Black.
Nothing.
The blue sky was missing.
It was as if the Earth itself had been suddenly thrust into an infinitely empty void, where even space itself didn't exist.
Reko looked at the sky, completely stunned. He was quite young at the time, but even he knew it wasn't every day that the sky disappears for no reason. He completely forgot about everything in his small world. Feeling the significance of the moment, he completely immersed himself in it, etching every bit of the surroundings he could into his memory.
It was unnaturally quiet, similar to walking through the woods in heavy snow, where all sound was muffled and suppressed.
Reko continued staring at the sky when, suddenly, an array of bright lights flashed in the dark sky, along with a loud bang. His memory cut off there.
Reko sighed in the now pitch-black recesses of his mind, where the memory took place moments ago.
'I still miss it sometimes, that final moment of normalcy. It's so far away now, I doubt I'll ever feel any semblance of that again.'
He'd done enough reminiscing about the good old times of the world more or less ending. It was time to wake up.
Reko's eyes fluttered open.
There was no warm sun to greet him, but instead the shine of fluorescent lights and the smell of sweat. The room he was in had a simple bed, where he lay, a door to the bathroom, a pile of dirty clothes and a desk covered in all sorts of junk. There were no windows.
He'd fallen asleep in his room again in the middle of the day.
'Damn, that's like the eighth time this week.'
He'd been falling asleep and feeling dizzy all the time recently, and he was starting to get worried. He'd been slaving away at this containment zone for years now, doing mindless work. Reko thought that maybe it was starting to take a mental toll on him, but he wasn't sure if that was the case.
Sometimes strange things happened here due to the excessive amount of Essence in the atmosphere within the containment zone. He believed it to be a side effect of prolonged exposure to such a high density of Essence for several years.
'What if it gets so bad I fall asleep in the Pit? At least I'd be done with this hellhole then, most likely.'
Reko set aside his self-deprecating thoughts and got up to stretch. He still had to visit the Pit today, and he knew skipping would bring him more consequences than he was willing to handle right now.
He'd fallen asleep with his clothes on, so he grabbed his well-worn backpack, put on his torn pair of gloves and headed out of his room.
Doors lined the nearby walls, leading into other Diver's rooms. It was rare to see any traffic here except for guards, considering how everybody moved in accordance with their own schedule.
Reko happened to see a guard heading his way from down the corridor, so he decided to get a move on towards the cafeteria. He hadn't eaten properly yet.
Reko moved down the now all too familiar path of the twisting and turning hallways and soon arrived at the cafeteria. The cafeteria had an unexpected lack of smell, which one would expect.
Unsurprisingly, he saw a few others eating. Some in small groups, while others quietly ate alone. He recognised one such person and gave him a wave. The man quickly recognised him and shot a smile back at Reko.
He'd known him for a while now, and they got along quite well. Steven was a bit hotheaded, but he was nice and caring otherwise.
'Steven's actually a pretty cool guy if you manage to look past the fact that he murdered a family of four before being sent here.'
Reko went to a counter, where several machines stood in a row. He flashed his card on a nearby scanner and received his portion of food from the machines. He received his plate of brown sludge and a cup of water. After getting his food, he went and sat down across from Steven.
Steven was a man in his late twenties, with striking grey eyes and tangled blonde hair. He had a sharp face and nice features. He wore the standard prisoner uniform consisting of an all-black body suit, a pair of black sweatpants and a black t-shirt.
Some people got sent here randomly, like Reko. Others, like Steven, were criminals who were sent here most likely as some kind of punishment or as a part of a rehabilitation program. Of course, that didn't explain why Reko got sent here at the ripe old age of 11. He still didn't know after being here for five years.
"You look like shit, man," Steven greeted Reko.
Reko smirked at him and put a spoonful of the fishy sludge into his mouth.
"Nice to see you too."
"No, seriously, you gotta stop staying up so late and sleep some more. You're gonna get yourself killed in the Pit at this rate. A boy your age needs at least eight hours of sleep, or your brain's not gonna develop properly, and in this hell it's not gonna develop at all, because you'll be dead without that good night's rest."
Reko shot him a cold glance.
"Does it really matter if I get slimed out by some random horror down there? We're not getting out of here, so I might just be better off dead."
Steven furrowed his brows and put down his utensils.
"You know that's not true. Do you really think they sent us here just to be tortured? No, of course not. There has to be some kind of bigger reason."
Reko shoved some food into his mouth. He knew fully well Steven was right, but it was still difficult to maintain that way of thinking after so many years. How did Steven do it?
"Let's just hope you're right."
They both went back to eating quietly.
"REKO! STEVEN!"
The sound of cutlery came to a halt, as the newly formed silence was broken.
Reko and Steven, along with a few others in the cafeteria, both turned to look at the source of the commotion. They had long gotten used to such a scene.
A boy in his late teens was cheerfully walking up to their table. He had blazing red hair and crimson eyes filled with infinite mischief. The youth wore a stupid smile from ear to ear on his face. He donned a red jacket and scarlet cargo pants, both of which were covered in ash stains and reeking of gunpowder.
Provocative, a bit annoying, surprisingly reliable and sharper than he makes himself out to be. That was the Ash he knew and loved.
Steven shot a disdainful glare at the youth.
"Shut up, you're being too loud, Ash."
Ash gave him a mocking look and put his hand to his ear.
"Whaaaat, I can't hear you over all the sludge on your face."
"What are you talki-"
Steven was cut off mid-sentence, as Ash clapped his hands together. A quiet bang could be heard, and the pile of brown sludge on Steven's plate burst up at him.
Splat!
His whole face was covered in the disgusting brown sludge.
Ash and Steven were truly a pair made in heaven.
"DID YOU ACTUALLY PUT A FUCKING BOMB IN MY FOOD THIS TIME!?"
Steven's roar echoed in the cafeteria, causing a couple of glances from nearby tables. Steven got to his feet and marched towards Ash.
Reko was taken aback by the scene he had just witnessed. Ash was good at making explosives and was constantly tinkering with something, so it was no wonder that Steven immediately reached that conclusion, no matter how illogical it may have been.
"Still can't hear you!" Ash burst out laughing.
Reko furrowed his brows.
'How did he pull that one off?'
It wasn't unusual for Ash to pull all sorts of stunts, but nothing as impossible as what he'd just done.
Steven charged at Ash, who was still a couple of meters away from their table.
"You little-!"
Ash's smile quickly turned into terror, and he was soon caught by Steven and put into a headlock. Ash grimaced and struggled to free himself from Steven's grip.
Reko laughed.
'You can't get this type of entertainment anywhere else, I'll give this place that much.'
Once Reko grew tired of watching them fight, he got up and broke the two apart. Being the youngest of the three, he still found it somewhat comical that he had to play peacemaker.
"Alright, alright, that's enough for one day. I've gotta get over to the Pit soon," Reko paused for a moment, "Also, how did you do that?"
Ash gave Steven a cheeky smile and then turned towards both of them.
"Do what?"Ash said, smirking, "But I did actually come here to go to the Pit with you two, before slop face over here got all sensitive over a little joke."
Reko set aside his questions for now, knowing he wasn't getting any concrete answers. He knew he'd get his answers sooner or later, although he had his own theories.
'Hmm, maybe...'
"You could've killed me!" Steven glared at Ash.
"Yeah, yeah. I wanted to go as a squad today cause I'll get bored sulking down there all by myself."
Ash's voice was a bit more subdued.
Reko and Steven looked at one another. Both were a bit hesitant, since they knew things tended to go awry in the Pit even in small squads. Reko calculated whether this expedition could be worthwhile.
'Maybe I could confirm my theory about how he blew up Steven's food?'
After a bit of hesitation, Reko and Steven spoke up.
"All right, it's been a while, so it should be fine."
"Yeah, sure, just make sure you blow those abominations up and not me."
Ash's voice regained its usual lustre, and he cheered.
"All right! Let's get moving. Either of you take a request yet?"
"Yeah, I took a corpse retrieval. Should be around the 28th floor," Reko said, while finishing the remainder of his food.
Every Diver had to take a request. Well, not necessarily, but unless you want to spend 20 hours down there doing nothing, taking a request was the better option.
"That deep?" Steven shot a confused glance at Reko.
Reko got up and put his tray on a nearby cart.
"Seems so, it's not past the 30th floor though, so it should be fine."
Ash, clearly the most eager of the group, was bursting with excitement. He slammed his hands on a nearby table.
"Hell yeah! The lower floors are always more fun! You both got your gear, so let's go right away."
The squad of three promptly left the cafeteria after Steven washed his face and headed towards the entrance of the Pit.
***
They soon arrived at the intimidating, pitch-black entrance of a steep slope, which led into the ground.
A few others, who paid the squad no attention, were near the slope, either heaving on the ground covered in cuts and bruises or checking their gear and preparing to head into the dark abyss.
Reko turned away from the other Divers.
'Best not to stare too much. Never know who it might tick off.'
"C'mon, what are you two waiting for. Let's head in!"
Ash rushed in headfirst as always. Steven and Reko took a moment to gather themselves and stepped into the pitch-black abyss that was the Pit.
'This isn't going to be a simple expedition, is it?'