Chapter 157: The Apartment Building.
The apartment building wasn’t large. Yet, it still stood quite tall, being an apartment building in a city. But the size itself wasn’t much, which sounds like an oxymoron, but it really wasn’t…. At a glance, I’d say it was smaller than my first apartment by quite a bit. Which meant, surely it would be easy to clean out, but at the same time, it was still larger than the average building inside the city. Yet, on stepping inside, I realized I may have underestimated the difficulty of clearing this building.
The main lobby was huge. Larger than it had any right to be. Crossing the threshold itself had felt odd. Even being here felt like I was constantly underwater. Like the very air was thick, stirring about with each motion.
Perhaps that was why, an explanation as to why the lobby was so massive. The mist was obscenely thick, licking at the corners and walls. Granting everything a distorted view, almost like we were looking out from within a fishbowl.
Breathing felt strange. There was a push and pull that rejected our motion. With every breath, every subtle shift, the pressure lessened as I felt my ears adjust and pop. Almost like I was going into the depths.
Working my jaw, I took in the space. Large, was an understatement. The main lobby looked like it belonged to a grand hotel. Only, the cracked tiles, and the rickety furniture that passed for lobby seating disabused that notion. Well, that and the peeling wallpaper, the yellowed lights that flickered ominously along the wall and did very little to properly illuminate the space.
Additional lighting existed where perhaps none had existed before. Dotting the ceiling were small lanterns that creaked and swung ponderously to an unseen force. The whole place smelled of mildew. Of disrepair and poor ventilation.
With caution, we explored the place and really, we came up with nothing. The main floor wasn’t much. A rickety elevator that hardly looked better expanded. Rusted to hell and back. An eaten through metal gate barred access to it, and a padlock that looked exceptionally out of place kept the elevator barred.
Side paths existed, but they literally went nowhere. The expanded, almost stretched lobby shrank into practically nothing as we followed the side passages, forcing us back towards the main area.
Otherwise, there was a basement of sorts. Without proper lighting, the place looked like something out of a child’s nightmare. A large furnace sat at the center, a burning thing that illuminated the space far more than the dim lighting. It glowed and hissed. Casting dark shadows where piping snaked along the floors and walls blocked its light.
There was nothing spectacular about the place. Even if I could see the mist being drawn into the furnace as if it were being used as fuel for the ancient thing. The furnace itself, was old. Grating covered its face, presenting its bowels to the world. Bowels that burned bright, hissed and spat as whatever was inside burned. Not only was it old, but massive. It was a monolithic thing that could easily take up the central square of a park and not seem entirely out of place.
Talia gave it a worried look. Checking the gauges and pipes. “It’s old…” She muttered after who knows how long, “But, it shouldn’t be an issue anytime soon. The mist is, well, it’s trying to change it. If we’d left it alone, it might become a serious threat. As it is, we should be fine… probably.” She stated, not so confidently.
I eyed the thing as we made our way back out. Taking one last look around for trouble, only to find none. Back in the lobby we were confronted with our next trial. The building itself had only a single stairwell. The stairwell was large and wide enough for a number of us to go through, and likely, the hallways of each floor would be the same.
Then issue was the daunting size. It stretched up into the heavens, likely dozens of stories high at the very least. When the actual building should have been no more then four or five stories tall.
We had no idea what awaited us above, and I had no intention of leaving the lobby unattended.
There was a short discussion. A decision was made. “You.” I pointed to the silver rank soldier, who still had no name. “Stay with the ice soldiers here and hold the lobby.”
They saluted, a simple thing and took charge. The ice soldiers began to work. Not only getting ready to hold but even going as far as to use the furniture as makeshift barricades. Rapidly, they made a makeshift fort, using the central desk of the lobby as the primary point of defense.
Surprised and impressed with their actions, I made sure to send my approval over our line. Before we went up though… “You three, assist them. We’ll take the stone soldiers up with us.” I point to my knights.
The trio bowed slightly and took up positions at different points of the fort. Leaving Me, Talia, Shi, Joan, and Liche. Along with the stone soldiers to delve further into the warped apartment building.
A formation was quickly formed, with Talia at the front, flanked by stone soldiers, and Shi at the back with yet more stone soldiers. Joan and Liche were at my side. Like this, we went into the stairwell and up the steps.
The stairwell smelled damp, and of rotting wood. The stairs themselves were made of wood and bowed underfoot. Some creaking, others not. The railing was long worn. The veneer long shorn away, the naked wood underneath revealed and scored with marks.
A tentative touch of the railing revealed that not only was it worn, but unsteady. Creaking and swaying under my touch. Whether or not it could support any weight remained a question, a question I’d much rather not have answered.
Quickly, a new problem cropped up. Exactly, how did we clear this place out? Sure, there was only one stairwell. With each floor only having a singular door. The issue being, do we start from the top, and work our way down? Or from the bottom up?
Eventually, after a bit of discussion, a consensus was made. After comparing the pros and cons of each option, we ended up deciding to start from the bottom. If only because we had no idea what might lie near the top.
It took some time, some flights of stairs before we came to our first real door. It was, like the rest of the wood here, rotting, and seemed to be barely holding itself together. The metal that made up the hinges and doorknob were equally worn. Making me wonder if it was truly age, or if it was a result of the prodigious amounts of magic in the air.
Through the creaking, rotting door of the first floor, we entered into an old hallway. The floor was made of wood, thin strips, with many of the boards having their nails jutting out, in need of a good hammering, and with some boards, the nails were simply not there.
It was in clear disrepair, multiplied by whatever the mist did, making what should have been moderate disrepair into something else entirely. Sections of the floor were not just unsteady, but a single wrong step saw the boards collapse into themselves. Revealing a yawning black depths that really shouldn’t exist.
It was clear, that the wood here wasn’t like the wood in the stairwell. That whatever the mist was doing, no, I think I understood fully what was happening. The magic was permeating the wood, and the whole building. Strengthening it and simultaneously wearing it down. The stairwell, and the building as a whole were being bolstered by all this magic.
As for why this hallways was so worn down, and yet, so fragile? The closed door might have something to do with that. With it being closed, it acted as a barrier, slowing the permeation of magic into this part of the building.
As for the endless yawning depths, and the unsteady footing? I had no idea… However, with how this building had expanded under the influence of magic, I had a feeling we didn’t want to fall through the cracks…
With those sobering thoughts, we pressed on. Joan focused on revealing the safe passages forward, all the while Talia kept her eyes forward and up. The expanded hallway wasn’t only wider, but taller as well. With the ceiling being hauntingly high.
The doors along the hallway were all barred shut. Sealed as well. Attempts to open them were met with failure. Almost as if the air itself was pressing in on the doors. Sealing them shut. Just knocking on them, felt like I was knocking on solid steel, and not rickety wood. The sound of me knocking on the doors echoed hauntingly, almost as if I were underwater.
Bothered, but unwilling to sit around, we continued forward. Eventually, we came to the opposite end of the apartment building, where the elevator lay. Still sealed. Untouched. The floor was clear.
We went back to the stairwell, and up to the next available floor.
On stepping on the floor proper, I felt a shift in the air. A slight drain, rather, a pull. Like something was drawing me in. The door to the floor was gone. Torn off its hinges. Granting a view of the second floor’s hallway unimpeded, or mostly unimpeded.
About halfway through the hallway, there was a disturbance of sorts. A mass of swirling mist that moved almost like water swirling down a drain. Confused, concerned, and far too curious for my own good, we made our way down.
With every step, the suction grew. All too soon, it became almost too much. In the end, rather than forcing it, we backed off. Sensing that wherever the mist was going, was not where we wanted to be. Not just that, but it was unlikely to be our goal.
Concerned, we made our way back, and up to the third floor. On stepping on the third floor, two things became apparent. One, the suction from the floor below was all but gone. Second, that we were closing on our target.
The door here had been ripped off the hinges. Clawed through and ripped apart. The hallway itself was filled with signs of similar damage. With many lights cracked or broken. Doors along the hallway were scratched and covered in worrying cracks.
The floor itself was a mess as well. Giving us some trouble with footing. As we made our way down, we came across an open door. Rather, a door that had been ripped apart, with the upper portion of the door struggling to remain on the hinge. The interior was a mess. The walls and floors were ripped and torn apart like a wild animal had gone to town on the place.
The smell of blood and death was thick. With blood being splattered all over the walls, along with foam and fluff from eviscerated furniture and pillows. What really chagrined me though, was how much nicer this place was compared to my first apartment.
There was a main living room, with an attached kitchen, which… the kitchen was more of a strip on the far wall with a functioning stove, sink, and fridge. Or, formerly functioning… The small strip of counterspace was dominated by a now ruined microwave.
Opposite of the kitchen area was a pair of doors. One leading to a master bedroom, and the other to a full bathroom…
Which… was something… Especially when compared to my old, single room apartment. An apartment that was just barely large enough to lie in. The only thing lacking was a patio. There were windows though…
On second glance, I realized something I hadn’t noticed immediately. The proportions for this apartment were, normal. Almost like, it hadn’t yet been changed by the mist. Sure, the mist was slowly coming in, soaking into the surroundings, but the space was too small for all of us to squeeze in comfortably.
As we took in the space, looked for trouble, Joan cried out. Fearing trouble, we all looked to where she currently was. She was standing beside the apartment window, looking out with wide eyes. A hand clamped over her mouth. Before we could ask what it was she saw, we heard it. The sound of tapping on glass.
Concerned, I made my way forward, Joan relinquishing her spot beside the diminutive window. Granting me the ability to see, outside. Where… it appeared, we were not alone.
Something, was out there. Long, nail-like fingers were tapping on the glass. As if reaching out from within the swirling mist that obscured my vision from outside. However, leaning down, and looking up, a small sound left my lips as I beheld… whatever the hell that was!
Beyond the mist, was something. A mass, a living creature? I couldn’t be sure. Yet it sat at the central of a maelstrom that overlooked the city. A city, that looked nothing like the city I knew or thought I knew. The city itself looked wrong, jagged, as if formed from a collective of dreams and nightmares.
Twisted spires, of metal and glass. Of pulsating, thrumming towers of flesh. The more I looked, the more horrified I became, my eyes slowly, surely drifting more towards the center of the maelstrom of that living thing. A living thing whose body was made up of roots that pumped and pulsed as if they were blood vessels carrying blood. Those very roots connected to the city, almost as if it were feeding off it.
As my gaze drifted, a growing sense of dread pulsed in my mind. Banging against the ice. No, not just banging, but shattering right through it. As if a hand had punched through and reached down. Closing on me rapidly. Giving me no chance to pause or reconsider.
Unbidden, they drifted closer. As the maelstrom stirred. As something pulsed. As the hand grew ever nearer, and so very close. The moment the tips of that hand’s fingers came within distance, something crashed into the window, jolting me to attention and my feet moved back, my rifle raised high.
Plastered against the window was a many toothed maw. Tongues licked against the glass seeking flesh or blood. With the sound of suction, not unlike a plunger, the maw pulled off the glass, only to be replaced by sightless eyes that pressed against the glass.
Slowly, I went forward, careful to avert my gaze from the world outside that window. My hand cautiously reached forward and touched the glass. Sensing me, or possibly the heat of my hand, the thing screeched and lashed against the glass, though, to no effect.
I felt for it. An odd differential. A difference between the outside and here. A difference that was rapidly giving way as the mist accumulated, equalizing the inside, with the outside.
It made me think, reconsider the importance of our job. After all, if the mist truly reached a certain threshold, how much of the city would fall to that other side? And not just that, but… how harrowing were the things lurking on the other side?
Is this, perhaps why Taylor warned me to stay on patrol, to not wander too far off? Is this what it means to fall through the cracks? To go to this nightmarish form of the city?
Uneasily I stepped back. Fear rooted in my being, and yet, it only served to galvanize my purpose. After all, this was just another consideration for my eventual goal. Another nightmare to conquer, another stage I could take.
As we moved out of the apartment, eyes glancing at the window as the thing on the other side screeched and wailed. Just before the last of us left the apartment though, the building lurched the window shuddered. The screeching, the wailing, cut off. Leaving us in deathly silence.
It wasn’t until we were all in the hallway that Liche let out a mumbled curse. I doubt any of them had seen what I did, and… I don’t imagine they’d have made it out if it were them. I don’t think any of us would have. Only Joan had sensed what was going on, even then, she hadn’t looked up, had she?
Glancing over, the girl seemed subdued, more than usual. Her eyes haunted, hands clenching at the hem of her jacket.
Even if nobody had seen the thing I had, I’m certain they all felt its presence as it stirred. That sudden feeling of something that shouldn’t be disturbed stirring to wakefulness.
With a final kick to the floor that cracked wood, I spoke. “Let’s focus on something a bit more our speed, yeah?” I said, perhaps a bit too forcefully, my breath a bit too short. Yet, nobody argued. Nobody complained. After all, I’m certain they all felt the same.
I, we, were all relieved when we finally came across something we could fight. Near the end of the hallway, bashing and scratching at one of doors. One scratch enough to carve away wood, leaving a small opening.
It was a singular monster. Human shaped, with scythe-like claws. Yet, in that moment it was perhaps the most human among us all. We went at it like beasts, tearing into it, ripping into it. Only pausing when not a piece of it existed in the world.
Gulping down breaths, our existential terror held at bay, we properly took in our surroundings and their implications.
From the other side of the door, we heard muffled sobbing. Rather, it sounded like they were far away, as if a body of water separated us, and only through the small crack in the door did we hear them. Glancing inside was strange, like looking through a periscope. Everything was so twisted, wrong, but even then, I could tell. It was an apartment. Still whole, mostly fine.
It sounded like a child, a pair of children possibly too. I had no answer. Glancing about, nobody else really did. Meaning, I was the one to take the forefront.
“Hey…” I started, disappointingly. “Are you okay in there?” I ask, the sobbing stifled for a moment. As if they were holding their breaths.
“Do you need help?” I asked again, and again, they said nothing. As if afraid, that if they spoke, the monsters would come back. Then again, perhaps they thought we were monsters too.
I glanced at the crack. At the mist rapidly flowing in.
“Look, you don’t have to speak, but you need to fill in the crack. I don’t know what will happen if you don’t but if you have any rags or blankets, I suggest you block the hole. Otherwise, monsters will be able to break in.”
There was a choked sob on the other side.
“We’re going to try and resolve the issue in the meantime, so, please, try to block the hole if you can.” I stated. And without further ado, we left. I didn’t hear any movement, but halfway down the hallway I felt the air shift. Rather, it was like a slow flow had stopped. Glancing back, the little bit of light peeking through the gap in the door was gone, jammed up with what looked like a child’s blanket.
“Hopefully that holds, right?” Liche was the one to speak.
“Even if it doesn’t, we’ll be done soon enough.” I say back. Liche nods. Even Joan responds with a firm nod of her own. As for Talia, her eyes drifted from the door to the apartment we had been in. A thoughtful look on her face.
With the floor cleared, we made our way up to the next floor. And something told me, we’d soon find the source of all of this. At the very least, we’d resolve the issue. That much I knew. No matter the cost.