“Gods...” Alto comments under his breath.

“Must be a broken pipe.” Judge Murphy concludes as he observes the phenomena. “We’re still too shallow for an aquifer.”

Samantha asks the question too casually, standing at the very lip of the flowing puddle. “Is this source of water safe to consume?”

“Probably best not to risk it.” Madeline chuckles, attempting to move closer to the phenomena. “It doesn’t smell bad so it's not sewage. Though I’d gamble at some sort of industrial run-off given that we’re… we’re what, under the industrial quarter?”

Samuel pulls his memory, a probable source to the miracle given as a generic non-answer. “There are specific industries within March that produce large amounts of waste water.”

“March has a large leyline that produces a lot of power.” Alto informs quietly, kneeling down at the edge of the puddle. “Perhaps this is a result of that?”

“Unlikely.” The One answers, stepping into the stream.

A depth only a few inches deep, clothing offering the barest of protections against the intrusiveness of water. Continuation into the depths, the only path forward through a near insurmountable obstacle for lives lived in dust beneath five suns.

Madeline groans. “Gods we’re supposed to wade through this garbage?”

“That is the correct definition of the word chosen.” Samuel retrieves.

“Yeah… this was the thing I wanted to avoid.”

“You were attempting to evade wastewater outflows.” Samuel corrects. “This is not a wastewater outflow.”

“Not the point.” Madeline sighs. “I didn’t…”

Samantha is the first of the Five to take the step into the depths, a mere four inches of liquid immediately soaking into boots and into well bounded socks. The roar of sloshing fluid echoes into the abyss as she trudges forward behind the One, the sibling closely following as he himself brings his own form into the disrupted surface.

Judge Murphy is next, a rifle strap confirmed upon his shoulder and bootstraps on tight. Right after, Alto Carrin takes the step. His warning sounded by the clerical element found within the anomalous zones of the northlands, a careful tone echoing to all parties of five. “Once we’re out of this, make sure your footwear’s dry. Foot-rot can be difficult to treat.”

Madeline sighs as she’s the only one left at the edge of lapping waves, a long pause before she lodges a complaint against those truly responsible. “Gods damn this world. Can I take off my shoes for this?!”

Judge Murphy pauses as he kicks the soaked ground, a possible bullet cartridge found through leather boots. “There could be sharp debris here. Keep your footwear on.”

“Fragging hell!!!”

There has to be thousands of miles of structure, stretching endlessly into the darkness. An occasional sewage grate shedding thin light in a stream down towards them becoming rarer and rarer, soon completed by absolute, suffocating darkness. Minds held to the continuous movement of trudging feet blending to a chaotic auditory mess of splashing and breathing and the droplets dazzling in echoes, the water depth below them shifting from ankles to knees.

They all feel the ever so slight downward slope.

A path leading deeper into the mountain, a stream’s flow escalating from a slow trickle into a tangible rush.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

“Is there a terminal point to this liquid outflow?” Samuel asks curiously towards the leading Being.

“I don’t know.” The One speaks in the response, performing a warning to the Five. “We will be approaching a tertiary liquefaction sump within the next twenty minutes of our current travel pace, please use caution when maneuvering through this area.”

“Great.” Madeline rolls her eyes. “I don’t know what any of those words meant but I get the feeling it's not gonna be good.”

They hear it before they see it; the roar of water cascading down into space echoing a soothing, almost meditative atmosphere within an otherwise lifeless surrounding of artificial structure.

They must have blown through the walls by accident.

Ancient human hands in the modification of March’s underbelly accidentally uncovering something older and more sinister. Deep within a labyrinthine maze of tunnels a discovery to unroot the foundations of their world.

The very air itself turns thick with humidity and rust, natural lungs from four souls beginning to cough as they reject both scent and density. Minds utterly overwhelmed by the alien sense of simply too much water, Alto making the observation for them all. “Exposure to this air can’t be healthy.”

“You can say that again…” Madeline replies.

Feet catch the muck and sludge of bacterial growth, a coolness to the liquid within their boots somehow converting to a heated source.

“Stop.” The Being orders as it takes a final step.

The water drops down just a single foot, followed by an abyss.

A lake stretches out before them seemingly endlessly, its barely disturbed surface smoother than glass. Vast and shimmering in the dim light of the ignited chemical lamp, the Five just stare at the incredible sight.

Standing at the lip of a short, two foot drop into deep black water, they all take it in.

“Woah…” Madeline begins as she stares wide eyed into the space, a void large enough to refuse an echo beneath the roar of distant waterfalls. “That’s big.”

Judge Murphy carefully looks over the edge, eyes unable to pierce through the shimmering darkness. “How deep is it?”

“Four point seven eight nine miles.” The Being informs, eyes scanning the room.

There are streams of water falling from every corner of the two mile diameter cylinder, the long abandoned processing facility constantly filled by the drainage sourced from cracks in March’s water supply. An interchangeable mixture of waste and potable sources, uniting here in the depths of the city.

Samuel is the only one able to perceive it.

Something tinges implanted sensors across a spinal column, a gravimetric taint upon the space creating an obvious source of power deep within the massive ocean of water at their feet.

Madeline sighs, an activity only available to the richest of the rich in the decadent halls of Centralis returning to her. “Don’t tell me we have to swim across this thing…”

“We do not.” The Being brings forth the words within the context, simplifying the name down to more present minds. “The location we are attempting to reach within this facility is located beneath us.”

“You’re kidding?!” Madeline looks at the childlike form with a wide jaw. “That’s just water, all the way down!”

“No.” The young mage pauses as his eyes flash a pale blue. “I detect a gravimetric anomaly within this location. There is a space beneath the water column, seven point five six kilometers from this location.”

“Down.” Samantha clarifies.

“Correct.” The sibling coldly answers.

Judge Murphy gives the simple fact of the matter. “Nobody’s swimming that deep, not through it.”

The Being begins to formulate the simple solution, a rescan of the microcosmic world redone. One command line input, even now his form having enough power over the world to give the order.

He detects the irony of the situation; an insufficient authority to order the safe drainage of the facility but yet enough to utterly destroy it.

Destroy it.

The name still echoes into the eons of their modern history, an unspeakable god now a demon in the eyes of mankind.

He tries to give the order, tries to connect to the system beneath kilometers of accumulated water.

The ships are overhead, the world beneath them glassed from lances of plasma.

The Garden burns again.

The Being cannot give the order, the simple act forcing him back into the depths of perfectly remembered memories.

Drowning, in it all.

“Stop.” The voice of the young mage brings it back, a sensory system finding the conclusive action. “There may be a solution.”