Emilia’s hand grazed over the cool outer wall of the city. It was rough under her fingers, and although she had never taken a moment to closely examine the walls of the other cities she had spent time in—or the world had been too dark for her to do so—from a distance they had always looked smooth. Like glistening metal; thick, seamless walls holding the unfathomable weight of the cities above aloft. Either this city was strange, or her eyes had been lying to her. Given this city was strange and her level 300 body, it was a toss up which it was.
Could be both, for all she knew.
What she did know was they were in trouble. Unsurprisingly, Conrad hadn’t randomly reappeared, transported back to them by some magnanimous Enclave to keep helping them. Honestly, Emilia would have died of surprise if that happened. Surely, any group that chose to align themselves with the insanity that resonated from the man’s family was equally insane.
At the very least, they’d managed to make it to the city walls without much fanfare. Caro had tripped, but thankfully they’d been imparted with extra durable clothing by the Risen Guard following a few too many tumbles down the stairs and bleeding knees. It was interesting, in a way, to see the Risen Guard treating injuries as though they were to be expected. It was also so different from the world Key—and to a lesser extent her own observations—had drawn for her, filled with children and women living in a world without play or freedom, their lives being snuffed out for bleeding without permission or preparation.
That said, Lanaira had still chastised Caro for being unsafe, and Emilia still held that a childhood that didn’t involve a few broken bones and close calls with death weren’t childhood’s worth living. Still, it drove a line between the world each side said existed. Neither was correct—Boundary might have known about overseer corruption, but not the extent of it—and it made her wonder if proper communication might have helped the sides come to a better place.
Emilia shook herself as she let her energy creep over the wall, hoping to find some sign of a secret exit. Maybe once, generations ago, the Risen Guard, Enclave and regular population might have been able to come to a resolution. She doubted they could now. The Risen Guard had tolerated too much corruption, and while the Enclave was currently a secret to most of the world—at least, that’s what she’d heard; who knew how accurate that information actually was at this point. Secret or not, it wouldn’t take long for information about their part in destroying the library or sponsoring the person who had destroyed Livery to leak, were they suddenly to be revealed.
It was too late. Perhaps in a few hundred years or after some terrible external conflict they’d be able to reconcile, much like Baalphoria and some of the Free Colonies had—not that their fledgling friendships were anything but tenuous and unstable.
The four of them moved slowly, inching their way along the edge of the city wall. Caro had chosen the direction, with a little prodding from Emilia. They had been confident enough to run through the streets of an unknown city alone, and she hated the way they now hesitated. Personally, she’d always found the best way to get over a fear was to face it, and yes, she realized that meant she should be facing her parents, but also, no, thanks.
Fifty-fifty chance they went the right way, although technically, they’d eventually circle around. In theory, they’d find the exit eventually. In practice, she wasn’t confident they would, so when her energy bumped up against a potential escape route—one that definitely wasn’t the one Conrad had been talking about—she offered it up.
⸂You have got to be kidding,⸃ Gale grumbled, scowling down at her sprawled note.
Caro peeked at it as well. They had asked someone to teach them to read, and pointed out some of the features of the script to Emilia and Gale. It wasn’t the time, but they were too cute to completely brush off.
Thankfully, there was still no one around, and the few smaller buildings they passed were slowly opening their curtains and letting the night in. They had lucked out: for everyone outside the main building, it seemed it was just the beginning of night.
“We can look a bit longer for the exit Conrad was taking us to, but I don’t want to still be out here when morning or shift change comes.” Emilia hesitated a moment before adding that eventually someone would discover the unconscious bodies of the guards as well.
Conrad had done something to them, running his energy through their meridians in a way that seemed unnatural and otherworldly, but a message still sat in her notebook, telling her it would keep them out for at least a few hours. The men waking up wasn’t a risk, even with help from a skilled healer, apparently. That didn’t change the fact that whether someone found them or they woke up naturally, eventually they were going to become a problem, and Emilia wasn’t looking forward to being hunted through the level by the Risen Guard: there were almost no places to hide.
⸂I-I think we should go,⸃ Caro said, voice so soft Emilia barely heard it. They stared at their feet, scuffing them against the packed dirt that seemed to edge the entire city. ⸂Something… doesn’t feel right.⸃
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Gale levelled a look at her that seemed to say, ⸂Look what you’ve done now! Now they’re trusting the vibes of the universe again!⸃
Emilia still wasn’t sure what to think about the whole universe reading thing. The reality was, however, that Carne had managed to track them—potentially managed to silence Benny and Caro with his energy before he was even in the city. In all likelihood, the man had more connection to the aethernet than most, thanks to whatever gift the heartcores had given him, but even then… that connection meant reading it was possible, right?
That, or it was some special effect of the system. Equally possible, but it still left potential, even if that potential couldn’t be transferred to her world. Potential for this world, and Emilia wasn’t fool enough to ignore whatever was niggling at Caro—not when there were so many more reasons to get out of the place at the speed of light.
Gale didn’t complain as they decided to just go for it, their steps taking them away from the wall and towards the small building that was calling to Emilia. It wasn’t unguarded, unfortunately, and as they approached, Emilia left them behind, handing Astra back to Gale.
Quick and fast and quiet. Emilia pushed her energy down as low as she could, willing it to disappear into the world. The amount to which the Risen Guard could sense—or at least how much they sensed on regular duty—was a giant question mark. No one had noticed them so far, not even the guards she and Conrad had incapacitated, but she wasn’t convinced the man’s web of energy hadn’t been disrupting their existence. Something about the way her energy had meandered down it, running into Risen Guards who were clearly feeling out the world and yet going unnoticed. Truthfully, it was a terrifying skill, even if it left her brain feeling frazzled and overwhelmed.
Emilia pulled to a stop, just outside the man’s view. Just one man, but given what he was guarding, the Risen Guard either truly had no fear within this city or he was a dangerous dude. Better to air on the side of dangerous dude.
Digging through her bag—a difficult task when you’re trying to be quiet and your bag is filled to the brim with stuff—Emilia pulled out one of the items she’d acquired from the missing kid's stuff. It had felt a shame to leave their stuff behind, but most of it had been taken by the other homeless kids.
Not this particular item, simply because it was too heavy. The black ball weighed so much that Emilia hadn’t even wanted to carry it, but she’d also felt bad about leaving it behind. The boy who had been playing with it had actually dropped it down the water slides at one point, the ball going shooting out the other end and smashing into a wall—which was infinitely better than it crashing into another child. The ball had been unharmed, rather surprisingly. Whatever it was made of was tough stuff, and Emilia had tucked it into her bag in case she needed to drop it on someone’s foot—or swing her bag violently at their head.
Now, she did neither.
Peeking around the corner, the hood of the jacket the Risen Guard had stupidly allowed her to request pulled over her hair, she aimed. The sensitivity of the standard Risen Guard’s hearing tended to still be less sensitive than most people in her world’s were, and as she let the ball go, listening to it roll over the stone of the ground in a soft click-click-clack, she hoped that trend stuck.
She ducked back behind the building and bolted around it, having already planned her path. Her steps were noisier this time, but she needed to make the most of the distraction, and when she bolted out into the small courtyard the guard was occupying, his attention temporarily locked onto the ball that had bumped into his foot, he missed her entrance. His eyes widened as he caught sight of her in his peripheral vision, but it was too late. Emilia’s fingers dug into the same pressure points she had used on the other men, a violent wave of energy winding through her body and into his.
He collapsed, and just on cue, Gale, Astra and Caro ran into view—her second distraction, in case things went awry. Plus, unlike with Conrad, where the man’s energy had snuffed out communication attempts, Emilia had no confidence she was fast enough to have knocked this guard out before he could request help. Stars, he could have even sent a confused message about the ball before she got to him.
“In,” she signed as she tugged open the—thankfully unlocked—door the man had been guarding.
Seriously, how arrogant did the Risen Guard have to be to leave so much unlocked? It wasn’t like locks didn’t exist in their world or anything! The first building Boundary had taken her to and the rooms she had been housed in had all been capable of being locked up tight. Why leave nothing around this place locked? Served them right for having such bad security.
The small building opened into a steep staircase, descending into darkness—oppressive darkness. Caro pulled closer to her, the generally brave child having newly acquired a fear of the dark along with so many other things.
Emilia rolled up her sleeve, holding her gems out for Astra to light one, which the child did with pleasure. “Down we go,” she mumbled to herself. There was no point in being quiet now. Even if the Risen Guard were already coming for them, they wouldn’t be fast enough.
Well, maybe Boundary or anyone else with the confidence to transport themselves without visual confirmation or a landing pad might. No time to waste, then.
Emilia hauled Astra into her arms, grabbing Caro’s hand with the other, and down they went. They definitely didn’t want to be trapped in a staircase if someone showed up to stop them. Being burnt to dust in the enclosed space, pushed down with waves or shadows, chased with lightning. None of those sounded like pleasant deaths.
Her energy racketed between the entrance and them, searching for anyone coming. At the very least, if an attack came, she could release a burst of energy to try and cancel it.
No one came, however. Emilia wasn’t sure if they hadn’t realized their escape yet, or if they viewed them as a lost cause: people too far away for them to chase.
A single step was all it took for the exit to disappear. Just as suddenly as the previous two times: the world fell away, and they were inside a labyrinth.
Hopefully, leveraging this place as an exit wouldn’t get them all killed—or worse, dropped straight back into the city they’d been trying to escape.