The elevator was clanky, rusty and had shown signs of poor maintenance. A worrying series of sounds arose as I stood in the metal contraption. Behind the closed doors I could hear men struggling to get up from the floor and bodies toppling over. A high pitched, buzzing sound from above appeared out of nowhere.
I had thought for a while in this peculiar situation, that this elevator could easily break down and eventually lead to my untimely fate. There was no promise of certainty, and I had already signed my death wish as soon as I stepped foot onto the metal plating. It went on for a couple of seconds until it stopped.
The air had become uncomfortable and uneasy. My first thought of this sudden silence was to press myself on the sides of the elevator. It was stupid, I know but what could I do? I could have used my own astral twilight to string me out, but I did not have that in store. I was back at the start. Against the world.
Something made me jump for a second. I felt a weird vibration in the elevator, was it going up? My heart was not relaxed, but the pace did slow a little down to a stable level.
It wasn't too long until I had found out that I didn't get far. The elevator stopped in transit, right before it could get me to a floor at which I could advance further away from the chaos below. I looked around with urgency for something that could help me. I then discover that one of the panels on the ceiling of the elevator is missing and was replaced with a wooden slab instead. Interesting.
I slid off the panels around the wood and opened a latch. The latch exposed all the wiring and mechanical parts of the elevator. There were two thick metal wires but there seemed to be a screw in one of the pieces holding the structure together. A bashing sound arises behind me, Olvin reaches the doors. He must've taken out the entire squad. The door slowly pries open but he struggles.
I begin to climb through the small but somehow fitting latch and fully allow my body to sit above the elevator box. I tried to avoid the sharp mechanical pieces that were barely holding together from years of neglect which ended up being a nuisance. I slide the wooden slab back and hide above in a small corner away from the hole and pray that nothing happens.
The darkness of the elevator shaft had me rethink for a moment. All the dust, cotton, metal sheddings were all in the air. I tried to hide behind my already torn up mage cloak, but it barely did much. Everything was uncomfortable. My heart ached for the slightest peace.
I proceed to look up and take a glance at the wires and try to figure out where they end. There's light at the end but it seems like a long way away. The buzzing sound starts again. I looked at one of the loose pieces for a second analysing what was going on. I crawl closer trying not to make a sound while on above and press in the nail. It was as if I was doing the construction workers job for them. But then I looked again and that wasn't the sole issue.
The gears were stuck on a wood panel. It was as if they wanted to stop the elevator from moving. I then hear Olvin step onto the elevator. His footsteps are loud and obnoxious and the reverberations that echoed which intensified my anxiety. He swivels his feet around a lot is what I assumed from how the sound was travelling from left to right.
"Alan, let's talk it out. Man to man." Olvin tried to do a buddy buddy impression which I didn't fall for. I still didn't trust him at all. He would definitely kill me if I presented myself in front of him. The conditions being on top of the elevator was risky. The dust was building up around me like snow on a white christmas but instead it was dark and alone, and the whole world wanted you dead.
I wasn't good at climbing at all. I slowly stood up in my position trying to not make a sound while wiping all the air particles which choked me up in the process. The issue of holding back a cough was exhausting. I caught a glimpse of the opposite wall where there was a ladder and a few mechanical buttons such as an electrical system switch. I tiptoed slowly around the metal compartments and over to the ladder. I tilted my head up again and noticed that there was a hole nearby that seemed to be the next floor where I was supposed to be.
I glance at one of the many buttons right next to the metal ladder, and one of them has a sign. "Neutralise all electrical components." It was behind a glass case with a keyhole in front of it. I still had the key from earlier so I decided to slot it in and see what would happen. Their key didn't work. So I started to jam the glass casing off with my foot, it made quite a bit of noise but eventually I was able to make a small crack.
Right below me, I feel a wooden panel move slightly, the same one that allowed me to get on top of the elevator. I started to panic and immediately changed my pace of kicking down the glass case until it broke open. It took awhile of attempts but it eventually shattered into a million pieces landing onto my shoes and a few shards on my face. I dodged a few in time and I even placed my hands up in shock but I did sustain a couple of cuts that weren't too major. A few cuts and a few slices didn't stop me from going further.
I slam my bare hand onto the red button and sound the alarms. The wooden panels are shifted to the side, while I step over them. I started climbing the ladder hurriedly to make it to the next floor before Olvin could get me.
This ladder also had a lot of rust which caused me a couple of cuts while traversing upwards. My hands bled as I dug my hand into the next step. It was fight or flight, and adrenaline was high in the moment. I made it to the next floor. It was dark. But I tried to navigate myself through the room.
My eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light, and I noticed that it was just an empty room. I then saw a staircase with red railings that had a red light that emitted inside. An emergency exit of some sort? I followed quickly up but then I heard a storm of footsteps nearby and turned around swiftly. I hid under the bottom stair case as each footstep came down on every step. It was more of Olvins men that he sent to hunt me down.
The door shut when they left the room that led to the staircase allowing me to escape further up to the top. The red light helped guide me. The room was hollow so every footstep could definitely be heard on the opposite side of the door below.
I made it to the top level of the staircase. Ninety-seven levels left until I was on ground level. In Front of me was a metal door that said "Control room" . It was printed on a bright red sign. Through the secure layers of glass I quickly observed that there were multiple people on computers, not mages, not knights but just regular software engineers. The door wasn't locked. There wasn't any sort of security, so I decided to walk through.
My steps were light, trying to slide pass with the least amount of presence in the room. A woman wearing a white collar shirt with a black skirt meeting her knees, notices me. I made eye contact with the woman with ginger hair. She was drop dead gorgeous, with soft pink lips and a darker skin complexion. Her gaze bounces around at the other men in the room walking around. Two men stop in the middle of the busy room looking back and forth at the woman, and me.
Her eyes direct the men to deal with me, I step back and clench my fist in a hostile position. These guys don't look strong in the slightest, but it wasn't them I was supposed to be worried about. The air felt weird for moments at a time. It was a wrong blend of humans in one spot. The woman turns away from the scene I've caused. I dash in the direction that led to another elevator. More eyes within the room fall onto me while I stride through the depressing office blocks that are stored in neg97. There were no windows in the block that had three spaces from my perspective.
Another woman, but with long black hair, wearing glasses and with trousers that looked like half a suit and a blue collar shirt holding a mug of coffee that doesn't smell very pleasant walked up to the elevator. She was wearing her key card which was being held by her red lanyard. The doors open and I slip in next to her as if it was a normal occurrence that an ex mage on the run was supposed to be next to a businesswoman.
I look at the floor buttons and I press the surface level. The woman looks at me with unease. My facial expression is relaxed trying not to seem as a threat to her. Her eyes squinted closer inspecting me for a short time. I was really screwed if she figured who I was. But then she dropped her gaze and continued to look straight at the elevator doors ready to reach its final destination.
My heart palpated through this entire interaction. She didn't seem worried, she was relaxed. Maybe too relaxed. I had a feeling inside my bones that she had something viscous under her sleeves that I would find out soon. Or maybe she was just oblivious. But how could she? Olvins soldiers had to storm the control room to look for me and alert people who I was- it was then that I stopped my anxiety and calmed down. I was overreacting, maybe.
I doubt she understood the gravity of this all. She must have definitely met a lot of mages in her time being here. Right? Right?
"So…what's your name?" I tried to start a conversation with the closed off woman. It was a similar experience trying to talk to a brick wall. She wouldn't respond. The woman drank her coffee before the elevator came to a halt. I gave her a quick smile before I decided to depart from her. The doors open to the ground level. The sky was clear and bright but the lower half of my view wasn't so.
I couldn't count on hand but I was met with numerous mages, knights and other soldiers that had their staffs, sorcery weapons and any sort of artefacts pointed at me. The woman turns her head to me with a smirk and walks away from the chaotic scene as if she was a part of this whole plan.