27. Out of the Woods

Yarrow left with Gloriana after another round of profuse apologies and words of gratitude, which Isaac had already grown tired of. By the time the fey, with Gloriana in hand, disappeared into the trees in an impressive show of speed, Isaac found himself feeling even more exhausted than he’d felt when they’d first hit the ground after crossing the ravine.

“Well that went nowhere,” he said. Mortimer nodded and straightened from where he’d crouched down to inspect the water. In the daylight, it was even more apparent how clear it was. The ocean was almost perfectly transparent.

“I assume we’re returning to the station?”

Isaac nodded. “Yeah, nowhere else to go.” He paused, frowning at the man. After a moment of thought, he spoke again, picking his words carefully. “Listen, I’m bad at this, but, well, sorry.”

“What for?” The half undead man looked curious. Isaac gestured vaguely in the direction the two fey had gone.

“I uh, I didn’t know the fey were like that around undead. I wouldn’t have dragged you here if I knew. That was kind of shitty of me.”

“Oh, that. It’s fine, I’m used to it.”

Isaac raised an eyebrow. “You run into a lot of fey?”

Mortimer smiled slightly. “Well, not especially, no. But it’s normal for people to be nervous around me. I can’t really blame them. Graveyard creatures typically stay within the realm.”

The Graveyard, the end destination of the grey line (Isaac had never forgiven the Chrowall City planners for including both a silver line and a grey line as if anyone could tell the difference in the maps, why couldn’t they have picked another color like pink or something) was the realm he visited the least after Paradise, and it was for similar reasons. The Graveyard was filled with undead, a majority of whom weren’t particularly concerned with keeping their stats updated or with fighting, which at least boded well for the afterlife in Isaac’s opinion.

Whereas he’d always been curious about Paradise, Isaac wasn’t too upset that he rarely got jobs in the Graveyard. The few times he’d entered the realm, death hung heavy around the place, and there was always an unsettling feeling in the air that was reminiscent of the Abyss.

He furrowed his brow. He could understand the unease around undead too, when Mortimer put it like that. But Mortimer himself barely even counted as undead. Sure the bone growth thing was weird, but there was much, much weirder stuff in the Underside in Isaac’s opinion.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mortimer repeated. He gestured towards the forest. “We should return to the station while it’s still light out.”

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Isaac nodded in agreement, and the two turned away from the ocean, leaving behind the sound of rolling waves as they made their way back through the trees.

As they walked, Isaac found his mind drifting back to the conversation with Yarrow. He remembered the unease in their eyes, but most of all he remembered that brief flash of anger that had felt so uncharacteristic for the fey.

He’d promised himself, back when he’d first entered the Underside, not to get too involved with things. There wasn’t much of a point to it when it wasn’t even his home world. He was there because he owed a debt and had to work an annoying job, that was all. Still, moments like these made Isaac acutely aware of what a stranger he was and how little he really understood. It was probably for the better, he told himself. Still, he found it difficult to shake off the apprehension that had settled after the conversation.

“Hey, Mortimer,” he suddenly said. The man turned to face him as they walked around a particularly large tree.

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, but I was thinking. Back on the subway, you got kind of stiff when Lilith called me. And I guess I just realized I don’t really know how you feel about her or the system or the Collapse or any of that.”

The man hummed in acknowledgement. He was silent for a few moments as they continued stepping through thick bushes and dodging sharp branches that obscured the path ahead. At first Isaac assumed the man had chosen not to answer, but he was proven wrong when Mortimer responded, speaking even slower than usual.

“I would be lying if I said there wasn’t any resentment. Many things were lost in the Collapse.” He hesitated. “But, the way you talk about her makes me think she might not be so terrible.”

All Isaac did was complain about her; he didn’t see how that could possibly impact her reputation positively. Mortimer continued speaking, and Isaac noted that his voice was back to its usual inflection.

“At the very least, I don’t think this current system is terrible.”

Isaac raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’m gonna have to disagree on that one.”

Mortimer just smiled.

—

Just as they reached the subway station, Isaac glanced down to see the tablet screen flash gold for a brief second. Frowning, he opened it and saw that a few stat update requests had been added. Figures he wouldn’t get a break even when he was already dealing with this charisma stat nonsense.

Scanning the list, he recognized a few of the names. Sharil was on the list, for one, which meant she’d probably improved again. Good for her. Igor was also on the list, which meant his sheet had probably not changed at all. He kept scrolling. There was no one from the purple line, at least. Small mercies. Mortimer looked over at him, curious.

“Update requests?”

“Yep.” Isaac sighed and rubbed his eyes. His eyelids felt heavier. How much time had passed? With all this realm hopping, it was hard to tell. He turned to Mortimer. “You know what, let’s call it here today. You can go back to your store and, uh, restock stuff. I’ll finish the updates on my own.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind coming along.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’ve dragged you around for long enough.” He shook his head. “Thanks again.”

Mortimer nodded and turned to head towards the silver line platform. He paused mid step, however, and glanced back. Isaac raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

The half undead man was silent for a few moments. Finally, he said, “Be careful.”

Isaac stared at him, but he couldn’t discern anything beneath the man’s perfectly still expression. He nodded slowly, unconsciously gripping the tablet a little tighter.

“I will.”