Splosh. Splosh. Splosh.
Two minutes. "How big was that thing...?" Bast muttered, as he continued to step. The tunnel had yet to end -- its thin brick layers crowded with dirt and anything in between."No wonder nobody comes here..."
A perfect place to leave Greyfair undetected. Somewhere above street level, the guards must have still been looking for him; alleyways, dark corners, abandoned buildings... maybe even the inside of toppled crates. Really makes you wonder if the tunnels were next...
"...I better hurry," his amber eyes strained through the dark as he spoke.
It wasn't far now. There were multiple exits or drainage ends that laid at the end of these tunnels. Bast had simply chosen a path that led down, down south of the city.
Splosh. Splosh. Splosh.
Why south?
'The Ashen Causeway....'
A phrase he'd heard countless times by merchants and street vendors alike. A long winding road shrouded in wreckage and decay -- a memory of the old age. A singular path those with business ventures travel through to get to Greyfair.
He ran his hand across his face as he was stuck in thought. 'If I can flag a merchant... maybe I can even make my way somewhere safe.'
It was an optimistic thought, from someone who hadn't experienced many optimistic events.
Splosh. Splosh. Splosh.
As he stepped, his hand clutched the Coin in his pocket. There'd be time to discover what the Coin truly was once he got out. Time to maybe even ask questions, if that was allowed.
Dark brown hair swayed as every few paces he'd turn around, checking to see if that rat was still there, watching -- the hairs on his neck seemed to flutter at the thought, even after he'd ran as far as he could.
Splosh. Splosh... splosh...
The sound changed.
The thick echo of the tunnel began to thin. Replaced by a faint draft brushing against his face, Bast squinted ahead; it seemed the darkness seemed to soften into a dark grey.
"Is that--?"
His steps slowed, breath hitching for a few moments.
There. It was a round outline. Stone rim. A metal grate left crooked.
The exit.
His fingers twitched as he seemed to clutch the air. He stared at it -- the boundary of everything he knew, and everything he didn't.
"Hhh," he sucked a cold breath.
His whole life. He didn't know who his parents were, all he knew was the streets and back alleys of this city. The only 'sanctuary' he had. The only constant he was used to, apart from hunger pangs throughout the night.
"The cage door..."
He swallowed once, then stepped toward it, boots dragging through the last inches of murky sewage water.
splosh... splosh... splosh...
"Finally."
Something seemed to fill his stomach at that moment. Was it curiosity? Or a small hole of something darker widening?
It was hard to figure out.
He reached up, fingers curling around the lip of the hatchway as the wrappings across his arms seemed to flutter at the dull draft up above. The stone was slick, wet under his tips. He pulled--arms trembling harder than he expected--until his chest scraped against the rim; a grunt escaping as he did so.
"Grgh!"
The air hit him fully.
Cold.
Open.
Real.
His hair swayed under the wind. The sky was dark, but brightened by stars he had hardly ever seen before. Maybe it was his brain just making the scene more special... but something seemed to press on him; the Coin reacting alongside him as it seemed to brighten in his pocket.
He stuck his head fully out, before pushing up. This hatch was buried into a forgotten strip of Greyfair's outer ring. The first thing he noticed?
The air was dusty, packed with a brownish hue. It seemed to be a patch of land where the city's spine had seemingly been left to rot under first impressions, as right in-front of him broken slabs jutted out from the ground like ribs of some ancient beast, moss crawling over their edges.
To his right, the remains of an old wall slouched sideways, half-swallowed by dirt and time. Rusted metal pipes poked out from rubble, long dead and stiff. A lone lantern pole laid across the floor, snapped clean in half.
To his left a few trees poked out from the ground in a distant relationship -- the others seemingly already lost to time. Further along, the outline of large rocks stuck out, large in mass. Mountains.
Had the surroundings of the south side drainage tunnel's exit, always appear to be so decrepit and hollow; it directly clashed with the night sky up above.
"...Maybe The Warrens wasn't the worst place in the world after all."
A small chuckle followed.
It didn't look... bad.
It was different. A type of nature he wasn't used to. He knew stalls, alleys, rain dripping from two story buildings and running through slanted pipes. Not jutting slabs, mountains previously shadowed by a wide city, scattered trees and dusty air.
He pulled himself out of that hatch as he stared moments longer. The last of the tunnel's stench fell around as he stepped onto real ground; the rough ground meeting him softly.
Thk!
For a moment, he stood there. Everything felt big. Open.
The Warrens had crooks and corners. Greyfair had alleys and street lights.
Here? There was nothing to hide between or into.
"Haaa..." he took a breath of the air. "Does it smell different?" he asked himself.
He adjusted the seams of his coat, as his pants fluttered by his ankles due to the wind.
"Okay," there was only one thing on his mind.
He had to find it.
Before he got too hungry.
Before anyone trailing caught up.
Before he got lost to wind.
The Ashen Causeway.
If he could find that road -- the one that veins out, leading caravans through ruins and wreckage. If he could find it... maybe he could survive.
He dug into his pocket, taking out the Coin under the night sky; it's edges seemed cleaner than it was dormant.
"Just maybe I'll make it out..." he whispered as he stared at it. He'd been forced to this path... so he might as well take it.
His fist clenched, covering the Coin under the cover of blood and flesh. He turned one last time, staring at where he came from. The distant city walls that he could barely squint at.
"I'll be back one day when I figure it out," the words coming out slow.
His face looked neutral, but bordered on the emotion of being lost.
"Make sure you guys stay safe..." the faces of multiple people flashing through his mind. There was nothing much else to say.
He turned toward the dark horizon and took his first step--because staying meant dying, and moving was the only thing he knew.