As the sun rises and falls, residents throw their trash into huge dumpsters each three times the height and width of a person. Around evening, a team of city workers dressed in heavy brown garb and thick goggles arrives. One carries a canister filled with violently bubbling liquid, its colors constantly shifting. The other carries a step ladder and hauls a large metal paddle.
The one with the canister stiff-arms it away from his body as he unscrews the cap. Every inch of his body is covered as a sour vapor erupts in a thick puff. He pours the contents into the dumpster and climbs down rapidly. Inside, the mixture of rotting remains, feces, contaminated scraps, and spoiled leftovers caves inward.
The smell is foul and pungent, sour and bitter, far worse than simple rotting eggs or burning waste. Most residents have already evacuated the vicinity, but the two workers are left clutching their face masks, struggling to breathe. The soft sizzling grows louder. The stench intensifies. The liquid in the dumpster shifts and expands, taking on the sickly orange and green swirl of the Chemical Sea.
From several feet away, the other man climbs the pedestal, his face buried in his arm as he tries to awkwardly stir the dumpster. It looks more akin to a giant bubbling crock-pot- except dangerous and foul. Once enough time has passed, and a sharp clang of the metal paddle against the rim, his fellow worker pulls a lever against the side of the wall it rests against.
A sharp hiss, followed by the sound of draining, as the contents empty out through a large pipe. Pipes made of solid iron smelted and soldered by mid-city workers, but with screws, nuts, and bolts installed by those of the lower city.
"UUUUA!" Jade dry retches as this concoction of filth flies out of a meter-circumference pipe into the sewage lines between the walkways. An empty canister slung across her shoulder clangs noisily against the iron wall as she sways.
All three were dressed like they were going out on a scavenging trip. Heavy cargo pants, layers of shirts with a heavier jacket over the top, hooded and goggled up. Makeshift chem-gear they always wore. Heavy, unpleasant in the heat, sometimes suffocating, and unfortunately oftentimes picking up the smells of where they traveled. Especially now, as the heat from the chemical sewage left them drenched in sweat underneath their layers of protection.
Noland and Lucky had already been forced to remove their face masks to vomit multiple times into the sewage. Jade had somehow managed to keep it in and only now starting to dry retch.
"And here I thought you liked this stuff. Kind of like," Noland wheezes and dry retches after her, the lingering sound of hers adding to his nausea, "thoooose bugs."
"No kidding," Lucky said weakly. "This is far worse than the Chemical Sea. Fresh is worse than aged, I guess. No time to evaporate?"
"I guess it explains why nobody tries this..."
"UUAAA!" Jade finally removes her face mask to release a disgusting display of bile.
"One for two! Just two more!" Noland and Lucky high-fived, sluggish and nauseated.
"Will you two shut the fuck up?" Jade curses angrily, spitting out residue before shifting back up the face mask. "How much farther?"
The waste system wasn't all that fancy. Multiple layers of winding, maze-like iron tunnels with exit pipes or smaller pipes for individual household waste. In a way, more than any danger of the Chemical Sea they experienced, this was far more dangerous, as they had to listen constantly for any liquid sounds. But even if they were careful, sometimes a surprise outflow would nearly douse them, shielded only by Noland's quick reactions and use of magic.
"A few more turns. Fenrik spent the last two days forcing me to memorize the path and then..." Irritated, he flicks a rough, thick parchment with a skeletal map on it. "He hands me this."
"Why force me to memorize the directions if you're just going to hand me the map?!" Noland complains.
"In case you lose it or drop it..." Jade's tone was pure "Are you stupid?"
"You're stupid..."
She steps forward and raises a fist threateningly, to which Noland raises his hands in surrender. "Sorry! Not here!"
A sickening squelch breaks up their argument as another smaller pipe belches a vile concoction, causing them all to stiffen up again. Without any more words, just silent agreement, they continue along the path, following a rising gradient pathway. Once solid, empty iron walls were becoming more occasionally dotted with hatches, iron doors, and more numerous small pipes.
There were still outflow pipes, but it was far more bearable, allowing them to speak up again without instant nausea.
"Ah, right. I brought some of the pills with me from one of the bottles," Lucky piped up, causing both their heads to snap toward him.
Jade and Noland exchange glances before Noland slowly asks, "Why...?"
"Seemed like the right thing to do to me!" Lucky said, but when Noland's fists started to clench, he quickly began to explain. "Look, Fenrik knew the way here by heart. But he was also very sketchy and warning us how it would 'change our view forever.'"
"Remember when that southern pier family was caught filling and distributing roaches with their... er..."
"Don't remind me," Jade said, flicking her hand in disgust. "Just hand mine over."
"Hold on, if we get caught snooping-" Noland began but paused. If they were caught snooping around the city's food supply, the punishment would be just as severe as being caught hiding relics. "Ah... either way, we're executed or banished... fine. What were the potential risks again?"
"Convulsions, spasms, seizures, possible death..." Jade rattled off.
"Death wasn't there before?"
"It's a bonus feature if you suffer from any of the previous." Jade tilted her head. "Because you get caught?"
"Ah."
With that, Lucky carefully removed one of his gloves and used magic to unzip a pouch along his jacket. The small bottle floated into his exposed hand, and the lid was carefully unscrewed. Meanwhile, Jade and Noland, following suit, opened their hands as he gently shook two pills into each of their palms.
"Figured two. In case they're not potent enough or we need to risk using them twice," Lucky grimly stated.
"Well aren't you the opportunistic one..." Noland wryly replied, and the two of them floated the pills into their jackets, zipping them up without touching them by using their magic.
"Why'd you take off your glove?" Jade asked curiously as she refitted her glove carefully.
"Same as you? Better control?" Noland replied while doing the same.
"But your mana and connection to magic is far better than ours. We need to do it for precision."
"Can't I just do it as part of the team?"
Jade rolled her eyes, mockingly saying, "I just want to be part of the team!"
"Fine. I'll be all arrogant about it then."
"At least that's more attractive."
"Eh?" Noland and Lucky both quipped, confused. Jade, her expression hidden beneath her gear, just shook her head and sighed.
"Let's just go."
Shrugging, they kept moving for a few minutes longer until they reached a corner, and Noland signaled them to halt, peeking around it. No one was there, but their iron door destination was.
"Did Fenrik say where to go once inside?" Lucky asked in a hushed tone, and Noland shook his head.
"Great! Nobody decided to ask?!" Jade whispered furiously.
"You didn't either," Noland snapped.
"That was your job! Your role!"
"He would've told us if it was-"
Sharp, metallic screeching halted their bickering immediately. Laughing voices stole their attention as they pressed themselves against the iron wall, the voices coming from around the corner where they needed to go.
"UUUA!" Familiar dry retching echoed from around the bend, triggering an instinctive stomach-tightening response in all three of them. It didn't help that they were already tense. Immediately meeting someone the moment they reached their destination didn't feel like a good sign.
Echoing claps filled the tunnel as a man chuckled mockingly. "You should spill the ingredients more often, new guy! I like watching this."
"Yeah! Never gets boring," a different man replied with laughter as more dry retching followed, accompanied by wet splattering.
"UUUA!" Another, distinctively vile belch-like sound resonated, followed by more splatter, separate from the last one.
"WOOO!" The two men cheered as their buddy vomited into the chemical sewage.
Noland couldn't help but peek around the corner, spotting them dressed lightly in factory outfits—heavy gloves, thick workwear similar to theirs but clearly a different design. Less belts and gadgets and more of a onesie. Beside the man who was vomiting stood a now-empty rolling cart. Before he could get a better look, Lucky pulled him back and shook his head.
More metallic squealing echoed as the cart began to roll back inside, and one of the men continued to obnoxiously laugh, "The roaches complement the sour—"
Noland peers around the corner again. They were gone, but they had come from the door they needed to enter.
"In and out."