Chapter 11

The Mines

Gerald Rainert of Serotin was a shrewd man, always giving consideration to his people as well as to the businesses he was responsible for running. Terrill could tell right away that this was a man that cared for others, despite the cold expressions he might have worn otherwise. To anyone less observant, they would have thought of him as aloof in the face of Terrill’s offer, taking too long to give an answer when lives hung in the balance, but Terrill held no fear as he watched the mayor stroke his chin, a unique ring of his glinting in the harsh sun.

He had made his decision before Terrill had finished asking, and a jerk of his head back towards the tent confirmed that.

“My people are most precious to me, Mr. Jacobs,” he began as they opened the flap and strode past the soldiers that remained outside. “In the years since I acquired the mine, I’ve prided myself on the protection and safety of my workers, as well as the entire continent I oversee. It’s been troubling in recent weeks, what with the attacks from Devil’s Haven and now this, so if you’re confident that you can handle what’s in that cave, I want to believe you can be successful. If, for any reason, you don’t believe you can be, turn back now. I will not have a young man throw his life away.”

“No fear of that, I promise,” Terrill said. “I’ve spent my whole life dealing with monsters. Me and these two can handle it.”

His emphasis was made as he pulled Krysta and Floyd close. Torry’s mouth was agape at that move before she descended into giggles at Floyd’s expense. The mayor wore his own discerning, and perhaps disturbed, expression.

“Hey, whoa, leave me out of this!” Floyd said the moment he realized what was going on. “I’m not some warrior.”

“That is one thing I do know,” the mayor said with a grumble. He was now at the table in the middle of the tent, pushing aside the books and parchments that Torry had left there. She scrambled for them the second he threw them off the table and unrolled some maps. “That said, Mr. Margrove, perhaps it would be best you do go with him.”

“You just want me to get caught in some cave-in so I don’t go near your daught-yeow! Torry, what the hell?!”

“Behave, Floyd. That’s my father you’re talking to,” the girl said, a look of dignity resting on her eyes and lips. Floyd was rubbing his ear with his free hand, red where Torry had flicked it. “But I think my father’s right in that you should go to the mines with Terrill.”

“You know I’d probably die, right?” Floyd protested, but that didn’t deter Torry. Her eyes were shining as she got closer to him. This time he wasn’t recoiling, but the mayor was grumbling under his breath.

“But think of the opportunity!” The girl was back to speaking fast, and from the rolling of her father’s eyes, Terrill began to suspect this was a rather common occurrence. “You’ve realized that this is the place from where Earth Magic likely originated! The source might be in the very mines itself! You have to go, Floyd! This is a remarkable opportunity to discover the very foundations of the world. You’ll help, won’t you, Terrill?!”

She had shifted tacks so fast, suddenly leaning in his direction, that he was forced to let go of his companions while her face beamed at him in expectation. “I don’t see what I can do to help…”

“You use Earth Magic, yes? It’s the perfect place for an experiment if you happen to find anything resembling a source. What does it feel like to you? What’s the air like? Does it make a difference?”

“Torry, I’m sure Mr. Jacobs has more pressing matters, and the protection of life supersedes your school project,” the mayor managed to rumble out. His daughter was jerked away from her ravings, realizing with a blush how much she’d rambled on. In that way, she looked cute, but Terrill only had eyes for the map the mayor had rolled out (Floyd, of course, was more susceptible to the girl’s charms). The mayor cleared his throat for attention to return to him, and Terrill approached, the silent Krysta poring over the maps alongside him. “The Luster Mines is to the north. You can’t miss it, since any other path is gated off. Ever since the war, I don’t like people wandering into the badlands.”

“I don’t think we will lose our way, Mr. Mayor,” Krysta said. She smiled while she placed a finger down and traced its rather linear path to the indicated entrance.

“Right. It’s the interior I’m more concerned about.” He pulled out the other map that was underneath the map of Silicias, fumbling with some sheets that were quarry documents or even a crude map of the world at large. When he rolled it out, Terrill could see the complexities of the cavern they would be approaching. A whistle next to his ear indicated that Floyd saw the same.

“Looks complicated. You sure I can’t sit this one out?”

“You’re going, Floyd Margrove. Unless you’d rather I slap you in handcuffs again.”

“All right, I get it!” Floyd said with exasperation. He threw his hands in the air, nearly hitting Terrill before he observed the map alongside him. “Looks like a lot of ways down. Which one’s the one they mentioned the monster being in?”

“We’ve dug out three levels of the mine. One for jewels, as you so helpfully pointed out, Floyd.” The sarcasm didn’t stop Floyd from grinning. “But most are for stones and materials that we refine at a quarry on Sagitta. We’ve been finding higher quality materials the deeper we go, and we’d made plans to start excavating a fourth level. Right now, the passage down is lesser known, and deeper from the first level of the mines. Until we’ve expanded, we didn’t want any major access. It will be dark down there, as we’ve been unable to put up any light source.”

“I think we have that covered as well,” Krysta said. Her finger was tracing this map, and once she seemed to have memorized its path, she nodded to Terrill. They were all set to go.

“Mayor Rainert, I promise we’ll find out what’s been causing your problems and take care of it. You just keep yourself and your daughter safe. When we get back, hopefully we’ll know if that woman is involved or not.”

“I’ll look forward to your return.” They reached across the table, shaking one another’s hand. Krysta had already headed out of the tent, but Terrill was quick to follow, catching the snippets of Torry and Floyd’s last conversation before departure.

“Just remember to try and measure the readings as best you can. I know you’re a genius at calculation even without any devices. Try and monitor Terrill’s-”

“All right, already, Torry! I got it! Not a fan of doing this, but might as well get it done.”

“It’s your just punishment for impulsively barreling over that blockade,” Terrill snapped in his direction. He was tired of the boy delaying and holding them up at every turn. “Now hurry it up already. We don’t have all the time in the world.”

Floyd was annoyed. He could tell. Yet he still shot Torry a grin before skipping off after the pair.

Things were now quieter outside, though the beach looked like something of a disaster zone with how many were laid out. Terrill averted his eyes from it, not wishing to see such carnage. He’d have to a put a stop to it, and that was all that mattered. From the north, where the pathway lay, less people were coming forth, though Terrill expected that to change with the mayor’s orders. The sun overhead was beginning its descent, making the rocks in the barren wasteland look like they were burning. Beyond, Terrill could feel the same pull from earlier, and he swallowed the lump in his throat as they began to ascend the hill towards the mine openings.

“You know, your desire to play hero gets really annoying after a while.” Floyd’s voice was deeper, in a lower register as he said this. Gone was the joking and cavalier boy he’d first met, as he addressed something that was of the utmost seriousness to him. “It’s always protecting people this. Saving people that. You could have killed yourself at the port, and now you offered all of us like sacrificial lambs to whatever thing is inside these mines. It’s ludicrous.”

“If you have a problem, feel free to go back to mayor. I don’t think your girlfriend would be happy, though, and she’s all you care about,” Terrill snapped. He didn’t want to take life lessons from a coward like Floyd, even if he dragged him along as punishment. Krysta looked back, watching their budding argument unfold with interest as they scaled the hill.

“All I’m saying is that a little self-preservation isn’t a bad thing.”

“I don’t think that’s what you’re saying at all.” Terrill stopped, placing his foot on a rock as he faced Floyd. The entrance to the mines could already be seen, a large grouping of people outside, ready to evacuate in full. “I think you’re just a dirty coward. All you do is act in your own self-interest.”

“What’s wrong with that? It’s gotten me this far in life, or were the wounds you suffered against the woman even worth it. Is this even worth it?” Floyd walked past him, ignoring his threatening stance and yawning aloud. “You keep charging headfirst and you’ll get yourself burned.”

“Funny, I could say the same thing about you,” Terrill said, catching up and maintaining an equal pace. “You seem to act first and think later, which only gets people hurt.”

“Better them than me.”

“What’s your problem? You don’t care about anyone else but yourself? Oh, sorry, yourself and your rich girlfriend.” Floyd took offense to that, grabbing hold of Terrill much like he’d done so before and snarling in his face.

“Don’t you dare bring Torry into this!” Terrill scoffed, not cowed by Floyd’s youthful face and scowl. “I only care about protecting one person, and it’s her. So, back off!”

“Why don’t you both cool down?” A shot of light was fired from Krysta’s fingertips. Floyd let go of Terrill, and both stumbled backwards. “Is now the time to be squabbling over this? I think we have bigger problems.”

“Yeah, well, leave me out of it,” Floyd said. He puffed his breath out, shoving his hands in his pockets and trudging up the hill in front of them. “You can deal with skeleton monster all you want, but I’m getting the readings and getting out. I’ll be damned if I’m locked in with some killer beast.”

“Thanks for proving my point.” The mutter didn’t go unheard, drawing a sigh out of Krysta over what she deemed as childish behavior. Terrill didn’t ask for her opinion, and she wouldn’t offer any further words. The girl proceeded with laser-like focus towards the mouth of the cave that was the mine’s entrance. She was a woman on a mission, and so was he. If Floyd didn’t want a part of that, he no longer cared; the boy could get lost in the mines or crawl back to the surface after he got what he wanted for all Terrill cared.

He was just a selfish coward, and there was no remedying that.

The trio reached the mine entrance, and Terrill noticed the dust in the air that hung around the exodus of the remaining miners. At first, he believed it to be from whatever was occurring in its depths, but he soon came to realize it was just the constant state of the mine. Terrill felt the urge to pull his shirt up and cover his mouth, but opted for striding inwards. Some of the workers called out, but they ignored them and plunged into the depths.

At first, said “depths” weren’t so depth-like, as the mines were brightly lit, with the dust they’d experienced outside reduced to a haze. Terrill bit back a cough, now using his hand to cover his mouth and nose. Floyd did the same thing, while Krysta walked on through. The air was chilly here, and the miners that were led out gave their group a wide berth, complete with confused and warning expressions. Terrill did the same for them.

Krysta took point and turned down one of the passages. Terrill followed, finding it to be a rather tight squeeze that required him to detach his blade from his back. In this passage, the lights had grown dim, and when Terrill brushed his hand against them, he began to realize this passageway was newly made. Perhaps not in the last few days, but certainly a year or so ago. The mayor was a most industrious fellow.

“Oi, Krysta, where’s this lead? It’s cramped!” Floyd shouted. Terrill longed to kick him for his idiocy. Their companion didn’t oblige him, not at least until they had emerged from the passage and into a much brighter chamber filled with magical lights strung about the place. Boxes and carts were pushed against the walls and shovels lay strewn about, abandoned by their owners in the mad rush. To the side, Terrill noticed another passage, likely to empty all of the refuse, with the dust there more disturbed than the one they were heading down. They weren’t alone, either.

“Hey, you three, what do you think you’re doing here? We’re evacuating!” Terrill peered through the bright lights and swirling dust to find the two nearest a shaft that dug deep. There was a cart attached to it, as well as a series of pulleys. It was something Terrill was not personally familiar with, though some of the local boys in Hart had been excited about learning upon receiving a book from the capital. He knew it was their way down.

“We’re here for the mayor. Promised to inspect the situation ourselves,” Terrill called, careful to keep his voice low. The dust cleared, for just a moment, and Terrill got a clear view of the mining foreman and his deputy.

“Are you insane, boy?” the foreman said. “Traveling with this kid, I knew you had some screw loose, but this is just a death wish.”

“All evacuated, sir. Every last miner,” the deputy interrupted. He paid no mind to Terrill’s incursion, and Terrill granted him no further attention.

“Death wish or no, I made the mayor a promise. The sooner whatever is down there is discovered, the sooner you can all get back to work. Besides, we have magic.”

“You also have a liability,” the foreman grunted, his head jerking in Floyd’s direction. The boy scowled at that, which doubled as Terrill agreed with the chief. “Well, your funeral. This will lead you all the way down to the fourth layer, and if the mayor says you can go, I have no choice. Just be careful; no telling what can happen in the depths.”

“Chief, let’s get going.”

They didn’t want to stay there any longer, not now that everything was complete. In seconds, the trio was alone. Floyd kicked a rock which bounced off a wall and ricocheted near the platform. The strike against the metal platform was heard, and then the trickle as it plummeted to the depths below.

The length of time it took made Terrill shiver.

“Does anyone know how to operate this?” Krysta asked. She had stepped ahead, examining the platform and pulley system with a blank look. Terrill joined her, but its design was unclear to him, as well.

“Who cares?” Floyd said. Neither Terrill nor Krysta wished to give him attention, but he made himself apparent as their best shot as he walked on to the platform and kicked at a lever upon it. The whole thing shuddered, and Terrill saw some clamps disengage from the ropes holding it together. It began to slip, and both Terrill and Krysta grabbed the ropes, which burned at their hands, to stop it from descending to Floyd’s untimely demise. They hopped on. “I could have slowed it, you know.”

“Shut up, Floyd,” the uttered simultaneously. He growled.

Once all three were secure on the platform, they looked below, still holding fast to the ropes as they peered into the darkness. Some lights appeared here and there, indicating where the second and third levels began. With a hesitant move, Terrill let go of his rope and let the platform begin moving. Krysta, too, let go and took Floyd’s place at the lever. Without much thought, she managed to surmise how it worked, and put it partially closed. The platform began to move at a smooth and steady rate.

“Still have to wonder how we’ll get up. This is such a waste of time…”

“Can you stop thinking about yourself for maybe a moment?” Terrill asked, knowing it was too much for the boy to handle.

“Maybe you can stop being a knight in shining armor with a stick up his ass.”

“Is this really the time?”

Krysta went ignored while they passed the second level, and then the third. Things grew darker, and Terrill was sure they were to be swallowed by a lightless abyss from whence there was no return. The fourth level was deeper down than the others, Terrill realized, with many clefts in the earth to indicate where they had tried and failed to start another passage.

The air grew cooler around them, and the dust was gone, replaced with the darkness. Terrill, however, could feel his hairs stand on end, a great power pooling inside, and that familiar whisper back in his ears. Krysta began to slow their lift, nearing where the small pinpricks of light that highlighted the fourth level existed. Floyd remained useless, peering into the darkness, until…

“Does anyone hear that?”

The lift didn’t stop, but Terrill made a couple metallic clangs to lean over the platform and listen. It sounded like…wings. His eyes widened.

“Krysta, stop now!” She jammed on the lever, but it was too late. Black shapes flew right in front of them, assaulting them. Terrill ripped his blade out and swung it in a wide arc, cleaving away some of the creatures that were assaulting them. The familiar shadowy wisps were left where they’d been slashed, though this time it was mixed with dirt and grime. The attack didn’t stop them coming, with only the red eyes serving as an indication of what lurked in the dark.

“I didn’t sign up for this!” Floyd shouted. He had his daggers out, but flailed them without hitting anything. He almost stabbed Krysta for her troubles, though, to which she pushed him away from her. “I told you this was a bad idea, but you had to be the hero!”

“Yeah, this is totally my fault,” Terrill drawled back.

“That’s it! I’m taking us up!”

Floyd’s words tempted fate. That or they were just loud enough to cause the entirety of the Luster Mines to creak, groan and shake. There was a snap, like something breaking in the darkness.

All three turned their eyes skyward, or what they presumed was skyward, given how impossible it was to see. Terrill didn’t need his hand on the pulse of earth to know, and nor did the other two. It started as a rumble, causing their platform to rattle and bang on the ropes. Then the shaking intensified, and Terrill could see it cutting a way through the dark.

“Incoming!” he shouted. He ducked for cover, while Floyd did the same. Krysta was more reckless, throwing her hands up with a shield. It surrounded them, and the large piece of rock slammed into it. She let out a sudden gasp, the impact of the rock straining against her magic.

It wasn’t the only one falling, either. Many rocks cascaded from above, a cave-in of monolithic proportions. They piled up on top of the shield, some falling off and tumbling below, but many remaining to impose a burden on Krysta. Terrill saw it happening, and he ran over as her body started to crumple, holding her up. Her shoulders were remarkably cold to the touch.

“Better plan. Sending us down,” Floyd said. He didn’t sound happy about it, and Terrill wasn’t either. Nothing could stop the boy before he reached some of the ropes that held their platform. His knife flashed out, cutting the rope. The platform went off-balance.

“Not a better plan, idiot!” Terrill shouted. They started to slip before Floyd could ever reach the other rope, the entire platform tilted. Krysta’s barrier was fading from her loss of concentration, and the rocks threatened yet again to crush them.

Use your power.

The voice interceded once more, like a warm hand on his shoulder that seeped coolness into his skin. In his eyes, he could see the rocks beginning to fall. Floyd was working at trying to slow both themselves and the rocks to prevent an untimely demise. It gave Terrill the time he needed, his hand reaching for the first of the rocks.

Feel the earth… It’s within you. Under your control, Terrill spoke to himself. His eyes closed, and just as he imagined the earth forming, he imagined it breaking apart. Filled with conviction, he slapped his hand against the rock and grunted.

Fissures formed along the rocks moving upwards. It wasn’t a perfect disintegration, but Terrill could see it doing its job as all of those larger rocks broke up into much smaller pieces. Gravity took hold of a number of them and they rained into the ground, but didn’t harm any of them. At this point, they were more worried for themselves hitting the ground.

“I might have to bounce us around,” Krysta yelled, trying to overcome the wind that was rushing through their ears. Floyd’s lips were puckered in his own concentration, to the point that he couldn’t form a response, though his eyes were alarmed. Terrill, however, was resigned to let Krysta do whatever she needed to in order to get them to the ground safely. “Sphere Barrier!”

The honeycombs first began underneath them, and all three hit the floor of the shield. It trickled upwards, the hexagons of their protective barrier interlocking until it formed a large sphere around them. The remaining stones began to batter its exterior, but they remained safe. Floyd could no longer stop their falling bodies and gravity took complete control. The sphere they were contained in plummeted, and they had no idea for how long, until finally they hit solid ground.

As Krysta had promised, they bounced, and then rolled down an incline until they hit a wall, at which point the barrier burst open, leaving them sprawled on the floor in the darkness. Behind them, Terrill could hear the crash of the platform and stones, leaving no way up, the destruction continuing for more than a few minutes until all went silent.

“Black bats, no skeletons, a cave-in…this is getting worse by the minute. I should just take my readings and go!” Floyd groaned. He was the first one to get up, his hand finding Terrill’s face and using it for purchase to pull himself up. Terrill knocked it away and came to stand, himself. Krysta had joined him, forming a light in her hand to allow them to see. Its pale radius did little to illuminate their surroundings.

“Go where, Floyd? In case you haven’t noticed, we just fell well past where we intended to and the way up is blocked.”

“Those bats had to come from somewhere, Terrill.”

“Those bats are monsters, dumbass,” Terrill snapped. He and Floyd were glaring at each other, their faces distorted in Krysta’s strange light. Neither backed off, but she was done with the both of them. Or she was interested in something else, because she pushed the both of them away from each other and walked up to the wall they had slammed into. “I doubt they need food or sunlight, unless they count idiots like you as food.”

“Then what do you suggest we do, huh? You always seem to dive into action, but never have a plan to actually solve the problem at hand. At least I come up with solutions!” Floyd was a bit too proud of himself for that assertion.

“Oh, like shouting and causing cave-ins?”

“If you two are going to keep arguing, could you do it on the move?” Krysta was annoyed now, but as their only source of light, her harsh tones managed to get the two to call a truce. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but Terrill knew he had to be the bigger man and put his grievances aside. He grunted his acceptance while Krysta focused elsewhere. “There’s something here…”

“Skeleton man?” Floyd asked, his voice now a whisper. Terrill wanted to hope his criticism had some effect on the boy, but doubted that to be the case.

“No… Something…older.”

“What’s older than a skeleton?”

Terrill suppressed a snort at Floyd having a point. For once. He instead approached the wall Krysta had been examining and placed his hand upon it.

“Weird… It’s not earth,” he said under his breath. Floyd picked up on it, folding his arms as he considered the implications of such words. “It’s something else… Something…alive. And I don’t think it’s just here.”

“This is supposed to be the source of Earth Magic, but it doesn’t feel like earth, huh? I’ll have to trust you on it, but what does that even mean?”

“How would I-?” Something caught his attention, which no one else saw. That, or they didn’t look in its direction. He couldn’t understand how they didn’t, since it was so bright, but they noticed him turning towards it at the very least. Terrill’s breath was stolen away by the sight. The form looked human, but brimmed with an eerie and otherworldly light. He was beckoned towards it, his footsteps padding forward before he knew his body was moving, himself.

“Oi, Terrill, where are you…?”

Terrill stopped. The light had moved onward, guiding him down a path. Terrill looked back now to Floyd’s confused expression and Krysta’s alarmed one. “You don’t see it?”

“See what?” Floyd looked around him, but couldn’t.

Not again… Don’t make me feel like I’m going crazy.

You have not lost your mind. Come.

A voice in his head was far from reassuring, but as the only means of traversing the dark underground they now found themselves in, Terrill chose to follow. He felt lucky that the others chose to trail after him, leaving the wrecked way up to the mine behind them.

The glowing figure temporarily disappeared, and then reappeared further up the passage, guiding them forward. Terrill picked up his pace. For a moment, he thought he’d lose track of the figure that was guiding them through, but whenever that happened, it was a turn down another corridor.

“Is this some sort of labyrinth?” Floyd questioned after the third of these turns. He couldn’t see what was guiding them, but became more and more fascinated by the location around them as they went. “In this kind of darkness, I could imagine it would be impossible to find your way through. How are you doing it, Terrill? Feeling the earth?”

“No. It’s hard to explain. It’s as though I’m seeing this…person.”

“A soul?” Krysta asked, but she shook her head soon as she’d asked it. She quickly changed back to Floyd’s original topic. “If you ask me, it seems like more of a defensive system. Protecting something that shouldn’t be gotten close to.”

“It does feel surprisingly airy for being underground,” Floyd said. “An ancient structure for sure, but I’m no expert in that field. Still, the only way to form this would be if Earth Magic really was that powerful down here. How close would you say Silicias is to the edge of the world?”

“Edge of the world?” Terrill asked. All animosity was forgotten between them in the wonder of this space, turning Terrill’s mind to the more important questions. Now that Floyd mentioned it, he could recall seeing great falls, far in the distance from the eastern borders of their country.

“I’m just wondering, well, theorizing, if maybe magic sources position themselves at the corners of the world. It could explain the flow of elements… It could…whoa!”

“Whoa” was exactly right.

They had turned down many paths at Terrill’s guidance, and had found themselves outside of the labyrinth. No sign of whatever they were searching for had presented itself, but they had found themselves in a far different place.

A grand hall stretched before them, lined with the same material that was neither earth nor metal. Columns supported this space, though these were crudely hewn rocks meant to keep the ceiling from crashing down. The room looked undisturbed, as if it hadn’t been touched in centuries, or a millennium. Every step they took echoed around, and Terrill could tell how sturdy the space was. The walls may have been of the old, ancient material, but the floor was still stone, brimming with life.

The whole entire place felt alive.

Contributing to this was one major construct, beckoning them towards it at the end of the hall. Floyd was quick to approach, seeing this physical object, while Terrill was more wary. The glowing figure he’d seen was now gone, as if it had vanished inside the mysterious object. Krysta was the most hesitant, but she snuffed her light to join them in approaching it.

The closer they got, the more the object thrummed, filling the hall with a pale light. There was no more need of their own, as they could see clearly, and their eyes were fixed upon this new phenomenon: a crystalline structure that raised to the ceiling and was rooted in the floor. Intertwined in its veins were currents of earth, pulsing and glowing at all times. As Terrill approached, he could see the crystal taking a form, as though there was a person inside, but he began to realize it was a trick of the eyes.

“This is it…” Floyd breathed. For the first time since they had descended, or even entered the mines, he sounded excited. His grin was stretching his face wide, looking demented in the shadowy light of the pulsing crystal. “This is what we’ve been looking for. Concrete confirmation that there is a source of all Earth Magic in the world, from which it all flows. Terrill, what do you feel? Anything different? Did the miners almost find this? This could bust the field wide open!”

“Floyd, calm down,” Terrill berated him. As usual, the boy didn’t listen. Krysta gripped Terrill’s arm, and he could feel her trembling, though he didn’t know for what. His eyes narrowed in question at her, but she didn’t see them. As he did, he remembered her statement from earlier, and he now squinted in the direction of the crystal. It felt like it held just as much power as Floyd was claiming, but there was something else there. A darker presence that stifled it. That same darkness was seeping into Terrill’s bones now, or perhaps it was loss of blood flow from how tightly Krysta was clasping him.

“Ah, just a sample and we could further magical research for years to come!”

“Don’t touch it!” Krysta’s shout startled both males, and she let go of Terrill to slap Floyd’s hand away. He was stunned as Krysta heaved with loud breaths. Terrill reached up, grabbing the hilt of his sword; the stench of that horrible darkness was intensifying, but he couldn’t find its source. “You have no idea what that thing really is, or what could be done to it. Don’t touch it.”

“Don’t be so pushy. It’s just a bit of research.”

“No, it’s-”

Terrill’s instincts screamed, as did the voice from before. The darkness in the room was all but gushing now. He moved in an instant, grabbing the arguing duo by their clothes and pulling them back.

“Watch it!” he yelled. They spun their arms, both about to fall over, but avoiding the worst of it.

There was a clang of metal striking stone, a cleaving axe cutting through the darkness as it struck where they both once stood. Terrill withdrew his blade, while Floyd and Krysta stared at the spot they were nearly beheaded.

A man was attached to the axe. He wasn’t the skeleton that the delirious miners had claimed seeing, though he may as well have been. He had a sickening aura about him, dressed in pale brown robes with an earthen beard and goatee. It was hard to discern much more in the dim light of the construct, but Terrill watched him, steadying his breath.

The man’s eyes looked up, trained upon the trio as he tore his axe from the earth. They were empty eyes, until a fire lit in them and a solemn grin bloomed on his lips.

“And so, a few make it here. You’re no miners,” he said. His voice was akin to sandpaper, putting their hairs on edge. Krysta drew her rapier, while Floyd clasped his daggers close, swallowing audibly. “Were you led here?”

“Who are you? And what’s it matter to you?” Terrill shouted out instead. He held no fear of cave-ins, not with this man in front of him. Whoever he was, the man stepped forward, every single movement quivering with power and presence, and not a pleasant one at that.

“Ah…a hero, then?” Terrill and Krysta’s backs pushed against one another, tensing at that word. The man swung his axe through the air, making it glitter with stone and crystal, his grin retreating into a grim line. “Let us test that. You and your ilk shall not interfere with the Lifeblood.”

No one could ask what he meant. There was no time.

The man attacked.