Throne of Steam

Alice was able to instantly force open the thick metal lid, her expression not wavering in the slightest from the exertion.

"Are you a train?" Garett asked dumbfoundedly, while he knew that Alice was strong and was wearing her mystic gauntlets, he expected at least a frown! These things not only weighed a lot but were also pressurized to boot!

"Have you tried lifting my gauntlets? They are at least twice as heavy." She smirked at him with a taunting smile, a tinge of satisfaction evident in her voice.

'You are an aberration! How can you look so delicate and have such monstrous strength? Is this the result of your ritual?' Garett felt the world crumbling, he couldn't trust his very eyes anymore!

"Don't look at me like that, I didn't choose my abilities." She said while slightly elevating her eyebrows. "Father Charles said the Goddess tailor every one of the powers she bestows to adequately fit the person; I don't think that's the case, though. Even the Goddess shouldn't have that much free time, besides… Why would she tailor something like that for a beautiful lady like me?"

'I think this power suits you well enough…' He couldn't help but think inwardly, even if he didn't dare to voice his thoughts!

The slippery stairs eventually led into nothingness, only the low sound of water and the foul smell of the sewers welcomed them in their foray; different from the outside where both of them had already come to terms with the scant illumination, the sewers were the domain of the strange creatures that had assaulted them before, and there would be no fire to protect them this time.

"So… If we are both going… Ladies first?" His untimely proposal elicited a spiteful glare from Alice, not an ounce of humor present on her face. "Alright… I was just being polite..."

"Aah…" She sighed in defeat, a sudden urge to facepalm surging up inside of her. "Alright, I'll go first."

Taking a moment to steel herself, Alice stepped forward and crouched to grab the stairs. The cold metal transmitted into her fingers a deep sensation of detachment, the scenes from before came in flashes to remember her of the powerlessness she had felt! The only thing propelling her forward was Garett's gaze, that did not waver in the slightest.

Nodding to herself, Alice steeled her resolve and continued the descent for a few moments before finally arriving at the bottom.

From what Garett could see, her figure was eventually engulfed into shadows, only the sound of careful steps convened the information of her wellbeing. The worry in Garett's heart gradually rising with every step!

And then, the humid ground emitted slight noises that echoed and multiplied throughout the dark tunnels, announcing to every being of her arrival.

"All clear," She announced in a low volume, Garett could barely hear the words from his position, but he could clearly understand the message.

'Well, thankfully nothing happened.' The unwavering gaze that Alice had noticed before was nowhere to be seen! Garett could only emit a sigh of relief! He quickly followed her in, as he was the one with the artifact.

As soon as he started to descend, the horrible smell coming from a combination of unknown fumes and human waste intruded his nostrils aggressively, a strong urge to puke emerged on his insides! The kingdom had no policies prohibiting the large factories of disposing wastage on the sewers; in fact, there wasn't even a movement from the large institutions to prevent that! The College, which specially concerned itself with the environment in most cases, never bothered with this specific part of the system.

'I wonder why… Do they also make use of this loophole for some reason? I can't remember the College producing anything that needs this kind of treatment…' Garett resisted the effects brought by the nauseating smell and focused on other subjects in order to resist his natural instincts. Eventually, the cold steel left his hands as he finally arrived beside Alice, who stared alertly into the darkness.

"What are you looking at?"

He wasn't even able to see his own hands! The thick darkness encroached the duo from all the sides; only the scant illumination from the street above barely assisted him in seeing Alice's figure.

"I'm hearing." She shushed him with a few waves of her hands. "I couldn't detect anything other than rats. Let's find the source of energy and get the hell out of here, this is no place for a lady."

'You seem pretty comfortable to me, are you sure you don't like the ambient?...' He forcefully held back his retort, as the situation wasn't appropriate; in fact, even if it was appropriate, he probably wouldn't have done it.

Focusing on using the artifact, Garett elicited Alice to follow him forward. He carefully measured his steps as to not make much noise; but principally, to not step onto anything and smear his boots beyond salvation,

"We are getting close, the source should not be too far away, as it's manifestation was limited to only the street above." He mumbled to assure himself. The lens worked especially well in the darkness, a trail of gray energy was easily distinguished amidst the shadows, just like a magic guide to his destination.

A few moments of silence passed as the duo gradually approached their destination, a thick amalgamation of grayish energy was the only thing visible in Garett's view. Tired of relying only on the artifact, he rapidly materialized another lighter and lit it up to bring light to the surroundings.

"Didn't you throw this thing back there? How is it in your hands now?" The sudden illumination puzzled Alice to no end, her face permeated with confusion. "And if you had it, why didn't you light it before!? I was walking in the dark all this time…"

"Uh…" Garett's heart skipped a beat! "I brought another one. I thought the gas of the first one would end… And it's easier to use the lens in the dark."

'Shit! I need to be more careful! If it was someone smarter than Alice, the captain, for example, I wouldn't be able to explain it…' Garett felt a drop of cold sweat forming on his forehead. He had been careless in his annoyance!

"Huh… Fine, where's the source?" She quickly dismissed him and turned to look in front of them.

"Right…. here." His excitation at finding the source instantly dimmed when he realized what was the object. A plush dog toy was mixed with the dirty water in the sewers, a slight friendly smile plastered on its innocent face! For some reason, Garett felt the same chills that he had experienced earlier in the day!

"A plush?"

Alice was dumbstruck! She had expected a mutant's body or an old artifact thrown in the sewers, but this had never crossed her mind! How could something like a child's toy be the source of such a terrifying supernatural phenomenon!?

"Yeah…" Garett carefully picked it up, his skin tingling and eliciting the hairs on his arm to stand. "What… do we do now?"

"Burn it." She shrugged, a small relief was evident on her face. "That's the easiest way."

"Don't we need it to… investigate? We don't even know where it came from…"

"These are the sewers, Garett. Every child in Lhûn could be our culprit at this point." She dismissed him and turned to leave, content with the results of their mission. "Let's leave, I don't want to stay down here for any minute longer than I have to."

"Every child?" Garett's eyes suddenly widened and his body froze as Vincent's figure surfaced his head! From every child in the city, none of them seemed more suspicious than him!

'Could it be him? It sure is suspicious… I don't know when the Almirs arrived at Lhûn, the first record of the phenomenons are at least a week and a half old…' Garett needed more information to base his hypothesis, but every instinct of his pointed in this direction! The indescribable sensation he felt when seeing Vincent's smile would forever be imprinted in his head!

"Yeah… let's leave." He grabbed the plush toy and inspected it while following Alice, hoping to find anything to help with his deductions. "Huh?"

"What is it?" Alice questioned while walking after hearing his surprise, not bothered to turn around and look at the recruit. "This place is giving me the creeps, and I feel dirty all over! I'll need to bath a dozen times to get rid of this feeling…"

"There's an initial at the plush's paw…" A glaring letter written with black ink was the only indication left by a former owner of the toy. Even if the ink had mostly faded after who knew how many days in the sewers, Garett understood it after some time staring at it. "It's an N?"

"Good, now we can discard every child with a name that starts with every other letter." Alice ridiculed while starting to climb the cold steel stairs, hoping to arrive back at the surface as soon as possible.