This is pandemonium?” Ephron glanced at Shōji who nodded his head in agreement. Ephron's lips curled into a slight frown. “I expected more,” he muttered.

  “What?!” Elliott exclaimed as he glanced around, there were stalls everywhere for as far as his eyes could see, food, clothes and tech stalls filled the entire place, with some traders hawking their product in person. He has never been to a market this large.

  “I heard that pandemonium is the most chaotic place on Lindon, supposedly housing the largest almost legal black market in the north.” Ephron explained, the look of disappointment still on his face, “This…, he looked around, “this doesn't even compare to what I pictured in mind.”

  “I've been to plazas bigger than this.” he muttered.

  “Is that true?” Elliott asked Shōji. He believed Ephron, but that was just because he felt Ephron wouldn't say something he wasn't sure of. Still, he had to confirm with their tour guide.

  Shōji nodded his head, this time with a slight smile playing on his lips. “You are quite knowledgeable.” he complimented Ephron. The latter shrugged. Elliott looked at Ephron, his expression one of curiosity with a little bit of awe. Ephron looked away, muttering that a friend mentioned it in passing. Elliott didn't believe it, but he wasn't going to question him either.

  “We are here.” Shōji glanced behind at the duo. The three of them were standing before a set of old dilapidated staircases leading down a tunnel that used to be an underground train station.

  “Down there?” Elliott gulped as he muttered, “Looks shady as hell.” he whispered in Ephron's ear, using the opportunity to step behind him.

  “Do you know that pandemonium is one of the many aliases used to describe the underworld?” Shōji asked as he stepped into the darkness, not bothering to look back.

  Elliott gulped audibly before speaking, his voice slightly shaky, “Ron, don't tell me you are going in.?” Ephron's silence was all the answer he needed. “That guy's shady as hell, are you even sure he's real? Maybe you are hallucinating.”

  “And you don't think it's weird that you can see my hallucination?” Ephron rolled his eyes, “Don't be a wuss, Eli, it's just stairs.” Ephron stared into the dark depths, his breath slightly shaky, “I'm sure it's fine.”

  Ephron took a deep breath, hid his trembling hands in his jacket and then took a step forward, proceeding down the steps. “You better stick to me, or I'll leave you behind.”

  “You don't need to tell me twice…” Elliott muttered, holding onto Ephron's hand, tight.

  They both descend into the darkness, heading further down the staircase which was longer than they expected. When they finally arrived at the bottom, Ephron reached forward, using his hand to get his bearings and balance himself when he touched something cold and silky.

  A cold shiver ran down his spine just as his heart began thumping loudly in his chest. “Eli…” Ephron spoke, his voice several octaves higher, yet barely above a whisper, “I just touched something… I think it's a reptile…”

  If there was any source of light, one would be able to see sweat pooling across Elliott's body at visible speeds, or in this case, invisible speed, his body trembling vigorously. Ephron felt like he was attached to a barely functioning moped and it didn't do anything to calm his nerves.

  “What are you guys doing?” A familiar head suddenly popped out of nowhere, hanging midair.

  “Argh!!” Ephron’s high-pitched voice echoed through the dark tunnel. Elliott fell backwards like a log. He was out cold.

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  …

  “So, none of you thought to use a flashlight?” Shōji asked for the fifth time, snorting. It took everything in him not to burst into a fit of laughter.

  Ephron blushed in embarrassment; he couldn't remember a time he had been more ashamed. Beside them, Elliott, the most pathetic of the bunch, was eating a cup of noodles, not wanting to think about what happened.

  “Shameless…” Ephron narrowed his eyes at him in a semi-glare, a demeaning scowl on his face. It ticked Elliott off, and he burst into a rant.

  “Hey, who's fault is it that we overreacted? Elliott stood up, pointing at Ephron, “Eli, I think I just touched a monster,” he repeated in mockery “Who the fuck says that?! Also, don't think I didn't hear you scream like a little girl before I passed out.”

  “Hahaha!” Shōji laughed, not able to hold back anymore.

  “You are laughing?” Elliott narrowed his eyes as he glared at Shoji, “You have a lot of nerve, Mr. ‘I'm so mysterious’.” Elliott made air quotes as he mocked, “None of this would have happened if you had simply said ‘there's a curtain down here’ or ‘use a fucking torch!’” Elliott huffed.

  He returned to his seat, “You are lucky I didn't pee myself.” He grumbled before returning to slurping his noodles.

  “I'm sorry.” Shōji apologized between laughs.

  ‘So, this is the real pandemonium…’ Ephron looked around, it was total chaos, but not in a bad way. Just within his vicinity, he could already spot a myriad of products, from rare and exotic foods to banned drugs, human parts, antiques and some latest prototype techs.

  “It's something, isn't it?” Shōji smiled, “Even now, I can't stop marvelling at it whenever I come down here.” He sighed. “We should hurry, this place never sleeps, but there are certain periods you don't want to be caught lurking.”

  ‘What's that supposed to mean?’ Elliott furrowed his brow, but he didn't ask, instead, he hurriedly finished his noodles before making sure to stick close to Shōji this time since Ephron had proved unreliable.

  Shoji led them deeper into the chaos, then past it into a quieter area, a barely lit alleyway with old lanterns instead of the modern-day fluorescent lighting.

  “And we thought the stairs were unsettling…” Elliott slowly backed away from Shōji, climbing to Ephron instead. The devil he knew was better than the angel he didn't, especially when they were walking into a dark alley.

  Ephron shrugged Elliott away from him, vengeance for being called out after the staircase debacle.

  “It's here.” Shōji stopped before the last door in the alley. He knocked three times; normal knocks without any secret pattern, and a few minutes later, the peep hole opened, and a pair of dark eyes looked at the boys.

  “Llalin.” Shōji said a code word. The peep hole closed, followed by the sounds of old locks being opened.

  ’Isn't that too much...’ There must have been ten locks being open, Ephron took a mental note. Nowadays, barely anyone uses those kinds of locks.

  The door was opened to reveal a rather young petite lady wearing a dirty apron, boots and gloves. She didn't just look like a mechanic, she was one. She gestured for them to come in, before closing the door — with all the locks — behind them.

  The inside of the room was larger than they thought. It was long and filled with mechanical devices of various kinds, from simulators and neural devices, to some that none of the boys even knew the function of. There were also various other people, mechanics just like the petite lady, all working on various machines.

  “Follow me,” She commanded before heading deeper into the room. Shōji signaled for Ephron and Elliott to follow.

  A few minutes later, they stopped before rows after rows of what looked like body pods.

  ‘Transparent glass, large enough to contain almost anyone and judging from the pipes, probably imbued with cryo-chambers.’ Ephron narrowed his eyes; these looked like high-tech pods.

  “Pick.” The petite lady didn't speak in many words. She wore a dull expression, massive dark bags under her eyes hinting at her lack of rest.

  Ephron furrowed his brows, Elliott looked at Shōji. “These are the consoles.” Shōji cleared the air.

  “Woah! They are huge.” Elliott exclaimed, “What the hell kind of game is this?” He walked around, marvelling at it. They were beautiful, each coming in different colours.

  Ephron raised a brow, his eyes lingering on the strangely familiar spider symbol on the pods. The word llalin was written underneath.

  ‘Should be the logo of the company behind Metanoia.’

  “Hey, Ron,” Elliott called out, snapping Ephron out of his thoughts, “this suit you.” He pointed at a purple pod, beaming.

  Ephron stared at it; it was the perfect shade of Wisteria.