With Fear or Without

17- Labyrinth Pt. 3

The square room they stepped into was nothing special. About ten feet across, it was a simple stone cube. The marble walls were pristine and devoid of any dirt or dust, nothing to suggest they were underground at all. To their right a corridor branched off, the faint light coming from upstairs fading halfway down. Cassian stood with his back against the wall with his arms crossed, gazing down the corridor. As the trio reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked over and straightened.

"There you are. Sorry for the delay, I was..." he searched for the right word as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Preoccupied."

Cassian looked much better than he had when they found him the day before. He had clearly cleaned up and got fresh clothes. As if it was a uniform, he wore the same dark pants with deep pockets and a plain gray t-shirt. His shoes were clean and new, the laces tucked in neatly. His hair was clean as well and his cuts were tended to, though they were still red and slightly swollen in places. Cleo made the connection now between his injuries and those unusual curved fist weapons carried by the petrified guards. And Rowana, of course.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Cleo responded smoothly. "I was beginning to think I was crazy. Or your note was some kind of joke."

Cassian grinned.

"Very impressive," Charlie said, glancing around the small room with exaggerated admiration. Andy snickered, trying to hide it behind her hand.

"Glad you like it," Cassian retorted. "Come on, follow me." He turned towards the only exit in the room, motioning over his shoulder for them to follow.

Cleo felt a rush of uncertainty and hesitated. The hallway Cassian was leading them down seemed an awful lot like the one they got lost in. The ones that had led them straight into shadow, into nightmares.

"Hey," Andy interrupted her thoughts. She and Charlie were already moving forward to follow Cassian. "It's not like yesterday, remember?"

"'Course. Someone brilliant said that, didn't they?" Cleo grinned. She felt better already, and when she looked down the path with the dim figure of Cassian waiting farther down, a rush of excitement replaced her uncertainty. A pull almost, to discover what secrets lay buried here.

Cleo led her friends again, trailing a bit behind Cassian as he strode forwards with no hesitation as he turned corners. It wasn't completely dark, despite being underground and the total lack of light sources. The walls themselves seemed to emit their own light. Not glowing, per se, just making themselves seen and lighting the way for wanderers.

Cleo wanted to ask Cassian her many questions. She wanted to use this time to get answers, even just to find out more about the person they rescued. As she was searching for the right words, Charlie beat her to it.

"So, where exactly are we?" they called from behind Cleo. Their voice echoed lightly off the walls as they ran their fingers on the stone. Their apprehension seemed to have faded, but Cleo suspected it had just lessened, still festering in the back of their mind like a red flag hovering consistently on the edge of their vision. She was seeing it herself. 

"Well, that's hard to explain," Cassian answered without turning around.

"How surprising," Andy commented, just quiet enough so Cassian couldn't hear.

"We're not underneath Grant Park, if that's what you're asking," Cassian said. "It's more like... another layer of reality."

"Yeah... that doesn't even remotely make sense," Charlie pointed out.

Cassian sighed, stopping in the middle of a hallway and turning to face the trio. "Okay, so there's consciousness. Normal life, the real world, whatever." He gestured as he spoke, designating a space in the air in front of him as 'the real world.' "Then there's dreams, a layer underneath that." He gestured to a spot beneath the first. "It has its own set of rules. It's unpredictable, difficult to control, but generally harmless. Below that..." he trailed off, dropping his arms.