'Is this what hell feels like?'
Vlad stumbled through the corridor, his mind somewhere else entirely.
The strange looks he received from the citadel's workers were completely ignored, just like any attempts at trying to help him back into his room, which he denied with a hollow voice.
He blinked, then looked up at the elevator, which was closed and covered with blaring white signs of Flux hovering in front of the doors with warnings written on them.
'Dammit.'
Vlad raised his arm and turned on his Pulseband, the pale azure screen formed before his eyes out of nothing as if it was always there but hidden from his sight.
"Call Gabriel."
He said to the screen, its surface turned into static with a small text written in the middle.
'Of course, he can't pick up now of all times.'
Vlad grumbled, his empty feeling vanishing, replaced by annoyance.
Flicking his wrist, the screen disappeared into tiny sparks.
He sighed, his eyes looking to the side of the elevator where a large opening was carved out in the white marble up to four meters and ending with an arc at the top.
When he got closer, the stairs which he always dreaded had revealed themself. The staircase itself was pretty dark, with occasional windows placed at the edges and lamps that had been broken a long time ago.
Each step in front of him was irregular; some could be stepped over in an effortless stride, while others needed an entire jump just to get to the next, strangely shaped staircase.
'I hope I can walk after this.'
His legs shook, then he got closer to the endless staircase with the sides leading either into the endless darkness below or the blindingly white upper floors.
It took him a few hours of climbing just to get to his room yesterday; his legs were sore and barely able to keep walking through the long corridors.
He sighed and started to make his way up the erratic steps, his movements strained and stiff from exhaustion.
His hand grasped onto an edge of a railing that didn't help at all as he almost slid down the polished steps. He clenched his teeth and pushed himself up the staircase.
With pain flooding each fiber of his leg muscles, his mind was starting to turn blank once more.
But he continued to scale up the harrowing steps, because the thought of having to train with Cesar after what happened yesterday to his scar made the faint echo of Jayce's gloves more vivid.
...
Citadel worker.
It's a profession not many can get, something that is given to one in a thousand people and still requires ninety hours of training a week.
For some, it may aswell be their life, as the decision to work inside an endless mountain of spotless marble was a contract for life!
Henry was sure that his life here would be full of surprises, and already on his first day on the job, he had the honour of seeing a person akin to a noble from centuries ago.
The failure of Albrecht.
A title given to those who were either the enemies of Albrecht or failures who didn't have a chance inside the rift.
'And to think he saw me doing this-Augh!!'
He hit himself in the forehead a few times, his embarrassment brimming within his reddish face.
Right now, his task was to monitor the halls in case something or someone looked out of place, but contrary to his expectations, the citadel was pretty empty compared to its immense size. Well, it would indeed be pretty hard to find someone walking through this corridor that circled the entire building.
The way citadels were built was similar and yet different. This one, in particular, was split into countless floors from the very first floor up to the skies where...
Anyways!
Each floor was separated by a layer of marble so thick that it would take a day or two to drill a hole through it. They had corridors drilled along the outer wall with long and sturdy windows at the sides, through which you could see the outside city and the faint outline of the rift in the distance.
With over a hundred rooms per floor functioning as dorms, educational facilities, and many more, which Henry of course passed.
'How boring...'
He puffed his cheeks out as he looked absentmindedly through the window, the outline of the city made his body shudder after once again reminding him of the height he was currently at.
"Must be nice to go anywhere you want."
- Thud!
A dull pand echoed from the corridor.
Shaken from his thoughts, he jerked his head away from the window and looked forward where the supposed sound came from.
On his left side was a door leading to some sort of room, but the lock was closed, the tiny screen of red flux clearly indicating that the lock was closed. A little further down the hall was the elevator, which he hadn't yet a chance to use. For some reason, the very technology this citadel was proud of was now malfunctioning right when he got the job.
'Is someone climbing the stairs?'
He thought briefly, the large arch next to the elevator was filled with shadows he himself didn't dare to walk through alone. Thanks to the power of flux, they made something akin to a safety mechanism that made them reshape and change structures until someone linked in the system was close.
'I must be hearing things.'
Henry shook his head, the boredom of his first day on the job was obviously driving him insane. Sure, he would have preferred to see someone, but watching his colleague throw up like their life depended on it made his social battery drain completely.
However, a nagging feeling of something hiding in the dark depths of the seemingly endless stairs made him walk a few steps back and take a closer look.
Squinting his eyes, he tried to pierce the shadows and see the end of the stairs.
The silence was deafening, enough to make a chill climb up his spine.
It was a few seconds, but they felt like hours, hours he couldn't waste on standing around and potentially missing something important!
'There's nothing, nothing at all! Yes! I must be just imagining things!'
A tight smile formed on his face, a habit he picked up since finishing his training.
He turned around and walked away-
- Tug
Henry shook his ankle and tried to take a step-
- Tug
'I-I said he walked away!'
But something was holding onto his ankle, like a shackle; it clung tightly around his skin as if threatening to rip it out. The feeling of cold skin and tiny nails scraping against skin made him pale.
Frozen stiff, his head gradually turned around, and to his horror, a hand had appeared from within the dark staircase, its fingers wrapped around his ankle, gripping it tightly so as not let go no matter what.
'Ah-'
'I'm dead.'
His eyes rolled to the back of his skull, followed by his body collapsing backwards on the soft, red carpets.