Author's Note: Into the rabbit-hole we go!

34 - Syianne

Imagine outer space, except the stars are every possible colour. I'm as light as wind, drifting down and down in a gentle dream. It's too beautiful to understand. I want to take the earphone out of my ear and listen to the utter silence. I smile behind the Lightsilver mask.

"If you drift down like that you'll only get there tomorrow," Sagastus materialises next to me looking impatient. "I haven't got all day. Hurry down."

I feel puzzled, I look at him, but with his face covered and his goggles on, he's not as threatening as he usually is, "How?" I ask.

"Will it," he says, plummeting down like a rocket. I look after him, still floating gently and enjoying every moment. But I shake my head, I can't allow myself to dilly-dally while I'm supposed to be doing something else.

I guess this isn't quite the Zephyr yet. I imagine I'm a stone, falling through swampy water, I look down and see nothing but colourful lights on a black background, as I begin speeding towards them. I imagine I'm an arrow, going straight and directly towards Sagastus. I feel the pull of the wire attached to the front of my body; I try to will more speed, thinking I'm a rail-car, thinking I'm a train.

My feet meet something firm, but not hard. The lights are bigger now, the size of people's heads, and they huff and hum all about me, floating everywhere. I look down and see nothing but black.

"Come, this way." Sagastus says. Which way? There are no ways, no paths, just these lights. I reach out to a nearby light, but it slips away keeping just outside my reach.

"Those are wraiths, just echoes of power — this is the Observation layer, it teaches us of things underneath."

"Are we going deeper?"

"Yes, but not from here, it will be difficult for you to pass to the next layer from here. Follow me."

Suddenly, there is a path, he walks and the lights move aside. It feels strange to walk on something that isn't even a floor. "What are we stepping on?"

"We're walking on top of the layer under us," he says this as if it should have been obvious to me.

"Is it like oil on water?" I try to sound smart.

"Yes, the bigger the power, the heavier it is, the lower it sinks. We do not know how deep the Zephyr goes, no one has ever seen the end of it. Many have tried, never to return."

I think that maybe somewhere down there the people taken by the Zephyr are still alive. I know better than to mention the missing people now. We were already warned that the biggest superstition around this place is to talk about the Zephyr taking people while within the Zephyr.

As we walk, the wraiths become more and more scarce. They become bigger and are shaped differently, until finally we're walking mostly in the velvety blackness, passing the occasional solitary wraith that spins on its spot and is as large as a human being. There are long expanses of darkness between wraiths, but even though there is no source of light, I can see clearly before me.

I suddenly notice a large cluster of wraiths, of all sizes and shapes. They're crowding around two Jewels in silvery suits walking ahead of us. "Why are the wraiths acting that way?"

"Power is attracted to irregularities; they brought in something that is usually not brought in."

One of them turns his head to look at the other; I recognise the profile, "Cello!" I call.

"He can't hear you," Sagastus's voice tells me through the earphone. "Voice does not travel through the Zephyr."

He's only a few feet ahead and I run forward, eager to see him — I am no longer scared of Sagastus. The wraiths slip out of my way as I come on Cello from behind, tapping his shoulder. He turns, surprised. His face is illuminated by his glowing diamond; so that means that my Jewel is my flashlight in this darkness as well.

He gestures with his hands, showing me that he can't talk to me. I feel puzzled; I don't know how to tell him what my channel number is. Then an idea strikes me, I press the button on the side of the earphone. "Cello, I'm U6619," I say. I don't know if I just got in trouble for using the public channel for a private communication, but I don't care.

Cello smiles and nods, unclipping the controller from his front strap and entering my channel number. My own controller vibrates, I unclip it. U6618 WANTS TO TALK TO YOU, says the screen. I press OK.

"Cello? Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear. Jika, this is Syianne," Cello's pairing waves. I can't hear him, I wave back. From the corner of my eye, I notice Sagastus glaring at me. He's impatient because such an important man shouldn't be following a teenager around on her first Plunge. I'm suddenly curious and suspicious as to why this is, why would he even bother with me? Why not send a replacement like Old Flent had?

"I have to go on, I'll see you above." I say to Cello. I hurry after Sagastus and into the blackness.

"How do you know where we're going?" I ask Sagastus. There are no more wraiths and while we're walking and walking, surrounded by black, it feels like we're staying in place.

"Sight is deceiving within the Zephyr. When you let go of sight, you will be able to feel."

I can still hear Cello's voice while he talks to Jika. It's like listening to someone having a telephone conversation. It sounds like he's having fun. I wish I could be with them.

"Here," Sagastus says, as he takes another step and sinks into the layer underneath us, vanishing out of sight. I follow him, stepping on the same spot. I feel that it's bouncier, but I can't seem to sink down.

"How do I..."

"Will it," he cuts me off impatiently.

I imagine myself a knife cutting through blackness. I fall down quickly into the next layer.

I land on what feels like powdery sand and stumble backwards onto my bottom. Purple glitter rises up in a cloud all around me. I quickly scramble to my feet and exclaim at the sight that meets my eyes. This layer looks like a desert, with sandy dunes stretching out as far as the eye can see. The sky above is black, but the horizon is misty grey. The dunes around us are purple, but a few feet away the powdery sand is blue, and several yards away I notice red dunes.

"What's this layer called?"

"S1. It's the same thing ten layers down. These are surface layers that have been completely harvested hundreds of years ago. The sand is ancient fossilised energy and is of no use. It cannot be absorbed and it dissolves when it meets the air of the world."

I look at the glittering powder, a lot of which has stuck to Sagastus's legs, but even though I fell in it, none of it sticks to me. I take one step forward, and the sand rises again in a cloud.

As if it's running away from me. Now that I think about it, the wraiths didn't mind Sagastus touching them, but they were always out of my reach. "There is an express passage through these ten layers that takes us to L1, follow me," Sagastus says.

I don't move because the sand continues to shift aside, the dune I'm standing on is shrinking. The sand can't touch me. It somehow becomes alive and jumps away. It's as if I'm wrapped in a layer of repellent and my feet aren't actually touching the ground.

"Hey!" I cry, just as the dune dissolves completely and I pass through a hole to the next layer.

I land in a yellow dune and immediately begin drilling through it. Now that I've noticed my calamity, it seems to have grown in intensity. Sagastus appears by my side. He does nothing, just watches me, observing and learning. That's why he wanted to bring me here; I'm a case study to him.

I fall through to a green dune, and through to orange, through to scarlet and through to black. I fall for a long time, with Sagastus by my side, until a soft but firm black layer stops me from falling.

I fall down to my knees exhausted.

"So that's how it works." Sagastus observed, "A semi-conscious ability. The healers reported that were able to heal you with their power, but it was only 75% effective on you. The more conscious you are of it, the stronger it repels." He seemed smug, and was talking to himself more than he was talking to me. "The layer below us is an active layer. L1 is the farthest new Plungers reach."

I sigh, eager to have this over with. I feel like I've had enough adventure for today.

"But today, we're going to UD52. It is quite far and deep, 600 layers from here. Normally, it takes hours to reach."

I blink, Sagastus is making me feel apprehensive, "Why UD52?"

"From here on, each layer is ruled by a colour. One can find all the colours in all the layers, but the ruling colour will be abundant. There are, however, over one hundred Undefined layers. UD layers are usually empty, but occasionally, they provide the greatest sources of power. UD52 is one of those. About forty years go an enormous cluster of Black energy has appeared there, but the power has been out of our reach this entire time, wrapped in a shell that cannot be penetrated or broken."

I blink and lower my gaze, I'm still on my knees and Sagastus is standing tall above me. I sink back into my heels. "You want me to break the shell?" I ask quietly. I feel information clicking together in my brain. Tiger telling us that the Black Jewel's source of power is diminishing, that the coloured Jewels in the Core are getting cocky, Rimtake's offhand remark about Sagastus not being able to solve the problem, and the satisfaction, the immense satisfaction in Sagastus's one eye when he began to understand my strange power-dispelling ability.

I can't tell his expression from behind his goggles, but I'm guessing he's fiercely excited. So this is what the Black Jewels had in store for me, I feel almost relieved. Only, I don't know what the consequences will be if I break that shell. If I let myself believe that someone had manipulated the situation so that I'd get caught up in that riot, it could mean that the coloured Jewels of the Core were trying to stop me from doing this. The blacks have united for a common purpose and need me as their tool — but that doesn't make them my friends. I don't understand the rules of this game.

"Yes," Sagastus answers my question, "break the shell and release the energy. It is all Black energy, meant for Black Jewels. Black energy is rare, it can only be found from layer 1,200 and onward. Luckily it is highly condensed. Releasing Black energy into layer UD52 will provide for many years to come."

"Why is there a shell?" I ask, searching for some sort of indication toward what I should do. "What if breaking it will release something other than Black power?"

"Don't be afraid to interfere with the Zephyr. It is our job to interfere, it is the reason we exist. Whether we choose to act, or not, there will always be dangers involved. Even if it is not your choice to do this, I order you to. You will be inconveniencing Leolan and his team gravely if you disobey me."

I'm given an order, and an ultimatum. I can't act out of line and do what I want. I should fear Sagastus now more than ever, and while he looks at me with scorn and contempt, I feel nothing of the wariness I felt before. It's because of the riot, I know, I'm not afraid of people's games anymore. Once you get burned and experience that feeling, fear becomes a different monster.

I don't know if what I'm doing is the right thing or not, that's why I'll act first and find out later.

"Alright," I say, rising to my feet.