Denial of the Whisper

Chapter Twenty-Five.

Chapter Twenty-Five.

Even in my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined something like this.

It was like a cavern. Big, lit, fires dancing along the walls, but not frightening, instead, rather warm and cosy. And after the first cavern another one followed. Then, another one.

Brayhd, Dylana and I entered the City under the City from the cellar of their house, where I'd never been in before. There was a staircase that led downwards, and then, suddenly, we'd entered a completely different world. The world of the City under the City. And just like Dylana had said, it was just that. A City.

It was lively, even more lively than Ilyria had been when I had been walking through it with Dylana that one evening. It almost made me wonder about how many people actually lived here, but maybe, I had just no idea of how many people could live in a city.

The houses... were like little caverns in the big cavern, with balconies and balustrades, terraces and all that. The houses were built into the walls of the cavern, to the right and the left of me, and all facing the middle of the cavern, where something like a river flew. But... it was steaming. It was like a river of hot springs.

"What do you think?", a voice next to me asked. I glanced to the right; Dylana was watching me with a big grin. I looked at the cavern once more, from the balcony we were standing on, I had a good look. My silence seemed to unsettle Dylana once again, so I turned to her, shaking my head lightly "I didn't expect it to be like this."

"What did you expect?", a male voice from behind us asked. Brayhd.
"I don't know. I really... I already thought Ilyria is breath taking, but this is... I'd never imagined something like that is even possible."

"Well, it is.", Dylana smirked and nudged me in the side "Want to go for a walk? The others are already at our place, I think."

"Your place?"
"Nysh's... technically."

"Hm."

"Okay, lets go", she cheered and lightly grabbed my arm. Brayhd followed behind us, but I had seen that amused glint in his eyes.

I couldn't help myself from looking around, wide-eyed. There were Fleyr everywhere, women, men but as far as I saw, no children. Well, it wouldn't have made any sense. There was practically inn after inn, guesthouses, bars, restaurants. Only now I saw, that even the City under the City, was white. The stone, it was white, it was...

"What is this?", I murmured and stopped walking, my hand reaching out to touch the wall of a house.

"What do you think it is?"

The wall... the stone... it... "It's vibrating?", I gasped and was about to pull my hand away, but Dylana put hers over mine and gently pushed it back against the wall "Make a guess", she grinned.

I watched the stone more closely, it shimmered, it... but there was dark underneath it. Underneath the white, there was also... black.

"Is this... but, no, the monoliths are black, so..."

"You're correct."

"The Ilryn?", I murmured, astonished.
"Yes. But as you see, the monoliths, they are black. Underneath all that white, it's black."

Just like Nyshard. But reversed. Maybe.

Underneath all that darkness that seemed to surround him, was there brightness? Was he really better than what had been my first impression of him?

'Yes', an inner voice inside of me said.

So far, he had kept everything he had said. He hadn't killed me. No, if he and the others were to believe, then he had saved my life. Surely, by making Caaln fetch me, but... maybe the world outside, outside of Ilyria, was dangerous for me.