Disclaimer: The Secret World and all associated characters, settings, and situations are the property of Funcom and Electronic Arts. All use of them here is purely for entertainment purposes, without permission or intention to profit.


Agartha

Wednesday, November 1, 5:45PM
Ealdwic, London


For someone who's openly toting an assault rifle around inner-city London, I don't generate a lot of attention. The police just seem to ignore me, and the other passerby seem to follow their lead. I wonder if word has gotten around that I'm with the Templars. Funny, you'd think being part of a secret society would be more…secret, but then I suppose they do have their headquarters in a large public building surrounded with banners that practically scream Templars meet here! Maybe it's not such a big secret after all. I still worry about transportation, though. Unless the Templars have their own secret trans-Atlantic subway, I'll probably have to get on a public subway, train, or plane at some point—and they certainly aren't just going to let me waltz on board with an AK-47 in my arms and two pistols tucked under my jacket.

I make it to the Ealdwic Underground Station without any problem. Again, the spray-painted wooden sign hanging over the official sign seems to be more accurate, declaring the place Ealdwych Markets. While the exterior of the building is certainly that of a typical London subway station (though pretty outdated, compared to most), the inside is full of rickety little stalls selling all sorts of odds and ends. I spot a blond woman in the red-and-black of the Templar guard and I approach her quickly. "Excuse me, do you know where the Templar transportation is?" I ask.

She turns to me, startled. "Templar transportation?" she repeats.

"Um, yes," I say. "I'm…I'm new, but Sonnac said he'd arranged transportation for me somewhere around here…He said the Conductor would explain…"

The woman smiles. "Oh, you must mean Agartha! Well, why didn't you just say so?" She points to the stairs leading down to the platform. Most of them are shuttered and boarded up, but one of them is open and a spray-painted sign next to it says Agartha, with an arrow pointing down. "It's right down there," she says. "Don't worry, you can't miss it."

I heard that before about Temple Hall, and I still had to ask for plenty of directions.

I thank the woman and head down the stairs. I immediately see that this is not an ordinary subway platform. Down at the bottom, where the platform for the train should be, everything has collapsed, leaving a small open space that is—oddly—completely overgrown with thick, lush vines. I can see a golden glow in the center of it, as if welling up from the ground itself. There's no way that's normal…but then again, Sonnac did say I would be traveling by something other than conventional means.

I walk to the bottom of the stairs and look around for the Conductor, or anybody, really, but I seem to be the only person down here. Not the only living thing, though. There's a loud droning sound, and I see lots of bees darting about through the vines and looping lazily around the well of energy. I notice that a lot of them seem to be coming and going through an opening to my right. I peek around some vines and my eyes go wide. Through an opening just big enough to duck through, is a window into another world. On the other side, everything is bathed in golden light, and it looks like I'm high-up in the canopy of some kind of forest. I can see thick trees rising, surrounded by flat meandering branches the color of honeycombs. I see a bee buzz past me and fly into the membrane separating me from this place, then continue on its way on the other side. I gasp. If the bee can go through, then so can I…though what I might find on the other side…?

Then I spot a man walking on a large platform made of intersecting branches. He's wearing a uniform, a very old uniform of a conductor. This must be the man Sonnac wanted me to meet, and I'm certainly in need of some explanation! I step forward cautiously, touching the membrane, then pushing through it. One minute I'm on one side, the next I'm on the other, standing on the flat top of a honey-colored branch in the golden light that seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. The branch is about ten feet wide—enough that I can almost feel comfortable walking down the middle of it, despite the seemingly endless drop on either side. I slowly walk toward the man and call out to him. "Hello? Are you the Conductor?" I ask.

"Hello, yes," the man says, brushing off his uniform. He steps toward me. "How may I help you, miss?"

"Well, maybe you can tell me where I am, for starters," I say.

"Ah!" The man waves his arm grandly at our surroundings. "This is the Hollow Earth, Agartha."

"The Hollow Earth?" I repeat turning around. "Then this isn't another world?"

"Oh, no," says the Conductor. "It isn't anything unnatural, either. It may not conform to the…ah…accepted theories on the Earth's consistency, but I assure you, it is very much a part of our world."

"It's hotter than London," I say, tugging at the sleeves of my jacket. "Brighter too."

"Ah, yes. You'll get used to the balmy temperature," says the Conductor. "It's for the bees, they prefer it." He says, pointing as one buzzes around his head before droning on its way. He smiles wistfully. "Their honey is remarkable, though the aftertaste—a bit like machine oil."

"It's certainly nothing like what I expected," I say, still looking around. "How is all this under Ealdwic?"

The man's lips tighten. "It's not directly under Ealdwic, as such. Not directly under anything. Agartha's thoroughfares sprout from the Tree of Life itself, and connect back to the surface via portals," he says. "Time and space bend in here. Why, you can cross the globe in a brisk walk! No one's entirely sure how it works…quite bedeviled the science boffins, but I'm assured they have their top men on it. Top men!" He blows out his mustache a bit, and I get the impression he doesn't have nearly the confidence in these top men that he's trying to convey.

I can hardly blame him. My head spins just trying to take in this place, to realize it's real. "When Sonnac said he'd arranged transportation for me, I never imagined this," I say.

The Conductor chuckles. "Well, I do hope you're not here for the local service, it's running somewhat tardy." He digs out a large brass pocketwatch. "By my watch it's one hundred years overdue at quarter past the hour." He clucks disapprovingly then tucks the watch away.

"Good thing I'm not taking the subway," I manage to say, thinking with half a mind that the Conductor's comment on the last time this platform was in ordinary service explains why Ealdwic Station has been turned into a bazaar. The other half of my mind is still trying to come up with some kind of measure for the size of the tree trunks spanning the room. I stop when I realize that Agartha seems big enough to swallow the Grand Canyon several times over.

Meanwhile, the Conductor begins to slowly pace around me, looking me up and down. "Judging from the cut of you, you're more of a world traveler than a subway passenger," he says. "Well, you've come to the right place. This underground realm, like the great British rail system, is the very model of efficiency. Speaking of which, here comes one of our Custodians right now."

He points to a 12-foot-tall armored giant. It took me a moment to realize it's actually a robot, an enormous man-shaped automaton that looks like it walked straight out of a steampunk story. It's all elaborate brass plates, thick pipes, and clockwork gears built into a thickset torso with arms and legs about as big around as I am. "You're custodians are giant robots?"

"Yes, well, modernization encroaches on us all…ticket machines, indeed," says the man. "Good for addition, I don't doubt: always with the correct change. Yet somewhat lacking in the human touch, like my thunderous companions here." He gestures to the robot, which is marching toward us along a branch.

The sound of heavy footfalls and clacking gears grows louder and I shift uncomfortably, forcefully reminded about how narrow of a platform I'm standing on, and how limited my options for escape are at the moment. "Um, should we be moving out of the way?" I ask, taking a step backward.

"Not at all," says the Conductor. "In fact, I do believe the Custodian is coming to meet you." He sees my horrified expression and pats my arm. "There, there, don't be frightened. They're not dangerous. Quite tame actually. They serve the same function as myself, in many way: greeting and orienting the travelers of this great realm. I doff my cap to them, though. For how many centuries they patrolled these stations alone, who can say? I pride myself on dedication and punctuality, but they are the original article." He stands beside me, watching the robot approach and his face grows wistful. "What faces they must have seen! Many gentlemen explorers—ladies, too—have stepped before you into Agartha's honeyed halls. That pleasant Norwegian chap, for one: Amundsen."

"Amundsen…" I turn the name over in my mind, partly to distract myself from how very, very big the robot approaching me is. "There was a Roald Amundsen who explored the poles. I remember he was mentioned in a book about Earnest Shackleton."

"The very same," the Conductor tells me. "Yes, you're in fine company, fine company indeed." His smirk turns up the end of his mustache. "I vouch a ticket machine wouldn't tell you that."

The robot stops in front of us and extends its hand over my head, fist held closed, fingers down. I see a small brass orb clutched between its massive fingers and I realize it's about to drop it. "Go on, don't let it fall," the Conductor encourages me. "You'll need it." I hold out my hands and the robot let's go of the orb. It falls into my hands and I clutch it to myself.

"Mind your fingers," the Conductor warns. I feel a button under my fingers and move my hands quickly away from any possible controls. I turn the orb around and examine it. One side it's a simple sphere of engraved brass. On one face, though, there's a circular opening to an interior pulsating with blue light. It has only a single button on the side that must be how it's activated…whatever it does.

"Thank you," the Conductor says to the robot, giving it a small salute, at which it slowly turns itself around and heads back the way it came, leaving the two of us alone. The Conductor turns to me, then, and smiles at the orb in my hands. "Fascinating devices. Fortunately, there's still enough to hand them out like sweets. Consider it your anchor to the Hollow Earth. It can return you here in a flash, proverbially and quite literally."

"That sounds pretty useful," I say, and carefully tuck the orb into my pocket, careful to arrange it in such a way that the button won't get accidentally pressed. Agartha seems like an amazing place, but it wouldn't do me any good to wind up here unexpectedly.

The Conductor nods his approval and motions me forward with a wave of his hand. "Well then, let's get you to your destination, then, shall we? Tell me, world traveler, where are you bound?"

"Please, Chris," I correct. "I'm headed for New England, Solomon Island. I'm sure you've heard of it."

"Heard of it, yes, and I'll lead you there directly," he says, motioning for me to walk with him along a branch. "But if you're referring to more recent events, well…topside-speaking, I must admit to falling a touch behind the times, out of date," he admits, adjusting his collar. "You understand, though, a massive floramechanical network won't run itself. One always finds something needing doing down here. Wouldn't want to bore you with my tasks though. Suffice it to say I'm more of a groundsman than an engineer. Were we to vanish from the world—perish the thought—Agartha would still perpetuate a golden age without tarnish." He pauses at that and then lowers his voice. For the first time, his face holds a touch of concern. "I say without tarnish, but in confidence, troubling events are afoot." He waves a hand to the endless golden abyss below us. "Tremors of a distant thunder, outpourings of a horrific black water…I believe it gathers far beneath us in great reservoirs, and yet, I haven't the nerve to put that theorem to the test."

"Is Agartha in danger?" I ask.

The Conductor shakes his head. "I shouldn't think there's anything to worry about here, not yet in any case." Then he clears his throat. "Well, listen to me go on about the rot in the Tree of Life! I'm sure you have so many pressing cloak-and-dagger affairs to see to, up there in the world of man. Here we are then!" He points to an archway of golden wood beside the pathway. In the center of the arch, a membrane is glistening, like the one I stepped through before. I can see through it what appears to be some sort of old attic, and beyond it a dusky autumn forest. The Conductor motions me through the portal and smiles. "Onward to the New England coast, what!"

I nod, suddenly reminded of why I came, of what I may be facing. While there's nothing immediately dangerous in sight of the portal, there's no telling what waits for me beyond it. I shoulder my assault rifle and concentrate my magic. Then, I push through the membrane to the other side.


Author's Note: One odd side effect of any MMO is how all the NPCs will act as if it's the most normal and uninteresting thing in the world to see your character wandering around like a heavily armed freak. They will carry on casual conversations with you while you brandish incredibly dangerous weapons. The Secret World has its own way of lampshading this when you get to Kingsmouth, which will show up in a later chapter, but I thought it good to mention here, where Chris would certainly have noticed the distinct non-reaction of the people of Ealdwic. To be fair, Ealdwic has its fair share of freaks living in Darkside. There's even a fighting pit there for supernatural monsters, so simple open carry of a weapon shouldn't elicit any comment.

The helpful Templar isn't in the game, but the Conductor and the Custodian are. In the game, the Conductor is referred to as the Stationmaster, but since I'd already called him "Conductor" in a previous chapter, I decided to let it stick. I used as much of the Conductor's dialogue as possible, not only from his cutscene but also from his various dialogue options, reworking it as necessary.

Roald Amundsen is twice mentioned in the course of the Solomon Island mission. He was the Norwegian explorer who was among the first to reach both the North and South poles, before he and his crew vanished during an attempted Arctic rescue operation.