2067.
October 27th, 1:30AM.
Silence, except for three sounds:
There's a fire that illuminates the area.
There's a waterfall and a small lake that feeds the waterfall of its own water.
There's Alister, pacing back and forth, losing his marbles over everything that transpired and the lack of clarity over their fate.
"How. How does this even work??" Bluntly asks a recovering Alister while pointing at the waterfall. "Got any explanation for this magic crap?"
"There are a dozen holes at the bottom of that lake. It all connects through tunnels that sends the water back to the start of the waterfall. That's why you can see the veins glow upward on this section of the walls." Explains the androind. "Good enough explanation?"
"No. Why veins? As in, why are the walls of this place full of fucking veins??"
She stares at him with her mouth shut. He gets startled enough to look at Riley's direction, who's sitting down, his hands on his forehead, unwell. Alister's emotions are overwhelming. Eylventh is growling like a Chihuahua at its maker. Urth's corpse is in front of the doctor, rotting away slowly.
"Doc, between her nonsense and you not resurrecting Urth who, let's be honest, SAVED OUR ASSES, I don't know which boggles my mind more!"
Alister waits a for the scientist to respond.
Nada.
The assassin walks towards Riley and grabs him by the left arm, almost dragging him like a doll.
"DO SOMETHING! START CRYING, ASSHOLE!"
Eylventh roars in agreement. Riley doesn't bother looking at his flying rascal. Amy, expressionless, now crosses her arms.
"I refuse." States the doctor.
"Excuse me?? Since when did I ask for your permission?
"You are going to need it, Alister."
"I DON'T! AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, AMY WOULD HAVE KILLED US IF IT WASN'T FOR URTH! DON'T BE FUCKING DENSE WITH ME!"
"I am tired, so tired of everything, just like you. I would love for a happy ending, that none of this had occurred to begin with, believe me. There was even a point where I considered you killing me here to be the best choice!
"Maybe it is!" Drops the assassin coldly. "So if you don't want to die-!"
"I TORTURED THESE CHILDREN!" Riley gets up and looks at Alister dead in the eyes. "I stripped them of their lives and forced them into bodies that are beneath humanity, enslaved them to do what I say, and brought them here to their death! I'm not asking for your salvation! Do me now if you want! You too Florence if it makes you feel better! Go at it! Let's end Riley J. Smith, NOW!"
Riley J. Smith opens his arms in complete surrender. Everyone looks at his direction, bewildered. Alister doesn't know what to say. When the doctor sees that nothing is going to happen, he finishes the remainder of his speech.
"But, mon dieu let the dead rest! Melvin, Terrence, they have seen enough of this madness. They are dead, and it should stay that way! Only Florence is here, and it's up to you to carry the will of your friends."
When Riley finishes his speech, he points to Eylventh. The crocodile doesn't know whether to keep up the act or start yelping. She only wanted to help her father move out to Vancarther. She only wanted to live her life. She can't go back, not in that state. She is stuck with following these sickening people.
Alister, too frustrated to show his compassion, lets the arm go and backs off. He facepalms. How did this all happen? How could he bond with his target that way? They say curiosity kills the cat, and that curiosity led him to whatever is the infamous Bottomless Pit. It is bottomless. It is a nightmare. He is even more overwhelmed than just a few minutes ago.
"For once... A wise decision was made, doctor." States Amy.
"Who asked you?" The disdain on Alister's face is palpable. Amy remains unreadable, which brings the anger out of the hunter.
"Even if Riley J. Smith would have catered to your orders, who says that Urth wouldn't have become another crisis to handle for us. Even I am beginning to reach my limits."
Alister scoffs.
"Ah, 'even I'. The audacity in this bitch! You owe us some actual answers instead of all this crap, by the way!"
"I owe you nothing." Amy retorts. Even with the poker face, there is an air of defiance in her words.
"Is that so now!?" Asks Alister.
"Of course. You lot should have perished, like everyone else. It would have been that way if your powers weren't so special."
"Wow, I can run super-fast! That's got to be special! If you're that keen on having no visitors, then block the entrance yourself!"
"There are limits to my powers, even with my suit."
"BULLSHIT!" Screams the assassin. Insatiable. Amy's willingness to remain distant and unthreatening is turning fickle the more this back-n-forth advances.
"You have no idea of the gravity of the situation. Outsiders stepping in the Bottomless Pit is something none of you should be authorized to do. I have a hard time believing your diplomats cannot restrict the area, let alone stop dumping your foolish people near that zone."
"Well, something could have been done if you didn't kill our leader now, didn't you!?"
Now Amy shows proper frustration.
"Ah! Oops! Did I make the princess mad??" Mocks Alister.
She teleports in front of the hunter, now but a few centimeters of distance remaining between both. She is a head taller than him, a solid 6 foot 5. Her presence towers above the assassin.
"-You keep speaking of that father of yours like his ideology is set in stone, the only man who could have possibly made a difference."
"He is." Responds the hunter with confidence.
"I have no data on him."
The hamster in Riley's wheel begins to turn when he hears this.
"The second someone enters the pit…" Interjects Riley, to the dismay of Alister.
"Oh Riley shut your mouth-!
"You can gather all sorts of data about a person, correct? That's what these pillars at the edge serve for, like giant antennas??"
Amy's eyes widen again. Alister deduces that the doctor's theory is correct.
"You are too smart for your own good, Scientist.
"You are not the first lady to tell me that."
She scoffs at what Riley says, as if she genuinely found what he said funny. The construction of her face trembles, with a few lights randomly flashing on her body. Her facial features start to move at a far more human pace, as her eyes spark in a misty purple.
"The fuck is funny about any-??"
She places the tip of her giant index finger on the mouth of Alister. Her personality shifted, showing a subtle, but recognizable cocky attitude.
"If I don't have any data on your daddy, Ali, that means two things."
The shift in her language trips the assassin off. She gets closer to his face and whispers in his hear:
"Either he's a coward and gave up, or he was too pathetic to even step inside, before dying."
Without an ounce of hesitation, Alister backs of and performs a spinning back kick that she blocks with her giant left hand. She tries to crush his leg. Panicking, Alister uses his lightning abilities to dash out of harm's way before that can happen.
Both Riley and Eylventh stays on guard. The situation escaladed again.
"My father rescued citizens down on their luck, and he brought legitimacy back to a country that was left decrated, annihilated! My father is a symbol of hope for mankind, a symbol of true justice and honor! Bet your father was a real fuck up by comparison, wasn't he!?" Shouts the hunter, furious.
Zephyr is getting up and listening to the back and forth as well. Amy's eyes shift colors at random, as cockiness turns into confusion, then fear.
"I don't know what you did hunter, but this shouldn't be happening." Let's out Amy.
"Seems like I broke the machine, huh? Poor little Amy. That's what happens when you have a shitty dad. For once we can relate."
"This-This is far from relatable."
The arrogance shifts from one enemy to the next. Alister revels in the idea that mentioning parental figure sends this hunk of metal in disarray. Amy takes a few steps backwards. Seeing the brutal woman walk away with terror in her eyes takes the young blacksmith by surprise.
Amy is distracted when she sees Zephyr wake up. Their eyes meet.
"Who knows. Ask Amy."
That sentence returns to haunt Zephyr once again.
Amy's pupils turn white in an instant, strange sound emanates from her body as she twitches. Alister gets in position to attack. Everyone else is on the defensive. She comes back to her senses. She has that look of sudden panic.
"Yeah, it's time I finish you off!" Growls the hunter before going to pierce her neck.
"Your father's killer is right behind you!"
Amy throws that statement in the wild, almost screaming it, in the hopes to divert the attention away from her. This move was, compared to previous decisions made by her, not calculated. There sits briefly a sense of shame on her face for resorting to such a tactic. Alister stops dead on his track, his katana only a centimeter away from her throat.
The diversion works.
Too perfectly.
The assassin turns towards Zephyr. Their eyes meet. Zephyr lets an audible gasp. He can't compose himself.
Silence, except for the fire and the waterfall.
It takes a dozen seconds for Alister's mouth to shake, slowly walking towards Zephyr. He looks as if an eldritch god had appeared in front of him.
His hand is quaking in confusion, unknowing whether he should keep the blade in his hands or not. It's Zephyr after all. Sure, she has data about the three of them, there is evidence she's the one controlling this place to some degree, so what she says means truth…
"That-That's garbage. You whore, you're just… You are creating lies to… Yeah that's what it is! It's a lie spewed out there because you were mad, right? Right!?" Alister laughs in denial. Amy's body structure helps dissimulates the pity she feels.
Zephyr stands still.
He somehow remembers the bizarre words of the old man in his dream. Purpose. This purpose...
It can't have something to do with the predicament at hand. But overcoming the odds is one thing Zephyr has been good at, if anything. He's never been that great of a blacksmith anyway. He knows the basics, but by the time he was considered of age to learn anything, all the shops were emptied. He had started a year before his father's death.
He didn't believe he was a proper blacksmith, but the title was passed down from father to son, so he is doing his best with what he learned. Unlike his father, who was both proficient in combat and in forging weapons, Zephyr lacks the experience and is admittedly sloppy in both.
If he was able to stand up to Alister before, it was obviously because of the leg injury. Yes, the young boy can explode now, but Alister is in top shape and could probably cut him as we speak.
That must be it, right? Sure, it sounds like a narrative the boy threw in to calm down the trauma, but it must be true.
Zephyr grimaces as a form of self-loathing. He clenches his fists, then his teeth.
"I… Wish she was lying too… If it makes you feel better…"
A nonsense response.
Objectively, Zephyr was never good with communication.
Riley looks at the boy, astounded, and not in a good way.
The hunter dropping the blade on the ground, looking at the young man, as he falls on his knees and let's go, softly speaking as tears starts falling on the ground.
This sight hurts Zephyr. It's not the assassin he betrays, but the image of the older brother-like figure he decorated in his consciousness. Alister was on such a high pedestal. They had a lot in common. They still have a lot in common. Zephyr is still too inexperienced to see that this is like how he himself reacted back at the surface.
"Why... Why... Why did you... Why did you do this... I...??"
Alister is broken.
"Jeez... I-Your father, Nathaniel... He came up and claimed he wanted to leave for the pit. My father retaliated, claimed that he was the guardian, that he wouldn't let people get passed him and he had to kill him...
"Why… Why did…??"
"I… Don't know I… Just followed what my dad did."
Alister listens and shuts his mouth, absorbed by what Zephyr Yundath has to say.
"This wasn't the first rodeo apparently. It was just the first time my father fell on a guy that strong whilst in my presence. And so, they fought, and they fought… And they fought. I don't remember what exactly happened in the middle but I… I thought in instinct, picked my father's dagger, jumped on Nathaniel's back, and stabbed him behind the neck."
boy's life has been. He should have known. The rumors that Lathe Yundath was more than a blacksmith was just that, rumors. Most saw Lathe practice with a few blades, sparring with some people. Simple sparring, when viewed in the eyes of an amateur, is not enough to confirm if the Yundath had a combat genius in their bloodline. Zephyr's skillset, his tenacity, his strength, but also his loneliness, his environment, and the confusion of everything that happened in Gallows. Signs indicating that this boy had become a monster before jumping in the pit were apparent. Another detail the doctor had miscalculated when embarking on this trip. The more he hears the young man talk, the more he feels sympathy. The more he looks at Alister, the more he empathizes with the frustration, the denial.
Every word turns Zephyr's throat drier and drier.
Every word makes Alister more and more furious.
"... It kept happening. And people kept coming."
Zephyr doesn't break eye contact with the assassin. He can see that Alister is taken by a thirst to exact revenge. A point in common. This doesn't stop the necessity to let go of these words in the open air, to expose what has been lurking in his mind for the last few years of his life. Zephyr does not back down.
"I never killed a man before. This felt weird, like I could let a lot of pent-up anger from my past like this. And so, travelers who weren't sneaky enough to go past us would either leave as they heeded my father's warnings, or Lathe Yundath would pick that long sword and his dagger and go to town, until there was nothing left. I was more a claymore guy. Still am. I based my first ever custom weapon I forged on Nathaniel's blade. I felt just taking it would have been disrespectful.
A-anyway, we would force them out... Either from Gallows and the ruins, or from this life entirely. I have killed many people. It got worse when my father died. He was my anchor, the one man that could keep me in check and reassure me that I was doing the right thing. He fell to an illness. He died a normal death when everyone around me disappeared or died due to insanity. That hurt me. He was my only friend. Everything I believed was confirmed. I was going to be abandoned for the rest of my life.
And so I didn't give a shit. In between preparations to dive in the pit, I would grab that torch Blade and I would slay those who stepped in Gallows for... Whatever excuses. And I got some combat skills in the process, then I got better at forging weapons, then I learned how to duel wield, then I finished packing up my supplies and then... no need to tell you what happened next."
Zephyr stops talking.
Other than Amy who seems to acquire data on everyone's lies, their secrets, their truth, Riley J. Smith and Eylventh are left speechless, unable to communicate how appalling it is to hear from the boy's mouth.
The young blacksmith, realizing what he has done, sweating profusely, gets in position for a fight.
Alister is filled with such a rage, his whole body is running on that thirst for revenge. Riley can sense the assassin's going to do something he regrets and stands on his feet, reaching for him with his left arm.
"Alister... I know what you are thinking. Do NOT do this!"
Alister grabs the blade and dashes towards Zephyr. The prodigy child dodged at the last second, getting his leg scrapped by the blade. Alister tries using the super speed, but he hasn't fully recovered yet. His speed doesn't increase like he wants to, piercing the stone wall instead and breaking the katana in half. This faulty assault only brings more animosity out of him, as he charges back and swings at Zephyr with the broken weapon. The bruise on the boy's leg is deep enough that stepping on it jolts Zephyr with pain.
"I trusted you! I sheltered you! I was nice enough to give you a FUCKING WAY OUT! YOU… WHY WOULD YOU!? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?" Alister shouts, cries. The image of the somewhat dumb but amicable little brother has been crushed.
"I'm the reaper of Gallows." Simply responds Zephyr.
"IS IT YOU OR THAT DIPSHIT OF A FATHER WHO FORCED THAT TITLE IN YOUR SKULL!?"
Amy can see from her distance, that Zephyr plans on pushing the hunter back by blowing up straight to his face. She doesn't hesitate:
Her left arm starts to glow a light blue that reaches from her shoulder to her giant hand. Riley can hear the noise of stuff unlocking under it. It then propels itself towards Alister's direction, palm wide open and slamming the assassin down on the stone barrier, leaving a small crater. The palm then closes itself onto the hunter, trapping him as the weight of the giant hand makes him collapse on the floor.
What is under Amy's mechanization is another robotic arm, although the proportions resemble far more those of a human being.
"L-Let me go, you son of a bitch!! I'm gonna kill all of you!!" Yells the assassin, enraged yet unable to free himself from that prison.
"Sorry, Alister. I'm sure feeding you the child would be a nice gift. However, I need him alive as much as I need you and the doctor. Until you can learn to tolerate, the hand will do the trick." Responds Amy.
"You WHORE! Once I get back all of my powers, believe me I WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS!"
"The hand feeds on the energy of the person it bonds to. It will strive on your energy no matter how much you release it, so unless you want to die of starvation, you should relax."
"What!? What kind... Of ridiculous tech... Is this!?" Screams the assassin as he desperately tries to fight his way out of the hand.
"You can thank my creator for that."
She goes back to the emotionless poker face she was sporting before the chaos ensued and sits down comfortably nearby the lake.
"I have a report to do. Until then, don't make too much of a mess.
Eylventh starts growling at her, but Amy ignores the flying crocodile.
"Amy, do you have a shovel to give me?" Asks Riley.
"For what purpose?"
The scientist points at Urth's corpse. He obviously wants to bury the bullfrog.
"Sadly, I don't. The waterfall's energy calms the spirit of the dead. It also absorbs the smell."
Riley gives a look of denial, but she ignores this as well.
Zephyr and Alister watch as the scientist lay the corpse of Urth with hesitation inside of the lake near the waterfall, all while Eylventh tries in one last act of retaliation to go and bite his head off. Amy stops it, catching the crocodile with her normal sized hand and holding it tightly close to her chest, as the creature yelps towards the doctor.
"Enough child. It's for the boy's good." She whispers to the crocodile. Eylventh refuses to buy it and keeps trying to fight, roaring at Zephyr's direction to do something. Urth was close to the young blacksmith, so him not doing anything is only adding insult to injury.
Zephyr breathes in heavily.
Zephyr falls on the floor.
He's ready for a nap right about now.
Everyone is ready for a nap.
#
Around an hour and a half has gone by.
The young blacksmith has a hard time sleeping.
Amy can pretend to sleep by closing her eyes, but when she floats above the lake while moving her mouth as if chanting a dark ritual, it becomes harder to believe she's not awake.
Riley J. Smith isn't asleep, checking the condition of his legs and noting things down on his tiny notebook. Zephyr can't discern what is being written. At this point it matters not.
Alister is still stuck in the hand, crying to himself. He's trying to shuffle the pain inside. He his failing. Zephyr wishes in that moment that he could have found another way to say his piece. No matter how he said it, the results would have been too alike to necessitate the bothering.
Zephyr doesn't know what to do other than get up and walk towards the scientist.
"Riley."
"Yes, Zephyr?"
The scientist seeming friendly reassures the young man.
"I… Is it possible to rip some pages out of that notebook so I could, you know, just… write what's some stuff?"
"No need for that." Says Riley.
The doctor struggles to get another notebook as well as a pencil out of his pocket.
"Right. Of course you'd have another one.
"It's very similar, so don't you lose it. I might find it and see what you write on that...You know what, that joke is going too far, I'm sorry."
"Yeah, please don't... B-but thank you. It's appreciated."
At this stage of their journey, under a barrier made of stone, it is hard to wonder what could have been. The boy's intuition tells him that the finish line is closer than he could think. Just a week to traverse thousands upon thousands of feet down. A callous adventure, filled with meltdowns, drama, dread, and moving through all those shenanigans. This is the perfect time to encapsulate everything.
Awkward, the boy comes back to his initial position…
And starts to write.