The City of the Dead

“DVIN run everything down here.” Nessa said, having dropped Marlo to kneel on the carpet of blades, which was surprisingly comfortable. “They have tentacles in the real world too, but we have no idea how they swap information. It is run by an elite group. They call themselves gods, but really they’re a species called Nephilytes. They look like people, but are much stronger, and are harder to kill. They also all have special abilities, like Hermes’ speed. They are split into two subspecies. Angels and Demons. But make no mistake, they’re both scum.”

“You mentioned a demon earlier. You said you… ate it?”

Nessa grinned “Yes. I did. This is the best way we can get back at monsters like that. By consuming their flesh, you can gain powers just like them, as well as increased strength, agility, and durability.”

“Is that why you are…” Marlo gestured to the woman, who, sitting, was as tall as him standing. She looked around.

“Why I’m what?”

“No, nothing.” Marlo shuddered. “Eating them? Really? That’s the only way?”

“Imagine how I felt.” Nessa said “I came here almost one and a half thousand years ago, after being told to venerate these things all my life, and now I have got to eat them, or they will kill me. You’ve got it better, especially with your remembrance.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Marlo blinked. “Huh. You’re really that old?”

“Yep!” Nessa looked proud, jabbing a thumb into her chest “I am the oldest member of our cell.”

“Then how are we talking so well? Our languages should be really different.”

“Ah, well it is a neat trick of this place that everyone hears everyone else exactly how they mean. You all sound like you’re speaking Alemannic to me.”

“Wow, that’s convenient.”

“Yeah.” Nessa leant in and whispered conspiratorially, even though no one could possibly hear them up here anyway “I reckon this place used to be a real paradise. Maybe this was heaven itself. And then DVIN came in and made everything all horrible for everyone.”

“They could do that?” Marlo asked, whispering back, though he wasn’t sure why.

“What?” Nessa cupped her hand around her ear “I cannot hear you over the wind.”

“I said-”

“Why are you whispering?” Nessa leant back and said, full volume. Marlo’s eye twitched, and then he remembered his new memory. He closed his eyes, went back six years in his head, and found the anger management techniques his eyes had idly glanced over for a few seconds. He hadn’t even remembered this was here, he had just been looking for some escape. It was like his memory had become a separate entity from him, some kind of semi-omniscient butler, eager to serve. He now wished he’d read up more on mythology. He read through the anger management tips, but nothing seemed to help. He tried mentally screaming and remembering the feeling of punching walls. That worked better.

“I said,” he returned, after what had been a productive few minutes for him but only an instant for everyone else. “Shit… what did I say? It’s hard to balance two memories.”

“Boo-hoo, cry me a river.” Monticello said, up ahead. Marlo winced.

“Ignore him.” Nessa said “I am glad you are here friend. Monticello’s never given me anything.”

Marlo wanted to ask what his problem was, but clearly, he couldn’t whisper, and he didn’t want to be heard. It was likely something to do with remembrance. Perhaps he had gotten a much worse amount. Instead, he asked, “What remembrance did you get Nessa?”

“Cannot remember.” Nessa stuck her tongue out. “It was fourteen hundred years ago. Can’t have been high though, because I wasn’t bothered by Hermes.”

Before Marlo could respond, Monticello called “I’ve found a path down through the smog. Nessa, hide those blades. We don’t want to be spotted.”

Nessa nodded. “We will keep talking in a minute.” She and Marlo stepped off, and onto the dragon. Marlo stumbled and waved his arms around frantically. Nessa grabbed him with one arm and clicked her fingers with her other hand. The blades folded up as she stabilised, and when he sat down, the swords folded up, slotting around her body in a suit of plate armour. She was covered head to toe in metal, and flicked her visor up, revealing that same grinning face.

As she had been doing this, Marlo looked around. The dragon was spiralling downwards slowly, in great lazy circles. Presumably, if they went too fast, they’d be spotted. They were descending on a massive city, which spread everywhere below them. Towers of black metal rose from the ground, stabbing up towards them like the teeth of a hungry beast. He could see lights of every colour cutting through the darkness below, and long rails stretched from tower to tower. As he looked closer, he realised there were levels to the city. The area they were in now, just below a thick carpet of smog, looked very poor. It was overcrowded, small structures of wood, stone, and metal packed so tightly they were in danger of falling down the buildings. Little lights shone from all of them, and Marlo could see figures walking back and forth. It all looked filthy and disgusting, and Marlo was glad he was between Monticello and Nessa, and on top of a dragon.

The next level seemed to be more of a market. This was where all the lights were coming from. Platforms were built in between towers like a spider’s web, with ladders and ropes leading up and down between floors. Marlo could see people walking in and out of stalls, a little better constructed but still awful lean-tos, trading seemingly everything. It was incredibly busy, even at this hour, which, as far as he could tell, was night. He could see shapes moving on the walls of the towers, giant and seemingly mechanical in their movements. Monticello veered away whenever one got too close, but they seemed to ignore them. Marlo was watching idly when he heard a scream. His head whipped around when he saw, a few floors above them, a figure falling. As he watched horrified, they fell, head over heels, and out of sight to the ground below.

“Oh my God, quick let’s help them!” He craned his neck, trying to see.

“No point in trying.” Monticello yawned. “At the rate, they were going, they’re already dead.”

“Already…” Marlo swallowed “Why didn’t you help?”

“Looks like some folks up there wouldn’t be happy if I did.” He motioned with an arm. Marlo followed and saw with a dull horror that there was a crowd laughing, stood around the space the person had fallen from.

“The old Muspel-market slap, I think they call a move like that. Before you get mad kid, that was likely just some gang war. One gang member made the mistake of getting caught and paid the price.”

“Still, how can you be so cold? Someone just died in front of you, and you don’t even care?”

“I’d ask if you’ve never seen death before, but everyone here has seen at least their own. I’m sure it’s a shock to your refined, modern sensibilities, but there’s nothing you can do. What will you do against a group of them? those people are gangsters who have learned from the mistakes which cost them their lives. We’ve got some monsters ruling this market. I’m talking Al Capone having turf wars with Blackbeard, and Mansa Musa making deals with Nikolas II. There are some nasty bastards here, and you’re a fool if you ever step into Muspel-mart without care. There’s a lot of toes you don’t want to step on.”

“Okay, but surely one of you could-”

“Maybe we could. But why would we? You want us to be heroes kid? Well, we’re not. We’re just ordinary people. Which is good. Because you met Benkei. He was a hero. And people like him are a hell of a lot worse than anyone up here. DVIN’s Necroknights are no joke. They’ve got people as bad as any Nephylite. So we’re going to avoid being like that, and not go and murder an entire crowd because of that, so we can keep deaths to a minimum, okay?”

“I just…” Marlo sighed “I’m sorry. I get you want a low profile, but… someone just died.”

Monticello stared at him with an unreadable expression. “It’s good you care kid. We’ll see how long that lasts. Now I’m going to move on because if I don’t Nessa will fly up there and fight them all to try and make you feel better.”

Nessa started to deny it, then shrugged. “Yeah. Probably.”

“The reason we’re leaving is, so she doesn’t get hurt. Okay?”

Marlo nodded sadly “Alright.”

Monticello shook his head “You won’t last long here with that kind of attitude. Limbo eats people who don’t get ruthless fast.”

As they descended Nessa leant in and hissed “Monticello is overprotective. I would be able to beat them all easily. I’ll go make them pay for making you sad tonight. I promise.”

“No.” Marlo sighed. He’d seen enough death tonight. It wasn’t like that person was good either. “Don’t bother.” He suddenly realised how hungry he was. “Do you uh… have any food?”

There was silence for a second. Then Nessa laughed. “That is my best friend! Nothing keeps you down. Always willing to crack a joke!” As she chortled to herself, Monticello shook his head.

“Afraid not kid. If it’s any consolation, you don’t technically need it. you can go without food, water and sleep forever now. Only issue is… you don’t know that. And you never will. So without that, you get hungrier and thirstier. Forever.”

Marlo’s eyes widened “You mean there’s no food? Anywhere?”

“Not none. Here’s a good example.”

The dragon spiralled down a few more floors, and Marlo watched as the skyscrapers on either side opened up. The weight of all of the towers above them held up by massive metal pillars, a good hundred or so floors had been transformed into massive open-plan warehouses. These had no walls, so could be seen through. In awe, Marlo saw that every skyscraper of this height was built like this, stretching out for miles in all directions, like a house of mirrors. Then, he saw what was inside.

The warehouses were lit with strips of long harsh lights, showing everything. Running up and down the one closest to Marlo were enormous conveyors, upon which pieces of metal and electronics ran. Up on the top layers of the factory, the metal was fed into the complex, coming in through doors in the walls. People worked levers, ensuring different ones went to different places. They were wearing massive helmets and their arms were locked into their levers by straps.

“Stops them from running.” Nessa said, following his gaze “Once you start a shift, you have to finish it. The helmets keep their brains fresh, so they can stay working without sleep. They will be there for weeks, maybe months.”

Further below, people worked to solder together electronics. They lacked arms, and instead had dozens of small spidery metal limbs, which could stretch further, solder faster and steadier, and move as they did so, so the conveyor never stopped. Below that, people worked enormous machinery with huge grasping arms, welding together the metal and electronics into all kinds of shapes and sizes. The noise and the heat from it were terrible, with blinding glares from the lights and reddish smog making it look like hell.

“This is one DVIN’s prime cybernetics factory.” Monticello said “They’ll make these, then sell them to anyone who’ll buy ‘em, regardless of purpose. My arms came from this place.”

“This is the other way to get strong here.” Nessa finished “Cybernetics, when done well, can compete with any ability a Nephylite would have. But they should not be made like this.”

Monticello nodded “I’ll speed up a bit. Security around here is tight. They’ll spot us if we linger.”

As they descended, Marlo shook his head. “Why? Why run something like that? They can’t need that many cybernetics.”

“Cybernetics aren’t the thing. There’s a hundred factories in this city for anything you can imagine, and millions more warehouses full of the shit. They even have a separate branch of factories for destroying the stuff, so it doesn’t get too full. DVIN aren’t in it to create, or even to earn. They seem to want to work people. The cities never stop opening more factories that work innocent people almost to death. They’ll work in there for weeks, just for a day or two’s worth of food. Then when the hunger gets too much to bear, they go back.”

“But why? What could that possibly gain?”

“They say that hard work is the way to earn your way into Heaven. That everyone in Limbo is almost there, and just a few more shifts will get them there. In reality, Nephilytes hate humans. No clue why, they just despise us. they want us all to work, work and suffer, and these poor people have nothing but hope, so they believe them. Every time they step into one of those machines, or put one on for a shift, it starts attacking their resolve, weakening their willpower. People will dream about these factories after working them. There are stories of people’s bodies carrying them back into shifts while they sleep. Whether it’s true or not… I’ve seen the absolute depths of humanity. And that doesn’t compare to this.”

Marlo had to agree.

“Better get used to it kid.” Monticello said. “This is life around here. Perpetuated by people almost as lucky as you.”

“I would never… I wouldn’t do something like this. Not ever.”

“Judging by earlier, you won’t get a chance. I doubt DVIN wants to catch you to give you a free factory.”

They travelled down further, and Marlo was suddenly looking at an enormous tram system. Anchored to rails above them which stabbed off into the night, hundreds of trams rushed in all directions.

“Here we are.” Monticello said “Helheim Station 1786DFJ. Now… we just need to slip in.”

He brought the dragon around to a wall over a window and said “Nessa, grab the kid.”

Marlo felt a massive hand wrap around his torso. He knew there was no point in resisting, so he just went limp. Monticello anchored the dragon’s feet in and then grabbed the wall with his hands. Those mechanical fingers widened into suction cups, and he grappled his way off. Nessa lifted Marlo up, and then placed a foot against the metal, magnetising and just walking down it, Marlo swinging in her hand the whole way. Monticello climbed through the window, and Marlo was dropped through after him, landing on his feet. This looked almost like a normal train station, except with floors and walls of dark, angular metal. The advertisements were all wrong too, showing on holographic screens which shimmered as you watched the latest ocular update to ensure you could see three times as far, or a brain chip that would allow you the knowledge of history’s best hagglers to help with your shopping. All the prices were in R, which after some checking, Marlo realised meant rations. He didn’t know if a ration was for a day, a week, or a month, but either way, everything seemed ludicrously expensive.

After some struggle, Nessa got through the window. She clanked over to Marlo and said “See anything you like? I can make it for you.”

“You? You can make Cybernetics?”

“What do you think I want these swords for? High-quality metal like these will go a long way.”

Marlo nodded, then saw that the crowds were staring at them. or more accurately, at Nessa. He winced “Nessa? For blending in… maybe plate armour isn’t the best?”

Nessa looked at him. Then around at the crowd, which she stood almost two heads taller than. “I tend to stick out anywhere. At least this hides my face.” She said. Marlo conceded her that and turned. Monticello was leaning out the window. Marlo saw him clap his hands, and then he turned. Behind him, a tide of shadows rushed in, up the windowsill, and down, sticking to the floor, to coagulate his own, making it a little thicker.

“Alright. We want the expressway to Tower Gamma. Oh and… don’t refer to your remembrance. Even as a Hyakku.”

“I don’t even-”

“Term came from Yoki. She is – was the person with our highest remembrance, and she always wanted to find ways to get more, to be what she called a Hyakku. Similar to how the Japanese say a hundred.”

“There are ways to get more?”

“Some. But they’re almost impossible to get your hands on. Not that that’s any of your concern. Follow me.” He walked briskly, pushing through the crowd. Nessa followed, and Marlo walked quickly after her, taking advantage of the wedge she drove through the crowd. People of all time periods swirled past him, feudal European peasants, Cavaliers, Egyptian priests, soldiers from both world wars. Everyone seemed to be dressed for their time period. He struggled to keep up and tried to avoid making eye contact with anyone.

The chatter all around him was almost deafening. There must have been hundreds of thousands of people in this station. The bulk of them seemed to be travelling away from the trains, towards the stairs. Stairs which, Marlo realised with a sick feeling, lead up to those awful factories.

All these people were slaves to hunger and thirst which wasn’t even real. They were giving themselves to DVIN and sealing their own fates. They’d become slaves here, making useless items that would be stored for all eternity, and sealing their own fates, all for some mindless rations that only briefly held off the inevitable. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How were people, even when given a second chance, just so-

“You think they are stupid?” Marlo looked up. He realised he had stopped, and Nessa was looking at him.

“I…”

“It is clear on your face. But you cannot begin to imagine what excessive hunger and thirst, truly excessive, does to you. I was the same. I worked in those factories for two centuries before I met anyone else. It was hellish, but I did it because I was hungry. These people are just trying to survive. That’s all they want. DVIN is not the enemy to most of these people. That makes them even worse. Never forget that.”

“Two centuries? Really?”

“Yep. Told you, I am very old. And let me tell you something. I haven’t drank water for four months. Haven’t eaten for longer. Were it not for my friends, I would drop everything and run into these crowds. I would run a whole factory if it got me more food. You cannot imagine what it’s like.”

She raised a hand, and Marlo saw it was shaking. “I know it would be wrong. I know it would make my life worse and help DVIN. But I would do it. because I would survive. That’s why you need people down here. They remind you to work for more than just yourself. That helping DVIN might be worth it for yourself, but not if those cybernetics are used on your friends. Do not hate these people for not having that. We were just the lucky ones.”

“I… I won’t.”

Ness smiled beneath her helmet “Do not worry. We’ll look after each other. That is what friends do.”

A klaxon blared. Nessa’s eyes widened, and she turned “The train!” She grabbed Marlo, and ran, pushing through the crowd. Faces rushed past, staring in surprise, as Nessa literally swept people aside with her arms, picking some up and chucking them behind her.

The crowds parted, and Marlo saw the train carriage, Monticello holding the doors open. Before he knew what was happening, Nessa was reeling her arm back.

“Oh no.” He paled. “Don’t you dare-”

She threw him. He rocketed forwards, and slammed into a surprised Monticello, knocking him into the carriage. The pair rolled on the ground, groaning in pain. Head ringing, Marlo forced himself up and staggered over to the door. Nessa ran up, and he tried to hold the door but found it shutting, much harder than any other train door. Of course, this was probably a DVIN-made train, and they didn’t have to abide by any safety laws. So this door could crush him. He realised this just before he was slammed against the wall. He cried out under the force of it but kept pushing, fighting. Just a few more seconds, before Nessa would arrive and help. A few more, and this terrible, crushing cutting palm digging into his arms, driving him back against the wall, would stop. Any second…

He felt his arm crunch and screamed. Nessa yelled and stuck out her hands. The door in front of him came to a stop, and then slammed back, lodging in the wall it was supposed to slide out of. Marlo crumpled to the floor, and Nessa stepped in after him. She thumped the wall, and the train started to move. It went incredibly fast, going from what felt like zero to over a hundred kilometres per hour instantly. Unfortunately, the door was still open, so a powerful suction was created.

Marlo was lifted off the ground and pulled towards the opening. Nessa grabbed the back of his shirt, and across the carriage, Monticello had his mechanical arms wrapped multiple times around a pole. He was yelling something that looked like “Close it!” but it was impossible to tell. People were rushing out of the opening, en masse, and the sound of rushing was all-encompassing. Then Nessa stomped her feet, sticking them to the floor, and ripped at the air with her free hand. The door slid back out, and slammed into the wall, cementing. The glass panel in it was already shattered, but she twisted her hand, and the metal twisted, spiralling to block it all. The noise stopped, and the three locked around to see they were the only ones left in the carriage.

“Well.” Monticello sighed “Great job staying sneaky everyone.”