Second Deep: The Otherwilds
80th of Searing, Year 122 Steel
The last time Kala had descended into the Warrens, it had led to momentous things. A season had passed since then, relatively quietly, all things considered. Now, she was back, albeit not so deep as before. It was strange to feel more normal here than up above, but the Goddess' quest had changed her.
The Territory of Earth was idyllic in many ways, though it grew stranger the longer they traversed its expanse. They had nominally come to collect terrasyte—some for Kilvin's Forge, a subsidiary of the Leukos zaibatsu, some for her own magical uses—but she could have simply purchased them. There was something drawing her back, and she had chosen to follow her intuition. A sufficiently high quality bit of terrasyte might make an interesting soul totem, and the bounty of this area wasn't only in its earth stones. They followed the curve of a river, and she was happy to see fewer signs of excavation.
Kaus was with her because of course he was. Ceran landed nearby, then kept his eyes on the sky until Indric joined them.
"No signs of danger, my lady," Ceran reported. There was a deeper relationship between them all now that they had seen such things together, but she had despaired of getting him to treat her familiarly. The other Avialae saw her as the special one, the one to whom Goddesses spoke. They had only seen Atoria because they served her family. Now they served her, whether she paid them or not.
"Found some chitter nuts," Indric offered.
He shook a bulging pouch and it rattled like a musical instrument, the seeds inside the ripe nuts making percussive music. Some could be sold; perhaps some would be planted in the Cintamani Pavilion's gardens or brought to Starfall to diversify the local diet. There was much that could be gleaned from a trip into the Warrens.
They were alert, but relaxed. Not a one of them hadn't proven themselves in the Warrens and beyond. The twins were powerful sorcerers and adept warriors, and even though they didn't need the support, their loyal friends were there as well. They could handle just about anything, they supposed. There was a brief pause for lunch and respite, and then they were on the move again.
"The river dips underground," Indric reported after another scouting. Kala nodded, knowing somehow that she needed to follow it. They descended, the river passing down into caverns lit with phosphorescent fungus and the light of dragonshards reflecting off the faceted faces of mundane crystals.
The boys began to unload the equipment brought from the Pavilion to safely harvest dragonshards: the shard beacons; the aether nets; the runeforged pickaxes, hammers, and chisels.
But Kala's feet brought her farther away, face to face with a wall that, upon closer examination, was made up mostly of crystal only partially revealed from the other stone. In her witchlight, it was illumined, and for whatever reason, she wasn't surprised to see a humanoid form within. She could hear the chatter behind her quiet as Kaus caught her thoughts and said something to the boys.
Kala pressed her hand and her face to the translucent stone. She reached out with her mind as if they were in Atoria. She reached into the crystal, her hand parting it as though it was water, her Rune of Elementalism flaring to powerful life.
Wake up.
.80th of Searing, Year 122 Steel
The last time Kala had descended into the Warrens, it had led to momentous things. A season had passed since then, relatively quietly, all things considered. Now, she was back, albeit not so deep as before. It was strange to feel more normal here than up above, but the Goddess' quest had changed her.
The Territory of Earth was idyllic in many ways, though it grew stranger the longer they traversed its expanse. They had nominally come to collect terrasyte—some for Kilvin's Forge, a subsidiary of the Leukos zaibatsu, some for her own magical uses—but she could have simply purchased them. There was something drawing her back, and she had chosen to follow her intuition. A sufficiently high quality bit of terrasyte might make an interesting soul totem, and the bounty of this area wasn't only in its earth stones. They followed the curve of a river, and she was happy to see fewer signs of excavation.
Kaus was with her because of course he was. Ceran landed nearby, then kept his eyes on the sky until Indric joined them.
"No signs of danger, my lady," Ceran reported. There was a deeper relationship between them all now that they had seen such things together, but she had despaired of getting him to treat her familiarly. The other Avialae saw her as the special one, the one to whom Goddesses spoke. They had only seen Atoria because they served her family. Now they served her, whether she paid them or not.
"Found some chitter nuts," Indric offered.
He shook a bulging pouch and it rattled like a musical instrument, the seeds inside the ripe nuts making percussive music. Some could be sold; perhaps some would be planted in the Cintamani Pavilion's gardens or brought to Starfall to diversify the local diet. There was much that could be gleaned from a trip into the Warrens.
They were alert, but relaxed. Not a one of them hadn't proven themselves in the Warrens and beyond. The twins were powerful sorcerers and adept warriors, and even though they didn't need the support, their loyal friends were there as well. They could handle just about anything, they supposed. There was a brief pause for lunch and respite, and then they were on the move again.
"The river dips underground," Indric reported after another scouting. Kala nodded, knowing somehow that she needed to follow it. They descended, the river passing down into caverns lit with phosphorescent fungus and the light of dragonshards reflecting off the faceted faces of mundane crystals.
The boys began to unload the equipment brought from the Pavilion to safely harvest dragonshards: the shard beacons; the aether nets; the runeforged pickaxes, hammers, and chisels.
But Kala's feet brought her farther away, face to face with a wall that, upon closer examination, was made up mostly of crystal only partially revealed from the other stone. In her witchlight, it was illumined, and for whatever reason, she wasn't surprised to see a humanoid form within. She could hear the chatter behind her quiet as Kaus caught her thoughts and said something to the boys.
Kala pressed her hand and her face to the translucent stone. She reached out with her mind as if they were in Atoria. She reached into the crystal, her hand parting it as though it was water, her Rune of Elementalism flaring to powerful life.
Wake up.
