Chapter 60
The two men crept out of the dark alleyway as if they were mice in a larder. Helsket carried his pack and Metrike, while Mikel came behind with his ruck and armor situated on his back. He’d briefly considered donning the leather armor but disregarded the idea. If they had a chance to stop again before they moved he would do it, but at the moment they didn’t have time. Just the idea of whatever had spooked Helsket was enough to send a ripple of fear down his spine.
It didn’t help that The Dread was back coursing through him like a rhythmic dance of terror. The only difference between this sensation and what he felt in the library in the Market of Dreams was the inconsistency. While The Dread in the library had only existed in certain places within the labyrinth of books and shelves, this sensation seemed to exist everywhere but only at certain times.
He could feel something below their feet vibrate and then The Dread would increase in pressure until it reached a level he felt was similar to what he’d experienced before, then it would taper off to something barely there as the vibration in the ground hummed to a stop.
If he wasn’t so exhausted already, he would have felt annoyed by it.
The last few hours had nearly killed Mikel… A few times over. He and Helsket had been ambushed by assassins, he’d been sucked into a strange void and had ultimately done something to tap into some of the power contained within The Callisto Jewel… He feared it might be Callisto herself, waking up only to abuse him and send him down a dark path.
The image of his sword sprouting from his father’s stomach didn’t help anything.
After several quiet minutes, Mikel tried to relax a bit. He was exhausted, but he still had to keep his wits about him. Helsket had been quiet about what to expect monster-wise in the ancient city, but Mikel knew better than to let his guard down.
They were in a dangerous spot, and there was no way out but forward.
Buildings stood on both sides of the road, starting with what looked to have been, at one time, market stalls, or living quarters for people of lower social castes. These changed as the road marched into the city, changing all at once from a moon-dust path to a cobbled street nearly thirty feet wide.
“This is… strange,” Mikel said, his voice barely audible over the whistling wind which had picked up a minute before, “it feels so still. And yet… It feels like people could suddenly appear and then all would be well.”
“This is a strange place,” Helsket said as he gazed around the tops of the lower buildings, searching for some danger he wouldn’t tell Mikel about, “As are all of the ruins of the Sunken Folk. It’s just how they are, I suppose.”
He shifted Metrike so the girl was draped more elegantly over his shoulder.
Mikel asked, “You've seen many of these ruins?”
“Enough.”
Mikel waited for further explanation but received none as the wind picked up and peppered their faces with stinging motes of sand and rock.
“Where are we staying? The night is here. You said we couldn’t get caught out,” Mikel said as he and Helsket continued hurrying into the dead city, the strange energy he’d felt upon passing the threshold of the ancient place growing more potent as they moved further in - The Dread growing and dying and growing again in turn. If he didn’t know what The Dread was, he would have probably lost his mind and screamed out of the ancient city. As it stood, he could handle the terror, but just.
“We need to find a safe house - like I told you earlier, it’s got a white lintel above the door,” Helsket said in a hush, “Last time I was through here… Twenty or so years ago there was one right up ahead. We’ll be safe for a bit inside, enough to rest at any rate, but we’ll post a watch for the night. If it isn’t assassins coming back for another whack… It’ll be other things in the dark.”
Mikel eyed the dark towers in front of him, a dozen spires reaching from the earth to brush the sky far above. As he traced the length upward, his stomach dropped away and he felt suddenly, very small.
He jumped as something… glittered, high up on the largest spire, nearly out of sight as the smoke and clouds wafted around the spire.
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“I just saw something, up there,” He said in a rush, pointing at a sharp angle, up into the sky, “It looked like a flame or a light - something shone up there.”
Helsket’s gaze was slow to follow, and when it did he took his time moving his head until after
a long moment, it settled on the spot Mikel had indicated.
Both waited, but nothing more sparkled from within the confines of the darkness that defined the tower.
“This is a strange place,” Helsket said, “Strange things happen here, for no other reason than it is a strange place.”
“But people live in the other ruins. Three-Way, to the East, is an example. I’ve never been of course, but apparently, there’s a library and a school there, dedicated to discovering more about the Sunken Folk. Some of the books I’ve read indicated the scholars found artifacts which hinted at -”
Helsket cut him off, “There’s a difference between this place and Three-Way.” His voice was thick and rough, “The ruins at Three-Way are long dead - there isn’t any life left in them. These ruins though… Whatever fel magic animated this city once and yet allows those spires to stand still thrums beneath this city. You can feel it in the soles of your feet even now - and as we get closer to the city center tomorrow, you’ll feel it more keenly.”
Mikel narrowed his eyes, wondering what sort of power could keep the towers in the city from falling to the earth like so many stone blocks. He thought back to the conversation about the fight with the Time Demon and how other planes had laws separate from their own. Maybe, just maybe, whatever held the towers aloft derived its power from one of those other planes.
And maybe it was connected to The Dread.
He wondered if the Time Demon even followed the rules of this world when all it was was but a shell encasing pure Essentia.
His mind shattered as The Dread began to creep up from his feet once again and Mikel began actively fighting the gorge back down.
It was as if the very ground were crawling. On thousands of tiny legs, the earth had begun to inch its way up his legs and with every inch taken over by the sensation, his flesh began to echo the rhythm and pitch of the pulsing march below them.
“Can we… walk through tonight and get to the other side?” The prospect of spending a night so close to the city suddenly seemed… unwise to Mikel. “Philander and Achos are still out there, hunting us. We can hole up, sure, but what’s stopping them from coming and finding us, and killing us in our sleep? Can’t we run through?”
Helsket shook his head, “No. It’s not a good idea to go into the cities which are still alive at night. The feeling from the earth is stronger, and as I said, strange things happen here. More so once the sun falls behind the horizon. You don’t know the danger we’re in right now - but we’re being as foolish as a lamb in a lion's den walking around like this. All it would take is one bad run of luck and all three of us would be monster chow.
“Then let’s hurry and find the safe house. I’m not about waiting here in the street.”
The pair hurried their pace until they were well beyond the ruined wall that surrounded the ancient city and in deep enough that Mikel knew there was no turning back. The feeling rising off the ground was terrible but manageable. He suddenly smiled as a strange thought shot through his mind.
He hoped Achos and Philander weren’t so well informed - let them suffer The Dread and see how they fared.
Helsket pointed ahead at a small, ill-kept building just past a major crossroads.
“There - I’ve stayed in that one before. It’s a popular place for travelers overnighting this place.” The house was made of the same rough, gray stone as the rest of this section of the city.
It was two stories tall, with a single empty, black window and matching door on the bottom floor and two windows on the second floor above, all pointing into the central street which led to the heart of the ancient city, through the walls which guarded the well-appointed inner sections leading to the bases of the soaring towers.
A white stripe was painted on the lintel above the door.
“Why that one? Wouldn’t it be better to stay further away from the city - in one of these?” He pointed to the few, broken down buildings behind them.. “I’d risk the assassins finding us. This feeling…It’s awful. I’ve felt it before, but this is just awful.”
The vibration in the ground paused and The Dread backed off just enough for Mikel to breathe for a moment in peace. He hadn’t realized how tight his stomach had gotten until the sensation pulled away.
“No. We’re this close - we’re going to be safer tonight if we can rest there. Trust me - I've tried to stay in other places here on my way through. I often try to avoid camping in this place and break my trips up so that I travel through precisely at midday, but there are always times that aren't possible. It’s that house or none other. You also need to see what you’re up against. That house is the best spot to view the carnage of the night without being part of it. There’s a reason I wanted to come through when we did. You’ve seen some tough things in the last few days - but not enough, not yet.”
The last sentence chilled Mikel through. Hadn’t Helsket just told him there wasn’t any danger?
“Well I choose none, then,” Mikel said, his voice rising in pitch. The crawling sensation had reached his balls and at the first suggestion of the strange vibration, they’d jumped into his stomach, “Let’s go back a ways, if nothing more. You said yourself we can come through midday - why don’t we do that instead? We can rest longer and we’ll be fresher for the rest of the hike tomorrow. Maybe we can interrogate Metrike. She might have information about Achos and Philander we can use… I want to ask her why in the hel Achos looks like The Time Demon.”
“You said so yourself, we don’t have all the time in the world. Your pa’ is deteriorating daily - this is the fastest route. And we’ll be fine tonight as long as we stay in that house,” He pointed again and began walking towards the building. Helsket’s knuckles shown white where he held the mace’s handle, the other hand fastened around Metrike’s middle to keep her in place.
A scream echoed from somewhere within the city ahead and Mikel froze as the dread crawled up to his chest as the vibration underground began to seethe with new life.
He gritted his teeth and groaned - trying to master the sensation before it took him over.
Helsket was halfway to the building before he turned back and waved to Mikel who hadn’t moved. “C’mon. It’s safer in the house - trust me.”
Mikel did trust Helsket - however, making his feet move was proving nearly impossible. The crawling sensation arrested many of his body's autonomous functions and he feared what it might feel like once they walked deeper into the city.