Over the Sunken Realm – Part 2
You rise above the ocean waters from the depths of Down Below, and finally see the surface world. Just as you are about to sink back under, a hand plunges into the water...
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Check out Part 1 here:
You grab the stranger’s hand.
You are immediately pulled right out of the waters. As air flows in great gulps into your burning lungs, another tanned, knotted hand grabs your arm right above the elbow, and pulls you up.
Your head knocks against the smooth, curved side of the object you saw from below; your body slides across it as the stranger pulls you up – so hard you start to fear your elbow might dislocate. You stumble your way over the edge of what you now see is a sort of boat, and get a first look at your saviour – a tanned face streaked with wrinkles, with short hair and a dark beard sprinkled with white stubs. But his eyes are what hold your attention – they are green, piercing, shimmering with an eerie light…
You lose your footing and stumble; your knee scrapes against the harsh edge of the strange boat. Another hand grabs your other arm, and you step over, almost falling over the stranger. You sit down on the edge, and you both take a few breaths in.
The stranger seems pleased, and lays a firm hand over your shoulder. You only now realize how bronzed his skin is compared to your pale, almost translucent skin. Is this what it’s like to live on the surface, having your skin burned every single day by the blazing sunlight?
“Ih-hed vil-dúë?”
The stranger’s booming voice and odd guttural accent bring you back to reality. You must have seemed quite astonished, for a second later he speaks again, in your own language – though with a rolling, almost singing accent:
“Please accept my apologies, friend! Are you not a survivor of the Alarín?”
You shake your head.
“You have not seen her? It is a great ship, a paddle-wheel steamer of old Garral. Were you on another ship?”
Thought you only understood half of what he said, you shake your head again. A gust of wind makes you shiver.
The stranger appears perplexed, until his eyes open wide.
“You are from Down Below, yes?”
Down Below… So they do call it like that over the surface too.
“Yes,” you mutter. Your throat aches as the word passes through your windpipe. Your voice is unsteady, quivering, as if you had not spoken in years. Then again, as far as you remember, that may well be the case… Another gust of wind blows past; it’s surprising how cold it is up there, even in the sun. Your teeth begin to chatter.
“The All-High forgive me!” the stranger exclaims, before rushing to a sort of cabin behind him. This gives you time to look at the odd ship you found yourself on board of.
It appears to be constituted of three parts: the one you climbed in, about as wide as you are tall; it is rounded and oblong, made of some smooth, dark metallic substance. In the middle, where the stranger has just vanished, is a sort of rectangular cabin, on a lower level, accessible by a short ladder. And on the other side, another oblong compartment, just like the one you’re sitting in.
As the wind dries you, an itch spreads across your skin. You start to think you should dip back into the waters when the stranger climbs back up.
He tosses a great rugged towel towards you. You quickly wrap it around your shoulders, and begin to dry yourself up energetically, starting with your shoulders, arms, and head – you had not realized, until meeting your new companion, that you had no hair on your body.
The rough towel rashes against your bare skin, but the burning pain quickly vanishes. After a few seconds, you can bask in comfortable warmth, although your skin still feels itchy.
The stranger has been looking at you, a benign smile of sympathy floating on his face. “I am Andhal. How are you named?”
“I am – ”
You stop dead in your tracks. Your name is right on the tip of your tongue, but for some reason, you cannot remember it. You try and force yourself, but every memory from Down Below is as murky as ever. You shut your eyes, grit your teeth, knock yourself on the head, but nothing comes to your blurry mind.
Your breath quickens, and panic sends your heart racing madly. Why can you not remember your name? What is it that escapes you?
For a few seconds that feel like hours, you cannot think, or even breathe. Your head feels like it is gripped by a thousand prickling thorns of steel. You try to speak, but your throat is tightened. You try to breathe, your chest heaving with the effort, but your lungs are shut tight. Why can’t you remember your name?
Suddenly your body shakes violently – but not by its own accord. Andhal is right by your side, his hands shaking your shoulders, bringing you back to your senses.
“Be calm,” he whispers, “you are safe. Stay with me. Stay in the now. You are not lost anymore. Breathe with me. Breathe in – breathe out. Again.”
Slowly, steadily, you come back to your senses. Each breath you take in freshens up your aching brain. It takes a few minutes to bring yourself back to a state of relative calm.
“I met another person from Down Below, you know” Andhal says. “She was just as panicked as you are. She could not remember her name either. Perhaps you like to meet her, yes?”
You nod. At this point, anybody who shared your experience would be a blessing. Maybe this woman has had the time to understand your mutual predicament. At least there is hope.
Andhal smiles: “then I will take you to Lin Dâo. Come with me. And I will also bandage your leg.”
You notice how sticky your left knee feels under the towel: the blood has left a darkening stain. You try to pull it off, and grunt as it begins ripping off your skin.
“Leave it, I will do the necessary” Andhal says, as he motions you to the central place of the ship.
You carefully climb down the ladder, making sure not to step over the towel that covers you, and find yourself in a small confined room furnished with a chair in front before a great wheel, and two small benches behind. Its inner walls are layered with drawers and cupboards.
Andhal opens one, and produces some white bandage and a small bottle. Carefully, he empties it over the towel right over your knee.
. Sizzling pain rushes through your leg, but vanishes instantly. A few seconds later, he pulls it off cleanly and painlessly. A minute later, your leg is bandaged and as good as new.
“And now, we must leave – these waters are more dangerous than they look.”
You hardly believe it: you have not come across any creature as you swam your way up to the surface. What sort of danger could there possibly be? Regardless, you decide to trust your new companion, and sit down on the bench he points to.
Andhal sits on the chair in front of you, and pulls a lever. The entire ship comes alive with flickering lights, and a low hum fills the air, sending the entire hull quivering. You brace yourself, expecting the worst.
Andhal turns his head to you, and smiles: “hold on, Depth-Dweller!” And he pushes a button.
The floor falls from under your feet, and the two sides of the ship rise with a low, solemn humming. They rise and rise, as the hull you are sitting in goes deeper into the water, until the two sides meet, high above your head. A muffled clank, a sharp buzz, and you find yourself completely sealed in. The only light comes from the flashing buttons around you.
Then, with a bump and a low rumble, you feel the machine move forward, and downward. You feel utterly lost in the dark, and begin to doubt the intentions of your guide… until the light comes back.
All around you, the opaque walls of the strange ship become transparent: with an odd twinge of nostalgia, you recognize the half-light of the waters right below the surface. Its ebbing shades of turquoise and azure turn to marine blue and magenta as you sense the ship diving deeper and deeper into the sea. The waters are too opaque to see anything, but there does not seem to be any danger. When you ask Andhal about it, his answer is succinct:
“The beasts prefer the darkness of the deep. But they can swim up. I want no risk.”
And with that, he drove on, cleaving through the waters in a straight line, with the certainty that only decades of endlessly repeated travels can bring.
It took only a few minutes for a mass of rock to appear out of the murky waters, like a sheer stone wall, right in front of the ship. Andhal does not alter his trajectory. Before you can tell him to watch out, your body violently tilts back. You are moving up again, but in much darker waters than before.
“So there is a passage in the stone wall?” you ask
“Yes,” Andhal says. “It is where I live with my people.”
“Your people… Are there many of you?”
“It changes every day.”
“So many of them come every day?”
“And many others leave.”
His tone is so calm, almost cold, that you start feeling uneasy. As the ship swims on, expertly steered by Andhal’s firm hand, the light grows brighter and brighter, until it splashes up to the surface.
Shockingly, you find the walls have grown opaque again. Do they react this way when exposed to direct sunlight? Before you can observe the phenomenon, the two sides are once again separated, and light pours directly into the ship, dazzling you.
It takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust. When you can open them, you realize you are in a great cave with a very high ceiling.
“And this mountain is entirely below the sea?” you ask.
“Not all of it. It is part of a long chain of mountains that bordered the old realm of Garral, before the water rose. Its peak is the highest, and reaches right over the ocean. There is an opening there, which feeds this cave with fresh air.“
You take a deep breath: the air is stuffy, and salty. Not exactly what you would call “fresh”. But how astonishing it is to breathe underwater!
You can’t help but wonder if this was how you breathed during your time Down Below…
“Here, I will help you get down.”
Soon enough, your feet touch the harsh, moist rock that paves the floor of the cave. The sensation is eerie: it seems so uncomfortable to have something solid under your feet that you can’t help but feel dizzy. Andhal helps you to a rock so you can sit down.
“Stay here, I will see if Lin Dâo is home. It will not take long.”
And with that, your guide leaves, passing into a large tunnel on your right hand, lit only by luminescent red crystals. You look at him until he turns a corner and vanishes from sight.
Minutes pass, turn into hours – or at least what feels like hours. How could you even tell the time down here? There is no sun, only the strange shimmer of coloured crystals! By looking round, you notice that the red crystal tunnel is not the only one: behind you lies another tunnel, lit by smaller yellowish gems that emit a blaring, almost acidic light. And to your left, another passage that seems to go straight up, and from where you notice a soft white glow…
A bestial shriek tears through the air, echoing wildly across the cave. You cannot say for certain, but it seemed to have come from your right – the tunnel Andhal walked into…
A second shriek follows the first. It is louder this time, and accompanied by the frantic stamping of a thousand feet. Its echo is closer than ever now. You stand up on shaking legs, and try to distance yourself from the dreaded tunnel.
Then you see it.
It reminds you of a thousand half-forgotten images: crooked legs, creeping claws, toothless champing maws, lidless eyes like shimmering abysses, an unnaturally long, sinuous body, and the blaring colours that all beasts with eyes to see know mean “poison”.
The words Insect, Centipede, Snake and Scorpion all collide in your brain, but none of them fit the many-legged, bug-eyed slithering horror that seems to pour endlessly from the tunnel. Panic surges into your brain, and adrenaline shoots through your body.
You must run. But where?
Do you seek safety in the tunnel behind you, or try to escape in the ship?
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