[Freezair]

In a city beneath the waves, two Kitrell flew.

Their hearts had not stopped thumping since the moment, eon-like minutes ago, when writhing, dark shapes had leaped from the water and pulled them into its depths. But these beasts had not sought to drown them; Ailbhe and Ciara had been kept alive by some strange force, and spat out on the docks of this strange, viridian city. Whatever force had brought them here apparently did not think they could escape easily. They had been left unattended, since there was nowhere to run to.

But that wouldn't stop the sisters from trying.

They and their fellow captives had struck off to explore the city, and regardless of what their captors thought, they would find a way.

[Freezair]

As far as they could tell, no other creatures flew through the air in this strange place. So Ailbhe and Ciara refrained from flying too high and looking at the city from above. Instead, they soared low, between the strange, otherworldly pillars that made up the underwater city.

The forms of the buildings called to mind architecture from around the world. This one was narrow and straight like a modern skyscraper; this one had lumpy outcroppings on its gables reminiscent of the gargoyles on a Gothic cathedral. This one had the curved roof of a pagoda; this one was staired like a zigguraut. And yet all of them were riddled with regularly-placed yet irregularly-shaped holes, windows into a dark interior. Ailbhe got close to one and almost threatened to enter, but she zoomed away quickly, unwilling yet to try.

[Freezair]

The city was surreal, and yet Ciara thought it strangely beautiful in its way. All the world's most magnificent buildings were in one place, and she thought the soft edges of the city's strange, eroded look made them feel more approachable. But there was still one thing extremely unsettling about it:

Its emptiness.

So far, neither she nor her sister had seen evidence of another living thing. After the creatures that had brought them here had left, they were alone in the city save for their fellow prisoners. And they seemed to be alone still.

The brief thought of it sent Ciara shivering over to Ailbhe's side.

[Freezair]

Then Ailbhe thought she saw something.

Until now, the sisters had been quiet, but the shock made her speak. "What was that?" She pivoted in place, trying to catch a glimpse of the thing that scurried in the corners of her vision. She dove down towards the thing that might have been a street, chasing the person or creature or... whatever it had been.

She glanced left and right, but saw nothing.

And then, as if millions of insectoid legs were running up and down her spine, her back began to itch.

[Freezair]

She felt her vision blur, in the same way it often did when she'd just woken up. Reflexively she landed to try and rub her eyes. But the blurring seemed to change color. Whereas things here had been green before, suddenly she saw spots of blue and pink. Tendrils of blue and pink--like veins beneath flesh in the maw of some hideous creature. Everything she saw misted over into lines, and she hardly noticed herself crashing into the side of one of the buildings until pain blended with her itching and she felt herself fall.

[Freezair]

"Ailbhe!" Ciara cried. She swooped down towards where her sister had fallen. Ailbhe lay sprawled out on the ground, her vision roving madly.

Ciara felt the itch and the press of the blue and purple as she descended. She remembered her encounter with the captain and her mad chanting, the way she had felt then. It had been awful. She felt as if she'd been flying through molasses. But she had persevered against the tide. It was all a matter of willpower.

"Ailbhe! It's all in yuh mind! Jus' fight it! Yuh can do it!"

[Freezair]

As she lay exposed on the ground, Ailbhe felt the blue and purple close in around her. It seemed to pulse against her. She felt the colors move in and crush around her, swamping her in their gooey arms, then move away. Strange biting sensations crimped her ears and her wings.

I'm being swallowed, she thought. Something has gobbled me up and I'm going down its gullet.

Distantly, however, she heard her sister cry out. "It's all in yuh mind! Fight it!" And she felt a nudge different from the ones she had been feeling.

She forced her wings against the walls of the esophagus and rose.

[Freezair]

Ailbhe felt the familiar touch of her sister's feathers against her shoulder, even though she couldn't see. She heard the flapping of wings. Unsteadily, she followed the sound of them, beating her wings more than necessary to rise. Her sense of balance was spinning. She did not think she could fly straight. But she felt a steadying wisp of a touch and tried to follow.

Her vision cleared and her steadiness restored. Soon, she was flying low above the city as she had been before, with no trace of the creature she had followed below.

[Freezair]

"What was that?" Ailbhe wondered, perhaps louder than she'd meant to.

"I dunno," Ciara said. "But sumthin' like that happened tuh me back on the boat. We haven't had a chance tuh talk about it, but when I went tuh get the captain, she wus chantin' this weird spell. But when I went tuh her, it made me feel... all weird in muh head. I got all itchy, an' it wus like bein' in a dream, 'cuz I couldn't fly fast. Jus' like now."

Ailbhe shuddered. "I told yuh, sis. It's like Dad's stories. It's monstuhs what make you go crazy jus' from lookin' at 'em."

Ciara gave a response shudder. "I think, even though we didn't see it, there was some kinda monstuh down there doin' that to us."

[Freezair]

Suddenly, their backs began to itch. A scratching noise began deep inside their ears, behind their eardrums, and radiated outward.

Blue and purple began to mist over their vision. In the clearness in the corners of their eyes, they thought they saw more things move. Hallucination after hallucination poured from the strange, windowlike openings, filling the streets like a river made of fear. The scratching and itching filled up their ears and brains and souls.  

Sweat and dread soaked their fur.  

"MOVE!"

[Freezair]

They neither knew nor cared which one of them had shouted it. They bolted away, picking any direction but behind--the tide of unseeable creatures behind them rushing after. When their wings faltered, when they tried to catch a breath, the colors in front of them swam, and the air pulsed like an ill heart against them. But when they sped away, their vision cleared and their minds were free.

The buildings beneath seemed to hum with a new energy. Though if they looked directly beneath them, they saw nothing, they sensed the things waking up beneath them. The city knew they were there, and it wanted them.

[Freezair]

Itchy pressure built up behind them. They knew that if they could look back and see, somehow, they would see a roiling tide of the city's denizens pressing down on them, strange hunger in their eyes. Why they wanted them, they did not know. But neither of them wanted to stick around to find out.

The pressure behind them shifted.

The tickly bluey purpleness at the edge of their being drew away, and they felt the pursuit drop off. The two sisters landed on the edge of a zigguraut, gasping for air and trying to calm their racing hearts. Abruptly their pursuers had lost interest. A horrible creeping feeling wormed its way into Ciara's mind: Oh, gods, what if they've stopped because something worse is coming?

[Freezair]

Ailbhe nosed at the air. "I feel like we need tuh hide, sis. I dunno where... and I dunno how... but I jus'... I get this feelin'..."

Ciara shook her wings. "Everythin' here seems tuh be feelin's. We can't even see the things chasin' us, but we know they're there. S'like... s'like they only exist in our minds, but our minds are makin' it real..."

"H-h-hello?"

The two sisters stiffed. Neither of them recognized the voice. It wasn't either of them, and it wasn't any of the people who had been on the boat, either.

"In here," the voice said.

They both turned around and looked at the window behind them. After all they'd been through, neither was sure if they should trust their eyes and ears any more.

[Freezair]

Then a face popped out of the window--a perfectly ordinary, perfectly visible face, belonging to a perfectly ordinary-seeming Beach Trumpetter.

"In here," he said. "I've warded my hole with magick."

They had no reason to trust him. And yet... the alternative was being left out in the city, with whatever those invisible things were. Here was the possibility of some answers. Ciara thought it over for a few seconds and ducked inside. Ailbhe trusted her sister's judgement and popped in after.

[Freezair]

"I'm terribly sorry about all this. Which ship did you come with? The first one, the one a few days ago, or the one earlier today? Hmm... no, you'd be more dehydrated-looking if you'd been here longer. You must have come in today."

"Good deduction," Ciara said. "But what..."

He held up his fins and patted the air. "I'm certain you desire answers, yes? I'm afraid I don't know everything. Despite being half Abyssal One, I lack encyclopedic knowledge of them... yes, I am partially one of the creatures you encountered out there."

Ailbhe's jaw hung open. When she remembered herself, she said, "Yuh know, I wus gonna ask if yuh were onna the crew from the las' ship..."