Tundra was an underground complex, shrouded in the cold of secrecy. The goods were secretly carried into the temple when no one, apart from the bishop, was present inside.
Tundra stretched for miles, with a huge network of interconnected tunnels. Some of these were abandoned or collapsed, taking the goods to one of the many Incubation points. And more.
But they couldn't know.
The only sound that could be heard, aside from their footsteps, was a dull and constant hum, which detached from its core resembled countless echoes gasping forgotten prayers. The corridors were covered in white; the shadows could not materialize on those dead walls.
"This place ..." Oskah whispered. "How does such a place exist? What is it for? I've never seen anything like it."
Dulkha just kept alert.
"I feel I was there a long time ago, maybe as a kid. I can't be wrong." Zen said.
"So, you are originally from Filaspera?" Oskah asked.
Zen shook her head.
"No ... I don't know ... I don't remember where I was born. I have scattered, messy, godlike memories ... What are they called ... Dreams."
Oskah was dumbfounded. "Dreams...?" "Yes" "I've heard of it before.
It is said that only mystics can have these ... Dreams. Are you a mystic, Zen? "
"Don't bullshit me."
"So where did you hear this term?" Zen shook her head again.
"II don't know, somewhere, I don't remember."
Oskah turned to Dulkha. "Do you ever dream, Dulkha?"
The blindfolded boy was silent for a while.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He was lying, of course.
"You're a strange creature. I never know if you lie or tell the truth. Honestly, you frighten me a little. You're always so condescending."
Dulkha snorted. "I'm not the one who forced you to keep me in your city. You might as well have kicked me out, as far as you are concerned."
Oskah laughed. His laughter echoed down the long corridor. Slamming against the walls he was lost in the darkest and most distant part, fragmenting, and joining the hum of the structure.
"Speaking of serious things, though ..." Oskah intoned "The duke, in his diary, talked about his life as if he were constantly trying to lie to himself."
"He didn't have the courage to face each other." Dulkha answered firmly.
"you say? Filaspera has helped us a lot in the last few years. He didn't seem like a bad person. Even if the last pages of that diary give me chills."
Dulkha turned to Oskah. "Are you talking about the children? The experiments."
Oskah nodded. "Exactly, I don't know what that means. I can't imagine what kind of experiments they are conducting below. It stinks to me, too much."
"Do you think it is linked to the disappearance of the inhabitants?" Oskah nodded "That's right. It's the first time I've seen you interested in the real world, since I've known you."
Dulkha sharpened his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"You are always so apathetic." "It's not true." "Yes but." "It's not true."
"Do you want shut up? I can't concentrate ..." Zen barked.
It was strange to be scolded by Zen. The situation was very serious.
Dulkha scratched his chin, or rather, the bandages that covered his chin.
"And instead, where were you born?" Dulkha said softly, turning to Oskah.
"In the city of Anatolia, of course." Oskah said, without hesitation.
The three amigos walked for half an hour, crossing corridors alike, distinguished only by some strange indication, and barred doors, marked in red.
Finally, after an interminable march, they found themselves facing what appeared to be the end of the corridor. Dead end.
Not really.
A door full of bars in the shape of small teeth extended between them and what lay beyond. The unknown. A few steps from the door were a corpse. He was stiff, his face full of horror. The decomposition had not yet devoured him completely. Blame, of course, the very low temperature.
"What the hell ..." Oskah said. "His hand ..."
The body was of a man, he was wearing a white coat like the corridors of that place, and he had his left hand roughly removed.
"It looks like a job done in a hurry." Zen said.
Looking up at the door, Zen noticed a panel in the shape of a human hand. At the sight of that panel his mind began to get heavy, and unwanted images began to settle in his eyes. The more he tried to reject them, the more ...
"CoMe oN .. ... LiTtLe OnE... ThIs WhAI .. d-Don'T CrY.. .. D-DoN't."
What's your name?
...
"Hey?" Oskah's voice called to him from above. "Hey ...?" His head was still heavy, the world was spinning, Zen was on the ground. Overwhelmed by that pain, he had instinctively curled up, something he had never done, or he hadn't done for long.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Dulkha asked.
"... N-Nothing ... It's nothing. Just a fucking headache."
Oskah held out his hand. "Look. If you need a little time, we can-"
Zen waved away Oskah, grabbed a knife he kept hidden under his pants, and began to cut the corpse's remaining hand.
Oskah looked at him dazed, Dulkha just looked curious.
The cold sound of decomposing soft flesh breaking, and bones, danced in the long corridor.
Zen's gaze was focused, like a hunter dismembering his prey. "It's easier when they're long dead ..." He whispered.
He got to the bones, broke them, and finished with the other half. He grabbed the hand, now severed, and flattened it on the panel, which with a BEEP glows green. The door swung open.
"This is best kept available." Zen said, throwing his hand to Oskah, who instinctively grabbed it, regretting it soon after.
"God!" He cursed the boy, "Put it in your backpack, I don't want to be locked up here." Dulkha said.
The iron door closed, as it had opened, causing a strong reverberation. Outside the door, a huge cave made of ice. The strange hum increased in intensity, and now it seemed to come from the strange surfaces of that cave. Every so often sounds, like opening drops, followed the course of that melody.
Ahead was a bridge made of ice and stone, at the foot of the bridge a precipice covered with clouds, the bottom of which could not be seen.
"What a place ... Be careful not to slip." Oskah said.
Zen slipped and Dulkha grabbed him with the bandages. "I told you."
Zen, as if to ignore it, had his eyes immersed in who knows where.
"I've seen this place before." He repeated to himself. "I have already seen it..."
At the end of the bridge there was a figure, which from a distance resumed the appearance of a statue. The being held a kind of golden spear in the shape of an umbrella handle. He was not human.
"What is that?" Dulkha asked. The creature noticed them and came towards them.
"Oooh! Long Legs! How wonderful, I thought you were all dead!"
The three adventurers backed away in horror.
"What the fuck are you?" Zen said.
"What? Longlegs don't recognize Ahri? Head banged, maybe?"
"T-That t-thing is talking ... he moves his mouth ... he is talking to us!"
"Mh?!" The creature was almost as bewildered as they were. He was a bizarre being. The three adventurers didn't know much about the world around them, especially Oskah, who had mostly stayed in his city area.
But this was so unexpected. The creature had a large round head, small thin eyes, it wore armor and its legs seemed thin and small, in fact it was very short.
"Calm down, Oskah." Dulkha said.
"Damn, but there must be something that can surprise you!"
Dulkha shrugged "I hope to find her."
"A-Anyway ... D-Did you say A-Ahri ...?" The creature shook its head.
"No A-Ahri! But Ahri! I'm Ahri." "It is your name?" "No! My ... As you say ... Ah! My People are Ahri!"
Oskah was silent. "Okay ... I have so many questions to ask you ... Er ... Little Ahri, but now I just want to know if you've seen a man hanging around here in the last month."
"Certain!" Ahri said without hesitation. "The last Long Legs I saw had a very worried face! And it's been a large long legs flow since I've seen him."
"Long Legs what?" "Yes! Since Ahri don't understand Time, Long Legs taught Ahri what time is, as they did with their language. But Ahri just didn't understand ..."
"Okay, we don't care. Do you know where the guy went?" Zen said.
The Ahri nodded exuberantly. "I think he went that way, to Ahri's village!"
"Do you know if he's still there?" Zen asked. Guard Ahri thought for a moment.
"I apologize to Long Legs, but I can't know, I never go back."
Silence.
"Does that mean you stay here all the time? Always?"
"It is right!"
The three looked at each other, without saying anything.
"O-Okay ... Can we continue towards your village?" Oskah asked, pretending he didn't hear.
"Sure! You must follow stones that light up, and you will arrive in the city of Ahri!"