Chapter 2: The Escape
After analyzing the map, which showed that upon entering a certain tunnel, they would need to use a card to access the Purification Machines area, then proceed to the Covenant Prison, and finally to the Dragon's area.
To begin their plan, the young couple first headed to the Yellow Corridor, a border bridge passage that separates the middle and main layers. There, they stole a rusty boat powered by an energy crystal. It was hidden in a secluded corner under a large stone bridge, away from sight. Its advanced nature was evident in its ability to cross the "Black River," which was more than eight hundred meters wide, in about seven seconds. The young man's skillful operation of the boat without a key and his ability to stop it despite the speed at which it crossed the river showed his expertise.
The Black River cut the city from east to south, forming the border of the main area. It had a unique aesthetic, with perpetual gloom, its own special darkness, black rotting trees, and air filled with a green radiation. The sound of the sluggish Black River water seeping seemed to tell everyone of its hellish source.
The couple crossed the river to disembark on the banks of the main area.
The main area is twice the size of the middle and marginal layers combined, with a relatively smaller population than the total of the other two layers, which provides more than enough space.
The architecture there was stunning and precise. The roofs of the houses were massive acid rain filters, carved from a shiny silver metal that glistened even in the darkness, in the shape of real, blooming metallic flowers. The streets were slanted at an unnoticeable angle, allowing water to gently flow down into deep filtration layers underground. The air was also scrubbed for purification through special channels. The lights illuminated with ultraviolet radiation for twelve hours, while a yellow light was used for the rest of the day, giving the dark atmosphere a strange but wonderful aura.
Purified rainwater here was for drinking, while river water was purified for secondary uses. What was truly strange, though, was that despite being a closed city, it achieved a bizarre self-sufficiency in everything, whether it be metal, energy, or food, just like other external cities.
In an isolated corner where the giant steel wall of the main layer met the river, there was a dirty outlet for the layer's sewage.
"This is it," the young man said.
The young man and woman approached the mouth of a sewage pipe, no less than two meters in diameter. Its copper walls were saturated with moisture, and mold crawled outward to pour itself into the river, like a timeline of years of neglect. A thick green fog also emerged from it.
Both of them took out special gas masks and put them on in silence. Their eyes were covered with thin, barely visible lenses that adhered directly to their pupils to protect them from the acidic vapors leaking from the remains of the air purification machines, which vented their toxins into the sewage pipes.
The two entered deep into the dark passage. Their footsteps echoed with the sound of crushing mold, mixing with the humming of the stagnant water and the city's deep groan. The smell was deadly, but the masks limited its effect.
At some point along the way, the young man suddenly stopped. The young woman looked at him curiously from behind her lens and saw his hand reaching toward a slightly protruding copper brick among the eroded gray bricks. He pressed it firmly.
"Click."
A faint mechanical sound was followed by a side wall opening in a way that would have been barely noticeable if not for the moving shadows.
Together, they entered the new passage, which was narrow, no more than two meters high and not exceeding one meter in width. Its walls were bare and dark as a tomb. The door closed automatically behind them, and a spray of water from a pipe above their heads washed them completely, removing the mold stuck to their feet. This was followed by a fresh air that expelled the stale air and evaporated the water from their bodies, and then a fragrant steam with a faint scent came after them... a scent familiar to the young woman. It was similar to energy cigarettes, but purer and colder, as if the cigarette itself had been frozen.
It was not just a freshener. It was a sterilizing substance, purifying the body from the inside and out, as if preparing the visitor for a place that would not tolerate contamination.
After the steam subsided, the young man took a plastic card from his jacket pocket. He aimed it at a tiny red light that was barely noticeable on the wall due to the darkness. The young man swiped the card.
A door opened before them. They crossed through it together, and when the door closed behind them, the young woman stood and slowly removed the mask from her face. She breathed in clean, cold, fresh air. Even with the difference in air from the one she was used to breathing in the other two layers, which was like leaving a cow pen and going to the sea to enjoy the breeze, her expression did not change. She just looked around.
The passage had changed. It was now bright with a long ceiling lamp that ran the length of the corridor. Its pure white light illuminated the path with a distinctive halo, while the whitewashed blue walls were like works of art, with floral motifs and roses painted in sky-blue ink that sometimes met with an orange color resembling a sunset, as if the wall was telling a story of a forgotten paradise.
The scene was breathtaking... but the young woman's reaction was as always, steadfast and elegant.
"What is this?" she said in a flat tone.
The young man, who was as unfazed as she was, wanted to joke. He replied like a profound philosopher, stroking his chin, "This is the difference. While the children of the marginal layer are sent to clean the sewers for a drink of water and food scraps, the children of the main layer are sent to remove dust from the purification machines somewhere here in these passages."
The young woman nodded her head without comment.
He turned to her and said with a smile, "But despite all this luxury... if a small malfunction occurs in their machines, everything will explode. The entire city, and everyone in it, will be wiped out."
The young woman finally smiled. His sarcastic humor was familiar, and she preferred it to anything logical. It was as if he was a scientist, but she and he knew that everything he said was from his imagination and conclusions, nothing more.
The young man tried to lighten the mood a little. "Ask. This is your chance, because once we start, there won't be room for it."
The young woman pointed to the card. "Do you know why Paul had these things?" She paused for a moment, knowing her question's answer was no, so she added in a neutral tone, "What about the dragon? It's always been said that the dragon is just a myth from ancient times. Now, people barely believe in the existence of meat or animals, and I only believe it because I can't find evidence to disprove it."
The young man smiled, scratching the back of his head. "Energy wasn't real until it appeared. Are you waiting to believe people's stories but doubting me?"
She avoided the young man's question and replied calmly, "I heard it came from experiments on humans to face horrors."
"Perhaps to face horrors we haven't seen before, but now we must meet the City Lord," the young man said, ignoring her. He knew that delving into things would make their meeting unpleasant.
"Let's create chaos that forces him to send his personal guards, and with them, we'll be able to meet him," the young woman replied, following the strange course of their conversation. "And... do you trust the City Lord?"
"Let's forget about trust for now. The alternative plan is to look for the mythical dragon. For now, let's find the purification machines and blow them up. The City Lord will come running to us," the young man scoffed. The young woman just remained silent. She wanted a good adventure and to meet a real dragon. As for the City Lord, there were a thousand ways to meet him.
At the same time, inside the luxurious palace in the main layer, a man in his fifties sat on his high chair, covered in dark leather, which resembled a throne more than a normal chair. Behind the chair, instead of a wall, there was glass that skillfully reflected the city's flickering lights from the outside and poured them into the dark throne room and the main staircase. His luxurious crystal glass was half full with a sparkling yellow liquid, placed on a table carved in the shape of a rose. Its delicate crystal veins held up the table, and the golden trunk and leaves had a luxurious character, while the colorful outer petals were flat and the inner ones were vertical but close together to keep anything placed on it stable.
The City Lord was barely visible due to the shadow of the throne he was sitting on, while his half-closed blue-green eyes contemplated the two ladies standing in front of him.
The first lady was elegant, calm, and indifferent, wearing simple but perfect clothes that hid all her details, as if she were standing there out of compliance, not desire.
The other was a regular teenager, wearing dirty leather clothes, but it was clear that she had taken care of them in a surprisingly good way. A small tear in the sleeve of her leather jacket revealed a tattoo of a blackened red rose. Yes, it was the teenager who had the tattoo in the garage.
Suddenly, a sharp alarm pierced the silence, shaking the calm inside the palace.
The lady was shocked and began to look around with instinctive anxiety.
As for the City Lord, he remained motionless, as if the sound were just a musical tune he knew.
Even the teenager was not affected. Her life in the marginal neighborhoods was a torment; a sound like this was nothing to her.
"Tsk, is this a candidate for guarding?" the City Lord scoffed. His eyes on the lady lost their luster, so he turned to the teenager. He examined her carefully and ordered her to approach him, which she did.
"The clothes, why didn't you change them?" the City Lord said, ignoring the lady's fear.
"I don't have the money, and you haven't accepted me into your guard yet. So I didn't ask for the guards' clothes," the teenager answered firmly.
"You from the margins are always wonderful, especially the tattooed ones," the City Lord was happy, so he smiled in front of the teenager without reserve. "If it weren't for the laws that state that children of the margins cannot hold power, all my personal guards would be the tattooed ones."
"Aren't you the strongest here?" the teenager asked out of curiosity. Being born without reserve, she did not know that her question could lead to a direct execution. Even the lady behind her tensed up from her audacity.
"Beautiful, beautiful. Although you're stupid because you don't understand what I mean, that audacity is what makes you strong at this age. As for the mind, you are still young," the City Lord rejoiced, deciding to end his secret tests. The teenager met his required criteria, but he did not forget to answer her kindly. "First, my previous words were an invitation for you to be my personal guard from now on, but in secret. And yes, I am the strongest here, but if I break the laws, then..."
While the City Lord was explaining himself, he was interrupted by the entry of one of the personal guards from the door of the throne room without permission, a man in his forties, broad-shouldered, well-built, with thick fiery hair and a face without emotions.
"Sir..." he said calmly. Although he was more than fifty meters away from the throne, his voice was audible. "First, all the purification machines under the city have been destroyed." He paused to let the City Lord decide his orders.
The lady trembled. Her pale face completely lost its color, as if her soul had been drained. She was no longer that confident woman, but an old woman who had lost half her youth at once.
The teenager, however, did not even turn to see the newcomer. She remained steady, with her focus on everyone in the throne room.
The City Lord did not move. He just raised his eyebrow and said in a wonderfully astonished tone, looking at the teenager as if he were looking at his daughter, "You have exceeded my standards. You are one of the best."
Upon hearing the City Lord's words, her expression changed slightly to one of suspicion. It was impossible to hire someone from the marginal area, but he accepted her, and he did not resemble the nobles of the main area. He, too, was without reservation, saying whatever he wanted.
The City Lord looked at the guard. The sarcasm in his words was clear when he said, "Even if the reporter is stupid, there's no need for you to be."
The guard bowed slowly. "I stick to the facts, sir. Most likely... the pipes were just disconnected. I don't think anyone can destroy the purification machines."
The City Lord laughed slowly, as if scoffing at the very idea of death. "Disconnected pipes? I like this lie. But the truth is more attractive." He stood up and continued, moving on his throne floor, "Everyone who works for me, from maintenance workers to storage guards and you. I trust them unusually. The pipe will never be disconnected, and the machines cannot be destroyed."
Then he continued in a low voice, as if whispering to himself, "What about the second joke?"
"And the last one, sir," the guard said calmly. "The surveillance cameras captured this scene under the purification machine station. In the Covenant Prison."
The guard threw a small ball, and when it stopped moving, a beam came out of it that illuminated the throne room and revealed the golden columns of the throne hall and the diamond decorations in the shape of roses. At that moment, the teenager turned to satisfy her curiosity. She saw a semi-real scene without sound showing a whitewashed blue corridor with blue and reddish decorations, which was similar to the corridors behind the sewage pipe.
The scene was of three guards running, and when they reached the middle of the corridor shown in the scene, they exploded and covered half of the corridor shown in the scene with blood. The City Lord gestured for the guard to stop the scene and stared at the teenager.
The teenager did not know that the scene had stopped, so she continued to watch with her usual calmness. She heard words on her left side. She looked and saw the lady falling with terror on her face, but she knew the sound was not from her, so she continued with her eyes to see the City Lord staring at her with admiration.
"I'm sorry if my words were rude," the City Lord said calmly and continued, "But did you hear what I said?"
"Yes, you said 'monster,' and I think you meant me."
"Yes, you are right. A teenager watching three people explode and not even flinching, and a female on top of that. She is definitely a monster."
"If you lived as I lived and buried your loved ones with your own hands, I don't think a scene like this would affect you."
"Don't say these words in the future, my dear, understand? And know that I have lived much longer than you," the City Lord said and calmly returned his gaze to the scene. "I think you don't care about death, but when you touch it, I promise you will reject it in every way, and your tears that you lost a long time ago will return."
The teenager wanted to inquire, but he did not care, which annoyed her. "Did you find out who caused it?" the City Lord asked the guard.
"No, even after slowing down the scene to make anything that moved six times the speed of sound appear normally, nothing appeared," the guard replied. "There is another scene."
The second scene showed a corridor similar to the one that appeared in the other scene, but it was clean. After a few seconds, the wall of the corridor opened, and two people came out. The guard stopped the scene when the two people removed their gas masks.
The teenager knew the two people in the scene, so she turned quickly to face the City Lord's throne, to hide any movement that might come from her body.
With the scene stopped, the guard gave his report, saying, "These two young people are a couple from the marginal area who currently live in the middle area. They are from the Void League founded by Vordon, and its members are all children of the marginal layer. The young man's known name is Farouk, and no one knows his real name. As for the young woman, her known name is the Tattooed Rose, and her brother calls her Sofie, meaning 'the strange one.' There is a high probability that her real name is unknown. In addition, they have a special status in the Void League, and they are the only two in the league about whom we know very little. Even though we have real information about the young woman's brother with evidence, and information about Vordon himself, as he has a daughter, in addition to a granddaughter. But we do not know his current location since he disappeared."
When the guard fell silent, he looked at the City Lord, who was sitting on his throne offering his crystal glass to the teenager to taste the purified worm juice, ignoring the guard. The teenager accepted the glass and tasted the juice calmly. Its taste was strange but acceptable.
"Are you done with your tweet? I'm telling you to give me a joke so I can have fun, and you're filling my head with things that have no value. Go and find out why those damned machines were destroyed. As for the young couple, they have entered the prison. Do you want me to save them from their stupidity?" the City Lord said strangely, wiggling his index finger up and down, and adding to the guard, "Take the lady to her home first."
"What's your name?" the City Lord asked after the lady and the guard were expelled.
"I don't have a name at the moment," the young woman replied with a lie.
"Will you accept to work for me?" the City Lord asked, ignoring her.
"Depends on the job," the young woman replied.
"The job of escaping. We are trying to escape from here. Will you accept to help me?" The City Lord's words entered the teenager's ears, and she was shocked this time. She knew there was a trick in her recruitment, and now he was talking about escaping.
But he didn't care and continued, ordering, "First, don't trust that guard; he is a traitor. He is the one who blew up those three. Second, tell all the guards to gather here. Third, you might know me... if I tell you that your name is Noel."
"Oh, are you Mr. Vordon?" the teenager was surprised. She never knew that her adoptive father, the person who took care of her for ten years and disappeared, was the current City Lord. "But how can I tell all the guards to gather here?" She wanted to finish the tasks first and then talk to her father, or the person she saw as her role model whom she wanted to reach.
It could be said that she was really stupid because she did not doubt the words of the city lord, but she only needed his confession to believe him, as she already knew Vordun's face.
"Are you really stupid? Or will you continue to pretend to be stupid? Or are you really intending to look for every single guard by yourself?" Vordon was surprised. "Go to one of the gate guards outside and tell him that the City Lord wants all the guards to gather here. And then rest. Why do you complicate things?"
When Noel went to inform the guards of the gathering, Vordon closed his eyes afterward, knowing that the city's destiny would change drastically.
I am sorry for the mistakes or things if they are not understood. I am not good at English, so I translate automatically.
Creation is hard, I hope you comment or rate my novel, even if negatively.!