DarkLight

Part 42: The Shadow District

Soran had passed into the Shadow district what seemed like hours ago. He knew that he had been crawling and climbing through the web of support beams and tension wires for a long time now and could see the faint glow of the morning sunlight through the gloom of the superstructure. Through his time clambering through the district he had become very aware that he was not alone-the forest that surrounded the city was full of wildlife and would have had a very long time to evolve and develop-much as the forest had. Though whereas the forest stayed in the light, Soran was aware that the creatures would have sought refuge in the darkeness of the Shadow District. Sometimes he could hear something crawling close by, but he put it out of hid mind.

He was getting close now, he could faintly see the thick cylindrical power and water lines that feed the central Maintenance Spire from all over the city. He followed these for a long time, still clambering through the support structures. The light was fading now, night was falling over the forest once again-he had been under the Plateux for around fifeteen hours and as dusk faded into the black of night, Soran found what he was searching for-a chain fence blocking his path. It was the perimeter of the Spire. He was exhausted and near the brink of giving up for the time being, but the discovery of the fence had given him a new lease of energy. The Shadow District was once the hiding place of a covert group of Skry who were spying on Utopia City. Soran had taken charge of the group trying to find them, carefully mapping and learning the layout of the Shadow District. It was out of bounds to all citizens.

Soran raised the Darklight Sword, its faintly glowing blad illuminating the rusted fence which blocked his path. Soran swung the mysterious sword, slicing a gap in the decaying fence large enough for him to pass through.

However all wasn’t as it seemed. He walked through the fence to find that the ground beneath him didn’t exist-the Continental Plate here had failed too. As he fell Soran grabbed hold of once of the fence’s supporting posts, saving him from falling to his death. Being powerless turned out to be more dangerous than Soran expected.

He hung there, fence pole bending and buckling under his weight and only one of his hands saving him from his death. The Darklight was weighing him down, its sheer mass attempting to pull Soran into the deadly hole. His back was against the casym wall, preventing him from finding his footing. All seemed helpless and Soran considered letting go-he could just end it all here and now. He could be with Natasha, with Kisa. Let Rammachandra win. He didn’t care.

There was a feeling on his leg which snapped him back to reality. Something was snaking its way up his leg, coiling around it with a vice-like grip. The Darklight Sword suddenly brightened, revealing the nature of the creature. A huge spider with tenticles in the place of its pincers-these tenticles are what had been set upon Soran. It clung to the side of the Casym, it had climbed up from the abyssal Undercity below. 

Soran screamed and began swiping at the tenticle, but its hide was strong and Soran’s angle upon the steep slope didn’t allow him to get his weight behind his attacks. The creature was pulling him now, he was going to fall into the abyss and likely become this creature’s meal. He readied himself for death-it was a surreal feeling. 

The Darklight Sword seemed to become aware of the danger around it-its sentience began to assert itself. Its glowing began to become more intense, blue streams of light shot out of it at the creature causing it to scream and recoil in pain. It began to fall into the pit, pulling Soran down with it. He lost his grip with the fence. He was falling now.

An unseen force pulled the sword down in front of him before the steep slope stopped and the vertical wall began. The sword slammed into the slope through the tenticle, simultaneously freeing him from the creature and using his velocity to flip soran violently into the air, his momentum acting as a catapult. He was hurtling over the casym now. The creature fell into the darkness with a scream-returning to its native land. Soran crashed into the ground on the other side of the casym, his arm burning with pain and the Darklight Sword’s glow faded to nothing. 

He was back in the dim light again, but he was alive. Looking up Soran saw the maintanence Spire just ahead of him. Now was not the time to ponder, he had no intention of meeting the other inhabitants of the Shadow District.