Stone walls echoed every sound until it lost all meaning. The sheer darkness felt suffocating and the ever increasing sounds of something else moving near him was enough to inflict terror. His light was not nearly bright enough to make him feel safe, only managing to illuminate five feet in front of him. Shifting metal and the sound of rocks slamming together would startle him every so often, and he was heading straight for them. The concept of retreat sapped his will to go on, but the prospect of seeing something unique or even just interesting was too great to ignore.

Mel changed his cloak from a swirl of leaves into a reddish stone, mimicking the walls around him. It was as light as a feather despite its appearance. TC seemingly had no fear of the sounds echoing out from in front of them, chirping and hopping without a care. That was a good sign? Mel didn’t really know what to think about the small bird.

His lantern had been a poor choice. He had come to the realization that having a little bit of light for a long time might be useful, but actually being able to see was worth dedicating more space to.He spent a second more regretting the fact that he hadn’t bought brighter candles before he stopped being an idiot. Then he pulled out the general store bag.

A small bag of holding that was linked to a network of others, the immense mana cost subsidized by all the other owners of such bags. If everyone were to buy something at the same time, there would be a massive backlog before people got their purchases. His brother had told him the Arkan who had invented them had then almost immediately been assassinated because he was suspected of using the bag to send messages to a rival nation. Sorova just didn’t sound like a pleasant place to be. Regalia wasn’t much better though.

A few coins down the bag, and he pulled out a pack of five significantly brighter candles. “Watch this TC.” He said before tossing his steel rod and striking it with the flint while it was still in the air. Mel watched the sparks fall uselessly around the candle before muttering and properly lighting the candle.

The new boundary of light gave him the actual ability to see where he was going. He walked confidently and happily. He just needed to avoid getting ground into paste by the metal crashes that shook the earth. He could feel the tremors now. It was no longer just sound that echoed around, but a physical force that moved everything. The cave walls narrowed in front of him, and the map grew messy around here. If he kept going there was a real chance he would get lost.

But he was a Traveler, and he had a destination. Whatever it was making this sound had to be massive. Probably cool too. Most things' coolness factor scales with size, with an exception for adorable tiny painted dragons. Those would always be the best. TC, as though reading his mind, flapped in front of him before squawking angrily. Jealous little bird. He gently flicked his companion, who then took out it’s revenge on his hair. His already messy hair became the definition of disarray.

He shuffled through a small crack, slowly moving through. As he began to cross through into the next portion of the mines, the part that lead to the shared town, a massive tremor went through the earth. He wobbled as the floor shook from under him, his limbs caught by sharp stones and jagged edges. TC screeched and circled the shattered remains of his lantern. The candle sputtered out, before leaving him in pitch black darkness.

“TC if you can see, chirp twice.”

Chirp chirp. He heard the little bird quietly flying around. “Can you bring me the candle, or get one out of my bag then?” he asked, trying to stay calm.

One of the nearest moving metal objects was heading in his direction. He could hear it’s footsteps moving far faster than anything he had ever heard. Maybe it was just his imagination, but it definitely wasn’t slow. He desperately tried relighting the candle when he heard TC start chirping worriedly. He heard the metal creature behind him. It was stuck in the same crack he had just gone through.

Relief soared through him. He could just light-

The stone wall behind shattered into a spray of shards, but his cloak saved him. That alone would have killed him without his cloak. He couldn’t see, and now he had to survive whatever this was. Mel was almost confused when he started smiling. His cloak clung to him, and despite not being able to see his opponent, Mel could hear it just fine.

Weapons didn’t work with the cloak. Or rather, his cloak refused to be a weapon. It made sense. A Travelers cloak wasn’t supposed to be a blade. But he had three magic bolts, and after that? He would figure something out. He heard it move.

Metal lashed out and stone exploded. TC had started pecking at whatever it was, the constant ping of its beak smacking the metal aiding Mel. He shot his first bolt. A moment of illumination revealed a stange design. It looked like a spider, but it’s abdomen was oddly tall and it’s legs far too wide. It clearly had the power to shatter stone, and the small appendages near what looked like the machine's mouth seemed designed for nimbly putting things inside the creature. His Tracking Bolt hit one of the legs, not visibly doing any damage. That wasn’t the case though.

If there was one thing that had been drilled into him living with a Steel Smith and a Metal Mage, it was that magic did not play nice with metal. The two had to be gradually acclimated to each other, otherwise one would destroy the other. In this case, the golem’s metal would almost certainly have been pushed to its max capacity for magic already. Just a bit more would destroy it easily.

Mel heard it collapse from it’s leg going out and took his time to aim carefully. His next shot destroyed the main body of the golem, stopping it’s struggles. The metal was ruined, and the magic animating it would be too. He survived though.

“So that was a interesting series of events huh.” TC sang a happy song, and Mel relit his candle. His lantern had cracked but Mel had a backup. It wasn’t nearly as nice, and was so small he had to cut the candle to get it to fit.

Well he only had one bolt left in the magic ring, but turning back when he was so close just felt wrong. He kept moving. His feet ached, unaccustomed to the hard ground. His wounds ached and bled, but they weren’t severe. He hurried through the stone labyrinth. Empty rooms left behind as he ran to his objective. He had to know what it was, and see it. It was almost like being hungry and knowing where a juicy steak was.

Mel ignored the sounds of metallic golems smashing all around him, right until he made it. Through this tunnel there was light. Once he got in there he would see his momentary obsession. The vibrations literally shook the earth around him, constant and rhythmic tremors making the tunnel he was in move like a boat. He felt seasick on land and something about the way everything was moving around him made his vision go weird.

It was like being dizzy, nauseous, and falling all at the same time. He stumbled forward, TC’s pleasant squeaks ignored. The light burned him, but after a moment he could make out what was causing the very world to quiver. It was a city. It was a terrifying crustacean. It must have been a golem. And looking closely at the top of it, it was almost certainly a forge as well.

A crab made of an amalgamation of metals smashed an oversized claw into the rock face of an absurdly immense cavern. Rock gave way to force beyond Mel’s comprehension and the world exploded into motion. The sound of the impact rattled his skeleton, and jostled his organs. He bent over as the world began spinning. Tiny metal specks near the crab moved around in a hustle and bustle kind of walk. It was like watching ants as they formed a chain of food.

After a brief moment the crab settled down. Apparently it was done for the time being. So was Mel. He couldn’t stand, and thought escaped him. He simply accepted it, and laid down. This was so far beyond him. It was awesome, the kind of awesome that invoked terror right alongside amazement.