The Sixth | Ekko

Chapter Fifty-Four

"If you don't cooperate, I'll just have to kill em'," Daunter sneered into her ear, adding pressure to the neck cuff and causing it to press sharply into the back of her neck. He dropped the chem binoculars from her eyes and stepped back.

Six remained unmoving, her eyes gone wide and dazed.

"How—"

"They're leftovers from Silco's shimmer factories."

She jolted at his words. "What are you talking about?"

"You think working in his factories was optional?" He turned them around and began walking them back through the cave. "For some of them, maybe. But only if you had tight connections."

Six struggled to keep up with his demanded pace as he pushed her forward. "But they worked in Factorywood. How'd they even end up here?"

"Factory raids, if I had to guess."

He led them down a separate tunnel, different from the one they'd originally taken.

Six had so many questions, but all of them died on her tongue when the right-most passage wall broke away to an expansive canyon. She froze, her boots scuffing as she came to an abrupt stop.

The gorge faces were of layered stone, the colours resembling the corridors she and Ekko had wandered through in the mines—deep blues, tans, and burgundies. But what the most striking element within ravine was a carved head of an elven woman in the rock. She had long, pointed ears and had a diamond-shaped crown adorning her head. From her left eye ran a waterfall, which rushed down to the depths below.

Six recognized the woman depicted in the carving as Janna, a goddess that some of the people of the undercity worshipped.

"Keep it moving princess," Daunter said roughly, shoving her forward.

As they travelled the stone corridors, Six tried to make sense of where they were. Ekko's parents were working in some kind of mine/factory, collecting what looked to be the same mushrooms she witnessed Singed create shimmer out of. To get there, Daunter had taken her through a cave system, which seemed to run along a canyon, which had Janna depicted into one of its walls.

She heard stories about there being a temple dedicated to Janna worship, and how it hosted a large chamber filled with 'Janna's wind'. But other than that, she didn't know much about its appearance or location. It was possible they were currently somewhere around the temple, but she couldn't be sure with the little information she had.

The cave phased into a hallway, its walls and flooring comprised of jagged clay tiles, their colours having dramatically shifting hues.

"So, how do you expect me to figure out the reality jumping stuff?" she asked him.

She heard him sigh as if her question was annoying, even though it was perfectly justified.

"Singed has a bunch of notes and shit in his new lab, but it's a bunch of gibberish if you ask me."

"And you expect me to just read it and tell you what it means?"

She couldn't see him as he rolled his eyes behind her.

"If only it were that simple." He let out a scoff. "He's got a lot of notes, sure, but nothing in them touches on shifting realities. Either way, I want you to study the notes, compare your experiences in the other reality to mine and Four's, and conduct extensive research on the topic."

She came to an abrupt stop, causing him to run into her. She would've fallen over if it weren't for the metal clasp around her neck.

"What the fu—"