Day 3: The Beneath

“In the name of the most esteemed governor of Verzonken-Schat, and under the directive of the high court of Pakamay, in pursuit of justice for the most heinous acts, the right of the guilty party to stay and reside in this most marvellous city as a free person is hereby revoked.” The speaker announced from the speech recorded in his scroll.

That morning, people from all over the city had gathered by the looming gates of the tower with a hexagonal cross section to watch this man receive his fate. The lectars around the tower were packed full with people, so much so that some had to stand on the bridges above that connected the towers protruding from the ocean surface that made up the sunken and exalted city of Verzonken-Schat, so they could watch this man receive his fate.

The massive pale and dark green doors of ancient bronze slowly departed from each other to reveal the maws of darkness that awaited the man in manacles, “In accordance with our laws, we will now exile the guilty party, Joshua Lieben Merlionne, from Verzonken-Schat and allow him to seek refuge in the Beneath, where you may live freely if mercy is permitted to you.”

Josh was silent for the duration of the speech, and the silence remained when the speaker had finished. All that could be said had already been said.

Yes, he had lived as a pirate. Not by choice, mind you. His right to choose had expired when the ship, on which he worked as a supercargo, was taken over by the pirate crew for which he was pressed to join.

Yes, he had done acts of cruelty as a pirate. Never more than necessary, and he always sought to temper the ruthlessness of his so-called mates whenever the opportunity arose.

All of this was brought up by Josh in his defence during the trial, but played little role in the jury’s consideration. Granted, he was spared a public execution, but no one present was under the apprehension that being exiled to the Beneath was anything short of certain ****. Indeed, a swift **** would have been mercy, if it meant escaping the horrors that lurked under the surface.

One of the guards opened Josh’s manacles, while the other guards pointed their rifles at the young, unshaven man whose long, unkempt dirty blonde hair ran the length of his neck. When all he did was stare at the firearms, the guard nearest to him shoved him on the shoulder and escorted him to the threshold, where he stepped in all alone.

The last sliver of sunlight the man would ever see shrank to nothingness as the doors slammed behind him. Josh could no longer feel a cooling breeze on his skin, yet the air was colder than outside. He could no longer hear the rippling waves under and around him.

Darkness surrounded him from all directions, and he could not see his hand in front of his eyes… Yet he was smiling.

The original settlers of the island of Pakamay built their city near the shores. But the beaches shrank as they were devoured by the ocean, and the settlers expanded their city towards the centre of the island and moved away. They eventually discovered that the island was sinking, and would continue sinking until it was completely submerged, taking the city with it.

There were those who chose to leave the island, but many did not wish to leave their homes, so as not to get scattered and alone across the vast ocean. They opted to build a new home, above the old one; a home that would stand over the waves when the ocean rose. It became a city of towers extending from under the waves, and connected by a system of bridges like streets. A sunken city, and an exalted city. A testament to the ingenuity of mankind and their defiance over the forces of nature.

Just about 1 500 years had passed since then, and Pakamay, along with the towers built on it, had continued to sink. The people of the city just continued to build their towers ever higher. The towers that once loomed over the ocean surface came to sink under it. Those that sank were connected by a labyrinth of tunnels, so one may travel between the towers without drowning.

The area of the city underneath the waves came to be known as the Beneath, and those who once lived there had long fled. They had to escape, as the creatures from the deep found their way inside. Soon the only ones living there were the monsters that crawled in from the bottom of the ocean, and scum like Josh deemed unfit for the glistening monuments above.

Everyone in Verzonken-Schat thought it impossible to get out once inside, but Josh knew better. He had travelled with the pirates, and he knew they recruited people who had left the Beneath and found their way to islands beyond Pakamay. All Josh had to do was survive the Beneath and find one of these exits.

But there was no doubt this was easier said than done.

CLICK!

Josh turned his zippo lighter on as he descended the spiral staircase. He had no idea if he was already in the Beneath by now, but had he fallen from a ledge on one of the bridges above he no doubt would have struck the surface of the waters almost instantaneously, though it seemed so high when looking down from the ledges. Hours must have passed, but he didn’t feel any different from when he entered the tower.

All his experiences being from under the sky, Josh had gotten used to the idea that the city rested on the bottom of the ocean, as if that was the most natural thing in the world. But the truth was his ancestors had conquered the inevitable onslaught of nature, making their own home independent of the capricious whims of the natural world.

After passing two closed doors, Josh found the gate to the archway at the bottom open, just in time for his lighter to extinguish. As he entered the archway he flicked his lighter again. What the restored flame illuminated made Josh recoil;the concrete walls were plastered with brown and olive-green stains. How they got there Josh couldn’t begin to imagine, but all he could imagine made him sick to the stomach.

He followed the pipes in the ceiling and turned a corner, where he found various storage areas behind bars. Stacked inside them were rusted metal barrels, and sealed crates the plywood of which had been slowly consumed and weakened by the surrounding moisture. A system of grates constituted the floor of this area, so any wayward water could flow to the sewage.

As he looked up towards the light from the ceiling, he could see the endless waters outside the reinforced window that made up the length of the ceiling. It was so different from seeing through air, as if the light itself was carried by the ripples of the sea.

So he really was in the Beneath now. The various bubbles and seaweeds dancing in the underwater torrents calmed his nerves, and distracted him from his terrible fate.

Josh heard a noise, flinching as he stopped in his tracks. It was the flushing sound of the automatic sewage system cleaning itself. Once it settled, he hoped he could calm his nerves. That was not to be, as he soon heard something else in its place. The echo of a clattering sound in the distance, from the corridor ahead.

The lighter flickered out, and Josh ran towards one of the storage cages with a missing door. He had no idea what was coming for him. All he knew was that he had to hide away from whatever was coming. He ducked under one of the cages and held his breath.

The clattering got louder, and soon it came from the corridor to the storage rooms. Curiosity took hold of Josh, and raised his head over the crate to look.

Rays of sunlight from above the ocean surface shone in through the glass walls that kept the seemingly inexhaustible mass of water from the tunnels. That was how Josh could see crab women crawling inside. Their top-halves were those of slender women with toned physiques.

No clothes covered their pearly white skin plastered with glowing blue spiral-shaped tattoos. Instead their breasts and hip-areas were covered by the same hard shell that made up their tank-like bottom half, as they crawled around on four pairs of slim, plated limbs digging into the concrete floor with each clattering step.

The large, unwieldy claws dragged around by their crabby halves replaced the arms of their humanoid portion so they resembled Greek busts in their anatomy. The hair of these crab women were either vibrantly blue or as vibrantly white as their skins, but were kept short and suspended in the air rather than hanging down their necks, as if they forgot they had left the ocean.

The cage doors were smashed to pieces by their massive claws as they tossed them unceremoniously aside, giggling as they flung crates and barrels away.

Something in the air made Josh lightheaded. His head was invaded with strange thoughts of the crab women holding him down with their pincers, pressing his naked body against theirs. In his daydream he was helpless against them as they had his way with him.

Josh’s lucidity returned as he saw one of the crab-women look over her shoulder, and once again he ducked down.

Had she seen him? What was going to happen to him if she did? Were these terrifying monsters going to make his visions a reality?

He was not going to wait and find out. He raised his head once again, to see them preoccupied with another storage room. It would be only a matter of time before they caught him. With slow, silent steps he snuck past them, and ran as fast as he could. He ran down the corridor, it didn't matter where. The only thing that mattered was to get away from them.

He ran as far and as much as he had ever run before, until he could run no longer. His legs were trembling and his lungs were on fire. Josh looked behind himself to find nothing following him. He fell down on the floor with a sigh. If they were still on his trail, then he would not be able to do anything about it when he was this exasperated. At least now he could get a moment of rest.

The room he had entered was not only far more vast than the previous rooms, but more elegant and hospitable too. Books were stacked on shelves reaching all the way to the dome-shaped ceiling that, unlike the narrow passageways through which he had traversed up until now, was high up.

Josh was still freezing though, and not one to care all too much about books, he tossed them on a pile on the floor and lit them up with a lighter. He laid down to watch the flickering flames turn into sparks of embers in the ashes, and his eyelids felt heavy, and his eyes closed.

[Kind human…] A soft and melodic voice rang out from the void, towards Josh. He looked around, but found nothing but… Nothing. An endless abyss void of shape and colour in which Josh was perpetually suspended.

[Kind human… Can you hear me?]

Yes, I can hear you… Was what Josh tried to say, but no words left his mouth. Instead he focused on the words, projecting them out into the void…

[Yes… Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me?]

[Yes, I can hear you. Kind human… ] The voice said in Josh’s mind, [You are hereby welcomed to what you know as the Beneath. My name is Ecysia of the charybdoids. I believe you have already encountered my kind.]

[The crab ladies?] Josh asked.

[Yes… My sisters.]

[Sisters… You are among them? You are not going to…?]

[No. Worry not. I would not be able to, even if I wished to. I… am not with them right now. How I wish I was though.]

[What happened? Where are you?]

[I am in an abandoned laboratory deeper in the Beneath. Detained against my will by Lord Devolios. I beseech you to rescue me. Not just for my sake, but for the sake of my kind, and your kind as well. He is studying the innate psychic abilities of the charybdoids. We only ever use them to find food and mates, but he… He is planning something big. Something nefarious. Please… I beseech you to help me.]

[Well, if you’re as psychic as you say, then you’ll know what happened to me up on the surface. They don’t want anything to do with me, so why should I have anything to do with them? And as for your sisters… They’ve been hunting me like an animal.]

[...So then you won’t…]

[But I’ll do it.] Josh said, [Just because you are the only one who has treated me pleasantly on this entire trip.]

[Thank you so much. Find my sisters. Devolios has limited my ability to contact them with my own powers. I can only contact humans in the Beneath like this.]

With that Josh woke up, only to hear the clatter of the charybdoids from the corridor. Josh ran towards them, only to be immediately grabbed by their claws and held up so the group of four charybdoids could admire their catch. His mind was immediately invaded by thoughts of overly excited crab girls doing with him what they pleased. He shook his head.

“Please!” Josh pleaded as he kicked around haplessly, “Don’t do this! I can help you! I know where your sister is! I know where Ecysia is!”

Josh was dropped and fell to the ground, looking up at the crab women as he stood on his knees.

[Ecysia… She disappeared a week ago.] The charybdoid spoke in Josh’s mind. The word week, though, he felt was less than the word itself and more the abstract concept of that much time having passed.

Josh looked up as the needle sharp point of the oversized claw was aimed at him, [Where is she? What did you do to her? Tell us… Tell us now!]

“I… You can read my mind, can’t you?” Josh pointed out, “You know I had nothing to do with her disappearance!”

[...She never contacted us. Instead she contacted you. Your mind says this is because of human technology that can trick our powers. How do we know this is not a trick?]

Josh gulped. He did not think of this, but he hoped he knew the answer, “You don’t. But I risked everything going to you. I know that you would do the same for your sister.” Josh rose to his feet.

The charybdoids looked between each other and nodded, [You will be able to lead the way, will you not? Do so now!]

“Hold on! If we do manage to save her, will you leave me be then?”

[We… Can give you a chance to run. If you refuse us, then you will not even get that.]

Josh grunted in frustration, “I… I see. I suppose that is the best I can hope for.”

Josh could feel Ecysia’s presence in his mind, like a wordless song that got louder the closer he got to her, as the crab women followed in tow behind him. Together they traversed through sunken areas where the crates and barrels were floating. Fortunately Josh could avoid walking over bridges, or along the dry area of the passage. At one point he had to ride on the back of one of the charybdoids, who carried him across.

The group stopped when they heard a shrill, unhinged cackling reverberate throughout the passages. The charybdoids looked towards the laughter, then back at Josh, still riding on their backs.

Josh nodded in response, and the crab women sighed, crawling their way towards the laughter.

When they passed a plain, pale-blue door, Josh patted the one on which he was riding on the shoulder. She and the other charybdoids stopped before the door. Josh jumped down and turned the handle, finding it locked. One of the charybdoids raised her claw, and with a loud crack from apparently nowhere the entire portion of the wall shattered and flew into the room in a hail of rubble.

As the cloud of dust settled, they found themselves standing before a short and slim man, the neck-length purple hair above his silver crown fluttering in a manner similar to the green cape hung over his shoulders. A large purple gem was embedded in the chest-plate of his hi-tech looking armour.

He greeted the uninvited guests with a deranged grin reaching from ear to ear on his otherwise cute and smooth face.

“Ah, but what do we have here? The little man raised the claws of his gauntlet towards the crab women, and clenched his fist, ”Have the other little charybdoids gathered together to save their friend? Or is it their sister? Harem protagonist? Whatever it is, your intentions are utterly..:”

“You’re that Devolios fella?” Josh asked as he stepped in, finding himself in a huge laboratory with one wall entirely made of bookcases reaching to the ceiling, and one wall made of glass, extending over part of the vault-shaped ceiling where it converged in an arc. In one of the corners was a cage and her face trapped in a mask.

“Uh… Y-yes? I mean… I AM LORD DEVOLIOS! And you shall address me…”

“No… No. Not gonna happen.” Josh interrupted again, “Not gonna happen, mate. This is the Thirty-three thirties… No one calls anyone a lord, and I for one am certainly not starting with… With you.”

Too astonished by this insolence to work up a righteous fury, Devolios stared at the stranger with a gaping mouth, “I… I… NO! How DARE you!? I am the future ruler of this realm! I have uncovered secrets hidden away from the content masses FOR CENTURIES! All to unlock the powers of conquest and destruction that are so appropriate for me! I shall not… And I repeat, I shall not…”

Once again he is interrupted, this time by the four charybdoids charging in on him through the open hole with their claws raised.

Devolios raised his clawed hand towards them as the gems on his crown started glowing, and the crab-women stopped in their tracks as if struggling against invisible shackles. The tiny, purple-haired Napoleon grinned as he walked up close to one of the crab women and looked up to them,”Ah, now THIS is how I like it! Even the superior species, crawling under the might of Lord Devolios! Who would have thought that your own inherent psionic ability would be the weakness of your kind? I will tell you who, my precious subjects: NONE OTHER THAN LORD…”

CRASH!

While preoccupied with his monologue, Josh had snuck behind Devolios, picked up a chair and beaten him over the head with it, though the charybdoids were still in a paralyzed state.

“OW!” Diavolo rubbed the back of his head, “Of all the sneaky, underhanded, DESPICABLE little tricks, you DARE to…”

SMASH!

Once again, the chair struck Devolios’s head, sending the crown flying to the floor in a disfigured heap of scrap metal. The gem embedded in it dimmed, and the charybdoids once again moved, to surround Diavolo.

“No… No! Stay away!” Devolios rose to his feet and desperately tried to find a way to escape the fast enclosing circle of lustful crab ladies, but all for naught. Their claws reached out to grab the helpless little overlord, “NOOOOOOO!”

“Wait!” Josh said and ran to Devolios, trapped in the embrace of the four monstrous women, who stopped when he yelled. Josh grabbed Devolios by his belt and unhooked the keychain around it. “Proceed.”

And so the charybdoids carried their new prey off towards his fate, which Josh was at this time all too familiar with, but happy to have escaped.

After freeing Ecysia from her cage, and removing the terrible face-mask, Josh was uncertain if the charybdoid was going to show her true nature once she was freed, and he was going to end up with the same fate as Devolios. As it turns out, she simply looked down gratefully at him.

“Nice to finally meet you… Ecysia I presume?”

[Indeed. And you must be… Josh. Correct?]

“That’s right. Glad this is finally over. So… You wouldn’t happen to know where the exit is by chance?”

[I am afraid you are too late. All exits I know of, apart from the ones that the humans on the surface use, have been sealed away by Lord Devolios. I am so sorry. You are trapped here forever. You are not too disappointed, are you?]

“Disappointed? No. No, I think not. The closest thing I ever had to a family was the crew of my first ship. After they were killed by pirates I have just been… Going from place to place. Trying to live, really. But now… I think I have finally found somewhere to call a home. It might not be perfect, but… It is home. Just promise me one thing.”

[Anything for you, Josh.]

“That guy over there? Don’t call him ‘Lord.’”