The loud, repetitive sounds of heavy hammers striking metal anvils in the Foundry Quarter slowly faded behind them. The group continued to walk. They moved downward along a steep, winding street carved directly into the white stone of the canyon. This lower section of the market was known to the locals as the Gut.
As they walked deeper into the canyon, the light from the sky disappeared entirely. The street was lit only by pale, floating glass orbs. The commerce of the Beast-Kin became progressively more strange and difficult to understand.
The temperature of the air dropped significantly with each step they took downward. The heavy smell of burning coal and cold steel was replaced entirely. The air here smelled heavily of wet parchment. It also carried a sharp, bitter odor that smelled exactly like raw electricity.
Elias Thorne walked with a strict, measured pace. He placed his boots carefully on the uneven stone ground. The new heavy leather combat harness and the thick stone plates pressed firmly down on his broad shoulders. The physical weight grounded his thoughts. He kept his eyes moving constantly. He scanned the wooden stalls, the floating platforms, and the dark alleys. He looked for hidden weapons and fast exit routes.
Chloe walked closely behind him. Her new suit of dark blue silk fit tightly against her skin. The thin silver threads sewn into the fabric buzzed with a low vibration. The magic in the threads interacted directly with her nervous system. It made her highly aware of the people around her. She could feel the heavy physical pressure of their emotions as they passed by.
They took their time exploring the Gut. The merchants here did not possess the animal traits of the Beast-Kin in the upper levels. They defied normal biology.
To their left, one merchant consisted entirely of a large cluster of floating, purple coral. It did not have a mouth or eyes. It communicated through a series of rapid, clicking vibrations that rattled the air. The coral sold recorded memories. These memories were stored inside transparent, fleshy polyps that emitted a pale light.
Elias watched a tall, four-armed buyer approach the coral. The buyer handed over a small bag of heavy gold coins. The coral vibrated loudly and detached one of the glowing polyps from its main body. The buyer took the polyp and pressed it directly against his forehead. The polyp dissolved into his skin. The buyer gasped loudly, his four hands shaking, and then he walked away with a strange, satisfied smile.
To their right, another stall was operated by a being that lacked a solid physical body. It appeared to be made entirely of dark, moving liquid. The liquid shifted and reshaped itself constantly behind a wooden counter. This entity sold luck. It packaged the luck into small, physical wooden boxes lined with dark velvet.
Further down the street, Chloe saw a creature with long, pale fingers selling physical pain. The pain had been extracted from dying animals. It was contained inside small glass jars. The jars vibrated violently on the table.
Chloe felt a deep, strong sense of curiosity. Back on Earth, she would have pulled out her phone instantly. She would have recorded the coral, the liquid shadow, and the vibrating jars for her followers. Now, without a screen to hide behind, she simply watched. She absorbed the details of this dangerous world with her own eyes.
Elias did not stop to look closely at any of the stalls. He maintained his focus on reaching the Smoldering Catacombs. He needed the sword from the blacksmith. But a specific structure ahead of them forced the entire group to halt.
Near a sharp edge of white rock, a stall sat completely apart from the rest of the dirty, organic market. It was a strict, geometric structure composed entirely of floating chrome cubes. The silver cubes hovered perfectly still in the air.
The seller sitting inside the structure was a humanoid figure constructed entirely of polished, black obsidian-glass. He had no visible facial features. There were no eyes, no nose, and no mouth. Beneath the transparent glass of his smooth head, a cloud of bright violet light moved in continuous, complex patterns.
The glass figure sat cross-legged on a hovering metal platform. Elias watched as the entity reached forward and touched a small, glowing orb to the foreheads of three different merchants standing before him. The merchants immediately stepped back. Their faces went completely blank. They turned and walked away without speaking a single word.
"Stop right here," Vaelira ordered quietly. She stopped walking and immediately tightened her grip on her long metal spear. Her silver eyes fixed heavily on the glass figure.
"What is that?" Elias asked.
"That is a Cosmian," Vaelira answered. Her voice was tense. "They do not originate from the Wilds. They do not trade in gold or weapons. They deal exclusively in information and absolute truth. You need to stay away from them to be safe."
Elias nodded and prepared to walk around the floating cubes.
But Chloe did not follow him. The bright violet light inside the glass head fascinated her. Her intense curiosity overpowered her fear. She ignored her father and took three steps forward, moving closer to the hovering platform.
As Chloe reached the edge of the chrome structure, the faceless glass being lifted its head. The violet light inside its skull instantly reorganized itself. The light swirled rapidly and formed the distinct, simple shape of a human face just beneath the surface of the glass.
The entity looked directly at Chloe.
"I am Kozmo," the entity stated.
The voice did not travel through the cold air. It did not come from a physical throat. Instead, the words spoke directly inside the center of their brains. The sound vibrated against their eardrums with a cold, precise tone.
Kozmo tilted his glass head slightly to the left.
"I know your face," Kozmo projected into Chloe's mind. "Three solar cycles ago, a female human stood in this exact location. I conducted a transaction with her. She had your exact facial structure. She had your exact biometric markers. You look very similar to her."
Chloe stopped breathing for two full seconds. Her face turned pale.
"A human?" Chloe asked aloud. Her voice shook. "Why would any creature in this place look like me? Are there other people from Earth here?"
"You are not the only people from your species," Kozmo answered calmly. "There are many humans currently existing within the Tiers. I have seen many in city of light."
Elias stepped forward quickly, placing himself right next to his daughter. He was completely surprised by this new information. He had assumed their transition into this world was a rare accident. The fact that many humans were trapped here changed his understanding of the tactical situation entirely.
"Who was she?" Chloe asked, leaning closer to the platform. "Where is she now?"
"I sell data. I do not give it away," Kozmo replied telepathically. The violet light inside his head flashed into a bright, sharp white color. "I can provide her exact identity. I can provide her current coordinates. I can also explain the exact science of how humans travel between these two worlds."
"What is the price?" Elias asked. He kept his hands near the heavy leather straps on his chest.
"I require a memory," Kozmo stated. He looked at Elias. "Give me the memory of the first day you felt true, absolute peace. I want the real human emotion. I will extract it directly from your brain."
Elias frowned. "You want to read my mind?"
"Listen carefully," Kozmo continued. "I will not read it. I will cut the feeling out of your head entirely. You will remember the dry facts of that day, but you will never feel the happiness of it again. The comfort will be permanently destroyed. Taking the emotion leaves a dark void in the mind. It will leave a small amount of corruption inside you. That is the price for my information."
Elias closed his mouth. He looked at the faceless glass entity. He weighed the cost of the trade.
He turned his head and looked at Chloe.
Elias remembered the Whispering Marshes. He remembered how the raw magic of the Aether had erased Chloe's common sense. He remembered her bright, glowing purple eyes and how she had pressed against his back, completely confused. He remembered how he had to grab her wrists with a hard, bruising grip to snap her out of the magic's control.
His strict military training had kept his own mind sharp when the magic attacked him. He knew this world wanted to break them mentally. Voluntarily giving up a piece of his sanity for answers was a very dangerous mistake. If he let his mind become corrupted, he could lose his focus. If he lost his focus, he could not protect his daughter.
Elias looked back at Kozmo. He needed to avoid a fight with this cosmic entity. He decided to use a polite de-escalation tactic.
"No, thank you," Elias said. He kept his voice calm and polite. He reached out and placed a firm hand on Chloe's shoulder, pulling her slightly backward. "We are in a bit of a hurry right now. We will come back later."
Kozmo did not move his glass body. The white light inside his head shifted. It formed the clear shape of a small, knowing smirk.
"Yeah, you will," Kozmo whispered by watching them go.
As they walked away, Chloe could not stop her curiosity. She turned her head and looked back over her shoulder.
Kozmo was already dealing with three new customers. He was holding a glowing orb in his glass hand. But his faceless head was not looking at the new buyers. His head was tilted sideways, pointing directly down the street.
Even without eyes, Chloe knew he was watching her. They made direct eye contact through the glass, and the cold feeling remained inside her head long after the chrome stall disappeared into the dark shadows of the Gut.