The light dissolves and darkness takes over again. No smell except Sylviette's cadaverous one. The air is still. Only a placid drip and my breathing punctuate the sounds. There are no burrowing insects here.
“There's a brazier there.”
Sylviette's indication doesn't help me. How should I see the brazier?
[Will-o'-the-wisp]
[Will-o'-the-wisp]
A couple of unsuccessful attempts, just to evaluate the environment. I glimpse some armor and barrel arches from the low ceiling. There is the brazier.
[Will-o'-the-wisp]
This time I light a target and the room remains lit. The armor casts its shadow on the bare wall and another brazier can be glimpsed beyond the illuminated arch.
A small step and that explains the reason for the dripping. In front of us, there is a tub, a water cistern that extends as far as the eye can see. From my position, sitting in the room, I see ripples.
“There's a current, it's not safe to dive.” I look at Sylviette who is studying masonry and something beyond the light that I don't see.
“Do you know where we are?”
I shake my head. I summon the grimoire and consult it.
“This area has been partially mapped,” I breathe a sigh of relief. “It is a reservoir of one of the two rivers of the Underwasteland.”
Sylviette nods absently. “Well, we have to go this way, you lit the brazier on the wrong side of the room.”
Turning around I notice the luminescent traces in the darkness. They are so obvious that they have smeared the entire arch under which the [Devil] must have passed while compressing itself.
[Will-o'-the-wisp]
The other side of the room is made of stone. The armor has been dissolved and coral grows in the remains. Behind the arch, there is a corridor made of stone and dark bricks.
“Sylv, what are we going to do when we reach it?”
“Great joke.” Sylviette walks away and I see the flame casting her shadow between the walls.
I did not understand. I would like to reply but I don't comprehend, mine is not a joke.
Ci-cin!
I jump up and run after her. “Wait!”
♦
There is no shortage of braziers or armor. Along with shields and weapons hanging on the walls, armor is placed in front of each arch. We find most of them destroyed and invaded by corals.
The rooms have a low roof made up of wooden planks and beams that follow one another quite similar to each other. I may happen to stumble upon some empty pantry, some shelf, and a table. Some overlook the river and others have small bridges spanning side canals.
The waters are dark and certainly deep. Crossing the small bridges, I notice the stilts that support the structures. The same arches continue and immerse themselves beyond the gaze.
Sylviette advances without speaking and I simply follow her.
She is not inclined to dialogue and I don't want to make her nervous.
However—
…ugh, I'd like to get to know her better.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
We have to trust each other! It's absurd to keep secrets or avoid communicating!
A shimmer on the side distracts me.
Ci-cin.
“Have you seen it!?”
Sylviette turns around. “What?”
“A kind of shimmer. It came from there.” I point to a side arch where there is no [Devil]'s drool.
“I didn't see anything.”
“It must have lasted a few seconds. When I turned around I didn't see anything.”
“Are you sure it wasn't a reflection of your flames on some armor?”
I lower my ears. It cannot be ruled out that this is how it happened. “I can't rule it out completely.”
“Then let's continue, you're sweating and that means we're getting closer.”
Real. The drool is warmer and the air has become heavier, thanks to the closed environment.
That glimmer, however…
We resume our journey and continue for some time. The sound of the water becomes louder, a sign that we are approaching the source of the current.
“Do you know anything about this river?” Sylviette's vocal inflection suggests to me that she is truly curious.
“I know that her waters reach the Whirlpool of the heroes, who then fall back into the Ocean.”
“Hm.”
We cross a wooden bridge and arrive at a room with a spiral staircase and a very large central shaft.
[Will-o'-the-wisp], [Will-o'-the-wisp], [Will-o'-the-wisp]
I light a row of torches. “Anf, other stairs…”
“Do you think the Underwasteland is wider or taller?”
“Hm, this is already the second question you've asked me…”
Tok, tok.
Sylviette turns and glares at me. “I'm just curious, didn't you want to chat?”
“AH! Yes, yes, I'm happy, I'm happy. However, I don't know—”
“Understood. Up or down?”
I look at the stairs but see no traces of the [Devil]. “I think you should use your skills. So far, she has turned out to be excellent.”
“No, it's not necessary. The Devil has jumped again.”
“How can you say that?” I better check the edge where the tracks end.
“It crawled all the way here, but then it didn't come up or come down.”
♦
[Dungeon path]
And we appear at the bottom of the staircase.
“Look…” Sylviette releases my hand. “But how come you don't find the organ or the Devil, but you do find the bottom of the abyss? Doesn't the ‘I have to know where I'm going’ rule apply?”
“Oh, great question. It's very simple, objects and entities are not considered places by magic. The bottom of a staircase, the top, the exit from a room, and so on, are considered places.”
“Isn't the organ room a place in the Underwasteland?”
I shake my ears and put my hand on my chin. “No, I say no. The places have a very precise definition, if I remember correctly, they must be mappable in the grimoire. The grimoire counts the organ room as any other, I am the one who attributes a particular value to it because it has the organ.”
“I understand. It's very interesting.”
Sylviette starts walking again.
Ci-cin, Ci-cin!
“Shh! Stop tails, you embarrass me.”
“Did you say something?”
“Nothing, nothing, hehe. There are clear tracks here, right?” I'm embarrassed by my superficiality. It's nice that Sylviette is interested, but it's also true that I shouldn't think about it now!
She looks at me nodding while I gesture with the spiked tail in my hand.
“When the Devil fell it made quite a mess.”
“Yeah, it looks like a pond of slime.” Now that I think about it, it's pretty disgusting to end up in it, but the majority of it has already turned into coral.
“Do you think these corals are errors?”
“Yes, I would say yes. It is the effect of the error that blooms other errors. If we don't solve this, I think they will expand.”
Sylviette nods and turns around the arch of the room. I follow her and arrive in a narrow, dark corridor with a vaulted roof. A very light layer of water wets the floor.
We are under the river. I can be sure of that.
We walk for some time. We take several turns and the water level rises. The number of corals increases until they encrust all the walls, making [Will-o'-the-wisp] useless.
The heartbreaking moans of one of the [Devil]'s heads are recognizable and I instinctively shake my ears, aware that I cannot silence it.
Sylviette starts to feel it much later and sometimes she cuts her way through the corals with her blades.
Seeing her hit and slash, watching the logs of errors fall into the water, I wonder if deep down she isn't a [Heroine] or a [Explorer] too.
She is comfortable in this environment and her [job] is full of surprises.
“I guess it struggles more than us.” Sylviette alludes to the [Devil], as she advances with water on her belly.
A dense fog pervaded the tunnels and I suppose it was due to the frozen water coming into contact with the hot slime. In any case, she is pleasant and I can breathe in big gulps, trying to stay relaxed.
“It must be squeezing to get through the tunnels. Haha.”
“The Devil could smash everything like it did at the cathedral.”
“I don't think so, it would risk destroying the organ. It must find it first.” This certainty relaxes me further; the [Devil] is trapped “…although I still don't know how we can stop it…”
“You use your best judgment.”
“Yes, definitely…” but I know it won't work. It is too important being to be placed outside the Golden Doors.
I do not know why.
I never asked myself this before this period full of dangers. I'm wondering a lot of things during this time of hazard.
But that's how it is, I know.
And I have to find a solution, maybe find a point of mediation. Perhaps the [Devil] is not beatable on the level of pure magical and physical strength...
…but I have something else to offer it.