Cinn sighed. “Just get on with it, then.”
The ink already felt strange, his body being so exposed even stranger, so what was Darcy’s spit added to the mix? Cinn just wanted this entire ordeal over as quickly as possible now. He was already fantasising about stepping into his new bathtub in his fancy bathroom later.
Darcy rubbed the paste into the middle of the inked ring, then coated the locket with it before pressing it firmly into his flesh. The chain link tickled his belly button.
“I’ve prepared a compound for you, to stimulate your body into slipping.” Presenting a small circular tin containing fine, light brown crystals, Darcy continued, “It’s a bit like an adrenaline shot, but you’ll feel the effects slightly slower.”
Cinn eyed the dubious powder, remembering the Frostbite she’d used against him the other day.
“It’s this, or we stress your body in other ways. We could try electric shocks, or—”
“No, no, this is fine,” Cinn said quickly. “As long as it’s medicinal.”
A pause. “Sure.” Darcy offered him the tin. “Rub a fair bit on your gums.”
The taste was vile, reminiscent of burnt copper and bitter herbs. The urge to grimace was strong when the synthetic compound sent a tingling sensation through his mouth, alike to tiny sparks dancing on his tongue.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then he felt thethump, thump, thumpof his heartbeat steadily increasing.
The cool ink on his skin prickled.
Suddenly, he was slipping.
First went his hearing—replaced by a low buzzing.
Next went his vision, as the world faded at its edges.
Finally, the sensation of falling.
Falling….
Backwards
Backwards
Backw—
This trip was markedly different from Cinn’s other episodes of shadowslipping.
For a start, this was the first time he’d deliberately slipped, the first time he was entering the space for apurpose.
Usually Cinn would arrive screaming, heart pounding, body shaking, eyes darting wildly around to see where he’d ended up this time and who he had the pleasure of meeting.
Although each experience had been slightly different, nothing had ever been so visually striking as where he found himself on this occasion.
Often, his surroundings took on a warped version of his current reality—or, a version of reality that the host spirit had lived in—but this time, Cinn found himself in a city. A distorted city that lay in ruins, a surreal tapestry of chaos painted in shades of ominous red. Colossal skyscrapers, larger than he’d ever seen, stood like twisted sentinels, their jagged silhouettes etched against the blood-red sky.
Bizarre crimson vines snaked like arteries of some massive creature across broken buildings and crumbling asphalt. They were all over everything, as far as his eye could see, the red tendrils coiled around structures, thorns pulsating with something, someenergyCinn somehow understood to be… malevolent. The very ground seemed to writhe with their presence. It was like Cinn had stepped into one of the sci-fi horror movies that he’d watched in his childhood—but hopefully his trip would end more happily thanAlien.
Choosing a direction at random—it was hard to see far into the distance, everything being obscured by a thick, ashen mist—Cinn walked, eyeing the fractured and uneven tarmac that shook under each step.Twice he had to stop to calm his beating heart.You’re safe. They’ve got you.But did they? Should he really be so trusting of three random strangers, especially as one or two of them were proven assholes?
He pressed on regardless.
Strange shadows danced along the cracked surface.
Buildings leaned at odd angles, defying the laws of physics, their windows casting sinister glows.
Whispers echoed through the broken alleys.
