Chapter 157: 159: Resisting The Call

I had been incredibly interested to find out what the city under the mountain was like. 

I wanted to experience an entirely different way of living, 

I still wanted to do those things, but now my entire attention was taken up by the man who had come from another world in front of me. 

My mind was racing, positively reeling. 

What was the difference between him and me? Why was he living like a mole under the ground, wearing an anime T-shirt, while I had been granted universe-altering powers and a mission that I felt duty-bound to follow?

Had he really not felt the call to adventure like I had?

Had the Reapers I had met in the Void given him some different kind of speech before he was brought over into this world?

I had so many questions for him, but before I could ask any of them I needed to make sure that Yr'Arl wasn't going to die from heatstroke or something. 

Even with all of that on my mind, I had to admit that the underground sanctuary that we had entered was something truly to behold. 

The door that had led from the entranceway through into the rest of the city had been a bit of a letdown. It was basically just a continuation of the tunnel that we had already been in behind some kind of heat resistant door that kept the warm out and the cold in. 

But that was only for the first part of the new section of the mountainous underground city. 

The pedestrian path curved around to the right while the ship path curved around to the left. It was the pedestrian path that we followed. 

"This route is usually only used by staff like me," the guy who had let us in said, "Everyone usually comes in by ship, getting people like you in is kind of… well… it just doesn't happen, you know?" 

"Right," I replied, drawing out the word, "I didn't catch your name, by the way. I'm Jacob." 

He shot me a look when I said my name, a confused one. 

"Haven't heard a name like that in a very long time," he said, "Most people are all 'Atraxis Von Smildervane' or something equally crazy. Anyway uh, my name's Daniel, but you can call me Dan." 

He was definitely from my own Earth with a name like Dan. There were very few people in this universe with names as simple to say like that one. 

"So what's the deal here Dan?" I asked, stuffing my hands into my pockets as we walked. 

We curved around through a narrow tunnel that ended in another metal door, this one with a security panel next to it that would stop any intruders from gaining access to the area. This must have been the staff area that Dan was talking about beforehand. 

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"The Deal?" Dan asked in return, placing his hand on the security panel so the door would open. 

"Yeah, how did you find yourself here? Pretty wild place for an other worlder like yourself to end up, very different from my own experience I have to say," I elaborated. 

He shot me another glance at that, there was anxiety in his eyes. He wasn't used to talking about his extra-universal origins, which made a lot of sense. I hadn't exactly been very open with the people I had met so far about the fact I was alien from their entire universe. 

"Yeah… I uh… You know. The whole hero thing, it was never really my thing," Dan said, walking through the door. 

I followed him, we entered what looked to be a pretty normal office space for a security guard type. 

There were holo-monitors lining one of the stone walls, all showing the interior of the access tunnel with one focused on the outside. 

I was glad that we weren't out there anymore, that camera was just a blaze of white light. The star had completely scorched everything out there. What an insane planet. 

"Didn't use to be mine, either," I said, "But you know when an infinite creature of darkness in the afterlife tells me to go out and do good things, I'm gonna go out and do them." 

I couldn't understand why Dan looked shocked at that. Didn't he want to die a good death? Be reunited with his family in the afterlife? Sure, I knew now that wasn't going to be the case, that's why I was working to stop the Maw after all. But he wouldn't have that information. He'd think it was all real. 

"But if I live a, I think the creature said… meaningful… life, then I'll end up actually properly dying," Dan explained, "Don't really want that, to be honest. Not when there are so many universes out there to get a look in on. Kinda like the Watcher, Marvel you know." 

I did know. 

The character he had referenced had a strict rule of not interfering, you know, apart from the times that he did. For the most part, he just watched everything, as his name implied. 

We moved through the office and into another corridor, though this one wasn't closed in like the ones we had been going through so far, and it allowed me to get my first look at what we were dealing with when it came to the city under the mountain. 

It was a breathtaking megacity in a completely different way to Prespian City. 

Giant spires dug so deep into the ground that I wasn't even sure if I could see the bottom of them, linked together by giant thick bridges. It went on as far as the eye could see, both vertically and horizontally. 

It was like they had scooped out all the planet's insides and replaced it with one giant city. 

"That's… that's something special right there," I said breathily. "But come on, enough hanging around chin-wagging like two old biddies who haven't seen each other in yonks. We need to get my friend to a medic. Fast." 

Yr'Arl was still in danger, I'd worry about everything else later.

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