Mira was skipping and spinning as she followed Artison, she was about to see the world he grew up in. Could see where he used to live, might even be able to talk with his old friends.

Artison lead her toward the bridges, ears down, and his tail barely moving. As they came toward the bridge, he then took a sharp turn to the side of it. He beckoned her to follow him toward the edge of the balcony. "Do you recall where this is? The shipyard? Maybe back to home?"

"Of course," Mira said with a smile, "Those are pretty easy and recent."

"Good... Good..." Artison said, his smile was rather weak though, "Now take your time, and follow me." The wolf then started to crawl off the edge and slowly climb under the balcony. Mira did the same, grabbing the bars and supports that was holding up what they were originally walking on.




Artison made a jump toward chains that tangled loose off the underside of a bridge, and dangled as it swung back their way. He slid himself down so Mira could hop to it next. The two slid down the chains slowly, going into the steam. This steam originally looked white, misty and wondrous when they used to look down on it. Taking in a breath of it, Mira practically choked on the stuff. It was so bitter and just got darker the further they went down. Descending deeper and deeper, they broke free of the fog to see a city in shroud. Small shanties and large buildings built around the base of spires she would walk among. People walked all the streets to where a man was stopped constantly as he tried to move his cart through the crowds.

“Wait, Wait!" Artison called as Mira's paws pressed into his head, "We need to swing for that pole."

Where this pole Artison spoke of wasn't clear, light shone down to this place like the moon through a thunderstorm, and yet rain never fell from the rolling sea of clouds. She heard a clang, and was able to make out that Artison was elsewhere. She just followed the image that was him all the way to the ground. She looked to the pipe Artison slid down, and then to Artison as he touched down. She took a deep breath as she swung the chain she climbed down; then she took a leap and latched onto the pile. She slid down from there and was beside Artison who was constantly on alert.




"Why did we have to come down this way?" Mira asked and then coughed hard, "That was  awful."

"It's cheaper than the elevators and faster." Artison said, "Climbing up is the more difficult part..."

"But why make it something like that?" Mira coughed again, "What good does it do anything?"

"If I had to guess, it was to see who has the will to reach that far." Artison said, "Tiz brutal and harsh, but this... this was my home."

---

Welcome to the undercity...



Part 8

Part 9: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/57842745/

Part 10: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/58013673/

Mira (C)   Calypso-dreams

Artison, Loretta, art, and character (C)   watcher12