"I'll manage.â€
I did not understand at the time how passionately I would rely on that statement in the trials to come.
The Allagan elevator vibrated the floor underneath their feet. The soft hum was a constant reminder of their descent if they were to ignore what the walls all around were telling them. The eyes of the taller young man was fixed upon the hand of the older woman in front of him. He felt a heaviness in his chest, attributing it to the stiff and unmoving air that was disturbed by the current of the elevator’s descent for the first time in many, many centuries.
He saw her hand; it was bathed in the red of Allagan light. He saw her individual fingers close in upon each other and open up. He eyed her back when he was done examining it. Ryanti’s expression was as still as a statue, devoid of emotion except for his brow and his eyes. They were analytical in nature, but there was an obvious skeptical nature about his demeanor. He was beginning to smarten up to her after all the time they had spent together. ‘I’ll manage’ was nothing compared to ‘I’m okay’, and Ryanti knew.
He did not challenge her, though. He did not demand that she unbandage her hand so that he could see it with his clear light of his own, no. He accepted her statement. Partially because he had smartened up to her, but that was not the main reason. He did so because of her eyes. When Ryanti saw what laid in her eyes, he knew he didn’t have to challenge her. There was a deep, passionate, intense burning in those eyes, and it was like the cold Allagan light bathed those eyes in fire. He needed life in her eyes, because he knew that a Sounsyy with life in her eyes –would- manage. No matter what.
He watched her as she moved away from him. Ryanti wiped his now dirty white locks aside and allowed her to have her moment alone. As much as he was around to try to educate her about the kind of world that used to exist – the kind of world that he lived in – he knew that sometimes she just needed to see for herself. She had known that with him. He realized that now. He remembered when he was back on the Roehmerl, in her world. Now it was the reverse. But perhaps that was just a poetic mind trying to find an irony in all of this. Neither of their worlds included the very world they were standing in right now. This world belonged to a people long gone. An era long gone.
"Where do you think they lead us, these... wisps?"
Ryanti had been pacing around the floor of the elevator in a soft walk, observing what was around him as well when he heard that comment from her. When she spoke, he glanced back over at her form again. The Allagan lighting was enshrouding her body, highlighting her shape in the soft padding darkness. She really did look good in that suit. It was almost built for her. Laura seemed more like a stand-in now.
She could hear the slow pace of Ryanti approaching her as he tried to figure out an answer to that question. It was rather beautifully spoken; he had never really imagined these lights in the eyes of the myths and traditions of peoples in his era. Only now was he open to think about these things in that light. His mind was further opened to interpretation at that point. A pleasant little smile with parted lips dominated his expression as he found himself beside her, watching along.
“I’m not sure.†He replied to her, red reflective bulbs of light emitted from his eyes in parallel with the ‘wisps’. “To our fate, perhaps. Whatever that may be.â€
He turned his head to her not soon after, glancing at her shoulder and remembering her physical scars before eyeing her face and recalling what could be her mental ones. She looked calm and at peace in the midst of red light. It was something he had never seen before in her. But more than that, it was the first time she had seen something within his world the same way he did. Perhaps she didn’t realize how much that single statement stuck to him.
He placed a hand on her right shoulder. He was tender with the force, nurturing at the touch. He knew where her scars were – he had seen them when he caught her out of her Captain’s clothing, when she had mellowed in insecurity over him glancing at her. He made sure that he didn’t agitate any of those scars.
He didn’t think about what he was going to say next. He let his lips roam free.
“You’ve taken your first steps toward opening your eyes.â€
With eyes, one sees. When they open, their mind does. It was a saying among his unit. It was his way of passing this down to her. A gesture of respect. A sign that she was on her way to being one of them, the same way a new crew hand would prove themselves part of the Captain’s family.
His sentimental moment was interrupted by a sudden spark that discharged from wiring on the other side of the elevator. It made a snapping sound that got his attention. Upon him turning around, the red lights ceased to continue as the elevator made its way further down. Ryanti lent his hand off of Sounsyy’s shoulder and took the steps he needed to take to get to the center of the elevator.
Just then, the elevator began to jolt and throttle back and forth, as if it was shaking – going down rails that had not been in active maintenance for an even longer time than the rails above it. It caused the elevator to shake a little, but not enough to throw them off balance or anything. However, the length of time they were traversing in this elevator starting to become apparent, and Ryanti held a look of concern as the area grew further and further talk.
“We’re still going.†Ryanti mentioned to going in a dark voice, a voice that held worry. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.â€
He knew in their gut that they should have gone up. But how could they have? Even with all of Ryanti’s modern tools from his unit that contained classified technology from Sharlayan, it was still baby steps compared to Allagan cerment. There were no way they could have clawed and grappled their way up. Down was their only choice. But he still felt like he shouldn’t go down here, which they as a whole shouldn’t be here.
There were real hints on Ryanti’s face that something was wrong. His face was still, but his eyes still scanned. He had a gut instinct to turn on his safety light again as the last bit of Allagan red light faded away into complete darkness. Upon clicking the light on, he shined it upon the opposite side of the elevator once more.
Immediately, he saw what appeared to be an enormous streak of blood smeared across the side of the elevator wall as they further descended. It was blackened and calloused by age, but some spots on it were lighter shades than others. Lighter than they should have. She could hear Ryanti’s breathing intensify immensely, and he deviated his light away from the source and shined a bit of it on himself to make him visible to her.
“Put on your goggles. First setting. Now.â€
It had become apparent then that they used their goggles only when they absolutely needed to. Ryanti did not hesitate.
Ryanti placed his flashlight back on his belt and retrieved his goggles from his chest. He slinked them onto his head, and pressed the two panels together on the side of his head until they clicked in place. He pressed the switch in the middle once, and the goggles sprung to life. Minus a green tint, they could now see in the dark with the utmost clarity. “Keep the other flashlights off.â€
Just in case what? He didn’t want to think about it. But within moments, whether or not he wanted to think about it, he was going to have to. As he gripped his rifle strap to sling the weapon to the front of him once more, he stopped in his tracks. “W-…†Even his train of mind stopped at the sight that he was now seeing.
The wall in front of him, which had for their entire ride been solid Allagan cerment, had opened up into glass. Even though the glass was covered in dust, the scatter was mild enough to make out what lied out ahead of them as they descended yet even further down.
The area in question was enormous. Semi-circular in form, one could have easily fit Sounsyy’s vessel inside the massive chamber twenty times over. Among the outside walls, the entire inner hull was covered in derelict stasis pods. Some of the glass on the pods were broken. Others were defunct. A select few were barely flashing with operational health. Blood stains of every color, of every shape and creed, coated the entire massive area with an absolutely ominous blanket of tragedy and of the defiling of nature.
Even Ryanti had no idea what this meant. Horror, confusion, and panic set in his facial expression. It was so astounding to him that he didn’t even know what to think. After all that time training… and all of his previous experience of what he had seen… even with his passion for uncovering the past and of this civilization… he had seen NOTHING like this before.
“W-.. what the hell is this?!?†He said in a loud whisper. He frantically set his bag down, his hands shaking as he quickly unzipped the section in which he had placed his dead linkpearl. He tried in vain to activate it, pressing it up to his ear and not even bothering to use codenames. “Jonathan! Jonathan! What is this?!?†He cried out to the dead linkpearl. He didn’t even realize that his question made no sense to someone up upon the surface anyway.
He froze in place, having realized how he might look in front of Sounsyy right now, when he needed to be the experienced one, the one in control. So he swiftly placed it back into the backpack and sat back up on his feet. There would be a time praying it would work later. “I know nothing of this, Sounsyy. Absolutely nothing like the Allag I’ve seen.†He murmured to her as he threw his backpack over his shoulder and brought his rifle up front. “Make sure it’s set on automatic. We are taking –no- chances here.â€
He tensed up again, walking as close as he could before he would hit the glass wall. “Hydealyn’s mercy, there’s hundreds. Thousands. Okay Ryanti… think.â€
He backed up in a little sprint, getting behind Sounsyy but still having his barrel pointed towards the glass. In his experience with Allagan elevators, the civilization was more likely to place the door to the elevator on the same side as glass windows. This case was just like the others. “Change of plans.†He commented in a now stable, confident voice as a leader would give orders. “We’re going to get out of here as soon as possible. We need to find another elevator shaft that can take us up further than we were. Our objective is up, definitely not down here. There is nothing down here that would warrant any man or woman the right to use this kind of knowledge.â€
He stepped in front of her, luckily having no time to contemplate what this was or… how it even came to be in the first place. It was beyond his own comprehension, and he could only imagine how Sounsyy was feeling right now. He used his voice as a clear path of reason in the midst of all the insanity. “I need you at a hundred and ten percent, Sounsyy! Be at my shoulder and watch my back!â€
The windows had long since vanished, but he could see the frame of the chamber reveal itself as the elevator finally began to slow down. Ryanti stood deathly still with his goggles on, all of his joints locked in place as if he was prepared to spring forward at a moment’s notice. The entire elevator chamber was similar to the last one they were in, but there was no chasm underneath. This was the bottom floor of the ship. This was Allag’s hell. The place among of their worst misdeeds.
The door to the place, the walls… every aspect of the room they were in was unusually moist. Water droplets were dripping across some of the cerment panels, and the blue outlining on the door still lit it up. It was active. Steam exhausted from the side panels of the elevator as it rested to a standstill, and immediately the darkness was greeted by an unnerving, consistent noise without explanation or origin.
It felt unnaturally dark, but the goggles they were wearing began to adjust. The green tint started to fade away in favor of a more normal color spectrum, with the lighting ramped up of course. It was an aetherical quality of the goggles that Ryanti forgot to mention.
He took the first steps off the elevator, and headed towards the door. He visibly flinched as the door parted ways without so much of a minor hiccup, the blue lights flickering as a sign that it needed maintenance. He glanced at Sounsyy nervously, confused at the fact that these doors operated so well. But when he turned to look inside after he had made his way through the door, he was stopped again by something.
It was a hallway, hexagonal in nature. Side windows complimented the walls of the room. But what disturbed him was that the entire hallway was completely covered in dried blood. The light fixtures had been torn from their resting places, ripped out by force. Plenty of the side were either cracked or shattered. The occasional flickering light registered brightly in their goggles, but one could tell there were outlines of shapes, utensils, tools and tables all tossed about, broken: ransacked. The door on the other end was malfunctioning, one side of it spazzing back and forth and the lights also flickering. If this hadn't been a mission where he needed her eyes, Ryanti would have told Sounsyy to just keep her eyes focused on him. But he needed an extra pair to glance at what he couldn't, so he didn't. She had to be a big girl, and he had to be an even bigger man.
“Remember, we’re not defenseless.â€
I did not understand at the time how passionately I would rely on that statement in the trials to come.
The Allagan elevator vibrated the floor underneath their feet. The soft hum was a constant reminder of their descent if they were to ignore what the walls all around were telling them. The eyes of the taller young man was fixed upon the hand of the older woman in front of him. He felt a heaviness in his chest, attributing it to the stiff and unmoving air that was disturbed by the current of the elevator’s descent for the first time in many, many centuries.
He saw her hand; it was bathed in the red of Allagan light. He saw her individual fingers close in upon each other and open up. He eyed her back when he was done examining it. Ryanti’s expression was as still as a statue, devoid of emotion except for his brow and his eyes. They were analytical in nature, but there was an obvious skeptical nature about his demeanor. He was beginning to smarten up to her after all the time they had spent together. ‘I’ll manage’ was nothing compared to ‘I’m okay’, and Ryanti knew.
He did not challenge her, though. He did not demand that she unbandage her hand so that he could see it with his clear light of his own, no. He accepted her statement. Partially because he had smartened up to her, but that was not the main reason. He did so because of her eyes. When Ryanti saw what laid in her eyes, he knew he didn’t have to challenge her. There was a deep, passionate, intense burning in those eyes, and it was like the cold Allagan light bathed those eyes in fire. He needed life in her eyes, because he knew that a Sounsyy with life in her eyes –would- manage. No matter what.
He watched her as she moved away from him. Ryanti wiped his now dirty white locks aside and allowed her to have her moment alone. As much as he was around to try to educate her about the kind of world that used to exist – the kind of world that he lived in – he knew that sometimes she just needed to see for herself. She had known that with him. He realized that now. He remembered when he was back on the Roehmerl, in her world. Now it was the reverse. But perhaps that was just a poetic mind trying to find an irony in all of this. Neither of their worlds included the very world they were standing in right now. This world belonged to a people long gone. An era long gone.
"Where do you think they lead us, these... wisps?"
Ryanti had been pacing around the floor of the elevator in a soft walk, observing what was around him as well when he heard that comment from her. When she spoke, he glanced back over at her form again. The Allagan lighting was enshrouding her body, highlighting her shape in the soft padding darkness. She really did look good in that suit. It was almost built for her. Laura seemed more like a stand-in now.
She could hear the slow pace of Ryanti approaching her as he tried to figure out an answer to that question. It was rather beautifully spoken; he had never really imagined these lights in the eyes of the myths and traditions of peoples in his era. Only now was he open to think about these things in that light. His mind was further opened to interpretation at that point. A pleasant little smile with parted lips dominated his expression as he found himself beside her, watching along.
“I’m not sure.†He replied to her, red reflective bulbs of light emitted from his eyes in parallel with the ‘wisps’. “To our fate, perhaps. Whatever that may be.â€
He turned his head to her not soon after, glancing at her shoulder and remembering her physical scars before eyeing her face and recalling what could be her mental ones. She looked calm and at peace in the midst of red light. It was something he had never seen before in her. But more than that, it was the first time she had seen something within his world the same way he did. Perhaps she didn’t realize how much that single statement stuck to him.
He placed a hand on her right shoulder. He was tender with the force, nurturing at the touch. He knew where her scars were – he had seen them when he caught her out of her Captain’s clothing, when she had mellowed in insecurity over him glancing at her. He made sure that he didn’t agitate any of those scars.
He didn’t think about what he was going to say next. He let his lips roam free.
“You’ve taken your first steps toward opening your eyes.â€
With eyes, one sees. When they open, their mind does. It was a saying among his unit. It was his way of passing this down to her. A gesture of respect. A sign that she was on her way to being one of them, the same way a new crew hand would prove themselves part of the Captain’s family.
His sentimental moment was interrupted by a sudden spark that discharged from wiring on the other side of the elevator. It made a snapping sound that got his attention. Upon him turning around, the red lights ceased to continue as the elevator made its way further down. Ryanti lent his hand off of Sounsyy’s shoulder and took the steps he needed to take to get to the center of the elevator.
Just then, the elevator began to jolt and throttle back and forth, as if it was shaking – going down rails that had not been in active maintenance for an even longer time than the rails above it. It caused the elevator to shake a little, but not enough to throw them off balance or anything. However, the length of time they were traversing in this elevator starting to become apparent, and Ryanti held a look of concern as the area grew further and further talk.
“We’re still going.†Ryanti mentioned to going in a dark voice, a voice that held worry. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.â€
He knew in their gut that they should have gone up. But how could they have? Even with all of Ryanti’s modern tools from his unit that contained classified technology from Sharlayan, it was still baby steps compared to Allagan cerment. There were no way they could have clawed and grappled their way up. Down was their only choice. But he still felt like he shouldn’t go down here, which they as a whole shouldn’t be here.
There were real hints on Ryanti’s face that something was wrong. His face was still, but his eyes still scanned. He had a gut instinct to turn on his safety light again as the last bit of Allagan red light faded away into complete darkness. Upon clicking the light on, he shined it upon the opposite side of the elevator once more.
Immediately, he saw what appeared to be an enormous streak of blood smeared across the side of the elevator wall as they further descended. It was blackened and calloused by age, but some spots on it were lighter shades than others. Lighter than they should have. She could hear Ryanti’s breathing intensify immensely, and he deviated his light away from the source and shined a bit of it on himself to make him visible to her.
“Put on your goggles. First setting. Now.â€
It had become apparent then that they used their goggles only when they absolutely needed to. Ryanti did not hesitate.
Ryanti placed his flashlight back on his belt and retrieved his goggles from his chest. He slinked them onto his head, and pressed the two panels together on the side of his head until they clicked in place. He pressed the switch in the middle once, and the goggles sprung to life. Minus a green tint, they could now see in the dark with the utmost clarity. “Keep the other flashlights off.â€
Just in case what? He didn’t want to think about it. But within moments, whether or not he wanted to think about it, he was going to have to. As he gripped his rifle strap to sling the weapon to the front of him once more, he stopped in his tracks. “W-…†Even his train of mind stopped at the sight that he was now seeing.
The wall in front of him, which had for their entire ride been solid Allagan cerment, had opened up into glass. Even though the glass was covered in dust, the scatter was mild enough to make out what lied out ahead of them as they descended yet even further down.
The area in question was enormous. Semi-circular in form, one could have easily fit Sounsyy’s vessel inside the massive chamber twenty times over. Among the outside walls, the entire inner hull was covered in derelict stasis pods. Some of the glass on the pods were broken. Others were defunct. A select few were barely flashing with operational health. Blood stains of every color, of every shape and creed, coated the entire massive area with an absolutely ominous blanket of tragedy and of the defiling of nature.
Even Ryanti had no idea what this meant. Horror, confusion, and panic set in his facial expression. It was so astounding to him that he didn’t even know what to think. After all that time training… and all of his previous experience of what he had seen… even with his passion for uncovering the past and of this civilization… he had seen NOTHING like this before.
“W-.. what the hell is this?!?†He said in a loud whisper. He frantically set his bag down, his hands shaking as he quickly unzipped the section in which he had placed his dead linkpearl. He tried in vain to activate it, pressing it up to his ear and not even bothering to use codenames. “Jonathan! Jonathan! What is this?!?†He cried out to the dead linkpearl. He didn’t even realize that his question made no sense to someone up upon the surface anyway.
He froze in place, having realized how he might look in front of Sounsyy right now, when he needed to be the experienced one, the one in control. So he swiftly placed it back into the backpack and sat back up on his feet. There would be a time praying it would work later. “I know nothing of this, Sounsyy. Absolutely nothing like the Allag I’ve seen.†He murmured to her as he threw his backpack over his shoulder and brought his rifle up front. “Make sure it’s set on automatic. We are taking –no- chances here.â€
He tensed up again, walking as close as he could before he would hit the glass wall. “Hydealyn’s mercy, there’s hundreds. Thousands. Okay Ryanti… think.â€
He backed up in a little sprint, getting behind Sounsyy but still having his barrel pointed towards the glass. In his experience with Allagan elevators, the civilization was more likely to place the door to the elevator on the same side as glass windows. This case was just like the others. “Change of plans.†He commented in a now stable, confident voice as a leader would give orders. “We’re going to get out of here as soon as possible. We need to find another elevator shaft that can take us up further than we were. Our objective is up, definitely not down here. There is nothing down here that would warrant any man or woman the right to use this kind of knowledge.â€
He stepped in front of her, luckily having no time to contemplate what this was or… how it even came to be in the first place. It was beyond his own comprehension, and he could only imagine how Sounsyy was feeling right now. He used his voice as a clear path of reason in the midst of all the insanity. “I need you at a hundred and ten percent, Sounsyy! Be at my shoulder and watch my back!â€
The windows had long since vanished, but he could see the frame of the chamber reveal itself as the elevator finally began to slow down. Ryanti stood deathly still with his goggles on, all of his joints locked in place as if he was prepared to spring forward at a moment’s notice. The entire elevator chamber was similar to the last one they were in, but there was no chasm underneath. This was the bottom floor of the ship. This was Allag’s hell. The place among of their worst misdeeds.
The door to the place, the walls… every aspect of the room they were in was unusually moist. Water droplets were dripping across some of the cerment panels, and the blue outlining on the door still lit it up. It was active. Steam exhausted from the side panels of the elevator as it rested to a standstill, and immediately the darkness was greeted by an unnerving, consistent noise without explanation or origin.
It felt unnaturally dark, but the goggles they were wearing began to adjust. The green tint started to fade away in favor of a more normal color spectrum, with the lighting ramped up of course. It was an aetherical quality of the goggles that Ryanti forgot to mention.
He took the first steps off the elevator, and headed towards the door. He visibly flinched as the door parted ways without so much of a minor hiccup, the blue lights flickering as a sign that it needed maintenance. He glanced at Sounsyy nervously, confused at the fact that these doors operated so well. But when he turned to look inside after he had made his way through the door, he was stopped again by something.
It was a hallway, hexagonal in nature. Side windows complimented the walls of the room. But what disturbed him was that the entire hallway was completely covered in dried blood. The light fixtures had been torn from their resting places, ripped out by force. Plenty of the side were either cracked or shattered. The occasional flickering light registered brightly in their goggles, but one could tell there were outlines of shapes, utensils, tools and tables all tossed about, broken: ransacked. The door on the other end was malfunctioning, one side of it spazzing back and forth and the lights also flickering. If this hadn't been a mission where he needed her eyes, Ryanti would have told Sounsyy to just keep her eyes focused on him. But he needed an extra pair to glance at what he couldn't, so he didn't. She had to be a big girl, and he had to be an even bigger man.
“Remember, we’re not defenseless.â€