The silver limousine pulls to a stop and parks close to a familiar wooden hatch that Ivory had seen in the past. She recalled the memory almost immediately of the second time she visited Sinners' street and went to the underground city through the hatch. The memory felt so long ago but in reality it really wasn't.
Ivory opens the passenger side from her left as Abigail follows her out. She stays right behind her friend out of fear at the next possible surprise attack awaiting them.
As Faye, Abigail, and Ivory get out of the limo, a black van parks right behind them. Ivory felt her sunburn glow on her neck out of fear from another possible confrontation with a gang in Sinners' street.
Abigail mutters, "I knew something was going to happen…"
Ivory says in an anxious tone, "Who the hell is that?"
Abigail says, "Did the council somehow send someone else to track us down?"
Faye waves her hand dismissively, "Just a couple of people who work for me. Don't sweat it, girls."
The van's driver's side door opens revealing a man who was tall, had pale skin, short red hair, and a long scar running across his left eye. He wore a black shirt, black pants, and had a cartoonish long wooden club clipped to his back.
The passenger's side door opens next revealing a woman with red hair, pale skin, and a scar trailing down her neck. She had a dagger in a black scabbard practically camouflaged with her black pants and her black shirt.
A kid finally hopped out of the passenger side door at the front of the car after seemingly having trouble exiting the vehicle due to his short stature. The child had blue rectangular glasses on, light brown skin, a black top hat on, a scar on his right cheek, and an empty expression present on his face.
Ivory looked dumbfounded for a minute before turning with anger toward Faye.
Ivory sneers, "You… You're the one who ordered these people to kill me."
Abigail gazed at the mysterious gang members one by one with a confused expression spreading on her face.
Faye yawns, "Look whatever happened between you all… It's all water under the bridge now."
Ivory clenches her teeth, "Water under the bridge? Did you hear me before, Faye? They tried to kill me because of you…"
The tall man with a ridiculous sized club on his back says, "Look… We were just going on a usual pick up and you just happened to be there."
Ivory flips the man off, "Fuck you."
Abigail mimics Ivory's gesture despite her utter confusion of the situation.
Faye puts her hands in the air, "Enough. This is such a bother. Hear me out, you two."
Faye sighs, "I lose track of my men sometimes. I have a big enough business where that's possible, Ivory. You can guess but I make people disappear and sell their organs on the black market. You could say a typical Sinners' street gang leader."
Ivory paused and looked toward Abigail's face in between this horrific discussion as her friend looked like she was going to puke. She couldn't blame her. The both of them had to work with an organ trafficker until they got to their location.
Faye shakes her head, "I get paid points, people would've earned through making a quota and I provide a service. I used those points I acquired to obtain Sinners' street. The altercation before between all of you was a mix up on a target we had and I apologize for that."
Ivory couldn't help but feel animosity towards the gang. She looked at each one of them and hatred began to radiate through her body. The ability was almost preflagging them from before as a threat and her nervous system was reacting to her ability.
The sunburn glowed on her neck as her eyes turned into a dark shade of blue.
As her eyes reached the little boy with blue rectangular glasses and a top hat on, her gaze softened. Any innocent child would've been manipulated to join such a scandalous organization.
Her sunburn disappears from her neck and her eyes return to their default brown hue.
Faye notices immediately how Ivory's glance softens at the sight of the child. She adapts to the situation in a split second to get things moving along.
Faye points toward the child, "The child has developed a case of sunburn so he must be looked after in this facility, Ivory. We need to get going."
Ivory tries to compose herself as her friend puts a hand softly on her shoulder.
Ivory says with a controlled smile, "Fine, I hope we can all work well together. Temporarily."
Faye wipes her eyes from exhaustion, "Perfect. Now that we've settled that. Let me properly introduce all of you."
Faye points to the group, "The girl with the dagger is called Lilith. The tall man with the club is called Hudson. The little man is called Rui."
Ivory says with a polite smile, "Great to meet all of you. Again…"
Faye shifts her focus to the wooden hatch as she walks toward it and bends her knees to reach the lock. She rummages for a minute in her tattered black jacket's pocket and pulls out a silver key.
The gang leader unlocks the lock and removes it from the wooden floor board. She lifts the board up with ease and reattaches the lock.
Faye says, "Everyone get in. I'll lock the door from the outside as we all get inside."
Ivory goes into the dark spiral staircase as a trembling hand intertwines with her right hand.
Abigail whispers, "I… I don't even see the dark that much anymore. Only in my dreams and when I sleep. I don't know what's going on anymore, Ivory. Tell me everything is going to be okay?"
Ivory says with a soft tone, "I know. I know. This won't last long. Everything will be okay."
Ivory squeezes her friend's hand and she gently lets go.
The wooden hatch closed behind them and the staircase was immediately lit up with a blinding yellow light.
Abigail, blinded by the light, misses her first step and falls onto Ivory's shoulder which causes her to lose her footing. The two were about to plummet to their deaths but luckily their saviour behind them with two quick hands held onto both of their arms.
Ivory exhaled slowly as she turned to see Lilith with a smug grin on her face, holding onto her.
Ivory smiles while internally rolling her eyes, "Thank you, Lilith."
Abigail says with a flushed expression on her face, "I'm so sorry, Ivory."
Ivory shakes her head, "It's fine… Let's just keep moving."
The group descends the staircase with the lights now occasionally starting to flicker. The flutter of the lights start by being abrupt at first then following in a numerical sequence. The change began every three seconds.
The lights then flickered every two seconds and then one.
The staircase became filled with a familiar eerie darkness. Not a single human being could be seen.
Ivory asked, "Abigail…. Faye?"
There was no response in the darkness.
There were no words spoken in reply in the darkness.
Ivory felt it become harder and harder to breathe. She fell on her knees on the step of the staircase from the sudden weakness that had befallen her.
She felt thoughts swirl in her mind that were actively trying to catch up with her body. The young woman felt nausea and fear all at once.
The irony of the situation was deranged. She had just tried to comfort her friend in the darkness and now she was afraid of the dark.
The nausea she felt was very similar to when she first used a virtual reality headset all those years before the shift.
The motion sickness dictated that her body felt as if it were moving when it really wasn't. Why would she be feeling this now?
The darkest parts of Ivory's mind slowly manifested to reality. She physically felt the chains of the predicament she was in making her stay planted on her knees.
Ivory felt as if she could barely breath but she wasn't passing out from a lack of oxygen. What was going on?
The chains on Ivory's wrists felt so similar to how she felt when her father had burned to ash right in front of her during the early days of the readjustment period. Her mind couldn't catch up with her body back then too and she began to cry her eyes out.
The chains bounded her to the ground then and the chains bounded her to the past now.
Ivory mutters to herself, "I don't understand."
The darkness surrounding her started to take shape as a giant red circle came to view.
She stared at the red circle out of confusion as the circles multiplied.
Three circles had become overlaid on top of each other forming what looked to be an eye.
The circles multiplied and created hundreds of red eyes that enshrouded her.
Ivory felt like she was going to throw up and she couldn't even understand why. Why was this happening to her?
A dim light started to appear in her peripheral vision as she felt a hand brush against her shoulder.
Ivory opened her eyes and she seemed to be met with the end of the spiral staircase. A bright yellow light had lit up the entire area replacing the red and black void.
Abigail, Faye, Lilith, Hudson, and Rui stood staring at her while pausing at the front of the entrance.
The darkness had disappeared and she didn't know how she got here.
Abigail says in a nervous tone glancing toward her friend and the entrance, "Hey Ivory, looks like we're here."
Ivory stares toward the entrance, "What are we waiting for?"
Faye sighs, "You…. Ivory are you doing alright?"
Ivory smiles, "Yes, I just zoned out for a minute. Let's go."
The young woman moves past the group and enters the cave energetically. Her eyes were met with the underground city once more and she was filled with a tremendous amount of bliss.
Unfortunately this time it wasn't just bliss that followed gazing at the underground city but a new found feeling of dread that was paired with it.
Why did her body move without her being aware of it?