Chapter 6 - For the Record

After what must have been  another solid hour of Nyx attempting to dote on the Philip (despite she  herself stating that she’s intangible), my patience finally runs out.  Sure doesn’t help that I’m starting to feel a strange ache, and I can’t  quite figure out what or where exactly is aching.

(You’re hungry.)

Oh, is this the mana thirst thing again?

(Yep.)

So what you’re saying is I need to hunt.

(Yep.)

Alright. Well, you can’t leave my perception,  and I’m not staying here, so say goodbye to Philip. I’ve got places to  see and people to eat.

She’s not showing any signs of doing any of  that, so I take the initiative to pick up the portal key and head for  the teleporter platform myself. And of course, as the door closes behind  me, she’s standing right by my side, as if she was there waiting. She  looks tired, but from the sideways look I get from having observed it,  she’s probably not even capable of sleep. Wait, am I capable of sleep?  Nyx’s brow begins to furrow, before I quickly think that no, haha,  obviously I don’t, what kind of wraith would have to sleep. Ha. Haha.  That’s silly. Anyway let me just activate the teleporter AND

And I dissipate. And rematerialize back in  the alcove by the street. I very intentionally open the door, absolutely  not accidentally when I phase through the door and the portal key makes  contact with it, causing it to open when I was already mostly through.

(You’re finally growing an ego, huh?)

What?

(Spontaneous humor. It’s one of a handful of things not well emulated by advanced runic intelligences. It’s hard to fake.)

In my defense, in these circumstances there’s not much more I can do than laugh.

Ooh, that got a sigh. The hunger pangs  haven’t stopped though, in fact they seem to be getting worse, so it’s  time to find a snack. But, the streets remain empty.

(Location and time of day.)

Ah, I see. So people won’t be here now, and that’s normal.

I’m absolutely not surprised at all to  continue seeing zero humans (or equivalent) as I drift along.  Eventually, I start wondering if I should have been going the opposite  way, until Nyx pipes up.

(We could always try the sewers.)

Wait, there are sewers here? Why? Aren’t all the apartments interstitials? How would the waste even get here?

(Easy, hotshot. The folks with money, usually  with Systems, are the ones with interstitials. Mortals probably can’t  even muster up the mana to trigger a portal.)

That used mana?

(Yep. Fortunately for you, you’re a big ol’  battery of it, enough that you probably consume or emit enough of it by  just existing that you wouldn’t have noticed the pull.)

I see. Anyway, sewers? Why sewers?

(You’ll see. Trust me.)

I’m not sure I should trust her, but I guess  it’s better than starving wandering the streets like I’m the last person  on the plane. Person? Ghost? Person-adjacent mana entity? Whatever.

(Look for a grate, and phase down through it.)

Like everything else in this plane, it takes a  while to find a grate. Why is everything so far apart? Maybe someday  I’ll get my own teleportation powers and won’t ever have to bother with  this again. Eventually though I do stumble across a grate and ask Nyx to  confirm it’s what we’re looking for, which she obviously does. And so  down I go – travel is pretty easy when you can just phase through doors,  grates, whatever.

The sewers themselves are pretty  unsurprising, showcasing uniform gray brick walls and a shallow flow of  unidentified and questionable purity liquids tracing the bottom. I’m  going to assume the answer to ‘how are the walls this clean’ is ‘magic’,  so don’t bother answering.

(Thanks for that.)

Yeah, any time. Sure. I’m just gonna keep looking for something to eat.

Takes a bit but before long I come across  some oversized rats, eating the corpse of one of their own. Bet they  didn’t get a title for that.

(They probably aren’t ascendant either. Works  a bit differently for monsters usually though, they get stronger from a  domain’s favor. Bet these ones are pestilence.)

Seems likely. They’re not particularly  appetizing though, so I leave them be for the moment and continue  drifting along, following the flow of water.

Before too much longer, I notice the sound of  splashing a ways ahead. It’s fairly controlled and makes me wonder if  whatever is making it is trying to move quietly. I take the hint and  start sneaking myself, whatever that means for a semi-corporeal ash  cloud floating above the water to begin with.

[Stealth has reached Level 1!]

Oh shut up.

I turn a corner and finally find my quarry: a  human! Or humanoid. They’re wrapped in rags that only technically count  as clothing and carrying a worn paper bag. I’d wonder why they’re so  filthy considering they’re literally surrounded by water, but  considering the water itself I can’t really blame them. They keep  sneaking glances over their shoulder with their head on a swivel as if  they think they’re being followed. They’re not wrong, but I doubt they’d  expect me.

I follow for half an hour – which I know  because apparently my System actually has a time and date feature,  handy! – and they eventually stop at a section of wall no different from  the rest, other than one brick being slightly darker than the others.  After another moment of looking around, they press their left palm  against it and mutter a few words I can’t seem to translate –

(Runic tongue. They used a skill or spell.)

What’s the difference?

(Skills are System provided. Spells are learned, even mortals can get those.)

Ah.

Anyway, the wall in front of them turns hazy  at first, and then vanishes entirely. They quickly slink through the  opening, and it reappears behind them. If it’s an illusion it’s a good  one, since the water doesn’t even seem to flow through the opening when  it reappears.

(Not an illusion.)

Fine. I manifest a feeler and give it a poke  anyway, and I get the feeling of touching a brick wall in return. On a  whim, I covertly sneak it around and give Nyx a poke in the side, just  below her ribcage. And to my surprise, I feel flesh! And, her glare.  What? I can touch you!

(Of course you can touch me, what part of  ‘intangible outside of your perception’ didn’t you understand!? I only  have a body because you perceive me to have a body!)

Wait, you said you were intangible!

(I AM intangible. I have a body in  your mind, and you can perceive yourself touching it. That doesn't mean  there's actually anything there to touch!)

So you’re material to me then?

She… doesn’t dignify that with an answer,  which comes as no surprise. But, I have more important things to  address, like this wall. I press against it, trying to phase through it  like the others, and I feel a force repelling me. Guess I’ll have to  find another way.

I spend a couple moments debating a course of action, and eventually come upon a solution. If I can’t go through here…

(Are you gonna…)

I shift six feet to my left, and then try to  phase there. I’m greeted by the inside of a wall, consisting mostly of  earth and poured concrete – oh hey, this plane is dirt based! Good to  know. Anyway I move another six feet into the wall, then turn right and  continue. I can feel the act draining me, weakening me, so I know I  can’t stay phased much longer. And then I pop through, into a hallway  narrower than the sewers but still lined with the same gray bricks.

(…Called it. At least you didn’t ask.)

I turn to my left to continue tracking my  prey, and after a few twists and turns the hallway opens up into a large  room – a VERY large room in fact, filled with ramshackle wooden  buildings, some marked with signs. A few rats near the entryway scatter  as I approach.

Which, gives me an idea. I find an alleyway, for the shadows, and drift into the settlement.

(They must have found this place, if they made that gateway they would have warded the entrance.)

Oh. So, me coming here would have set off an alarm, right? No sudden rush of defenders means no ward.

(Yep.)

Huh.

Anyway, I keep drifting along, looking for  the taste of my prey, since I’ve apparently picked up the flavor of  their mana signature… I’m guessing it’s related to a combination of mana  thirst and mana sight. I do eventually find them, at a small stand in a  clearing near the middle of the shantytown. It looks like they’re  stocking a shop with… those look like vegetables. Seeing them going  about their daily life of providing nourishment gives me an idea…

(Oh no,) Nyx whispers.

Hello, human, I quietly project as I approach from the shadows.