The tension in the air was so thick it could be cut. Sparks were flying between Abigail and Paige, while no words had been exchanged between the pair, many glares had. Nick thought that he’d be able to enjoy the rest of the journey in relative peace but he quickly had his hopes dashed.
“She’s a rather unreasonable brat isn’t she? Just so rude!” Paige complained to him.
Nick was put in an awkward spot. Part of him just wanted to agree with Paige, but he didn't actually agree with her at all. Paige had also spoken just loudly enough that other members of the group would have heard her, but not Abigail and Maddy at the back. So, Nick decided to do the reasonable thing. He pretended that he didn’t hear her and just kept walking. Paige harrumphed at his choice.
“She said such mean things about me, you don’t agree with her do you Nicky?”
Hell nah. Her use of that name sent a bolt down his spine, his mind cleared for a moment and then was quickly clouded by anger. Nick came to a sudden stop, surprising Lily and Henry behind him and Paige, as she had just kept walking and was jolted by his movement.
“You don’t get to call me that.” Nick said flatly. “Paige, we barely know each other. I’m not even that close to you. Chill out with all of this.”
“How could you say that Nicky? I thought we’d gotten pretty close.” Paige said with a shy smile.
“Stop calling me that.” Nick’s voice cracked as anger began to boil to the surface.
Nick felt her words trying to worm their way into his head but anger was the dominant force inside his head right now. How dare she call him that. Nick had no idea why it was cutting into him so deeply, but Paige calling him Nicky brought old memories up. Memories Nick had done a great job of avoiding over the past few years. Memories that Nick really didn’t need clouding his mind considering how much else he was already currently avoiding processing. That’s when a large pair of arms wrapped around him, and pulled him around into a deep hug.
“It’s alright son. It’s alright.” Henry soothed.
Nick took a deep breath and sunk into his father’s embrace. He focused on his energy and let it work with him to calm his turbulent mind. This energy of his might have been the best thing introduced into his life, it was becoming a vital life line to him. After what felt like a minute or two, Nick felt stable and pulled away from his father.
“Thanks dad.” Nick said with a slight smile.
Henry smiled back, a hint of sadness in his eyes.
The group then got back to moving, the tension in the air replaced with an awkward heaviness. Only Lily, Henry and Nick properly understood what had just happened, but none of them were going to explain it. Some matters were just better kept between family members. Paige seemed a bit stumped, she wasn’t sure what kind of landmine she’d just stepped on. Abigail on the other hand looked smug as a bug in a rug. She also had no idea what had happened, hell, she barely heard it. All she knew was that Paige had screwed up, and that was all she needed to bring a smile to her face.
Nick was sick of the bickering and Paige trying to cosy up to him so he positioned himself next to Rina, putting her between himself and Paige. The group walked along for a bit before Rina tried to start a conversation with him.
“Are you alright Nick?”
“Yeah, just some memories I didn’t need to be reminded off.” Nick said with a sigh.
“I’m sorry to hear that. On the bright side, you’re about to get one hell of a view.” Rina said with a grin.
Nick’s curiosity was piqued and he didn’t have to wait long for it to be satisfied. The horizon revealed a massive band of grey and green. There was also another market of sorts set up here, with less people but tents still coating the area. As the group got a bit closer they could make out more of the details of what lay before them. From the edge of the car park, massive concrete ramps extended out. They connected to a massive block of stone and dirt floating out in the space around the car park. Lining this block was a hedge, a massive shrubbery extending at least four metres high.
The hedge had occasional gaps in it, where the ramps would lead to. Nick also saw that there were ramps coming down from higher levels and connecting into their own gaps in the hedge. These must have been the pathways from the other floors of the car park. It was an awesome feat of engineering, or was it? Nick then had to ask whether or not the Complex was man made. Parts of it felt pretty mundane, but others were impossible to understand. Who could have made something like this?
“Jesus, what the hell is this?” Henry asked.
“This is one of the three floors that has ramps that connect the car park to the Parklands. Right now, it’s a place we want to get through as quickly as possible.” Paige said, still sulky.
Conversation wasn’t the group's forte right now, so nobody made any comments and just kept walking. The group once again had no trouble with crowds, people here were even quicker to move out of the way of Paige, the sullen expression on her face likely doing a lot of work. Everyone in the group took their time crossing the ramp though. Nick tilted his head back and looked up, it was a surreal sight to see these massive concrete structures reaching tens of metres out over empty space and ramping down to another giant structure. It was quite the awe inspiring sight, like some nightmare from the head of a brutalist architect.
Once the group made it to the top of the ramp, they were met with a surprising yet refreshing sight. Manicured turf, stretching for hundreds of metres. They group found themselves in a garden of sorts. There were flower beds spread across the area, huddles of perfectly trimmed trees and Nick could even spot some fountains in the distance. This was a paradise. Nick reached down and touched the grass, feeling the sensation through his fingers. Wow, he didn’t realise how badly he had missed this over the last week. All he was missing now was a light breeze and some warm sunlight.
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Nick frowned as he realised that there was no wind. Nick had no idea where wind actually came from, but he was outside, so where was the wind? His desire for a bit of warm sunlight he could understand being denied, there was no sun here. But where was the damn wind? Wait, were those two things linked? Nick needed to find someone who knew answers to that kind of stuff. For now he just threw it to the back of his mind, he had grass to touch, things were good.
“This place is gorgeous, who maintains all this stuff?” Lily asked.
“The Gardeners.” Abigail chimed in.
“The Gardeners? Is there really a faction dedicated just to keeping this place together? Actually that sounds great, can I join?” Lily laughed.
“Well no, though you wouldn’t be first in line if they were hiring. Do you know about the Cleaners in the hotel?” Rina asked, getting a nod from Lily. “The Gardeners are similar. They’re humanoid monsters that just maintain this place. As long as you don’t bother them or mess up the garden, then you’re safe.”
“And that’s why we need to get a move on.” Paige interrupted.
Nick was doing a lot of mental puzzle solving today, he quickly pieced together a few conversations and reached a troubling conclusion.
“Is Reggie going to make a mess of this place?” Nick asked.
“Nick, I think ‘make a mess’ is the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard. We need to get into Parklands proper ASAP.” Paige said. “So let’s get back to moving.”
The group couldn’t argue with that, so they stopped gawking over the plants and got back to moving at a hastier pace. The knowledge that trouble was coming was a pretty good motivation to increase their pace. That didn’t mean they had to stop taking in the sights though. The group passed by open stretches of perfect lawn and flower beds filled with vibrant flowers. It was an absolute feast for the eyes, a much needed break from the tacky cream and gold of the hotel and the grey of the car park.
The longer he spent here, the less Nick wanted to go back to the hotel. Being outside just felt better, the openness, the greenery. The thought of walking through those endless hallways was absolutely revolting to him. No wonder Frank and his team were so excited to head home, the Parklands were great. That’s when Nick looked to the distance and spotted something incredibly unexpected.
“Are those bloody mountains?!” He exclaimed
“Yeah? There are plenty of them out there.” Rina said.
“Sorry? Plenty? How big is this place?” Nick asked, shocked.
“It takes a solid day of walking to make it to the other end of the Parklands.” Rina said with a shrug.
Nick’s mind was blown. He thought the car park was massive, now he’d found out the Parklands were absolutely monstrous in size. Nick didn’t consider the hotel in this debate though, that place was nonsensical and he wouldn’t be surprised if that hellscape simply just kept stretching out to infinity. Though that did raise a question in his mind.
“Does anyone know the deepest someone has been into the hotel?” He posed to the group.
“I can’t say I’ve ever been that deep…” Maddy answered. “The 72nd Roamers rarely went deeper than the closest hub rooms.”
“There’s a Shaman on the forum who claims to have just been walking deeper and deeper over the last decade.” Abigail said, earning the attention of everyone. “Yeah, apparently he just got up and decided to find out if there was an end to it back back in 2011. He’s been walking ever since, living off what the hotel provides. Apparently. No one has ever met him but he certainly hasn’t been seen since 2011.”
“That’s a commitment right there. What floor is he on?” Nick asked.
“I think he’s actually just lost at this point. It was the 70th floor.” Abigail laughed.
“Ten years of walking is a lot of walking. He could be anywhere.” Henry said in wonder.
“Can I tell them?” Rina asked, poking Paige in the side with clear excitement on her face.
Paige sighed. “Sure Rina. You can tell them. Pretty sure it got out not long ago anyway.”
“Okay so.” Rina started, turning back to the group. “The Executioners set up an expedition a couple years back to try and find the limits of the hotel. The basic principle at the start was to just follow one of the walls to the left or right of the entrance doors, because we just assumed those walls would be consistent.”
“Like picking a wall in a maze?” Maddy asked.
“Yeah, like that. Well it quickly went out of the window when they found that some floors literally just overlapped spaces with the car park. They even found rooms that logically should have looped right back into the entrance itself.” Rina excitedly explained.
Nick suddenly felt a headache begin to set in. He brought up his own map to check the floors he’d been on. From what he’d mapped out, both the 72nd and 75th floors seemed to follow the expected logic. The wall that was facing the car park stayed consistent, no rooms breaking that solid line. Nick noticed something odd on the 71st floor though. He had to zoom it out a bit, but once he got sufficiently far enough away from the dining room things got crazier. There were rooms and hallways that should have been hanging into the car park.
Nick’s head spun for a moment, sending him down to the floor. His headache was pounding at this point.
“Nick!” A few voices cried out.
Nick was hoisted back up by small but strong hands. Nick had experienced something like this before but not to this degree, he knew that he had to clear his head. Nick focused on his breathing and tried to empty his mind of all map, space and paradox related content. It took a while but Nick was eventually able to get a solid grip back on things. When he looked around he saw a whole host of concerned faces.
“What have you done to him?” Accused Abigail.
Nick could see the hostility in the eyes of Abigail, Maddy and Lily. Wow, whatever Abby had told the group really was quite the serious topic. It made Nick slightly concerned for his own safety but he knew that it wasn’t anything Paige-related that had caused this. Paige frowned and looked like she was about to say something but Nick interrupted her.
“It’s got nothing to do with Paige. It’s because of my class. Or I think it is. My brain seems to really not like spaces that don’t make logical sense. I opened up my map and confirmed what Rina was saying and it messed me up.”
“Ah I’ve heard the Hogs complain about that kinda stuff. It was them that made up most members of the expedition, apparently they could barely even map it out. They had to bring in people from other classes.” Rina said.
“Well, that’s not any less concerning.” Lily said.
“That’s why I want to talk to other Explorers, I’d rather not constantly react like this. Hopefully they’ve worked something out.” Nick replied.
“Well not long to go! Then I’ll be able to introduce you to everyone.” Paige said with a wide smile that warmed Nick’s heart.
She also hadn’t let go of him since she helped him up. She grabbed his arm and gave it a squeeze. Nick looked at the woman and his heart sped up a little.
“Whore.” Abigail spat.
Nick’s silly smile crumbled. Goddamnit.