Chapter 37 – Floor 2 – Free Fall
Duchess and White looked at each other in disbelief. The gaping hole in the First Floor became their worst nightmare. They knew the Priest would be unhappy with the waterfall; he had started complaining the moment the low rumble had surfaced a week ago. Now, the High Priest complained and was confused about how the ship could go down into the Second Floor.
Quenching the fears of doubtful participants, Ziphe continued, "Here is the plan outline:
I, along with our Royalty Realm members, will use flight and telekinesis magic to safely bring the ship down to the bottom of the waterfall. While that is happening, it is likely rogue spirits will begin to attack the ship. A separate team will guard us while we are moving the ship. Another standby team will wait in case of exhaustion or injury. Any questions?"
Some were stunned at the complexity and risk of the plan. Flight was primarily a Royalty Realm exclusive ability, and the use of telekinesis would surely put the Kings out of commission, aura wise, for the Third Floor. Would the aura of the elite members even hold out long enough?
Clico couldn't see the bottom of the waterfall, and he was unsure if the powerful members of the party could hold out for that long. Taking out the elites from the picture and having the lower members fight off the spirits to protect a potentially sinking ship from a free fall was bold and reckless.
The Priest shook his head in anger and yelled at Ziphe, "What a foolish idea! You're trying to get us all killed!" Ziphe glared at the Void Priest.
"Every Priest I've met has been so nice. This guy sucks!" Omira sent a thought message to Utone, breaking the tension on her face. Suppressing a laugh, she turned away.
"High Priest, I will have to incur the Soul Contract. I will not have your insubordination in these difficult situations. In the name of the expedition, you must stay in your room until the next floor." Eyes bulged out of their head after hearing Ziphe's invocation of the Soul Contract.
Every member before the expedition had to sign a Soul Contract agreement to legally force them to participate in the expedition. Guests like Vladimir had slightly different contracts than the regular members like Clico and Omira. One clause for guests was that they could not intervene or question the expedition's plans unless they wanted to participate as a member. Ziphe had used this clause as a way to restrain the Deity Realm Priest, which is a feat rarely seen. The Void Priest was shocked Ziphe would go so far to defend his risky plan. Surely, the more conservative approach here would be to send scouts to see how deep the waterfall went!
This degradation would not go unpunished. Restraining a High Priest of the Seven Paths' Church was offensive and blasphemous. The dissenting thoughts and voices were instantly suppressed as the Priest, Duchess, White, and Zacchaeus silently left the deck and went back to the Priest's luxurious room.
"Now then. Let's get started!" Ziphe clapped his hands together with a huge, thunderous pop. Carrying the ship would be the Gatekeeper Kings Ciphe and Elos, High Queen Tyermsy, Councilman Ryke, Councilwoman Zirene, and Omira. Superior Councilman Nure would delegate the remaining members in an on and off shift as the guards. Moving into their positions, the ship floated off the water, creaking with the seven powerhouses' telekinesis moving it upwards. Before long, the ship hovered above the abyss near the edge of the waterfall by around a mile.
Deranged Spirits reached out to cling onto the boat but were easily shaken off by the Sages. Similar creatures attacked the ship from the veil of the waterfall, but they were so weak the party members of the Mortal Realm could fight them off without much effort.
Into the abyss, the Labyrinthian sank. Everything was going according to plan.
Ziphe and the others showed no signs of fatigue and carefully kept the ship a medium distance away from the crashing waterfall. Minutes turned into hours as the various spirits jumped out towards the ship. Not many came close, but every so often a strong spirit was able to jump far enough. With Nure on high alert and a few other people with him at a time, there were no problems.
Darkness engulfed the ship as it fell deeper from the glowing blue sky above. It looked like the sky was slowly fading away as if they when traveling to the Void Continent. The ship was lit up with its backup generator, and it was like a light in the darkness when seen from a distance.
21 starred into the waterfall, admiring its beauty from the deck's railing. Goln saw him and approached him. Mo and Do eyed Goln suspiciously, but 21 waved them off.
"Ah don't mind them; they love to hear my experience since they're also aspiring prophets." 21 explained. Mo and Do rarely left 21's side.
"I don't mind. I wanted to ask you, why is the sky turning to night?" Goln was curious. Unlike the others who had asked about deeper things to 21 over the past few months, Goln hadn't talked much with 21 and just wanted to know more about the dungeon. Goln admired Naxa and Nure because of their science-based minds, and Goln took the expedition very seriously, rarely goofing around. Anaxmai walked over to listen to the conversation, and Goln turned to say hi.
21 Looked down on the duo with anger on his face. His expression suddenly shifted, and he smiled as Goln looked back.
"The Dungeon's scope is enormous. This waterfall is not vertical but circular. Over hundreds of miles, a circle is formed around the Ocean of Souls. This drop itself is the Second Floor. The waterfall we can see appears to go down vertically from east to west, but really, the shadows of the other edges of the north and west portions of the waterfall have enclosed us, making it seem like the sky has disappeared." Goln nodded, enlightened. He went to shake 21's hand.
"Thank you, sir for telling me." Goln and 21 shook hands.
"Anytime Trainee." 21 chimed back to the kid cheerfully. Anaxmai and Goln left together, and 21's face turned dark as he watched them leave. After a time, he turned back around to watching the waterfall roar and splash.
***
The light from above was completely gone after five hours, and the strain on the elite members holding up the ship started to show into the first night of darkness. Ziphe encouraged Ryke and Zirene while Elos, Ciphe, and Omira competed aggressively with one another and didn't really need much mental support.
"Come on you wimps. I'm sure the great Gatekeepers don't hire bums like you two!" Omira grunted.
"You're one to talk, Shade. You're barely putting in any effort!" Elos fought back.
"You tell her, brother. By the end of this, I'll have done the most work, don't you think?" Ciphe boasted.
"No, I will!" Omira yelled. The fact of the matter was that Elos, Ciphe, and Omira were perhaps putting in too much effort and was squandering their endurance to show off. Sweat poured down Tyermsy's face, and the strain was rough for the whole upper division as the second day approached. In reality, Ziphe and Tyermsy were shouldering the bulk of the work.
All of the Royalty started to need help in the form of aura credit energy before long. Nure brought them the aura credits periodically, and it was like watching kids eat a meal ravenously. Sweat and strain could be seen on all seven individuals' faces, but no one complained.
On the Labyrinthian, the remaining Gatekeepers, who had rarely interacted with the rest of the crew, started to talk with the other members. Ecnelis and Realeh talked about growing up on the Void Continent with Blue and Goln in the mess hall while Groth and Kiln shared a drink nearby.
"Are there lots of Voidlings in Phanec, or are they all out in the Voidlands?" Blue asked Realeh curiously. Because of her beauty, Blue and Goln couldn't keep their eyes off of her. Ecnelis watched them angrily but stayed polite. His overprotective brother impulses got the best of him sometimes, but he was fair and wouldn't pummel these council members unless they acted out of turn.
"Oh no!" Realeh replied. "Voidlings don't come into Phanec often and are usually killed or contained by our border police." Realeh explained.
"Ecnelis, do you want anything to eat?" Goln asked politely. Ecnelis was generally a quiet guy, and he hadn't said much, so Goln wanted to be nice.
"No thanks," Ecnelis replied, short and to the point. Unlike what Ecnelis was thinking, Goln had no interest in Realeh and was just trying to be nice.
"Don't mind him, he has social anxiety." Realeh explained.
"I do not!" Ecnelis got animated for the first time on the trip. Realeh giggled, and they returned to talking about the Void Continent.
Clico walked by the mess hall to say hi to Kiln, but he needed to go find his roommate, Trike. Clico opened the door and found him there, awake on his bed and watching the waterfall from their window. Nure had prepared a spell for the interior of the ship because of Vladimir's complaints, so they didn't have to hear the roar of the waterfall. It was eerily silent in the room compared to the festivities and banter going on the main deck and mess hall. Even in the training room, occasional spars and spirited duels rocked the ship.
Clico told Trike, "We have officially entered the Second Floor. Are you going to come out and meet some of the other members of our party? You've been here for months on end. We are meeting the Gatekeepers right now." Trike was unresponsive until the Gatekeepers were brought up.
"21 told me about them. They'll all end up dead soon enough. Let me sleep." Trike was blunt and depressing to talk to. Clico didn't know what to say to that. A few minutes went by before Clico could gather his thoughts. This guy had special permissions to stay in his room, and he refused to meet the others. Maybe he was scared of getting attached to people who could die.
"Just because 21 said they will die doesn't mean you shouldn't get to know them or that they will actually die. I've never seen you speak to other council members nor 21 since the start of the expedition. What did 21 tell you that has you holed up in here?" Clico was convinced 21 had said something weird to Council Trainee Trike that left him bedridden.
Trike rolled over to the wall away from Clico and asked him, "Have you ever spoke to 21 alone? He's talked to most of the people here alone by now. Your shade friend you've brought over before seems to hate him. I'm sure he told her something she didn't want to hear." He sighed and sat back down. Trike stared into Clico's blue eyes.
"I advise you to get a prophecy from 21. He is no ordinary man even though he looks like one. Then, I'll go meet the walking corpses up on the deck."