Chapter 8 - An Abnormal Employment, Part 1

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Eira marches through the hallway outside the brig.

She wasn't able to fully observe her surroundings the last time she'd been here, given the panicked state she was in. It wasn't a particularly fascinating work of architecture, the corridor being made entirely out of glossy wooden panels. Despite the simplicity of the construction, it was undoubtedly well-built, clearly the work of an artisan craftsman who had spent his lifetime working with his hands.

One detail which stands out to Eira is the peculiar lighting of the hallway. Posted every few meters along the wall are a bunch of opaque glass cylinders, which are built into the walls they protruded from. At the base of each cylinder is a sleek metal chamber with a small dial on the front, the purpose of which isn't immediately obvious. What is most enticing about these devices is the way they glow with such unflinching consistency, the light they produce not flicking or fluttering for even a fraction of a second. It is a feat that can't possibly be accomplished with candlelight, which only drives Eira's curiosity further.

She wants to take a moment to stop and inspect the emanating glass cylinders longer, but she is in no position to do so, as the Archman is walking directly behind her. His metal-on-wood footsteps reverberate ominously against the confined walls of the corridor, a sound which paired well with the occasional metallic clanking of the chain which dangled between them, running down from the shackle around her neck to his hand. Though she can't see him, she can feel his large presence just past her shoulders, towering above and around her on all sides. It felt like her shadow had grown out of the ground and enveloped everything behind her, bearing down upon her with a crippling darkness.

Eira keeps her gaze forward and walks at a steady pace. She is relieved at least that they are walking the opposite way down the hallway than where the grim slaughterhouse-like room is located.

They walk to the end of the corridor, which turns left to a staircase, made with the same wood and elegant craftsmanship that the walls are built with.

Eira pauses for a second, not sure if she's meant to continue up the staircase. She feels a sudden touch in the middle of her back, which she logically concludes must have come from the Archman.

"Keep going." He presses on her back with an amount of force which might have been considered encouraging, if his words hadn't been so demanding.

Eira lifts the skirt of her dress slightly as she makes her way up the staircase. She just now noticed that she was barefoot, her footwear left back in the cell in the brig. She isn't sure how it managed to slip her mind, though there are quite a lot of things in her environment which demands her full attention, the most prominent of which is walking behind her up the stairs.

At the top of the staircase is a second staircase, which runs upwards in parallel to the first one. There is another corridor branching out from where the landings of the two staircases converge. It stretches on at approximately the same length as the corridor they had just been in, and is filled with the same glowing cylinders along the walls.

Eira pauses once again at the landing, not sure which direction to take. Instead of pressing her forwards again, the Archman steps out from behind her, so he's at her side.

"Hold this." He reaches out with the length of chain bunched in his hand, offering it to Eira.

Eira takes the bundle of chains in her hand with confusion, quickly employing the use of both hands to lift it, as it turns out to be much heavier than she initially thought. The ease that the Archman held it with made it seem light as silk, but that is evidently not the case.

The Archman steps down the corridor, opening the first door he comes across and disappearing into the room behind it.

Eira stands in place, still quite perplexed by the sudden liberty she finds herself with. She can't grasp the point of being kept in shackles if she is the one holding the chain. She can run through the corridor or back down the stairs if she wants to, though it won't exactly serve her to do so. She still knows very little about the domain she finds herself in.

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