The guide robot led them through a series of dark passages that resembled a labyrinth, unlike the Lower District that they lived in that tried to retain a semblance of a living environment with his artificial sky, weather and flora, this place was made of pure metal, it was filled with tightly packed insulated cables and pipes lining the tunnels along with many passages that led to god knows where all labelled by a series of numbers and letters.

“You’d need to a whole guide not to get lost in here…” Arthur murmured, yet it was quiet enough that Pace easily heard it. “For sure, if someone got lost in here I doubt they’d be able to find their way out…” Pace spoke, his voice echoing down the long and split tunnels.

No matter how far they went, they never saw a single sign of life, even after twenty minutes of walking the most they saw were a few maintenance bots replacing cables or parts to odd machines.

‘All of this, is it just to support the districts functions?’ Arthur tried to get a good peek at what the robots were doing but he didn’t recognise any of the parts nor were there any words that would clue him in as to their function, it seemed that it was all designed to be maintained by AI with little human interference.

That would also explain why these tunnels were so un-inhabitable, there were next to no rooms that resembled break areas or assignment posts.

“Hey, do you find this place a bit creepy?” Pace abruptly asked him out of nowhere, looking around like he was looking for something, or like he had spotted something out of the corner of his eye but then lost it.

Arthur looked back down the tunnel that was dimly lit with a maintenance light, many of them were broken or flickering but there were so many lining the top of the tunnels it didn’t really matter, but it was definitely eerie.

“It’s probably just because we’re the only people here” He spoke lightly, but he had become hyper-aware the moment Pace spoke, the feeling of being the only two people in this massive labyrinth of tunnels certainly struck a chilling fear into his heart.

The sense of isolation wasn’t a pleasant one, they had lived all their lives with the hustle and bustle of the packed Lower District Four, so the pure silence tainted with the almost silent droning of machines and their footsteps on the metal grating was unnerving.

“Hey, how much longer until we’re there?” Pace asked the guide robot that had been silent with nothing but a [ Please follow me ] displayed on their rear screen. However the robot was silent, not even a beep to break the silence.

“Tch, can’t even give us a hint?” Pace frowned as he considered kicking the tin can in an attempt to get a reaction before sighing.

“We’ve walked quite some distance… it shouldn’t be too much longer” Arthur said, hoping that his words held true; Though he understood that they hadn’t been walking in a straight path, they’d turned corners and gone up and down stairs more times than he could count already.

After another 10 minutes they came across a different kind of room, it was wide open and seemed like it could fit in nearly a hundred people at once, it also had another gate like their district gate at the rear side of the room, and in the centre leading up to the other side was…

A large, humongous, gigantic, shaft; It wasn’t straight upwards but rather diagonal going upwards, there was a strong draft of wind falling from the other end that was the source of the cold air that infested the tunnels.

“Bloody hell, how far up does that go?” Pace lent over the railings and looked upwards, Arthur did so as well as they tried to judge how far it went, yet neither could see the end.

“Please stand in the centre and don’t move”.

[ Please stand here ]

The robot spoke for the first time in its synthetic genderless voice as it rolled on to the large metal platform that was situated in the centre of the room as well as updating its display. The two did as told, stepping on until they were at the centre as they looked around curiously.

The robot then went to a terminal on the edge of the metal platform and extended an arm that connected with it, after a moment of silence-

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*

The entire platform rumbled as it began to shift, echoing with a massive grinding sound as the heavy metal gears besides it rolled together to lift the massive weight.

‘As I thought, an elevator’ Arthur looked upwards as he struggled to maintain his balance for a few moments while he watched Pace fall on his behind “Ouch! Could have wanted me!” he complained.

At the very least, Arthur was familiar with a lot of forms of technology due to the old-world archives that he used to spend reading a lot in his free time, and his work as a repairman, the ‘new-world’ had still used a lot of that knowledge to form its new technology so it wasn’t useless knowledge, however the moment Aether was introduced to it, he was as knowledgeable as a child.

Any form of technology that used Aether is strictly forbidden in the lower districts, as was knowledge about them, Arthur didn’t understand why, even if they knew about it they couldn’t use or make it, right?

Though, it may just be his curiosity talking, he wanted to see just what this ‘Aether Tech’ was about. He had no hopes of getting his hands on it though, there was no way they would be giving it to some lower district soldiers.

Pace had picked himself up and was once again leaning over the railings of the elevator and looking down and about. “Careful not to fall, it’s a long way down” Arthur warned him but pace just laughed “It’s fine, I’m not a kid ya’ know?.. Huh? Hey! Arthur! Look at this!”.

Arthur decided to humour him while sighing and steadily walking over to the railings, he was still dealing with a hangover so if anyone needing to be careful it was him!

“What is it?...” He murmured as he glanced over in the direction Pace was pointing, suddenly he became utterly speechless, right there through a thick glass pane was… Lower District 4. They were looking at it from an angle from above, it seems that the elevator they were on was passing over the ‘sky’ they had lived under their entire lives, and it was translucent from this side.

Lower District 4, it was around 25 kilometres squared in size with a population of just over 1 million people, like all of the other districts it was packed with closely build buildings, small cube shaped ‘homes’ for the ‘homeless’ filled in a lot of the other spaces, there were next to no leisure areas like parks and it was impossible to get some silence during the day, it was the place where Arthur had been born and raised, it was the place he thought he would die.

But…

“It’s so small” The words leaked out of his mouth before he even thought about them.

“Huh? Looks pretty big to me” Pace replied, citing a sigh from Arthur “I didn’t mean it like that…” he reached for his pocket for a bottle out of reflex then grunted slightly when he remembered he didn’t have one with him “It’s just, we can see the entirety of Lower District Four from here, that was our entire world up until now, yet right now we could cup its image in the palm of our hands”.

“When you put it like that, it’s weird for sure” Pace nodded but then laughed lightly “But we’ve only just left, don’t get so sentimental so quickly”.

“That’s true” Arthur shook his head as he continued to look over the view of the district, he couldn’t see any singular person, but he could easily see the black crowds of people that were shifting together like an ant colony, he looked around to see if he could spot locations he remembered but it was hard with how much was layered on top of everything else.

His house… no, it wasn’t his house anymore, he didn’t even have a choice of what to do with the furniture he left behind, there weren’t any keepsakes he had there at least, nothing was really worth keeping; He wouldn’t be surprised if someone else had moved in by the end of the day.

The two stood like that, lent over the railing watching their previous lives get smaller and smaller, their eyes flashing with varying emotions, and they worked through them in their minds, and then the view was over, all that was left was the metal walls of the shaft.

But they didn’t move, instead they stood with their eyes closed, waiting for the end of the ride.

And soon, it came, they passed through another floor and reached a room nearly identical to the one at the bottom of the shaft before the robot exited the elevator, instructing them to follow it once more.

From then on there were move tunnels, more of the same, the two were beginning to get sick of the same environment but suddenly it began to change, they went through a set of double doors that were pure white as they went down a hallway of a similar colour until they entered a room with doors at all sides.

“Wait here”

[ Stand still ]

It then left through one of the doors that then locked behind it audibly, the two glanced at one another, each seeing the suspicion in the other’s eyes.

“This seems off” Pace said.

“Hasn’t it all?” Arthur replied bluntly.

And, like it was cued, gas started spraying from the four corners of the rooms, surrounding them with a fine mist, the moment Arthur inhaled it he felt like he was becoming inebriated once more.

“What the hell?!” Pace shouted in panic as he grabbed the doorhandle behind him, from the doors they just entered, but all that happened was a hollow *Clang* sounded out “It’s locked!”.

Arthur on the other hand, got down on his hands and knees and laid on his side.

“What the hell are you doing dude?” Pace questioned his sanity.

“Just lay down, you don’t want to injure something when you’re knocked out.”

“Wha-?” Pace was about to complain, but then he realised he was the one being stupid here.

Why would they call them here just to harm them? It was better to go along with it.

And so he did, they both laid down peacefully and after a couple minutes they were in a deep sleep like a couple of newborn babies.

When they woke up, their new lives would begin.