Blackwell

There are many strange places in Hurst. All of them are different, they attract different Magicals. I think the city I live in might be one of the strangest of them all. At least, I am sure it's one of the least desirable.

My home is Blackwell. If you have ever travelled through the underwater tunnels that are the fastest way to get anywhere in Underland, you have probably passed Blackwell. You probably didn't enter – most people don't – but I'm sure you noticed it. The entrance stands out. Blackwell lives up to its name. Speeding ahead in the harsh, vigorous stream of the water highway, as you approach the turn before the mouth of the tunnel spills out into Fraylake, you'll have passed a massive, gaping hole of black on your left. You might have been going so fast it was behind you in seconds, and you might have thought you imagined it, but it was real. The entrance is that black hole, the opening of a cave where the lights from the tunnel don't even reach a full meter in before the darkness eats it up. It's true, it doesn't look very inviting. And if you do venture in, you'll find yourself swimming inwards for what feels like ages, all the while the water around you goes darker and darker.

It's very important that you keep going straight, until you reach the gates of the submerged city where some local or another will offer to be your guide in the darkness, for a fee. Very few have eyes good enough to see a thing when they first get here. It takes forever before bits and pieces begin to stand out against the black.

No, very few people enter Blackwell. The ones that do are usually desperate, out of options. Blackwell has on more than one occasion been referred to as "the vault of Hurst". It's fitting, really. It's cold, dark, hard to find, harder to get in to, and nearly impossible to manoeuvre around in. That's why those who do come here always have a very specific purpose. You either come here to hide something, or you come here to find something. Only if you are truly desperate to keep something hidden will you find your way here. You'll make a deal with a local, to hide and protect your property. Better pay a lot, though. Gotta make it worthwhile for them not to sell you out if the person you're hiding it from comes looking. Those are the kind of people who visit Blackwell.

Me, I'm a local. Blackwell is my home. It wasn't always. I was young when I arrived here. Everyone in Blackwell is hiding from something, or they have nowhere else to go. I'm hiding from the world. My first home, the one where I was born and raised, it was filled with so much good, and so much happiness. There was so much light, and it shone on everything. I couldn't take it, there was too much of it, and none of it belonged to me. I couldn't stand all that light. I had to get away, and this is where I went. To hide in the dark.

There aren't many merpeople here in Blackwell. There are all other kinds of water creatures, but few merpeople. Merpeople don't like the dark. They don't like the solitude. I do. I'm not like them. I knew the moment I entered the black cavern mouth that I belonged here, with them.

In the beginning, the darkness was overwhelming. I couldn't see anything at all for a long time. I couldn't see in the dark, but I could feel in the dark. I could never feel in the light. It seemed a worthwhile trade. But after a long time, I could finally see the city. That was when I became truly convinced that I was at home here, that I belong here. I look at Blackwell, and I see a city that looks like me. It looks the way I feel, and nowhere else has ever felt so familiar to me. There is no surface in Blackwell, just water filling every corner and crack of every cave, and at the centre of this enormous cave is the city herself. She really does look like a city, despite her unusual surroundings. She has buildings, homes and businesses, like any other city. The buildings all look ancient, and I suppose they are, and a lot of them are crumbled and faded. The whole city looks frayed around the edges. It looks tired and worn. And it looks beautiful, sitting there in the darkness. It's a horrible kind of beauty, terrifying to those who don't know it and spellbinding to those who know it too well. The whole place is a great, dark mystery.