I do.” with these words she sat beside the pipe and with a wink at me, pushed herself inside.
‘Crap!’ Not wanting to be left behind too far, I quickly squatted down and with one last deep breath jumped in too.
The inside of the pipe was a fever dream. Lit with alternate black and white colors in a halo, and strips of blue lights running parallel to the pipe along the walls. I could hear the shrieks of Aline and she was definitely having fun. For me? I was just trying to not throw up and focus on Aline.
She was sliding a little in front of me with her right hand tracing the gap between the strips of blue.
The ride didn’t take too long and after around 15 seconds, the straight tunnel finally took a curve and Aline disappeared behind it. By the time I took the turn, I could see the opening in the distance and Aline was nowhere!
I tried looking out of the exit, but my eyes were overly simulated and all I could see were afterimages from the gap. Still, I tried to prepare myself for the fall, and when it came I was ready. Ready to fail apparently.
To my credit, I still landed on my legs. Initially at least. Cause as soon as my legs hit the ground…. I was sinking? I felt myself sinking in and then propelled forward. With me still disoriented, I landed on my face and slid for a few good meters.
Even after stopping, I was so confused with everything, that I forgot to feel the pain as I tried to adjust my eyesight which was covered with bright and dark afterimages.
And then the pain came with a chuckle. Chuckling beside me was Aline who looked at me amusedly and it was enough to bring me out of my trance as I felt for my chin and felt the scraped skin already showing signs of being healed. At least the blood stopped dripping.
Shooting Aline a glare, or at least that’s what I thought I did cause she started laughing harder, I focused on orienting myself again and finding my balance as I tried to stand up.
After a minute of wobbling around, I finally felt in control again. My wound has healed and I dusted myself as I glared at Aline and said “Very ingenious Al, but quite childish for you, don’t you think?”
“There’s no such thing as old or young when you’re an immortal Oliver. Always be free to do what you want with no shame. Let’s go now” Once again she switched her persona in the blink of an eye and walked ahead.
‘Who even came up with those strip lights…. Or maybe it was not light in the strictest sense of the word. Hmm, some glowing moss? How does this even work? It’s too weird!’
As I followed her, I continued to observe my surroundings.
We were in a dark cave, which was occasionally lit with some lanterns here and there. We walked on a path made out of chiseled rock.
After walking for a few more seconds, I finally saw a gate at the end of the path illuminated by another lantern on the side. It was a 7ft long and 5ft wide steel gate and I am guessing it’s just as heavy as it looks.
“Don’t look afraid; don’t look around; don’t talk to people; don’t smile too much and don’t pick anything that looks suspicious, actually don’t pick anything” Aline warned me before reaching the gate. Initially, I thought there would be some kind of additional password or knock pattern to identify one as the member before two bulky bodyguards would open the gate from behind.
Oh boy was I wrong.
Cause as soon as Aline reached the gate, she kicked and it flung open!
If the pipe was a fever dream, this time I felt like I was traveling among the aggregation of sound and light as a loud screech of a song greeted me. The room was gaudy with a purple light blooming from the ground and the walls.
It was an ostentatious party or a club, cause the room smelled of sweat, cologne, and blood as people danced across the floor lost in the rhythm of the music and sexual pleasure in the arms of their partners. Men with one or more than one women, women with women, men with men, even men with dolls and…… why is that guy with a fish!!?
I believed myself to be a fairly open-minded person, but today I realized I wasn’t open enough.
But as Aline warned, I tried not to look too much everywhere and followed her from a distance as she moved through the crowd shoving one couple after another to the side. I didn’t show any reservations here either.
As I walked, I thought of how did they do all this? Where are the sounds coming from and why are they so loud? What about the lights? How are they doing that? But I reeled in my curiosity for later as I decided to ask Aline later when we are free.
That still didn’t stop me from noticing a few things, as I noticed a huge bar in the direction we were moving. To the right of the bar were steps moving upstairs and women sat there in revealing clothes, or some in none, tempting the men out of their money. Many were making out there, with hands moving around bodies, as the prospect of waiting didn’t sit well with these drug-fuelled men.
To the left of the bar was another gate I didn’t notice earlier. And apparently, it was our destination as Aline walked towards it but unlike earlier, she didn’t kick it but still opened it with a bang.
It opened into a huge balcony and that’s when I realized, I still hadn’t appreciated the true beauty of the undercity yet. More like I didn’t know the true undercity yet.
Speechlessly I walked to the railing and stood there dumbfounded as I took in the view.
It was a scene of majesty and beauty. Spreading as far as I can see, it was a scene of purple and green and gold as the city descended and ascended into layers. Towering buildings I had no idea could be built sprawled the city as they glowed white through the windows.
It was a living city. It was a city of rich and poor. It was the city of beauty. It was the city of living and it was the city of the dead.
“WELCOME TO THE UNDERCITY!!”