"Heavens, what is that smell?" Edric retched.
This level reeked of piss, rotting fish, and some sort of sour odour. It didn't help that there was a sea of people moving to and fro the different buildings, making the air circulation nonexistent -if air circulation were even possible down here.
"It isn't that bad," Afina replied, though she wasn't very convincing as she had her nose covered as well.
"Where's the path to the top city?" he responded, a sense of urgency present in his tone.
"No, never mind, let's get to one of the lower levels first. Anywhere else is better than this," he added quickly, realizing that he might actually pass out if he remained here for much longer.
The way this level was designed -and probably most other levels of the undercity- was much like an actual spider web. Dozens of buildings were connected to each other with massive earth platforms -like the one they were currently standing on- that were akin to streets.
In between these streets, were the housing towers, which had small platforms around them, allowing denizens to move onto the streets in front of them.
These streets all led towards a central platform, the largest of all, that surrounded the massive vine stalk. If the other platforms were mere streets, then the central platform was the business district, where hundreds of people seemed to be drawn to.
"There," he pointed out, noticing that one of the platforms led somewhere to the bottom.
He quickly grabbed Afina's hand and walked down the street towards it.
As he weaved past the seemingly endless sea of denizens who were walking to and fro the platform, he noticed that most of them seemed to have a sort of sheepish demeanour to them. Almost dronish, like they were high on some kind of substance.
The only ones who seemed to have any semblance of consciousness were the few who sat in front of their houses, their legs dangling off the ledges that plummeted down an unknowable amount of meters to the ground.
These people stared at Edric with a sort of curious expression on their faces, half interest, half fear, which wasn't very surprising as he stood several heads taller than even the biggest denizens down here.
A few of the children even pointed to him as he rushed to the platform leading down, and soon a commotion had begun, with larger and larger groups of people staring at him.
However, the sea of drones prevented any curious denizens from making it towards him. Before anyone could question his origins, he was already on his way to the lower platform.
The floor they were currently on wasn't truly a complete level like the one prior, rather it was an intermediary zone, a sort of hub where the platforms from the higher level collected.
Here there were no side streets, there was only the central platform where the other platforms connected to.
"This smells better," Edric whispered in relief, realizing the stench was gone.
There were considerably fewer people here, and even then, those people didn't waste much time hanging about. They went along their business, either moving up towards the higher level, or down towards the lower.
The housing towers all around the central platform had no links to them, and thus there were no accessible houses on this level, only walls -which perhaps were extra rooms within the houses themselves.
"So where did you say the path to the main city was?" he asked, staring at a few of the denizens who seemed to notice the oddity that was his size.
It didn't help that he was completely hidden beneath a dirty cloak and had reaping scythes poking from his back.
"It-it's down there," Afina responded hesitantly, pointing over the ledge of the central platform towards the light coming from the lower levels of the undercity.
"Down there? That doesn't make any sense. Why would you go down to go up?" Edric asked, suspecting that Afina had no idea what she was talking about
"The... the ferryman, we need to speak to him if we want to go to the city. He's the only one who knows the tunnel systems," she replied, her face strained as she tried to remember more details.
"The ferryman, huh?" Edric murmured to himself, not fully believing what she was saying. However there was nothing he could do now, so they made their way down towards the next platform, ignoring the whispers coming from the denizens they walked past.
The next floor was considerably more organized than the last one, with less 'empty space' as the platforms filled most of the gaps between the housing towers, making the entire floor look much like a normal town.
With more space for people to walk, naturally, the population density was also considerably higher. Which only meant a larger sea of people to get through before successfully making it to the level beneath.
"Smells better, but still not good," Edric whispered to himself, as he walked down one of the bustling streets.
He could barely hear himself over the chattering and shouting of the people all around him.
"Oi there big guy, isn't the Day of Death a little far to be dressing up as El Muerto," one of the denizens shouted up at him as he passed by them. They seemed to be in a drunken stupor, though at least they were happier than most of the other denizens.
~It seems the smell of alcohol is the same in every world,~ Edric thought to himself, as he pushed past the sea of people in front of him.
"Watch where you're g-" one denizen was about to say, before looking up at the giant that was Edric. That instantly shut them up, and with a whispered curse they continued about their day.
Up ahead there seemed to be a crowd forming around a building at one of the housing towers. This one was decorated with murals of fish, forks, and knives that glowed beautifully in red, blue and green -no doubt the work of the glowing algae.
~A food place?~ Edric thought to himself, suddenly realizing that he was starving.
He slowly approached the place, his height allowing him to see past the crowd of people lined up in front of it.
~It seems to be a butchery of some sort,~ he thought to himself, noticing the stalls filled with meat standing just outside the building.
"Stop pushing, there's enough for everyone!" a hooded man shouted from the front of the building.
Now that Edric had a good look at the area, there were several such hooded men, positioned all around the building. They seemed to be the reason why everyone wasn't just stealing the meat from the stalls.
"Remember, this is all thanks to the Deadly Shoals. Keep that in mind when you're electing the next Mayor," the man shouted next, tossing a chunk of meat towards one of the denizens at the front of the crowd.
~Deadly Shoals, what kind of business name is that?~ Edric thought to himself, watching the man at the front as he picked yet another chunk of meat up with his bare hands.
~Disgusting. I don't understand why people think poverty should equate to poor hygiene,~ he thought to himself, noting how even the stalls that held the meat seemed to be made from rusted metal.
As the man at the front was handing a chunk of meat out to another denizen, the cloak lifted slightly off his arms, revealing a tattoo.
~Fish and dagger... fuck,~ Edric thought to himself, however, it seemed he had realized too late.
Already several of the cloaked figures were moving towards him, slowed only by the crowd that had erupted in front of the building.
The only other paths involved jumping over the empty space that the platforms did not cover, however, it seemed that these men did not fear plummeting to their deaths.
"Afina, we have to go," Edric whispered, looking around to see if there were any other hooded men approaching them.
"I thought we were getting food," Afina replied in disappointment, standing on her tippy toes in an attempt to get a look at what was being offered.
"Now!" he shouted, this time, picking her up and putting her on his back.