"Hunting grounds 447 up ahead. Should your stop be somewhere else, please see other maglev train assistants for assistance. Repeat: Hunting grounds–"
Jason curled up in his seat, ignoring the speaker above his head. He knocked his forehead against the glass window nearby, and sighed as he saw the familiar landscape outside.
Rising up from the grounds on either side into the sky were massive, metallic walls. Some were sectioned off from the others, forming large, metal domed boxes where Jason knew more hunting grounds were. For brief moments as he passed, he saw large, blocky letters and numbers that denoted which one was which on the sides of the walls.
However, as he passed more and more hunting grounds, all he saw were the metallic walls that contained them instead of the environments inside. And every now and then his train passed large holographic boards that hung in the air, advertising the pretty scenery inside different hunting grounds.
Jason scoffed as he saw one in particular that had a grinning Delver who posed with his thumbs up. There was a reason locals of his world called the path he was taking home the Chrome Corridor.
Long metal tracks were situated on the ground and hung in the air where cylindrical trains moved so quickly that Jason could only see blurs despite his enhanced eyesight. The walls of the hunting grounds rose up and blocked his sight of the horizon so much that all anyone could do was see the bright, blinking advertisements as they passed by. The teen didn't really care too much about people's dislike for large corporations and Delver organizations and Unions after the Transcendent Wars, but he certainly preferred the scenery of the insides of the hunting grounds than what was currently visible.
Again, the teen sighed harder, focusing elsewhere. Inwardly, he wondered just what his world looked like before Delvers trampled on it. Before forests were replaced with metallic enclosures and oceans were sectioned off in heavy nets and fishing boats.
Jason knew the history of how the other worlds were colonized. The previous intelligent species that reigned had long since perished, leaving only beasts and animals that appeared from the corruption of the Abyss to roam the ruins.
Delvers traveled through the Abyss to these foreign lands through techniques beyond him. All because the Origin's living space had been all used up and people desperately needed more space. If that wasn't all, then the fact that the Origin World's, or Earth's, natural resources and farms could not sustain such a massive and still growing population contributed heavily to the decision to find more worlds in the Abyss.
Long story short, the worlds were founded because of the burden of a massive population and depletion of resources.
Jason understood those worries. How could he not when he lived in the very thing that humanity created to shove as many people into one place as possible while it tried to save as much space for farms and wildlife as possible: the City Pillars.
Suddenly, the metallic walls of the hunting grounds disappeared, and the teen inclined his head to look at the destination of his train. Green pastures full of budding and blossoming flowers appeared when the hunting grounds were gone. The scene would have been pretty if not for the large amount of rails that traveled over the pastures in a spiderweb of metal towards the destination in the middle of the greens. Jason clicked his tongue as he saw the massive cylindrical pillar that stretched up from the middle of the beautiful pastures into the sky until it reached the World Cage above.
It was like a massive needle that punched straight into the world, piercing deep below the world's surface and going up into the sky. For anyone who hadn't seen a City Pillar before, they would definitely call such a thing unnatural. Because Jason knew that for as high as the thing pierced the sky, it needed to go just as deep to stay stable.
City Pillars themselves were the answer that humanity called upon when it noticed the burden people caused. Governments and organizations with power needed to organize people into smaller areas in order to section off enough area for food and other processing plants. The fact that they needed pretty strong materials to support the World Cages against the Abyss only made the idea of City Pillars something that became reality that much faster.
Jason jerked in his seat as the train came to a very abrupt halt, grumbling to himself as he got up steadily. Nearby, other riders seemed to be sprawled on the floor or had braced before they reached the final stop. Either way, they both were cursing at the maglev train's way of getting people off. Above the speaker's blasted out their usual spiel, forcing Jason to wince at the noise.
"Final Stop: City Pillar 476. Final Stop: City Pillar 476."
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After he navigated his way out, Jason found himself on a glass walkway. Lights within the floor showed people routes for several exits or connecting trains as the groups of passengers left and ambled through the station.
The teen shoved his hands in his pockets as he moved through the crowds, following one of the lines that pointed towards an exit. Hawking voices from beggars and the odd performer filled the air along with the heavy cadence of footfalls so much that Jason had to clench his teeth from the sheer sensory overload he experienced. He caught sight of several people in ratty, torn clothes who displayed rusty or broken items on dirty mats. Normally, Jason wouldn't mind them too much, but his superior sense of smell forced him to walk faster.
If there was one thing he never understood was how Delvers with stronger senses could even handle themselves in any enclosed or public area. Jason's own senses had grown impressively in terms of strength and control since he had become a Delver, but he still couldn't quite adapt to some of the lower floors of his City Pillar.
Tucking his head down, Jason soldiered through the crowd till he found himself at the exit. Despite some of his grievances towards the environment inside the City Pillars, Jason would always hold respect for the people who created such a masterpiece of space. Well, he respected them just as much as everyone disliked how cramped the place was.
Every time he looked over the space outside of the maglev station, Jason got an idea on why they didn't really like to go home or spend much time here.
Narrow streets that barely allowed two people to walk at one time were filled with lethargic passersby who trudged back home after a long day of work. Every once and awhile, the line of traffic was broken up by someone who squatted down on the side or laid out on the ground, passed out. The walls of the street rose up high enough to touch the ceiling of the floor where strips of lights shined enough so people could see. Though, not bright enough to expose all the stains and trash that people ignored underfoot.
Not that anyone cared enough to point that out. The smell struck the teen more than the scene itself, and Jason fought to get his breathing correct so he didn't have to breathe too deeply. To his senses, the air smelled like rotten eggs dipped in heavy body odor, but it wouldn't be that far off for anyone with a normal nose.
The only time someone was given reprieve from the crowded streets were when they pressed the device strapped to their wrist onto an indented section of the walls that lined the streets. A portion of the wall hissed and disappeared into its surrounding wall, opening up to stairs that led upwards to cramped rooms. Several times, Jason saw how a couple people would follow someone as they opened up the wall, but he, like any other passersby, kept their heads down when they saw that.
Like this, Jason passed through the narrow streets without much problems. He wandered through the streets, turning left or right as more and more intersections appeared. For anyone who didn't have much knowledge about the floor, they could easily get lost within the maze-like structure of the inside of the pillar.
However, after around an hour of effort to trek through the twists and turns, Jason began to hear shouts and laughter filter into his hearing. He picked up his pace, slipping past someone who tried to bump into him in one of the side streets.
The unreasonably cramped streets finally opened up to a large, circular plaza. Stands and carts were littered around the area as people laughed or called out to anyone to buy their wares. If the streets before were crowded and felt like a pain to even spare the effort to walk through, then this plaza was the opposite.
Everyone ambled around the area, spending their time talking with friends, acquaintances or the stand keepers with a different sort of enthusiasm. However, on the fringes, Jason saw how people would spare weary glances at anyone who lingered for too long out of sight. A reasonable fear. Anyone who lived long enough in a Pillar would always keep an eye out for anyone who meant trouble.
Still, no one thought to make trouble within the plaza. The reason was apparent as Jason saw how the crowds of people in the plaza would part ways for groups of men who wore thick, baggy jackets with different symbols that represented well known businesses or organizations on them. Each one seemed personalized with different motifs like animals or elements to further set them apart. Delvers, the teen surmised quickly.
Businesses and Delver organizations had a fairly spotty relationship with normal people, but that didn't mean that they would simply disregard everyone. They would always spare a couple of their Delvers to maintain order in public spaces with the reason that the populace was needed for everyone to live happily. Of course, everyone knew that several powerful Delvers had risen up at one point, forcing those that made the decisions to actively prevent things from getting too out of hand.
Jason could understand their motivations slightly, but he never really understood how strong someone had to be for those guys to actually do something. In any case, the teen shrugged off the issue. His own problems were more important than his curiosity.
He walked through the lively crowd, arriving in front of a large cluster of cylinders that rose up into the ceiling. One of the elevator areas on this floor that Jason frequented. It was why there would be more Delvers in the area; such an important area needed to be defended from dangerous Delvers who thought themselves above everyone or just idiots that liked to screw with people.
Every now and then the doors on the elevators hissed and opened, allowing people to pass through in a constant stream of activity. Jason quickly found himself at the front of the line and secured himself at the back of the elevator.
However, just as the elevator's doors were closing, a hand reached through the opening, stopping it from closing. A red-headed, mohawk-adorned teen confidently strode into the elevator, and Jason's nose twitched, annoyed as they pulled out a rolled up cigarette.
The red-head's muddled blue eyes widened as they caught sight of the other teen. "Ah, sorry, can you smell this, Bloodhound?"
"Oliver…" Jason called him out, forcing himself through the crowded elevator towards the red-head's direction as it jolted upwards.