(Post Soundtrack: "At the End of the World" by VERIDIA)
A whole world lay beneath the city. The durasteel skeletons and sturdiest masonry remained around them, just mere fragments of the past. The city proper rose high above them, far out of sight to her eyes now, even aided by the electronics in her suit and facemask. Behind them, the lift was their only connection back to the surface, and it may as well have been a starship landing them on another planet entirely.
Unlike a starship ride, the lift down had thrilled the girl.
She was dazzled by the array of sights. Daiya had expected the Abyss to be more crypt-like, a dark maze of tunnels and catacombs. She had watched holo-stories about adventurers on other worlds before, real journeys into the dark of ancient ruins or deep through unexplored wilderness. This felt nothing like those heart-wrenching, claustrophobic tales where every step was a new terror. The teen was delighted to find her expectations dashed by everything she could see, and most of all that she
could see.
The sheerings, that's what Aylya called them. Daiya would have called them the bloomings if anyone had asked her. They opened a new space in her mind as she watched them. Plants that grew straight from the sides of buildings, and shown with a tantalizing light. Not brilliant light, just enough that the young shadowrunner could keep her twin glowbeams unpowered, letting the light of the sheerings illuminate this alien world living underneath her own.
"
Oh, I'll leave them here. It's not like I'd be any good at gardening," Daiya remarked to her friend. Still, Brie's words had planted something in her mind. She was fortunate they had disembarked from the lift on a low platform with enough remaining flooring to support all of them, but more fortunate that the walls had decayed away to the edges of the sheerings. Part of them faced inward now, drawing her eyes to them. Drawing her to them.
Surely it couldn't hurt to take just one of them with her.
Her gaze was shaken, her thoughts snapped in half when she hit the ground. The teen blinked in disbelief, watching from her prone position as their Ghost guide stepped up with a knife and an imperious roar. She had to squint to see beyond the mesmerizing glow of the plants, and then her eyes grew wide. The thing dropped to the floor and slithered towards its prey.
Her.
Daiya shrieked. Her mind came alive again, scrambling up onto a pair of hands that drove her backward. Aylya took charge in front of her, while Brie reached down beside her, helping hands guiding the teen to her feet and appraising her. "
Yeah, I'm okay," she assured her friend. And then once more to reassure herself. "
I'm okay."
Aylya was not. The head of the snake, it's perilous fangs still stuck open in a hunger left forever unsated, lay in a pool of ichor. Daiya hardly had time to recognize it, the Ghost wasted none of it before laying into her. The words addressed the crowd, but the girl couldn't help feeling very small as Aylya sputtered and swore and shouted commands that the young shadowrunner felt were hers to give.
"
Just wait a—" Daiya's voice, even through the amplified speakers of her facemask, was no match for the Ghost's booming directives. The teen grumbled wordlessly to herself, folding her arms across her chest. This was
her party,
her treasure hunt!
Everything had to go right from here on out. Daiya would never live it down if the stories told from today were about how Aylya led them through the Abyss to find treasure beyond imagining. Her chance at glory, her shot to grow a reputation, it was all born of this moment. Daiya could be the little girl, following meekly in the shadows again.
Or she could be the woman who leads.
The teen stepped forward, taking advantage of the lull in conversation now. "
Aylya's right, it's gonna be easy to get fethed up down here. She and her students are our lifelines down here, so if they call you out don't take it personal." It was good advice, something Daiya might need to use for herself. "
Group up, it'll make it easier if we get separated or worse."
No sooner had she quieted than Cartri spoke up. Daiya turned her head toward the voice, surprised to see the ginger-haired boy had managed to stick it out so far. She was only somewhat disappointed that he had lost none of the sharpness of his tongue from above, the teen could have enjoyed seeing the combative boy brought to heel at some point. "
Ohhhh good. Look, Brie, the big strong ma-a-an is here to save us from terrors in the Abyss."
Daiya winked at Havn, motioning the woman over to be the guide for their trio. Then she maneuvered around Cartri, putting a hand on each of his lean shoulders. She could feel the muscles rolling beneath her gloved fingertips, and part of her brain wondered when he had started working out. Daiya let out an exasperated breath and drove Cartri gently, but firmly, forward. "
You know where we're going, right?"
Raising her voice to the rest of the group, Daiya let everyone else in on the plan. "
First waypoint, some old wyrm tunnels." Just to Cartri, or anyone else in earshot, she told him. "
Huge things, wyrms...big as a starship, with super sharp teeth. They eat durasteel for breakfast, I'll bet they wouldn't mind a Cartri palate cleanser."
She giggled to herself, poking the boy in the back between his ribs before stepping back to let Havn lead them properly. Daiya shared a helpless look at Brie, tossing her head towards Cartri and giggled again. Then the girl began to hum, the words coming back to her from the long-gone days as a youngling.
"Into the tunnels and through the deep,
Lost treasure's down below.
The wyrms know the way, so don't run away,
To deadly acid flo-OWS!"
