Chapter 73: The Descent [1]

My final thoughts disappear as I begin to make my descent down into the pit.

Each part of the wall I grab feels like it could collapse at any moment, but I continue to follow the others. Looking down towards them I can feel my heart sink as I realize that I can’t see any place to stop yet.

The fact that I don’t even see a floor or something for us to ground ourselves… that kind of worries me a bit.

“Don’t focus on what’s below us, it’ll only stress you out,” Zeno says loudly while staring up at me with a small grin on his face.

“I’m not doing that anyway,” I reply while focusing on where I’m grabbing.

I continue to trace the cracks along the wall as I blindly climb down, trying to keep my hands secure with each moment.

Climbing down the pit of despair is definitely not something I expected to be doing in my lifetime but here I am. Going down with a bunch of people that I still barely know much about.

At least I am willing to give them all the benefit of the doubt for now… Something I probably could’ve given Tess.

Risking people’s lives for my own gain just isn’t what I want, maybe that is another reason I couldn’t bring her with me on this journey.

The possibility of losing someone I can get close to again just isn’t worth it.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

My heart begins to race slightly as I hear something below us.

Chitter. Chitter.

What am I hearing right now? I haven’t heard any animals since everything started so it couldn’t possibly be one of them. There is a strong possibility that a zierel of some kind is lingering around in the pit with us.

Wriggle. Wriggle. WRIGGLE.

My arm starts to feel like it is giving out as I try to keep calm, the feeling is starting to turn into pain.

Celeste I need you to calm down or else I’ll end up falling down into the pit… I don’t think you want us to die here.

“Huff. Huff. I’m getting it under control, I promise,” Celeste assures me.

Within a few moments I feel the pain starting to disappear from my arm, but the sound of the chittering is definitely getting louder.

Somehow I manage to tune it out while focusing on making my way down the wall.

“There’s a floor in a couple of feet, be prepared to stop temporarily,” Zeno warns.

“Understood, floor coming up!” Amelia shouts back.

It feels as if it is never going to arrive but then I start to hear the sound of boots thudding on the ground. The others have made it to the platform below us.

Break!

A piece of the wall breaks beneath my hand and I slip for a moment before hitting the ground.

Thud!

I can feel my heart racing, but I didn’t fall very far at all which is a good thing. The others aren’t really saying much right now, that is kind of concerning.

So I lift my head to see if I can notice anything and they appear to be looking ahead.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy climb,” Zeno says while pistols form in his hands.

He doesn’t sound like he is bothered by it… Actually he seems to be excited by the thought of zierel being here with us.

“Just don’t go too crazy,” Airi speaks with a serious tone.

“There’s no such thing as too crazy,” Zeno responds with a carefree tone.

All I see is his guns getting further away as he begins to run towards the sound of the chittering.

BANG! BANG!! BANG!!!!

Shots begin to go off in the distance, slightly lighting up the area ahead for a moment as I start to see outlines of the zierel. A strange insect like body with scales is all I notice within the flashes.

It is like an insect took over a humans body…

The limbs are distorted all over the place as they occasionally appear within the light.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Bodies sound like they are hitting the ground in the distance as the shots finally begin to die down. The chittering also seems to be gone completely now.

It didn’t take Zeno long to wipe out a bunch of insect like zierel, at least that makes it easier for us.

I definitely would like to take out some of the zierel myself but right now I trust Zeno taking point. His range is kind of unmatched until we run into a Zierel capable of using a ranged weapon.

Or maybe one similar to the one I met in the one district… It did use some sort of strange acid when fighting.

Am I even remembering that right? Everything has been kind of blurring together lately for some reason. I don’t really know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Memories can’t be combining with one another, I know that much.

“I dealt with the zierel on this platform, for now,” Zeno says while spinning his pistols around.

“Great. I think we can take a break here for a few moments before continuing,” Airi replies while taking a look over the edge.

“You really do like to take your time,” Zeno says as his pistols disappear.

“I’d rather be safe than sorry,” Airi replies calmly.

“It doesn’t really matter anyway; we have no clue how far down it goes,” Zeno says while giving a shrug.

He’s basically saying that it could be a long time so it doesn’t matter if we take a break or not. At least that’s what I’m getting from him at the moment.

I don’t mind the break for a few moments before continuing. It gives me a chance to make sure my arm isn’t going to give out on me.

The pit is definitely affecting me more than I expected, especially now that we are heading down.

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