Chapter 15: Chapter 15 – Jumping In
Nick and Wyntor stood in front of a destroyed street.
The Inspector had told Nick everything he knew about the Dreamer already, and Nick had also informed Wyntor.
As always, the sun was in the middle of the sky, and yet, the sea of toxic waste still seemed dark.
This part of the Dregs was abandoned, and the road had broken into many pieces, creating a sort of ramp towards the sewers.
Nick chose this spot since he also needed a place from where he could return.
At this moment, Wyntor was holding his nose with a white handkerchief, and he looked with disgust and concern at the dirty and grimy water.
The two of them looked at the disgusting water washing across the broken and lowered metal plates and grates for several seconds.
"And you're sure you want to accompany me?" Nick asked as he looked at Wyntor.
Wyntor didn't immediately answer.
"You really don't have to," Nick added. "As the Chief Zephyx Extractor, this is my job, not yours."
Wyntor just kept looking at the disgusting water.
He took several deep breaths.
Then, he started to retch and cough.
Yet, Wyntor kept looking at the dirty water.
A moment later, his legs shook a bit.
And finally, he sighed.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"It's fine," Nick said with a nod. "It's not your job."
"Nick, I'm really genuinely sorry," Wyntor added. "I honestly want to go with you, but I just can't."
"I don't have the courage."
"Sorry."
"It's fine, dude," Nick said with a bit of annoyance. "You can just stay here until I return. If I am accompanied by something that's attacking me, you can help me with that."
"I will," Wyntor answered with a nod.
After Nick had signed the NDA, Wyntor had also told Nick about his ability.
As one of the heirs to the Melfion family, Wyntor had received something to protect himself.
Wyntor's Zephyx Synchronizer was also already attuned to a Specter.
However, the ability the Specter gave people was not something that was very useful for a Zephyx Extractor.
It was basically only good for running away from someone.
Nevertheless, it was still very good at what it did.
While Wyntor couldn't capture any Specter on his own, he could still debilitate and weaken it.
Naturally, Wyntor had received that ability for two reasons.
First, his parents wanted Wyntor to have something that could protect him.
Second, they didn't want Wyntor to become a Zephyx Extractor, and the best way was for Wyntor's Synchronizer to already be occupied with a relatively useless ability for Extractors.
"If I see anything attacking you, I will immediately support you," Wyntor said with conviction.
Nick just nodded.
"Also, since I'm not accompanying you, I might as well give you these," Wyntor said as he took out three long tubes of glass.
Nick looked at them with furrowed brows. "What's that?"
"Arclight," Wyntor answered.
"And how will that help me?" Nick asked. "Everyone knows that artificial light sources don't help against the Nightmare."
"This is different," Wyntor said as he pointed at the three long tubes. "Each one is harvested from a level three Specter. They actually help against the Nightmare."
This surprised Nick quite a bit.
"Be careful with them," Wyntor added. "Each one costs around 10,000 credits, and they only work for a minute each."
"If you feel like you can't handle the Nightmare's influence anymore, just break one of them. An area of light will appear around you, but it will dissipate after around a minute."
"The Containment Unit and building already consumed most of my budget, and I can't afford more of these Arclights without jeopardizing our daily operations. Use them when necessary."
Nick looked at the three glass tubes with newfound appreciation and bound them to his thigh.
"Thanks," Nick said.
"Good," Wyntor said with a nod. "I hope everything turns out well for you."
"Thanks," Nick repeated.
Then, Nick took a deep breath.
At the same time, Wyntor turned around.
In order for Nick's powers to activate, Wyntor also wasn't allowed to see him.
For the next couple of seconds, Nick took several deep breaths.
Finally, Nick put on some diving goggles that Wyntor had bought him and jumped forward.
Nick could have just walked into the murky pool of water, but he feared that he would turn around if he came into contact with a bit of the liquid.
So, he decided to directly jump in.
SPLASH!
The splash was noticeably more lethargic and subdued compared to the typical splash of water.
It was just too viscous.
Thanks to his ability, Nick easily jumped forward for over five meters without needing a running start.
As soon as Nick touched the murky liquid, all his senses fired at the same time.
Nick felt several small pieces of cloth touch his skin.
He had also hit two small but solid objects, which were quickly pushed away by his body.
The next moment, Nick felt how incredibly sticky the liquid was.
In a way, it felt like the liquid was trying to trap him in place.
Some of the liquid went into Nick's ears and nose, and he had to do his best to resist the urge to vomit.
Disgusting.
All of Nick's body shouted at him that this was disgusting.
It was so bad.
However, instead of immediately panicking, Nick remained motionless in the liquid first.
He knew that he had to get acclimated.
Nick had already pulled his knees to his chest to make the surface area of his body as small as possible, but his body was still violently shaking.
He wanted to throw up so badly.
He just wanted to push his head above the surface and scream.
Yet, Nick just remained stationary.
For several seconds, Nick didn't move.
During these seconds, he felt several small pieces of cloth get caught by his body.
Finally, Nick slowly extended his body.
As he felt his chest and thighs come into contact with the liquid, his body shuddered again.
And then, Nick slowly swam upwards.
Splash!
Nick's head broke the surface, but he didn't immediately open his eyes. He knew that he was wearing diving goggles, but he had still closed his eyes.
Over the next seconds, Nick slowly opened his eyes as he looked upward.
Brown and green liquid was sparkling as the light of the sun shone through them.
Nick saw small pieces of bandages, and he even saw a couple of small pieces of bone on his diving goggles.
Piss, shit, bandages, bones, teeth, blood, rotten meat, insects, poisons, splinters, rusty metal, puke.
Together with water, all of that was creating the pool of liquid Nick was currently in.
A moment later, Nick slowly wiped his goggles, mouth, and nose clean.
Or, at least, as clean as he could.
Finally, Nick took a deep breath.
Surprisingly, the smell didn't feel as bad as before.
But that was the only positive thing.
"Nick, is everything alright?" Wyntor shouted, still turned away from Nick.
Nick took another deep breath.
"I'm fine," he answered.
"Good," Wyntor shouted back.
"I'm going to search now," Nick shouted.
"Good luck!" Wyntor shouted back.
The next moment, Nick took another deep breath.
And then, he swam forward, towards the endless depths of the sewers.
Chapter 16: Chapter 16 – Ruins
Nick swam forward in silence.
From time to time, he could hear the sound of someone walking on the road above him, but that was about it.
All the other sounds were just the liquid sloshing around Nick's body and face.
CRK!
Nick's shin suddenly hit something solid, but thanks to his ability, his shin didn't receive any real damage.
The next moment, Nick stopped and used his feet to see what was below him. After all, the liquid was so murky that he couldn't even see further than ten centimeters.
Nick's feet found something big and stable beneath him.
In fact, Nick could even stand on it, allowing his torso to rise above the murky liquid.
'Wonder what that is,' Nick thought as he continued wading across the stable foothold.
Splash!
But after some seconds, Nick lost his footing and fell forward.
A moment later, Nick shot upward and scrambled back onto the stable foothold.
'It's in my mouth!'
Nick immediately started retching uncontrollably, and it only stopped over two minutes later.
'Note to self, don't breathe in while walking forward,' Nick thought.
'Anyway, seems like my foothold ended after about ten meters.'
'I guess that's the size of a house.'
A moment later, Nick decided to walk along the edge of the perceived building he was walking on, and within a minute, Nick had mapped out what he was standing on.
'Sure enough, it's a house,' Nick thought.
But then, Nick furrowed his brows. 'However, the form is unusual, and it's made of stone or brick instead of metal.'
'Almost all houses have a slanted roof because of the rainwater, but the roof of this one is perfectly flat.'
'Even more, all the houses above me are made of metal.'
'A house made of something as luxurious as stone would be far too expensive for the people living in the Dregs. Even the houses in the actual Outer City are mostly made of metal, albeit rust-free.'
That was when Nick remembered what the Parasite had said.
The Parasite had called the sewers ruins at some point.
'Ruins,' Nick thought. 'I guess this stone house is part of the ruins then.'
'But why are there buildings down here?'
'Obviously, no one is living down here. Yet, there are still valuable and functional houses.'
'Even more, the sewers wouldn't have swallowed everything if we had just lived in the houses to begin with.'
'Why did someone build a metallic city above this one?'
'I don't know,' Nick thought after some seconds, 'but one thing is clear.'
'Humans have lived here before.'
Nick looked around a bit.
'I want to know how big the house is.'
The next moment, Nick went to the edge of the house, took a deep breath, and dove down.
Nick's hands grabbed the rough stone of the house and pulled him downward.
Since no one was watching him, Nick easily managed to pull himself downward.
After descending for around ten meters, Nick reached the bottom, but when he felt it, he furrowed his brows in surprise.
'Metal?'
'The ground is made of metal here as well?'
The Dregs were buildings made of rusty metal sitting on top of grates and plates of rusty metal.
Below that, Nick imagined a stone house sitting on top of more metal.
'Then, is there even more?'
Nick pulled back and kicked the floor with all his power.
BOOOM!
The ground vibrated, but Nick suddenly felt pain in his leg.
He knew all too well where that pain came from.
He had hit something that was way too hard.
'This feels just as hard as the metal that Wyntor's Containment Unit is made of! I think he called it steel.'
'A house made of stone on top of a floor made of steel. This sounds way better than the rusty metal of the Dregs.'
Nick thought about this for a while.
'There's not enough information.'
A moment later, Nick shot towards the surface to get a "fresh" breath of air before returning underground.
Over the next few minutes, Nick mapped out the building. He even found the door and some windows.
'Sure enough, it's a residential house,' Nick thought.
By now, Nick had acclimated to the disgusting liquid, and as long as it didn't get into his mouth, he could keep his disgust in check.
As Nick looked down at the house below him, he suddenly got the urge to investigate further.
'Maybe there is some treasure inside?'
'Maybe there are some secrets to uncover?'
But then, Nick felt a bit of crackling from beneath his feet.
The house wasn't breaking apart, but it definitely wasn't stable.
That was when Nick realized something crucial.
'That's dumb!'
'There's no way anything valuable would be left! After all, the people who moved here to build the city must have cleared everything out already!'
The next moment, Nick narrowed his eyes.
Then, he remembered when this feeling had actually occurred.
While Nick had been deep below the surface, he had already had the urge to investigate the house.
In fact, the urge had been the strongest when Nick had found the door.
'It's already started.'
The liquid was so incredibly murky that no light reached a depth of even just two meters.
This meant that Nick had been in pure darkness down there.
'The Nightmare.'
The Nightmare's influence could be subtle or noticeable, whichever was more useful.
Naturally, the Nightmare had influenced Nick in a very subtle manner down there, slowly planting ideas into his head of riches and secrets.
If Nick had followed these urges, he would have been in quite a lot of danger.
The house was not stable, and even more, the Nightmare could also warp someone's perception and create illusions.
It could have made Nick move in a different direction than he wanted, and without being able to see or hear down there, Nick wouldn't be able to find his way out.
In the end, he might become panicked and break through the wall, but then, the house might collapse on top of him.
'The Nightmare has already influenced me.'
Nick took a deep breath.
'I have to be careful.'
The next moment, Nick decided to stop investigating the ruins below him.
Without a constant source of light, investigating the ruins was far too dangerous.
'I can look at them at some other time.'
'For now, I should look for the Dreamer.'
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Warmaisach
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