I see all throughout the tower: the rot, the shoppers, the residents, even the spirits seeking asylum. Yet I am still unaccustomed to the struggles, terrors, and blooms always at odds. It is overwhelming. I wish to withdraw. --32.4 Seconds Post-Integration.
Theo wasn't doing anything in particular. Which was why he stood out so much. 'What on earth is that boy doing, just standing there?' Clark wondered.
Going up to talk, Clark put on his best 'how do you do, friend?' kind of face. Not that he knew how to socialize, let alone with people his age, but he did his best. "Hey. Theo. Funny seeing you, here. Think we will be encountering one another like this, years from now?"
"Maybe..." Theo replied but distractedly.
"Uh, is something wrong?"
"No. I'm just looking for a crevice. Have you seen them? They're like holes in the wall..."
"I have! According to the dungeon-spirit, they show up at random and based on the dungeon's health. They also vanish quickly. Why are you interested in them?" Clark asked, now curious about why this random fellow Lifer would have an interest in the strange cracks leading to the dungeon's interior.
"Oh, well, I'm interested in them because I suspect treasure lies in wait. I have it on good word that around here is a crevice leading to... a good place... a place with..." Theo's voice dragged into the ether, he not bothering to finish his thought.
"It leads to a place with treasure?" Clark said, finishing Theo's statement.
"Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm distracted..."
"I would say..." Clark was about to leave Theo alone and return to his shift, least his Metrics slip, when he thought to say, "I've been inside a crevice. I needed to cleanse plague from the inside of one. Have you ventured in? Dangerous if you have. SIMP recommended to stay away from them."
"Wait. You've been inside one? And they were corrupted, you said? That's not good. Say, Clark. Would you mind helping me find where this crevice is?"
"Bud, didn't you hear me. It's dangerous. I don't think you should be exploring those crevices. You could find yourself stuck in there and die!"
"Exactly. It's dangerous to go at it alone. Which is why I need your help."
Clark thought about it, but he had no reason to help Theo. Except, perhaps, if the crevice had plague pustules inside in need of cleansing. Even then, it was a rather petty reason.
"I'm sorry, mate, I'm not sure..." Clark began. Seeing Theo's face -- his look of disappointment -- made him reconsider. His reply trailed off and he put on a thinking cap kind of face. "If I do help you, we would need some groundwork. Namely, how long we will spend in each crack, and when we are going to leave if things go south."
"Yes! For sure!" Theo beamed. His smile proved contagious as Clark felt his own mouth widen.
"How about we meet after our shifts? Can you do that?" Clark asked, looking anxiously at his Core Metric.
"I can do that! I have work to return to myself. My Metrics are already torn to shet, so I should reunite to my first true love -- work! Haha!"
Back in his dorm, Clark was excited. An actual event out with, not a friend, not exactly, but someone who could become a friend. It had him all excited, not unlike a date, but without the unneeded sexual undertones.
"SIMP? Any advice on the crevice we're going to find? How long should we spend in there before skedaddling?" he asked while changing into his civilian garb.
"Thirty minutes is good general advice. I do want to emphasize that the crevices are unstable by nature. Any time in them could result in you and Theo being trapped permanently. I would advise you to cancel this playdate of yours, Clark," SIMP told him.
A gloomy mood came over him. "First, you want me to cleanse the crevices of corruption. Now, you want me to avoid them. SIMP, what is it you want me to do?!"
The reply was not forthcoming. Slow when it did. "I only want you to pick your battles wisely. This is not a 'battle' in my eyes. It is you being irresponsible for the sake of a minor reward -- friendship -- at best. You should only engage with crevices on the scale of the one you handled earlier. A single chamber crevice with tertiary plague pustules. I will not forbid you from going in, because I can't stop you. Please do exercise the utmost caution, Clark."
"Because you don't want to find another dungeon champion...?" He asked the question with some smirk to him but a touch of seriousness, too.
"Something like that..." SIMP said evasively. "Just come back in one piece."
Clark departed his dorm and went to find Theo. They agreed to meet just outside the store block on floor twenty-three where they met earlier.
Theo caught wind of him and waved him over. "There you are. Thought you might have gotten lost."
"Nah. Lots of people in front of me, is all. One lady had all the kids in the kingdom with her, I swear, and all of them were being rambunctious little brats," he said, keeping it light.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"I can't tell you how many times I was stuck behind some family while Climbing. I promise you I would be at least a dozen levels higher if I wasn't constantly getting stuck behind a family with more people than made sense!" Theo laughed. After, they began their hunt for the crevice.
They looked for the crevice everywhere. But they didn't find it in the store block they assumed it would be. Instead, they were forced to leave to the connecting zone and hope another store block had it.
"How many store blocks are on each floor?" Clark asked as they visited the third store block of the day, after hours more of fruitless searching.
"I dunno... I heard about half-a-dozen but am not sure if that's really true or not. We should be do to find what we're looking for soon enough, though. Otherwise, I am going to blow a gasket!" Theo spoke with a laugh. Clark could tell there was genuine tension behind the smile.
"What if we don't find it on this floor? What then?"
"Then... my guy lied. Not that I would ever be able to prove that... but still. Well, he lied, or maybe the crevice closed already. This 'closing' stuff is new information to me..."
Theo looked stressed. Why did the supposed treasure mean so much to him? Wealth? Sure, that sort of wealth could change fortunes, for sure. To him, that didn't seem the whole story. Treasure, an unsubstantiated rumor, none of it was definitive. So, why bend yourself out of shape?
"It's fine. We'll find it. yes, we will," Clark told him, trying to be supportive.
They searched for another couple of hours. Both of them were on the verge of giving up when they heard word of a large crack in the store wall.
Following the rumors, it didn't take them long to locate the crack. As the frantic cries of customers told, the crack was huge.
"Why, how is it so big?" Clark asked in disbelief.
"I take it this is bigger than what you are used to?" Theo asked though even Clark could tell he was just fishing for information.
"Yeah. As I said, the one I handled was just large enough for me to skirt through. This is many times that size. I mean, wow!"
The crack extended from the ceiling -- which's height was several times the size of the tallest home in his village -- all the way to the ground floor. Dozens of meters, if he had to guess. Already, containment cones spread around the crack, with a selection of associates ensuring no one tried to enter.
Clark turned to Theo and whispered, "Do you think they will allow us in?"
"Probably not. Not unless we have our uniforms on. Then again, I am sure this is something for the suppression teams to handle. So, maybe they wouldn't let us in period."
The Associates guarding the giant crevice looked different from the average Augustford associate. They wore black smocks with helmets to match. He whispered to SIMP who they were. SIMP said they were of the Containment Department. "What's that?"
"The containment department is an irregular department. They are not like a normal department, like Seafood or Toys. You'll never see them post an advertisement searching for new blood. I doubt they would let you pass..." SIMP explained.
"Is there anything we can do? There needs to be something..."
"You could pull rank. Say, as the dungeon champion you need access to the crevice. I would not recommend you do such a thing, though. In fact, I would even go as far to outright forbid it. Pulling rank this early and for something still unproven would only complicate your situation while bringing the company, and its agenda, down on us."
It was with a heavy sigh he told Theo what SIMP told him.
"We'll need to find our own path, then?" Theo mused. "Think another rancid smell-bomb would do the trick?"
"I doubt it. Those guys look serious."
Theo thought about their situation intensely. He ruffled his fingers over his chin, making a show of thinking. For his own part, Clark's head was totally empty. Disobeying authority had never been his strong suit.
"Okay -- I got it! Smoke bomb!" Theo spoke with much energy and without giving him any time to give a reply before he fingered something from his backpack and ran to the side.
"Theo!" Clark spat after him. "What are you doing?!"
Using the crowd to his advantage, Theo ran to a place adjacent to the Containment Guards. Then, using a group of children as distraction, let a smoke bomb roll.
Moments later, an inescapable smog rolled over the large space, blanketing everything in an impenetrable cover. Clark felt a tug on his shirt, then Theo's voice. "Now!" and an urge for him to run.
He had come to far to chicken out now, so Clark acquiesced, and ran just behind Theo, despite the low visibility. Able to only keep up with him only because Theo instructed him to place his hands on their shoulders and to match his pace, trusting him to clear the way for the both of them. Because of Theo's physical guidance, he kept apace all the way through the crack.
"Please don't get me fired, please, please!" Clark muttered while Theo and he slid past the guards -- both of whom frantically called for help, as they tried to figure out what happened -- and prayed he wouldn't be discovered causing trouble for the store.
The smoke proved dense enough for their purpose. Since the crevice was so much larger than any of the previous, he had seen, moving safely inside proved not to be an issue. They kept a good pace and moved as deep inside as they could in order to escape from the choking smoke released from Theo's 'bomb.'
"Thank the gods that worked out! My heart was pounding!" Clark yelped.
"No need to fear! When you're with me, all will work out!" Theo replied, though Clark could see the sweat on his face.
"So, this is the inside of a crevice. What do you think?"
Theo looked around. Clark joined him and stared in awe at the dark colored stone. The space was a lot like the much smaller crevice he had visited earlier, except a great deal larger, of course. Plague rivulets coursed through the dungeon's walls at angle like unnaturally flowing streams of water.
"This is what the dungeon's interior looks like, then. Wowza! Kinda plain-looking, yeah?" Theo said, which elicited a laugh from Clark.
"I don't think it's plain, but the design is on the sparse side, isn't it? Now that we're in here, though, could you tell me what it is you are looking for in here?"
"In time, friend! I don't see anything right now and I would prefer to not talk about myself unless I have reason to, you see. Follow my lead."
"Fine. SIMP, please keep a trail of where we have been so we can beat a quick retreat if the time comes, okay?" Clark ordered.
SIMP did not respond with words, but with an affirming beep.
The two took off wandering the path. Singular, path. One passage at the room's far end took them deeper into the complex. Although additional pathways existed, these minor passages were not large enough for a human, only the many skittering machines which, about the size of a rat, came in and out of the passages en mass.
As they traveled, he kept a close eye on Theo. Clark wanted to like Theo, being of his age, and of a fierier disposition than him, which made him fascinating, but the fact was, he had no idea who this boy was any more than Theo knew who he was. Theo's eyes were glued to the walls, sometimes even pausing to run his fingers along ridges. It was like they were looking for cracks, or seams, or anything which might imply secrets.
An hour passed. The air inside the dungeon interior grew stale. Not unlike breathing in from previously exhaled breath like on a cold winter's morning.
"Theo... I think it's time to turn back. I'm tired. I'm sure you are, too. Let's go," Clark said, trying to sound authoritative.
"No! Just a little further! It's here, somewhere!"
A sigh. "But what is 'it'?"
No answer.
Granting Theo his wish, Clark indulged him for another while. He was nearing the end of his patience when a yelping sound came from Theo's mouth.
"My gods... it's here!"
Where Do You Socialize with your Co-Workers?
