Chapter 157: Chapter 157

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Together we walk down the dark stone corridors that are filled with deep shadows, their casted silhouettes interrupted only by the pulsating electrical glow that is stemming from the machinery and exposed metal tubing winding all around us. We both walk carefully in the center of the hallway, as both sides of the walls are lined with uncovered metal bits that spark and buzz from the deadly current flowing through them. Touching any of them for even a second would be fatal. Well, maybe not for me, since I’m made out of metal. But for sure for her meaty meat body. I look at my hands again as I walk. I guess being a lost spirit stuck inside of a piece of old armor isn’t so bad really.

 

  The sound though. Can you hear it? Can you feel it? I can. It shakes me, it runs through me like the current of my own streaming life-force. The buzzing. The hum. It never stops, it never wavers or alters its frequency. It’s just a single, low, never-ending ‘bmmh-‘ that goes on and on and on, as if the wires were calling out to me. Calling out to us. They buzz. The thief scoots past me and walks in front of me now. Thankfully, there is always enough to see in the darkness, as the electricity travels along with us. All three of us follow the way, follow the wiring. It hums. My metal rattling seems to even out, not stopping, but becoming more constant and less erratic. More stable as well. I too, now hum, in my own mind. Can you hear it? Can you feel it? The energy. The tension.

 

  It’s flowing somewhere. It’s going somewhere deep. Somewhere deep inside of this floor. We turn to the right, following the only direction the path has to offer us. I wonder where it goes? I don’t remember this floor, at least not yet. Maybe I need a little time for my brain to kick back into gear again. I haven’t seen any trash-mobs though. I haven’t seen anyone. Compared to the literal anarchy of the last floor. This one is… stable. Quiet. It hums, constant, ever-present. The single hum that never stops is an oddly lonely sound. I look downward at the back of the elf, who seems to be walking with a little more saunter than usual.

 

  Something crackles to my side and I stop, to turn my gaze away. A faulty wire sticks out from the wall, sparks shoot out of it every once in a while, releasing a new popping sound. For a moment, I feel like I want to press it back in with the rest of the cables. But then I realize what a horrible idea that would be and shake my head, opting instead to walk after the petite Thief. Another corner comes and we round it as well. The corridors here are oddly constructed. It’s like a maze, in that the corners are very tight together, the hallways short. But there are no branching paths. It is just one single way, that seems to turn in a new sharp corner every ten to twenty steps for seemingly no reason. All the while, the cables on both sides hum. ‘Bmmh-’ I mimic the sound in my head, not sure why. It feels satisfying to do though. ‘Bmmmmh-’ haha!

 

  Another corner. I round it after her and -IAH! The elf lets out a squeak as I bump straight into her from behind. She apparently stopped right around the bend. She squeals and I quickly reach out to grab her, so that she doesn’t fly into the wires. My hands reach her. The wires buzz. She turns to look at me, her face still oddly red under the singing luminescence of the electric song as I hold her. The wires buzz. ‘Bmmh-‘. I look down. My hands are… unfortunately placed and I step back, letting go and waving with both palms up to apologize. Her wide eyes are fixated onto me. Glued. Something feels weird. The electricity hums.

 

What is this floor? Stop looking at me like that.

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She giggles and leans in. “You know, you know…” she speaks into my ‘ear’, standing on the tips of her toes to reach, as the front of her body presses against my hollow core, as she leans in closer, to whisper into my ear.

 

  The electricity hums. It buzzes. ‘Bmmh-“ The ever-constant sensation that fills the air with a spring-loaded tension overtones her next words entirely, keeping their sounds secret from the world. At least that’s what I’m telling you, guy. There are some things I don’t want you to know, tell you what. There are some secrets I need to keep, if not from the dungeon-master, who is surely listening intently to what she’s telling me, asking me, then at least from you. You can’t go down this road, friend. I won’t let you. It’s too late for me, I’ve been corrupted. But you can stay whole. You can stay clean. Pure. I’ll protect you friend, I will. I do it for you. I will keep this secret from you, for you. The floor hums. It’s what a hero would do.

 

She giggles and turns back around, sinking back to her soles as she keeps on walking down the way; now humming that off-key song of hers as well; the sound intermingles with the static aura that shakes my core and I watch her sway down the path and around the next corner, giggling.

 

  Something shifts my body and I only just catch myself, before I fall against a wire covered wall. I look down. A bag. For me? Again? Already? Thank you, Dungeon-master! You shouldn’t have. I reach inside with my metal glove into the second bag that lays on-top of the first one at my side that I still have. It’s probably rather unfashionable, but I like to consider myself a trend-setter if nothing else. My hands grip something long and hard inside the bag. No. Not like that. I reach out and hold the single bottle of wine in my grasp. The sweet liquid sloshes around inside the full bottle of the red-water.

 

I sigh. I just want to reach the surface. Setting the bottle down onto the stones, I walk on after the thief. Towards the large chamber that opens up here around the bend. Several strange figures sit there in a circle, the wires jutting past them towards a point of convergence between them all inside the center of the room. There it seems to make a pattern. A sigil.

 

 

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