《City on the Void》


 Chapter 1 - Waking and Drowning

    I woke with water smothering my lungs.


    I moved as fast as I could. I reached out in desperation for something, anything, solid to hold onto. My fingers hit something metal. I grasped further up the smooth surface.


    They failed to find something to grab onto. Fingernails scrambled against the surface, but there was nothing to grasp. I felt my back hit something hard beneath me. My lungs burned, and I tried to scream only for more water to flood in. I could barely see down here, but it was growing darker. Cold suffused me. I needed to get out of here now. How long had passed? A few seconds? Longer? I forced myself up, hands reaching for one last attempt.


    The flat surface ended, giving me something to grasp. I pulled, arms burning. A spot on the inside of my elbow felt like it had been stabbed. Feeling of ice cold ran through my ears, lip, nose. My head broke through the surface of the water. A weight felt like it was trying to pull me back in. I forced myself upright despite it, taking a breath as I did.


    For a few moments I could do nothing but coughing and sputtering. My lungs still burned from it. But the sweet sensation of taking a breath was there too. Shivering, I took another breath of it before falling into a fit again. My throat hurt as I hacked. Still shivering, I tried to get my bearings.


    I couldn¡¯t see in the darkness around me. I grasped around, bumping into the circular walls of smooth metal around me. There was a floor beneath me, and I was in a container of water. A tub, I thought, although it wasn¡¯t just me inside. Cold solid chunks of something floated around, occasionally bumping into me.


    I wanted out, whatever the material floating with me was. I pulled myself up, feeling more weight trying to draw me back in. Wet fabric tugged on me in a few different telling places. I was a woman? Of course, why would I even question that? I was¡­.


    What was my name? I froze, halfway out of the tub. What was my name?


    I didn¡¯t know. There was nothing there to answer that question, or other ones I could think of. Who was my family? Did I have a family? Did I have friends? A lover? Where was I born? When was I born? Did I even know what I looked like?


    My heart beat frantically in my chest. My lungs were burning again, as I breathed faster and faster. Don¡¯t panic. Think. What do you know? Some things, at least. Thinking hard: the year, the president of the US, and the entire plot of Hitchhiker¡¯s Guide to the Galaxy. Useless.


    I needed to move. Shivering, I stood up in the tub. The weight pulled down on me everywhere as water shed off me. Cold fabric coated every inch of me below the neck. A suit?? A pantsuit, I could feel. Something ran around my neck, strapped tight. I stepped out of the tub onto solid ground, wet feet squishing against soaked socks in waterlogged boots. It felt hard, a tile floor? Reaching down to check confirmed it was.


    I looked around, straining, and I saw a bit of light. A thin bar of it, much lower than me, barely there at all. Maybe a crack under a door. Whatever it was, it gave me a direction to go.


    I shivered once again as a gentle breeze suddenly hit me. Water-logged fabric touched my body as the wind blew. Was I outside? I hadn¡¯t felt wind before now at all. It died down swiftly, then a new breeze from the opposite direction.


    ¡°Soul-dead.¡±


    Faint, barely louder than the wind carrying it. But I knew what I had heard. My heart beat like a drum again. I turned towards where I had heard it from. Then another noise came from behind me. I whirled around, trying to face it. Something solid rammed into my knee and yelling I kicked it.


    Agony went straight through my toe. The tub. I had kicked the tub. Another whisper, this one next to my ear. My fist went through there a second later. Nothing. My hands fished around in the pockets of my pants as I tried to keep track of the whisper. They pulled out a thin rectangular box, a switchblade my mind told me a second later. Pain went through my index finger as I opened it. I¡¯d cut myself, my right hand spasming at the wrong time. That spot on the inside of the elbow still felt like a spike had been rammed into it.


    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± I¡¯d meant it as a demand but it came out a whimper. There was no response.


    The switchblade¡¯s handle pressed into my hand as I carefully moved a step away from the bathtub. I had no idea what was in here with me. But I wasn¡¯t going to let it kill me. Looking over the room, I found the bar of light again and start to move toward it.


    That was, of course, right when light burst into existence right in front of me.


    Tears filled my eyes immediately. It was like the sun had burst into existence right in front of me. The hard edge of the tub rammed the backs of my knees as I stumbled back. Weightlessness seized me for just a moment as I fell backward. Water flooded in, my eyes, my ears, and my mouth as it smothered my scream yet again. Furious and sputtering, I pulled myself up into a world now brightly lit. Angrily, I glared at the sun that had sent me back to the tub. It was a goddamn lightbulb.


    My lungs freshly burning, I spat out some water and got out of the tub again. My eyes still teared up as they adjusted to the light, but I could see around me now. Walls and a roof. I was inside a bathroom, and no one else was in here with me. Had I imagined the whisper? Maybe.


    The tub dominated half the room, then a toilet, a sink, and a mirror with a built-in medicine shelf. A single door where the bar of light had been. A handle that was styled like a loop of chain with no lock. The lightbulb hung on the end of a chain and no part of the room was hidden from its light. No place for anyone to hide. Pretty cramped as well. I didn¡¯t know how I had hit none of this when trying to punch that imaginary whisper.


    I turned my attention to the floor and saw green tile but also something else. A strange device, a tube with a needle sticking out of it, two metal half cylinders at an angle from the base of the needle, and a three-ringed plunger at the other end. The end of the needle had a touch of blood on it. Please let me not have amnesia because I overdosed on something.


    Pain burst through my right arm from the inside of the elbow again. Realizing what it could be, I unbuttoned the sleeve of the suit and rolled it back. Red stained the white shirt sleeve underneath, traced back to the inside of my elbow. Rolling that back, I could see a small hole there. A pinprick, no longer bleeding at least. Looks like my thoughts had been correct.


    Could a drug actually erase memories? I had no idea, but it was as good an explanation as any. I pocketed the contraption and turned my attention to the rest of the room.


    I went to the bathtub next, where there were chunks of ice floating in the water. What kind of sadist put ice in a bathtub- it¡¯s going to end up being me, isn¡¯t it? I thought resignedly. Went on a drug binge, loaded up a bathtub with ice, and climbed in when fully clothed.


    A disheveled fedora floated among the ice. I fished it out of the tub. Well, I already had enough water dripping through my hair that adding the fedora wouldn¡¯t hurt. Fit perfectly.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I went to the mirror next, hoping that knowing what I looked like would help unravel this all. Not in the best of conditions, with cracks running through it. The sink had grime all over it, especially in the layer of water at the bottom of it.


    I knew I was a woman physically, and rolling the idea around my head, identifying as one felt fine as well. Bending down to see my face in the mirror, I was a really tall one as well. That or the apartment was for people much smaller than me.


    I focused on my face first, which was-bluntly-harsh. Just the face itself, some angles, not much filling, narrow in width, and with somewhat sunken brown eyes. The amount of metal just made it look even harsher. Nose stud, lip ring far to one side, another ring through my right eyebrow, ones through my earlobes as well, and one through the top of an ear. Maybe I had been at a rave before this.


    My hair was probably another point for the rave theory. This had to be hair dye. Pink at the top transitioning through all the shades of violet and blue down to navy at the bottom. About chin-length and plastered to my skin from all the water.


    So, rave theory looked correct, but what kind of rave allowed someone in wearing a pinstriped suit and fedora that looked like I came off the set of a thirties gangster movie? Dressed in the wrong kind of clothes for a woman in those films? Then again gender-conforming rules on fashion were bullshit.


    Something flickered in the corner of my eye. I turned around in an instant, switchblade held in front of me. Nothing. But I knew something had moved across the door. I took a hesitant step forward. My leg came out from underneath me as I accidentally stepped on a wet patch. My free hand went to the sink to try and keep myself steady. Right into a layer of grimy water.


    Something was pressing into my hand in there, hard and small. Nothing showed up by the door as I got my feet back. I withdrew my hand, looking down to see whatever was in there. A few of the objects were still embedded in my hand. Small, white, and sold. Teeth.


    Whimpering, I shook the rest off before feeling inside my mouth. None of mine were missing from what I could tell. It was time to leave this bathroom.


    Hard tile met the sole of my boot as I strode towards the door. The light suddenly flickered halfway there, the bulb dimming before surging back to life. Don¡¯t you dare, I thought, moving to a run as it continued to flicker, Don¡¯t you fu-.


    The light died. I was in the darkness again. Something coiled around my leg. It yanked, sending me sprawling. Cold painted the side of my cheek as it pressed against the tile. A weight pressed down on me from above. The pressure made my lung strain to keep breathing. There was nothing up there!


    Dryness took my mouth as I tried to pull myself up. The weight redoubled, my hands giving free. Pain erupted in my forehead as it smacked into the tile. The crack echoed through the room.


    Something pressed against the back of my calf, a gentler touch. I forced myself still, palming the pocketknife. I didn¡¯t know what this thing was. I did know I wasn¡¯t going to lay down for it. Something caressed the hair on the back of my neck.


    I was turning over, knife jabbing upwards- into nothing as the light turned back on.


    Panting, bug-eyed, I looked around the room. Again nothing. The lightbulb burned merrily away as I stared at it. Then it flickered again.


    I was up in an instant, hand on the door handle. Cold metal pressed into my hand as I pulled, only it didn¡¯t give. Cursing, I tried, again and again. Putting both hands on it for a second I forced myself off my feet. It still didn¡¯t budge.


    I looked behind, at the lightbulb. Seemingly steady, then it flickered again. It was taunting me.


    Something grasped my hand, looping around my wrist. Heat suddenly seared my hands, and I tried to release the handle. Only I couldn¡¯t, and turning to face it again the stylized chain of the handle was wrapping around my hands. Smells of cooking flesh filled the room as I screamed and pulled, while behind the lightbulb began to-


    The door handle suddenly turned in my hands. The heat was gone. My hands were fine. The chain was back to being part of the handle. I blinked. Nothing changed. Okay, I thought to myself frantically. Clearly, whatever drugs I put in myself are still working their way through me. A few hallucinations. Maybe some nervousness. Let¡¯s not get too worked up over nothing.


    I realized, as I had been talking to myself inside my head, that the shadow I was casting against the door was getting bigger. The surrounding light was fading. I looked back, and the lightbulb was slowly dying, almost taunting me as the light faded. I didn¡¯t spare a second glance.


    I almost rammed my way through the door, slamming it open. I didn¡¯t hesitate, forcing the door shut right after. There was no lock on the outside. From beneath it, the light of the bathroom winked out.


    I took some deep breaths. Slumping down against the door for a moment. Till I thought I felt a gust of something from underneath the crack.


    I moved away from the door and resolved not to let it out of sight this entire time. Underneath light was suddenly shining. The lightbulb was back on. Because of course it was. Next time that lightbulb and I crossed paths, I would kill it. I¡¯d never go back in there, but I would still kill it.


    I was in a hotel room, or one of the world¡¯s smallest houses. Electric lights burned up above. I gave them a wary eye. I walked over to a single bed with a nightstand and felt the covers. It felt fluffy and soft. I¡¯d take a rest if I felt I could risk it. Three objects sat there, but I left them alone for now. Not much else in here besides a table and chair. I rapped a knuckle on the table and got an echo in return. It all seemed like solid wood.


    A switch in the corner caught my eye. It was the only thing standing out on bare walls. The rest was cheap wallpaper in the same color as my suit. As in the same blue and white colors and spacing as my suit. Creepy.


    There was a simple door to the left of the bed and to the right, a single window, covered by heavy curtains that were nailed to the wall. Given everything else I had encountered so far, I didn¡¯t feel like exploring what was behind those. In fact, there were three things of note on the bed.


    I picked the first one up and spread it out, feeling a little exasperated as I did so. Seriously? I thought as I looked over the trench coat. I¡­ I didn¡¯t even hate this look. I didn¡¯t think I had an opinion on whether or not my current clothes were okay with me, but who would go to a tub in these? Wait, terrible question, no one would go into a tub with any clothes, but this did not feel like everyday wear for your average person. It was dry, unlike the rest of me, so I did put it on.


    And more water on my skin as the weight of the coat squeezed some more out of my water-logged clothes. Brilliant.


    The other two things were suitcases, one medium-sized, sized for someone of my height. Not that I could tell anyone my height. I could be anywhere between three and ten feet for all I knew. The other was much bigger, almost big enough that I could fit in there if I squeezed myself. Maybe if I broke a few bones. I put my thumbs on the latches but didn¡¯t open them yet.


    The entire room was something I couldn¡¯t quite place like it was on the tip of my tongue. This entire style, of everything, was throwing me off. I couldn¡¯t place it. Oh, Batman animated series. Fits it perfectly. Art d¨¦co. I came to a halt in my head.


    I¡­ I hadn¡¯t known about that before I mentioned it. Nothing about the animated series in the nineties that now I could picture any moment from in my head. I hadn¡¯t known what Batman was! And now it was in there, everything, even random behind-the-scenes knowledge about its production.


    My brain had just had all of this randomly dumped into it just from randomly wondering what the style of my room, my clothes, and everything reminded me of. Typically, people don¡¯t think like this. This has to be the drugs. Can¡¯t be anything else. This is a comedown from a rather severe trip. They really messed me up.


    Was this more than just that? I had recognized what a switchblade was remarkably quick. And so far hadn¡¯t seen anything I couldn¡¯t identify. Shaking my head, I thumbed the latches to open the big suitcase, just wanting to move past this and get some answers


    Staring up at me was a pale glassy-eyed face, ghost white pale, stretched and flattened to about the size of a pizza. The smell of rotting flesh assaulted my nose, gagging me. I tried to block it with my free hand. Clumps of stringy dead hair were on top, looking less like hair and more like sewed-on string. Someone had ripped the skin open and split it in various spots, blood leaking out from all of them. The emotionless dead eyes matched my horrified stare as I was stunned by what was in there. Below the flattened face, the rest of the body was in there, equally warped and twisted. Skin ranging from pale white to dirty grey in color stretched tightly over the skull. I could see the bones jutting, pushing, even ripping through the thin layer of skin over it¡¯s face. The rips in the skin got even larger, and clumps of flesh half hung out, some of which I think was its internal organs. More organs piled up at the bottom, in a small collected pool of its blood.


    What did I do?

 Chapter 2 - The Corpse in the Suitcase

    My stomach churned as I backed away from the dead body. I was going to be sick. My feet got in each other¡¯s way, sending me stumbling. I went tumbling into the wall, my shoulder protesting as it hit right next to the curtained-off window.


    Shrieking immediately came, loud enough that even through the wall it filled the entire room. It felt like knives had been stabbed into both of my ears as I ran for the bathroom. Both to empty my stomach and escape the screaming. Just needed to get away.


    My throat burned as whatever had been in my stomach came up. Mostly liquid. There were chunks of something now floating with the ice in bathtub. Heaving, I tried to catch my breath leaning over the tub. The screaming had stopped. But the dead body would still be in the next room.


    Watching the shadows on the surface of the water, I realized where I was. Over my shoulder the light flickered. I was back to my feet as it winked out entirely.


    But this time the light stayed. I had left the door open.


    Light from the hotel room filled the bathroom entirely, enough that the few shadows were subdued. I started chuckling as the light bulb came back on, flashing. On and off. Repeated a dozen times while my laughter turned hysterical. The damn thing was alive. And apparently wanted me dead. Well too bad for it.


    Walking over, a grin on my face as I tried to contain my laughter, I reached up for the lightbulb. It seared to touch. Heat scorched the surface of my hand, but I didn¡¯t care. Tightening my fist, it refused to break under the pressure as I squeezed. So instead I quickly grabbed the chain with my other hand. As hot to the touch as the bulb itself, but it should only last a second.


    I lifted myself off the floor. The chain squealed in protest before it ripped out of the ceiling. The chain hit me in the shoulder, feeling like a whip. I grabbed the entire thing and threw it on the ground, glass shattering. Panting, I stood over what was probably a pointless victory in the end.


    Grabbing a chair, I wedged it to keep the door wide open. I wasn¡¯t risking it shutting on me if I ended up in there again. Now with that darkness. I went back to the main room.


    A withered, pale hand stuck out over the edge of the suitcase. My veins felt like ice as I froze. That hadn¡¯t been there when I had rushed away. Maybe I had bumped into it in my panic?


    The finger on the hand twitched.


    My feet pounded into the floor as I covered the distance quickly. Inside the corpse had collapsed in on itself. Bones and flesh had melted together into a single mass. It was reforming, I could see the head coming back out, skin splitting and ripping off. It roared at me with a maw of bone spikes where teeth had once been.


    I reached for the top of the suitcase, but the twitching hand sprung into motion. It was practically bone below the wrist now, flesh peeling off. Its grip made it feel like my own bones were being ground up. Uneven, chewed-up fingernails were elongating on its fingers. Pain lanced through my arm as they pierced my skin.


    I punched the bone under the hand. My knuckles protested as they rammed into the Ulna. With a snap it split, and a scream came from the suitcase. My hand was free now, and I reached for the top of the suitcase.


    The head lunged for me, ready to bite with its new teeth. The top of the case rammed into its head before it made it out. The hand made another lunge. The case lid slammed then sheared through the hand.


    It wriggled at my feet like a fish, trying to claw through my boots. I reared up and stomped on it, even as I thumbed the latches shut on the case. Skin ripped off, nails broke, bones shattered under repeated blows until the pieces that were left stopped moving.


    The briefcase shuddered once, twice, and then I was on top of it. Pressing down it as hard as I could, it shuddered a few more times but eventually stopped.


    I moved off the briefcase onto the bed and sank into it. I was still afraid, with that thing right next to me. But with the suitcase closed, and also the bathroom taken care of I was getting a handle on things. Whatever these things were.


    The sheets and the mattress weren¡¯t the best, but right now they felt like bliss as I lay there. Keeping an eye on the briefcase, but nothing moved. Whatever was in there was seemingly not interested in trying to get out anymore. And for right now I¡¯d take the moment to catch my breath. That''s when the rotary phone on the nightstand next to me started ringing.


    With everything that had just happened, at this point, I could just be proud of the fact I didn¡¯t jump out of my skin when that happened. I did almost punch the phone though. I grabbed the receiver gingerly, eyeing the phone. It seemed innocuous enough, a tall rotary phone. But with everything that had happened, it might do something like spit acid in my face. But if everything in here was like that I wouldn¡¯t be lasting that long either way. Still, I held the receiver a fair bit away from my ear. That acid idea wasn¡¯t leaving my head.


    ¡°Hello?¡± I asked cautiously. I almost stammered that out, still rattled.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°This is your eight o clock wake-up call from the Night Manager, Miss Indigo. And also to tell you we expect payment today.¡± A voice said on the other side. Higher than mine but much more authoritative in tone and does not sound very happy. A woman? No, it could be a very effeminate man. Or maybe a normal man, or maybe I should stop making assumptions about things. Crap, was I prejudiced? Please no.


    ¡°Uh, thank you,¡± I said, trying to sound more confident. I was failing. Miserably. ¡°Can I ask-¡±


    ¡°We also want to inform you, Ms. Indigo-¡± She cut me off without even an acknowledgment, and I also finally noticed what she called me. That was my name? Indigo? ¡°that you have not paid for the past six days. This is your final warning. Members of the Chainer¡¯s Brigade are still waiting outside the hotel for you and will be more than happy to take you into their custody. We would ask that you consider our offer of money for your tools once again.¡±


    Well, that wasn¡¯t very helpful. Apparently, I owed this place for a stay I couldn¡¯t remember, and someone named the Chainer had people waiting outside to arrest me. Probably for this dead body, which I had no idea who it was or what it was, or what the hell was going on. Also, what tools?


    While I was thinking, the Night Manager apparently had about enough of my silence. ¡°Ms. Indigo, do you need me to repeat the last message?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t think this message is for me. Ms. Indigo is not my name. I think.¡± I blurted out in quick succession.


    ¡°You think? You are the current resident in room 1912, isn¡¯t it?¡± The voice on the other end of the line had grown harsh fast, enough that I felt the urge to snap back but no, I couldn¡¯t do that. Not till I had some answers.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to be honest. I woke up in a bathtub a few minutes ago with no idea who I was, no memory of this place at all, and found a dead body in my suitcase. Then it came to life. Where on earth am I?¡± I said, doing my best to keep my tone somewhat calm. I don¡¯t think I was very successful, but this wasn¡¯t a calming situation. Hotel managers should be used to angry customers, anyway.


    ¡°You are Ms. Indigo, or at least you signed in with that name at the beginning of this month. Give me a few minutes to clear this up with our owner and see if I can figure out where the disconnect seems to be. Also, the destruction of your lightbulb has been added to your bill. Please stay in your room¡± The Night Manager¡¯s tone was at least back to a calm neutral.


    ¡°That lightbulb was trying to kill me!¡± I finally found the confidence to yell something but by then the phone had hung up. Wait, how did she know to begin with?


    They had said they would clear this up. Did that mean they would send a staff member or another phone call soon? Either way, it was a bit of a relief, even if they hadn¡¯t really answered my questions. I didn¡¯t want to go outside this room, all things considered, with the noises from either direction. I could forget the dead body in the suitcase as long as it was closed, and I didn¡¯t have to see it. There was still the second one next to it on the bed.


    I approached it nervously, put my thumbs on the latches, but didn¡¯t open it just yet. It was heavy, but not as heavy as the other one. But that could just mean the body was smaller if it contained another of those. If I let things like that keep me from doing anything, I¡¯ll never make it out of this room. You are better than this. Well, I assume I am. I flicked the latches, and opened up the briefcase.


    There was a gun, which was the most immediate thing to grab my attention. A pistol, semi-automatic. Nothing fancy about it, and picking it up felt familiar. Not that I was going to test that familiarity right now. It felt good in my grip but I didn¡¯t really know how to fire it besides click goes the trigger. I wasn¡¯t going to try practicing with it, since I didn¡¯t really know how to use it. Not worth the risk trying to figure that out. Well, unless the thing in the other suitcase got out.


    There were more clothes, the same style as what I had on, an old-looking flashlight, and an assortment of other stuff. Shoulder holster, matches. Was that a stick in there? And some knife with writing on it?


    There was a piece of paper as well, folded in half, words scrawled on it in a language. English, my brain told me, and I could read, so at least whoever I was, I could read English. A few sentences, nothing more on it.


    Don¡¯t use the window


    Don¡¯t open the second suitcase


    Don¡¯t leave the hotel without a position, a bind, or an item


    Take risks


    I examined the note for anything else, any possible writing no matter how tiny, but it looked like that was it. Okay, that second piece of information would have been a lot more useful a few minutes ago. The rest was for the most part nonsense, as far as I knew. Whoever had written this either did not know how much I knew or was being a dick to me. Oh, it was going to turn out to be me, wasn¡¯t it? What was this, Total Recall?


    Gaah, I had felt that little piece of pop knowledge fluff just slide into my brain as though it had always been there. I don¡¯t know what was going on with my memories, but so far things just slid into place at the most random things but even worse none of it told me anything about me! I knew the plot, the scenes, the original and the remake, but I couldn¡¯t remember ever watching both of those movies and any details about that. My head was a resting place for random pieces of pop knowledge fluff to poke their way in while contributing nothing useful!


    I took a few deep breaths. Panicking would not help me. I was safe, for now. I put on the holster, put the gun inside, and slipped the knife inside a pocket. Next, the flashlight. Bulky, too big for the pockets even on the coat. Was it worth the inconvenience in case the light went out again?


    I was interrupted with the crackling of someone turning on an intercom.


    ¡°This is the Night Manager of the Hotel.¡± It was the same lady, person, whoever, as the one who had contacted me on the phone. There was no visible speaker for any of this, but the voice continued talking as if put through one. It sounded scratchy and choppy, like an old gas station intercom on a rural road that has seen no changes for forty years.


    ¡°It has come to our attention that the resident of Room 1912, the Suitcase Killer, has attempted to cheat the Hotel out of payment for her stay and damages to her room. Any resident who catches and apprehends her, dead or living, will earn a free stay for a month with all benefits. Good hunting residents.¡±


    Well, shit.

 Chapter 3 - Death by Edgar Wright

    I was already in motion when the intercom cut off. There was no noise except my boots hitting the floor, which only added to the tension I was feeling. How many would be coming after me? I couldn¡¯t begin to guess. And all I had was a gun I didn¡¯t really know how to use and a knife. I needed to get out of here.


    The door was unlikely, the bathroom definitely out. The window was the only option, if I could tear the curtains off in time. And only if whatever had shrieked at me earlier didn¡¯t try to eat me.


    I raced to the door. Despite it not being a way out, I could buy some time. Lock, deadbolt, then grabbing the chair from the bathroom and shoving it up against the door. Back to the bed long enough to grab the smaller suitcase. The larger one with the creature inside could stay here. I doubted I could lift it anyway.


    The sound of a slamming door made me half jump as I made it to the window. More quickly joined in, and the sound of feet on floor. Heavy curtains were in my hands as I tried to pull them aside. They were nailed to every edge. Cursing I pulled out the switchblade and started cutting.


    The blade buried itself in the thick curtains, and every cut felt like I was slicing through metal. The combination of tiny blade and thick fabric slowed me down. Too much. The shuddering of wood filled the air as someone rammed into the door, arguing in languages I couldn¡¯t understand.


    A hole was open, enough to reach through. Gripping both sides I pulled. It ripped easier than it took being cut. Dust blew out, right in my face. Coughing as it got into my throat and eyes I kept on ripping, widening the hole.


    I ripped enough open to step through, right into a cloud of dust. My eyes burned whenever they opened, so for now I kept them shut as I felt for the latches. Even blinded and with only one hand free I found them and opened the window. Another crack behind me. There was still yelling as well. And even if I couldn¡¯t understand what was being said, I could tell tone. They were angry.


    The night air was chilly on my skin, wind blowing around me. Already damp clothes felt even colder now in the air. Eyes still burning, I blinked repeatedly, tears washing most of the grime and dust out of my eyes. I forcibly grabbed the handrail in front of me. I wasn¡¯t ready for what was in front of me.


    Wind whipped all around as I looked down, trying to see the ground. I couldn¡¯t. My hands gripped the guardrail to the point it hurt as I was paralyzed staring down. Stretching beneath me was layer upon layers of fire escapes joined to the side of the building, racing down a wall into a fog below. There must have been easily a hundred stories.


    Other buildings were around, stretching far above me. This one too, once I tore my gaze from the abyss below. Light was shining onto me, which only made it more clear there was something between them.


    Light was swallowed by darkness, that seemed as solid as stone one second, as immaterial as smoke the next. It shifted and moved, as if trying to push against the windowlight. The wind howled against me suddenly, and I could see something push from within the shadows, long claws moving closer before suddenly evaporating as it got closer to the hotel.


    Cracking wood interrupted my stupefied state. Looking behind me, an axehead had gone partway through my door. The edge of it peeked out through the small hole it had opened so far. Did I want to risk that? I turned back to the writhing shadow between the buildings. Had it gotten closer? It couldn¡¯t be more than ten meters away.


    The fire escape shuddered under my feet. My grip tightened reflexively as I desperately searched around for what had caused it. Nothing I could see. It kept shuddering, beginning to jerk violently, while a rumble began to build.


    ¡°MEAT!¡± A voice called out from inside the building. The fire escape jumped under me, the jolt sending me feet into the air for an instant. The entire thing slid out from the wall. Only a tiny bit. It finally got my hands out of their death grip on the railing all the same. Now I was rushing back to the window instead.


    There was an axe back in the room, and what sounded like a dozen people wanting my head, and whatever had just set the building shaking. But I was not plummeting to death on the ground or to whatever those shadows were. Heart racing, I reached the window. The crack of wood as the axe went through the door again. Three identical cries of triumph followed that. Great, triplets with an axe. The voices were garbled, it was a language I could recognize but did not sound human.


    I grabbed the gun from my holster. I stared at it blankly, hoping the information on how to use it would pop into my head. To my despair nothing as the axe widened the hole to the door. Animated series and British satirical novels were fair, but not how to use a goddamn weapon? It felt like it belonged in my hand but that didn¡¯t tell me how to use it!


    Wood ripped as the next blow tore more of the door out. An entire section fell out of the door, revealing the people beyond. Mandibles clicked and clacked, antennae moved, and compound eyes focused on me. It looked like an ant. It was, of course, wearing a pinstriped suit with a tie. The fedora on top with the antenna sticking out was the final straw. My sides started shaking uncontrollably. I started laughing.


    Not because it was funny, although it was certainly absurd. I woke up in a bathtub with no memories? A lightbulb and a corpse in a suitcase trying to kill me? Now management of the hotel I was in wanted me dead for not paying my bills. Oh, and destroying a lightbulb.


    Now some ant-man in a fedora  and pinstriped suit was trying to hack down my door. The sight of which now had another collection of unwanted media trivia shoved into my head. What the hell was the MCU?


    The ant-man shoved his arm through the hole in the door. It reached about, trying to find the handle. Mirth died on my lips as I aimed the gun in my hand at the creature only to realize I didn¡¯t know where the safety was. Did this gun even have a safety? I looked it over, hoping that it would trigger some kind of thought in my head, only to get while Edgar Wright was originally slated to direct he was eventually replaced by Peyton Re- oh god I would not die because of Edgar fucking Wright. Whoever he was.


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    A chitter of triumph filled the air as the ant-man found the lock. The door rushed forward, only to suddenly jerk to halt. It hadn¡¯t noticed the deadbolt, and even missed a chunk the door held for now. Long enough for me to notice the small lever on the back. My mind told me it was the safety. That and how it was a plot-relevant part of Scream, which I could have done without.


    I thumbed it and aimed the weapon, to find the ant-staring at me. I thought it was. Telling what the compound eyes were looking at wasn¡¯t easy. I paused as it just stood there. Was it scared? Afraid I was going to shoot it? Could I even shoot it? It wasn¡¯t a human, but that didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t a person. It wasn¡¯t even an it, possibly, and oh great I was some kind of bigot wasn¡¯t-


    Their head suddenly convulsed and a thin stream of liquid shot at me. The tip of my ear burned as I moved to the side, a few droplets from the stream splattering there. I was on fire. At least that¡¯s how the tip of my ear felt. Hissing filled the air as where the stream had hit the railing behind me. Metal was being eaten through. In maybe half a second the railing I had been leaning against earlier had a section half a foot wide just gone.


    ¡°Did you just try to disintegrate me?¡± I yelled, turning my attention back to the Ant.


    It didn¡¯t bother responding, instead reaching with its arm for the deadbolt while the head began to make the same motion. But I wasn¡¯t hesitating anymore, not when it was trying to melt me.


    Half a second to raise the pistol, aim down the rear sight and pull the trigger. It was about halfway through that my brain told me I should probably hold the pistol with two hands and make sure my arm was ready to-.


    My arm was nearly ripped out from its socket. My ears rung like someone had set off a trio of alarm clocks inside them. The sound of the shot bounced all of the inside of the room. What didn¡¯t bounce was the bullet, which went right into the chest of the suit, right where the heart would be on a human.


    The ant looked down at the hole with casual ease. Some kind of green ichor leaked out. It didn¡¯t seem to care that much. A sinking heart could join my ringing ears and thoroughly yanked arm as I tried to aim the gun again, this time at its head. Suddenly it shuddered, then fell against the outside of the door. A shriek like a tea kettle filled the room.


    With a crunch the entire section of the suit retracted into the ant¡¯s chest. More crunches followed as its torso compressed, shrinking before my eyes. The whine became a scream as its neck compacted in on itself, becoming no necks as shards of chitin exploded out from the pressure. Eyes shrunk, blood leaking out of them as they compressed. Mandibles turned inward, punching through skin as they were drawn through.


    The shriek was not even anything approaching describable sound as the wreck of a creature in front of me continued to compress. Limbs compacted, shrinking, the excess mass blowing out of the joint before being pulled in together as well a second late. It was half the size it used to be. Not falling to the ground. I could see it being pulled all in a single direction. Where the bullet had landed.


    The head entirely pulled into what was becoming just a ball of chitin, blood, and screams. There were no snapping sounds anymore. Just the disgusting noise of the remnants being forced through the small hole my bullet had punched. And it was still alive. It hadn¡¯t stopped screaming, and it didn¡¯t even as what was left went through the hole. Tiny, a pinprick at this distance, colored the same as the shadow outside. Then it vanished, and so did the screams.


    My stomach churned as I tried not to throw up again. Nothing in my stomach after last time, and currently I felt like I never wanted to eat again. Dry heaving, I tried not to stumble backwards. What the hell was I holding onto?


    Another ant appeared in the door, a shotgun leveled and ready. I just dropped. Too late. Another roar filled the room. My shoulder exploded with pain and I screamed as I hit the floor beneath. A thousand tiny needles were in my shoulder it felt like, as I tried to force myself off the fire escape floor. My arm screamed in agony, but reflexively I forced it to have the pistol ready as I popped up, already firing.


    No one was at the hole in the doorway. The bullet passed through nothing but air before hitting the wall.


    I went back down, and my shoulder burst into fresh agony as it hit the floor. Biting back another scream, I looked it over. Torn clothes. Blood was already pouring out. But my flesh wasn¡¯t being sucked into the wound. While it hurt like hell, I wasn¡¯t suffering the same fate I¡¯d inflicted on that ant.


    I got back up to make my way to the stairs. Even if another shaking caused the fire escape to come loose, I¡¯d take my chances making my way down out here. Of course, right when I did, the shotgun wielding ant reappeared.


    I dove, and knew as soon as I did this would hurt.


    Agony hit my free hand when I tried to move it in the way. My head whacked right into a step, a half second before one of my knees hit another. It felt like a knife had been driven in. Pain hit me every step down as I fell down the stairs. The only consolation was the clothes blunting some of it.


    My back went through a fresh hit of pain as I landed on the floor below, groaning. I tried to get up, screamed as I tried to put my palm against the ground. Skin hung from where it had hit the stairs in tatters when I looked at it. The other hand was even less helpful as my shoulder protested every move. Somehow I got myself into a sitting position-only to find an imp in front of me.


    I didn¡¯t know how else to describe it. Bald, gray mottled skin, a small, ugly face that looked like a mixture of a pig¡¯s or dogs. Okay, it was actually kind of cute maybe, but I wasn¡¯t really in the mood to think of things as cute at the moment. It stood perched on four limbs, still as a statue. Wait, was it a statue?


    The little imp turned to face me, and I felt the fear set in again. Should I shoot it? Did I want to shoot it? Oh, please don¡¯t make me have to shoot it. The imp opened its mouth and shrieked, the same noise I had heard when I went to the windows the first time. Except this time it was maybe half a foot away from me.


    Now I was also shrieking as I put my hands over my ears. It felt like drills had been set on them, and worse I could feel something liquid coming out. Blood. Everything was some strange sensory assault since I had woken up and please just leave me alone!


    By the time I had recovered from that, the imp was flying off, wings flapping as it flew into the dark void between buildings. It just vanished once it got maybe thirty feet away from the building. Another mystery to add to the pile, but one that was at least useful. Things could go into those shadows.


    No one else was coming onto the fire escape from my room yet. Apparently, my ability to compress people into living balls of flesh and pain was a deterrent. What the hell had I shot that ant with? What the hell was I doing here? Why the hell was a dead monster that wasn¡¯t dead in my briefcase? Who the hell was I? And why the hell was there even more of those little imp creatures I could see at everyone¡¯s window!


    Okay, so a warning system or a living alarm or a wild animal or who cared I needed to get a move on before the ant hive back there finished breaking their way through. Or whoever else had lined up at the door. Or whoever lived on this floor below me spotted me and decided they wanted a month¡¯s worth of free rent. Whatever that was worth. Either way, I needed to get moving. So I slowly got back up to my feet, determined, ready to move forward, despite the protests of my body.


    That¡¯s when the world in front of me burst into blinding light.

 Chapter 4 - Ogres and Fire Escapes

    Twin infernos raged in my eyes for a half-second. I was certain that a deity of illumination existed in this place, and he, she, or they, hated me.


    There was only one good thing as I kept my eyes tightly shut as that initial flash sent me to the floor. My own scream had stopped as the pain did, the ones coming from up above had not. Whoever had followed me was down for a moment. And anyone coming after.


    I kept my eyes shut for now because even with them closed, I could still tell that the building opposite from me just kept on blasting the surface of the building I was on with light. The light was clearly coming from there, shining like a crazy diamond- Oh god I was going to have someone look at my brain and see if it could remove this stupid thing where it was sliding in random factoids! I had more important things to worry about right now, like the fact that in my fall down the fire escape, I had dropped the suitcase.


    To my dismay, I realized that wasn¡¯t the only thing missing as I gripped the railing with both hands. Each of them protested as fresh pain lanced up my arms, especially the one still containing some buckshot in it. The pistol was gone. I must have it sometime when I went crashing down the stairs. I looked down and cracked my eyes open, doing my best to not look at the other building.


    It worked. Not well, the oppressive glare was still making itself known on the edges of my vision. And I couldn¡¯t spot the pistol on the fire escape floor around me. Between losing it and the suitcase, I was down to a knife. A very small knife. Never mind charging acid and shotgun wielding ant-people would be suicide.


    The light suddenly went out. I stumbled briefly but got my hand on the railing. Pain, again, and my grip was slick. Blood poured down. I¡¯d need to get that bandaged. If I ever got a moment. First, put more distance between me and my pursuers.


    Of course, that¡¯s when I heard a noise right next to me.


    Spots were still in my eyes from that brief brush with the latest in my eye-related trauma. Still I had enough of my vision back to see what had made the noise. It was the window next to me being opened. Someone stuck their head and a shoulder out to look at me. I wished I could say they were human, but they definitely were not.


    He, and I was pretty sure they were a he, was massive, or at least his head was, easily a foot wide. Thick, bony horns curled out of the sides of his head. Tusks easily half a foot long poked out of the sides of his mouth. Creases and scars wrinkled the thick leathery skin.Of his face at least, because his skin was covered by what else, a suit. Ogre, my mind thought, and I forced that thought down. I shouldn¡¯t just assume everything is mapped onto things from the earth.


    I had no idea what expressions looked like on their face, but if I had to guess I would go with untroubled.


    ¡°Hello.¡± He rumbled, tone thick and gravelly.


    ¡°Hi?¡± I replied sheepishly, trying to inch towards the steps down. Up above, I could still hear the insects keening, but it didn¡¯t sound like it did before. More angry and hostile if I had to guess, and suddenly the bark of the shotgun sounded again and I winced.


    ¡°Fools,¡± The ogr-stop calling him that!- said, looking scornfully upwards. ¡°Already squabbling about who gets the prize without it even being in hand.¡±


    ¡°Rent¡¯s that high, huh?¡± I asked.


    ¡°As if you didn¡¯t know.¡± He said, returning his gaze to me.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t. Long story, but you could consider me..uh, newly reborn I guess?¡± I said in a tone that was a lot less confident than I wanted it to be.


    ¡°Newly reborn? Yeah, you aren¡¯t that. You wouldn¡¯t have kept the marks otherwise-¡± The what? ¡°You look different, but nothing a good Sculptor couldn¡¯t have done in a private session. Unless you meant spiritually, in which case you and I both know you aren¡¯t that type. Cut the act.¡± He said, and he actually looked offended.


    This sounded personal. ¡°Do you know me?¡± I asked.


    ¡°For three months, all of them hell. This is a rather amusing cap to it all.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember any of it,¡± I confessed.


    ¡°Sure. Do you honestly expect me to believe any of your lies?¡±


    This entire time I could hear sounds from above: the shotgun, other guns, what sounded like hacking, and other noises I couldn¡¯t even describe. They were suddenly very distant sounding compared to the level-toned individual in front of me, so very close and with very pointy teeth that I could now notice since he had started talking.


    ¡°I¡¯m not. I swear. I¡¯m just trying to get downstairs and avoid the mob out for me for reasons I¡¯m not sure of.¡± I said as earnestly as I could. It¡­didn¡¯t sound very earnest. Was I one of those people who sounded like they were always lying? ¡°In that, I don¡¯t know why they are after me so badly, not that I don¡¯t know why I¡¯m trying to get downstairs.¡±


    ¡°Whatever you want to say to dodge the noose of the Night Manager. You really pissed her off, didn¡¯t you?¡± He said.


    ¡°I smashed a lightbulb and apparently am late on rent,¡± I replied defensively.


    He nodded gravely. ¡°Destruction of property and freeloading. Serious crimes around these parts.¡±


    He had to be joking. Or fucking with me. But he seemed dead serious. And given what was happening this very second I couldn¡¯t completely discount it.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad,¡± I said, only for that statement to be punctuated by the sound of shattering glass and another shotgun blast echoing across the open air. My ears ached, but it was still less damaging to my hearing than being in the room itself.


    ¡°It looks pretty bad from here.¡± He said, and I caught a look in his eye that my instincts screamed at me to start running from.


    ¡°So, it¡¯s been fun, but I really should get going,¡± I said while beginning to back away.


    ¡°You know, I figured, ¡®why even bother trying this when it means having to get through a crop of others to have a shot at catching one of the more dangerous new residents?¡¯ but here you are, right in front of me. And personally, I¡¯ve always wanted your head, you little witch.¡± He said, backing up from the window, standing up all the way, and giving me a look at a chest the approximate size of an ancient oak tree.


    Okay, I didn¡¯t know if he was going to burst through the wall or not, but I ran to the stairs. But he didn¡¯t burst through. Instead, the window suddenly shot up, traveling through the brickwork as bricks shifted and moved to carry it past. They left a perfect hole for the ogre to rush forward, all nine feet of him.


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    I was partway down the stairs, but it didn¡¯t matter as two arms clamped around my chest. My arms pressed into my sides as he lifted me up into the air.


    He grinned as he lifted me up, but all I could think about was the fact that the entire fire escape was moving. Whatever had shaken the building before had already made them shift out a little. Now it was sliding. Crumbly mortar gave way, revealing rust-eaten metal beneath.


    ¡°We¡¯re both going to die! We need to get off here right now!¡± I yelled at him, trying to force my way out. To little avail, he had a grip like iron. It shifted, surprisingly, but nowhere near enough for me to wriggle out. His grip tightened around me. My elbow popped and my scream almost overpowered the sound of the shotgun above.


    As he squeezed the air out of my lungs, he spared a dismissive glance at the crumbling stone and rusted steel .


    ¡°Eh, we¡¯ll survive.¡± He said with that same casualness as before, ¡°Well, I will. You might not, but even if you come back changed, I still get the free rent. So either way, I win.¡±


    Everything was insane. Everything, and what was he even talking about? It was hard to think as he continued to squeeze. My midsection and arms felt so much pain, on top of previous wounds. It felt like everything there was being moved up and down from it. There was a snap now, and the only reason I didn¡¯t scream was that I had no air to. I couldn¡¯t breathe.


    I was fading, already my vision was growing dim even as I could still hear the protesting metal shriek in the background as the fire escape continued trying to rip itself free. A sudden roar of anger joined that protesting shriek in assaulting my ears. The grip loosened which actually did very little for the pain in my midsection. It still felt like I was being ripped in half.


    I took a deep breath. My vision was coming back quickly. A glob of thick, familiar-looking green liquid hissed on his shoulder. It ate through the coat quickly and started working on the flesh underneath. On the escape above us, a lone ant-person was at the top of the stairs I had tumbled down.


    Another glob of acidic spit fired out, and the ogre barely moved his head enough to the side to avoid it. I saw my last opportunity and as hard as I could, kicked upwards with my right foot. To my shock, his head snapped back as the point of my shoe connected with his chin. The end of my foot screamed in pain. He stumbled backward. I probably broke all of my toes, but his grip loosened, and I dropped.


    Pain shot up through both my legs. One of them was already injured and the other had just broken the toes, so not a shock. As I landed down, the squeal and shrieking of the metal finally stopped as the fire escape came completely off the wall. I didn¡¯t even think for the next few seconds as I ran forward, ignoring the extra pain going through my legs.


    The ogre roared, and the ant-person said something in their chattering tongue, but I paid no mind to either. It was the last few steps that were the hardest. The fire escape was clean out of the wall now with a last shriek of protest. One of my shoes slipped, but I reached out and grabbed the edge of the fire escape floor. Something large grabbed my foot and in response I lashed out with the other, earning a deep, pained scream in response as I pulled my foot out of their grasp. My arms burned as I dragged myself up the swiftly tilting floor.


    Support beams bent and twisted as I hauled myself over what had once been the side of the fire escape. No railing to try and get past this side. Small favors. From here, the angle probably looked steeper than it was, but that had to easily be forty-five degrees at least. I got my legs over when it jolted under me once again, shaking as something hit it.


    Looking down, I saw the ogre falling down into the darkness below. He must have slid after I kicked him. Then rammed into the guardrail and flipped right over, and I felt a twinge of guilt as he fell further out of sight into the darkness. Yes, he had tried to kill me and had seemed strangely confident he wouldn¡¯t die, but I wouldn¡¯t wish a fall like that on anyone. The ant was also gone, but I completely missed wherever it had gone.


    The ogre had made the tilting speed up with his impact as metal continued to shriek and twist. It was nearly level now. I really doubted the rest of this would be another gradual shift. A sudden snap. I balanced carefully on the edge and gauged the distance, four, maybe five feet. I could do this, I told myself as I leaped.


    I aimed for the open window that had reformed back into its regular structure after the ogre had passed through. But I was too low. Several feet too low, and instead, my chest rammed into the windowsill. For once again that night, my screams filled the air.


    I made a half-hearted effort to scramble for purchase onto the windowsill. But between the fresh injuries and having my breath knocked out of me, it was clear I wasn¡¯t going to hold on. The entire front half of me felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. Crap, I might have even broken another rib. So even as I desperately tried to hold on, I just couldn¡¯t maintain my grip So I went plummeting to the next set of fire escapes.


    I fell down onto what was thankfully an intact fire escape. Ten feet was better than a hundred. Not what I was thinking when I plummeted down. My feet exploded with pain as soon as they impacted the floor. I collapsed into a whimpering pile on the floor, the lower half of my legs feeling like they were shattered. They might very well be.


    Next to me, another imp shrieked before taking flight. How on earth was I alive? Even if I wasn¡¯t on earth, how was I even still conscious? But I was, and after a few moments, forced myself up just enough to get my feet under me once again. They weren¡¯t shattered, but they definitely felt that way.


    A small bit of luck. My gun from before was there as well. It must have fallen down here. And the smaller suitcase from my room was down here as well. Despite the fact that I had left it in the room. I hesitantly grabbed the handle and considered opening it before remembering where I was.


    I couldn¡¯t afford distractions. The sound of something shattering came from above. Looking up there was a face staring down at me. It was jaundiced, cuboid, and most importantly, staring right at me with square eyes. Their head twitched, then shifted to the form of a diamond, spikes emerging across the level planes it had formed.


    Time to go.


    Beside me was an open window, and I forced myself over it into the next room. It was mostly the same as mine, maybe some more furniture, some actual decor instead of bare walls. Oh, and there was someone in the room with me.


    So, the resident of the room was relatively normal, by which I meant it was a goat-headed person in a bathrobe. The goat''s head was seemingly the only thing strange about him. Watching TV, which he turned off as he looked at me.


    I thought I knew pain when I fell down to the Ogre¡¯s fire escape, but I had not yet known pain. It was amazing that I was even conscious or had nothing broken besides the one, two, I couldn¡¯t remember how many ribs. I couldn¡¯t read expressions, but I managed to understand what the goat said in strained English.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want any trouble.¡± He said, a slightly worried tone apparent even through a pretty terrible and unidentifiable accent. Probably the fact that he was trying to speak through a goat¡¯s mouth and not a human''s. ¡°Just leave through the door and I never saw you.¡±


    I managed to wheeze out a thank you, and then I was out in the hallway. Deserted, a long red carpet shooting down both directions. Definitely more fancy than the rooms themselves, with nice red carpeting, ornate and detailed lamps along both sides, and engraved doors. Even the one I had come out of which on the other side had definitely been cheap, flimsy wood. Not the strangest thing I had encountered yet in this place.


    I limped down the hallway as fast as I could go. Which was a hobble. If anyone wanted to kill me, now would be the time. But as I continued hobbling nothing happened. Must still be on the upper floor. I had fallen down two, so I had bought a little bit of time. More if they were fighting each other.


    Still, there were plenty of them coming for me. The large number of open doors indicated that. Varying quality ranging from rotten to pristine, in some cases changing just between two sides of the same door. I didn¡¯t waste time looking in the rooms. Hiding in them was just waiting for someone to come. And who knew how long till they came back down here?


    The loudspeaker crackled back on. The Night Manager was back with the same near-dead monotone.


    ¡°I would like to make our tenants aware of our opportunities for free rent¡¯s current locations. The Suitcase Killer is on the 143rd floor. Mr. Sun-in-the-eyes is on the eighty-eighth floor. The Seventh Street Slasher is on floor six again, still trying to get on floor seven once again.-¡±


    Yeah, let¡¯s tune the rest of that out. So, I wasn¡¯t the only one stuck in this predicament. I was on a ridiculously high floor, and they could track me. That last bit was kind of a real fucking issue, but I was going to just ignore that for now, since it was hard enough moving at this point.


    I took a look back and amazingly, the goat-headed creature hasn¡¯t followed me out of their room, even with the Night Manager¡¯s comments. Probably not a creature, I really, really needed to stop with the assumptions. But yeah, maybe some people weren¡¯t that bad around here. At least not willing to kill me for over a month¡¯s rent? Low bar, but I would take it at least. Now to get out of here


    At the end of the hall was an elevator. That would do.

 Chapter 5 - Elevators and Chains

    Every second it took to limp towards the elevator felt like eternity.


    I finally reached it and hammered the call button. I leaned against the wall, gulping down air while I waited for the elevator. There wasn¡¯t a whole lot else to do. If anyone did happen upon me, or was in the elevator already, I was screwed. I could barely walk, let alone run.


    The light above turned on and the elevator dinged.I tensed as the doors opened. It was empty. Okay, I¡¯ll take this luck.


    I got into the elevator, turned to face the control panel. My heart sank. There must be over a hundred little round buttons on the panel. Right next to it was a lever, and at the bottom, three familiar buttons.


    I hammered the close door buttons and they sealed shut. A temporary respite from the rest of this hotel. It gave me enough time to try and think of a plan instead of just running. Picking a floor, even one far away, wouldn¡¯t work. I couldn¡¯t count on everyone being like that goat-person.


    I turned my attention to the control panel again and to the buttons that had to be floor numbers. 126-250? None of these buttons were below a hundred, even a hundred and fifty. I could certainly believe this place was 250 stories high, but how did I get below 126?


    Going to the ground floor was my best option. If I got outside, I had to deal with whatever the Chainer¡¯s Brigade was. But they probably couldn¡¯t track me. The Night Manager seemingly could tell my general location, maybe just inside the hotel.


    I couldn¡¯t act any of that right now though. Were the elevators only for certain floors? Were they only covering a certain range of floors? Maybe because of logistics issues? I reached for the lever, pulled it, hoping it would do something.


    The buttons flickered briefly before the numbers were different, one set then suddenly another. Okay, not sure how this worked, but it didn¡¯t matter. Not as long as I could make this work. The buttons were now 251-375, and it took several more pulls before I got the set of the 1st floor to the 125th. Apparently, this place leveled out at 1250 stories.


    I hit the first-floor button and sighed in relief. Okay. Next step on getting out of here done, at least. I gripped my pistol tightly. I didn¡¯t particularly want to use it again, but if someone stopped the elevator on the way down, I wouldn¡¯t hesitate.


    I had two hundred and eleven stories to get through before I even reached there. Assuming no one did stop it, this might be the most extended break I had gotten since this nightmare had begun.


    As the elevator continued down, a speaker by the control panel suddenly cracked to life and I tensed. Had they found me again already?


    ¡°This is a notification to all hotel patrons that the Chainer¡¯s Brigade has been allowed to station one squad in each hotel lobby, in addition to members already at entrances and exits of the hotel. They are only here for those guests of the hotel who have not paid their dues, but I advise guests with existing issues with the group to avoid the first floor for the time being. Enjoy your stay in the Night Hotel.¡±


    I was safe for the moment. Relatively. Until I reached the lobby. One of several, given what the speaker had just been saying. Maybe I¡¯d be lucky again and there would be no one in the one I was heading towards?


    Even if I got out, what would I have waiting for me when I got out of this hotel? The Chainer¡¯s Brigade, people who wanted me dead, I guessed, although maybe surrendering to them would be preferable. I¡¯d take it over having the life strangled out of me or dying to weird acid spit. Or an axe. And hey, maybe I could sneak out of this nightmare hotel. And into the nightmare city that lay outside with its living shadows.


    The floors ticked by, light moving between each button as it descended down. It felt strangely comforting waiting here, almost mundane as each floor ticked by. Of course, that was replaced with unease as it got closer to one. Please be a service elevator, one for employees, one that opens near the bathrooms, or anything at all. It was down to the tenth floor now, and I moved out of the sight of the door, eyes glued to the panel. Seven, six, five, four, three, two. One.


    The doors slid open, the ding of it arriving mixing with the sound of talking. It was muted and sounded like it was far away. Maybe I had gotten lucky, and I peered around the corner.


    ¡°-refusal to give us access to the higher floors is a detriment to our efforts. You will allow us access.¡±


    Of course it opened into a lobby. There was a desk with a receptionist just down the hall, iron bars around all of it except a small portion in the front. The receptionist was a modestly dressed woman in her thirties, still in that noir fashion everyone seemed to have. But she at least looked like a normal person. Then she turned her head.


    Strips of flesh hung loosely off of a bare skull, the line between a normal booking face and bare bones a rough ragged one running down the front of her head.


    ¡°If you want access to the higher floors, that will have to be cleared with the Managers, and my understanding is you have not paid them nearly enough to allow you more than access to the lobby.¡±


    She was talking to a trio in front of the desk, who weren¡¯t any more normal looking than she was.


    I¡¯d give them this, they were not dressed like they were from a noir film. Metal plates joined by leather covered their bodies completely, stretching across frames that looked unnaturally tall, seven feet if I had to guess. Two of them were thin, and one of them was thick enough that getting into the elevator might be a struggle for them. I couldn¡¯t tell their gender. I couldn¡¯t tell if they were even human. They were about the right height at least. Masks of metal covered their faces, the only opening slits for their eyes.


    ¡°Only one of your guests must stand trial. The rest may be left alone. We do not ask much.¡±


    The clothes weren¡¯t the important part, though. The important part was that one had a short, bolt-action rifle, while the others had chains. Long metal chains with a variety of instruments on the end, mostly large hooks. Although there were blades, weights, and hammerheads, one had a saw blade attached to the end. They were practically festooned with them, although I could also see holsters with revolvers on their hips as well. There were streaks on the leather and metal they were wearing, crimson. Too bright to be faded blood, but I couldn¡¯t be sure.


    On second thought, dealing with these people instead of the hotel might not be the good idea I thought it was.


    As if responding to my errant thought, one of them turned to face me, the eyeholes of the mask moving across its surface to focus on me. Of course, it couldn¡¯t just be a normal mask.


    ¡°Wrong floor.¡±


    I hammered the door close button after that inane statement while the person at the desk yelled at the Chainers. Two of them rushed towards the elevator, while the third had their arm back, hooked chain in hand. I ducked just before they let it fly and a sharpened hook went flying through where my shoulder had been.


    The hook rammed into the wall, digging its way into the paneling and sending wood splinter flying. Fuck, how big is that thing? It looked like something you used to hook things to a truck, except sharpened and in the shape of a fishing hook instead.


    I went back to the doors, just in time to see one of the other Chainers aiming the short stubby rifle while the third kept on running for the door. I ducked back inside just before a bullet whizzed past, hitting right next to the hook in the wall. The crack of the gunshot was echoing in my ears as I went for the control panel.


    The hook ripped itself out of the wood, whipping around the inside of the elevator. I almost had my hand on the button when the hook rammed into it. The tip punched through flesh then into the wood paneling behind, pain cutting through me as I screamed.


    I nearly blacked out as the hook twisted, pushing through my flesh deeper into the wood paneling behind. I grasped the chain with the other hand. Desperately I pulled on it. My vision was growing spotty as blood streamed out of my hand, making the chain slick and hard to grasp.


    It twisted to the side suddenly, agony running down my hand as it did so. The entire hook was through. Now the eye was trying to force it¡¯s way through, pushing the flesh of my hands to the side as it continued moving.


    I whimpered as it forced it¡¯s way through. I was running purely off adrenaline now, and my hand grasped desperately at the slick chain. Every agonizing second that passed was another one for one of the Chainers to get inside. I couldn¡¯t let that happen.


    I yanked, and the hook came free. From the wall, not my hand, as wooden splinters flew from the side of the elevator.


    For a second I was relieved. Then the hook twisted, the tip curing to cut into my flesh a second time, ripping a furrow into the back of my hand. The chain tightened, growing taut and dragging me towards the door.


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    I hadn¡¯t pulled it out. They had just decided to drag me out of the elevator.


    I somehow got a foot up against the open doorway before I was pulled out. New pain now, as my already injured leg rammed into the side of the door. The chain pulled taut, the hook pulling on my hand and tearing fresh furrows as it did. Half the chain was streaked red now.


    I got my other leg in the door as well, and held on. A half second later, a bullet blasted it¡¯s way through, going right through my calf. I screamed and my leg gave way as blood exploded out the other side with the bullet. I got my other hand up in time before they could pull me out.


    Something had to give, the chain or my hand. My hand gave out first.


    The hook ripped half my hand off, flesh and bone tearing off my palm. Two fingers were taken off completely as I watched the chain rattle through the mangled mess of my hand. It was surreal. I couldn¡¯t feel any pain. Possibly because after everything else, the pain was nothing worth registering. It was hard to even think, staring at the spaghetti like tendons and strips of flesh hanging from the ruin of my hand. Tears obscured my vision. I was barely aware of them.


    Tears obscured my vision and I still wasn¡¯t doing anything. I knew I needed to do something, but conscious thought seemed to have deserted me.


    The next bullet jolted me out of it. It missed my leg, instead burying itself into the floor. It woke me out of my stupor, and I moved out of the doorway. My one functional hand hammered a button, I didn¡¯t care which, any button would do. Just away from here.


    The chain shot in again, the hook on the end sounding like it was roaring as it dug a furrow into the wall. Scraps of flesh and skin hung off of it and I resisted the urge to vomit. It moved about, mindless in its thrashing.


    I grabbed the top of the control panel with my hand, hauled myself up. Then I stamped on the chain. I hit the first time, my foot clamping down on the chain right next to the hook. For now it was held in place.


    An arm reached through the gap in the doors as they closed. Holding a knife it swung, and fresh pain bloomed on my cheek. My good hand went for the knife in my pocket while my other one tried to hold the doors closed button down. It felt like pressing with a wet noodle. At least I still had feeling in the remaining fingers.


    Beneath my foot the chain jerked. I kept my boot pressed down, forcing it to still, and I had the knife out now. Unfortunately the Chainer was half-inside by now.


    I lunged forward with the knife, trying to drive the tip into the eyehole. Instead the blade cut through the cloth of the mask, slicing into the cheek. I drove it deeper, feeling the resistance as it sliced through skin to the bone and teeth beneath. They recoiled with a short scream. Their own knife clattered against the floor, dropped. They tried to bat me away with their now weaponless arm.


    I ducked underneath, and pressed further in on the knife. Blood poured out from the slash in the mask, hot and slippery on my fingers. Just leave already. Don¡¯t make me kill you. A panicked eye stared at my own through the eye hole, and it felt like I could taste how afraid they were. I twisted the knife, the blade scraping against teeth.


    With another scream, they pulled out of the elevator, the doors closing swiftly with a screech.


    I didn¡¯t have time to celebrate my triumph as pain broke out across my foot. Looking down, the hook was now embedded into my boot, having gotten enough slack. My ankle screamed in fresh agony as the hook carved its way through my skin and into bone.


    I was already reaching down for it when the entire chain length yanked, pulling me off my feet.


    I barely got an arm up in time to prevent the front of my head slamming into the wall. I almost wished I hadn¡¯t as a crack ran out and I could feel something shift inside my forearm. I nearly bit my tongue as I impacted. Fresh pain. So much that I couldn¡¯t name any that didn¡¯t send lances of it through me.


    My head rang all the same. How I could even think, let alone move, was a mystery. The chain yanked on my foot, but its grip was shallow. It hadn¡¯t latched onto bone. So instead it tore out a several inch strip of flesh and boot as I screamed once again.


    The hook rose up in the air like a snake, blood streaked links coiling on the floor as a lump of something from me hanged impacted on the point.


    No Chainer had tried to enter since the first. Perhaps because they knew the hook could handle me. I doubted any of them wanted to be knifed.


    The elevator doors had closed on the chain, but the elevator had yet to rise. Had it been locked somehow? It didn¡¯t matter. There was enough chain past the doors that the hook wouldn¡¯t be restrained.


    I tried to get up, but failed as both my legs felt like shattered sticks, one hand couldn¡¯t even move, and the other¡­I tried to clench it and only two fingers responded.


    I tried to crawl. Immediately the chain came smashing across the front of my face, heavy iron links bashing my forehead. I went down, dazed, as the chains crawled over my back, shifting across. I didn¡¯t know where the hook was. Probably ready to stab in once again.


    I shook my head, lunged upwards to the panel. Something bit into the back of my shoulder, yanking me back. But one of my remaining fingers hit a button.


    The elevator started moving upwards immediately as the hook ripped out of my shoulder. It whipped about above my head while the elevator suddenly jerked to a halt. A new scream from down below as the taut chain caught between the elevator doors


    The hook rammed into the walls multiple times as the scream from below turned into a shriek. My ears felt like they were bleeding. I crawled over to the doors, and moved my hands towards the doors. Neither were really responding to me trying to move them. But I had enough control to force the doors open a little.


    Both chain and hood retracted out of the elevator, and the doors close. I turned onto my back, just focusing on breathing. The elevator restarted and began traveling to my unknown destination.


    I thought it had been bad when I¡¯d gotten off that fire escape. Well, I had found worse.


    With the one hand not currently split in half, I grabbed the sleeve of my coat and ripped, managing to tear some strips of fabric even as the forearm on that arm felt like it had caught on fire. I was more wounds than a person at this point. I ignored the pain and started wrapping my injured hand, which was currently busy pumping blood all over the elevator floor.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t think it would be that easy, would you?¡± The speaker had crackled to life again. No ambiguity if the Night Manager knew I was on here or not now.


    ¡°Fuck off,¡± I snapped, then finished wrapping the piece of the shirt around my torn hand. I tied it as tight as I could get it, as much as it hurt. My entire hand felt like it was on fire, and the cloth was already stained red from the bleeding. Shit, there were arteries that had probably torn through, now pumping my blood out on top of all the other injuries I had suffered.


    Adrenaline was the only explanation for how I was even awake, much less moving. Never mind my other arm, which was protesting every movement I made with it. The less said about my legs the better. Or my head. My back. Any part of me really.


    ¡°You should have left if you knew you weren¡¯t paying,¡± the Night Manager said over the loudspeaker. ¡°Instead you decided to risk us instead. Should have bet on the open street instead of breaking our contract.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not even aware of any contract,¡± I protested as I backed away from the speaker. For all I knew something could try to reach out of there. It wouldn¡¯t be the weirdest thing to happen.


    ¡°Lie if you will. It will not matter soon. We have your elevator under our control now, and this chase will end-¡° The speaker cut off mid-sentence, and so did the elevator, suddenly jolting to a halt.


    ¡°Hello?¡± No response from the speaker at all. Was this the floor I was to die on? Probably, but with how abruptly she had cut off I could hope that wasn¡¯t the case. That and the doors still remaining closed.


    Pressing the button to open them wasn¡¯t helping either, and eventually, I got my hands between the doors and began to open them. It felt like the hook was going through my right hand again. Worse, this was a lot harder than last time. Blood was running down the door from where my hand was. I had stemmed most of the flow but it was still leaking out. Running out of time. More of my blood was spread all over the interior of the elevator.


    I got the door open at least. Concrete occupied the same level as my eyes. Stuck between floors, which was at least a sign that they weren¡¯t expecting me on this floor.


    Why the elevator had stopped was a mystery, but it was one I wasn¡¯t going to question for now.  I went for the floor below, not trusting myself to be able to clamber to the floor above.


    Peering out first before I left, the hall seemed deserted. Although not for long if the Night Manager started giving updates through the speakers again. Maybe whatever had stopped her mid-diatribe was keeping her off the speakers. Not something I could count on. I moved my meager possessions near the edge and then tried to clamber down.


    Lowering myself out of the elevator was more difficult than it sounded. Trying to lower myself with one fucked up arm and an even worse off hand was torture, and my legs buckled just falling the foot to the ground, my vision swimming as I made impact.


    I didn¡¯t pass out. I did spend what felt like eternity gasping for breath. Nothing had snapped in the fall, which I¡¯d take as a victory. Staying alive also counted, as miniscule as it was.


    The elevator was still there as I got back up. I got the suitcase from where I left it on the floor, reached out, and grabbed the pistol from where I had dropped it as well. Best not to linger, especially if the elevator restarted itself while I was caught halfway in it.


    Although it probably wouldn¡¯t be a more painful way to go than slowly bleeding to death. Not a good thing to think of. I had taken a look at the cloth I had bound my hand with. Soaked, bloodied, and a steady drip near a stream was falling from it. I was doing my best to ignore that for now. I would keep alive. Or so I told myself.


    I didn¡¯t even limp anymore, essentially forcing myself forward along the wall. Not having it there for support made it impossible to move. Well, moving upright. I could probably still crawl if I really needed to.


    I had stashed both weapons in my coat for all the good it would do me. One hand was barely responding, and from the way my forearm was bent, I could guess why. The other I was doing my best not to look at it even as the pain from it was fading. And any other sense as well, my arm going numb.


    The one hand I could feel and actually manipulate was locked around the handle of the suitcase. I should have left it, honestly, but I was still holding on. Only a reminder of who I was. Supposedly, I didn¡¯t want to be this person. What I did know suggested I was some kind of killer who stuffed corpses into suitcases.


    Corpses was probably not correct but I didn¡¯t want to dwell on that either.


    I could still hope there was a clue hidden in the case for me to find at some point, something to hint at who I was or what had happened. Or a way out of this mess.


    Just a few more steps. There was a door. I didn¡¯t care what was behind it. At this point, I¡¯d be happy just to get it open.


    A bit of luck for me, it was a bar handle, so I could open it with my elbow. If it was unlocked. The door had a sign saying laundry service, which wasn¡¯t a good place to run to but I was out of other options.


    My vision was going again, growing dimmer and fuzzier. I needed to rest, even if it was just to die in peace. Maybe someone would be willing to patch me up. I¡¯d try to keep going until I knew death was inevitable. So I put my full weight on the handle and pushed.


    A mistake, I realized that as soon as the door was partially open. Even with my vision fading, I could see the yawning void where the floor should be. But I had put what was left of my strength into going through this door. There was nothing left to stop me as I fell into the void.

 Chapter 6 - Lagoons and Shadows

    It took a second for what I had done to catch up to me as I was plummeting down the open shaft. My shriek bounced off the walls around me then got lost as I fell past it. Panic gripped me for at least the first five seconds, then I realized that I hadn¡¯t died yet.


    I could die anytime, since the floor where my fall would terminate was out of sight. And before this I had been pretty close to death to begin with. Also, as I breathed in weakly, it felt like any further attempt to scream would be a wheeze.


    I tried to calm down, just focusing on the sensation of the wind rushing past me. I succeeded a little. I could at least focus enough to think and check out my surroundings. Or what I could check, given the absence of light. Would it have killed past me to pack a flashlight?


    Wait, there had been one in the briefcase, but considering I was barely holding on to the handle as I plummeted down, trying to get it out would be a bad idea.


    It was not entirely dark in here, little bits of light from along the side of the shaft from doors being opened briefly, people tossing laundry out, baskets of clothing being thrown out into the abyss with me. I certainly hoped that was what I could feel around me, and not what I had encountered in the bathroom before. I knew that was wrong.


    Clothes didn¡¯t feel like syrup, hard rigid objects, or the other textures and shapes I could feel. I just pretended to ignore it for now. I didn¡¯t feel the same urgency that I had before. Or maybe it was just being swallowed by the existing existential dread that soon I would be dying anyway. I was likely to land straight onto something solid, hard, and very likely to kill me. Could they make this any worse?


    How long was this drop, anyway? It had seemed like this building was endless from the outside, but clearly, it couldn¡¯t be that long in reality. And I had been near the bottom just a few minutes ago. But there were no signs of anything below me still.


    The light was gone soon, leaving me completely in the dark. Clearly out of doors. Was this eternal? I wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d choose death by starvation over death by hitting the ground, but both looked like options. Or blood loss, since I could still feel the wet slickness of it coming out of my existing wounds.


    The hot flashing pain was beginning to become a dull throbbing ache, probably not from them getting better and more likely because I was getting close to passing out. Or blood loss was in fact already kicking in. Money on the blood loss then. It was a struggle to even think about, as I continued tumbling down.


    Intellectually, I knew I should be feeling more upset over that, but I just felt tired as the wind rushed past me. The only sensation left for me was that touch of the wind, the pain, and where the wind combined with damp clothes to create a chill. Even if I survived the fall, what would be for me at the bottom? More people wanted to kill me, and I didn¡¯t really want to keep on running. Even if I could run, right now it felt like crawling would maybe be beyond me.


    It felt like hours when something broke the darkness.


    I could see lights now, pale-colored and coming into view. It was something to focus on. A motley assortment of colored lights mixed in down below. Most were white or yellow, but all the colors of the rainbow were mixed in there as well. Smaller lights were coming into view, more and more, a sea of darkness broken up by islands of light. Some as big as an actual island, most smaller.


    That description was more accurate than I thought as I fell past the shaft and into a cavern instead. I thought it was a cavern at least, nothing but air stretching on either side. Far, far below, the inky blackness, but not of more darkness. Of water, deep and dark. Still a ways away, but that distance was shrinking quickly.


    The light was oppressive, a dozen small suns holding vigil above the water. I could see ground, islands, or coasts or something mixed in and among the water. The suns were the largest but plenty of smaller lights. Many of them moving across the lake¡¯s surface. An entire flotilla of small boats and ships were traveling across the surface. They looked strange. But that could just be the overhead view.


    Clothes were everywhere. Above and below fabric and cloth of all kinds and types of clothing were fluttering down with me. None had caught on me, but they did surround me. If these things come alive to try and collect the rent That thought died in my head as my eyes fluttered.


    Knowing there was an appointment between me and the water below made them want to shut even more. Dying in my sleep sounded better than the alternative. Not enough time now.


    I tried my best to brace myself, not that I could muster much strength in my own limbs against the wind. That numbness that had been spreading across me was near complete, from either exhaustion, blood loss, or something else. I couldn¡¯t feel my limbs, much less move them. Not that it would matter, I had been falling more than long enough to hit freefall speeds, so even falling into the water I was about to go splat.


    Well, it had been a short, painful little life thus far, and I could say I hadn¡¯t enjoyed it that much. Not that I wanted to die, but better this than something slow and painful. I closed my eyes as the surface of the water neared.


    I hit the water, and somehow I wasn¡¯t dead.


    It wasn¡¯t a pleasant landing, a gasp getting punched loose from me as my torso felt like a horse had kicked each part of it. I got my mouth shut before any water could come. Resisting the urge to open it to scream was only possible because of how tired I was.


    Even when I wasn¡¯t dying, it had to be painful, although I couldn¡¯t expect anything less since I had hit my torso first. Seems I¡¯m alive for now, I thought to myself, a little bit of feeling back in my limbs. I could at least feel how painful they currently were.


    How I was living escaped me for now, since I should have hit with enough force to thoroughly break me, but outside of the existing rib issue, nothing felt dramatically worse than before. Well, the ribs actually did feel much worse than before. The dull ache in my chest before was now an active and painful burning. Whatever wasn¡¯t broken was probably bruised at best, I thought as I began to sink. The less said about each limb, the better. The water around me was already showing little streaks of red.


    The water was warm, not to the point of scalding, but enough that it had shocked me a little. This time there was no water in my lungs, and I managed to tread for a little bit while I tried to get the water out of my eyes. It wasn¡¯t easy. The sudden splash had reenergized me but it wasn¡¯t lasting, not helped by the fact that I felt like I had taken a sledgehammer to everywhere that had hit the water


    Looking around, the lights were enough to keep the surface of the water illuminated, which was nice. They also illuminated down below as well. That wasn¡¯t so nice.


    Looking down, it initially seemed like just a shallow pool of water I was in, the ground only a couple of dozen feet below the surface of the water. Then I noticed that the ground was moving. It resembled less the dirt of a lake and more the gray and brown pockmarked skin of a living creature. I couldn¡¯t tell what it was. Its length and breadth stretched beyond the parts of the water I could see through. But the movement was placid and slow. Maybe it wasn¡¯t hostile? Or hadn¡¯t noticed me? Or maybe I just was too small to eat?


    There wasn¡¯t anything I could do if it changed its mind. Treading water was challenging me already.


    The waters pushed against me, a small wave forming then going over my head. I sputtered water as I tried to keep on the surface, limbs burning from the exertion.


    One of the boats I had seen on my plummet downwards was coming closer, steam billowing out of the singular smokestack as it paddled closer. I had thought they looked strange on the way down. Now I knew why. Long nets were on either side of the boats, collecting everything as they passed. The clothes maybe? The most inefficient laundry service in existence.


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    There was a trio of figures on the prow of the ship, one of them gesturing towards me and raising an arm. In greeting I guessed, but I couldn¡¯t raise my own arm in greeting. I focused on keeping afloat instead.. Actually, I was already losing progress there. I thought it was just the churning of the water as the ship got closer but the water level was getting higher. It was becoming a struggle just to keep my chin above it, and even that was beginning to slip.


    I could hear someone yelling, but I was already fading. Darkness came.


    ¡­¡­


    I woke up, and the first thing I felt was that I was wet. Again. I tried to sit up, only for something to hold me down. Horizontally across my body and I could feel fibers against my bare skin. I was being restrained by ropes. Tight enough that every breath felt like a struggle against the pair running across my chest.


    I could move my head at least, away from where it was currently stuck staring at a wooden ceiling up above, rotting and moldy wood that had the occasional droplet dripping down. Falling nowhere near me, thankfully. I¡¯d had enough of water.


    Around me was an oversized closet, with shelves and cabinets surrounded me. They were made of grey and light green wood. Misshapen and warped throughout, giving the impression I was in a room of waves instead of straight lines.


    A single lamp burned above me. It provided some dim light, and I could see a wooden door haphazardly framed in the wall. Light shone in from holes formed between the door and the frame. Much brighter than the lamp light, they were almost painful to look at. There were very few shadows here, something I was thankful for right now.


    I tried to move once again, wriggling as much as I could. My hands were both restrained by the rope around my waist, and pretty tightly as well as I tried to pull them through. I suddenly froze, then wriggled all the fingers I could. Ten.


    That¡­I could vividly remember that hook ripping two of mine off on my right hand, but now I was moving them, I could feel the rough grain of the woods underneath as I bent them. More than that, the intense pain from before was gone, replaced by a mild ache. By all rights, I should be a broken, barely moving mess.


    The missing fingers also felt shorter than they had before. And I felt strange, itchy sensations at the base of the two fingers that should be gone. What was going on?


    Okay, enough thinking about that, I had more important things to worry about. Someone had clearly decided to restrain me here, probably for nothing good. At least they had the decency of leaving me in my existing clothes.


    There were a total of five ropes tied horizontally across me. Those were the ones that I could feel at least. Straining to lift my head high enough confirmed it, one shoulder height, one chest height, one around the waist, one above my knees, and a final one over my ankles.


    Maybe I could saw through the ropes somehow? The choker I had on was ridiculously sharp given how I had cut my finger on it, but there wasn¡¯t really a way to use it. There wasn¡¯t a lot of slack to any of them either, they¡¯d left me enough to breathe but not enough to move. And even getting out of the ropes around my chest wouldn¡¯t help thanks to the cuffs around my wrists and ankles.


    I could lift my head a little though, and something glinting on the floor below caught my eye. A knife.


    Well, glinting was perhaps the wrong word, as it could barely reflect light at all. Rust had consumed most if not all the metal of the blade. It also looked like it could barely qualify as a pocket knife. But it was a better opportunity to escape than anything else.


    I hadn¡¯t heard a noise from beyond the door since I had woken up. Hopefully, that meant no one was there. I did not need someone to just be sleeping or just being very quiet over in the next room. Because I doubted this next bit would go quietly.


    I moved as far as I could from one side, then to the other, trying to tilt the table as much as I could. Like I had noticed before, not much slack. Just enough to allow me to breathe. But it was enough to start at least.


    The wood of the table was helping, like everything else here it was uneven and that made it easier. It was rocking nowhere near enough to tip over yet, but it was a sta-


    That thought was interrupted as, with a pair of snaps, two of the table legs gave way, sending the rest of the table to the ground. And me along with it as the edge of the table rammed into the stone floor of the hut. Wood splintered near the edge. But to my frustration, the tabletop I was strapped to was still intact. I craned my neck, trying to spot the knife, and it was near my hand at least. A good two or three inches away, which I¡¯d have to strain to reach for, but obtainable.


    I grasped and felt what was clearly the blade of the knife. I wasn¡¯t close enough to get to the handle, but I managed to grab the flat of the blade to drag it closer. I eventually got my hands around the handle and managed to leverage it against the rope around my waist.


    It wasn¡¯t long after that I had cut through the remaining ropes as well. Even with the rust, the blade remained sharp at least. With some final sawing through the ropes I hit the ground, then quickly scrambled back to my feet, gripping the knife tightly. My only weapon for now.


    I frowned, looking at my hand. I could see it clearly now, and the missing fingers and chunks of flesh that had been torn out were there once again. Half the size I remembered them. Three knuckles, they looked like miniature versions of the other fingers. The itching hadn¡¯t stopped either. A mystery for later.


    Now it was time to get out of here.


    Of course that¡¯s when the sound of a door opening came from the next room over.


    My body stilled as my hand tightened around the stolen knife, and my breathing slowed. I could hear someone moving from beyond the door. The light from the various cracks in its surface disappeared then reappeared as whoever or whatever lay beyond moved about in the room. Could they see me through one of those cracks? I hoped not. Even if they could, I didn¡¯t move. Too much chance of making a noise. So instead, I waited as still as I could as the figure crossed in front of the door.


    They weren¡¯t making too much noise, the occasional grunt, the sound of moving footsteps, the scrape of wood across the floor. Probably a chair. I waited, and then waited some more as the sound of something being cut came from the other door. Great, they were having a meal.


    I did my best to relax, awkwardly as I was currently folded in on myself but still balanced on two feet. Not the best of places to have to wait in without making a noise. I could blame past me for that. They were apparently responsible for all my problems after all.


    It was probably only ten or twenty minutes waiting. Ut felt like an eternity waiting, still stuck in damp clothes. The sound of the chair scraping against the floor. The light became blocked. I tensed. The clack of boots on a floor. The gurgle of strained, unnatural breathing.


    A few shallow breaths later and the light shone through the tiny holes and cracks once again. They had moved on.


    A drop of water splattered against my cheek. I almost made a noise and tried to force it down halfway through the sound leaving my throat. The result was a very muffled squeak for lack of better words. I lifted the knife, ready for the door to open.


    There was a pause, then a muttering from the other side, and then the sound of a door opening. Not mine. I breathed out as the other door closed.


    My racing heart slowed down as my grip on the knife loosened a little. Just enough where the handle wasn¡¯t pressing into my hand. I wondered why they apparently didn¡¯t care to check on the person tied up in their closet later. Shouldn¡¯t waste this much time on reasons. I need to get out. I grabbed the handle of the door and opened it.


    It was a larger room, but not a very spacious one. This one definitely had more of a lived-in quality though, with a bed in the corner, a table, and a dresser. Still all warped wood but they were clearly functional. The ceiling was in better shape, or at least there was no water dripping from it. Most importantly, there was only one other door, in no better shape than the closet one. There was a gap at the bottom, through which mud was seeping in, so I doubted that one opened to another room.


    Outside of the small assortment of furniture I had already noted, there was something else in a corner of the room. It was the only thing in here that was made out of something besides wood, instead being made of metal. A small box with several objects placed inside, etched scenes on the outside walls of the box.


    The box itself didn¡¯t have too much out of the ordinary, just another knife, a hexagon of some kind of metal, a cloth cap colored red, and the rotting remains of a three-headed fish. Perfectly normal, I thought as I stared at the three dead sets of eyes staring up at me. I could spend time questioning why a three-headed fish was in there or why it was perched against the wall to stare upwards. However, I had more important things to do, like getting out of here.


    I did spare a glance at the etchings on the outside. A city, towering buildings, on a rock, or at least that¡¯s how I interpreted the rough rectangle the city was on top of. Above, a single figure, female and human looking, in what looked like a business suit, light emanating from her. She was chasing things that looked like clouds of darkness away from the edges of the city. I could take a guess at what those were supposed to be after my experiences with the bathroom and the flickering lightbulb.


    There were other etchings on the other sides of the box, but I had wasted enough time here. It was time to leave before whoever had tied me up came back. I turned back to the door, which was, of course, right when someone chose to open it, walking inside with the thud of boots on the wooden floor.

 Chapter 7 - Knives and Conversations

    The first thing I noticed was that the other person was surprisingly human¡ªnot entirely human of course, with a face that looked more like a frog. Broad flabby face with no visible neck, wide and thick lips, bulging eyes, one staring off to the side while the other was fixed on me. A long, thick tongue hanging half out their mouth. Besides that he looked human though. A very bulky human who looked almost as wide as he was tall, taking up almost the entire door.


    That wasn¡¯t what I should be focusing on. My eyes flicked down to what was in his right hand¡ªa cleaver¡ªbroad, thick at the back but with a definite edge on the front, and streaked with dried green fluid. Something¡¯s blood, I was sure.


    Their other hand held a sack from which a two-headed fish seemed to peer at me over the top.


    Silence stretched out until he released the sack. It fell against the wooden floor with a heavy thud. The plank shuddered, cracking as it splintered under the weight. How many fish were in there?


    He continued to eye me, but didn¡¯t say anything. It looked like it was up to me to start this conversation.


    ¡°Hello¡ª¡± Then I rushed them


    My knife was at the ready, to give this stranger tetanus if nothing else. If I could I¡¯d make a break outside but not until he was handled. I didn¡¯t want to kill them, but I also didn¡¯t favor my chances of getting past them and out the door. At least not without a cleaver buried in my back.


    Not that this is safer, I thought. The cleaver moved quickly, already on a collision course with my head.


    I halted, pulling back just before the cleaver passed through the air. A half second later and it would have been through my head¡ªmuch quicker than I thought he could move.


    He was moving towards me now. I backed up, putting the table between the two of us. It wasn¡¯t much of a barrier, but it would have to work for now. He kept to the side towards the door. No slipping past and making it there.


    The table¡¯s effectiveness as a barrier wasn¡¯t much. It was only a few feet long. The stranger lunged forward, cleaver slicing once again. I backed up and hit the wall, and once again the cleaver barely missed me. The lack of room in here was favoring them, not me.


    The stranger pushed against the table, the legs scraping against the floor as he tried once again. Same angle, same arc, which meant an opportunity. I grabbed their wrist with one hand, just to slow their arm down enough. I drove the knife into the inside of their elbow, the rusty blade piercing through cloth and into the skin beneath.


    The knife wasn¡¯t long but it was enough, and I could feel the blood spurting out. He roared in pain, but to my dismay did not drop the cleaver. He pulled their arm back. I let go of their wrist and pulled the knife out¡ªit was either that or being pulled along with it.


    He stared at me with hatred in their eyes. All I¡¯d achieved was pissing them off. Great.


    I needed to do something to change the situation. As things stood, I doubted my little knife would act as much of a deterrent if he just charged me. I¡¯d have to do something to change that.


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose I can convince you to let me pass?¡± I ventured. I was mostly hoping to keep them distracted while I tried to think of something else. He had the reach, the better weapon, the room was tiny, what did I have?


    ¡°You stabbed me,¡± the stranger growled. I couldn¡¯t tell if he had an accent or if it was just the way he was saying the words, but it sounded off. Also, despite the guttural nature, it was pretty even in terms of pitch.


    ¡°And I woke up tied to a table, which I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m not into. Both of us have hurt the other, some more than others, so back to letting me pass...¡± I said. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure but I was leaning towards no. Both of them let me pass and my inclinations.


    ¡°Not going to happen. And I wasn¡¯t the one who tied you to the table to begin with. Now, put the knife down. I have no wish to get tetanus restraining you.¡± Their eyes remained locked on my hand with the knife, to my annoyance. I tried to reach for the table only for their gaze to dart there instead. He wasn''t that easily distracted.


    ¡°Put the cleaver down first, and then maybe I¡¯ll put the knife down,¡± I eyed the cleaver, then the door behind them. Okay, it would be painful, but could I take a blow in return for getting out? I¡¯d taken quite a few blows getting here. What would be one more?


    Then again, I doubted I¡¯d get as far. And I¡¯d been little more than a cripple when I hit that water.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I¡¯m quite confident that even with us both disarmed, I can handle you. No eye-gouging though, it¡¯s a pain to get fixed.¡±


    I¡­was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t that easy to fix a gouged eye. I didn¡¯t ask why, questions like that would be for less tense situations.


    I dropped the knife. I was already regretting that, and the cleaver did not in fact drop. The stranger gave me a grin showing off rows of needle-like teeth, but then he set their own blade down on a stool.


    ¡°Well, we are both now relatively less dangerous. I don¡¯t suppose I can get you back on the table?¡±


    ¡°Not likely,¡± I replied. ¡°I can think of a lot of different reasons you might have me tied up in a table. None of them are good.¡±


    The grin on their face turned a touch nervous. ¡°Truth be told, Sofi said you once threatened to flay whoever down here screwed up your laundry a couple of weeks back.¡±


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    What. Great, not only was I someone who killed people then stuck the bodies in suitcases, apparently I also threatened people over laundry.


    ¡°I¡­okay, did not expect to hear that,¡± I muttered. ¡°Uh, how to put this, I woke up, maybe twenty four hours or so ago, I couldn¡¯t keep track, with no memories.¡±


    The stranger mulled that over for a bit before giving me an incredulous look. ¡°Is that some kind of joke?¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s a joke, it¡¯s a joke being pulled on me.¡± I said ¡°I swear to g-¡°


    ¡°Do not say that!¡± he interjected.


    My mouth shut reflexively at the harsh, desperate tone. The stranger had their gaze turned skyward, hand halfway to the cleaver.


    ¡°Do you want to bring her attention down on us? What are you, stupid?¡± he hissed.


    ¡°I have no memories to tell what is stupid or not. All I have are vague memories of Earth, most of them popping in at random times,¡± I shot back angrily.


    It made some kind of mistake but I was getting a little tired of all the unearned hostility. Unearned by me at least. This Suitcase Killer seemed excellent at collecting it.


    ¡°Earth? You¡¯re not from Earth. You¡¯re from a House, a low one admittedly, but still a damn House.¡± he said.


    ¡°That. Means. Nothing. To me,¡± I angrily snarled, then resisted the urge to add an insult to the end. I wanted to de-escalate this but was only making it worse. I needed to control my tongue.


    ¡°You were born in the City. Which is not on Earth. Most people here haven¡¯t even heard of Earth, but when I was working as a shadowfisher, one of my coworkers came from there. She¡¯s dead now. Well, as dead as you can get.¡±


    Again with the words that meant nothing to me. Shadowfisher? As dead as you can get?


    ¡°Look, I am being completely honest. I don¡¯t know this place, I don¡¯t know who I am. My earliest memory is waking up in a bathtub filled with ice, fully clothed, and everything since then has been miserable experience to miserable experience, culminating in me waking up on that table and deciding not to wait around to be cashed in for free rent.¡±


    He frowned ¡°That was not the plan. We wouldn¡¯t get anything from turning you in anyway.¡±


    ¡°You¡­you¡¯re not turning me into the Night Manager?¡±


    ¡°No. As far as I know, Sofi wants to talk with you, then we decide what to do. And making our erstwhile boss¡¯ life easier is very far down on that list.¡±


    I didn¡¯t respond immediately, thinking. The fact that I wasn¡¯t being turned in to the Night Manager didn¡¯t automatically make this person my friend. But it didn¡¯t make them my enemies either.


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry about attacking you earlier,¡± I said sheepishly. ¡°I just woke up tied up and panicked. When you came in, I thought it was you or me.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t really blame you, but this is going to be a pain to get fixed up,¡± The stranger examined their elbow before shaking their head. ¡°But we can let bygones be bygones. Make things easier for all involved, if it means you¡¯ll come along willingly.¡±


    I didn¡¯t really have much of a choice beforehand, but it was nice to be offered one at least.


    ¡°First things first,¡± I paused as a song decided to insert itself into my head at that. For fucks sake, what was wrong with me? Even worse it was an irritating ear worm as well. And who was Iggy Azalea?


    ¡°Are you having a stroke?¡±


    That jolted me out of what was hopefully a quickly forgotten song. ¡°Sorry. What should I call you?¡±


    ¡°I go by Ildat. I am guessing you don¡¯t want to be called the Suitcase Killer?¡±


    ¡°Indigo will work for now.¡± I relaxed a smidge. Not much. But more than I had so far in this place.


    ***


    We both stepped out of the wooden hut and right into mud. Cursing, I pulled my boot-clad foot out of the mud as rain fell down from above, turning the ground in front of us into a mire.


    ¡°Yeah, wastewater is being dumped,¡± Ildat said, carefully stepping onto a wooden plank.


    Looking around, I could see that there were shacks all around made of wood, sheet metal, or other materials. A small track of wooden planks and dirt meandered in between them. With the downpour it was swiftly becoming a small stream bridged by wooden planks. Brilliant.


    I looked up, blinked a few times as fat drops of rain splattered across my face. I knew this had to be a cavern, I had fallen from the top of it, but all I could see was the darkness at the edge of the light.


    It was moving against the light. Because of course it was.


    ¡°What is going on with the darkness?¡± I asked Ildat, who looked up at it then back to me.


    ¡°You are joking, right?¡±


    ¡°No memories,¡± I repeated. ¡°You know what, let¡¯s save it for after I meet with Sofi. Who is she anyway?¡±


    ¡°Top of the hill,¡± he pointed up. It was hard to tell, shacks and other, taller structures in the way, but the path was clearly slanted. It was a slight angle at first, growing steeper the further it went. Looking the other way gave a view of more shacks continuing down below.


    There was a waterline, I could see warehouses down there, ships, docks. We were on the side of a hill it looked like. I could see people moving about even in this weather, raincoats moving down below. Hundreds, easily, and those were just those I could see down by the waterline, moving among the docked vessels. Others moved in and out of the warehouses, carrying bundles of something.


    A ship pulled in, a strange monstrosity of iron and wood. I called it a ship but it looked more like a shellfish pulling into the docks. Hatches opened on the side as raincoat-wearing crew rushed out carrying more bundles. It was just one ship of easily a dozen pulling into the docks.


    This place was massive, there must be hundreds living and operating here easily. A small town and port, just to service the hotel?


    Intercoms crackled to life from somewhere above us around us and I tensed, but the voice that came out wasn¡¯t the Night Manager¡¯s. It was a woman, younger than the Night Manager and with more life to it.


    ¡°Good evening employees. Unfortunately, we appear to be falling behind on quota¡¯s once again and pay has been suspended till they are made up. Food will still be made available but all other services are suspended till current deficits in fish and salt are made up by the respective departments. In addition, floors 84 through 97 are still lacking laundry from five days ago. Prioritize that over floors 100 through 112, they are currently undergoing refurbishment. I¡¯ll see about getting services back on regardless. Consider our current rain issue a reminder from on high about how they can make things worse. Keep up the good work.¡±


    The intercoms turned off, leaving nothing but the sound of rain, then the sound of clattering wood. People in raincoats were navigating across the planks a little ways down, coming up carrying a coffin of some kind. Ildat pulled at me lightly and I went back inside the shack.


    ¡°Let them pass first,¡± he said reverently.


    ¡°Someone who actually is dead?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Maybe. The lake gives up the newborn sometimes. Travelers and spawn alike.¡± Ildat replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to get a straight answer somewhere here, I swear,¡± I muttered.


    Ildat chuckled. ¡°We should get walking once they¡¯ve passed then. You¡¯ve heard of the Night Manager. Now it¡¯s time to meet the Underneath Manager.¡±

 Chapter 8 - Underneath Management

    Getting to the peak of the hill was worse than having my hand torn off.


    Rain poured down on me, soaking me worse than the bathtub had. A steady drumbeat on a borrowed poncho, the occasional splatter hitting like a rock on top of my head. It had thrown me off balance three times so far.


    It threatened to do so again as I tried to gauge the distance between the long plank I was on and the next properly this time. Two feet ahead, half a foot up. Should be an easy distance to make. It wasn¡¯t going to be one.


    Wet wood creaked as it shifted underneath me as I hesitantly stepped forward. A misjudgment here would be bad. The continuing torrent of water had turned the side of the hill to a slowly collapsing pile of muck. Pounds of dirt were swiftly heading downhill beneath the planks, moving in a continual landslide of watery mess.


    It hadn¡¯t carried anyone down with it that I knew for sure, but I¡¯d seen a few shapes


    thrashing. I could only hope they hadn¡¯t been people.


    ¡°You have got to be kidding me!¡± I yelled back, straining my voice to be heard over the pounding of the rain.


    Behind me Ildat was nothing more than a rain-splattered poncho back on another plank. The rain¡¯s assault obscured everything else, reducing my hulking companion to nothing but an indeterminate mass. I thought I heard them yelling, but I couldn¡¯t tell what. The crackle of lightning and the roar of thunder was joining the rain now.


    Ildat stepped over to my plank, wood straining under the weight as he grabbed my shoulder. His attempt to balance himself resulted in me spending an uncomfortable second swaying on the plank. The mud continued its free slide downhill and I did not want to join it. It looked like the distance to it was even longer than a few minutes ago. How much of this hill had been carried away by the rains?


    Eventually Ildat found his balance and that wasn¡¯t a concern. For now. The way the plank was ominously creaking I wanted to spend as little time on it as possible.


    ¡°Do they have lightning and thunder packaged in with the water plan for this hotel?¡± I half-yelled at Ildat, who gave me a confused look in response.


    ¡°What? Oh, that. Local storm must have formed. Bad luck, but it¡¯s not usually this bad.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know what was weirder, that this cavern somehow had storms inside it, or that the hill getting eaten away by the rain qualified as a mere ¡°bad¡±. Then again, the distance to the muck was the same it had been at the start all of a sudden. It was vanishing again, but there was clearly more hill than there had been before. Probably something equally as strange. But I didn¡¯t stay to ask any more questions.


    The plank creaked as I tried to step up to the next. I managed to get the tip of my boot onto the plank, only for it to slide across the slick surface. I went plummeting to the muck down below, screaming. Then I stopped. Ildat hauled me back up. I¡¯d stopped before hitting it, but still, way too close. My heart pounded in my chest.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I yelled into his ear, getting an unexpected hand gesture in response. I¡¯d just assume the devil¡¯s horns were this place¡¯s version of a thumbs up for now.


    Helping each other, we made our way up the hill. If anyone else was still trying to make the trek, I didn¡¯t see. The storm made it hard to tell, but I hadn¡¯t seen anyone else as we had made our way up. They clearly had more sense than we did.


    The shacks and other buildings thinned out as we made our way up. Made sense, in a way. I wouldn¡¯t want to trek up a hill every time I went home either. Larger shacks, actually closer to proper houses now, even if they were still made out of the warped wood. Multiple rooms, at least.


    Another ten minutes of trudging. At minimum that long passed. I knew for sure that the eroding of this bill had been cyclic. It was hard not to notice, considering most of them time had been spent staring at the drifting hillside while making I got my feet on the next plank.


    The planks became level with each other again, and after I took my next step, the rain was gone. Someone had put up a canopy at the top of the hill. The pounding of rain on canvass still made a racket up above. Parts of the canopy that had torn let water pour in. But it was a million times better than being caught in it.


    Ildat took a step on the plank next to me. The wood freaked ominously once again and I looked down at it nervously. The plank was bending where he and I stood. I moved to a side, away from the middle which didn¡¯t really help.


    ¡°You know, I¡¯ve never had a plank collapse under me,¡± He said teasingly, grinning as I quickly moved to another plank. ¡°Besides, it¡¯s just mud.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just mud up here,¡± I countered. ¡°Down there I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d have drowned by the time I reached the bottom.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t argue with that, although typically people hook on to a plank before they end up in the sea.¡±


    I stared in a mixture of horror and disbelief at Ildat. I had been joking but was it enough of a regular event for him to know that?


    ¡°I really hope not too many people die from that,¡± I said somberly.


    Ildat chuckled, then when I shot him a horrified look added in a jovial tone ¡°We¡¯ve got a good system. And the Hotel has some degree of insurance for us when we die doing our jobs. So it¡¯s mostly just an inconvenience.¡±


    ¡°That, that¡¯s not how insurance works,¡± I said, stumbling over my words. What was wrong with this place?


    ¡°Maybe where you come from. We can talk about it later. Sofi is waiting.¡±


    I resisted the urge to press him for details. I¡¯d find a time to bend someone¡¯s ear to find out what the hell this place¡¯s deal was. Soon. Just not now.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    We had finally gotten to the crest of the hill, and it was smaller than I imagined. Only a few buildings up here. A series of smaller shacks, then in the middle of the flat hill a single house a few feet off the ground. It was one of the bigger buildings I¡¯d seen so far, which meant you might see it in a suburb back on earth.


    I paused at that. I hadn¡¯t really had time to think about it, but my knowledge was weird in itself. Basic concepts like insurance, or a suburb, or how big your typical suburban home was? I knew those. But then there was the weird tendency for encountering anything vaguely resembling part of pop culture to ram that piece right into the forefront of my mind.


    ¡°You coming?¡±


    Ildat had made it three more planks while I had been lost in thought. I nodded and leapt to the next one. I needed to focus on what was around me. An attempt to puzzle this out would be saved for when I had time. If that ever happened.


    The open planks got closer together before becoming an actual walkway. I¡¯d ask why the entire hill wasn¡¯t like that but I¡¯d probably get another urging not to waste time. Which, fair. I¡¯d imagine there was a pretty busy schedule in making sure the rain got itself turned off.


    The door to the house was the best of those I had seen on the hill. Which meant it didn¡¯t have a hole in it and mostly fit snugly into its frame. Ildat rapped on it twice, producing loud, resonating thuds as two fingers hit the door.


    I am so glad I decided not to fight him after all. Whatever Ildat was, watching him easily move between planks and cause them to nearly snap with each step had made that clear. Even without the cleaver he probably could have plucked me apart.


    Ildat paused, then without even a word from inside opened the door, strolling inside. I paused on the outside, not sure why he had just barged in. There was no yelling or other signs he wasn¡¯t welcome, so I followed in.


    There was an actual hallway, if a narrow one, a pair of doors and a few openings into different spaces. There were muffled sounds of someone talking from somewhere in the house as Ildat hung his water-logged poncho from a coat rack. I quickly went and did the same, then wiped my boots clean on a rather pitiful looking welcome mat.


    Ildat strode through the house with familiarity, beckoning for me to follow. Above the creaking of the wood, I could hear someone talking. It was a one-sided conversation, the same voice starting then stopping a few different times.


    Ildat went over and opened one of the doors,the talking now clear. Firm politeness permeated the tone.


    ¡°-trying to reach your quota, but please inform the Night Manager that the current amount of water is not helping with this. I understand it is a punishment for not meeting the quotas of yesterday but they will prevent us from-yes I know questioning these decisions are going to upset her, and that is not my intent-¡°


    Ildat was already inside and I quickly followed after, into a cozy little study already occupied. At the desk, a young woman was talking into an old rotary telephone, beckoning for us to be seated.


    She was young, probably as young as I appeared to be, darkly olive skin freshly wet as if it had just been washed. Loose shoulder-length dark brown hair going down to her shoulder, maybe half a head shorter than me, but a lot more curvaceously put together. She was wearing clothes that looked even older than my clothes, maybe Victorian in style and era, what you¡¯d see a dockworker wearing in the background of a movie, with minor tears and wear.


    I went to one of the two seats in front of the desk, Ildat claiming another as his own. Who I could only assume to be Sofi was listening to the phone intently. I could barely hear the other voice, harsh and tinny although maybe that was just the phone.


    ¡°We¡¯ll do our best down here. Just do not expect miracles,¡± she said before hanging up the phone and turning her attention to me.


    ¡°I see you¡¯ve finally awoken-¡°


    I would have paid more attention to whatever she said next if my brain hadn¡¯t decided those words were the perfect ones to trigger another wave of information to flood into my head. The roaring of dragons, a theme song I was not going to get out of my head and about five hundred arrows delivered into knees, among other things were now bouncing around in there.


    ¡°God. Damn. It.¡± I said, ¡°It¡¯s not even the same phrase used at the start!¡±


    ¡°Are you feeling okay?¡± Sofi asked, sounding amused.


    ¡°She had a similar experience earlier. I think she might have hit her head too hard on the way down,¡± Ildat said, eyeing me.


    ¡°Not possible. Everything was healed. Only the fingers should still be fixing themselves up.¡±


    I managed to force my head off of the latest piece culture to be forced into it.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that. Things are triggering memories¡­.it¡¯s a mess in here,¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Triggering memories?¡±


    ¡°She claims to have lost her memory Sofi. Completely. Woke up in a bathtub no idea who she is. It gets better. She thinks she¡¯s from earth.¡± Ildat chuckled.


    ¡°Claims?¡± I shot him a dirty look ¡°I¡¯m not claiming, it is what happened.¡±


    ¡°If you are telling the truth, otherwise claim is the best you get.¡±


    ¡°It is rather convenient for you that your memory goes missing right when you, as a person, are at your most wanted status,¡± Sofi opened a drawer on the desk, pulled out a stack of papers and started leafing through them.


    ¡°Is it convenient for me to pretend to be completely ignorant? To the point I went tumbling down a laundry shaft into a lake?¡±


    ¡°Desperate people have done dumber things in the past. Besides, you have insurance,¡± Ildat gave me a grin as I glared at him.


    ¡°Stop that. Please. Stop saying things like I¡¯m supposed to know what they are.¡±


    ¡°You claim no memory at all then?¡±


    ¡°No. I know things, just things from earth. And no specific memories, just general knowledge. Occasional bursts of specific knowledge when I encounter something similar to it. No¡­experiences or anything like that.¡±


    ¡°Hmm. And you recently got body-sculpted as well.¡±


    ¡°I what?¡±


    Sofi had stopped leafing and took the topmost paper from the pile. She placed it facing me on the desk, a poster with a picture of what my mind informed me was a pastel lolita nightmare. Also a bounty that I really hoped wasn¡¯t in dollars, because that was a lot of money.


    ¡°I used to look like this is what you are claiming?¡±


    ¡°Claiming? No. I¡¯ve had the displeasure of fielding complaints from you twice in the hotel proper from you. Once in your old body, once in this one.¡±


    Okay. There wasn¡¯t much I could say against that. What was I going to say, that I didn¡¯t think I was the suitcase killer because I had woken up in her room, in what was her body? Not even I believed that.


    ¡°So..am I her, just without any memories? But then why do I know about earth?¡±


    Sofi seemed lost in thought. Ildat seemed mostly just confused.


    ¡°A matter for another time. We will proceed assuming you are not the Suitcase Killer attempting some kind of ruse. I am Sofi, Manager of the Underneath Department for the Hotel. I was going to start this off by leveraging your forced debt to us to get your help. Now that might not be needed.¡±


    ¡°We were going to blackmail you with the debt you owe, but you seem slightly more personable than you normally are. So we don¡¯t hit with as big a stick.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, I think.¡± That was a little off putting for its sheer honesty. Or maybe just the glee that the grinning Ildat said it with.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t aware of the fact you are obligated by the divine to owe us service in return for patching you up.¡±


    Well that sounded horrifying. ¡°What kind of service would that be?¡±


    ¡°We want your help deposing the Night Manager."

 Chapter 9 - Negotiations on an Eroding Hill

    Well, that wasn¡¯t what I expected. Not that the Night Manager didn¡¯t seem like a pain in their necks, even if not as much as me. But they wanted to get rid of her. And they wanted my help.


    ¡°No,¡± I said flatly.


    Neither of them looked happy about that, although Sofi was more irritated while Ildat looked incensed. His face flushed green, he got to his feet, his chair knocked over. I reached in my pocket for the little knife, getting out of my own chair as he started walking towards me.


    ¡°You do not get to¡ª¡°


    ¡°Ildat, sit down.¡±


    Sofi¡¯s order cut him off, and it looked for a moment like he might argue. Then he quietly grabbed the chair off the floor and sat back down. I let go of the knife, releasing a breath I hadn¡¯t realized I was holding.


    Sofi turned her attention back to me. ¡°You do realize that you are divinely obligated to pay us back for aid rendered to you?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t,¡± I replied. ¡°Because it was never explained. But also, if there was some divine force going around making sure everyone is paying what they owe, the Night Manager wouldn¡¯t have been promising free rent for whoever could make me cough up what I owe them. They¡¯d just make me pay this money I supposedly owe.¡±


    There was the possibility I owed nothing at all, but that seemed so distant to not really be worth considering.


    ¡°It¡¯s true we cannot compel you to aid us,¡± Sofi admitted. ¡°We can, however, inflict a penalty for not paying us for services rendered.¡±


    ¡°Curses. Starting with undoing the healing Sofi gave you.¡± Ildat¡¯s smile was an angry one as he leaned uncomfortably close. I could imagine what those layers of teeth would do to my face if he got angry enough. I forced myself to breath slowly. If this did turn south, trying to fight my way out wouldn''t help. The glint of light on razor-sharp teeth wasn''t helping me keep calm though.


    ¡°For why the Night Manager has not done the same already, you technically have not been in breach of your contract yet, merely on the edge. Something you did likely made her decide you were at risk of just vanishing from the Hotel. And the process requires a hefty price. One she is not willing to pay but I am.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s say I believe all of what you¡¯ve said. Being cursed doesn¡¯t sound like something I want to experience. But I also don¡¯t want to get involved in some plot to overthrow your boss. I¡¯m grateful you saved my life. Not grateful enough to immediately throw it into some conflict I¡¯m not involved with.¡±


    ¡°She put a hit on your head,¡± Ildat observed.


    ¡°Sounds like I already had one on it.¡± I tapped the poster. I hadn¡¯t read it in detail the first time, but looking now it was clearly a wanted poster. I didn¡¯t know what a Vorde was, but apparently, I was worth a hundred thousand of them. What language was it in, anyway? I couldn¡¯t even remember what languages I knew, so another question for later.


    ¡°One inside the hotel. The regular one doesn¡¯t count inside. Our main service is protection from forces outside that might wish to harm you.¡±


    ¡°So this is less a hotel and more a paid protection service. Got it. But again, she hasn¡¯t done anything to personally piss in my oatmeal. I get out, and let bygones be bygones.¡±


    A bit of a lie, she had pissed me off with her taunting over the loudspeakers. But I could live with that if I got out of here.


    ¡°She won¡¯t return the favor,¡± Sofi warned. ¡°Her reputation as manager of this hotel means that she cannot afford to let a single person leave with debts unpaid.¡±


    ¡°Ultimately you¡¯re small fry compared to most patrons, but that just makes it so if you do pull it off, her reputation gets hurt even more.¡± Ildat gave me a grin that made my skin crawl. Too many teeth in that mouth.


    ¡°You have the nicest way of putting things you know?¡±


    There was a flash of anger behind Ildat¡¯s eyes before he replied. ¡°I do, don¡¯t I? As nicely as possible then. Take the deal being offered.¡±


    I tried to lean back in the chair but gave up as soon as I realized it would probably end with me hitting my head. Was I pushing this too far? Possibly, but after the last day of trying to survive, I wanted to not be subject to others¡¯ whims.


    I was tired again after that climb, I was still damp, I was hungry, and despite the amount of rain I had just walked through I could really go for a drink. In short, I was irritated enough not to care.


    ¡°Look, at the end of the day, what do I get out of this? I avoid being cursed, but in return, I¡¯m putting myself in the position to be screwed over even worse.¡±


    ¡°A bold assumption, since you do not even know the plan yet.¡± There was an undertone or irritation to Sofi¡¯s voice, flatness gaining an edge of irritation.


    ¡°Let me turn that on its head, since I don¡¯t know your plan, why should I trust that it will be successful?¡±


    Silence followed for a few seconds. Sofi looked frustrated, and Ildat looked frustrated and like he wanted to eat me. I was just pissed. We were at a stalemate, and not much better than when I had first woken up at the table. Even assuming they didn¡¯t try to coerce me into this scheme, I was still stuck in an unfamiliar place with people who I couldn¡¯t really trust. I did not want to spend most this conversation afraid that someone was going to take a bite out of me.


    Well, they wanted payment of some kind at minimum. I imagined a gun that created black holes had to be worth something.


    ¡°Look. I don¡¯t know if it will cover it, but you want my debt repaid? I¡¯m sure you have the gear I fell down here with. Assuming the gun didn¡¯t get wrecked by the water, take it, and I can do something small to make up the difference.¡±


    Whatever her other skills might be, Sofi was a skilled actress, because I barely caught the flash of surprise across her face. Ildat less of one as he took longer to compose himself.


    ¡°The gun alone is an overpayment, never mind the suitcase,¡± Sofi replied, then frowned, scrutinizing me ¡°You really don¡¯t know anything do you?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Like I¡¯ve been saying, no I do not. Also, why would the suitcase be worth more?¡±


    When I checked inside it, there were useful things, but nothing that looked expensive.


    ¡°It¡¯s your main tool of trade,¡± Sofi continued ¡°it¡¯s worth a little less without someone inside it, and it¡¯s a fell device to be sure, but that doesn¡¯t detract from its overall worth.¡±


    Oh. They meant the suitcase that had the person in it. But that made no sense.


    ¡°I left that in my room,¡± I said, ¡°it shouldn¡¯t be down here.¡±


    ¡°Material link,¡± Ildat interjected, ¡°expensive, but considering how much your services were in demand, not a surprise.¡±


    To them, not to me. I didn¡¯t even know what services ¡°I¡± performed for people. Given what I had found in the Suitcase, likely not anything good.


    ¡°Okay. Well, that¡¯s getting off track. Since these items are apparently worth more than my life, trading one should be more than enough then?¡± I asked. I couldn¡¯t care less about the corpse-carrying suitcase, so ditching that and getting out of this was only a benefit in my book.


    ¡°Technically yes,¡± Sofi said reluctantly. ¡°It¡¯s not a payment I would prefer but it would technically qualify.¡±


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    It sounded like pulling teeth for her to admit that, but it was clear there was another option available. So I had a choice in this. I could just give them the suitcase, clear out, and¡­crap. I was stuck.


    I discharge the debt I owe to these two, stroll on out, and do what? I knew even less about this place than the hotel. And irritating the manager of this place seemed a perfect way to ensure no one would help me out.


    I sighed. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll give you the suitcase. But helping you depose the Night Manager. That¡¯s still on the table. But I¡¯m not getting forced into it. I join on my own terms. That palatable, or a dead end for you?¡±


    Sofi tapped the top of her desk. ¡°Palatable. At the very least, you will be more willing, I hope?¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m not being coerced, I¡¯ll definitely be more willing,¡± I confirmed. ¡°In terms of what I want, honestly I just want information.¡±


    ¡°Educating travelers once again,¡± Ildat observed before chuckling. Sofi gave him a pained look.


    ¡°Your former job, not mine Ildat. Education in the ways this world works and other questions you may have, within reason. Nothing that I or any of the others who will be joining want to keep secrets for personal reasons.¡±


    I shrugged ¡°Wasn¡¯t going to ask. No offense, but prying into your two¡¯s personal lives is very far down on the list of questions I want to ask.¡±


    ¡°I will draw a more formal agreement later today. Albeit, if you truly do not possess your memories and need to be taught everything from scratch, well. We could always use another warm body at least.¡± Sofi seemed lost in thought, then opened another drawer, going through papers again.


    ¡°Like that¡¯s not ominous,¡± I commented.


    ¡°Don¡¯t pay it much mind, Sofi just always talks like that.¡± Ildat gave me another grin, which was not helping with my nervousness.


    ¡°I do not, Ildat,¡± The Underneath Manager said, fixing a disapproving glare onto her employee. ¡°If that business is concluded, do you want to start your questions now, or perhaps some food?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t remember the last time I ate, so personally I¡¯d prefer food, but shouldn¡¯t you be busy? Quota and rain and the hill..well not being eroded, which is probably a question in itself?¡± I was ravenous, to be honest, but it did seem weird that the manager of such a large place could set this much time aside. Especially given what was happening outside.


    ¡°It can mostly handle itself. And even if we were to meet the new quotas, I doubt the deluge would stop. Consider it less a punishment for us to meet their quotas and more a personal reminder of the power they wield,¡± Sofi said, giving the phone an irritated glance. "We''ll know well in advance if the hill''s collapse is faster than its repairs.


    I could sympathize. Mostly because she had just tried the same thing with me. ¡®Join my cause or we will curse all your wounds back on you as the start¡¯. Still, I would forget that. As for the hill erosion bit...a question for later.


    ¡°Sounds like a raw deal. Want to talk about it over dinner?¡±


    ***


    Dinner turned out to be lunch, and lunch was fish stew. It tasted divine, although that could be my empty and exhausted stomach doing the evaluating for me. Strips of pale, succulent flesh mixed with chunks of a vegetable I couldn¡¯t identify. All of it was laying in some thick red liquid that was honestly closer to a sauce.


    The texture was tough. It was closer to beef than fish, my mind told me in terms of what it knew. My tongue probably couldn¡¯t tell the difference. Although that might be because I had shoveled so much into my mouth that there was barely any space for the tongue.


    ¡°Do you want to ask some of your questions now?¡±


    Sofi¡¯s voice cut into my single-minded devouring of the meal. She had barely touched her own bowl so far, while Ildat meanwhile was making a faster pace than me. He was already on to his second bowl.


    ¡°Sure. First question, what did you mean by deposing the Night Manager? Just so I know what our goal is?"


    Sofi took a small bite, took her time with the fish. "In essence, forcing her out of her position. Killing her is a possibility but not desired."


    "That makes me feel a little more comfortable," I admitted.


    "Feeling a little squeamish about killing someone?" Ildat asked, tone teasing.


    My mind went back. To shrill insect screams and the sound of crunching carapace. "Yes," I replied flatly.


    "Some murder might be required, but they should be covered. It will likely not be too large an issue," Sofi assured me. Which only confused me more. Everyone was so casual about death. I could make some guesses as to why, but nothing concrete.


    "Okay. Next question, what is this place? Because I know it¡¯s not the earth, but outside that, nothing.¡±


    ¡°Well, the best place to start would be the beginning then. In the beginning, there was nothing material in this place-¡±


    ¡°A creation myth?¡± I didn¡¯t particularly want to sit here for an explanation of how someone thought the world had come into being. I got another frown in return, although on Sofi they looked more like pouts.


    ¡°Not a myth. At great cost, someone was able to get this story out of the goddess herself, so its veracity is known for sure. For the fortune she demanded, its truthfulness is assured.¡± She peevishly replied.


    I paused as I digested that. They had paid a goddess for this information? That suggested even more things I wanted to know about, and the fact that you could apparently pay a deity to do something suggested things about the theology here. I should know since the talk of paying god had sent a bunch more earth information into my brain as well. Could have gone my whole life without knowing about Swaggert and Fallwell and I¡¯d probably be happier if I hadn¡¯t, but here I was. At least it was easier to get that latest injection of from what I could tell useless information out of my brain as opposed to the last batch.


    Taking my silence as a sign to resume, Sofie continued her story. ¡°There was nothing material. Instead, it was where potential was formed, where new deities, worlds, and everything else awaited their chance to emerge into the material world. Little was defined about them, just the potential of what they could be, determined when they moved into the material world. Follow so far?¡±


    ¡°I think so. Baby universes and gods and whatnot, waiting to be born and molded.¡± I said, getting a terse nod in response.


    ¡°Essentially. In laypeople¡¯s terms, at least. Then, somehow, a spirit breaks through here, a dead person¡¯s ghost. No one knows how. It collides with one of these potential goddess¡¯, forcing her birth in a world not designed to have the material existing in it. This forced material to be created instead, drawn from the material world and sucked into this place of potential.¡±


    ¡°So this place isn¡¯t even supposed to exist?¡± I interjected, getting a terse nod in response.


    ¡°From what we know yes. Her existence in a place where things were not supposed to exist caused other things to get drawn back, being pulled into this place of potential as it yanked back the material. Thus forming this city. Which in turn has caused what was already here to change in response. The shadows are part of that.¡± Sofi continued, seemingly lost in the telling of the story.


    ¡°Yanked people fully formed out of where they lived before?¡± I asked.


    ¡°That, places, things, materials. Entire buildings or streets sometimes. Enough from the same places that it¡¯s clear if you come here, no one realizes you¡¯re missing back home.¡± Ildat chewed on a piece of fish, seemingly lost in his own mind. ¡°Vanished without a trace, except they don¡¯t even remember, is how it was described.¡±


    That sounded like something personal, and that I shouldn¡¯t pry into. So I moved to change the subject.


    ¡°Alright, so it¡¯s a bit of a weird place, not shocking to me. You¡¯re treating a deity a bit casually though aren¡¯t you? Weren¡¯t you freaking out over me trying to swear to a deity when we met?¡±


    The last was directed at Ildat, who paused for a second from munching his way through another bowl. Bits of fish hung from the layers of teeth in his maw. mixed with the red coloration of the liquid, it gave a particularly uncomfortable vibe.


    ¡°She says she¡¯s a god, she doesn¡¯t really ask for worship and such like one,¡± he explained. ¡°But she still pays attention. You draw on her attention, she¡¯ll send it your way.¡±


    ¡°In particular the enforcement of deals and owed capital,¡± Sofi elaborated. ¡°She also is responsible for the Curses for not honoring deals. Outside that, she mostly owns the majority of the city and charges everyone for living here.¡±


    So the goddess is a landlady. ¡°It¡¯s a bit different than the kind of deities I¡¯m used to.¡±


    ¡°It depends on the culture, although she herself seems¡­apathetic to what you call her. Or worship of her. She mostly is focused on making sure that everyone follows the rules set forth. Or at minimum, have a large enough bribe if you want to break some of them,¡± Ildat added.


    ¡°She doesn¡¯t spread information about herself too much. The only reason this much is known is because it was the first time someone passed on her words to the public. It¡¯s said that ever since Hakel Domark published this information all over the city after negotiating it out of her, future contracts involve strict confidentiality clauses.¡± Sofi took a break to drink from what I assumed was water.


    ¡°So she¡¯s very secretive and doesn¡¯t like people prying into her personal life. Is she the only deity here?¡± I was guessing not, given the shrine I had seen in Ildat¡¯s house.


    ¡°Worship from other worlds is carried over here, clearly. And there are some signs they still respond-¡±


    ¡°Some?¡± Ildat interrupted Sofi.


    ¡°We can have that debate later if you really want to repeat it. Some signs they still respond. There are also some entities that are on the level of deities despite not claiming the title, some who claim to be deities but aren¡¯t on that level, and a few others. And then you have the institutions.¡±


    ¡°Institutions? As deities?¡± For some reason, I was more than a little incredulous at that notion. Just¡­the idea of the bank being a deity seemed absurd to me.


    ¡°Well yes. The Insurance companies, for example. The power they wield is comparable, I would claim.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I have got to know what this insurance is like,¡± I said. It had been mentioned so many different times that I had to know how it worked.


    ¡°How about a practical demonstration?¡± Ildat offered, getting out of his chair.


    ¡°Sure, how do we do that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to need to kill you.¡±

 Chapter 10 - Insurance of the Soul

    I almost choked on my response as Ildat gave me another grin. Sofi sighed as she turned to glare at him.


    ¡°That¡¯s a joke? Right?¡± I had my hand on my knife again.


    ¡°No,¡± they both replied simultaneously. I nervously inched my chair back in response.


    There was a good reason to not see this as too malicious. The way they and others had talked about death being one of them. But that didn¡¯t mean I was willing to let them kill me.


    ¡°Do not panic, this is not as threatening as it sounds.¡± Sofi got up from the table, both hands held up. ¡°Ildat just likes making terrible jokes.¡±


    ¡°Joke? It is the best way to demonstrate the concept!¡± Ildat chuckled and moved to get out of his chair. I was out of mine as soon as he moved, knife pulled out.


    ¡°How about we demonstrate it on you instead of me, if it¡¯s the best way?¡± I countered, walking over to the table. Neither of them moved at all now. Both of them looked as tense as I felt. All four of their hands were in sight, so that was in my favor.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t as likely to have as many uses as you do.¡± Ildat¡¯s chair scraped across the table as he moved it back. ¡°Look, I¡¯m not going to do anything if you don¡¯t agree to it. I was a bit glib with my wording, okay?¡±


    ¡°Any attempt to use force against us doesn¡¯t go well,¡± Sofi observed. ¡°My subordinate was a bit reckless with his verbiage, especially after our previous negotiations. If you could give us both a moment to explain?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to need a pretty hefty explanation for you wanting to kill me.¡± I went back to the chair, but I kept the knife in hand.


    Ildat¡¯s eyes flickered to the blade before focusing on me. He wasn¡¯t very concerned, and I could understand why. We¡¯d been in this situation before. But I¡¯d try to keep things¡­calm. Then again, I hadn¡¯t suggested killing one of us.


    ¡°So, down here, death doesn¡¯t operate how it does in other places. When you die, you have no place for anything to go after death.¡± Ildat gestured around us. ¡°We aren¡¯t even supposed to be here.¡±


    ¡°So there is life after death?¡± That made sense, they had said earlier that the goddess had been created by a dead person¡¯s soul hitting it.


    ¡°Yep. But through a process that we don¡¯t understand that well, dying here doesn¡¯t really leave you dead.¡±


    ¡°There are several leading theories,¡± Sofi added ¡°Among them is the idea that this place will allow things in, but will not allow anything out. Things cannot decay, degrade, or dissipate.¡±


    ¡°Except the wood, the food, bodies if you do the right things to them¡­.¡± Ildat trailed off as Sofi turned to stare at him.


    ¡°So, things just don¡¯t die?¡± I cut in before they started arguing.


    ¡°Sort-of. You come back, but changed from how you were. Sometimes it¡¯s minor, sometimes it¡¯s drastic.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Physically or mentally?¡±


    ¡°Both, usually.¡±


    ¡°Is that what happened with me then? I was the Suitcase Killer, thenI died Then I came back changed mentally. And that would explain why I didn¡¯t remember what happened before?¡± That would explain a lot of the mystery. Except for the earth knowledge. Or maybe the mental changes could implant unknown knowledge?


    ¡°Unlikely. You¡¯d have at least some of the memories of being her if that was the case. It can warp memories but that takes many, many deaths usually,¡± Sofi replied.


    ¡°Few hundred typically. And by then that¡¯s more people¡¯s minds turning to mush after so many times dead.¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay. So probably not the case. So Insurance is a saved backup state or something like that?¡± I doubted it was money payouts every time you died or got injured. That sounded like it could be abused really easily.


    ¡°Assurance you come back with no changes. Or minimal changes. There¡¯s a host of packages you can get.¡± Ildat got up from the table, and while I tensed for a moment he didn¡¯t try anything. He walked past me to the kitchen counter, and to my relief was just filling up a bowl with more of the stew. ¡°You probably have the latter, given your wealth.¡±


    ¡°Minor adjustments are the cheapest, then no physical changes, no mental changes, then no changes at all. Varying packages in between those, injury as well is an option,¡± Sofi added. ¡°Outside repairing you, typically Insurance has your basic information listed. You could confirm your identity, see what schools you specialized in, etc.¡±


    Schools? Okay, more things to be explained. ¡°Is there any way we can check this?¡±


    I had maybe half a second before his fist hit me right in the eye, the force sent me out of the chair. My head hit the floor with a sickening crack. For the second time today, darkness overtook me as I blacked out.


    ***


    When I came too, at least this time I wasn¡¯t wet.


    I groaned as I lifted myself up from the cold stone floor I was laying on. My head pounded from both front and back, which only made sense. Ildat had punched me in the face, and my head had bounced off the wall right before I lost consciousness. Or had it been the floor? I couldn¡¯t remember.


    I put a hand on the tender spot in the back, then immediately withdrew it with a hiss of pain. Yeah, that wasn¡¯t feeling better any time soon. Where the hell was I?


    Walls of black stone were on all sides of me. Veins of white branched through them, swirling about in lines, sometimes joining together in spirals or circles in the wall. If it was natural, it had lucked into these patterns. I doubted that was the case.


    I was at the bottom of the near-perfect cube, the only exception being a single door set in one of the walls. The air was cool, but not chilly, and something was causing a breeze. Not the door, which was set perfectly in the stone.


    I put one of my hands on the floor, and struggled for a second to get up. I was feeling woozy and unbalanced. If this was some mental realm or another place that handled the insurance, it was just my luck that the probable concussion Ildat had given me carried over.


    I eventually got to my feet and unsteadily walked over to the door. Grabbing the handle, I pulled, and with the sound of stone scraping on stone managed to drag it open. The entire door was solid stone, and it took over a minute with both hands.


    It opened into a hall with similar doors lining the walls. A vaulted ceiling towered above my head, stretching up over fifty feet easily. Lights illuminated the corridor, but I couldn¡¯t see where it was coming from.


    The corridor stretched ten doors further before opening into an intersection up ahead. I cautiously tried a door, and it was just as difficult to open as the first. But behind it was just another bare room, the same as I had been in. Frowning, I went to the next door, just to find the same room. Okay, this was beginning to get creepy.


    I went to the next door, frowning, I could hear a sound coming from the gap at the bottom, a high-pitched whine that was familiar. I grabbed the door, opened it, and was confronted with a very familiar sight as the whine rose in volume. Carapace cracked and snapped. Green ichor sprayed about before being drawn back in. That was all I made out before I instinctively slammed it shut again. The other gripped my mouth as I tried to keep what was inside my stomach there. The whine was still there and even muffled it  so now it sounded like a drill going into my ear as I stumbled away, fighting the churning in my stomach. Okay, no more doors then I thought to myself as I stumbled down the halls.


    I reached the intersection, steadying myself against a wall. My stomach was trying to rise into my throat and after a while, I forced it back down. Okay, this was..memories maybe? A bit of a jump in reasoning but the number of empty rooms and the single one being something I had seen before suggested it.


    The intersection around me seemed to continue down endless rows of doors on either side. The one to my left had stairs at the end. A direction to go at least. I walked down it, ignoring the noise from the occasional door along the way. I heard mostly sounds of water. It would not be a good idea to accidentally flood this place if I opened up to the lake.


    Black stone steps lead down for over a minute, multiple flights lead into more and more corridors. Why were there so many? If the proportion of empty ones to ones with memories were the same, I still doubted there would be this many. Empty ones from who I was before?


    Finally, I saw something different as I went down another flight. A wide chamber, the ceiling stretching easily sixty feet tall, and it needed to. A large obelisk dominated the center of the room, stretching till its tip scraped the ceiling, completely blank. "Platforms extended from the base in all four cardinal directions, forming bridges of dark stone over vast pools of water with bottoms I couldn''t spot at a quick glance. Staying as close to the exact center of the stone bridge as I could, I moved closer to the obelisk.


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    The surface was as blank as I had seen from further away, and I reached forward and cautiously prodded the stone surface. Just as cool as all the other stone in this place. I frowned as I leaned my head against it, closing my eyes, trying to think, and the cold temperature did at least help my throbbing head some.


    ¡°Well, it certainly took you long enough,¡± A voice called out.


    I didn¡¯t jump out of my skin at least, but I did turn around as fast as I could, fist drawn back to punch whoever had snuck up on me. A figure was at the top of the stairs I had just descended, strolling down languidly.


    She was short. She was petite. She also had hair that went from pink to navy blue although hers was about halfway down her back. Wearing a dress that looked like it was from centuries ago, extravagant to the point it had to be hell to move around in. That, and the condescending sneer as she looked at me was giving me a pretty good idea of who exactly I was looking at.


    That and I had been looking at a picture of her on a wanted poster just a few minutes before.


    ¡°Guessing you are the Suitcase Killer?¡± I called up. Immediately I wanted to take that back. What a stupid question. Even if I hadn¡¯t seen the picture who else would it be?


    She gave me a little smirk as she finished coming down the stairs and did a curtsey that managed to convey sarcasm despite not saying a word.


    ¡°I should hope you guessed that. I am unique after all.¡± She said.


    ¡°Everyone¡¯s unique,¡± I responded, getting a small frown out of her in return.


    Okay, so clearly she and I were probably the same, or linked somehow. Was I just her with amnesia? Did she represent my missing memories?  Or was she a separate person whose body I was stuck in? Was she stuck in my body? Should I ask h-


    ¡°Is that cross-eyed expression you trying to think? You should maybe stop before you burst a blood vessel trying.¡±


    Okay, well that little spike of pure condescension answered that as probably no.


    Either way, hopefully I could punch her before this was over.


    ¡°Do you greet everyone you meet by immediately insulting them?¡± I asked, warily moving to the side as she strode closer to the Obelisk.


    ¡°When I know the worth of the person involved? Yes. And I know you¡¯re worth perfectly.¡± She said drily, stopping perhaps a half dozen paces away from me.


    ¡°Fun. Sure you do. What is it then?¡± I asked, keeping a fist balled just in case. If she so much as twitched the wrong way, I wasn¡¯t giving her a chance. Into the water surrounding us she would go. Would that actually kill her? I doubted it.


    ¡°You¡¯re a horrible disappointment. A full day and you haven¡¯t even managed to die once, let alone twice. I¡¯ll have to lodge a complaint to the staff about the efficiency when this situation is finished.¡± The Suitcase Killer said tersely ¡°An entire hotel filled with the city¡¯s worst and the most they do is leave you alive but on the brink? I should have known the dross on that floor I chose would be insufficient.¡±


    Huh, well whoever she was, if this was my soul she couldn¡¯t actually see outside since I¡¯m pretty sure Ildat was not from my floor. Dross I¡¯d agree to after he hit me in the face, something that the pain from had not faded at all. Seriously, he couldn¡¯t have warned me first? At least he held his punch back.


    ¡°I mean, if you want to kill me, you¡¯re welcome to try. This close, I think I might have you beat on that,¡± I said.


    Maybe I was being cocky, but she was maybe five feet tall at most and looked like she was maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet. And we were close enough that if she started pulling out the black hole gun or made anything that even vaguely seemed like magic I was pretty sure I could punch her first.


    She rolled her eyes, moving her head in the same direction too, really exaggerating it and playing it up. ¡°We¡¯re in my soul, you moronic dolt. Well, technically your soul layered on top of my soul. Giving you a beating would not only be impossible as I would just go through you. And if I could damage you, it would defeat the purpose of having you in my soul if I killed you right now. As tempting as an offer that is.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you want to offer anything besides snark, it would be helpful. Until then I¡¯m happy to just stand here and wait,¡± I said.


    She sighed ¡°I can¡¯t actually have that, since your soul would expire. I don¡¯t know what dimwit lucked into this, but being rendered braindead is actually something that hurts me just as much as you. Luckily, the insurance is mostly self-automated so it should be easy for even you to operate.¡±


    I sighed, getting a little tired of the constant insults, which were making the inability to punch her or otherwise make her quiet even more irritating.


    ¡°Although I did lie a little bit, as you are unfortunately the one most in charge, this is more your soul than mine. Must explain why it¡¯s so empty,¡± She commented, twirling as she gestured all around at all the blank space.


    You know, she may have a point, in the fact that without many actual memories at all it was unlikely this place would have many facets if it was reflecting me. Still, there was a difference between having this pointed out and being insulted, and I reached out to grab the Suitcase Killer by the face only for my hand to pass through, not even turning transparent or anything, it just sank into the skin without any resistance at all. Okay, creepy.


    ¡°You know, I¡¯m beginning to see why people are willing to kill you over a hotel bill,¡± I snarked as I pulled my fist out of her.


    ¡°Oh please. I arranged for that to happen. You think I would be foolish enough to not pay them for a week on purpose?¡± She said mockingly


    ¡°Don¡¯t suppose I can use that to get the Night Manager off my case then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°She¡¯ll realize the moment she takes a look in your soul. Mistaken identity,¡± She said. ¡°Good look doing that though.¡±


    I sighed, ¡°I literally just need to tell her to do that. And either I go free or they find you. And if it''s the later it''s not like it''s any worse for me¡±


    She laughed haughtily in response, and it sounded both forced and very rehearsed. People did not laugh like that. As far as I knew. Right, I barely knew anything about Earth, much alone this place. Maybe haughty laughing was the way things went here?


    ¡°They won¡¯t. They can poke and prod the soul all they want, they won¡¯t find any trace of me in you. But you¡¯ll get killed anyway because they will pass the debt from the debtor to whoever was using the room. So you either way. It. Is. Foolproof.¡± She started to laugh again. I needed earplugs.


    ¡°If you¡¯re going to gloat, you could at least clue me in so¡­I¡¯m more impressed?¡± I suggested.


    ¡°No, no, no.¡± She said, halting her laughing, then reaching forward and trying to playfully grab my chin. I reflexively slapped her hand and all that happened was our hands awkwardly phased through each other. She chose to just ignore it. ¡°I¡¯m happy to have you run around in your confusion, trying to guess at my plan.¡±


    Uh, well she was correct that I didn¡¯t know what her plan was, exactly. I did know she wanted me to die, and from what Sofi and Ildat had said, it wouldn¡¯t permanently kill me. Intuiting from what the Suitcase Killer herself had said, I had insurance covering me for..death, still a weird concept but it would do its best to bring me back? The motivation and goal was lost to me but the next step was there. Not die.


    ¡°So, I¡¯m guessing you and I are both souls then?¡± I asked


    "I am but an extension of the whole, which is currently dreaming, waiting for your services to be finished. You can call me her dreams." She replied.


    ¡°And we are the same size because?¡± I prodded, genuinely curious.


    She rolled her eyes ¡°Because you are barely even a soul, much less a person.¡± She snarked. Well, that was unfortunate even if it was just an insult.


    ¡°So if you are the actual soul dreaming, what does that make me?¡± I asked, hoping to at least tease a little more out of her despite her supposed policy to not tell me anything.


    ¡°An unwanted parasite I¡¯ve been forced to attach to me for a purpose I¡¯ve been forced to reluctantly need.¡± She replied acerbically ¡°If I had my own way with this, you would have been little more than an empty shell wandering around begging people to cave your skull in as many times as possible but I¡¯ve been forced to compromise some.¡±


    Okay, there was a little bit of information buried in those insults, but honestly, the urge to strangle her was rising. What was taking this insurance so long anyway? As if by command, writing was carving itself into the wall as I watched, stone indenting as words were carved in.


    Good evening, Ms. Indigo. We have detected you are currently in a compromised state from injury to your head and there are no current attempts being made to heal you. Would you like to activate a use of your plan?


    Okay, so an insurance policy for death was a thing, which had been mentioned before, but apparently it tried to talk to you through your soul. Made sense for communicating with those incapable of doing so from injury. I turned back to look at the Suitcase Killer ¡°Your name really is Ms. Indigo? I thought that was a pseudonym.¡±


    ¡°Not commenting.¡± She said back, smirking.


    Well, that was as close to a plain ¡®I¡¯m not going to give you any more hints¡± as I was likely to get. I turned my attention back to the obsidian wall which had yet to change from the previous text, clearly expecting an answer.


    ¡°Yes, I would like to use the policy?¡± I hesitantly said to the open air. If that didn¡¯t work I¡¯d have to figure out a way to carve my answer into the wall, something I was not looking forward to.


    Acknowledged. Please wait a moment while we bring up your file.


    ¡°You know, this seems to be going pretty slowly if I¡¯m on the verge of death. Time dilation?¡± I commented over my shoulder.


    All I got back was silence, and turning around, the Suitcase Killer was gone. It took half a second before I was already moving, checking down in the pools of water and taking a quick look up the stairs. Nothing. Well, that¡¯s real fucking ominous. Where did you go? Had she decided to leave before she accidentally gave anything else away? Or had she detected something where she wanted to leave? Either way, that hostile sense in the air was gone, instead replaced by tension as I hurried back over to the Insurance wall, boot leather slapping against the stone floor.


    Please Confirm Following Profile is Yours by pressing YES


    Name: Deliati Indigo


    Gender: Female


    Age: 67


    Following of Choice: Primal Fear


    Specialty of Choice: Fear, Shadows, Abyss


    Identifier Code: 10753676


    Okay, specialty of choice? Deliati? Following? 67? I was 67?


    Okay, enough questions for now. Reaching forward, I pressed on the indented yes. Nothing happened for a second, then suddenly I was in nothing. I barely had time to register before suddenly I was back on the floor in Sofi¡¯s house, flat on my back.


    My head felt even worse than it had in the soul-place. So did one of my legs, and my fingers felt like they had been stabbed, again. Ildat¡¯s face was only a few feet above me, the bastard leaned over me looking down.


    ¡°Well, look who¡¯s finally woken up. Finally get some answers?¡±


    I did the only reasonable thing that came to mind. I punched him in the face.

 Chapter 11 - Magic and Augmeunts

    I massaged my hand, pain flowing up from my knuckles across my arm. A good kind of pain.


    Next to me, Ildat ruefully rubbed the cheek I¡¯d punched, feeling out the sore flesh.


    ¡°I suppose I owe you that,¡± He said, breaking the silence.


    ¡°You think?¡± I shot back. I was still angry over him knocking me out. ¡°Next time, fucking warn me before you nearly kill me.¡±


    ¡°Would both of you be quiet?¡± Sofi asked just as irritably. She was currently by Ildat. I was sitting on the other side of the table. She¡¯d insisted on it. After she had gotten between the two of us following me punching Ildat.


    Currently, she was busy looking at Ildat¡¯s cheek, after finishing with my head, which was still throbbing. Apparently, it had been worse. They hadn¡¯t told me how bad the damage was before the plan had healed it. Probably because they were afraid I¡¯d try punching Ildat again.


    ¡°What kind of augments did they put in you?¡± She asked me as she prodded Ildat¡¯s cheek. ¡°You broke his cheekbone. With a punch.¡±


    ¡°Have no idea what augments are,¡± I said. ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, I did not mean to break his cheek. I just wanted to make it clear, maybe ask before either of you¡­give me a concussion?¡±


    ¡°Let us go with that, yes,¡± Sofi stated quickly. Too quickly. How close to death had I been from that punch? ¡°Ildat, I have a preparation in storage, go use that. I¡¯ve used up too much already today. Too many resources that would be useful for later.¡±


    There was a particular weight on that last sentence, impossible not to pick up on. Directed at me.


    ¡°I¡¯m done fighting, as long as nobody tries to fight with me,¡± I stated. ¡°What are augmeunts?¡±


    Ildat was up and out of the room, leaving just the two of us in here now. Sofi took her seat from before, where a still nearly full bowl of stew lay. ¡°Technological devices inserted in the body to give various advantages or abilities. Ildat has quite a few that make it harder to injure him. Some specifically in his head, hence why you breaking that cheekbone was a surprise. Are you alright?¡±


    As soon as the first sentence left Sofi¡¯s lips I¡¯d been bombarded with imagery, literature, and pretty much every scrap of media that had ever been related to Cyberpunk before. It was a half-picture, only the aspects related to the ¡®cyberware¡¯ that was crucial for the genre. But it was enough that my head had been filled with nothing but that till Sofi¡¯s question jolted me out.


    ¡°Sorry. Those bursts of specific memories I was telling you about earlier? You defining augments knocked a bunch of them loose.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°At least it wasn¡¯t a seizure. You seized up for the knowledge of augments on earth?¡±


    ¡°Their portrayal in fiction,¡± I clarified. ¡°I don¡¯t remember Earth having augments. Or, uh ¡®cyberware¡¯ is what it¡¯s called there.¡±


    ¡°Interesting but not very useful,¡± Sofi shook her head. ¡°This could be a problem. If you start doing this in tense situations¡­.¡±


    The implication was pretty clear. ¡°It wasn¡¯t this bad or obtrusive earlier. I¡¯m not sure why it¡¯s like this now.¡±


    ¡°Was it like this before Ildat knocked you out?¡± The polite way of putting what he did. I¡¯d call it something else.


    ¡°Sort of. It was beginning to get egregious before the,.¡± I answered


    ¡°Well, it will need to be addressed before we start the plan. What else did you find in there?¡±


    ¡°Okay, so¡­¡± I trailed off, not entirely sure what to do. I was stuck with two relatively friendly people but I wouldn¡¯t say I trusted either of them. Should I tell them about meeting the Suitcase Killer in my head and what she had told me? On the one hand they knew much more about this world than me, and would hopefully figure out why she wanted me to die, what me being a layered soul meant, and just about everything else.


    On the other hand, did I trust these people? They had tried to threaten me into joining their group. Then Ildat has nearly killed me. No matter what his intentions with that, not letting me know first pissed me the hell off. As for Sofi¡­she seemed nicer, but why did she want the Night Manager gone? Would I make myself a pawn by letting them know?


    Too many questions for now. This I would play closer to my chest.


    ¡°You alright? You¡¯ve gone cross-eyed. Another memory burst?¡± Sofi remarked in a worried tone.


    You have got to be joking, I thought as I stared at her. That lunatic in my head had been right?!


    ¡°Why are you glaring at me?¡± She seemed a bit on edge as she asked that.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I muttered. ¡°Sorry, apparently I just have one of those faces.¡±


    Who goes cross-eyed when they are thinking? Me apparently. Had the Suitcase Killer planned this? Others had said she¡¯d had her former body ¡®sculpted¡¯ into this. Which, okay where did the extra mass come from for one thing, but for another had she done that on purpose?


    I was thinking about someone who¡¯d arranged it so I had woken up in ice-filled water. So probably on purpose.


    ¡°Just..just forget it. I didn¡¯t mean to stare or look hostile or anything like that. Let¡¯s just move on. The Insurance Information in my head stated I had a Following of Choice and Specialties. What are those?¡±


    ¡°Magic,¡± Ildat grunted, having finally come in from the other room. ¡°Rain¡¯s stopped outside for now. Expect some of the employees will start coming in soon enough.¡±


    ¡°Magic?¡± He had said it so matter of factly but¡­.and like that a small nuclear device went off in the middle of my forehead.


    I exaggerated, but that¡¯s what it felt like as I involuntarily froze up. If the info dump inside my own brain from having everything cyberpunk shoved had made Sofi think I was having a seizure, I could only imagine how this one looked.


    Mind you, inside my own head, wasn¡¯t feeling that much better than I probably looked. One simple word had thrown everything into disarray.


    A thousand different magic systems were swirling about my head, fighting over which one would inform me next of how they functioned down to the minute detail. If I could even manage to describe my state of mind at the time, it would be ¡®flooded¡¯. I was aware that Ildat and Sofi were out there, talking, one of them came over and poked me even. I couldn¡¯t respond, too busy having my head filled with every variation of magic that was somewhat popular on earth.


    If this turned out to be the Suitcase Killer¡¯s doing as well, I would figure out how to strange a soul just for her.


    ¡°-need to handle the changeover before we go. I will appoint Carspens in charge until we return.¡±


    ¡°Carspens? Do you trust her?¡±


    ¡°Not enough to take her with us, but she can manage the operations until our return. Or success.¡±


    ¡°Magic. Of course, there¡¯s magic,¡± I was laughing, maybe a bit too much from the looks Ildat and Sofi were giving me. They had been discussing something else. For how long I couldn¡¯t guess.


    ¡°Welcome back to the land of the living. And of course there¡¯s magic. Is it a surprise to you?¡± Ildat asked cautiously.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Where I come from there¡¯s no magic, there are no augments, there¡¯s none of this.¡± I gestured all around. ¡°You should know Ildat, you said you worked with someone from Earth.¡±


    ¡°I did. And¡­they weren¡¯t shocked at the mention of either of those concepts and mentioned using them back home.¡± Ildat answered.


    What? Every time I thought I was close to getting a grip on anything here, the rug gets pulled out from underneath me.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t agree with my memories at all,¡± I said, sitting back down in the chair. My head felt like someone had been pounding on it.


    ¡°Your memories are possibly not even actual memories. You have already said yourself that they more resemble general knowledge than actual memories,¡± Sofi said.


    ¡°More mysteries. Amazing. How do you think we fixed you up from your injuries?¡± Ildat sounded irritated, even more so than when I had punched him. It wasn¡¯t a tone I appreciated.


    ¡°I was going to ask. When she mentioned you had augments I assumed¡­nanites or something like that. Not magic!¡± I answered back testily.


    Sofi frowned. ¡°Calm down. I am not sure why you are vehemently against its existence. But it is magic and it took more of it to heal your head as well. Calm down. And Ildat, give our newest subordinate some courtesy.¡±


    Ildat raised an eyelid, then said ¡°Apologies. For all of that.¡±


    ¡°Accepted,¡± I replied, although I was more focused on digesting the first thing Sofi had said. Why was I so vehemently opposed to the idea that magic could exist? I¡¯d accepted technology beyond what I thought was possible with no real issue, outside the knowledge drop hitting the inside of my head. But something inside me was vehemently disgusted at the idea of magic. Was it just the reflexive reaction to when I had my head blasted with an entire genre?


    No. For one thing, while that had been annoying it hadn¡¯t been like the Ant-man one almost getting me killed. But even when I had that knowledge entering my head, there had been contempt. Almost like I was prejudiced from the start. But why?


    ¡°My following was listed as The Primal Fear. Is that a powerful one?¡± I asked.


    Sofi cocked her head to the side. ¡°For what you do? Yes. Remarkably powerful. If I had been asked to guess based on y- The Suitcase Killer¡¯s actions and methods of operation, that would be my first guess.¡±


    Ildat nodded. ¡°Old-time patron. It¡¯s not considered a deity because it doesn¡¯t think, it doesn¡¯t feel, it just acts as an expression of unconscious emotion. Think of it as a pool of everyone¡¯s fear. You chip into the pool, you get more out of it. If you are the Suitcase Killer you are probably owed a good deal.¡±


    I had a theory. One that I wouldn¡¯t share with them for the same reason I wouldn¡¯t share encountering the Suitcase Killer. She wanted me to die. I was to serve some kind of purpose, but she didn¡¯t want me in control of this body forever. Had they programmed my mind to be hostile to the idea of magic when it came up?


    I didn¡¯t like this theory. It was a stretch, why only change that aspect, and why do it when there was little chance of me figuring it out on my own? But were that my thoughts on the subject or what the Suitcase Killer wanted them to be?


    There was a long existential chain extending from that logic, so for right now I¡¯d ignore it. Magic was real. I had it. I would be using it. I straight up shivered at the thought of that. Just a visceral reaction of dislike at the idea.


    ¡°I might have a theory for why I reacted so poorly to the idea of magic. But first, why would I be owed? What was the Suitcase Killer doing that would have her owed by the primal expression of fear?¡± I had a few thoughts on the subject but they seemed to have all the answers.


    ¡°Well, people put out bounties on others just to repay their debts. You get people who put bounties out for people they personally dislike. Sometimes it¡¯s just killing them for the inconvenience, sometimes it¡¯s capture, some like getting really hands-on,¡± Ildat explained.


    ¡°You are the first for the Night Manager, the second for quite a host of others,¡± Sofi added.


    ¡°Lots of people want my head, got that. Where does this lead?¡± I could do with less talking around the point. There was a lot to discuss and this was just making these conversations feel longer and longer.


    Ildat rolled his eyes. ¡°Give us a second. People already pay a lot for what isn¡¯t a permanent death. Permanent death isn¡¯t a possibility. But what if you could buy the next best thing? Death of personality.¡±


    ¡°Making sure someone comes back as not themselves?¡± I queried. Sounded like the closest thing to true death mentioned so far.


    ¡°Correct. This goes beyond forcing them to be reborn until their personality is changed. This is to eliminate all prior memories,¡± Sofi added looking uncomfortable. Seemed it was a touchy subject. Or at least awkward.


    ¡°Not to bring this up again, but are we sure that¡¯s not what happened to me?¡± Didn¡¯t explain the Suitcase Killer in my head but it sounded close enough.


    ¡°The Hotel wouldn¡¯t have allowed it. People don¡¯t just pay high rent to enjoy our amenities. Violence between guests is forbidden except when a Manager allows it. And all of the methods that could be used are very loud, either in noise or thaumic readings,¡± Sofi shrugged. ¡°Not that there are not those who wanted the Suitcase Killer dead, but to risk being tossed out on the street where they could be subjected to something similar? Unlikely.¡±


    Another dead end then. ¡°Okay. So the death of personality. How did I do this?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s in the name,¡± Ildat commented. ¡°Title I guess.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t hard to guess what they meant. ¡°The Suitcase. But there was someone inside when-¡°


    Ildat interrupted me. ¡°Probably some poor schmuck from before you entered the hotel. Suitcase Killer only started staying here last three, four months.¡±


    ¡°196 days, give or take a day,¡± Sofi added.


    I¡¯d ask how the creature, the former person has stayed alive without food or water. But I imagined the answer would be something just as disgusting. ¡°Okay, but how does the Suitcase relate to fear?¡±


    ¡°People who go inside it get twisted by their worse fears,¡± Sofi shivered as she talked. ¡°It takes ahold of you, goes through your mind, grinds it down until it finds what you fear most and uses it to warp you.¡±


    More evidence for the Suitcase Killer being a delightful person. ¡°How do you know that?¡±


    ¡°The Suitcase Killer has been many things in her time in the public eye. Humble has never been one of them.¡±


    I almost said ¡°Yep, don¡¯t I know that,¡± in response but caught myself in time. I shouldn¡¯t know. So instead I kept quiet and Ildat and Sofi filled the void between them.


    ¡°You know, it is entirely possible she decided to subject herself to the suitcase?¡±


    ¡°Are you suggesting that the Suitcase Killer worse fear is her?¡±


    ¡°Warped by, not become. But point stands. Perhaps soul-weaving?¡±


    ¡°If that was the case, she¡¯d have started dissolving into pieces by now.


    ¡°Okay, magic exists, cyberpunk technology exists, and this is a city that shouldn¡¯t exist, not only are my memories fake but they might not even be accurate. Let¡¯s try focusing on something else. What¡¯s your plan for taking down the Night Manager?¡±


    Sofi seemed taken aback by my outburst but quickly recovered. ¡°Firstly, we organize our departure. I do not want to state our plan anywhere where it could be casually overheard. We have other members of our group to meet with, and I have to finish arrangements here.¡±


    I took a breath, trying not to get impatient. I was already pushing this as far as I probably could. The last thing I wanted to do is alienate these two. ¡°Okay. So what¡¯s our first step to handling that?¡±


    ***


    The first step turned out to be heading outside. Of course.


    The rain had stopped outside, but the mud hadn¡¯t gone away. The hill looked larger than when I had reached the top, and the only answer I could get out of Ildat for why was ¡®Earth spirits¡¯.


    Him and I were the only ones who had left. Sofi had stayed behind, to address the group of people gathered at her front door. There had been ten, maybe twenty there when we had left. I hadn¡¯t taken a close look, they hadn¡¯t paid me any mind and I returned the favor.


    ¡°Most of the immediate subordinates that help run this place,¡± Ildat said once we were out of earshot. ¡°Not hooked into the plan. Most of them don¡¯t need to be and Sofi wants her legacy intact in case this doesn¡¯t work out.¡±


    ¡°Her legacy being this entire area I guess?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I wasn¡¯t here when it started. Used to be owned by a different company, mining group, can down here and cleared pretty much all the useful metals out. Found the lake, and named it after the president of the company¡¯s daughter. I have no idea who in their right mind would call their child ¡®Slit-face¡¯ but that¡¯s the lake¡¯s official name.¡±


    ¡°So everything useful got mined out then?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much. Some more esoteric entities moved in and called it home before the Night Manager decided to purchase the land and use it for the Hotel¡¯s laundry system.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I forgot to ask with everyone else going on. Your laundry system is a lake. Why?¡±


    ¡°Owner¡¯s insistence. They recently made the purchase of a¡­creature that facilitates most of it. When you landed in the water, did you see the ground below?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it was like the skin of a¡­¡± I paused, remembering the pockmarked skin that it had resembled.¡°The lake is alive?¡±


    ¡°Not quite sure what it is but touching the waters above it cleans clothes instantly. They decided it would save on cleaning costs.¡±


    ¡°But¡­how does it get sorted, how do you send it back up, there just seems to be a dozen things made more difficult just to do this?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t argue with nepotism. Owner wants their friend to get a job, their friend gets a job. Figuring out all those other details was Sofi¡¯s job. She¡¯s been trying to turn this operation profitable ever since. Finding salt deposits, fishing, what agriculture can grow here. Still a long ways off, which is a bit of an issue.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°She doesn¡¯t turn a profit soon, she gets replaced. We¡¯ve been close enough for long enough that they¡¯ve been willing to keep her in. Also because they¡¯ve yet to find anyone good enough to replace her.¡±


    We¡¯d reached the edge of the hill by now. ¡°Where to next?¡±


    ¡°Wharf number 2. It¡¯s time to meet the rest of the crew.¡±

 Chapter 12 - A Brief Respite

    I stared at the empty rotting pier in front of me. Not a single ship was docked at the desolate pier. A solitary rotting cargo crane towered over nothing but open water. Outside that, nothing else dotted the area surrounding me except a single warehouse. It would be intimidating if one wall wasn¡¯t collapsed on the inside of the building. The half of it still standing looked a little better. At least the rotted wood hadn¡¯t collapsed under it¡¯s own weight yet.


    ¡°Nice, isn¡¯t it?¡± Ildat asked, then chuckled.


    ¡°If this is the condition you keep everything in, I¡¯m rethinking our deal,¡± I muttered in response, taking a tentative step on a rotten board. It snapped in half immediately, sending my boot ankle-deep in the mud beneath. I immediately yanked it out with a loud slurp, glaring at the layer of mud covering it.


    ¡°Nah, the lake had shifted over the years. This was one of the first wharves built, back when the water level was higher. Since then, the draft is too shallow. We closed most of the initial wharves, but this one was left because the ground is too soft.¡± Ildat took a confident step on the next rotten plank, which held his weight without even creaking.


    He continued on while I eyed the plank and then stepped on it. Crack.


    I caught back up after freeing my other boot, Ildat chuckling as I fell back in beside him.


    ¡°How do you do that?¡± I asked, looking back at the several ruined planks behind use. I eventually managed to move across on the edges.


    ¡°Special skill,¡± He said. ¡°Not typically used for that, but it¡¯s nice to avoid the muck.¡±


    ¡°Can you teach me?¡±


    ¡°Depends, can you afford it?¡±


    ¡°Forget it then. Maybe later. When I figure out how money here works,¡± I cocked my head as we approached the rotten warehouse, which was split in half. Half of it had collapsed into rotten kindling, the rest still sturdy. ¡°Rest of the group is still in here?¡±


    ¡°Makes for a good place to rendezvous. No one has a good reason to come here, but as one of Sofi¡¯s assistants, I can always say I¡¯m trying to figure out what we do with this. Moved the people we trust the most as a construction team.¡± Ildat stopped next to a wooden door on the side of the warehouse still standing and rapped on it with his knuckles. The response was instantaneous.


    The door flung open, a gun barrel shoved in Ildat¡¯s face. ¡°Password?¡± A voice growled from within the darkness of the warehouse, guttural and thick.


    ¡°Larveck, I pay your salary. Shoot me and I¡¯ll dock it for this week, after I tear you limb from limb,¡± Ildat observed, sounding like he was having a mild verbal argument. Not like he had a gun right in his face.


    Without a word the barrel of the gun switched to me. A long rusty barrel held a steady position an inch in front of my face and between my eyes. Yellow eyes glowed from the shadows inside the warehouse at me, serpentine slits narrowed. ¡°And you, password?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m his plus one. Also if you shoot me I¡¯ll¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t think of a good threat ¡°shove you inside my suitcase?¡±


    ¡°We have your suitcase in here, witch,¡± The voice snapped. ¡°Is the Suitcase Killer really part of the team now Ildat?¡±


    ¡°Yes. We cut a deal. Although she isn¡¯t exactly the Suitcase Killer anymore.¡±


    ¡°If she claims she found religion, just let me shoot her now and bury her and save us the trouble.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t find religion! I don¡¯t have my memories!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s even less believable. Let me shoot her.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t shoot her Larveck. She¡¯s telling the truth. As far as she can tell. We¡¯ve got a verbal agreement, we¡¯ll sign the papers as soon as the boss is done. Now put down the gun and let us inside.¡±


    The gun barrel wavered before finally dropping. A lamp came to life inside, revealing a small room, maybe a few feet across and deep. In the middle, a strange creature hung from the ceiling. The closest thing they looked like was a three-limbed lizard, one limb firmly embedded in the ceiling while the other two caressed a rusted musket. Serpentine eyes stared into my own from a face that looked like a dinosaur. Could those horns punch through skin?


    ¡°Hi,¡± I said, as cheerfully as I could muster.


    ¡°Piss off, you spoiled rotten nutcase,¡± Laverck spat back.


    Well, it was still a better greeting than most people I¡¯d met so far.


    ¡°Laverck was part of the group who came up when you demanded the people responsible for your laundry,¡± Ildat mock whispered to me.


    ¡°You really think she¡¯s lost her memories Ildat?¡± Laverck hissed.


    ¡°I believe I already said yes. Don¡¯t worry, if it proves wrong, the contract will compel her.¡±


    Ah, that sounded like more strange magic from that goddess enforcing everything. Perfect.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°She hasn¡¯t signed it-¡±


    ¡°Soon, when Sofi gets a chance to come down here. Has everyone else shown up?¡±


    ¡°Helvor arrived a few minutes before you. He¡¯s going to need Sofi to get Draskell off of his case. Some people are beginning to wonder why it¡¯s taken so long to start work here. I told you we should try to make it look more convincing.¡±


    ¡°Well, things moved slower than expected. No longer. Sofi wants everyone ready tonight.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you didn¡¯t tell me we were overthrowing the Night Manager tonight,¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t tell us either. What¡¯s the reason for suddenly deciding on it now Ildat?¡±


    ¡°We go in motion tonight. Overthrowing will be later. Look, we can have this conversation now, or we can go inside and have it one time. I hate repeating myself.¡±


    Laverck was quiet, expression gone contemplative. It was strange, it was definitely what I would consider contemplative on a human, but I seemed to just know what emotion it meant on their face.


    ¡°Alright.¡±


    Through one more door, down a long hallway lit by lamps, it easily a minute to reach the end. By the time we reached the end of the hallway, a thought had occurred to me. How had he existed in shadows? Everything I had seen was either festooned in lights or had to deal with whatever was living in the shadows. More questions.


    The final door was different from the rotting wood so far, a solid metal plate with a handle. Past that, a brightly lit room, another four people waiting inside.


    One of them looked normal. By which I meant they looked like a young woman, tanned and lean, and with three eyes. Outside that, a lanky person with four arms in a suit, a porcelain white mask in the form of a skull over their head, a large hulking person, and¡­


    ¡°Didn¡¯t I send you off the side of the hotel?¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    The person I was talking to was a dead ringer for the ogre who had tried to kill me on the fire escape. Although now that I had a few seconds longer..this person¡¯s jawline was slightly different, same with their eyes.


    ¡°Sorry, I mistook you for someone else, that¡¯s my bad.¡± Their eyes narrowed in response, but before they could say anything Ildat started talking.


    ¡°She doesn¡¯t mean anything by it Molk. I¡¯m decently sure of that. Everyone, meet Indigo, who may or may not be the Suitcase Killer. Indigo, meet the crew.¡±


    ¡°Hi-¡± My greeting got cut off by the three-eyed woman.


    ¡°What do you mean, may or may not be?¡±


    ¡°She claimed at the door she has no memories,¡± Laverck said, glaring at me. He clung to that strange gun of his like it was a security blanket. It added to the palpable tension in the room. Could I meet someone here who wasn¡¯t immediately suspicious of me?


    ¡°I really don¡¯t. I woke up without any memories in a bathtub,¡± I said.


    ¡°A likely story,¡± she responded.


    ¡°As unlikely as it sounds, Karvek, both I and Sofi are pretty confident in its veracity,¡±


    It was weird. Half an hour ago I wanted to deck Ildat for nearly killing me, now he was the shield from these people¡¯s suspicion. Was this what every ally down here would be like? I certainly hoped not.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not turn this into a fight unless we need to. Mostly because I doubt it would go well for our newest recruit,¡± Ildat went to one of the chairs, gesturing for me to sit down. After a second I did. I doubted me being on my feet would help in any way if they did try anything.


    ¡°So, the three-eyed lady doubting your story is Karvek, the one who freaked you out is Molk, the large tall grim fellow is Helvor, and the four-armed person with the white mask is Kostnikov. He doesn¡¯t talk much.¡± Ildat said, pointing each out in turn.


    ¡°For good reason,¡± Kosnitkov said in a shrill, high voice.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s about as much as he says in a day. Loyal to a fault. Less backchat than the rest of you.¡±


    There was a sudden hammering on the door, and without a word, Laverck got up and went through it. There was muffled talking from the other side, then the door shifted open just enough for me to hear what was being said.


    A familiar voice came from the entrance. ¡°Laverck, the password is something you made up since we appointed you in charge of security here. You are supposed to keep people you do not recognize out. It has been a trying day. Let me inside.¡±


    With a grumble about people not respecting how dangerous this was, Laverck led Sofi into the room.


    ¡°Any problems dealing with the operations, Sofi?¡± Ildat asked.


    ¡°Not this time. The rainstorm was particularly badly timed, but outside of that glaring issue, everything was already in place. I explained I would be taking a one-day sabbatical. They were not suspicious. It should keep suspicion off of our activities for a day or so. Has anything occurred here while I dealt with that?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve spent the entire time debating my existence. I think the conclusion is still that I¡¯m the Suitcase Killer in disguise ready to kill you all,¡± I said to Sofi.


    ¡°You got a contract for her to sign, boss?¡± Larveck had returned to his same perch. The gun was unapologetically pointed my way still.


    ¡°I do. We can handle it later in the meeting. Before anyone gets concerned, her tools are stored away. She has been acting differently than all accounts. She also let Ildat hit her so hard her skull cracked without managing to injure him,¡±


    That¡¯s not how I would have put that. Also, skull cracked open? I glared at Ildat, only getting a slight grin in return.


    ¡°It all could be an act,¡± Karvek said. One of their arms stroked the handle of the sword on the table. ¡°And if their memories are gone, how much do they have to offer?¡±


    ¡°How much do you have to offer, Karvek? Your overreliance on a sharpened piece of metal when most people have weapons that can hit you at ten times the distance?¡± Ildat grinned as Karvek¡¯s face darkened, the hand tightening the grip of the sword before eventually letting go.


    ¡°Any of us could be traitors if the Night Manager paid high enough,¡± Helvor observed. ¡°If anything, the price on her head by the Night Manager gives her less of a reason to sell us out. Not more. Everyone should calm down. Sofi, you wanted to talk about something else?¡±


    Sofi nodded her thanks to the two of them, while I kept the reply I had formed to Karvek inside my throat for now. As much as it irked me to keep my mouth shut, I was in dangerous waters still.


    ¡°Our first order of business, you have all been very patient waiting for me and Ildat to find the right opportunity to put our plan in motion. It has arrived. Sun-in-the-Eyes has made his own move, and this will give us our-¡±


    Sofi was cut off by a crackling that ripped through the meeting room. The speakers again. I couldn¡¯t even spot where one could be, but when the Night Manager spoke it sounded like one was in the room with us.


    ¡°It has come to the attention of Management that not only is the Suitcase Killer being hidden in Underneath, but that members of the department have been plotting action against the Hotel. Management has decided to issue a reward for any employee who aids in their disarmament. The members of the group are as followers, Underneath Manager Sofi Zerkotuples-¡±Well fuck.

 Chapter 13 - Caves and Skeletons

    Everyone besides me was in motion before the Night Manager finished talking. The pronouncement over the speaker continued, naming everyone who was there, and a few other names that hadn¡¯t been mentioned. I had no idea who Bolvin, Morrow, or Kurscheck were but they were getting lumped in with the rest of us. And I didn¡¯t know what being an Assistant to the Night Manager meant but it was one of apparently many things being offered.


    ¡°Get the equipment from storage, we will be leaving imminently,¡± Sofi said, setting everyone to task. I moved to help, while Laverck scurried off towards the door.


    "What should we do about her?" Karvek hissed, grabbing her sword. I got up myself, hand going for my tiny knife.


    "Do you think I told the Night Manager about all of you, in the about five seconds I knew your names before she announced them?" She didn''t seem to have an answer, her expression turned contemplative for a second before angry again.


    "Maybe not you, but we still have a problem Sofi."


    "We can figure that out later. It might not be one of us." The look on Sofi''s face was clear she didn''t believe that. Karvek seemed to notice as much as I did.


    "You don''t believe-"


    "Karvek, enough," Ildat barked. "Help us with the gear. Indigo, you too."


    That at least seemed to get Karvek moving. There were wooden double doors at the back which we were sent through, to a stone room. It looked like it was not part of the rest of the warehouse, with solid stone walls to contrast with the rotted wood outside. A rack on one side carried a variety of weapons, most of them medieval ones of various types, but there were a few guns as well. Packs littered the floor, as well as bundles, a few crates, and an entire other wall devoted to coat hooks and coats of varying types and sizes.


    ¡°Going to leave most of this behind. Pity. These are yours,¡± Ildat said, moving a crate out of the way to reveal a pair of familiar-looking cases. They hadn¡¯t been lying about both being down here then, although I didn¡¯t know how. I reached out and tentatively grabbed the handle of the larger one. It felt lighter than it had before. Like there was an entire body inside missing. I hoped that was the case. I flicked the locks.


    A grand total of nothing inside it greeted me. The stains of blood from before were gone. How?


    ¡°Stop gawking. We don¡¯t have time.¡±


    I slammed the case shut, quickly locking it. Ildat was right. The others were collecting packs, weapons, and packets of something from the crates. I could smell something. Chicken my mind told me.


    ¡°Can you carry anything else?¡± Ildat asked. He was going through another crate and pulled out a long metal stick that carried the smell of smoke.


    I lifted both cases. Without the monster in one, the large case was surprisingly light. ¡°Maybe a pack as well?¡± I ventured.


    Ildat grunted, then started going through a group of them set beside the door. While he did that I opened the smaller case. Inside, among all the other items, was the gun once again. Resting in it¡¯s holster, the metal gleamed from the light above.


    So, people couldn¡¯t die here. Did that mean the Ant-person from before had been reborn from being sucked into a black hole? Maybe I should ask for a weapon less likely to permanently kill someone?


    I started to ask when I saw the weapon racks were empty. How? There had been easily more weapons alone up there than could fit in the packs and cases people were getting ready. Confused, I just grabbed the holster and put it on, while Ildat came over with a backpack.


    ¡°You can run with this right?¡± He asked, passing it over.


    I nodded. It was heavier than either of the cases. But it still felt light enough that I could run.


    Everyone else was already done. They must have had this planned out. Or I was just very slow. Sofi came in, grabbed a pair of packs, and gestured for us all to follow. Back through the main room, through the hallway, to where Laverck stared at the outside from that front small room.


    ¡°No one out there,¡± Laverck observed, squinting as opened the door a little wider.


    ¡°Looks like they''re congregating at the house on top of the hill. No one saw you on your way down boss?¡±


    ¡°I took a tunnel. This means we will have till someone communicates with the elemental. We depart now.¡±


    I frowned. There were still people within sight of the building. ¡°Won¡¯t we be spotted immediately?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ll find us eventually,¡± Ildat growled. ¡°Waiting longer just means more time for the cargo elevator to bring people down.¡±


    ¡°Cargo elevator?¡±


    ¡°On the cavern wall. You¡¯ll see them now that the storm is gone. Sofi?¡±


    ¡°We leave, now. Ildat, you lead, then Laverck. Indigo, Kostnikov, Karvek, and I are in the middle. Helvor and Molk at the rear. We make for the caves.¡±


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡°The-you know what never mind,¡± I muttered to myself. Asking what the caves were was just wasting time. Hopefully, answers would come once we reached them.


    We all lined up, one out of every two of us with a glowing lamp on our back. Laverck stayed by the door, peering out, then nodded. Everyone moved.


    Outside, things looked different. Not only were all the lights from the town illuminating the area, but something was shining above. Bright, artificial light fell all over the town. I couldn¡¯t see it, my eyes watering just looking upwards. Not a cloud was in sight.


    Five seconds after we started running, someone yelled off behind us. Laverck reached the corner and spun around, rusted musket aimed behind us.


    He pulled the trigger as I passed. The shriek of metal screeching filled the air, trails of rust following the bullet as it sped off. I didn''t stop to watch, running past even as the sound of metal shrieking continued. Was every weapon in this place some strange kind of contraption?


    We had fully rounded the destroyed warehouse. Ildat hadn''t lied, now that the remnants of the storm had completely cleared out, it wasn''t hard to see the elevators. Set in the wall was a truly massive set of elevator doors, two, maybe three hundred feet tall. Two metal sheets slammed together, massive hydraulics that had to be for moving them on the sides. And there was a good four hundred feet of docks between us and them.


    Ships of varying sizes and designs were docked, everything from paddleboats to steamers to a civil war ironclad. Where did all of these come from?


    What was more important was the other fact though. There were easily a hundred people who up till now had been working on loading or unloading those ships. From the crates all over the docks, that¡¯s what I guessed. Now, they were all looking at us.


    No one moved. No one said anything. It was surreal. It seemed to stretch on, and my eyes flickered over to Sofi. ¡°Are we going to run? Fight?¡±


    ¡°Neither,¡± she whispered back, then raised her voice. ¡°You have been offered a position in return for my capture. Assistant to the Night Manager. An important position. The question is, what kind of condition do you want to be in when you claim it?¡±


    Okay, I hadn¡¯t been expecting a threat towards them. Calling on them working with her for so long had been more what I had thought. But the dockworkers were backing off as Ildat took a step forward, cleaver gripped in his hand.


    Why was I working with these people again? Right, no other options.


    We made a few dozen paces into the docks before someone tried to rush us.


    I didn¡¯t see it, only heard the sound of the gun. I turned in time to see someone fall to the ground, their momentum taking them to within a few feet of Helvor. Blood was already spreading from the hole punched in their shoulder, spreading across the ground.


    Gun trained on the prone body¡¯s head, Helvor continued to walk onwards. They didn¡¯t get up. No others among the dockworkers moved. Eventually, we made it past, and I let out a breath I hadn¡¯t realized I was holding. Okay. A hundred more feet. I could see cave openings around the elevator, ranging from man-sized to truck-sized. Some looked natural most did not.


    ¡°We¡¯re going for that one,¡± Helvor informed me, pointing to a man-sized one maybe a hundred feet to the right. ¡°It leads to-¡±


    The cargo elevator began to open with a shriek. A head pressed out in between the two opening doors. It towered above all of us, the head as tall as I was. It was more a skull than a head, with four sharp, thick, and short horns sticking out from the top and bottom of it. The skull itself was almost a cross between a pig and a bird, beak sticking out of a more porcine structure. Strips of flesh hung loose off the bare bones.


    It turned to look at us, empty eye sockets staring until something orange welled up in them. Like tears, magma poured out of the creature¡¯s eyes. A wave of heat washed over me, making me stumble. It had gone from cool to roasting in seconds. Its mouth opened, releasing a scream that made me clap my hands to my ears.


    The cavern entrance looked like it was a mile away. I just focused on running, even as the shrieking stopped and metal shrieked. In the corner of my eyes, the slowly opening door was suddenly slammed all the way. A skeletal hand gripped it, before moving out of sight. I redoubled my efforts. Molk and Helvor passed me. There was no effort to run as a group now.


    A bony hand grasped my bicep. I spun around, throwing a punch. It connected with a jawline with a painful-sounding crack as something broke underneath. Reeling back, a humanoid who could be the cousin of the monster in the elevator shrieked in pain as they let go of my arm. He was the frontrunner of an entire pack of maybe a half dozen but I didn¡¯t spare more than a glance.


    I had seen the towering monster. Too close to stop.


    I kept on running. How many feet? A dozen to the cave entrance. Helvor was there, almost as big as the entrance itself, aiming a rifle. It cracked and someone behind me squealed in pain.


    Then the earth shook, flinging me from my feet. I landed hands first on the ground, both of them bursting into pain as they scraped across the rough stone floor. A hot wind blew over me. The ground burned me. Screaming I turned over as a shadow fell over me.


    I stared directly up at a face as it leaned down toward me, fire streaming from its eye sockets. A three-fingered hand reached down, white skin stretched over the bone to the point where it looked like it would split at any moment. I dove into the cave, making it a half dozen feet inside as the hand grasped just above me. A second later one of the fingers tried grasping in, thick as I was, scrambling as it tried to reach me, the wall shuddering as it did.


    Someone grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me. I scrambled to my feet, moving down the tunnel. The grasping finger was left behind.


    The roaring of the creature continued to echo as we scrabbled further inside, the walls and roof around us shaking as it continued to hammer, trying to reach further inside. Please, luck, do me one goddamn favor today, and let¡¯s not have this place collapse on top of my head. A rock clattered down right next to me, easily the size of my fist and coming within inches of the front of my face. Well, it seems I had my answer.


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you know what that was?¡± I asked as we continued forward, funneled down this small passage. If it was small for me, it must be hell for some of the others. They were still moving ahead though.


    ¡°He is a member of the security force for the hotel, although they only break Ka¡¯denz out when they have a big problem,¡± Helvor said.


    I winced, having noticed which word he had chosen to place the emphasis on. ¡°Sorry. Most people from where I¡¯m from, look a lot more uniform than people here. And when I see something like him, my mind immediately goes to-¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Helvor cut me off. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to snap. It¡¯s hard on travelers. I¡¯m just used to thinking of you as someone else.¡±


    I nodded, noticed something else, and frowned. ¡°Where is everyone else?¡±


    ¡°Ahead. Let¡¯s go. Before Ka¡¯denz tries digging his way deeper.¡±


    The sound of the thrashing finger still echoed behind us, even if it was out of sight. So I nodded, and off we went.

 Chapter 14 - Traitor or not, one removed

    The first few minutes after leaving the mouth of the tunnel behind were silent. The noise of boots on stone and the occasional dripping of water were the only sounds as we walked.


    The tunnel was small, Helvor cutting his coat as he forced his way through. The pale blue light from the lantern on his back illuminated it all. I trudged behind, stuck waiting for him to continue forward multiple times.


    ¡°Others have made it pretty far ahead,¡± He said over his shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s about another ten minutes till we reach where they¡¯ll stop. You fine back there?¡±


    ¡°Doing great.¡± I tried and failed to keep a nervous tremor out of my response. I was shaking. Part of it was remembering how close that giant creature had gotten. The heated floor cooking me. Massive skeletal fingers burrowing through the tunnels toward me.


    The other part I realized a few minutes after going deeper into the tunnels. Somebody had betrayed the group Sofi had assembled. It could be any one of the group, including the person I was now stuck far behind the group with.


    I supposed I shouldn¡¯t be too concerned. Between how large he was and how small the tunnel was, turning back to face me would be a challenge for Helvor. Then again, people here had surprised me with what they could do before.


    The feeling of tension did not go away till those ten minutes had passed, and the tunnel opened up.


    My eyes watered from the lights as Helvor stepped through into the cavern beyond. The others had set up so many to illuminate every square inch of it. Lanterns and stones of varying sizes glowing a bright blue dotted a large circular cavern.


    The others were waiting in the middle of the large space. A hundred paces from one end to the other? More? Irregardless, it was big enough that even with the lights, dim shadows lurked. Literally, as I saw one push against the edge of the light.


    I need to get an answer on those things


    It was a dome, and one I was sure had been carved out of rock. The curved walls were smooth without fault. Openings were spaced evenly along the walls, fourteen in total. All uniform in size, just big enough for someone like Helvor to have fit through.


    Sofi and Ildat and some of the others were setting up in the middle of the cavern. Karvek and Molk. Kostnikov and Laverck were both missing, but I could see packs that they had been carrying.


    ¡°Bit open, isn¡¯t it?¡± I asked Helvor, looking over the cavern. There were other opening dotting the cavern beside the fourteen on the ground. They ranged in size from a fist to big enough for a person to squeeze their way through.


    ¡°A little,¡± He agreed. ¡°Does give us a lot of ways out if something finds us down here. The last thing you want is to be stuck in a dead end in these tunnels.¡±


    Yeah, that made sense. I could just imagine my back to the wall and no way out but to fight whatever had cornered me, from what I¡¯d seen so far, something horrifying.


    ¡°Speaking from personal experience?¡±


    ¡°Used to scout these out. People always want to set things up down here, no one wants to share maps of the tunnels so everyone pays to know how everything connects. Then people make even more tunnels.¡± Helvor chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s a mess.¡±


    Sounded like a lot of things down here were. ¡°You do it a long time?¡±


    ¡°A few years, not very long. Tough work, dangerous work, not a lot pay for it, not benefits.¡± He chuckled ¡°Unlike this, right Ildat?¡±


    We had been walking the entire time, and by now had finally made it to the middle. Ildat, already in conversation with Karvek and Sofi, looked up irritably.


    ¡°I¡¯m not answering till I know what we are talking about,¡± he replied. ¡°I am not being tricked again that way Helvor.¡±


    Ah. Group dynamics I was as unfamiliar with in the rest of this world. Another thing to try and figure out. I unshouldered my pack, and put it down near a pile forming in the middle. Ildat and Helvor continued to talk to each other, Karvek with Helvor. Molk was silent, walking around kicking rocks.


    Why? I had no idea. Maybe he was bored. Maybe he was checking for parasites that would worm into our brains while asleep.


    Sofi was on her own for now, and I walked over. Scattered around were the pieces of what looked like a radio. Was she trying to contact someone? I didn¡¯t want to interrupt, but there was something I wanted to talk about.


    ¡°Do you have a second?¡±


    ¡°Briefly, yes. Why?¡±


    ¡°Looks like a few people are missing,¡± I observed.


    ¡°Kostnikov and Laverck are out making sure the area around here is safe,¡± she replied. ¡°Outside of the Night Manager, there are many things down here we do not want to find us.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t doubt that, but is it a good idea to send them out by themselves?¡±


    ¡°Are you attempting to give me advice? Like I should trust you?¡±


    She sounded more amused than angry, so I forged ahead. ¡°Yes. Because like you said back there, I¡¯m the one person who couldn¡¯t have been informing the Night Manager.¡±


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°I am rather certain no one in this group informed on us, but I¡¯ll indulge this.¡±


    I tramped down on the surge of anger that had caused.


    ¡°I suppose the first question is, those other names she mentioned, Bolin and so on, are they part of this?¡±


    ¡°Bolvin is who you mean, and no they are not. They are tangentially related in that they aided with preparations but had no idea of what was planned. Hence why I am certain no one in this group was actually informing on us.¡±


    I frowned. Yeah, that made sense. And thinking on it, if the Night Manager knew, why not have people waiting? It had been pure luck that the security guard on the cargo elevator had exited right as we were leaving. Why not have people down here ready to apprehend Sofi and her group from the start?


    But then how had she known to begin with? And to do it right then?


    ¡°What do you think happened then? That the Night Manager found out at the last second, barely had time to stop you, decided to announce it over the speakers before we left anyway?¡±


    ¡°She probably assumed more people would be willing to go for the position of assistant to her office. Offering it for taking us out is very, very unequal pay. She probably did not anticipate us to be as well-armed, or in the middle of getting ready when she announced it. Ka¡¯denz got sent down to collect us while she focuses on the bigger issues confronting her.¡±


    Bigger issues? I¡¯d think that an insurrection among the staff might be an issue. Albeit, given the scale of the hotel I had witnessed and how small Sofi¡¯s group was, that would track.


    Still, there was one problem.


    ¡°She mentioned my name. How many people knew I was down here? Because the only two I know are you and Il-¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not Ildat,¡± she hissed, face turned furious. The sheer venom in her tone made me grasp my knife, while a few dozen feet away Ildat turned to look at us. Crap, had he heard me? Kostnikov and Laverck were there as well, along with the others. When had they gotten back?


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t accuse him of that,¡± I assured her quickly, trying to keep an eye both on her and Ildat. Not easy since they were on opposite sides of me. ¡°But you two were the only ones I saw.¡±


    She glared at me a while longer, then her glowering turned down the intensity a bit. Ildat kept on staring, but after a few seconds returned to his meal.


    ¡°The ship crew is most likely. I had them sequestered, and claimed I wanted to inform the Night Manager herself, to keep rumors to a minimum. Likely after enough time, a member of the crew became suspicious and managed to find a connection to the hotel proper.¡±


    And knew who all was in on your plan? I wasn¡¯t buying it. But I didn¡¯t want to press the idea. Not with the reaction she had to it the first time. She didn¡¯t say anything else, and not thinking of what to say myself, I moved back towards the others.


    ¡°Ah, Indigo. Sleeping bag should be in your pack.¡± Ildat grinned as I looked at him. Had he overheard me? If so, he wasn¡¯t showing any signs. ¡°You should pick a spot. Lot of open space.¡±


    I moved, as far away as I could from him, towards where Lacerck was setting up his own bag. I stopped, got mine out. It was essentially two large blankets sewn together with a small opening to crawl in. Heavy, maybe not comfortable, but it would do.


    Laverck had already set his up and was busy messing around with a cube, strange patterns on the size.


    The Lament Configuration was¡­Oh goddamnit. Luckily only a movie series suddenly being inserted into my head wasn¡¯t as bad as some of the previous things.


    ¡°What are you looking at?¡±


    Laverck¡¯s question helped shake me out of it as well. That and the radio Sofi had set up suddenly crackling to life. I ignored the latter for now.


    ¡°Uh, sorry, I just noticed your box and was wondering what it is. Part of your religion or culture or?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a box I picked up at the market on the cheap. I thought it looked interesting.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I didn¡¯t know where to go from that. Did I want to start a conversation? It seemed like a way to learn at least a little about this world. ¡°Where was the marketplace you bought it at?¡±


    ¡°Girl, are you trying to fish out my life story for some reason, or just being noisy?¡± He groused as he shook out the sleeping bag


    ¡°I don¡¯t know anyone here. Well, outside a little of Sofi, Ildat, and Helvor. You are the first people I¡¯ve met to not immediately try to kill me?¡± Actually, there had been the goat but could I really count him?


    ¡°That¡¯s rich. Look, you want to keep this act up, feel free, but you¡¯re not fooling me,¡± He scowled.


    ¡°Look, I am not the Suitcase-¡±


    ¡°Take a hint! Go away, or I¡¯ll bite your throat out, you two-faced snake! Do you think anyone here will care if I did?¡± He hissed, opening his mouth to reveal pointed teeth.


    I already had my hand on my pistol, backing away from the snarling Laverck. The others had taken notice. Everyone was staring. No one said anything.


    I ended up sleeping far away from the rest of the group.


    ***


    I was in a tunnel, a dagger nibbling on my throat, slicing through my skin as blood sprayed. I tried to choke out a name on the edge of my tongue, couldn¡¯t make it past the bloo-


    I woke up, gasping, trying to collect my thoughts. What the hell was that? The dim light of the surrounding cavern was


    Outlined by the pale light, Ildat was standing over me, a blade in a hand. I opened my mouth to scream only for a hand to clamp over it. I did the first thing that came to mind.


    I bit down hard, getting a muttered curse from right next to my ear as the taste of blood filled my mouth.


    ¡°Indigo, release my hand!¡± Sofi hissed right in my ear.


    Surprised, I let go. She pulled her bleeding hand away, muttering. Ildat looked over, putting a finger over his lips.


    I didn¡¯t know what to do. I gripped my pistol tightly as Sofi irritably moved past me. Were they planning on killing someone? They were both moving toward two huddled forms, who I couldn¡¯t exactly remember. I was pretty sure one was Laverck.


    I drew my pistol but didn¡¯t aim it. Neither Sofi nor Ildat reacted. They were both focused on the huddled forms, Ildat quietly stepping closer. Quiet steps, much quieter than someone of his size should be.


    I quietly undid the safety on my gun. Deal or no deal, if he tried to kill someone, I would shoot him.


    Ildat darted forward, reaching for one of the bags. I tightened my finger on the gun¡¯s trigger, lifting it up.


    Ildat paused, then let go, a stream of something in a foreign tone streaming out his mouth, loud and breaking the silence. From the tone, I would guess swearing. I quickly lowered my gun before either him or Sofi noticed it.


    Molk, Helvor, and Karvek were up now, woken by Ildat. That answered who the other bag belonged to. Kostnikov.


    I walked over as Idlat continued swearing, taking a look at both.


    Kostnikov¡¯s was empty except for several of the large lighting stones. Laverck¡¯s had a corpse.

 Chapter 15 - A Stop in a Circle

    I resisted the urge to vomit looking down at the body. Laverck had been lacerated from ear to ear, a bloody smile carved across his face.


    Ildat grabbed the sleeping bag, lifting it up and spilling the body and a pool of blood onto the rocky ground of the cavern. Everyone backed up as the pool crept across except Ildat, who just stared at the blood staining his shoes in disgust.


    ¡°We need to leave.¡± I stared at the body lying crumpled on the floor, the cuts deep enough that the head was barely hanging on. I couldn¡¯t begin to imagine the amount of strength behind shearing through Laverck¡¯s neck.


    ¡°Agreed,¡± Sofi said next to me. ¡°Ildat, how long till he comes back?¡±


    ¡°From this? A few hours.¡± Ildat laid the corpse out, positioning it like Laverck was asleep. ¡°If Kostnikov is our traitor, we don¡¯t have time to wait.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t just take him with us?¡± I asked as the others were already moving and packing things away. I hadn¡¯t unpacked anything after finding what I hoped was a secure place last night.


    ¡°The spirit stays where the body was slain.¡± Ildat shook his head. ¡°We take that away, it¡¯ll take longer and be even more imperfect. If he comes back mostly himself, even captured, Laverck would prefer being himself.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue against that. ¡°You said if Kostnikov is the traitor?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t dismiss any options, but I¡¯ll admit it looks really solid,¡± Ildat replied while getting out a piece of paper and writing on it quickly, then took off Laverck¡¯s shoe. ¡°I¡¯ll handle this, you pack.¡±


    I didn¡¯t think not dismissing all options was the reason for that slip, but now wasn¡¯t the time for a confrontation. I got everything ready as Ildat put the piece of paper inside Laverck¡¯s shoe.


    ¡°Sofi, what direction do we take now?¡± Ildat asked as he put the shoe back on the corpse.


    ¡°Elevators. We don¡¯t have any choice.¡±


    Ildat¡¯s cool cracked before being recomposed, just a flicker in front of my eyes. Crap. How bad an option were the elevators?


    It didn¡¯t take long to pack up. Someone had taken Kostnikov¡¯s packs and then had gone through Laverck¡¯s as well. They hadn¡¯t touched anyone else¡¯s, which was stranger. Maybe they couldn¡¯t carry more? If I were them I¡¯d at leas thave tried to sabotage the remaining supplies.


    They had stuck me right in the middle as we went through the tunnel. With Karvek right behind me and Ildat in front. I was pretty certain it wasn¡¯t for protection.


    If Kostnikov was the traitor Ildat had said. The implication was definitely that he had cut Laverck¡¯s throat, but had he? None of us had woken up while his throat was being slit, but I¡¯d been woken up just by Ildat creeping towards the sleeping bags?


    Had Kosnitkov run away after filling his bag with rocks as a disguise? Or had someone dragged him out, killed him, and left him to be reborn and deflect the blame for them?


    And more specifically, did they think I had done that?


    The tunnel was cramped, my arms occasionally hitting rough patches of rock as we continued down the tunnel. Lights kept everything shining brightly but after a while that grew almost as oppressive as complete darkness would have been.


    The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, a slightly uphill slant to its floor that after what could have been an hour or just ten minutes began to make the muscles in my legs burn. How far had I fallen? Were we going to walk all the way up that distance? Couldn¡¯t be, since they mentioned elevators, but how far till we reached those?


    The burning wasn¡¯t just in my legs anymore. My lungs were feeling it as well. I¡¯d lost track of how long. The patterns of rock in the tunnel changed, but the tunnel itself did not as we continued through it. How long had we walked?


    Ahead of me Ildat suddenly came to a halt just as I felt like I would collapse. He stepped through an archway, formed out of mortared bricks.


    There was another chamber not too dissimilar to the one we had left. It was smaller, with only five distinct tunnels including the one we just entered from, but otherwise the same general dome shape. Triangle markings were next to each door, starting with one then up to four joined together in a square and a fifth one on top for the last one. Ildat cursed as he ran his fingers across one of the walls.


    ¡°A week. They carved this out in a week?¡± He yelled before punching the wall, shards of stone flying off of it.


    ¡°Who, the Night Manager?¡± I took the opportunity to take a step away from my position in between him and Karvek.


    Sofi shook her head. ¡°She is the least likely to be expanding the underground. Miners with permits she granted would be most likely, except that there is nothing left to mine. The last three attempts showed nothing, the earth searcher they hired found nothing.¡±


    ¡°So why would anyone be making new tunnels?¡±


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s the shadow people,¡± Helovr interjected.


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    ¡°The what?¡±


    "How much are you going to pretend to not know about, Suitcase?" Karvek sneered, and I balled up a fist.


    "Do not call me that."


    ¡°Both of you, quiet,¡± Sofi interjected. ¡°I doubt it is them. Unless they are givento using Maelander markings. And if they exist. Worst case scenario, the Night Manager leased out the underground without notifying the staff. Wouldn¡¯t be the first time. Ildat did they collapse the old tunnel when they made this?¡±


    Ildat was part of the way down one of the tunnels, which curved so that he was almost out of sight. ¡°No, this is the one,¡± he yelled back. ¡°But it looks like they carved new ones branching off. Quickly and freshly as well. Trying to get on the elevator might be more difficult.¡±


    ¡°We will take ten minutes to break then. Everyone, enjoy a moment, rest. It will be a harder climb to reach our destination.¡±


    I groaned as I headed to one side of the chamber. That was not what I wanted to hear. Most of the others went to the other side, but Helvor was nice enough to join me. I sat down, sucking air in as he settled down next to me. There was talking going on across the chamber I couldn¡¯t hear the specifics of, but for now, Helvor was silent. I was the first to break that.


    ¡°So, elevators to get to the hotel, how does this work?¡±


    Helvor grimaced. ¡°I haven¡¯t done it myself, but the idea is to ride them to the hotel ground floor.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound too bad,¡± I commented. There would be people up there of course, and I had no idea to get on, but it didn¡¯t sound too difficult.


    ¡°We need to ride the top of them.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± That was¡­alarming. ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Sofi did it. Once. With Laverck. They jumped as it passed through the shaft.¡±


    Forget alarming, that sounded terrifying. ¡°That cannot be safe.¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t. But no one really checks the top for bodies, so you come back eventually. The bigger risk is getting an injury that doesn¡¯t heal fast.¡±


    Well, this could mark the first time that getting a sprained ankle would be more inconvenient than dying. ¡°And what happens when the elevator reaches the top?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a maintenance hatch, that leads to a tunnel. Bit tight, and there are not a lot of places to hide but it connects to most areas on the ground floor of the hotel. Probably head to a secluded spot, and figure out the plan from there.¡±


    Right, the plan that had not been gone over yet. Why was I getting an ever-increasing feeling I¡¯d thrown my lot in with the wrong people? ¡°The first floor is crawling with Chainer¡¯s Brigade. You all know that right?¡±


    ¡°The intercom does reach down here,¡± Ildat said right behind me.


    I almost leaped out of my skin, swallowing a panicked yelp. I wished he would stop doing that.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I replied, trying to keep my voice from quavering, ¡°So then you know they are up there.¡±


    ¡°Night Manager won¡¯t let them out of the lobby. The patrons she relies on to keep her job wouldn¡¯t tolerate the Chainer¡¯s people being anywhere near them. She needs to keep them on her side.¡± Ildat had produced some kind of jerky from his pockets that he took a bit out of before passing fresh pieces to the both of us.


    I paused before starting on mine. ¡°She needs to keep specific guests of the hotel happy? But not everyone?¡±


    ¡°People like you, Kostnikov, most everyone, desperation is enough to keep the money flowing. This place isn¡¯t a hotel, it¡¯s a refuge. For some it¡¯s actually a hotel in function essentially. Uppermost floors.¡± Ildat gestured upwards while Helvor tore into his own jerky. ¡°They are the only ones that matter to the Owner really. Contribute the most money. As long as that is coming, they don¡¯t care about the rest.¡±


    ¡°Does the plan involve using that against the Night Manager?¡±


    Helvor and Ildat traded looks before Ildat said ¡°Let¡¯s save that for when we are in a safer place.¡±


    I didn¡¯t think things would get much safer the closer we got to the top of the hotel, but I wouldn¡¯t press it. Instead, I pivoted to something else I wanted to know.


    ¡°How well do both of you know Kostnikov?¡±


    ¡°Not that well,¡± Helvor admitted. ¡°He was assigned down here as part of the security detail, once that got removed he decided to stay and help with the fishing. Ildat?¡±


    ¡°We recruited him to the plan mostly because the Night Manager had a hold on him he wanted gone. He¡¯s another person wanted by the outside, accepted a massive amount of debt to work off in return for the hotel¡¯s safety.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t more people do that? Seems to be better than running out of money.¡±


    ¡°Typically the debt she assigns you is at minimum a few centuries of labor to work off. And while no one has lasted long enough to find out, it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise if she found a way to add to it.¡±


    That didn¡¯t surprise me too much. Even with the limited personal I had with her, I could see that happening. Or maybe it was the lack of a remotely friendly or even neutral encounter with her so far.


    ¡°Back to Kostnikov. You had to know something, I don¡¯t imagine you¡¯d let a stranger in on this.¡±


    ¡°Outside yourself you mean?¡± Ildat raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°You coerced me at first. But you know what I mean.¡±


    ¡°Point taken. Kosnitkov was part of a group of bounty hunters, pretty successful group. Operated for a number of years. Then one day he and another, from the same place, they butchered their bounties, not just the bodies but the souls. Building a bridge back to their home they put it. The rest of the group found out, wasn¡¯t pleased. Bounties were supposed to be alive. No one was happy.¡±


    ¡°And I was the one everyone was ready to distrust?¡±


    ¡°Kostnikov was quiet, helpful, non-argumentative, and more importantly was fed a few different opportunities to turn us in to the Night Manager without doing so,¡± Ildat growled. ¡°Him turning now makes no sense.¡±


    ¡°There are others besides the Night Manager,¡± Helvor observed. ¡°I never heard the part about his origins before. Who''s to say he isn¡¯t trying to make a bridge out of us?¡±


    ¡°Because he already wasted his chance on it. It¡¯s why the other one deserted him. The partner made their own deal, but didn¡¯t extend it to him because his usefulness was up. It doesn¡¯t make much sense for it to be him,¡± Ildat voice had gone pensive. He taped idly with a hand, looking across the chamber.


    ¡°Who do you think it is then?¡± Helvor whispered, also looking across.


    Ildat near jumped, almost like he has forgotten we were here with him. ¡°Never you mind that Helvor, you just be ready when we find out for sure, alright?¡±


    Helvor nodded, and across the chamber, Sofi got up and stated the ten minutes were up. I finished the jerky Ildat had handed me and got up, although my mind was something else. Was asking Helvor to be ready just a case of omitting me because I hadn¡¯t been the one to ask directly?


    Or was it a sign of where suspicion lay?

 Chapter 16 - Void on the Mind

    It was another thirty minutes or so of walking before we started hearing the skittering.


    Karvek was the first to notice, and we were forced to stop, straining our ears to hear the chittering she swore had been right above us. Sofi and Ildat had talked to her by themselves while we waited further down the tunnel. After a quick hushed conversation, we continued down the tunnel.


    It wasn¡¯t long after that we started hearing it ourselves, the sounds of the clattering os something on stone again and again.


    ¡°What is it?¡± I whispered, hand tightening around my pistol.


    Ahead of me, Ildat eyed the ceiling, drawing a broad cleaver from within his coat. ¡°Asthryx. A swarm of them,¡± He responded in short clipped sentences. ¡°Best to hope they don¡¯t come down here.¡±


    ¡°And if they do?¡±


    ¡°We hope coming back doesn¡¯t take too long. Quiet.¡±


    Well that wasn¡¯t very encouraging. I kept my mouth shut as the sound of chittering continued, growing louder as the moments passed by. We had stopped, all the others perfectly still.


    A shrill screech came from above, either loud enough that it passed right through solid stone or there was a tunnel nearby connecting us. The chittering stopped, and up at the front Karvek took a nervous step back.


    The clack of boot on rock was like a sledgehammer taken to it, the sound echoing all through the tunnel. Karvek¡¯s face turned pale as she froze. Up above, the silence continued.


    I wasn¡¯t sure how long passed with nothing happening and us still. After a while I started keeping track in my head.


    ¡­..Eight hundred and forty-seven, eight hundred and forty-eight, eight hundred and forty-nine.


    Suddenly a clatter up above of something skittering across the stone. I about jumped out of my skin, pistol drawn out of my coat.


    The others had weapons out as well, turning to face either direction down the tunnel as the skittering grew louder and louder.


    My sweaty hands struggled to maintain a grip on the pistol grip, moving to the back with Helvor, who had something that looked like a combination between a halberd and a rifle. The blue light of the lanterns easily covered a hundred feet.


    The skittering was beginning to fade now, and no sign of anything coming from our side of the tunnel. I looked the other way, hoping the others were still there.


    They were, and nothing else was. Still, none of us stopped watching both sides of the tunnel. Not till the skittering had long vanished off the edge of our hearing.


    ***


    There was another hushed and whispered conversation between Ildat, Sofi, and Karvek right after the skittering stopped. About forty feet down, the rest of us waited me, Helvor, and Molk.


    ¡°Is she usually like this?¡± I muttered to Helvor, inclining my head towards Karvek. He shrugged in response.


    ¡°I don¡¯t spend a lot of time around her, even when Sofi had us preparing. She mostly handled things in the tunnels. Molk?¡±


    Molk grunted. ¡°I¡¯m not gonna condemn someone for getting nerves. Not down here. She¡¯s a steady hand most of the time. Laverck¡¯s her usual confidant as well, so that¡¯s weighing on her. If she hadn¡¯t cracked first, I don¡¯t think any of us can say we wouldn¡¯t have eventually made some mistake.¡±


    Well, I couldn¡¯t disagree with that really.


    ¡°Besides, I don¡¯t like the idea of you spreading dissension among our ranks,¡± He finished. That did rankle.


    ¡°I was just asking a question,¡± I protested, trying to keep my voice down so the other three wouldn¡¯t hear. ¡°I¡¯ve got no frame of reference for..any of this really. Surely someone here has died and come back with no memories of anything, right?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know, haven¡¯t died at all,¡± Molk gave me an appraising look. ¡°Your reputation doesn¡¯t help in that regard.¡±


    I chuckled. ¡°Well with that we go back to having no frame of reference for what I was like.¡±


    ¡°I do know someone who came back with no memories,¡± Helvor interjected, grabbing both of our attention.


    ¡°Really? First time I¡¯ve heard you mention it Helvor,¡± Molk responded, sounding a little surprised. The two of them were close? I¡¯d have never guessed.


    Then again I¡¯d spent all of¡­four, five hours with them? I needed to find a watch.


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    ¡°Before the hotel. On the streets. Bottom level. Cops from a precinct, I think it was the fifth, were chasing a bounty through the housing down below. Things were getting crazy. He¡¯d gone through a bunch of them. They didn¡¯t care who got in the way, they just wanted the reward.¡±


    I frowned. So this place did have law enforcement, although from what he described, they just sounded like another set of bounty hunters.


    ¡°They eventually decided to trap him, he was a blood mage of some kind. Got power out of his kills. So they herded a bunch of us from the streets into the building. Kept a few of their own guarding us to make it look good. He came in to get his fill, and they blew the building up. Tried to bury him and the rest of us. Probably hoped it would kill him and keep him in place long enough to collect. The only problem is whoever set them up was a moron. It blew a hole in the floor when it collapsed the building.¡±


    Molk inhaled sharply. ¡°Right into the void?¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± Helvor replied, then seeing my confused expression, explained. ¡°Bottom most layer, you only go there if you can¡¯t afford rent anywhere. But there¡¯s just a thin layer of rock and concrete. That goes, there¡¯s nothing holding you from plummeting into whatever lurks there.¡±


    ¡°Fuck.¡± I¡¯d experienced what it was like to spend only a few seconds in what was just darkness. Could that even compare to what Helvor was talking about? ¡°How many people fell?¡±


    ¡°Ninety, maybe a hundred total. Mostly people from the street, the blood mage, even some of the precinct cops. Probably department rivals of whoever set the entire thing up. I survived, barely. I got lucky.¡± Helvor rolled up his sleeve, revealing a meaty slab of an arm but also a healed wound, round, black, and at least an inch thick. ¡°Piece of rebar punctured my arm. Didn¡¯t weigh as much back then, so it held me up. Refused to have it healed up by magic.¡±


    ¡°Did anyone else survive?¡± Molk asked, completely engrossed.


    Helvor grinned humourlessly. ¡°Police came first. Their bounty went out into the void, no body, no proof, so they just left. A couple of other people got lucky. But, someone came, offering money. His partner was one of the ones who had fallen in. Wanted someone to see if they had survived. I didn¡¯t volunteer, but I know who did. They found someone, torn in half. Lower body sent to the Void, upper half clinging just barely, death grip on the rubble. They dragged them up, wasn¡¯t the partner. So he brought the body over to where the injured were healing, including me. We waited for them to come back, must have been hours. Eventually, the body started to reform, and they woke up.¡±


    ¡°And then? You said they had no memories right?¡± This could be the key, to figuring out exactly what was going on. Why I had a serial killer in my head who I supposedly was.


    ¡°No memories, but not like you,¡± Helvor replied and my heart sank. ¡°She¡­she didn¡¯t do anything. I¡¯m not sure she was even aware she was alive. She didn¡¯t move, she didn¡¯t talk, and she barely breathed. She didn¡¯t eat. She didn¡¯t even look at you. Oh her eyes would point your way, but nothing was behind them. No one was sure what had happened. Someone theorized that when she went into the void it ripped everything out of her it could. Memories. Personality. Soul. Nothing left but a husk.¡±


    No easy answers. I should have guessed. ¡°Did anything happen to her?¡±


    ¡°Well, we tried to care for her for a few days. I¡¯ll not pretend it was altruism. My arm was still healing, my friend was pretty desperate as well, we were hoping she¡¯d come back so we could get something for saving her life. But someone else who was there must have started spreading the story. Went out to try and negotiate for something, anything to eat, came back to the part of the alleys we had staked out as our own. The friend was nailed to the wall, and she was gone. You can ask him for the rest of the story when he comes back. If he comes back.¡±


    ¡°Laverck?¡± Yeah, if it was him, I doubted he would be eager to talk to me.


    ¡°Yeah, Laverck.¡±


    ¡°What about Laverck?¡± Ildat asked, maybe a few inches from my ear.


    I moved to the side reflexively, smacking the side of my head against the stone wall of the tunnel.


    ¡°For¡­for fuck¡¯s sake, would you learn about personal space?!¡± I screamed at him, feeling the side of my head. Wet. I was bleeding. ¡°This is the second head injury you¡¯ve given me today!¡±


    ¡°Just talking stories Ildat,¡± Helvor replied causally as I continued to curse at Ildat with every word I thought was an insult and a few others.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re to get going in a second,¡± he replied, backing out of easy-grabbing distance as I stumbled to my feet. ¡°Sofi wants to leave before anything else starts scurrying around here. Indigo, just see Sofi, she¡¯ll fix you up.¡±


    ***


    After another ten minutes, we passed through the tunnel into a third chamber, one that looked exactly like the first one we had left.


    No abandoned supplies, no dead Laverck, no pile of blood. Outside of those missing details, it was exactly the same as before.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t go in a circle, did we?¡± I asked Helvor, who shook his head.


    ¡°No. Miners standardize the hubs. The way the dome is shaped means we don¡¯t need supports,¡± He hit the side of the tunnel as if that would demonstrate it. Nothing shifted but considering it was all solid stone, it wasn¡¯t that impressive. And I had no idea if architecturally he was right or not.


    ¡°We are on the right path,¡± Sofi assured me. ¡°This should be the last hub before the elevator access. I wanted to rest one last time before attempting this, but if Asthryx is on the move through the tunnels, it is best to keep going.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t argue with that. They aren¡¯t ant-faced people are they?¡± I was thinking of my earlier encounter back in the apartment. Sofi shook her head.


    ¡°No, Asthryx are barely sapient outside a few of them and tend to be on many legs. You must be talking about the Ant Hill Mob.¡±


    She had half-finished that name when another little burst of information went off inside my head. Wacky Races, a show first produced in the year 1968 by Hanna-Barbara for CBS-. That did not mean it wasn¡¯t annoying.


    ¡°Someone is playing jokes on me, I swear,¡± I muttered, getting a strange look from everyone in sight. ¡°It¡¯s the name of something on earth. From a kid¡¯s show. Except they were little people, not actual ant-people.¡±


    ¡°Maybe they were inspired by it?¡± Ildat asked, keeping his distance. Possibly because of the number of threats I¡¯d thrown his way after bashing my head.


    ¡°There aren¡¯t ant-people on ear- you know what never mind.¡± I cut myself off, remembering the other earth that Ildat¡¯s acquaintance claimed to be from. Alternate earths? Or were my little info dumps just fake? They certainly felt artificial. ¡°Let¡¯s just say it¡¯s a lot of luck to have those names in common.


    ¡°Great luck indeed,¡± A voice I recognized said from one of the tunnels. The Night Manager. ¡°I would say for us and not for them though.¡±

 Chapter 16 - Circular Talks

    I was off the wall, hand reaching for the gun right after hearing that voice. My hand was around the grip pulling it out when the Night Manager stated ¡°If you so much as aim that at me, you are dead.¡±


    The Night Manager did look like the idea of a hotel manager, middle-aged, with glasses perched on her nose well-dressed in a suit. Black hair streaked with grey in a bun, azure eyes glared in a gaze that seemed like it had bored her way to our hiding spot itself. She was in one of the tunnel entrances to this chamber, and she wasn¡¯t alone.


    There were eight of them in total, mostly dressed in what looked like uniforms. Another random piece of information slid into my head as I saw them. An annoyingly vague one. I had no idea what a bellhop was but apparently, that¡¯s what they were dressed as.


    Outside the uniforms, they certainly were equipped to kill, most had revolvers in hand. Two with rifles. Knives at belts, except one that had what looked like a glaive for some reason.


    That was held by someone who looked like they should be manning an elevator, young, brown-haired, looking uncomfortably like a teenager. The two towards the front were a guy with horns sticking out and a rifle pointed directly at me, and a woman with a pistol and a very disconcerting smile. Cheshire cat my mind informed me, and I did not need an info dump in there right now, but after a second it seemed none would come.


    Now I get to be free from that? I thought irritably, backing towards the center of the room. Not that it being gone should be irritating, it should be welcome. But it felt strange that it would suddenly cut out like that.


    The others were in a loose line, as I slid right into the middle between Ildat on the left and Sofi on the right. The far right was anchored by Karvek, the left by Molk.


    They all had weapons of their own drawn, a pistol for Sofi, a sword and pistol for Karvek, a pistol for Ildat, and Molk had what I could only describe as a cannon.


    An inch wide, the barrel of his rifles could probably take most of someone¡¯s chest away if the shell hit there. Could he even fire that without the recoil ripping it out of his hand? Eight feet of muscle or not, it still looked oversized in his hand.


    Someone else was missing and more conspicuous considering how large he was. ¡°Where did Helvor go?¡± I muttered out of the corner of my mouth as the Night Manager took a confident step inside the chamber.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Ildat whispered back while Sofi called out to the Night Manager


    ¡°I see you have decided to bring Marsa down this time. You know she despises coming down here, even if she will not remember you puppeteering her after.¡±


    The Night Manager rolled her eyes. ¡°That is what you choose to address?¡±


    ¡°I address what I want,¡± Sofi snapped back. ¡°Among that is your gross mismanagement of this hotel. Financial negligence. Lying to the Owner. Fixing the books.¡±


    ¡°Baseless, and if you had proof you would not be skulking around the tunnels with an armed party of malcontents and a debtor to the hotel. On that note, Ms. Indigo, or Ms. Farscraw, or whatever you are choosing to call yourself now, you can take this opportunity to surrender. Your debt with us will be spared if you agree to go with the Chainer¡¯s quietly.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose claiming I know nothing about any of this will help me?¡± More than likely no, but it was worth a shot to ask.


    ¡°Even if such a transparent lie were true, the answer would be no. I want you out of my hotel, and it is luck that the Chainer¡¯s are willing to pay for the damages you caused.¡±


    ¡°She claims to have amnesia. So far it has been a very convincing act,¡± Sofi explained.


    ¡°Irrelevant. For the rest of us, I suggest we attempt to talk this out since all of us possess the means to kill each other but it would be inconvenient to do so. We can all lower our weapons,¡± The Night Manager said.


    ¡°Inconvenient?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s easier to justify killing evicted guests or rogue low-level employees. The death of a department manager might be looked into by the Owner,¡± She stated flatly.


    ¡°That¡¯s code for she couldn¡¯t give two craps about the rest of you.¡± The Horned one added, lowering his rifle. Just enough to technically qualify. Everyone else followed his example.


    No one wanted to be unprepared when the shooting did start.


    ¡°If anyone else dies, I will not hesitate before sending you down the elevator shaft, Sfizish,¡± Sofi said


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    ¡°No need for dramatics Sofi. I am merely here to talk to you all,¡± The Night Manager said ¡°Sfizish, restrain yourself for now.¡±


    The horned one decided to take that as a sign he should lower his rifle a little more, which I¡¯d take as a comforting sign. Still didn¡¯t think she just wanted to talk of course.


    ¡°We not important enough to get you to come down here then, Narsiza? Had to take control of an employee and have her act as your eyes and mouth down here then?¡± Ildat had a tight grip on his own weapons, hands pale from the effort.


    ¡°No one is important enough for me to venture my own physical body down here Undermanager,¡± She responded coldly. ¡°Besides, as much of a hit as it might be to the ego of the two of you, you are not the most important thing going on in the hotel today.¡±


    ¡°What I¡¯m hearing is you aren¡¯t too keen on risking your own skin down here,¡± I commented.


    ¡°Of course not, it¡¯s much too dangerous to do so,¡± The Night Manager replied ¡°It¡¯s not worth risking myself down here.¡±


    That got her a side-eye look from the horned staff member and the one with the tats, although the others seemed to either not notice or not mind. I looked inquisitively over to Sofi, who shook her head ¡°Don¡¯t bother.¡± She whispers ¡°She¡¯d just counter any offer we give with more money. It wouldn¡¯t be that hard even.¡±


    I didn¡¯t agree with that entirely, since I was pretty sure no amount of money could completely smother signs of discontent. I mean, knowing your boss didn¡¯t even care to make an effort at valuing you had to hurt right?


    Helvor took a step to the side, slowly. No reaction from anyone across the cavern, so him and Karvek moved closer to the rest of us.


    ¡°Ignoring the comments from my companions,¡± Sofi said. ¡°I have to reject your terms, but I can offer some of my own in return, the first among them-¡±


    I tuned Sofi out, taking a few tentative steps toward Ildat. The others had slowly moved towards him throughout the conversation, now only a few paces away each. I got close enough to tough him if I wanted to.


    ¡°Anything I should know about any of them?¡± I whispered to Ildat


    ¡°None of them can cast that I know of, none of them are particularly augmented. Sfizish, the one with the horns, he¡¯s got some more muscle than you would expect him to have.¡± He whispered back ¡°Weapons don¡¯t look particularly special but as your weapon proves, that doesn¡¯t mean too much. Glaive¡¯s probably enchanted, but the owner looks like he lucked into getting it.¡±


    ¡°Hilmar can cast. Earth magic. He¡¯s a newer hire,¡± Karvek muttered. Ildat gave her an inquisitive glance. ¡°We talked a bit when I went up to deliver laundry a few days back. When the elevators broke down. One with the halberd.¡±


    ¡°Not sensing a gift,¡± Ildat dismissed. ¡°Likely he was boasting.¡±


    ¡°Dracia, the smiling woman, she¡¯s not an employee,¡± Helvor inclined his head towards the Cheshire grinner slightly. ¡°Not sure how she got out of it but I know here from very far down. She is vicious.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I muttered back, reflexively tightening my grip on the said pistol as I thought back to the first time using it. Did I want to use it, knowing what it did? If these people threatened to kill me yes, but at the same time I could still hear the screams from that first time. I might hesitate the first time, and that could mean death. If I shoot someone with this, do they come back? Supposedly no one dies but this compresses you into a hole. Do you just stay like that forever? There was a horrifying thought.


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± The one with the horns said, raising his rifle a bit as he barked the demand out. Molk and Karvek responded in turn. Weapons were back up all around as I froze.


    ¡°The practicalities of instituting communism in this place,¡± I responded, getting a confused look in response.


    ¡°Instituting what?¡± Sfiszish snarled, a long tongue flicking out as he said it, tasting the air.


    Well, it shouldn¡¯t surprise me after hearing what this place¡¯s creator was like. Hell, I shouldn¡¯t even bring up the concepts of unions.


    ¡°Long diverging tangent.¡± I said, as Sofi and the Night Manager joined the number currently looking at me, which made me feel even more self-conscious ¡°I¡¯m going to be honest it just popped into my head and until the rest of the theory does I¡¯m not going to bother.¡±


    I thankfully did not have any large books or anything currently unloading their contents in my skull. Just a base surface-level understanding that had popped in along with the word. Lucky, considering I really didn¡¯t need extraneous crap rattling around inside my skull.


    ¡°Distractions.¡± The Night Manager said disdainfully ¡°Last offer Sofi. You turn over your new acquaintance. You get demoted to Deputy Manager. I get a soul lock put on you with your consent and we sign a new contract of my choosing, independent of the manager. I send one of my people down to take over. You are allowed to advise, but you will have no real power. In maybe a few decades we discuss you getting your old position back.¡±


    I looked at Sofi, and she had half turned her face to consider me. My eyes went to the pistol, then back to Sofi, and she seemed to get the message, eyes flickering first to the puppet of the Night Manager before back to me then blinking.


    That didn¡¯t go unnoticed, as the Night Manager¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Shoot them n-¡°


    Her order to shoot us was interrupted by the sound of my own gun barking, the ringing sound echoing across my ears only to be matched by the sound of crunching flesh and bone and the rush of wind being sucked into the hole. I¡¯d nailed her right in the shoulder.


    There was no screaming this time as someone was being pulled in. The Night Manager stared at me in distaste before with a snap her neck broke towards that shoulder. Half her head began to collapse towards it, bone snapping and flesh sinking. A jet of crimson gore blew out of her nose and ear as more of her was drawn into the hole in the world I¡¯d created.


    That¡¯s when everything went straight to hell.  The earth rumbled underneath my feet, and then moved all around, walls of stone bursting all around me, cutting everyone else off from sight as they rose, heading towards the ceiling of the cavern.


    Underneath me the floor sank, falling as the stone moved like water to feed the walls. We were cut off from each other.

 Closure of Story for Now

    I am sorry but for now I am going to have to end this story. I started this story without any real preparation besides an outline in my head and have tried to keep it going off that. And now I just can''t keep it going. Attempts to write new chapters have had me floundering or just blanking on what to write, and I''m beginning to resent writing this story. I don''t want that. So I am going to end the story here, for now. I might revisit this in the future, but for now I cannot continue the story. For those who have stuck with me so far throughout all of this, I apologize for this.


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