Phantom Pain (trilogy)

Flooded Catacombs

Chapter 28: Flooded Catacombs

The first thing I noticed was the woman who guarded the Holy Grail. She was standing on something, organizing, delegating.

The second thing I noticed was how wet the floor was. It was a thin layer, just a half centimetre above the stone, but there was water there, and it splashed up as we ran through it.

Gavyn grabbed my arm. "Come on."

He pulled me towards the woman. Both of us expressed that we would be happy to go deeper into the tunnel, even if it meant wading through the flood water. I knew I would not get lost in the dark for I had the light of my sword, hanging by my side.

"Ramiel!" Ambriel's voice caused me to turn my head.

She had managed to get downstairs, and was pushing her way through the crowd towards us. Most did their best to get out of her way, but it was packed down here, and there was only so much they could do.

"What of importance are you missing?" Ambriel addressed the Guardian right away, all business. "I will fly in and get it, no matter how deep in the catacombs."

"The flooding is bad in there," the woman warned, though obvious relieved to have Ambriel here.

"I will be fine."

"The doors will be held closed by pressure."

My brother didn't even bother to answer aloud. Her hand caressed the hilt of her sword, in her blue eyes was reflected the quickly moving beams of a hundred flashlights.

The woman nodded. "There's this book..."

I would have loved to stay and listen to what it was that Ambriel had to retrieve, but Gavyn was beckoning at me frantically. He was already heading off down one of the halls. I jogged to reach him.

"We're going to where it's most flooded. They say the doors are stuck, but I figure you can do something about that."

One fork later, Gavyn lead me through an open door and into a hallway where the water quickly reached our knees.

"Catch." Gavyn tossed me a waterproof flashlight.

We were about the test the true extents of human engineering, because things were about to get wet in here.

"Try this door here," Gavyn pointed to the closest one.

I tugged on the handle. The water held it in place. I could blast it in, sure, but I wasn't sure if that was the best idea. The rooms were air tight, demon proof too, as I remembered being told earlier. I felt as if I would be doing more harm than good opening them. I voiced these concerns to Gavyn, and he looked conflicted.