Floor 25 - Chapter 4 - The Nightmare Child
The time since the Concord (plus Liz, Kizmel and Seven) had discovered the deceased victims of the Sandman had been a furious flurry of activity, as each member of the group searched areas of the country estate for something that could offer them even the slightest insight into their enemy. From their meeting in the days prior, Jet had a sneaking suspicion that the lord of the manor had known more than he let on about the Dream Catcher and possibly even knew about the Sandman - as more than a mere bedtime story, anyway - but proving that was proving to be an almost thankless task as he and Koharu trawled through volumes and tomes in the library.
Fascinating as the deep dive into Lyusulan culture and history was, it wasn't exactly yielding much by the way of results, and right now, results were pretty damn important - especially with a homicidal creature on the loose. Still, the mention of certain elements of the old magics was certainly interesting, and whilst he knew that Aincrad didn't have magic anymore, that didn't mean that certain elements didn't still retain some prominence in the society. After all, Kizmel had described their menus as such; ''magic scribing'' if he remembered correctly?
''Jet, look!'' Koharu showed him the book she was looking through, and directed his attention to a map. A series of mostly grey lines, interspersed with solid black lines in places, with connecting lines to them. At first glance, he'd have suggested it was a kind of network diagram - after all, he'd scribbled enough of them in school notebooks to recognise one - but that didn't explain what it was a network of.
He was fairly sure that Emstrey didn't have its own train lines or bus network, so that ruled those out, but what else might a town the size of Emstrey have a network of?
Communication lines? No, they'd have been more obvious by now. What else did towns and cities keep underground that might not have been wanted above ground? ''Oh!'' His jubilation quickly turned into disgust... ''Eww...''
''Jet?'' She glanced at him, eyebrows raised.
''It's a diagram of the sewers.''
She grimaced, a similar level of disgust on display. ''Why are some of the lines black though?''
''I suspect those lines are the catacombs, Koharu.'' Kizmel, having returned from her search of the lord's bedrooms, informed them.
''Catacombs?'' Koharu asked.
''Old mines used to store the deceased. Underground cemeteries, basically.'' Jet answered, before allowing a quip to escape. ''Where better to hide a death trap, eh?''
''Indeed... only a small problem though, that map is nowhere near to scale. It took years to map, and that was with an entire force of cartographers, and even then, sections of the catacombs remained off limits to them.'' Kizmel explained.
''What if we could narrow it down a little bit more? A specific area of the catacombs, rather than all of them?'' Koharu thought aloud, before picking up another book they'd set down earlier and taking a map of the town out of the back of it.
Without talking, she'd placed the two maps together, and pulled out a light crystal, allowing the two pictures to be overlaid. The topographical map showed the hills of and around the town, which noticeably formed an almost complete ring around the town. ''The hills line up with the ''sewers'', right?''
''Curious...'' Kizmel seemed lost in her own thoughts as she checked the map again.
Without any thinking, Jet opened his menu, pulled out a pencil and started drawing lines on the map. If Koharu was right, and those hills lined up perfectly with the ''sewers'', then he reckoned they weren't sewers at all - they were like ley lines!
''Kizmel, when we were talking with the lord of the manor, he mentioned something about the locals using the Dream Catcher for power, right?''
''He did, yes. What are you thinking?''
''It's hard to say, but maybe they're being used as ducting channels for the energy that the Dream Catcher used.''
''It's like ley lines, right!'' Koharu thought aloud, though there was a surprising sense of enthusiasm behind her theory. ''They built the town in such a way to catch the energy around the town, maybe?''
''Unless any of us are time travellers, I don't suppose we will ever get an answer to that one.'' Kizmel answered, somewhat confused by the discussion of ley lines, but accepting it as something of their world, rather than Aincrad. ''Still, it doesn't help us find the machine...''
''We kind of do though. Those lines all intersect somewhere, see?''
''And if I were a betting man, I'd say...'' He drew a large cross over the top of the intersection. ''...that X marks the spot.''
''The more I see of you pair, the more I am convinced that you must be blessed by the Tree.'' Kizmel mused, as she looked at the map and chuckled. ''Yes, I would say so too.''
The moment of triumph for the trio was interrupted, as a rather exhausted looking Sanya burst her way into the library. ''I think you may want to see this...''
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She'd been right too - they had wanted to see what she'd found. An obvious clue to the location of the Sandman, as it turned out.
Too obvious, in fact. Most clues weren't just outright directions or coordinates to a specific location, and yet, this clue was almost just that, along with a cryptic note promising that it'd be a show to remember for the audience present...
Despite what Sanya said, Jet wasn't so dense as to walk into a trap unaware. He would walk into one, if he felt it was the better of the outcomes, or if he failed to see another option, but in those cases, he was always aware that he was marching into the gaping maw of a trap waiting to snap down on him. The Sandman had clearly left this note for a reason; most likely that it wanted them in one easy to reach place, where it had to do the least amount of legwork... or more likely, to throw them off another scent.
The scent of a mechanical contraption that lay under Emstrey, and was currently draining the town, no doubt.
''So... we all agree this is obviously a trap, right?'' Rain asked, clutching at her arm to try to keep it away from one of the mummified corpses in the smaller room.
''Hard to imagine it being anything else.'' Sanya said.
''Undoubtedly.'' Seven agreed.
''May as well have written ''This is a trap'' on it.'' Phillia nodded in agreement with the other girls.
''So we aren't actually going to go, are we?'' Lisbeth asked, a look of unease on her face as the room fell silent. No doubt existed in his mind that everyone was considering what the note said - the bit about it being a ''show to remember'' suggested that it was likely somewhere used for entertainment, whilst the audience comment filled him with a sense of dread, one that he could tell was dawning on Koharu and Rain at least - that the Sandman might have hostages.
He thought about it briefly, coming up with the most basic outline of a plan. ''Not all of us.'' He explained, and Lisbeth looked on with an almost blank look, clearly unimpressed with the fact that they were actually considering it. ''The Sandman is expecting us, right? It clearly wants us for some reason, and I'd say that is to stop us snooping around for the Dream Catcher. Which is bad news for it, because we think we know where it is now.''
''We do?'' Asked almost everyone bar Jet, Koharu and Kizmel in stereo.
''Yeah, we think it's in the catacombs near the waterfront.'' Jet put the two maps against the window, and allowed the two maps to become translucent under the light. ''Which is why we'll go and stall the Sandman, whilst another group handles the Dream Catcher''
''And by another group, you mean?...'' Lisbeth asked, apprehensively.
''Koharu, Kizmel and I will get its attention and keep it.'' Jet stated, before a wave of realisation swept over him like a tsunami... he hadn't actually asked either of them whether they were okay with the idea of being what was functionally bait! Still, neither voiced any annoyance at him for the assumption, before he carried on. ''Everyone else heads through the catacombs to the point on the map, and turns off the Dream Catcher somehow.''
Despite how mad the plan sounded, even to him, only one person spoke up. ''I... would rather come with you.'' Seven stated, a slight trepidation in her voice.
''You are not.'' Somehow, he and Rain spoke almost in unison, causing a small shudder from Phillia.
''Can you not do that please...'' She muttered in annoyance.
''Sorry.'' He answered, before turning his attention back to Seven. ''I get you want to help, and we appreciate it, but if this goes south Seven, we don't know how well you can fight, or how long we can hold it off for, if it turns on you.'' He decided not to voice his theory on why the Sandman seemed to target children more often than not, even if it would no doubt scare her off the idea. After all, it was only a theory, rather than anything solid at the moment...
''I understand that, but...'' The young girl paused, clearly trying to think of a convincing counter-argument. Eventually, she settled on possibly the least convincing argument he'd ever heard... ''If I was with you, the numbers would be even. Four of us stand a better chance than three, do we not?''
He turned to Rain, expecting her to say something to try to dissuade her sister, but all that was forthcoming was an apologetic look, and mouthing the word ''Sorry''. He turned to Koharu, expecting her to back him up, or at very least, offer her own words of advice to Seven. She did not, though she was clearly looking for the words to say...
Defeated by default, he sighed in resignation. ''Okay Seven. If anything goes wrong though, you run. Understood?''
''I understand! I'll do you proud!'' She stated, a confidence only present in those unaware of what they could be walking into...
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Whilst the girls investigated the possible lead in the catacombs, Jet had decided that he, Koharu, Kizmel, and only after a lot of persuasion, Seven, would investigate the extremely obvious trap that the Sandman had left for them. The note had called for them to attend a show in town; a show that the note promised would be ''one to remember for them.''... though notably, forgot to tell them where this show would be.
Which had led to a little bit more detective work, and something that Jet had remembered from yesterday - amongst the stalwarts of the spa town aesthetic that Emstrey had adopted, was a picture house, as the tour guide he'd talked to yesterday had called it. A building that showed moving pictures of legendary exploits, and tall tales, they had claimed.
In other words, it was a cinema. The perfect place for a show, he'd come to realise...
Walking in, Jet had an immediate sense of unease, very far from the usual cinema experience he had back home. No, this felt more like walking into a derelict house that hadn't been boarded up, and the atmosphere of the building made sure to play that vibe up. The lobby was far bigger than almost any cinema he'd ever been to before - bar the one on Cabot Circus, but that was nowhere near comparable - and the lobby seemed absolutely deserted. Any quieter, and the cinema would've been covered in cobwebs, proclaiming it to be the last cinema in the world.
''Think we've missed the late show?'' He asked jokingly, looking at what appeared to be a list of times for showings. Considering that it was only 8pm, and the last showing on the board was at 9:30, he could at least be sure they hadn't, but that further added to the unsettling nature of the place. White stone pillars rose to the ceiling across each wall of the lobby, whilst champagne red curtains draped over the walls between them, and mysteriously, no ushers seemed to be present either; which was even more unsettling...
''This is strange, it is never this quiet...'' Kizmel stated, looking around the lobby to no avail. ''I believe your earlier assessment was correct, young Seven.''
''It certainly feels like it might be...'' If Seven was happy about the possibility of being proven correct, she certainly didn't show it, Jet thought and he materialised 20 Col, and placed it on the counter.
''Well, we've paid... might as well go in. See what's past the gate, right?''
Walking through the gate, where, normally there have been where an usher who checked their tickets, he realised that Koharu was no longer close to him, but rather doing her best to become part of him, with how tightly she was holding onto his arm. ''You okay?''
''Just a bit unsettled, I'll be fine.'' He could only barely make out Koharu's voice against their footsteps, she was that quiet and he knew that wasn't a good thing.
''I get you, feels an awful lot like we're walking from scene to scene in a horror movie...'' He admitted. ''Or an advert.'' He quietly added in his head.
''I never did like horror movies... I was always too scared of them.'' He didn't even need to see her face to know the look of frustration on it, no doubt at her perceived cowardice, that just the atmosphere was freaking her out. ''I don't know why, but I just... everything here feels, wrong, I think.'' She muttered whilst stopping to turn and face him. ''Jet, I... I'm scared. This whole floor, I don't know if you can feel it, but...''
''It's like the Nineteenth again, right?'' He all but stated. Since Kizmel had mentioned the nightmares overrunning the people of Emstrey, he'd had a bad feeling that this would be a rerun of the Nineteenth Floor, but now? A rerun of that was looking increasingly like the best case scenario, as the town outside crumbled around them...
''Ye-yeah. If things go wrong, then what?'' For once, he honestly didn't know, nor could he even make so much as a guess. He just hoped that the girls could disable that machine, or else they were all screwed...
Deciding not to let it show just how anxious he was either, he changed the subject slightly. ''Remember the Fifth Floor? When we were looking for that gambler?''
''Yeah?''
''Scaredy Cats Anonymous, remember?''
''Idiot...'' She smiled, letting out a small laugh. ''I'm serious though, what do we do if we run into something we can't handle?''
''What we always do, I think.'' He admitted.
''Umm, what do you always do?'' Seven asked from ahead.
''If I remember the way he phrased it, it was ''make it up as we go along...''.'' Kizmel gave him a knowing smirk from beside her, enough to cause him to wither slightly.
''I said we improvise a lot! We do usually have a plan...'' He defended. ''Besides, no plan survives contact with the enemy, right?''
''If you say so...''
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As a child, there had always been a sense of excitement to a visit to the cinema - that excitement had usually subsided after their mother had fought off an outburst at the cost of snacks for four or five children, plus herself, admittedly, but it was hard not to have a similar sense of anticipation, even amongst the trepidation of what they might find in there.
Momentarily, Jet wondered what that said about him; that they could be walking into a massacre, and here he was wishing he'd bought some popcorn, because the cinema experience simply wasn't the same without it.
Regardless of his brief introspection, the group had found the door to the screen, and walked down the dark and narrow corridor to it. With no light but the currently blank screen wall in front of them that was slowly coming into view, it was hard to make out any kind of surroundings, or even the geometry of the place. He was pretty sure they were on the far side of the screen, below the seats, but that was about it. Unlike the modern multiplexes he'd been to, there was no luminous strip on the floor, no fire escape signs, just darkness...
Until they exited the small corridor, and the horrors of the screen room became apparent. Corpses in every seat, each of them arranged as if they'd been made to sit down and stare at the wall, despite the lack of film. Each body was almost drained of anything resembling life, almost looking as if a mummy had been unwrapped and posed for the Sandman's sick amusement. So much for a hostage situation, he thought to himself
As everyone else focused on the mummified bodies sat in their seats, his attention was increasingly drawn to the wall at the front that acted as the picture house's screen. This was far from what Kizmel had described to him of the stories, from what he'd seen with his own eyes back in the lab on the 19th Floor and from Harley House; then the people had been turned almost to dust, almost as if... ''Nah, it can't be, that's far fetched even for Aincrad!'' He muttered to himself, as the screen turned itself on to video footage of what looked to be a dark, dingy place. An alleyway leading to a multi-storey car park, by the looks of it, with a cinema besides it and...
His blood ran cold even just thinking about it. ''What the hell...'' He commented, almost frozen in place, an emerging look of horror on his face as the shaky footage panned around. "That's Merrywalks..."
"Merrywalks?" Kizmel asked, somewhat confused. It was clear from her expression that she didn't understand where that name came from; it certainly didn't look very merry! "Wait... That is your world!?" He couldn't help but feel like that was an expression of being completely underwhelmed by that revelation, and he didn't blame here - Stroud was a bit of a dump.
"Ye-yeah." He stuttered, hoping it was just some stock footage taken from a similar angle, rather than what he was increasingly dreading was about to hear and see... again.
"Jet, remember what we discussed outside..."
"Oh, he does Koharu..." An unfamiliar voice spoke. An ominously British voice; the type of exaggerated voice you only heard from a movie villain, or... oh. So that was how this was going to be, was it? "He won't run though, not again. Last time, running left him on life support, after all..."
From the shadows in front of them, a tall figure, clad in a familiar purple coat, atop gunmetal armour walked out. The figure's hair was bright orange, an almost perfect match for his own - in fact, almost every detail from the small pins he'd kept on his coat, to the strange dangling chain things on his scabbard, was an almost perfectly copy of himself. All things, except one important detail - the eyes.
His eyes were a lighter blue, a colour Koharu had told him resembled a blue sky on a summer's day. The creature in front of them had yellow eyes, and a mocking smile on its face as he looked it over. ''What do you think? I chose this look specifically for you...' It spoke, keeping the exaggerated British accent going. ''It's curious, all of the trauma you could deem your worst nightmare, and the worst... is yourself.''
He chose to remain silent at that, giving the creature a scowl reserved only for those that you wished would suffer an explosion in the cranium. Sadly, the universe wasn't so kind, and the creature masquerading as himself continued to talk. ''Of course, I can see why you'd be terrified. For the first time, you can see yourself, what you've become...''
''What he has become, is a hero for many!'' Kizmel attempted to step in, but he put a hand in front of her to keep her back. A sure sign to all three girls that this was his fight, not theirs. A sign that Koharu blatantly ignored, standing besides him and placing a hand on his, before offering him a smile. A wordless conversation took place, the couple communicating by facial gestures and body language alone seemingly.
A closer look at the creature's armour gave him some more clues about it. It resembled a nightmare he'd once had of himself; a man hell bent on death and destruction, the man who, in his nightmare, had tracked down all those who'd wronged him... and slain them. Every mark on its armour matched perfectly - kill marks.
''You aren't me. Not any more, not ever. Just some creep wearing my face, and mocking everything I stand for...'' He stated defiantly. ''You know all of this stuff about me, because you've been looking through my memories all month, and this is the best you can do? You're just trying to hit every button you can, in the vain hope that one of them does something..."
"I'd be impressed that you reasoned all of that on the limited information I allowed you... of course, that would be if I hadn't given you the thought already." His alternate self snarled.
"Go on then, if you reckon I'm such a coward... show yourself. The real you, not... that."
"If you so wish..." The identical copy of himself began to disintegrate, and he realised one thing; he was not sleeping tonight, not after watching an image of himself melting into dust in front of him, and something about the shuddering he felt from Koharu told him she had a similar thought. However, stood in front of them was no longer a bastardised form of himself, but a completely nondescript entity.
Humanoid, sure, but in terms of details? It was a blank canvas. Not even its face had anything by way of features, and that was somehow more unsettling than seeing the nightmare incarnation of himself...
Still, facing down the Sandman for the first time had made Jet realise just how different this experience this was. Certainly, he'd stood up against monsters before, the memories of confronting Alaz back on the Thirteenth Floor coming back to him - the egotistical nature of the Flame Shooter was certainly fearsome, and the rivers of napalm had been an unpleasant surprise for all of them, but this was a very different creature stood in front of them.
Alaz reckoned itself to be a force of nature, an unstoppable being that triumphed over all who stood before it, a pile of scorched corpses being all that it left of them...
Of course, they'd proved the Flame Shooter to be full of hot air, and had demonstrated what happened to self-professed "gods"...
The Sandman wasn't that though. The creature was a genuine force of nature, and even its mere presence felt... wrong. A concept of humanity personified, the creature was so far removed from everything they'd fought so far that it felt like it deserved it's own category - a super-boss, perhaps?
"It takes a fool to stand before me, and an even bigger one to challenge me... Children." It bellowed, loud enough that the film on the screen behind skipped slightly...
"It takes a fool, yeah, but I think you forget something... there's one born every minute."
The Sandman let out something resembling a snort of amusement. "You interest me, humans. You are not children of the tree, unlike your elven friend... yet you stand here as this world's guardians. Why?"
"Because they see you for what you are! A parasite on this world, gorging itself on the terror its own legend generated!" Kizmel shouted, incensed by the
"I am a god amongst you... creatures." It spat, a level of bile in its words almost never seen in conversation.
''You are no god! You are just a creation of humans, a series of ones and zeroes programmed to be antagonistic! You don't scare any of us!'' Seven had strode forward, ignoring Kizmel's attempts to pull her back and was now passing past Jet, something he'd finally noticed.
''Oh? You think so, do you, child? Look at your friends and tell me that again... they are terrified. As you should be...'' At first, a single tendril of sand popped out from the creature, then another, and another...
Until about the fifth one, which flew straight towards Seven, forcing the young girl to the ground as it slammed into her chest. ''Are you scared of me now, child?''
''SEVEN!'' Koharu screamed, attempting to cut through the tendril that was separating them, only for it to almost immediately reform exactly where it was. So that was how this creature was going to play it, Jet realised. Well, this wasn't going to go as it banked on, not if he could help it...
''It-it hurts... please...'' She whimpered, in between screaming in agony. It took less than a second for Jet to decide on a course of action, consequences be damned! He inched close enough to the tendril now impaling Seven that it was less than an arm's length away, and pulled out Hope. With a single perfectly choreographed slash, the tendril and stepped into its path as it reformed...
The tendril made contact with his chest, and he fell to his knees, any strength in his legs disappearing immediately, whilst he felt his life - his soul even - being torn apart. "You're not a god, no. Far from it! Those stories of you and your reckoning; that isn't reckoning at all! You feed on the stories, on the potential of people... that's why you left nothing but dust in your wake! You fed off them so completely that nothing was left!"
This... thing, whatever it was, it had left death, destruction and misery in its path for centuries, and now? It had the gall to think itself a god... ''I thought, maybe, you could be reasoned with, but now I understand something... You don't feed off the dreams, the nightmares, the terrors under the bed of children, because they're the easiest... you do it for some other reason, something children have in droves... potential!'' He shouted, as the Sandman took his form again, an angry snarl on its face, clearly fed up of his talking.
''You feed off those stories, the ones yet to be written!'' He paused, considering just how bad of an idea this was... "I'll give you one then. Mine... You want my life story? All that potential you soo desperately crave! Then take it! Every damned decision I ever regretted, every friend I ever made then never saw again, every day I cried myself to sleep wondering if I was cursed to misery! Every single black day I saw no reason but some poxy song lyrics to go on!"
Every single word tore a part of him away as he spoke, a pain incomparable to anything experienced before it. Despite feeling as if his soul was being wrenched from his body, it didn't matter! Not anymore! Stood in front of him was the manifestation of all of his insecurities, brought to life by nothing more than a drug addicted monster with a god complex, and he was going to win!
"I may not have lived a long life, but I have seen things... things that will make parasites like you blaze! I've faced death more often than anyone should, and I'm not even out of my teens yet! I've witnessed impossible creatures and put a stop to their dastardly plans! I helped to end a generations long war, and bring a new peace to this floating rock... and no matter what name I fly; I will not go gently into that quiet night!" He cocked a small grin through the agony as he finished his speech and began to stand again. "Sorry the ending's a bit anticlimactic... I'm not through writing it yet!" He proclaimed defiantly, and with the confidence of his inspiration as he found his feet again.
Now pushing forward, he noticed the evil smirk on the Sandman's face start to waiver, before another sand tendril slammed into him.
"Jet!" Koharu yelled. He staggered slightly, the sudden impact catching him off guard.
"You wish to suffer, child... I shall show you suffering!"
Despite feeling as if his soul, his entire personality, his entire self and life, was being drained from him with three drinking straws, he regained his balance and pushed forward, continuing to shout as he did so. "You wanted all of this! So take it! Take it all! You have it all!" With tears welling up, and his face contorted in excruciating pain, he kept going until he was face to face with an almost exact copy of himself; even down to the badly rendered stubble, and that stupid bronze hair that he oh so hated!
It hadn't escaped his attention that, as he closed in, the Sandman started taking steps back, clearly concerned by what it was seeing... "Wh-what are you?!" It stammered, as tendrils lashed out against the building. In the chaos caused, the roof had started to crumble. In fact, not only was the roof crumbling, but so were the walls, and the floor, and the deceased...
"I'm the Knight of the Wind... and as for you, you should be running right about now, 'cause you just signed your own death warrant!" He stated, his tone telling the creature that his words were no idle boast - they weren't big talk, they were a promise...
The Sandman opened its mouth as if to speak, but disappeared as a piece of the balcony above them crashed down atop it. Almost immediately, the tendrils retreated again, and Jet turned to face everyone. No one spoke, looking somewhere between shocked and horrified; a funny look as all three girls now resembled slightly confused guppies from their expressions alone.
Eventually though, Koharu was the first to speak. ''Why is this place falling apart?!''
''You know we said to the girls ''destroy the Dream Catcher''?''
''Yes...'' It was hard to explain how Kizmel sounded at that, but if he had to describe it, it was as if someone was telling her extremely bad news and allowing her time to process it during the explanation...
He thought on that for a moment - he knew vaguely what had happened; the girls had blocked the pipes acting as waste disposal on the blueprints, which had led to the highly volatile nightshade and salt coming into contact, and as a result, was about to go bang. Whilst they were stood above one of the pipes that led out of it... ''Well, I think we may be about to witness the biggest explosion in Aincrad's history... whilst we're stood on top of its path.'' Kizmel blinked, as she tried to understand what was about to happen, before Koharu had grabbed Seven from the floor, and started to tug at Jet too...
''I think we should run!'' She said, as another piece of the balcony landed only a few inches from him.
''Yup! Leg it!'' He shouted, as he took up the rear of the group. Koharu, with Seven in her arms was at the front, whilst Kizmel, still uninjured was rapidly outpacing him. Despite the pain he was still in, he pushed for every muscle in his virtual body to move as fast as it physically could. Rest would come later, but right now, he needed all that energy in order to not by crushed by a falling boulder!
''Jet!'' Between him and the girls, a column collapsed in front of him, forcing him to pause in his escape to look around for a way past the crashed column.
He shouted to them, as he tried to clamber over the column. ''Hang on, I'll be-EURGH!'' He was interrupted by a stabbing pain through the back; a familiar one at that:
The Sandman.
''Goodbye, ''Knight of the Wind''. It's been fun... for me, anyway.'' It spoke with such a condescending tone that it was hard not to picture his uncle's image over it, despite it being his voice it was speaking with, and being unable to see what image it had actually taken on. With no warning, the ground began to crumble beneath Jet's feet, and he fell through the floor, into the tunnels below the town.
In what he briefly considered to have been the first stroke of good luck that evening, neither the Sandman or its tendril had followed him into the tunnels, though the howling noise from downwind somewhere was probably a pretty good reason why - it hadn't lost him in the chaos of the collapsing building at all...
It had thrown him into what was about to be an incinerator, and he had no way out. He was crippled from the fall, unable to stand, with no helpfully sized room in crawling distance and with no special item to halt the flames.
In that moment, he realised something.
This was where he died. Not in some last battle, but cremated by the violent aftermath of an explosion.
''Oh god.'' He muttered sadly. When he'd been younger, his father had told him there were three types of people; those who saw the light at the end of the tunnel, those who saw the dark of the tunnel... and those who saw the 12:36 to Temple Meads hurtling towards them.
Well, a massive fireball was no Thames Turbo, but he supposed it fit the metaphor anyway. For a split second, his mind thought back to Koharu, and to everyone in the Concord (even Sanya), and he let a smile come across his face in what he assumed would be his last moments, as he thought about them all...
Simple stuff like sitting down for breakfast, watching Sanya bickering with everyone over the most inconsequential things, the cute little smile Koharu had on her face when she hadn't quite woken up yet, all the way up to the death defying scrapes they'd gotten into and found ways out of. No such luck this time, the fall had left him paralysed and completely at the mercy of an actual force of nature.
''You know what, I've loved every second of it...'' He said, to no one at all, and sighed as the howling wind picked up around him and pushed him to the floor. If the wind was that high, then the fireball wouldn't be far behind, and so, he raised his arm as if to shield his eyes from the blinding light, expecting it to be his last moment.
The world around him shone orange, and he closed his eyes for the last time.