Mark, Horan and Zaratos rose up back into the latter’s room. Where before there was a large double bed, there was now a hexagon made of thin metal slivers in the middle of the room. The bed was lying on its side on the far wall.
Zaratos limped over to the shape on the floor. “We can use this to send you to the Down Below. I’d come with you, but I feel like I’d barely be able to send the two of you down, let alone myself. Thanks for that, by the way.” He glared at Horan. “So, you two better be able to hold your own.”
Horan shrugged. “Oh, I’m not worried about that. It’s not too dangerous down there, and Mark here can survive anything.”
Mark pulled at his collar. “Not in this suit, I can’t.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We should probably change out of our party clothes, because…” Horan held up an arm to show off his dangling silk sleeve. “This is going to rip.”
Zaratos sat down with a grunt. “Fine. I’ll send you two back to your dorms and leave a hole open. Come back whenever you’re ready to head off.”
Mark sighed. “Finally, I can get this dumb suit off.”
Horan pulled Mark into the hole that Zaratos opened up. “That is a tuxedo, I’ll have you know!”
-
Mark pulled his hoodie over his undershirt and stuffed his ‘gun’ into his back pocket. “Wow, it’s good to be done with that. That party was a nightmare.”
Horan slipped into a gilded leather cuirass he’d picked out from the changing room. “Oh, c’mon, it wasn’t that bad, it couldn’t have been. Did you mingle like I asked?”
“Well…” Mark put on his boots. “I only talked to one person, but does it count for extra if we had an actual conversation?”
Horan gasped melodramatically. “You talked to someone? As in, about things?! Impossible! What did you talk about? Who’d you talk to?”
“Oh, don’t make such a big deal about it. Omet and I just talked about… stuff.”
Horan squealed. “Omet? I know them! And if you know them, that means they’re part of our friend group! It’s not just me and you anymore! Great job!”
“One, we don’t have a friend group. Two, talking to someone doesn’t make them part of your friend group.”
“Says you. What do you know about having friends besides having me around?”
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“You’re n…” Mark sighed and stayed quiet.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. But your situation is soon to change, buddy. You’ll be a master of the art of friendship in no time, or I’m a turkey.”
Mark finished getting ready. “Oh no, we’re all done!” He started slowly walking backwards towards the hole in the floor. “Guess we’re gonna have to talk about something else. What a shame.” He leaned backwards and fell into the hole.
When Mark arose into Zaratos’ room and finished orienting himself, he patted his clothes. “Ready to go.”
Zaratos, who was sitting by his snack cupboard, closed the cupboard door and scooted over to the inactive portal on the floor. “Awesome. Give me a few minutes to warm this thing up.” He placed his hands over the portal and began to darken the space around him like a black hole.
Mark looked back at Horan rising out of the floor. “So, what exactly goes on down there that makes you feel the need to wear armour?”
Horan shrugged and looked out of the window at the desolate countryside outside the city. “Oh, not much in particular. It’s just important to be prepared when you’re heading to the Down Below. Distances work weird, so even the most accurate portals usually plop you down a ways away from where you were aiming. Plus, you know how human souls go there when you die?”
“Did you say that?”
“Pretty sure I did. Anyway, your souls really don’t like not having a physical form to be inside, so they make one from scratch. Because of that, you’ve got about a hundred billion creatures of every shape and size running around. Some of them are harmless, some of them make a T-Rex look like a chihuahua. All in all, it never hurts to be prepared.”
Mark pulled his gun out and grinned. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m the master of being prepared for anything.”
Horan nodded. “You definitely are. By the way, have you figured out what kind of ammo that thing uses?”
Mark’s smile dropped.
Horan thought quickly of a way to put a hopeful spin on the conversation. “Well, hey. Gratast didn’t mention anything about that. Maybe it just makes ammo on its own?”
Mark thought for a moment before shrugging. “There’s no way it’s that easy, but I’ll go with your idea for now. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just whack everything with it.”
Horan nodded sagely. “Forget using your knife, the greatest weapon of them all is whatever you have on hand that works best for whacking.”
“Truer words have never been spoken.”
Zaratos pulled his hands back and the floorspace inside the shape created by the portal melted into utter darkness. “I’d hate to interrupt your very high IQ conversation, but you should probably head on through before I pass out. Just think about wherever you’re trying to go while you’re jumping in.”
“Alright then, down we go.” Horan grabbed Mark’s hand and hopped through the portal.
-
“They’re through. The sad one passed out like he said he would, I can hear him snoring.”
Xiao put down his binoculars and reached for a ham radio beside him. The bat demon next to him doing the auditory reporting opened her eyes and started fiddling with the radio’s dials.
Once he’d gotten the thumbs-up from the bat demon, Xiao spoke into the mouthpiece. “Mama Nest, this is High Flyer reporting in, do you copy? Over.”
Yang’s voice came into focus through the static. “…What?”
Xiao sighed. “It’s Xiao and Zhencha. I wanted to use codenames, and you’re Mama Nest because… Never mind. Multiple targets have left to visit the Down Below for unknown reasons, and at least one more is unconscious. Over.”
“I read you, High Flyer. Standby for reinforcements, assault prep is beginning now. Mama Nest over and out.”