Indigo (NaNoWriMo13)

Chapter 31 - Project Sloth

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Chapter 31 - Project Sloth

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As Athira pulled him through the wall, Shift's sense of weight dropped thirty metres to where a flat, reflective surface lay far, far beneath them. 

The surprise of having the floor stolen from him made his fingers clench tighter around Athira's wrist as he hung beneath her. Only her colour kept him there like some kind of human sandbag, although he had to admit he wasn't doing a great job at that either. Athira hadn't dropped an inch, thank god, her feet tucked carefully beneath her as she surveyed the area. 

Shift glanced down at the empty space beneath his dangling feet. It didn't seem like much, some kind of large room at the base of a natural, if rather large underground cavern. Why the Elites had bothered transporting so much materials down here was another matter all together.

Just as he was starting to get used to literally hanging around, Athira descended without warning. It was all Shift could do at the sudden, silent movement to hang on and hope her colour didn't fail while trying not to remember the previous night's flying lesson. 

I like pancakes. I just don't want to be one.

She kept close to the shadows lurking in the rocky crags of the walls as Shift caught sight of her destination -- a small ledge about five metres from the surface below that had just enough room for the two of them. 

Our perch.

Shift tried to keep his feet quiet as Athira placed him down. He really did, but her wince told him he hadn't succeeded. Still, she didn't mention anything, so Shift took that as a positive and crouched low. He peered over the edge as Athira landed beside him, so close he could feel the heat from her runes. She took up a similar position beside him with only the sound of her breath, ignoring any curious look he gave her as her grey eyes flicked back and forth over the scene. 

Shift turned his attention south. 

His first impression had been wrong. There wasn't just one floor beneath them, but two or three layered on top of each other, with a fourth looking like it was under construction. 

We're sitting on where its roof will go, he realised, spotting the preemptive pylons in the shadows across from them. Are they going to just keep building?

Each floor was similar to the ones that sandwiched it. One main area stretched between floors, accompanied by a maze of small rooms and hallways. Every wall was meticulously tiled in the same metallic grey squares from before and capped with crystal-clear ceilings and floors. 

It was strange, seeing the stone and moss of the earth against such a sterile environment. It made him wonder why they hadn't bothered tiling anything above the glass ceilings, except the random pockets of glass and tile that surfaced from the earthen walls around them like the rock had developed a bad case of pimples. 

He let his eyes trail the halls as he would a maze in a puzzle book, seeking the place where they all met. It was about twenty seconds when he confirmed the maze's heart -- that one, huge area in the back corner.

Shift narrowed his eyes. Despite passing through all three floors, the roof covering it was slanted like that still hadn't been enough room. From what he could see, the room was nothing special other than its size -- still tiled grey with clear ceilings, but if he summoned the last of Tracker's colour lingering in his system, he was sure he could see a colour fueled mist swirling around inside. It reminded him of a lava lamp.

"See anything?" said Athira, voice barely more than a breath.

"The huge slanted room," said Shift, matching her tone. "That's where the violet glow is originating from."