CHAPTER 9

2067

October 21st.

Riley decided to make his clock functional, which automatically calculates the closest time zone on a horizontal scale.

They were immediately placed in the eastern daylight time, meaning it is around the 2:30 A.M mark. That translates to almost 20 hours since the fall. It's dark.

Alister went from no signs of life to performing yawns disguised as deep, animalistic roars. His yawning is so loud and obnoxious, Riley and Zephyr have no silence spared for them to rest. The scientist has chosen to fight through that pain. Zephyr is shaken by the prior revelations, and this forces him to stay awake, only able to take a few power naps.

Zephyr has a big bag. They have a portable lamp on top of his two flashlights at their disposal to light things up a notch. With that lamp they can see up to 5 feet.

The young boy is sharpening his blade with a towel he keeps in his bag. He goes about it with care and precision, to make sure he doesn't cut open the palm of his hand. Considering that he is, allegedly, a walking-talking detonation device, he goes about it meticulously.

On the other hand, the animals are doing menial things; Eylventh soars around the sacred cracks without a problem in sight; Nil is on guarding duty; Urth sleeps close to the portable lamp. The bullfrog has been fond of the boy lately. The blacksmith does find it telling that Riley's obedience is shaky. Only Nil attends to the tasks given by its master.

Everyone calmed down. They make the sounds that accompanies the dark. A dreadful atmosphere to complement their situation. Little to no background noise. The echo is all for them to exploit. The temperature here is abnormal. Decent weather, not too cold, not too hot.

Out of nowhere, the assassin wakes up, screaming.

Alister looks petrified, petrifying Zephyr in the process.

"Ah! Agh! My head!"

Holding his skull with his two hands, Alister's sight darts towards the young blacksmith.

"Jeez! Don't scare us like that. Is everything ok?" asks Zephyr, taken aback.

"No! Do I look ok to you brat!? How long as it been since the fall!? Same platform I assume?"

"Yeah. We've settled a camp here for the time being, until we make our next move."

"Cool for you. Dunno what happened, but my brain just won't stop beating my skull to death. Everything is trying to piss me off." States the hunter.

"Look to your right, I left you a flashlight. Hopefully Riley and the animals haven't devoured all my rations yet. That's if you're still hungry, because apparently, I won't be for a while."

Alister hesitates. The turn of events as he remembers them were too bizarre. Although he can't recall each detail, the same boy who tried to stop him from killing the doctor now plays benevolent ally, and it makes him cringe.

"Look, thanks for the charity event. But I've got a doctor to bring back to the surface and-."

"There is a cloud of weird purple smoke above us. If you're okay dealing with this, then be my guest."

That last bit takes the hunter's curiosity for a spin. Alister uses Zephyr's gifted flashlight to look up. Indeed, prodigy child isn't lying here.

"What on god's earth...?"

"Pretty impressive that this place exists. It doesn't seem to follow the rules of our planet itself. I don't know how much distance we are from the earth's core, but it's steep already."

"This is complete bullshit! How in the fuck am I supposed to leave??"

"You know, I never said the cloud was toxic. You can try and see what happens for yourself."

Zephyr hit a nerve.

"And now I'm starving. Let me eat, then I'll show you how fast I'll get out of there with the doctor's head." Impatiently drops the hunter.

"Hope the food is to your liking."

The hunter, in his intense impatience, takes this comment the wrong way.

"Hey, dickhead! You're as much of an idiot as us! You saw the bait and jumped on your own accord too! Now you want to act passive aggressive!? You think this is funny!? 

"I-I Literally just stated-."

"I don't want you to state anything else, got it junior!?"

Zephyr has no words, as requested.

"That's what I fucking thought. Stay out of my way. And I don't need your goddamn flashlight. I have my own." finishes the hunter, a brutal honesty jabbed towards the blacksmith. He throws the flashlight back on the floor to get a smaller, compact one. He installs it on his right shoulder pad after getting rid of the cloak, revealing the rest of the armor. 

Zephyr already confirmed that someone from the Yundath clan made his piece of equipment, but he feels like keeping those comments to himself. The awkwardness kicks in. Living alone with no human contact for a while in the ruins of Gallows ruined his social skills. Communication is lacking in finesse. The patience of the hunter is dried enough to make him reconsider, for an instant.

Alister takes the time to inspect the platform with his own flashlight. It is composed of rocks somehow attached together with metal ligaments and weirdly deformed chunks of other unrecognizable material. It's bizarre, slapped together even. Whoever had this in mind was out of crafting style. What it lacks in design and charm is being compensated by sturdiness.

The other platforms discovered are separated by three feet each. The calculations are imperfect. There was no chance for the one who placed those platforms to know the exact position in his mind.

Thanks to the doctor's device, the flashlights and Zephyr's lamp (without forgetting the little life saver that is Eylventh), they can clearly see that between them are two opposite walls that are slowly closing in on each other, but not completely, leaving breathing room for a large enough object to be placed in the center, hence this giant platform.

These walls seem polished, too polished. For a pit this gigantic it would be smart to believe that it looks uneven, desolate, and rough. It would feel more natural. The platforms themselves stands out, but the rest of the pit, its dangers and obstacles, its structure, as rock-like as it is, it remains "like" a rock. It feels intentionally designed this way. The clouds of probable toxins above them are an additional characteristic to this contrast. This is supposed to be nature.

It couldn't feel more artificial. An environment that breaths uncanny valley, both an exposé of the earth's gruesome force, and a man-made bio-architectural project.

Looking at these walls make Zephyr speculate. His mind goes wild about many theories. One always comes back to mind.

The assassin's armor. It bothers him. The legacy he holds so dearly, the image of a proud family of fair forgery is shaken by that hunter wearing it with apathy, a lack of care that stings. How did he acquire it? Who had the audacity to sell this to him? Did he kill someone Zephyr knows to get Yundath made armory?

The young blacksmith wanted pacific cooperation with Alister to catch the scientist off guard. Unable to handle himself, Zephyr now shoots pacifism out the window and gets up. He flashes towards the assassin, who gets caught off-guard by the suddenness of this exchange.

"Alister!" Yells the young man.

"For crying out loud! What do you want kid?" replied the assassin with a nonchalant tone, looking away and searching for food. "Man, canned beans? Are you serious? You planned on survive down here with these and nothing else? Give me a break."

"You were clearly behind us during the start of our fall. How come you simply broke the sound barrier, if not reaching lightning speed, and then waiting for us nice and easy nearby this platform? Even you, who is fast, cannot normally accomplish such feats, can you!? Those that armor help you achieve it!? Did someone help you craft it, or did you buy it!?"

"Watch your tone brat."

"Where did you acquire Yundath-made armor!? Answer me!"

Zephyr did not watch his tone. Alister is at his wits end.

That kid, alarmed and bemused by useless details. He's like a set of thorns stuck on your pinky toe that you can't rip off. The assassin stares down prodigy boy, who feels the sudden pressure coming for him.

"I don't think you understood what was asked of you." exclaims the hunter. "I'm not answering questions from you. I'm hungry, I am a mess and I need to get out of here with the scientist."

"You're not leaving, nor is he! I've got questions to ask him as well, so we do things my way now!"

"Oh really? Splendid! However, if you wanted to do things YOUR way, you should have done so while I was sleeping, don't you think? Oh, I know! How about before attacking me?" Retorts Alister.

"You talk back because you believe you can leave the Bottomless Pit! I don't buy that plan for a bit! It's either you help me and answer my questions, or I can leave you to daydream on this rock!"

The assassin is very miffed.

"Zephyr, right? Okay. Here's what going to happen in the next 30 seconds, Zephyr. I will break your neck. After that, I will leave this place with the scientist's corpse. End of discussion. Or perhaps you think you can mess with my 'daydreaming' because you were on par with me, while I had a broken leg."

That's when Zephyr looks at Alister's lower body. Chills creep on his back. The assassin is standing perfectly fine.

Zephyr, in his resolve to act though and stop the assassin from taking Riley away from him, did not take into account the fact that Alister is back in shape… Somehow. Blaming the Bottomless Pit for this is the only sound theory. Regardless, the hunter is a far bigger threat than he anticipated.

Zephyr, sweating bullets, tries to stand by his point. Alister is looking down on his prey.

"Y-you said you are experiencing migraines. Was it because your brain was not in sync with your body once you performed that move?"

"Wow, look at you. You're a fighting genius now."

Zephyr wants to panic.

"Do you know if these headaches are going to be stronger? Do you know how weak you're going to get if you try that again? What if you fail multiple times and you deplete your reservoir of energy? Are you just going to accept death now!?" Shouts Zephyr.

"There's a magical thing in life called experimentation, brat." Patronizes back the assassin by doing the motion of a rainbow with his hands as he replies.

Zephyr wants for this to end.

"You have no room for experimentation! I know you are trying to get out of this situation Alister but give it up! The moment you jumped with us; you were stuck with us!"

"Oh! Mister advisor! How cute! And you think I'm gonna be standing there with you pieces of shit!? Not a chance! Hell would be a better punishment than whatever happened in the last few days!"

Zephyr snaps.

"Well I kno I am in hell! I'm forced to sit here with you monsters and act like I've got everything under control, because of course I have to! I had to have control of everything all my life! I don't want control! If I could, I would have jumped off this platform and died, but I can't! I'm not sitting by here until I get the answers from this scumbag and if-if I… If I have to kill you, then I will! I don't want to but please! I need the doctor! I need answers!"

There is a sense of hyperfixation in the way Zephyr speaks. Alister recognizes that look immediately in the boy: desperate, confused, guilt-ridden and shameful. It's got to be a vendetta against Riley himself. This is what revenge does to a young soul. Like letting a chunk of himself go in the process, Zephyr breaths loudly, exhausted. Alister can sympathize with that. The kid is still on his nerves, so he doesn't let goodwill change his decision. The blacksmith can tell the aggression in the assassin's eyes is slowly turning into a cold imitation of pithiness.

"Well, you haven't figured nothing out yet. Killing me? What a load of crap. Might as well let you jump". Alister turns around and walks slowly to the doctor, playing around with a can of beans in his hands.

The hunter moves away from the conversation, the headaches getting involved in his temper. Zephyr's emotional breakdown is not done yet.

"My family! They make armor exactly like what you are wearing! The blueprint was never given to the public and was only passed down from generation to generation! I refuse to believe they would sell it to the black market, especially to someone of your profession!" 

Alister, without warning, turns around and throws the can of beans at the young man. Zephyr, by reflex, catches it with his left hand. In that half-second window where the blacksmith is distracted, Alister dashes towards him. He's much, much faster than before, which throws Zephyr off guard. A small trail of lightning is left unnoticed by Zephyr, too preoccupied by that stalking wolf.

The assassin gets in range and grabs the blacksmith by the neck, holding him in the air with a wicked hand and a vicious voice.

"Listen to me, punk. I have nothing, you hear that, NOTHING, to do with that town full of degenerates like you. Is that clear?"

Horrifying. Alister's choke is tight. Zephyr struggles to breath. In his state of panic, he can only let a faint "Y-Yes" leave his breath, scared by the sudden difference in power between them.

"Good. Now keep my name, and ESPECIALLY my intentions, out of your mouth. On the next question, I'll bring back your head to the collectors as well."

The assassin slams Zephyr on the wall, then lets him fall on the floor. Zephyr is on his knees coughing, seeking as much air as possible. Alister thinks about kicking Zephyr, curt stomping him or even just taking his katana, stabbing and torturing this rascal for days. He backs off instead. 

Some kids got to learn how harsh life is the hard way.

Zephyr is petrified. He needs this information, absolutely. Why is the assassin acting this stubborn? He almost died there. He cannot stand yet, just looking at the ground as if he'd been shot. 

They both hear a yawn in the distance. Then a dim light hits at their direction.

Riley J. Smith is back from his nap. He looks at Alister and Zephyr using the light from his device, puzzled.

"What? What just happened?" Asks the scientist.