Enmity of Atlas

“All right! Listen up! I’m only saying this once!” An older, gruffer dwarf shouted, pickaxe leaned against his shoulder as he paced about in front of them.

That morning, Jarce had woken them up rather early, just as the artificial sun’s light was starting to bloom. Trenton, of course, was more than used to it, his old routine a rigorous one spanning from sunrise to sunset. He easily hefted Leo over one of his now two functional shoulders, the left one specifically. He could leave Leo here, but it was risky. He’d just have to fight with one arm, difficult, but not impossible.

Trenton looked over, watching as Kiva and Garrote dragged themselves out of their bedrolls yawning. It seems they were not used to early mornings like he was. Leo used to be great in the mornings, far more energetic than even Trenton was, but given his current state, he wasn’t waking up anytime soon, kind of like Karfice.

Karfice just lay there, arms spread wide, dozing back off to sleep as they got ready. Trenton thought to say something, force him up, but decided to abstain, preferring that he face the natural consequences of his choices then get bailed out by Trenton’s good will. When Jarce came back after a couple minutes to bring them to wherever they needed to be, he wasn’t happy to see Karfice still sleeping. He chewed him out pretty hard for that.

Then, when everyone was awake and ready, they had gathered on a platform at the mouth of the mine, pushing through the thick morning crowds of dwarves tending to their jobs. That's where they met the older dwarf, the one that was currently drilling their assignment into their mines.

“There is something in these mines which is taking your brothers, gutting them like cattle! We don’t know exactly where it is, but intel would suggest it has something to do with that hidden passage we opened up recently! If you want to survive, you’ll do exactly as I say! First rule! Watch after each other's asses, but first and foremost, watch after your own ass! You’re not heroes! You’re miners! And damn fine ones at that! I’ll be damned before I lose such good men on company time! Second rule! If you notice anything strange, speak up! We’ve got a handful of geomancer’s here, but don’t expect them to catch everything! I need all eyes and all ears on lookout at ALL times! Lastly, final rule, watch your canaries like a hawk. We’ve got bubbles, but if the gas gets too dense, it can pop them. We can’t take the risk of suffocating before we get to the target. Is that understood!?”

“Sir, yes sir!” The dwarves shouted in unison, pounding on their chest and hoisting their picks into the air.

“Canary? Like the bird?” Kiva asked, leaning down to whisper to Jarse.

“Oh, yeah. You don’t have one. EY! HARVIR! 4 MORE CANARIES OVER HERE!” Jarce shouted at the old dwarf, drawing his attention amidst the meandering group of dwarven miners. Harvir waddled over to them, a displeased expression marking his face.

“Everyone should have their canaries already! Don’t tell me-” Harvir started, raising his finger to poke at Jarce’s chest.

“Cool yourself. The new kids need canaries, seeing as they’ve never been mining before.”

Harvir paused, looking them up and down, still not impressed, “So you’re the kids we’re going to be traveling with? What a fine lot to attend our funerals.”

“Actually,” Andree said, coming up behind Harvir and slinging his arm over his shoulder, “they’re under my supervision. I wouldn’t worry about them, nor would I give them a hard time. You know how Drawven gets about his ‘guests.’”

Harvir grunted, pushing Andree’s hand off of himself, “Yeah, yeah. I know the drill,” from his deep pocket, Harvir pulled out 4 necklaces with glowing round bodies on the end. They were bright and cheerful, like a nice little reading light. “These are canaries. Before these devices got invented, we used real birds, thus the name. When the light goes out, that means there’s too much gas in the air. We’ll have a spell to help us breathe and talk, but if it gets really bad, we’ll have to evacuate. Is that clear? If not, ask Jarce. I don’t have time for this anyway,” Harvir muttered, wandering towards another huddle of miners off to the side, looking to give them a scolding for some reason or another as each of them slipped their canary on.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he just likes being an arse. Come on, we’re almost ready,” Jarse said, grabbing Trenton by the elbow and pulling him towards what appeared to be a cluster of the miners, two dwarves at the center chanting incantations.

One dwarf, a psychic with pink eyes, went about the circle, touching each of them on the forehead as he went, impairing and connecting each person to the spell. The other dwarf, an aeromancer with wispy, white eyes, was swirling the air around them, his hands and body swaying to some sort of rhythm he knew. Then suddenly, all at once, the air closed in around Trenton’s head, pressing in on his face hard enough to give him a slight headache. It wasn’t comfortable, but besides the slightly distorted veil a foot out from his head, it would work well enough. He could breathe, afterall.

While the aeromancer slipped back into the crowd, the psychic finished his magic, bringing his hands together in front of his chest, “Ello? Ello? Raise your hand if you can hear me,” said a voice in Trenton’s head, ringing all about his mind without any auditory stimulus.

He’d heard of this spell before, telepathy, but never actually gotten to experience it himself. Most of the mages in Aria were either incapable or unwilling to show him just because of how much energy the spell took to cast. In a way, it was kind of like a childhood dream come true.Trenton raised his hand, the other dwarves all following suit. Some were a little more delayed than others, but it looked like everyone was getting the message.

“23…24, perfect. That’s everyone. Now, if you want to talk to somebody while the link is up, you just need to look at them and say the words you want to tell them in your head with the intent to speak to them. You all know what you’re doing. The spell will last for a couple hours. If it goes down, I’ll have to redo it from scratch,” the voice explained.

Karfice glanced over at Trenton, his singular eye boring into the side of his face, “-ton..Trenton…Trenton…Trenton. Can you hear me?” Trenton nodded. “That’s not too difficult. Very neat. I-what is Garrote doing?”

To their immediate right, Garrote rolled on the ground holding his neck, his whole face red and his mouth wide open, almost impossibly so. Was he choking? Trenton watched him struggle for a moment, waiting to see if he could fix it himself. And sure enough, after a couple moments, Garrote’s movements slowed, his mouth clamping shut, and the normal hue of his face returning.

“You tried talking out loud, didn’t you?” Kiva said, her disembodied voice audible to their little group but no others.

“...maybe,” Garrote responded, doubled over and heaving through his nose.

Karfice raised his hand and pointed at Garrote, attempting to let out a hearty laugh, but only succeeding in succumbing to the same folly which claimed Garrote just moments prior. It seemed that although Karfice’s mask did cover his face, it was not air tight. Karfice didn’t fall to the ground like Garrote did, but he did double over, taking a moment to steady and reorganize himself, his struggle visible.

“Word of advice. Don’t open your mouth,” Garrote said, trying but failing to cover a smile.

“Yeah I-thanks. I didn’t realize,” Karfice said.

“All right lads! Grab your pick and hop aboard! We’re heading down!” Harvir shouted in their minds, a very unnecessary and painful choice.

One by one, they shuffled onto the elevator hanging just above the center of the endless black pit beneath them. It was intimidating, ominous, but Trenton remained strong, holding Leo close to him. As the elevator slowly rumbled to life, shakily descending into the abyss, Trenton realized just how dark it was going to be down there. They were entering the moles domain, forgone the light from the artificial sun they had so quickly become dependent on. For a city of constant life and lights, it was strange, the first real moment of darkness he’d had since he got into the city. This was going to be a long, long trip.