Clarissa had drifted for three days. She dared not go anywhere near her and Pali's home or contact Handler. Like most people, she knew of the basic properties of these rings. Tracking people was not part of it, but as the euphoria of her experience at the concert waned, she realized how strange it had been. How had LeadSingerNameTK affected her like that? As an undercover agent, there was a line between blending in and being noticed. Had she crossed it? She shuddered now at being so close to members of the Servants of the Pool with her wits so addled. She decided to take no chances. She was in a new world now, a more select world. The powers that be in the tunnels beneath the Earth City knew her.
The ring's influence was powerful in a subtle way. The Water element was as easily transformed into energy by their Conduit Plants as Earth or Air, but the lore behind it was of connection. Walking the streets or meditating on her own, she conceived the smaller things that meant everything: a furtive glance from a stranger, an idea dismissed to quickly in her mind. There was a noticing that was not there before. The intensity of the Discord was replaced with the soft glow of knowing.
But as the bulb gives light, it also creates burning heat. Her rift the other night with Pali, which she had felt but glossed over, was now an open wound. As were other failures set aside. Was her career worth her relationship? She knew a line had been crossed, but like a fractured bone, was the relationship be forever weakened or would new growth cover the crack and make it the thickest, strongest part of the bone?
These swings between hope and despair were disorienting. She felt relief when, on the third day, the promised sign came. She went out in the afternoon, she was in a despondent mood and needed to escape the walls of her run down apartment. She saw on a corner, within plain view of her door, a new piece of graffiti. It was an arrow pointing down the street with Wrhythm's symbol above it. It was achingly blue and intense. It had not been there when she had poked her head out in the morning; it could not be missed. There were several people walking by on the street. No one even so much as glanced at it.
She ducked back inside and grabbed a coat. Coming back out, she saw the sign was still there. For some reason, she had half-expected it to be gone. Walking across the street, she started to follow turn in the direction the arrow pointed, but stopped out of curiosity. Looking around, she saw that the half dozen or so people on street were paying her no particular attention. She touched the symbol. Her finger tingled where the ring touched her skin and the symbol sunk into the all. It was gone. She started and someone walking by looked at her with distaste. Her assumed identity made her look like someone a few bad days from living on the street. Calming herself, she let the woman pass. Not sure what was coming, she started off in the direction the now dissipated arrow had indicated.
About 100 yards down, she found the next symbol. Again it was searingly blue and ignored by everyone. It pointed up a fire escape in an alley. The stairs creaked with rust as she climbed. Passerby frowned as they crossed the alley opening, but no one tried to stop her. She came to the top of the building and looked out. There were taller buildings surrounding this one, blocking her view in every direction but west. The Conduit City to the north, the busy port to the south, and the wall of mountains to the east could not be seen, but through the distressed cityscape, she could see the ancient lighthouse, its intense beam clearly visible and a guide to all incoming ships.
Its stone sides were solid and older than the Conduit City, She could see the housing for the hyperdense sphere of pure Earth element at the top, acting as a counterweight to any earthquake. Under it was the hood that shielded all who did not need the lighthouse from its brilliant glow. The light was powered by cables running up its center and buried from underneath. It was one of the only structures outside the Census Office citadel that had a direct line to the Conduit Plant. That light must never go out. The port was the lifeblood of a city nestled into the mountains on three sides.
Note to self: this is here as a symbol. The Servants offer a lighthouse pointing the way, a guide in the night. In fact, this journey needs to take place at night. Fix it in subsequent drafts. But you have to go down to find this light within yourself. It cannot be handed to you.
Clarissa took all this in at a glance. The geographic strengths and weaknesses of the city were part and parcel of Census Office training. How could one maintain vigilance if they didn't know where to look? The next symbol was on a door leading down into the building.
Note: what does she find along the way? Haiku poems hinting at her fate? Items and symbolic waypoints? People to guide her? Mentorship should start here. What does the cult believe? What is it preparing her for? You know the answers. Haha, the writing is on the walls here. Work backwards. The Servants are being groomed as slave vessels to house Water elementals (incidentally, not unlike the creatures in Dark City, though the humans cannot be dead. Remember- the cult's path for new members is self-discovery and connection which leads to dominance and dependency.).
As Clarissa desecended the stairs, the symbols were closer together, every stairwell pointed down and had a story to tell. A man drank from an artesian well bursting from the ground, a woman lying on her back, serene in calm waters with a strange crescent shape she had never seen before in the sky above her, and finally, another man in robes seated crossed-legged; water pouring from his mouth in ecstasy. Clarissa touched each one, watching them dissolve into the walls as her ring tingled on her finger. She backtracked once, to see if the symbols returned. They did not. Was this path only for her?
At the bottom, there was a metal hatch with a rusted wheel on top. The wheel was painted with the vivid blue of the other symbols. She grasped the wheel and turned it, the tingling sensation spread to her whole body. Despite the rust, the wheel turned soundlessly and without resistance. A cool, moist draft greeted her. The tunnels beneath the city always had some moisture in them, there were deep reservoirs of fresh water beneath the Conduit City that resisted accurate soundings. She dropped down into the tunnel and found a single small torch waiting for her. She lit it and moved forward, following the pointing symbol.
The arrows spread out again, leading her steadily down into the earth. There were many forks and splits in the passages; there was always an arrow pointing. She was at the mercy of the directions now, finding her way back unaided would be impossible. This was likely on purpose. The Servants of the Pool had not evaded the Census Office up to now by being foolish. For the first time, she felt real tension with the mission. The last three days had been a rollercoaster of introspection, something she was not in the habit of, and these thoughts had blocked her ability to fully analyze her situation. She was in the belly of the beast now. Turning back was impossible and what going forward meant no one knew. The Census Office had never successfully captured a member of this cult.
She guessed her walk last an hour, but it was very hard to tell down here in the maze. Finally, she saw the faint glow of another light down a tunnel. An arrow pointed that way and before long she came to an open area, a small natural ampitheater with several passages connecting to it like spokes in a wheel. A couple dozen individuals sat on large rocks strewn about or upon the smooth stone floor itself. There was a dias raised a few inches above the floor, also of stone, that she assumed would be the stage. She recognized Wrhythm's members, seated quietly talking with two robed figures. Heads turned to regard her as she entered.
A robed woman not too far from her smiled and pointed at the wall behind her. Clarissa turned and saw an empty sconce between two others. Looking down, she saw very thin trenches carved into the rock, seemingly by water. There was a trickle of water flowing through the two trenches under the torches, but the one the woman had indicated to her was dry. She walked forward and placed her torch in the sconce. There was a quiet grinding in the wall and water began to flow towards the center.
She approached the small group with the woman who had pointed out the sconce. No one seemed to be armed. This was strange for a Discord, even a small, private one like this. Perhaps she had passed or could not see the guards, but she doubted it.
TK Rest of Chapter. Mentorship. What does the cult talk about? How do they groom and test potential members? I see individual sessions, physical touch and connection. Clarissa would have many questions- how did her experience happen, how were those symbols she followed made? Also, they take her ring here as a "ticket," but then give it back afterwards. She passed some kind of secret test.