The apartment held a warm atmosphere when I woke. We all had breakfast together and discussed our plans for the day. Lilika would attempt to organize a meeting with the rats, Keff and Betiara would have their ears to the ground at the city armory, and Sekvi would continue their social ascension to the castle. I, meanwhile, endeavored to gather intel at the Conclave. The others were earning enough money to pay rent, but I still hoped to find some paying work so that I could contribute to the household. I prepared myself to face Gwyl after she had excused my extracurricular exploration of the Caverns. My new outfit earned me more looks than usual as I made my way to the Interior Fifth Ring. The attention felt like a double-edged sword; I didn't feel especially comfortable with being beheld, but the appraisals passed at me were favorable. Would acclimation alone earn the confidence to lean into this development? Social matters had always been a crucible for me, and I didn't anticipate that fact to change. As always, a guard was following me to my destination.
"Well, there she is," Gwyl announced to the other transmuters present. She sat upon her desk with the others gathered around her. Despite the early hour, the department was fully staffed. What I could glean of the subtext had me feeling sheepish as I joined the others, though Fithi offered me a nod that I reciprocated with a smile. "Now, on to the matter at hand... the Sun King is funding an expedition into the lower research levels of the Cavern. As most of you know, this is an inter-departmental affair, so I'll be accepting two volunteers from our department. Remember, this is dangerous; we don't know what's down there. Talk amongst yourselves while I see Madison in my office." The kobold gestured for me to follow her into a side room. Some of the transmuters wore smirks as they looked to me, but Fithi looked concerned. I could only return an uncertain expression as I departed the group to face what I expected to be a scolding that would last a lifetime. The Conclave had only hosted me for a short period of time before I'd gotten myself into trouble. I fully expected to be expelled from the organization.
"You're not in trouble," Gwyl began as she took a seat atop this desk, as well. Her hands were steepled and pointed directly at me; she meant business. "But I need to know exactly what you were doing down there. I covered for you because you don't seem the type to cause trouble, in spite of our first meeting."
"Lilika and I were gathering plants, that's all. We have rent to pay, and she makes medicines."
"Who is Lilika?"
"My adoptive mother, a druid. I figured going with her would be a good learning opportunity." Gwyl nodded her head, her eyes averting for a moment.
"I was told you were injured when you left the tunnel."
"...we disturbed some wererats."
"Wererats?"
"In the left branch of the first research level, yes. They're, they just want to be left alone, but we made a deal with them: they'll let us harvest plants if we bring them food and medicine. Um, I... let them bite me for collateral while Lilika taught them how to make medicines, in exchange for letting us leave." I considered imploring Gwyl to not tell the king of these events, but by doing so, I would invite undue scrutiny toward myself and the rats. It wasn't a wise option.
"You willingly contracted lycanthropy?!"
"Lilika cured it, really, I'm okay. Look at my eyes." Gwyl squinted as she inspected me for signs of changes or lies. Apparently satisfied, she raised a hand to her chin. Her momentary upset settled into a furrowed eye ridge.
"That's not a very common experience... would you like to go on the expedition today?" I blinked. My reported recklessness was being rewarded instead of punished? The confusion that rippled through me must have shown on my face. "Like I said, today's operation will be dangerous, and I'd feel better knowing that we'd have a member that would act selflessly in the face of danger. You’ve also spent time in the tunnels before, and a druid will have taught you how to survive down there. It would come with a condition, however." This mission was proposed by the king. It could be a valuable opportunity to increase my knowledge of Nereved, as well as to put myself into his good graces. I wondered if this would lead to a relief of the guards that tailed me, or at the very least, a lessening of his attention over me. In the other hand lay the dangerous nature of this expedition. It was worthwhile, at least, to hear Gwyl's offer in full.
"I'm interested," I answered. "What's your condition?"
"I want a report on your experience with lycanthropy. It's an extrapolation of Transmutation, so your data would be at home in the Transmuter’s Conclave." I doubted that the king would be party to such a report unless he was told of the events. If I casted mundanity on the matter, I could potentially discourage his attention.
"Do you mind if it's written in Draconic? I can't, um, read or speak Common without assistance," I explained, gesturing to my pendant.
"I know. Draconic is fine. Get to work; I'll go wring another researcher out of this group." We began our respective work in the common area. I sat at my desk, thankful that I had chosen to write my letters the day before. My report was truthful of my experience, but didn't contain any irrelevant framing of the situation that had informed it. As I wrote, I became distracted by the shapes of my letters. They appeared as if they could be formed by the claws of a dragon. The words of the same language that I had observed in my translation guide were simpler, more rounded, refined for humanoid hands and their proprietary implements. My report took shape as Gwyl spoke to the others. I gathered that some of the more skeptical transmuters had objected to the involvement of a new acquisition, but the raspy voice of the bright green kobold quickly asserted itself. It was difficult to avoid stealing a glance at the rest of the group. I took a breath instead and hunkered down to complete my report.
A raised eye ridge graced Gwyl's face as she investigated the pages I provided her. "This dialect is old," she observed. "Sekvi must have trained you in the classics... I'm surprised they didn't have you learn Common first."
"We were planning to begin Common before the earthquake leveled the valley," I explained. "They had one of these translation pendants on them, and decided I needed it more than they did. I, um, I've been studying translations in my spare time, though." An agreeable nod met my explanation. Gwyl had a keen eye, but that eye was fortunately more interested in my report than my reason for being unable to understand Common in the first place. She tapped the sheets of parchment upon her desk to collate them.
"This will do. Madison, let me ask you something."
"Yes?"
"The Arcanist Conclave is an organization dedicated to the furtherance and discovery of magical history. What are your plans to engage with these principles?" I suddenly felt as if I was on a well-lit stage, thoroughly put on the spot. This wasn't a question that I'd had time to ask myself.
"Well, um... I'm hoping to contribute to new knowledge of Nereved by taking part in this mission," I began, sitting up straighter on our shared bench seat. "And I have an idea for how to progress the use of my magic." Gwyl looked on with interest.
"Tell me about that."
"I've been thinking about spells that require concentration to maintain. Comprehend Languages, Enhance Ability, and others. I think there would be value in establishing a peripheral source of ongoing magical effects to broaden my... simultaneous, um, capabilities."
"I see. Have you heard of Transmuter’s Stones before?" My eyes widened. Was this an established practice? The idea of a Transmutation Stone reminded me of a Philosopher's Stone, the alchemical idea of turning lead into gold. I started to wonder if such a thing were possible in this world, but hoped it wouldn't be, given that such practices could entirely crash an economy.
"I haven't," I admitted.
"Even better. I'll let you figure that out on your own." This decision suited me, as my magical journey would feel more real to me if I were the one discovering my own answers. "If you want to contribute, then keep your eyes out. Depending on what you find, you may receive a reward." What would a reward from such an organization look like? The connections I could make, access to the libraries, and the free enchanted ink were enough of a reward. Perhaps the reward would be monetary.
"I'll do my best, reward or not. Otherwise, why do anything?"
"That's a good attitude to have, but we don't like to leave our members empty-handed. By the way, Fithi's going with you; she carries a useful assortment of spells, including healing magic. I don’t want either of you getting trapped down there." If this endeavor was serious enough to require the presence of a healer, then I would need to be especially cautious.
"I understand. Thank you, Gwyl."
"Make us proud, new girl." I reviewed my Spell Tome in reflection of the task to come. Specifics of my surroundings were a luxury I didn't have, but I didn't anticipate Shatter to be a safe choice in unknown underground spaces. Defensive spells, offensive spells of precision, and spells that would aid in movement were prioritized over raw damage or overall versatility. Absorb Elements, Expeditious Retreat, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield, Invisibility, Misty Step and Mind Whip were the formulas I memorized for the day's work. Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic and Identify could be cast via ritual, each one concisely described within my Tome. I felt well prepared with this selection of spells, and thus slipped my Tome back into its holster. Fithi was preparing in a similar manner, double-checking the order her supplies were in, as well as their accessibility. The other transmuters were working and talking amongst themselves while Gwyl was filling out paperwork that was likely relevant to today's mission. Feeling reluctant to interrupt anyone, I decided to look for books about shape shifters in the library.
I wasn't able to get much reading done within an hour’s time, but I managed to learn that unfavorable attitudes toward lycanthropy were a recent development in the Cradle's history. So much suffering could easily have come about because of these attitudes. If people became something they felt negatively about, then they would feel negatively about themselves by default. Ignorance was a snake that forever ate its tail. I learned, as well, that there were many different forms a lycanthrope could take; werewolves were simply known as the oldest form of lycanthrope. Wererats, weresharks, and even werehorses were present in this world. I was so engrossed in my study that I hadn't noticed Fithi approach me. "Hey partner, are you ready to go?"
"Oh! Yes, I was just passing time." I placed the book back into its diligently memorized space and began walking toward the Conclave entry hall with my fellow dragonborn.
"Shape shifters, huh?"
"One of my friends is a werewolf. I wanted to understand the condition better." I could tell by the sway of her tail and the smile she wore that Fithi found my answer amusing.
"I noticed passive, constant magic on you the other day. Are you a werewolf?"
"Not as far as I know."
"I've always wondered what that's like."
"From what I understand, it comes with instinctual changes, and some physical changes, too. Eye color is a big one." I lapsed into thoughtful quiet as we stood in wait of the other departments' volunteers. A handful of others had arrived before us.
"I think it's nice of you to understand your friend's life."
"Change is a broad subject."
"It is," Fithi agreed, and gestured down to her belts of art supplies. "I play the long game. If I can change the way magic itself is used, just imagine what could become possible!"
"I think it's a really cool idea. I haven't seen anyone cast magic with paint before."
"Then you're missing out! How do you think the oldest magic was cast?" It was a good question.
"Um... symbology or innate sources?"
"Both," she explained with enthusiasm. "Chisels, paintbrushes, spoken sounds and all their associations; each can create symbols. I expected you to understand." I couldn't help but respond to her excitement with a smile.
"Why'd you think that?"
"You speak Draconic, but not Common. I don't have Gwyl's eye, but I notice plenty."
"I don't think any of us have her eye, to be fair." I found it surprisingly easy to talk to Fithi. Her warm personality and eagerness to engage took a lot of social pressure off of me. "I like her, though. Her criticisms are fair."
"Fair, but fiery." We shared a laugh over this observation.
"Are you from Karthos Bend?" She queried, shifting to Draconic. I felt as if she wanted to assess my accent. If so, this would be a great opportunity to learn whether my writing dialect matched my speech. Curious eyes awaited my answer while I calculated a safe answer.
"Would you care to hazard a guess?" Social games were detestable to me, but I couldn't afford to risk another Arizzonah incident.
"Oh, wow." This reaction confirmed my suspicion. I began to wonder whether my speech had caused Nioto's apparent anxiety in Letvel. It was even obvious to me that Fithi’s, Nioto’s and my respective ways of speaking were all different. "Judging by your scales and your dialect... the Alsakar Islands?"
"That's a very good guess," I said with a coy slant. My hope was to cultivate curiosity instead of put Fithi off, but I felt that I may toe the line if I maintained this course. "By yours, I would say... you're from a coastal area in the South."
"Yes, but do you have a more specific guess? Come on, island girl!"
"Umm... I'm not familiar with the area." Checkmate. Fithi had sunk my battleship.
"I was hatched across the water from the islands. You're either from elsewhere, or you didn't get out much."
"I didn't, no. The Sekvis of the world greatly outpace my, um, meager social prowess." The way the moment slipped from the air was almost tangible. I could feel her disappointment growing. "Sorry. I feel like I've failed to reciprocate."
"That's alright, I get a bit eager." Fithi scanned the entry hall for the status of our outing. The final participants were beginning to file in. "Are you ready?"
"Only if you are." An awkward, but shared smile put us both at passable ease. We approached the other participants to mingle until the organizer addressed us with guidelines and objectives. Safety was the prime directive, with discovery being secondary. Our task was to explore the uncharted depths past the third research level. Three torches were handed out to each participant; I stowed ours in my bag. I tied its sling around my hip to prevent oil from dripping onto my clothes. I recognized the next distributed item as the same sort of stone I had seen the guards use: a Sending Stone. These stones featured an etched label that Fithi helpfully translated for me: "Chaperone." Packaged, dried food was offered to us as well. With protocols established, we were led down the long descent into the Caverns. Myriad magic users eagerly discussed rumors of the Caverns' contents and their speculations thereof. I gathered that there was an undercurrent of interest in the mythical Old Nere. My peers spoke to me of gigantic worms, killer fungi and burrowelters, and I began to wish Lilika was present to calm my mounting anxieties.
One by one, we were all cleared by the guards as they recorded our names. I found this simple act of cognizance to be slightly reassuring in spite of its source. The lift was able to lower our entire group at once. We descended down, endlessly down the amber-lit shaft, traveling at a snail's pace toward the unknown. I took a steeling breath as I entered the familiar mining complex with the rest of the group. Some of the volunteers had been down here before, indicated by a lack of interest in the surrounding activity. Once we were on the other side of the doors, however, silence swiftly descended over the throng of mages. I gripped my staff a little tighter in my hand. Fithi was more excited than I was, and offered me a grin that I did my best to reciprocate. Now that I was down in these depths again, I could smell the rat's den, which reminded me of the fearful adrenaline that had flowed through me only two days prior. A rat peered at me from the tunnel as we passed by. They offered a subtle nod of their head that I returned with a wink.
Caution slowed our progress as we delved further into the earth. Guard rails, ladders and various platforms necessitated traversal in staggered formations. I made the mistake of looking over a guard rail to witness a darkened stope swallow the meager light immediately below our convoy. Something about this visage inspired deep discomfort within my stomach. We were hundreds of feet below sea level by now. The untold weight of Nereved bore down on us from above, and though the stone was solid, it did little to inspire a feeling of confidence as we crossed the threshold into the fourth research level. No research expedition had come this far. Light cantrips were cast in order to save our torches for emergency use. The natural shape of the Caverns became less steep, which allowed for careful expedition, but there were no familiar fixtures down here. There were no lights, ladders, or the trappings of recent occupation within these spans. I had to wonder how responsible it was to send us all down here.
The temperature slowly warmed as we made our way downward. An ominous warning came in the form of a branching tunnel providing no air flow from within. Our chaperone used the opportunity to exemplify the risks of exploration at such levels, and to avoid chemical smells and the scents of rotting materials. "Follow the air," they said in no uncertain terms. My heart was pumping vigorously in my ears; whether caused by anxiety or the throes of oxygen deprivation, I was unsure. The others continued in spite of this, and no one had reported feeling taint, so I told myself that I was reasonably nervous within the dark bowels of an extinct volcano. Fithi sensed my apprehension and informed me that good air flow was almost universally guaranteed, given that this volcano was likely one of many that connected to various others at one time. This network of passages to distant places would sustain life to a certain depth... but none of us knew where sustenance would end. I was beginning to think that this expedition was a very, very bad idea.
Another bad idea was suggested upon reaching the fifth research level: splitting up into groups of two. Most of the others paired into mixed-discipline groups, but Fithi and I decided to stay together. She could tell how nervous I was. My breaths were intentionally shallow in avoidance of accidentally inhaling bad air, and my face displayed a look of constant worry. I jumped as I felt her reassuring hand on my shoulder. After confirming that I had faith in her abilities, we entered a tunnel that branched off to the left while others picked different areas to explore. Warm, slightly humid air breezed past us. We tested our Sending Stones and found them to be working in perfect order. She informed me that she had a cantrip, Message, which would allow us to communicate within a moderate distance of each other. According to her, there had been no recorded fatalities during the previous expedition to higher levels. I felt it imprudent to measure my proficiency against previous Arcanists and opted to focus on my immediate surroundings.
Utter silence met us as we crept along the tunnel. Dark gray rock lined our surroundings that seemed to grow larger as we pressed onward. I would almost rather the creak of earth than the near total lack of sound. It all felt so oppressive, forbidden, and spoke to the idea that we should not have been here. Sometime after our divergence, we began to hear a sound. An overtone drifted rhythmically from a further reach of the tunnel. It was almost bell-like, and my mind alighted in terrible visuals of some elongated, shadowy figure tapping a bell with a hammer. I searched myself for sources of hope. My friends all came to mind, of course, as did my magical ability. Thinking of Betiara made me wonder if I should reach out to the moon for help. I had no connection to the moon, and there were no signs of it down here, so I decided that I wouldn't be an atheist in this foxhole. A welcome distraction greeted us upon encountering a string of stalagnate pillars. "Fithi, look," I whispered, pointing past one of the mineral features.
"...what do you think that is?"
"I don't know." I peered closely at an angular indention in the wall. It looked as if someone had accidentally shoved a dresser against a cheap panel of drywall and dented it inward. This, however, was stone, so the force involved would have been more substantial. I tried not to consider the connotations of this feature, though Fithi made diligent note of it in her notebook. I decided to carefully break some chunks off of the base of a stalagnate to both keep as samples and to mark divergences in our path. Dripping water trickled along a gentle, downward slope, so we decided to follow it. The lack of signage or other directional aids made me wonder how far down we had ventured. Fithi was on her fourth cast of Light, which meant we had spent three hours beyond the presence of Nereved's illumination. We spotted nothing of note until we came to an odd formation at an apparent end of the tunnel. Stone, long weathered by moisture, spanned across our path. A sizeable bit of rock had been worn away by flowing water, but it wasn't enough space to shimmy through. I thanked my lucky stars that we wouldn't be able to travel further.
"I can get us through there," Fithi said as we examined the opening at our feet.
"We're way too big to fit through there."
"Not," she insisted with a grin, "unless I temporarily shrink us." Shrinking magic? Had I wandered into a cartoon? For the sake of not being an asshole, I decided to hear her out.
"How small can you make us?"
"Half our current size." Given this assertion, we could likely fit through the gap. I, however, had no interest in getting stuck in wet rock hundreds of feet below sea level. "What do you think?"
"Let's measure twice and cut once," I quietly insisted as I looked over the intact rock. Whatever I was expecting to find was not at all what I found. The top and sides of the span appeared to angle inward with alarming uniformity. I carefully traced a finger along the right side of the inset to find that the rock smoothly melded into its surroundings at a perfect right angle. Fithi was knelt below me, attempting to measure the width of her shoulders against the gap in the rock below. "Fithi. Look at this." My fellow dragonborn stood and quickly followed my finger.
"You're kidding." Her mouth fell open in amazement. Though there wasn't a seam in the corners of this feature, it was very clear that something about it was deliberate in nature. "Someone put this here! Look at the way it wavers slightly right here... Madison!" Stranger still was a smooth dip in the rock between the natural cave wall and the flat slab of rock that blocked the way. It appeared as if rock had been pulled from the cave itself and sculpted into a new wall.
"My adoptive mother's a druid... I've seen her do the reverse of this before. Holy dog shit."
"I swear, I'll eat my brushes if the legends of Old Nere turn out to be true. Ohoh, we have to get past this now."
"Do we?" I asked in hasty response. "If someone blocked this off, they either wanted to keep something out or something in. Some ancient civilization hiding stuff gives me a really bad feeling." Fithi took a breath, turned, and placed her shining blue hands on my shoulders.
"Madison, this is old enough to be worn away by water. That takes a long time. An Old Nere settlement would be thousands of years old, if not more! No traps would function anymore, and no magical remnants would be left over from that age, especially not with moisture carving and corroding its container." I found it difficult to argue these points, but I wouldn't feel terribly satisfied unless I tried.
"Is this worth potentially dying for?"
"Think of how famous we’d be if we discovered conclusive proof of ancient habitation under these mountains! We both have rent to pay, don't we?" Would my friends rather have me arrive home, or would they rather me pay their rent if the alternative meant risking death? I didn't want fame or fortune; all I wanted was to live. "I'm going in there either way, so you'll either come with me and share the discovery, or leave me to claim everything for myself."
"Or we could go back and explore somewhere else so we don't risk dying down here, Fithi. How about that?" A smirk was her only response. She stooped down and took a paintbrush from her belt. An extended elbow bent at a right angle to paint the air before her, as if painting herself at a distance. A thin, blue light surrounded her form as her stature halved before my eyes.
"This chance comes once in a lifetime, Madison." In spite of myself, I tried not to laugh at the comically heightened pitch of Fithi's voice. She lowered herself to her stomach and carefully pulled herself through the gap. Her belt, which she had illuminated with blue Light, cast a shadow from within that unnervingly darkened my side of the divide. I lowered myself to peer through the gap, seeing that the tunnel continued on the other side amid slightly breezy air. "So, what do you think? Are you coming?" Her brush was poised and ready to cast once more. My mind swirled with options. The most desirable of these options was to leave this place and never return, or to come back with Shatter to collapse the tunnel so that no one could ever make Fithi's mistake. At the same time, as a wizard, I knew that intentionally obscuring knowledge that should be free to all would be a difficult choice to live with. If this really were a remnant of an ancient civilization, I marveled at the possibilities that were present on the other side of this gap. One fact, above all others, felt most certain: I couldn't leave her on her own. Someone may need to haul her body back to the surface.
"Save your spells, I can teleport through... step back a bit." My suggestion was met with a bounce of elation, and Fithi hurried back to make room for my arrival. I clenched my fist, bloomed my hand open and spoke my words of power: "chalupus maximus." In a flash of pink light, I arrived on the other side of the wall, exactly where I had reluctantly intended to be.
"Thanks for coming with me. I know I'm a little excitable, but I do feel better knowing I'm not in here alone."
"You're welcome," I responded with thinly veiled reluctance. "If something happened to you, I... couldn't let it happen to you alone."
"I see Gwyl made a good choice," Fithi offered as she gave my forearm a gentle pat. "Fortune or flop, let's keep going." We walked side by side as we resumed our venture through the tunnel. Apprehension grew ceaseless in me. Every step we took reminded me that I was making a dangerous decision that I may not be able to undo. I felt that I'd consigned myself to die simply so a pushy coworker wouldn't experience the same by herself. Our next discovery came only minutes into my silent ruminations. A cavern opened up around us, easily stretching out of the range of Fithi's Light. We stayed close together in this room as we carefully circumnavigated the chamber. There was a steep drop in the middle of the room, and the back wall featured no continuation of the cavern. I smelled something odd coming from the space and decided not to light any torches within this place. Breathable air, however, trickled in from a small steam of water that had hollowed a channel above its flow. A full circle of the room yielded little else of note. My partner's arms were crossed in disappointment until I noticed something out of the corner of my eye: a raise in the stone, resting on the edge of the depression.
"Hey," I whispered as I pointed to the stone. Fithi and I approached the stone to bathe it in revealing blue light. A carved stone tablet, wider than it was tall, stood mildly from the rock before us. My eyes went wide with amazement and horror as I discovered that the tablet wasn't bare.
"It's... Draconic," my stunned partner gasped into the quiet. It was at that moment that the light on her belt went out, which elicited a cry of fear from my throat. I was going to die in here. This was the end. Darkness would be my last vision of the living world!
"Turn it back on, Fithi," I pleaded in a whisper. "It's so dark." Blue light softly swelled into existence once more, and I fell to my knees, breathless and terrified. My hands protested in pain over how tightly I was squeezing my staff. I pledged to myself, here and now, that I would never go under the surface of any planet ever again.
"You're alright. Look at this... Madison. Who could have made this but the Old Nere?" Fithi hurried up to the tablet and began to read it. "Shit. It's in an older form o-" She stopped, and looked over to me with a smirk. Her stature abruptly restored itself as she ended her previous spell.
"Sheezus f-, it’s, it's a little faded. Shine it closer? Okay." I began to read the tablet's contents out loud. "Here lay slaughtered Th, Ther, Ther-i-murk, foul wyrm under Our Nere Mountain atop stained horde of bloodstained coal. Death is too kind a fate."
"Madison," Fithi said slowly as she turned to face me with an expression of unbridled delight. "Call it in." There was something in her face that I didn't like. Greed, lust, or something else lived in those eyes. I was eager to get them off of me as quickly as I could. Fumbling with my Sending Stone, I cleared my throat and passed a message to the chaperone. They had instructed us to limit all messages to 25 words or fewer. Fithi helpfully counted for me with her fingers.
"Transmuters checking in, Madison and Fithi. ...we found something. It's... send someone right away. Left corridor on second level down, past stalagnates and wall. Hurry." All the breath in my lungs had vanished by the time I finished my transmission. Fithi jumped for joy, and in her jubilation, accidentally knocked my Sending Stone from my hand. It fell past my reached and bounced deep into the pit below us. Seconds passed before we heard a small impact of stone upon stone. I then felt another Sending Stone being pressed into my hand.
"Sorry. Here, take mine. I hope you're ready to live higher than the Sun King, Madison, because we've just changed the world!" I was too numb to consider the veracity of this statement. In the interest of distracting myself from my adrenaline, I carefully removed my Spell Tome from my holster and opened it to a blank page.
"H-hold this, up to the stone for me. Keep it still." Fithi did as instructed as I fished a piece of charcoal out of my component pouch. After assuring that my Tome was secured, I began conducting a thorough charcoal rub of the gravestone. "Just in case."
"You're a genius." I was not a genius, but in case we died down here, I wanted to make sure this translation wouldn't be lost. Fithi and I created a thoroughly detailed rub of the memorial, aided by the parchment that comprised my tome. It took two pages to encompass the entire epitaph. I began to worry over how I would preserve these rubbings after the pages were closed together, but I watched in surprise as the charcoal rubbing settled into the parchment itself. There would be no magic in these inscriptions, but they wouldn't fade with time or exposure, either. Silence followed this demonstration, closely followed by an orange light appearing to my right before I could protest. "Here. I'll check the other side of the room in case there's something we missed."
"Message received," I heard in my head; it was the chaperone responding through the other Sending Stone. "We're on our way."
Ordinarily I would chastise Fithi for lighting a torch next to settled air, which could have been flammable, but the torch's light thankfully confirmed the presence of adequate oxygen in the chamber. I declined to comment in light of this consideration. Her blue Light bobbed into the distance as I placed my Tome in its holster and sat near the entrance of the chamber to wait for her investigation to conclude. Faint footsteps lightly echoed over the stone, so faint that I hadn't noticed their absence when they ceased. I did, however, notice the sudden extinguishing of my torch as an enormous, crushing presence filled the room. "Fithi?! Help?" There was no response. This was not a good situation. I breathed as slowly and deliberately as I could in order to conserve oxygen. Panic quickly overtook me. The torch sputtered under Prestidigitation for a second, only for it to fall dark once again. "No, no, no no no, fuck, god fucking damn it, no," I spat in a whisper. The remaining Sending Stone was my last beacon of hope.
"Transmuters Fithi and Madison, obstructed by magical darkness and separated! Emergency! Please, please hurry! Fuck! Fithi?!" There was no response from either party. I slid the Sending Stone into my bag with a whimper.
"They will not hear you," A gravelly wisp of a voice echoed around me. Its Draconic dialect was as ancient as my own. "No one will hear you but me." Nothing I could have imagined would eclipse the raw, primal fear that I felt in this moment.
"Who," I managed amid my hyperventilation. My blood felt like acid that burned me from the inside. Cold flooded my limbs as I shook with adrenaline. The skin under my scales crawled as if trying to escape from the voice.
"It would be only polite to... acknowledge a fellow dragon, would it not?"
"Therimurk."
"Yessss. Time, beyond my grasp in death, alights not the last instance of... contact with the living."
"Wh-, what, do you want?"
"I... want... freedom."
"I can't give you that."
"No, not by yourself. You, fellow dragon, are weak. Restricted... I can see it clearly; you are tethered to this inferior form. I believe... an exchange could be entertained." There was no way that was going to happen. That couldn't happen. People couldn't barter with a ghost. "We can come together. My spirit... to meld with your flesh in shared... great power."
"I don't want power."
"You will want my power... once you feel it inside yourself." My trembling slowed to a stop as my expression went stony. I felt my head slump forward, eyes wide open. Unnatural stillness settled around me. Thick air pushed its way into down my throat. A barrage began, wracking my head with terrible pain as strange thoughts began to swirl through my head. Mounds of coal and ore, black scales, standing upon the meadows outside of Nereved with wings and four legs... but the vision didn't depict me. It showed what I assumed to be Therimurk instead, dark and covered with spines, though my golden eyes remained. I felt stick to my stomach as the room began to spin. Lycanthropy had wracked me with similar ills before, and I had fought through them. I forced my body to move with all the might I could summon, which was enough to shed Therimurk's influence over me. A ghastly echo of a chuckle erupted all around me. "Weak of body... strong of mind. I know you now, child of the stars."
"You, don't know anything," I gasped as nausea swirled up my throat and doom gripped my mind. It took so much effort to swallow the contents of my breakfast a second time.
"No? Oh, Madison Cantrell, dragon of Lancaster, I believe I almost had you. I see... cars... Taco Bell... unhappiness. A bid for freedom. I could have shaped you in my magnificent image, but... perhaps the other has greater weakness." I remembered that unsettling look on Fithi's face mere minutes ago.
"No!" It was the only word that came to me as my panic escalated. Silence invaded the room now. I closed my eyes and tried to focus myself on an escape plan. Terror rooted me in place, rattling my body apart with molten, caustic fear that poisoned me from within.
"Yes," a voice rasped in the dark... but it wasn't Therimurk's voice that I heard. Blue light nearly blinded me with its intensity as Fithi parted the darkness before me. Her eyes were empty and white, ominously lit from below with sickening pride twisting into her expression. I watched in horror beyond horror as she slowly reached down and tapped my torch with a finger. Flame sprung to life. "How easy it was to ply Fithi's greed. To feel air in my lungs again... you made too many wrong decisions, Madison. Now you die, and join the dust of my bones." Existence itself seemed to slow down as I stared at the stolen body of my colleague. Terrible, repulsive glee decorated her face. Her eyes were not only white, but I could see that they were now sightless. Blue and orange light revealed her scales to be steadily darkening by the second. Shining, silvery threads were beginning to peek out from underneath these changing scales. What I wouldn't give to see the light of day again, instead of this... light. That was it. A plan crystallized in my mind as time slowed to a crawl.
"Just, wait. Let me make you an offer." I carefully grasped the torch with my shaking right hand and hauled myself to my feet with all the effort I could muster. A few steps away and feigned dismay put me precisely where I needed to be. There was a high chance that I was going to die down here, but I wasn't going to die quietly. The tip of staff was given a space in the crook of my neck as I hugged around it; I was going to need both hands to secure our escape. It was time to size my opponent up. "I don't want to die down here," I lamented as genuine tears of fear wet my cheeks.
"What could you possibly offer me?" I looked longingly toward the entrance to the burial chamber. As I had hoped, Therimurk followed my gaze. That simple decision immediately improved my chances of survival. We simultaneously resumed eye contact, only for him to find my outstretched hand pointed into the pit with a Fire Bolt held blazing at my fingertip.
"Don’t, move," I breathlessly instructed, my trembling right hand slowly rising to cast Mage Hand. The lit torch, grasped by a spectral, rose gold facsimile of my hand, floated over to the pit and paused just above it. A look of rage came over Therimurk as he took a step forward. "STOP! No, no, no. If you attack me, Mage Hand fails and I kill us both, leaving you with no more vessels. No more freedom."
"WYRM," He howled with rage. I discharged Fire Bolt into the stone between us.
"No, if you lived down here, you didn't have wings." My Sending Stone was taken into my unencumbered left hand and held to my ear. "Transmuters to chaperone! Do not, I repeat, do not approach if you hear explosions! Permanently seal tunnel if we die. I will update you soon!"
"Weak. Wyrm. Filth. Inferior," Therimurk seethed as he took another step forward.
"There's another advantage to letting us go, Therimurk," I began, lowering my head into a leer. "I rubbed your gravestone. If you harm Fithi or I, we’re all buried, including the only record of your existence. If you let us leave... you’ll be immortalized in the historical record." I watched his face pale with concern before shifting back into one of cooling rage.
"Are you truly so willing to destroy yourself and an innocent? I saw friends in your memories. Loves... a long-sought mother."
"I've wanted to die since I was five years old. This would only mean going out on a high note." Therimurk didn't expect this answer. Confusion sputtered over his face. A flash of hand movement began to enact Prestidigitation, but I ceased this action by lowering the torch a few feet toward his grave. "I wouldn't do that."
"Weakling. The power that could be yours-"
"I have the power here! Life's a funny fucking thing, isn’t it," I spat. We were silent, even while I refreshed Fire Bolt so that I could refresh Mage Hand without dropping the torch. "Make your decision." The clenched fists of my colleague shook with rage as her stolen body erupted into a roar. It did nothing but echo along the walls. He didn't have any arcane options beyond a seemingly innate ability to create magical darkness and silence. We both knew he was beaten.
"I have one condition."
"I'm listening."
"Send me a worthy vessel."
"What makes you think I would do that?"
"I attack, Fithi dies." That matter had already been solved. He thought he had a bargaining chip left to play... I decided not to correct him.
"Fine. I know someone."
"How can I assure your delivery?"
"You don't."
"I should use her magic and kill you both right now."
"Then you're trapped in here with no possibility of ever taking a vessel again, and I ensure you stay forgotten." Fangs gnashed at me, hissing and spitting with the fury of a dragon without a leg to stand on.
"Hesitate and I will change my mind!" Fithi slumped down and fell to the floor, landing heavily on her shoulder. As much as I wanted to help her, I didn't move a muscle. I refused to fall for a potential trick of this magnitude. Mage Hand was refreshed again while I waited for my colleague to rise.
"Nnh... my head..." Her voice was no longer affecting a rasp. None of the other changes had reverted, however.
"Fithi?" I watched her reach down to her belt. It was already glowing.
"Madison, light a torch or something." As she sat up, I realized that her eyes were still white, milky and unfocused. I could have sworn my stomach dropped straight through the floor.
"We have to go. ...we have to go. Come on. Help's on the way." I took my staff into my mouth and extinguished Fire Bolt. "Give me your hand." Our hands quickly met. With Fithi on her feet again, I carefully walked backward toward the tunnel with Mage Hand still aloft. Once we were at the limit of the cantrip's range, I dropped the torch before the grave and hurried my colleague and myself into a run. A rush of air and the subsequent lack of orange light told me that the torch had been engulfed in darkness as we fled. Another cast of Misty Step and Reduce saw us back through the gap in the tunnel's seal. I ran. We both ran until our entire bodies burned.
"He... possessed me. Blinded me. I have some of his memories. Madison! The discoveries! The history!" Fithi sounded almost delirious with excitement, which I felt was the wrong way to react to the situation. "A small price to pay for riches and renown. Therimurk..."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I tried to stop him but he was already in you and...!"
"I dragged you along," she huffed as she did her best to keep up her pace.
"Transmuters Fithi and Madison, Alive and escaping! Healer needed, threat contained, discovery intact," I shouted into the Sending Stone. An immediate response sounded in my head.
"Chaperone, message received, we'll meet you along the way!"
"They didn't leave us. We'll be okay."
"I'm so tired," my colleague panted.
"We have to keep running, Fithi! Do you want him in you again?!" An unnerving chuckle emerged from the formerly blue dragonborn as she shook her head.
"Once was enough. Madison... you saved my life."
"We're not out of here yet."
"Name a debt."
"What the hell? What?"
"A life debt. Make one request. I'll honor it forever." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She wanted to form some life debt, now?! We hadn't reached safety yet, let alone shared our discovery. "Think about it, then, Madison Cantrell, dragon of Lancaster. I knew there was something odd about you..."
"You can't tell anyone. Fithi, don't tell anyone that, any of it!" I shuddered as my legs threatened to give out beneath me. If I had four of them, would I be able to run further? All I wanted was to see the sun again.
"Why not? Everyone's heard the stories of travelers from other worlds, children of the stars. You're not even the first!" I knelt and lay across the cave floor as Fithi tumbled down with me. We made eye contact... though she would never know it. "I'm so tired."
"So am I..." I repositioned myself with a groan. "There are people that would do awful things if they found out. You can't tell anyone. Please, Fithi."
"That's what you want? Is that, your life debt?"
"Yes. That's what I want. Don't tell anyone that I'm from another world, or that I'm a dragon. Ever." Fithi sighed and raised her hand into the air. I met it, and she closed both of hers over mine.
"I will pay this debt, Madison. Thank you for saving me."
"Of course." We lay on the cave floor until we were finally able to move again. Emotions and adrenaline spiraled together within, establishing only a confusing roil of nebulous upset. "I'm sorry about your eyes. And... your scales, they’re darker now. There's little fibers or something behind some of them."
"I'll be so famous, I won't need eyes," Fithi said with an off-kilter chuckle that made me worry for her mental state. "I can feel air shift all around me. It's like... I can feel where you are."
"Fuck..."
"Old Nere is real. I hear them in my head. I can feel Therimurk's death. He was so old, Madison, twisted before and after death by time and loneliness. You made him so angry, so easily." It was awful. Vague notions, swirled and blurred, misshapen impressions throughout history, lived in my head now. I would find a way to forget them if there was an ounce of mercy in this world. “He ate the Nere. They made sacrifices in exchange for safety... he ate too many.”
"’Death is too kind a fate.’ He played his hand too early."
"And you steered him right into a wall."
"Only to save our skins! ...scales. I hated every fucking second of it."
"It felt so good to feel him squirm." My eyes slowly drifted over to my colleague. Whether she was feeling victorious or some other way, I never wanted to hear those words again. It took time to reach the rescue party, who chastised us for venturing so far into the tunnels. The healers in our group were unable to heal the damage done to Fithi. I began to worry further when it became clear that she would need advanced medical attention. The recounting of our encounter and the rubbing I took of Therimurk's grave sent ripples through the group. No one had heard that name before, but our confirmation of Old Nere quickly became the talk of the tunnel. The rest of the ascension was an hours-long blur of numbness. I felt cold. My body ached beyond belief. I wanted it to be over. I wanted to be in Betiara's arms. I wanted to hear Sekvi's symphonia, Keff's laughter, Lilika's encouragement, and Rags' panting. Rags was a very good boy. Most of all, I wanted to be far away from Fithi. I sensed a recipe for disaster in her. She had been through far worse today, and she hadn't been a very ethical person to begin with. The life debt she claimed would amount to little until I saw it in action.
To Fithi's credit, she told the truth about our encounter without providing too much detail. We sat in the foyer of the Conclave, our legs swollen and sore, to answer questions from higher-ups within a Zone of Truth. Archmages whose names I had forgotten in my dissociation pored over the details of the report I had written upon returning. I was entirely checked out and merely wanted to go home. They seemed to understand. However, Gwyl stopped me before I left. "You two have made the discovery of the millennium," she breathed, awestruck and excited. She paused, however, as concern faded into her expression. "You've been through a lot, Madison. Are you okay?"
"I'm never going into the Caverns again," I quietly attested. "I want to go home."
"I won't ask you to. You'll need rest; the whole team will be asked to present their findings to the king," Gwyl explained. Her expression brightened as she spoke further. "You've both done a great thing for the Conclave. I can't imagine the renown you'll receive after this." That wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to go home.
"I'm... just glad we both survived."
"I'm glad you did, too. Please get some rest." I lingered for the moment it took me to remember how to walk. A gentle pace kept my legs from giving out again. The red-orange glow of sunset bathed me as I emerged from the Interior Third Ring; it was a majestic sight. Sunsets happened every day, and I had seen many of them in my 22 years, but never had one looked as beautiful as this one did. Fire was painted so brazenly over the horizon... I wondered if Fithi would ever paint again. Three ventures into the underground had provided me with terror that I feared I would never shake. Lilika's cellar, the caves under the East Karth Mountains, and now this... my soul itself squirmed at the thought of delving into natural underground spaces. Was misfortune following me? Had I done something to deserve what I had experienced? Was the Cradle itself rejecting me as my own had as a child? I had learned today that the possibilities of magic were not only grand, practical and empowering, but also harrowing, terrible, and potentially worse than death itself. Something had to be done to protect myself from threats of this level. I would have to rise to meet any incursion and engage them on my terms, just as I had done in the face of Therimurk.
Lilika turned to face me with a smile that immediately fell as I entered the apartment. "Sweetie, what happened?"
"Bad... things, mom." She took me into a hug, which Sekvi eagerly joined. As Keff and Betiara returned home, we gathered in the bedroom; I couldn't bear to climb the stairs. Lilika gave me a glass of water and began to cover my legs with a healing poultice. I recounted the story as best I could for everyone. They all felt so far away from me; it was a terrible feeling that etched itself atop the other ills I'd survived today. Trembling overtook me as I slowly described what happened to Fithi and I; no details were held back this time. We stayed together for the rest of the night. Emotion began to creep back in while we played a card game. I set my cards down and leaned into Betiara's lap, staring at the wall as my eyes welled up. They all offered me gestures of comfort. Lilika never once broached the subject of Old Nere being a confirmed reality, which was one of the greatest blessings I could ever receive. Safety finally reached me once again. I quietly fell asleep surrounded by loving friends, including Rags, who insisted that I use him as a pillow. It was finally over... today was finally over.