The Sound of Silence
by Sevastian Winters
The underground city breathed in shallow, wheezing gasps. It was a city of rot and rust, where the air tasted metallic, almost stale, and the walls seemed to close in tighter every day. Elias could feel it, the weight of the city pressing down on him, suffocating him, crushing him under its endless maze of tunnels and decaying machinery.
He clutched his satchel close, the glass bottles inside clinking softly as he moved through the narrow streets. The one he had found earlier that day was different—heavier, more dangerous. He could feel the slight vibration of it through the fabric, the faint hum pulsing in time with his heartbeat. His fingers twitched toward the bottle, wanting to touch it, to feel its cold surface again, but he resisted. Not yet. Not here.
He glanced over his shoulder, his pulse quickening as the sound of metal boots echoed through the alleys. The enforcers were out, their patrols more frequent, more aggressive lately. Something was happening. The council was tightening its grip. He had to move quickly.
Ahead, Juno leaned casually against the wall, twirling one of her mismatched earrings between her fingers—silver in one ear, bronze in the other. She always said they brought her creativity, inspiration. To Elias, they were just another reminder that Juno wasn’t like the others. She wasn’t afraid to stand out. She wasn’t afraid of *anything.*
Except leaving. No one left the underground city. Not alive, anyway.
Elias approached her, his heart hammering in his chest. “We need to talk,” he muttered, his voice low, barely above a whisper.
Juno’s sharp eyes locked onto his, her playful smirk fading. “What’s going on?”
He didn’t answer, just jerked his head toward the nearest hatch. They needed to get underground—deeper underground, where the walls were tighter and the shadows darker. Somewhere no one would hear them.
Juno frowned but didn’t argue, slipping past him as they ducked into the hatch. The tunnels below were colder, wetter, the walls slick with condensation that reeked of decay. The air was thicker here, like breathing through water. Elias could taste the dampness on his tongue, heavy and sour, clinging to the back of his throat. He forced himself to keep moving, his fingers trembling as they brushed the edge of the satchel.
They came to a stop in a small alcove, hidden from the main tunnel. The only light came from the dim, flickering bulbs strung along the ceiling, casting erratic shadows that danced across the walls like ghosts.
Juno crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. “Alright, Elias. Spill.”
He hesitated, the weight of the bottle in his satchel growing heavier, pressing down on him like a lead weight. His chest tightened, and his breath came in shallow, ragged gasps. He wasn’t sure he could do this. He wasn’t sure he could tell her.
But he had no choice.
He reached into the satchel and pulled out the bottle. It was small, cracked, the thin fracture glowing faintly in the dim light. Inside, the mist swirled violently, as if something alive was trapped inside, trying to break free.
Juno’s eyes widened. She stepped forward, her hand hovering over the bottle, her voice barely a whisper. “Is that…?”
Elias nodded, his throat tight. “It’s a map. To the surface.”
The words hung in the air between them, thick and heavy. The surface. The forbidden place. The unreachable, untouchable dream.
Juno stared at the bottle, her face a mixture of awe and fear. “You’re serious.”
“I think… I think it’s real,” Elias said, his voice shaking. “I think there’s a way out.”
Juno’s eyes flickered with something Elias couldn’t quite place. She stepped closer, her breath warm against his face, her gaze locked on the glowing fracture in the bottle. “And you didn’t tell anyone?”
“I couldn’t. If the council finds out…” Elias trailed off, his stomach twisting in knots.
“You’re right,” Juno murmured, her voice low. “They’d kill you.”
The bottle vibrated in his hand, the light inside flickering faster, brighter. Elias’s pulse raced, his mind spinning. The truth—the truth was right there, in his hands. The map showed a way out, a path to the surface. But he had been carrying this knowledge with him for hours, days, and the fear had only grown. What if the surface was worse than what they had here? What if the council was right?
“What if we can’t survive out there?” he asked, his voice barely audible.
Juno’s eyes flashed with something dangerous. “What if we can?”
Her words sent a chill down his spine, but there was no time to think about it. The ground beneath them trembled, the faint rumble of the city’s machinery growing louder, angrier. Elias’s breath hitched in his throat, and he felt the floor shift under his feet.
“What the hell is that?” Juno snapped, her voice sharp.
“I don’t know—”
Before he could finish, the ground *lurched* beneath them. The walls groaned, and the ceiling shuddered as dust and debris rained down from above. The smell of burning metal filled the air, thick and acrid, stinging his eyes and filling his lungs with smoke.
“Run!” Juno shouted, grabbing his arm.
They bolted through the tunnel, their boots slipping on the slick stone floor as the walls trembled and cracked around them. The sound of grinding metal and crumbling stone echoed in their ears, louder than the thundering of their hearts.
Elias clutched the bottle tight against his chest, the glass vibrating wildly, the crack widening. The light inside it flared brighter, casting strange shadows against the collapsing walls. He could feel it *pulsing* now, alive with a frantic energy that made his skin crawl.
The tunnel ahead of them split open with a deafening crack, the ground collapsing into a jagged chasm. Elias skidded to a halt, his heart slamming against his ribs. Behind them, the tunnel was caving in, the walls collapsing inward like a beast devouring itself.
“We’re trapped!” he gasped, his throat raw from the smoke.
Juno’s face twisted with panic, her mismatched earrings swinging wildly as she scanned the tunnel. “There has to be another way—there has to be—”
The rumbling grew louder, and Elias felt the ground give way beneath his feet. He stumbled forward, arms flailing as he fell into the darkness, the air rushing past him, cold and sharp, before he slammed into the hard stone floor below.
Pain exploded through his body, white-hot and blinding. His vision blurred, his breath coming in shallow gasps as the taste of blood filled his mouth. His ribs ached with every breath, and his leg throbbed with a sharp, searing pain that made his head swim.
Juno landed beside him with a hard thud, gasping for breath. She scrambled to her feet, limping slightly, her eyes wide with terror. “Elias, get up! We have to move!”
He tried to push himself up, but his body refused to obey. His vision swam, the pain in his leg and ribs making every movement a struggle. The bottle slipped from his hand, rolling across the floor, the light inside flickering weakly.
Juno’s gaze flickered to the bottle, her face twisting with something he couldn’t quite read. Panic. Fear. Desperation.
“Juno…” His voice was weak, barely a whisper. He couldn’t get the words out. He couldn’t breathe.
The rumbling grew louder, the walls of the tunnel shaking, crumbling. Juno’s eyes darted from the bottle to the collapsing ceiling, her face pale, her chest rising and falling in quick, shallow breaths.
She looked at him, and for the briefest moment, Elias saw it. A flash in her eyes. A hesitation. And then she turned, her body tensing.
*No.*
Elias’s heart seized in his chest. The truth hit him like a knife to the gut. She wasn’t going to help him. She *wasn’t going to save him*.
She had never planned to.
The realization crashed over him in a wave of cold dread. This wasn’t an accident. She had led him here, knowing the council would come. She had known all along.
Juno took a step back, her face hardening, the look of terror replaced with something colder, more calculating. “You just couldn’t leave it alone….”
“but, Juno—“
I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the roar of the collapsing tunnel. “But I can’t stay.”
Elias’s vision blurred, the pain in his chest unbearable as the weight of her betrayal settled like lead in his gut. He tried to speak, tried to move, but it was too late.
Juno turned and ran, disappearing into the shadows.
The last thing Elias saw before the world went dark was the bottle, its light flickering once before it shattered, plunging everything into silence.
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