There are certain moments in a being's life that are burned so forcefully into their minds that they go on to remember them for the entirety of their existence. For some, those moments are plentiful, but even for the downtrodden and unfortunate, they still tend to have at least a few.
For me, entering Pearl City's Under City for the first time was one of them.
The journey around the island first began by squeezing through a narrow passageway of tall rocks to a surprise opening with a giant hole in the middle.
"Bran," I said, a little uncertain. "We're not… going to jump down there, right?"
"We're going down there, but not by jumping," you replied. "Tell me what you see."
"What I see?" I looked at the hole. "I see a big hole in the ground." I leaned a little out. "It's very deep."
"Interesting."
"How's that interesting?" I paused. "What do you see?"
"Try not looking at it directly. Try…" You looked around. "See that triangle bit of rock over there? The one just below that branch."
I looked where you pointed. "Yeah."
"Look at that instead then pay attention to your peripheral vision."
I did as I was told and was rewarded with a dizzying sea of flying sparks arcing up from the giant hole then disappearing as they went into the centre of my vision.
"There's a big spell here!"
You grinned then held out your hand to me. "Here."
"You're not… going to…" I pointed at the hole.
"Do you trust me?"
I took your hand.
And as I expected, you took a step toward and into the hole. Except it wasn't really into the hole because your feet didn't sink at all and instead hovered at just the same level as the ground. I gently tugged me forward and I stepped out as well and discovered that there was still solid ground beneath our feet.
"An invisibility spell?"
"A powerful one too."
I had to agree. Even though I knew now that the spell was there, the thing still resisted my direct gaze and disappeared whenever I tried to look at it straight on.
"Alright. Now what?" I asked, looking down. A wave of adrenaline went up my spine as my eyes told my brain that I was floating in the air.
"Now we go down."
And, just like magic, the invisible platform beneath us dropped. Not quickly, mind you, but smoothly and methodically, more like an elevator in a fancy building actually.
I laughed as our heads dropped below ground level, and you took my other hand as we dropped into darkness. Or at least it would have been darkness if my dragon-y eyes let me see so well in the dark.
"Now what?" I asked in an excited whisper.
"Now we wait and see."
Down and down and down we dropped, down far further than I thought should be possible, or at least, that I thought possible with normal human technology. Or maybe I just don't read enough engineering or science magazines.
Eventually, even my eyes ceased to be able to see anything, and I couldn't help gripping your hands a little tighter. You gave mine a little squeeze in response.
And that's when the blue orbs of light began to float up between our feet. They were small at first, just tiny little firefly-sized things, but they soon grew in size until they lit us both in a warm blue glow.
The smaller pricks of light formed symbols beneath our feet that got brighter and brighter the further we went down.
"Almost there," you said.
And then we arrived.
I heard the city before I saw it and when the platform finally came to a stop, I turned and gasped as the lights washed over us.
Massive. Colossal. Gigantic. I don't know how many other words I can use to describe just how big the place was. And it wasn't just because we were underground that the place seemed bit - even if we had been above ground, I still think it would have looked enormous with its buildings stacked atop buildings and towers threading up between them.
There were walkways as thin as spider's web crisscrossing across the place that glinted in the myriads of lights.
There were the usual neon billboards advertising different shops and products, but they paled in comparison to the large globe of light that hung high above the whole underground city, like a little sun. The thing was so bright that it made the place seem like it was late afternoon.
"Cool?" you asked beside me. There was pride in your voice, and I thought it was well deserved.
"Yeah," I breathed. You'd think that a city under the ground would smell funny, maybe musty or something, but it didn't at all. If anything, it smelled better than the more polluted parts of Central or London. "Where to now?"
You walked forward, still holding my hand. This excited me almost as much as the city and I hastened to keep up and keep our hands connected.
"There are a few places I want to go to, but the main one is the bank. If anything interests you, just tell me and we can look."
"Alright!"
And so, we headed down the well-worn rocks toward the city. As we neared, I realised that this massive cave we were in stretched down far deeper than I thought and was filled with water. The whole city was in fact floating city on stilts in the middle of a massive underground lake.
You told me that historically it had been called the 'Ghost City' but that, under the Pretan, the name hadn't inspired confidence in the establishment, so they renamed it to something less intimidating. Technically, the name in Cantonese had also been changed to 'the under city' or 'the city underneath' but it sounded too similar to 'hell' or the 'underworld' so the locals continued to just call it the Ghost City.
Ghosts can be dealt with enough guile and cunning. Hell, on the other hand, is a much tougher customer.
We came to the edge of the water where a small group of other people had begun to gather near a tall post hammered into the ground. As I was wondering what we were here for, a small boat drifted up to us with a man standing on it with a long rod. I recognised him.
"Isn't he…?" I began to Bran.
You gave a little wave, and the man pushed up his pirate hat and gave a laugh. "Long time no see, Little Raven!"
--
The primary bank of the Under City was the East Uncanny Bank of Asia. Under the Pretan, it had been the only bank in the city though now it had fierce competition. There were even rumours that its parent Pretan bank was thinking about spinning the EUBA off into its own Pearl City headed outfit.
When asked, Bran explained that the general term that was used in English for all this supernatural and paranormal and magical stuff was 'uncanny', though people still used words like 'magic' or 'supernatural' and the like.
"Just like Uncanny Currencies," Bran went on. "That's the umbrella term for all the different forms of value that pop up from prayer or belief or gratitude and so on."
"What are human currencies called?" Misha asked.
"Mundane Currency."
The pair were standing in the main lobby of the aforementioned bank trying to not pay attention to the length of the queue in front of them. Even after taking into account the breadth of a few ogre-type creatures and one rather long snake, it was still painfully obvious that it would be a while before they'd reach the counter.
"What about in Chinese?" Misha asked. "If all this is called 'Uncanny', then…?"
"Uh, it's a bit more complicated in Chinese," replied Bran. "There are lots of words for things that just don't exist in English, for one thing. And for the other… Well, I suppose you could say the equivalent for 'uncanny' would be the jianghu or gong-wu."
"Wait… jianghu sounds familiar…"
"Ah, you read martial arts novels then?"
"More like I play martial arts games," Misha replied with an embarrassed laugh. "Doesn't jianghu refer to the martial arts world or pugilist world something?"
"It does," replied Bran. "And in modern times, among mundane people, it's either a joke about going out into the real world, or it's used to refer to the criminal underworld."
"Oh."
"Which is why it's used to refer to the world of demons and gods. If someone overhears you, they'll really just think you're talking about gangsters."
"Ohh, that's quite smart then."
"It is."
The pair stepped forward in the line.
"Just like the South Sea Department," said Misha. "The name makes it sound like some shipping regulator or something."
Bran chuckled. "You're not wrong.
The line moved forward again. And after another few stop-start conversations, the pair finally ended up at the front of the line.
The girl at the counter finished whatever paperwork she had to do for the previous customer then called them forward.
"Ha go wai. Next please."