Trials of Iron and Steel

The Ugly Truths

Fear can rule your life, but only if you let it.

Oliver Martin knew this very well. He had feared that his wife was cheating on him for a solid year now, but never tried to do anything about it.

He was scared. Oliver was truly terrified that the love of his life no longer felt the same way. Until now, Oliver didn't think that anything would ever come from his suspicions. Although he wasn't happy about it, he was content enough to just go on pretending that everything was fine.

Margaret was his entire world. She was what made getting up in the morning worth while. For five years, they had lived in what he considered perfect matrimony. It had been bliss, and he didn't want anything to jeopardize that.

The breaking point came two weeks ago when he started to notice that some of her jewelry was going missing, piece by piece.

Paranoid that she was selling it to provide a way to get rid of him, Oliver began searching for someone who could help him. He scoured the streets, investigated the most disrespectful of bars, and talked to people who would have shot him dead for a copper piece. He came to the almost ridiculous conclusion that only one person would be equipped to do the job. A girl who people swore was an actual Render.

Oliver walked carefully through the muck of the old city's sewer system. He wouldn't be able to afford a new suit for a year after paying for this little excursion. In fact, he might even have to sell a couple of his old ones. The face of a young woman flashed through his mind and instantly renewed his patience. Money was a matter that could be resolved later. In fact, it was that exact business sense that made him so rich in the first place. There was a certain give or take in the world that must be allowed.

Something Oliver hoped was water dripped from pipes overhead. He wasn't sure how long he had been walking. Moonlight filtered through cracks in the rock above. It danced along the water, teasing Oliver's eyes with shadows. A damp piece of paper had been clenched in his hands for the majority of the trip. It trembled slightly when he held before his eyes.

"Three lefts through the dim light.

Go straight until the tunnel loses both width and height.

Stop when you reach the waterfall.

It is there you will hear Mercy's call."

He had crawled the last twenty minutes as the ceiling sloped downward, but the tunnel had widened out again. It didn't say anything about that in the directions the dealer in the bar had given him. If you could call them that.

Oliver stopped. Supposedly, he was supposed to be heading towards a waterfall. That meant heading down stream. Sludge washed around his ankles in the direction he was headed. Though it was disgusting, it was informative enough. He was still heading in the right direction.

Not long after, the sound of rushing water echoed through the tunnel back to Oliver. He quickened his pace. Light bled unevenly into the carnivorous opening dead ahead. The water was roaring now. It poured over a ledge and far deeper into the unknown abyss ahead. A large gash in the rock above revealed stars. Pieces of debris and pipeline littered a path all the way back to ground level.

"Tardiness is only appreciated in death."

Oliver's head snapped up.

A monster was waiting for him in the night.

It stood half in, half out of the moonlight. Great wings of steel stretched lazily in the air. Guessing by the cold shine glinting off the edges of them, they were razor sharp. A cowl covered it's head. "Tell me, little man, what is your excuse?" All Oliver could do was shake his head and mutter slightly. His hands were trembling, but he stood a little straighter.