Before I send my Class Card away, I flip to my messages and try to send Clutter one. A staticky burst of grey magic coats that tab before I can hit the first letter, and neon blue letters spelling 'access restricted' explains why before I can even ask. So that won't work. Maybe my map will have something else to say. More likely, it'll be restricted as well..

I swipe to it, and much to my surprise, it's still here. The map itself is nearly greyed out with flickering magic, but there's a… small circle around me of colours. Almost like me standing here is pushing away the grey. A tiny marker from Clamber's armlet pinpoints my position, and somewhere off in the distance, Denmary Well is still etched onto complete greyness. And just a few inches from my position is another marker–the same one that used to mark me.

The one that's now on Clutter's finger. I spread my fingers to zoom back in on my exact position and turn to face his marker. The map puts him inside a… wall-house… just off to the left. Actually, now that I'm thinking clearly, this place just looks damn strange.

From where I stand, all I can see are walls, the street, and the sky. But not just one wall–five walls of increasing height, each pressed right up against each other, and each with dozens of flickering lights within their windows. It feels like I'm standing inside an ancient colosseum whose seating has been transformed into walls and homes, while also split in two and unraveled into long strips. Or like I'm surrounded by two great walls of China, each with even greater walls pressed up against them.

All of which are carved out of… strange materials. My eyes tell me it's stone, my nose tells me that it's metal, and my awareness screams that it's neither. Whatever it is, it's bone white, shimmering with magic, and in absolutely pristine condition. I stuff my hands into my pockets and look around for any markers that would tell me–or anyone who lived here–where I am. Only my awareness twitches, and even that doesn't help.

"How the hell did people know where they were going?" I wonder aloud as I walk up to the wall Clutter is apparently inside. "There's no signs, no numbers, no different bricks… maybe this is somewhere everyone knew? Like… a barracks or something?"

Nothing appears to answer my question. I cock my head to the side and knock the toe of my shoe against the wall. Grey magic shoots through the thing that looks like one solid object, twirling and spinning as it traces concentric spirals through the wall. The entire circle pulses once, then heaves away from me and rolls out of the way. Opening the way into the wall, and revealing that Clutter has already found something to mess with.

He lazily looks over his shoulder at me and grins. "Shelby! Come look at this! I think I found one of those anchor things the quest is talking about, but it's either broken or I don't know how to make it work."

"Already?" I lean through the not-quite-tall-enough entrance and glance around the inside. It looks like a hallway. A nice tunnel, sure, but a tunnel still. "Did you appear right next to it?"

"Nope. I spent… like… ten minutes looking. Then I came right back here to wait for you. And then it started to rain, and the rain yelled mean things at me, so I went into the wall for shelter." He turns and proudly presents a glass tube of slimy blue goo in a grey translucent liquid. "Want to try? You're better with all this random magic stuff than I am."

I furrow my brow and step right up to him. The 'door' slides back into place behind me, and the flickering firelight that seemingly comes from everywhere grows slightly brighter. He nods at the forearm-length tube and inches it a little closer to my chest. I take one hand out of my pocket and accept the thing–which doesn't feel or seem like much at all.

"Clutter, how long have you been here?" I ask as I flip the thing around. "I went in after you as soon as I could, and the thing I talked to only held me up for… three or four minutes at most. That's not long enough."

He shakes his head. "Nope, it isn't. I'd say the distortion here is probably… one to ten? So one minute outside is ten minutes wherever we are. That's way better for us than the inverse, because imagine coming out after a hundred days and finding out that it's been a thousand or so days real-time. That'd be messed up."

"So forty to fifty minutes, then. I guess that checks out."

"Yeah, close to that. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less, but pretty close. Oh, I already tried identifying the tube, and it told me it was an anchor catalyst. So–wait. Catalyst means something that makes something else go." Clutter sighs and shakes his head. "Dang it. I knew I should've talked out loud while I was working, but I didn't want to risk anything finding me."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Anything? "You've seen monsters?"

"Oh, no, not monsters. I'm just being really cautious. Because of… you know…" He glances around, then leans in close. "Stonestep Solutions is here somewhere."

Clutter nods seriously as he steps away. I can't fault him for being cautious, but since we haven't seen anyone yet, I have a feeling we all got sent to different parts of the city. Depending on how big it is, we might not see anyone else for days. Or we could have a dangerous run-in before three hours pass. I hum to myself in thought, then send the catalyst to my inventory and motions for Clutter to lead the way.

He stares at me blankly. "I don't know where we're supposed to go. Honestly, I don't know how you knew where to find me. Where was the first place you checked?"

"Right here. My map lead me to you." I summon my Class Card for a second, then send it away. "You've got one too, right? Does it not work?"

"Nope. Actually, almost everything doesn't work. Here, take a look." He summons his Class Card, then stands so I can see as he scrolls through a mass of greyed-out tabs. "The only things I have access to are my stats, identify, quests, and the plastic."

"Just those?" I narrow my eyes as he swipes to his inventory, and sure enough–every square but the ones with plastic are either empty or greyed out. "Huh. I guess the quest didn't bother telling us that we won't have access to all our shit. Your spells and skills still work, though?"

He nods and sends it away. "I tried almost all of them, and each worked just fine. It's only the things and a bunch of normal Class Card functions. That's probably why your map works, right? Because you got it looking for this quest?"

"Seems like the most logical answer." I reply and open my Class Card to check what's greyed out. Almost all my items, my messages, my buff screen… basically everything. Except, for some reason, my shellraiser items are still here. "Looks like a few of my things survived."

"Aw, lucky." Clutter grumbles. "I bought a bunch of stuff for this, and now it's going to waste. But hey, that just means you'll be better at protecting me! So it isn't all that bad."

I nod absentmindedly as I stare at my inventory. The only reason I can think of for these things staying is because they're tied to my Soul. So if anyone else has a weapon tied into their class, like Ursula with her briefcase, they'd be able to bring it in too. That means I can't assume people will be unarmed. Not that I was going to, but now the doubt won't even be in my mind.

"Alright, Clutter, lead the way. Find us one of these anchors."

Clutter blinks. "I don't know how to do that."

"Yet." I pat him on the shoulder with a smile. "You don't know how to find one yet. But you're the scout I'm trusting here, so you'll figure it out soon enough. Doesn't seem like the time limit is incredibly strict, so even if it takes a day or so, that's fine."

He purses his lips and glances down the tunnel. Tiny wisps of magic lick at his eyes and ears like fireflies dancing in the night, and the tension in his shoulders doesn't increase or decrease as he silently stares on. I step to the side to let him focus, tap my heel against the wall, and step out into the street to try and get my bearings.

Now that I can get a better look at it, the sky is… weird. Clouds and some grey spheres in the sky look more like cardboard cutouts glued to a giant glass dome than actual things, but that doesn't mean they aren't real. Nothing looks like it's producing the dim light that coats the city in a grey, ghastly glow–but again, that doesn't mean nothing is.

As I stare up at the 'clouds' and 'moons' as they slowly but visibly move across the sky, warring senses of ease and unease clash in my heart. Ease for the fact that I'm apparently safe from the system here, and unease from the absolute unknowns that we're staring straight in the empty face. I rub the holster on my arm and try not to remember Clutter talking about how the rain yelled at him, then turn back and stare at Clutter staring down the tunnel.

I give him five minutes of silence. But that's enough. "Do you think you're going to be able to find the anchor? Or should we just start walking?"

He smacks his lips, then nods to himself. "I think I can find something. These low-ground tunnels are just for walking, so they won't be here. I looked in the next two walls up, and each of those have their own things about them. Oh, and don't stand in the streets if you can help it–the weather is really volatile here."

Just as he finishes his words, one of the grey circles in the sky creaks open on a massive hinge. Searing light pours through the open space, and it instantly feels like I could get a sunburn just from standing outside. I grimace and shield my eyes from the 'sun', considering for a few seconds what I want to do. Then something lands on my arm with a woody 'pop', and a flare of pain lances through my nerves.

Tiny, pea-sized embers rain down from the open hole like hail. I blink in disbelief, and when the second one scorches my knuckle, I hiss in annoyance and step back inside. Before the door can slide shut behind me, I notice a small flare of magic in the material that makes up the street–and the ember disappears before it can hit it.

"So that's why the street wasn't wet." I note as I shake off the char. "So where are we going, Clutter? One of the upper walls?"

He nods and points straight up. "I saw some tower-like things on the highest parts of the walls. If I was going to put anchors somewhere, that's where I'd put them."

"Sounds good." I motion at the part of the wall that doesn't lead to the street. "Lead on."

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