The Bathysphere

Vivid colours stained his vision, cracking patinas of impossible hues. He tried to keep his focus, swimming across a darkness that was neither water nor air. Sourceless winds blowing tendrelling mists that danced, spiralling infinitely, drilling down into this uncharted abyss.

Lifeless grit intermittently pings off his visor, and deep in the far reaches rolling thunder punctuates the roiling nebulae, vibrating through his weightless body.

The stars here were familiar, populating the vastness with the same relation as they were in reality. Great portals of light, beams spanning the emptiness like a draftsman’s lines, sketching a semblance of order - like lighthouses in a storm. It resisted their influence - this place between worlds. The ability to navigate was dependent upon them, but often they might be obscured, banking clouds sweeping in spitefully.

This was common, but their duration was unpredictable. The effects of this could be felt in the real world. The lights of these celestial bodies shone on all unseen, and their absence had tangible effects. This was more so true for travellers like him. If they were cut off, for even an instant, he would be trapped hurtling in the void. There was no finding them once they had been lost. He shook his head, his sight warping as his sensory organs fought with a flood of stimuli barely beyond his perception. To stay here too long was to tempt madness. It was like noticing the hidden planes of a square, once you noticed them you had to struggle to regain your sense of proportion. He gritted his teeth...

Kullervo leaned against one side of the great archway, starring into the swirling dark. Again he pulled out an ornate watch from his jacket and flicked it open, checking how much time had passed. A silver chain was unfurling slowly next to him, links spooling across the stone floor before disappearing into the ether. Five minutes late! Barking a curse he signalled his assistants. The two men began to walk counter-clockwise, the chain slowly winding up. The chain raised slowly, tautening, jolting as though the opposite end was being tugged by an unseen giant hand. Kullervo grimaced, the fool had already been in there for too long, and would likely to start attracting the wrong sort of attention. The entities that existed there were not able to pass through the portals, but the soul attached to the other end of the silver chain would be very appetising to them.