The Last City in the Sky

Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Staircase Beneath the City

That staircase should never have existed.

Arka knew this for a fact because he had memorized every corner of the engine room’s blueprints, inside and out. Behind the main panel, there should have been nothing but gear housings, cooling ducts, and emergency circuit breakers. Not an ancient stone passage piercing eternal darkness, with steep steps plunging down into depths never recorded in any history.

From the bottom of the passage, the echo of thousands of souls breathing in unison was heard.

Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale.

Nara aimed her crystal lantern into the dark cavity. Its pale light could only pierce a dozen steps before being devoured by the pitch-black void.

"Does the Council know about this passage?" she whispered.

"Rask knows the secret panel is there," Arka replied flatly.

"That’s not the answer I was looking for."

"But it’s the only answer we have."

Behind them, the stomp of armored boots began to close in from the upper corridor. The darkness could not muffle the clanking of c****d crossbows; the sound only grew closer. Someone shouted sharply, breaking the night, ordering them to surrender, but the call was instantly swallowed by a thunderous tremor from the Gravity Heart.

The copper rings spun more wildly up above. The steel floor tilted dangerously.

Nara glanced over her shoulder. "If we go down, they’ll definitely pursue us."

"If we stay here, this city collapses in a matter of minutes."

"A very sweet choice."

Arka swung his stride onto the first step.

The stone surface felt unnaturally warm. It wasn't warmth from machine exposure, but a subtle pulsing that traveled through his boot soles—as if the walls of this passage were fueled by a beating pulse of blood vessels.

"Don't touch the walls," Arka warned.

"I haven't touched them yet."

"Don't ever try."

Both descended the stairs.

Each step took them further from the roar of the guard squad. At that same moment, the main panel slab slammed shut over their heads, sealing off the path back. The harsh clatter of weapons was heard faintly from behind the stone, before finally being swallowed by silence.

The stone passage turned left.

Along the walls, the circular symbol split by a straight c***k was carved repeatedly in various sizes. Some of the carvings were coated in dried, dark-red liquid. Arka wiped the edge of one carving with the tip of his glove, then suddenly jerked his hand away as the stone surface abruptly turned searingly hot.

"This stone carries energy," he muttered.

Nara lifted her lantern higher. "Like the Heart system?"

"No. The Heart processes energy. This stone... holds something."

"What kind of energy?"

Arka stared at the red lines pulsing slowly like blood vessels. "Memories."

The sound of breathing from the depths now sounded clearer.

Amidst that heavy air, Arka could catch the echo of distorted voices. Not complete words, but a stack of murmurs from thousands of throats chanting the same syllables from an unreachable depth.

Nara suddenly stopped. "Listen."

"I hear it."

"No, listen more closely!"

Arka held his breath.

Behind the ripple of mass breathing, there was a regular tapping pattern on the passage stone.

Three short taps.

Pause.

Two long taps.

A sand-code pattern usually used by lower-level technicians to signal leaks in the main pipes.

Arka turned on the light in his palm, casting it onto the stone wall surface. Under the thick layer of dust, there was a new scratch, still fresh: three short lines, two long lines.

Someone was signaling navigation from below.

"The Council hides technicians in a place like this?" Nara asked in astonishment.

"If so, that technician clearly has no intention of being found."

"What if it’s not a Council person?"

Arka stared at the stone stairs plunging ever more steeply into the gloom. "That means there is another party that understands the ins and outs of these machines."

They quickened their pace.

The stairs finally emptied into a gigantic domed hall. The ceiling towered high, jammed with giant iron chains hanging down from the darkness. Each chain was embedded into the floor through foundation pillars. In the center of the hall stood seven ancient stone pillars.

Six pillars had been shattered and severely cracked.

Only the seventh pillar stood whole and flawless.

On its surface were carved the names of the seven floating cities:

Aster.

Veyra.

Khal.

Orison.

Morn.

Teral.

And one final name that had been forcibly chiseled away until the stone cracked deep.

Nara stepped closer to the intact pillar. "The seventh city?"

Arka wiped the thick soot covering the carving gaps. The remnants of rune letters were visible behind the fracture marks.

"Eidolon," he whispered.

"Why was it erased?"

"Because someone wanted to wipe its traces from history."

A hoarse voice replied coldly from behind the pillar's shadow.

"Not someone."

Arka grabbed his knife, while Nara braced herself for a fight.

A man stepped slowly from behind a chain. His body was thin, draped in tattered dull cloth and an arrangement of old cable skins. Half his face was protected by an ash-filtering metal mask. In his grip, he held a short spear tipped with a jagged black crystal.

He did not take an aggressive stance.

Nara kept her heavy hammer aimed. "Who are you?"

"Someone who refuses to forget the name Eidolon."

"State your name!"

"Names have no meaning in a place untouched by the sky."

"Then we can call you by a more practical name," Nara threatened coldly. "For instance, corpse."

The man glanced coldly at the hammer in Nara's hand. "Commander Sol. Still glorifying the sky-guardian armor."

Nara's eyes narrowed. "You know me?"

"I recognize uniforms washed in the blood of the people below. That is more than enough."

Arka observed the details of the man's mask. On the side plate, the symbol of the circle split by a c***k was carved, but the c***k line pointed straight down.

"The Under-dwellers," Arka stated.

"That is what the people above call us."

"How did you break through this boundary?"

"A more crucial question," the man countered, "is how you two managed to get out of here alive."

BOOM!

A violent tremor suddenly cracked the hall's ceiling. Dust and stone debris rained down. One of the giant chains snapped, sliding and disappearing into the lower darkness with a horrifying echo.

The masked man looked up slowly. "The city's heart just opened the third absorption channel."

Arka calculated quickly. "How much time is left?"

"Twenty minutes before the entire foundation of the engine room collapses."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I watched with my own eyes when the other five cities fell."

Nara lowered her hammer a few inches. That information was too valuable to ignore. "What is your name?"

The man was silent for a moment behind his mask. "Maera Quill."

Arka stared at Maera's spearhead. The black crystal at the tip pulsed weakly, synchronizing with the mass breathing from below.

"Your weapon was forged from fragments of the Heart’s core," Arka analyzed.

"Forged from the carcasses of the cities you threw below."

"Can that crystal eye cut the conduit circulation?"

"It can cut anything still tied to names and life."

Arka looked him straight in the eye. "Take us to the source of that breathing sound."

Nara glanced at Arka quickly. "You trust him just like that?"

"No."

"Then?"

"He is the only person in this room who knows the way to survive."

Maera turned, walking toward the darkest corner of the hall. He thrust the tip of his spear against the stone floor. Instantly, a circle of red light blossomed between the tile gaps, framing a second stone staircase that plunged straight toward the bottom of the earth.

"Down here," Maera warned, "is something that should have remained locked."

"It’s tradition," Nara replied cynically. "All rotten secrets are always hidden in the deepest place."

Maera stared sharply at Arka before stepping down.

"If you are determined to shut down the Heart, you must be ready to awaken the souls buried beneath the City of Aster."

"Those souls... are they still breathing?" Arka asked.

"No longer."

"Then whose breathing sound are we hearing?"

Maera did not answer. He slid down into the darkness.

Arka followed, trailed by Nara who kept watch from the rear with her hammer raised in hesitation.

The second staircase was much narrower and damper. In some parts, the stone walls transitioned into clear crystal. Behind the transparent layer, an arrangement of narrow stone cells spread out. Inside each cell appeared a human figure in a rigid, hunched position, with crystal tubes embedded deep along their spines.

Arka’s steps stopped instantly.

The figure in the nearest cell suddenly moved.

Its head lifted slowly. Its eyes opened wide—empty, pupil-less, yet its mouth moved, exhaling symmetrically with thousands of other cells.

"How long have they been trapped here?" Arka whispered in horror.

Maera kept walking without looking back. "Since the first foundation of Aster was anchored to the sky."

"That was three hundred years ago!"

"Three hundred years for those of you enjoying the sun above. For them, this is only one eternal night."

Arka examined the connecting cables on the cell walls. There were no indications of standard vital organ function. Only dense crystals that had grown to encompass the central nervous system and were connected to the main red conduit pipe.

They were not victims piled up by the Heart. They were components of the machine itself.

Nara’s face was as pale as a corpse. "The Council... knows?"

"The Council designed this slaughterhouse," Maera answered coldly.

Suddenly, the echo of mass breathing in the corridor stopped completely.

Thousands of exhales stopped simultaneously at the same second. The empty silence created was far more terrifying than the previous echo of breathing.

The next second, all the human figures behind the glass cells turned in unison toward Arka.

The surface of the crystal walls fogged over thickly from within. Pale, skeletal fingers pressed against the thick glass in unison.

TAP. TAP. TAP.

Maera jerked his spear. "Never answer if they make a sound!"

"Why?"

"Because they aren't talking to you!"

The closest figure pressed its face to the glass. The voice that came from its mouth was not an individual voice, but a blend of the screams of thousands of old, hoarse souls, laden with suffering:

Arka... Veyr...

Nara gasped, staring at Arka.

Arka froze in place.

The figure struck its forehead against the glass until it cracked. You... carry... the blood... of the... creator...

Arka stared at his own trembling palms. No wounds, no special marks.

"He is not the creator of this place," Maera cut in firmly. "He is only the holder of the key."

"A key to what?" Nara pressed.

Maera thrust his spear into the stone tile. "To release the final breath of Arkhon."

CRACK!

From the depths of the lower stairs, a massive echo of breaking sounds exploded—resembling the snapping ribs of a giant continent.

High above their heads, the City of Aster shook violently. Red emergency lights flickered wildly along the cell corridors. The anchoring chains tightened stiffly before beginning to slide down rapidly.

Arka stared into the black abyss beneath their feet. "If Arkhon is breathing through this city... what happens when he awakens fully?"

Maera stared at Arka from behind his metal visor. "The sky you exalt will collapse."

"What about the continent below?"

"The surface soil will breathe again."

Nara squeezed her hammer handle tightly. "There are one hundred and eighty-four thousand lives above on that city!"

"And how many lives must die if we let this giant remain asleep?" Maera shot back.

Maera went silent for a moment. For the first time, his voice wavered. "Everyone who chooses to remain dependent on the Heart’s false civilization."

Beneath the soles of their feet, a red glow ignited brightly. The light emanated from the gap of the lower stairs, washing over the three of them.

Instantly, the instrument indicator on Arka’s wrist turned on automatically, displaying a series of numbers dropping rapidly:

Registered Population: 184,203

Remaining Life Force: 18%... 17%... 16%...

Arka struck his knife into a gap in the stone wall, forcing a hidden panel to open. Behind it, three ancient rune-carved control levers were revealed:

[ LOCK ]

[ SACRIFICE ]

[ LIBERATION ]

Nara spelled out the carvings with bated breath. "Which one, Arka?"

Arka stared at the tormented figures behind the glass cells. He stared at the crystal tubes sucking their marrow. He stared at the row of life numbers dropping sharply toward zero.

"The third one," Arka decided.

Maera grabbed Arka’s wrist. "If you pull the Liberation lever, the entire floating city in the sky will realize that Arkhon has awakened!"

"Good!"

"The Council and the entire sky fleet will hunt your head!"

"They are already doing it!"

"Arka! Liberation will permanently sever Aster’s mechanical heart!"

"I know!"

"This city will fall to the earth!"

Arka stared at the LIBERATION lever with a resolute gaze.

Suddenly, from the copper communication funnel on the wall, the echo of Lord Rask's voice crawled out—cold, clear, and feeling terribly close.

"Technician Veyr. Take your hand off that lever."

Nara looked up, readying her weapon.

Rask’s voice continued calmly, "You never understood what kind of monster you are trying to awaken down there."

Arka replied without shifting his gaze from the lever: "Then come down yourself and explain it to me, Rask!"

Silence for a moment. No verbal response from Rask. Only the echo of dozens of crossbow safeties being pulled simultaneously from the upper corridor.

Arka grasped the coldness of the LIBERATION lever.

For the first time in his life as a technician, he was no longer calculating the percentage of safety. He was only calculating how many souls were sacrificed for a lie above the clouds.

Arka pulled the lever down.

CLICK!

Throughout every corner of the City of Aster, seven ancient bells rang out loudly in unison, splitting the heavens.

Deep at the bottom of the dead continent, something truly gigantic took its first breath.

And for the first time in three hundred years, the Ash Fog on the lower land began to unveil, swept back away from the earth.