Arcane, Voice of Zaun

Shit, shit, shit.

I kept thinking over and over as I stumbled over my own feet by how fast I was running, pushing my legs as much as I could. My lungs burned with each breath, the smog-filled air of the Undercity scraping against my throat like sandpaper. But I couldn't stop—not now, not after what I'd seen.

What the fuck even was that?

I hadn't been able to hear anything but I had been able to see in and what I saw definitely wasn't pretty. First was that whole rat thing, like what the hell was even that. The image kept flashing in my mind—the rat's veins bulging purple, growing larger, more feral, before exploding in a shower of blood and gore. The way the doctor and Silco had looked at it, like it was their proudest achievement.

Some kind of drug? Toxin? What would happen if that stuff entered the Undercity's drug racket, which was already bad enough as is. People down here were already desperate enough to try almost anything that might dull the pain of existence even for a moment. If whatever that purple liquid was hit the streets... I didn't even want to think about it.

The second thing is why was Sevika was there, I thought she was one of Vander's core members, heck I always saw her in the Last Drop whenever I begged there or went to take a swig. The look on her face when Silco was speaking—uncertain, conflicted. Like she was actually considering whatever he was offering. That wasn't the face of someone fully loyal to Vander.

All I knew for sure, was that I didn't like it one bit.

I ducked into a narrow alley, sliding through the filth and grime that coated every surface down here. My heart hammered against my ribs, threatening to burst right out of my chest. I needed to get back to the hideout, needed to warn Lloyd and the others. If Silco was setting them up...

A crowd of people blocked my path ahead, and rather than fight through them, I grabbed onto one of the overhead pipes. The metal was hot to the touch, likely carrying steam or some other byproduct from the factories above. I ignored the burning sensation as I pulled myself up, scampering along the pipework above the heads of the crowd.

A few people looked up as I passed overhead, but most kept their eyes firmly fixed on the ground in front of them. That's how it was in the Undercity—you learned quickly not to notice things that didn't directly threaten you.

I jumped from pipe to pipe, my small size for once an advantage. In the distance, I could see the vague outline of our hideout, nestled between a defunct factory and a collapsed apartment complex. Just a little further.

I burst through the door of the hideout, when I felt a knife to my neck.

"Woah there it's me, it's me."

The person who held the knife pulled it back. It was Geoff, his face smeared with the usual grime that seemed permanently etched into his skin. His eyes were bloodshot, and I could smell the rancid smell of alcohol on his breath.

"Why would you slam in like that, you know how much doors cost," he said before inspecting the door and pulling my arm. "See right there you broke a hinge."

I looked at where he was pointing. The metal was indeed bent awkwardly, the screws barely holding it in place.

"That was already broken, Geoff, now seriously where is Veronica."

"In her room, why do you ask?"

"I need to talk to her."

I began to speed towards Veronica's room when I was stopped by Geoff's meaty hand on my shoulder. His grip was firm, almost painful.

"Wait a second, you know the rules, put 80% of today's haul in the counter."

I did as I was told, putting 5 of my gold coins on the counter. The metal clinked loudly against the wood, the sound seeming to echo throughout the room. A few heads turned at the noise—gold wasn't something you heard often in these parts.

"Damn good haul," one of them whistled from a sofa. It was Mara, her legs propped up on a table, twirling a knife between her fingers with practiced ease. Her eyes gleamed with a mixture of approval and envy.

"Yeah it was now I need to talk with Veronica."

That was all I said before speeding up a flight of stairs and gently knocking on a door. The wood was worn smooth from years of use, the paint peeling in places to reveal the splintered surface beneath.

"Yes." The voice from within was soft, yet carried a strength that belied the age of its owner.

"It's Paul, can I come in."

"Oh of course you can my dear Paul."

I opened the door to reveal Veronica's room, now you may be wondering who Veronica was or why she even had her own room when pretty much everyone slept together, even Lloyd, well that would be answered soon enough.

Veronica was sitting on a recliner, blue eyes and white hair, but the thing that struck out most was how old she was, she was almost seventy an age that almost no one in the Undercity ever reached. Her face was filled to he brim with wrinkles, with only two blue eyes decorating her face. 

"My, you look tense what is the matter." Her voice was calm, soothing even. But I couldn't let myself be calmed, not yet.

I looked around the room/medical center, yeah the sole reason she had a lone room was because she was the one who took care of us, when we were sick or had any medical problems. The walls were lined with shelves containing bottles, jars, and packets of all shapes and sizes. Some I recognized—antiseptics, pain relievers, bandages. Others were a mystery, labeled in handwriting that was precise yet almost impossible to decipher unless you knew Veronica's specific shorthand.

"Where in the mines is Lloyd's group, I have a bad feeling about the chem job."

Veronica said nothing for a moment before sighing. She set down the roll of bandages she had been holding, her movements yet somehow shaky.

"Are you having one of your episodes again?"

My eyes widened at her words, episodes, no these weren't episodes. 

"No, this isn't an episode."

"Then what is the problem with the job."

"I-"

I quieted down, I had no actual clue why I had such a bad feeling about this, aside from the fact that Silco was outsourcing jobs he could do himself and the drug thing I had seen, I had no actual reason to believe anything would go bad. But there was this nagging feeling in my gut, a certainty that something terrible was about to happen. It was the same feeling I'd had just before the gray spill that had killed mom, a weight in my stomach that I couldn't shake.

"I'm not sure, I just feel like something is wrong."

I explained everything I had seen, the strange purple liquid, the rat's violent reaction and subsequent explosion, Sevika's presence at Silco's hideout, the conversation I hadn't been able to hear but had seemed intense. With each detail, I expected Veronica's expression to change, to reflect the growing unease I felt. But she remained eerily calm through it all.

When I finished, she just sat on her bed and looked at me in silence before speaking up, in what felt like a tense moment.

"Come sit down." 

I did as I was told, and I sat next to her. The mattress sank slightly under my weight, softer than the hard bunks we slept on in the shared room.

"I'm telling you there's something weird about all of this," I muttered, my fingers picking nervously at a loose thread on the bedsheet. "Silco's planning something big, I can feel it. And Lloyd and the others are walking right into it."

She didn't reply and opened a drawer, grabbing something from it, she then went to a bottle of water and put in a glass cup from a cupboard before coming back with the cup and a small pill in hand. The pill was white, unmarked, and about the size of my thumbnail.

"Why don't you sleep here tonight? Take this."

"Fine," I muttered my foot tapping impassively on the floorboards. 

I took the pill from her outstretched hand, feeling its smooth surface against my palm. For a moment, I considered refusing, insisting that we needed to do something, anything. But the exhaustion of the day was finally catching up with me, my muscles aching from all the running and climbing. Maybe sleep would clear my head, help me think more clearly.

DRINK

The water was cool against my throat, washing the pill down with it. Almost immediately, I felt a heaviness spreading through my limbs. Whatever was in that pill, it was strong.

"Just rest sweetie, you need some peace and quiet." Veronica's voice seemed to come from far away now, as if she was speaking to me from the end of a long tunnel.

She then went out of the room and closed the lights. 

My sleep however wasn't peaceful or quiet.

I stood in space, looking upon dozens of crests around me, like waves in the water, some I could see perfectly others were fuzzy and disorienting. Each one seemed to contain a different scene, a different possibility, flickering in and out of existence like candles in a breeze.

Looking into one, I saw something.

A mine, two dozen people.

I could hear the voices, frantic, desperate, echoing in my mind with a clarity that was almost painful.

"Cave in!"

"Run!"

The rocks falling on all of them, a cascade of stone and dirt that seemed to move in slow motion. I wanted to cry out, to warn them, but my voice made no sound in this strange place between dreams and reality.

Some piling from out of the rubble, bloody, with broken bones, others lay still beneath the rock, their eyes opened hauntingly wide, a way only dead people could. The survivors were clawing at the rockfall, trying to dig out their buried comrades, their faces twisted in grief and horror.

You see there was something interesting about the dead, if you didn't close their eyes quickly, they would remain open no matter what you did or how many times you'd close it afterwards, they'd always open again, only halfway maybe, it was a haunting sight. Like they were still watching, still seeing, even though the light had gone out of them.

And now those same half opened eyes were staring directly at me. A bloody shade of red mixing with the blood around him, his cracked head making blood flow down his face. I knew those eyes, had seen them laugh as they struck me, had seen them widen in surprise when I managed to block a blow.

Lloyd.