Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

Angler Fish

"We're here." Toad announced.

Ramirez gripped the sides of the little boat for balance, the softly lapping water causing the wooden hull of the boat to knock gently against the waiting doc. He was using the word dock generously of course since it was not so much a dock as a stone landing at the base of the canal. Maverick stepped out of the boat and Ramirez looked up into the darkness an uneasy feeling rising in his chest.

He had just gotten used to the noise and bustle of second city, but now the world around them was silent and dark. Great monolithic pillars stretched up into the darkness, and without the glow of lanterns from second city, the ceiling was lost in shadow. Behind them, the echo of second city was still present as a sort of indistinct white noise.

The ghost of the city. Ramirez thought, and then shook himself.

What was with the morbid thoughts all of a sudden.

Toad leaned against his steering pole , "Never understood why you came down here." In the half darkness and quiet his voice sounded hollow and eerie, and when his voice broke the silence Ramirez winced, like someone was talking loudly in the middle of a church ceremony. Toad glanced over at Ramirez, his one visible eye glittering darkly from under his hood, "She's the only person I know who will even come this far. Most of your regular people don't venture down to church row. Not unless they don't want to come back up."

Ramirez's heart skipped a beat, and his face went numb,

Maverick huffed, "Stop being a dipshit, toad." She looked over at Ramirez, "no one has ever gone missing on church row, I promise."

He nodded, but the bastard had definitely gotten to him.

Toad raised a hand in farewell as he pushed himself back from the dock, "Suit yourselves. You couldn't pay me to go down there." He cackled rather darkly, "Take care of yourselves, if you can."

Ramirez felt another shiver run up his spine as he watched the porter's lantern recede into the distance.

The sloshing of water receded and then died away leaving the two of them standing on the maw of.... Complete blackness. Ramirez found himself wanting to do literally anything else but keep going, but even as he thought that, Maverick was clambering her way up the next few stairs. It didn't occur to him to let her go alone, partially for her safety and partially for his. He would rather walk into the mouth of hell with her at his back than wait here alone.

And that was a face.

He caught up with her at the top of the stairs squinting into the darkness where indistinct black shapes hunched. As his eyes worked to adjust, he thought he saw the distant flickering of light.

"Where are we."

"This is the OutDark."

"Do you guys have any names that don't sound like dystopian cyberpunk fantasy?" He muttered trying to brighten the atmosphere with levity, though his efforts guttered like the dim flickering of a candle.

"You have to give us a little fun." She said stepping into the dark."

"So Why is it that no one lives here." Ramirez wondered keeping his voice low.

Maverick turned to look at him, and without the glowing blacklight, the skin of her head and face was back to normal, her blacklight tattoo invisible, "Whoever said that no one lived here."

That caused another sharp spike of concern to run up his spine.

Maverick turned back into the dark, "No part of Second city is without its denizens, not even third city and church row." She motioned a hand to the darkness around her, "The Outdark attracts a strange sort of person, which is why no one else has bothered to move into this space. I would keep your weapon handy."