A door in an empty street slams open, light spilling through the entry. A half-orctish woman cries out in fear as she tumbles to the dirt lane, scrambling on hands and knees to run away, fighting her skirts. A bottle comes flying after her and smashes against the wall of the neighboring residence as a man drunkenly stumbles to the entryway, screaming after her, 'Gi' back here, ye bitch!'

The woman sobs, tears running down her scarred, beautiful grey face as the man starts to chase after her, leaving the door wide open. She ran down the dark street before ducking into a side alley, the man tripping, swearing as he followed. The woman squeezed between the alley wall and a dilapidated cart, the small space pushing tightly against her chest, making it hard to breathe. As she tore free of the small space, jagged metal from banding on the cart's side snagged her blouse, ripping it and tearing open her side. She yelped at the pain, slapping a hand to the wound.

She ran to the end of the alley and spilling into the massive main street beyond, she looked back and saw the man was stumbling while climbing over the cart, his pot bellied form too large for the space she had gone through. 'Agelice, gi' tha fuck back here!', he screamed toward her, before going over the side of the cart and crashing to the ground in a hiccuping heap, his fat face red from the drink, exertion and anger.

Turning away, Agelice hiked up her skirts and ran to her right down the wide street, her shoulder-length, dirty, raven-black hair streaming behind her. To her left was an open set of stairs that descended downward toward the aquifer of the city, Juveris' marvel that it was known for. She passed by multiple streets on different landing levels, the wide, granite stairs exuding vast splendor, the side streets showing beautiful gardens, shops, residences, and more.

At the bottom of the steps, a large marble balcony extended over a crevasse, countless aqueduct architectures extending the gulf between landings. As Agelice reached the balcony, she gasped repeatedly, lungs past the point of burning, fear the only thing spurring her on. The man, Valstier, was slipping down the steps, picking himself back up, then tripping backward again. It was a miracle he didn't fall forward and break his neck under the pale light of the two moons, one full and the other behind it ever waning. Agelice stepped toward the edge of the balcony and looked down, eyes wide.

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Below were countless roaring, raging waterfalls from either side of the crevasse, the softly sparkling water reaching far down into an abyss of the Meridian below. On the peripherals of her vision, she noticed the strange shapes just out of eyesight, the constant sight of it making her slightly sick. The creatures native to Aeyalion always had a hard time in the Meridian due to the fact that it was ever changing. You could enter through a door from a room, turn around and the door could become a wall instead.

Time itself had no meaning here in the Meridian, which made things disorienting, but as Agelice understood it, the Meridian was just a mirror of Aeyalion, an undercurrent. One of the native species, the Vairott, had been banished here by powerful beings, and over the time of their existence, they unlocked the secrets of the Meridian, eventually pulling Aeyalion natives through portals. No one knew how or why they did these things, but there had always been rumors of those from Aeyalion being used in experiments, turned into unimaginable creatures.

Agelice broke from her partial reverie, looked back and saw Valstier getting closer, then ran to her left toward the Bridge. It was the one structure in this city that was stationary and never changed. As she ran, she looked back and saw Valstier reach the bottom of the steps, gasping. He stumbled toward her, a black rage across his features, a wicked snarl of hatred twisting his mouth.

While turning to look at Valstier, she failed to see a change in the granite underneath as it tripped her, her ankle twisting painfully. She cried out in pain and gripped her ankle, already feeling it swelling. The pain shot through her entire body, but she gripped the railing of the balcony next to her, pulled herself up and continued hobbling, her mouth grit tightly. Valstier began to gain on her, and Agelice decided to abandon the thoughts of the safety of the Bridge, ducking down a steep staircase attached to the side of the balcony. The steps went from granite to rough hewn stone very quickly, and were slick with water run-off from the sprays of the surrounding waterfalls.

She reached the bottom of the staircase and found herself face to face with a wide, gaping opening into the side of the stone. In the middle was a fast moving waterfall, and small walkways surrounding it on either side. She had heard before that the sewers of Juveris were vast, nearly infinitely so, and contained dangerous things, humanoid and monster alike. The tales of what she could encounter, however, seemed a welcome reprieve from Valstier. She continued into the deep darkness, the light quickly fading as Valstier reached the mouth of the sewers, yelling after her.

'Ye'll never survive down here, ye feckin' BITCH! I hope yer caught by the Vairott! DIE LIKE THA BITCH YE ARE! YE DESERVE IT!'

His voice continued to echo long after Agelice, her shallow, pain-filled breathing disappearing into the abyssal darkness.