The dark ventilation system of the Glasc tower was no better than the interior of a winding labyrinth.
Its pitch-blackness reminded Zeri of the Eastside darkness. Somehow, though, that made it easier to bear.
Its stuffiness, on the other hand, wasn't so great. The acrid smell of the wafting smoke made Zeri wrinkle her nose constantly as she tried her best to breathe without inhaling it.
Every so often, she would come to a stop before more vents that led down into similar-looking rooms to the first. Every one of them was a factory.
For now, Zeri had done nothing but observe through these makeshift peepholes.
She coughed into her hand quietly as she squinted down through the latest of them.
Her throat ached. The heat of the bitter smoke had been eating away at it for a while now. Her eyes, too, were raw and red from the constant irritation. She knew she'd have to leave soon.
Tearing her mind away from this prospect, Zeri found that she was once again perched directly above another hot furnace.
She grimaced quietly, chewing her lip as she pondered whether to finally give up and retreat with what she currently had.
Though the parts of the ventilation system she had explored so far were limited to the floor she had entered on, Zeri still believed she had a grasp of the tower's current operation.
It was, in essence, just another Southside factory. Though, admittedly, it was an incredibly efficient one. It was only thanks to the mental discipline Callian had taught her that she realised this fact.
When one actually stepped back and observed each production line as a whole, it was clear they had been pushed to the absolute limit of their capability.
Despite each room being differently sized, each design was as intricate as it was flawless. None lagged behind any other in terms of output.
They were even flawless enough not to require any kind of human intervention.
It made sense, too, given that Zeri hadn't seen a single worker present on the building's premises so far. There weren't even managers to oversee the production lines in case something went wrong—something she found incredibly strange.
This eerie emptiness screamed a calculated confidence that seemed to be well backed up, given what she had witnessed so far.
As Zeri tore her eyes away from the latest vent, she couldn't help but once again mull over the implications of what she'd discovered.
Above all, there was one thing that constantly nagged at her. She had no idea who had laid claim to this part of Southside. Not a single name popped into her mind.
This fact was very puzzling, as territorial boundaries were practically the number one law of the land down in the underground.
This rule held especially true here, more than any other district, due to the collective vested interests of the Chembarons in power. Southside was commonly known as Zaun's industrial district, after all.
This was also why the streets surrounding the tower were so empty. Only the wraiths who were mad enough not to care ignored this bloody set of rules.
Another cough suddenly forced itself from Zeri's stinging throat, promptly breaking her train of thought.
Wanting nothing more than to get out of this maze of air ducts, she quickly recapped what she had learned so far. She hoped that now, more than ever, this was enough to please Callian.
Fact one. Glasc Industries manufactured a wide variety of items that were sold at a range far too wide to be considered normal.
Fact two. Its factories were optimised to the point of perfection, thereby implying the competency of the person behind it.
But most importantly, fact three. Glasc Industries seemed to be the production line which supplied the Westside dealers with shimmer. The drug that currently served as the backbone of the entire underground.
Zeri stiffened as she finally put word to that last thought. She closed her eyes as a vague idea began to piece itself together within her mind.
She reigned in her thoughts quickly, making sure to lay them out one at a time instead of letting them scatter. This was how Callian had taught her to think.
Glasc Industries had likely been allowed to grow such a widespread influence due to the fact that they were the ones producing shimmer. The drug was that important.
Zeri triple checked her hypothesis. It made sense no matter how she spun it.
She hummed quietly, waving a hand in front of her face in an attempt to clear the air of smoke around her.
Still, wasn't it all of the Chembarons who distributed shimmer? That was the common consensus that all of the common folk, including her, had subconsciously come to.
Her assumption made her frown inadvertently.
No. Now that she thought about it, that didn't make sense at all. One identical product with that many suppliers? Something would have definitely gone wrong long ago.
So, if her hypothesis was right, Glasc Industries was the sole producer of shimmer.
Zeri's jaw worked while her brooding deepened.
As she had said earlier, shimmer wasn't just a drug—it was the backbone of the entire underground. A large chunk of a Chembaron's power came from their influence over how it was sold in their territory. There was just that much money in it.
Zeri raised a hand to cover her mouth. She hesitated for a moment before pulling herself away from the metal grate and slumping back against the ventilation shaft's wall.
She knew this was going to be a scouting mission. And any information Callian was interested in had to be important. That was pretty much a given.
But… This? This was… Crazy.
The weight of the knowledge she'd acquired loomed over Zeri like a tidal wave.
Maybe she was overthinking it. Maybe the Chembarons had an agreement allowing them to each produce and sell shimmer in their respective territories. That would explain the price being the same no matter where you went.
No—even that didn't match up. The manufacturer's logo pressed into the base of every vial of shimmer Zeri had ever seen completely debunked that theory.
Zeri licked her lips, only now realising how dry they were. She tasted the acrid smoke which was lacing the air, though she couldn't bring herself to focus on it for long.
Power above all. That was the unspoken lesson she had learned from the man who had brutalised her parents' murderers in front of her very eyes. Like they were nothing more than vermin.
There was a bigger picture. She saw that now. The frail alliance between the current Chembarons was simply what lay on the surface for the public eye to see.
They weren't the ones who produced shimmer. They just didn't deny it because doing so would hurt their image.
There was no deal between them. Not at all.
From where Zeri stood now, it looked as if a single faction had every powerful figurehead in the underground locked in a firm political chokehold.
There was power in that. A silent power.
Hidden beneath her wooden mask, Zeri's yellow eyes burned with emotion. Unwillingly, she recalled scenes she'd rather have forgotten.
She had seen families ripped apart by no more than a couple of opportunistic thugs. Ruined beyond repair. Her own included.
The whims of a normal person were all it took to wreak irrevocable damage. And a single Chembaron could snap their fingers and summon a hundred of those men to heel in an instant.
If those people wanted someone dead, then they died within the hour, without exception. Those were the kings who governed Zaun.
But this shadowy owner of Glasc Industries? They… They owned these kings.
If the shimmer market suddenly disappeared from anywhere, Zeri had no doubt that the majority of its populace would slowly begin to migrate away in search of it again.
She knew shimmer. People loved it—even if they hated to admit it. A hallucinogen like that could make you forget the garbage dump you were living in. It was the greatest escape Zaun had to offer beyond getting drunk out of your mind.
Some people couldn't live without it. A great deal of them wouldn't want to.
Yeah. She could already imagine it. Businesses losing customers. Workers. It would be a slow collapse, but an inevitable one. Anyone with half a brain would be able to see that.
Whoever owned shimmer was definitely in a position to make demands. If a Chembaron's shimmer supply was cut off, they'd be as good as dead.
Lower manpower, less funding—the list went on. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. They'd get eaten up by their own allies after losing their seat at the table. A table headed by one Glasc Industries.
Zeri closed her eyes as her head began to throb. Maybe the smoke was getting to her. This was just too elaborate a scheme.
For someone to come up with all of this in the few months she'd been gone? It was practically a miracle, stumbling upon an opportunity like that. Stumbling upon the formula for shimmer at just the right time.
Right after the Undercity had just lost its previous leader, too. Who she knew on principle wouldn't have stood by and let such a product be distributed.
Zeri went silent for a moment as every wild idea she'd had slowly clicked into place.
"There's… No way…"
She shook her head in a quiet disbelief. A small laugh escaped her.
Sliding her hands beneath her mask, Zeri pressed her palms flat against her closed eyelids. She massaged them gently, failing to curb her unbelieving thoughts.
"Cal…"
✦ ✦ ✦
〘 A/N: Zeri could wipe the floor with anyone in the Undercity right now, but in the end, that doesn't matter. She's but one young girl in a very big city, and Callian is her only anchor.
Silco's not quite on stage yet, but he's getting there. In the show, his presence doesn't have quite have the weight it should have—simply because every other main character is just as exceptional. For now, though, they're out of the picture. He's the final boss.
Also, none of the Undercity residents know what really happened to Vander. Silco obviously knows, along with the entirety of his Chembaron alliance. But other than that? Only Callian, Vi, and Powder know the complete truth of what happened that day. It's a well-kept secret for reasons yet to be revealed. 〙