CHAPTER 17: Mines

"Aerium is just one of the many Torrensium stones. It's also the most common, along with Lirium and Hydrium. They are available just near the surface of every Torrensium mine. Ignium is rare and can only be found near volcanic mines. Magnium and Tenebrium are even rarer. But the rarest of them all is Yliastrium."

-On Torrensium Stones: Torrent Theory Lecture Series 127, Ser Indusra Lyon

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Somewhere deep underground

Aramar 11 AE

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Yvaine was in the dark again. The small hands in front of her did not feel right as they easily picked an obsidian shale off the surrounding wall. The acrid smell of volcanic sulfur that permeated the air stung at her nose and made her eyes water. But she's used to this. With deft hands, she easily dug through the wall around her.

After what felt like hours, her small hands finally found their quarry. A small black crystal the size of a small marble. It lay embedded in the obsidian shale but her expert eyes found it in the dark nonetheless. Years of experience had taught her to distinguish the shale from the crystal. Tenebrium.

It took some time to pry the crystal from the surrounding rocks with her small hands. Her fingernails were grazed from the effort but after some time, the small crystal finally broke free. She held it in front of her and squinted her eyes to try and study the stone. This deep, light from above is scarce but her eyes had already adjusted to the dark.

The rough-cut crystal felt light to her fingers.

'About 3 carats,' she thought. This should feed them for a week.

She carefully placed the crystal in her breast pocket as she clambered from the deep hole.

Her little hands and feet expertly found small crevices on the sheer rock wall that served as footholds and handholds. In no time, the light above began to intensify and her eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness. When she neared the top, strong hands grabbed her by the armpits and helped her to the ledge.

"Stop going down on your own!" Cray exclaimed as he easily carried her small body away from the drop. Yvaine only smiled back.

Cray shook his head in dismay and unshouldered a coil of rope wrapped diagonally around his torso.

"I take it we don't need this anymore?" he dropped the rope to the ground.

Yvaine's head slowly turned side to side emphasizing her response.

"So you found one?"

Yvaine nodded excitedly. She took out the Tenebrium from her breast pocket and held it before Cray.

The youth's face brightened upon seeing the crystal. But he did not take it from her fingers. She extended her hand forward in a gesture of giving the crystal to him.

"What?" Cray said. "No! You found it. You cash it."

Yvaine frowned.

"All right," Cray sighed. "We'll share it."

Yvaine beamed brightly.

"This should be good for about what? Two weeks?"

Yvaine shook her head.

"Just one?"

Yvaine nodded. Cray's face clearly expressed disappointment.

"Come on," Cray said, turning back, beckoning for her to follow. "Grouls could be here any minute." Yvaine didn't need a second prodding at the mention of those creatures.

The artificial white light brightened as they neared the Settlement. All around them were either stone walls or pure earth. For now, the embedded torches on the walls that flickered yellow firelight cast long shadows on any irregular object that stands in its way.

They walked briskly, eager to be back in the safety of the white light provided by the settlement's border lamp post. After some time, they finally emerged from the tunnel into a long natural rock bridge that connected to a vast underground plateau. Between the tunnel and the cavern was a deep and wide chasm Yvaine has long since familiarized herself with. Cray, on the other hand, warily trod the bridge.

"I will never get used to this," he remarked. The bridge was quite wide – enough for eight people to comfortably walk abreast. However, the chasm it spans was so deep and wide it looked like a void with no bottom in sight.

Yvaine used to wonder at the integrity of this natural rock bridge. It may be wide from a human's perspective, but considering the length of the gap it traverses, this stone bridge was actually stretched thin. She has always been light-footed so it didn't matter to her before. Lately, however, with Cray – who always refused to cross it by himself – in tow, she has begun to fear for their safety.

On both of their sides, other natural bridges also connect the plateau to other tunnels along the cavern walls. From this distance, they could see the mining settlement on the plateau, a cluster of ramshackle wooden houses of slave miners. Ringing the settlement were the sturdier stone guard houses, further fenced by a palisade.

On the far side of the settlement rose a sheer rock wall where the lone wide tunnel rumored to serve as the only exit to the surface opened. The wide underground plateau was actually just a rock protrusion from an even bigger underground cliff which seemed to extend perpetually high into the darkness. Even the intense light from the settlement failed to reach and show them the cavern's ceiling.

"Out for a walk in the dark, love birds?" the settlement sentry guard on duty called as they approached the plateau. He stood in relaxed attention, feet apart with his left hand behind him, and his right hand extended forward – holding the pole that carried a border lamp.

"We're going to the Pawnery, Erik," Cray replied, winking.

Unnatural white light glowed from the lamp at the tip of the long pole Erik was holding. Yliastrium. The bane of Grouls. The palisade was just the third line of defense. The first line against those creatures were these border lamps. The second line was the sentry guards themselves.

Yvaine felt its familiar warmth course through her as they entered the safety of the settlement's borders.

"Great work then. Move along." Erik smiled and stepped aside.

A few paces from the border, Erik called their attention again. "Hey.

"If you are this brave to go out in the wee hours of the night for some overtime, try to see Yekob. She has a job you might be interested in."

"What?" Cray clarified.

"Some fool of a slave trader from the surface said he needed an escort to Thurim."

"A fool indeed," Cray replied. "Who still goes there?"

"Aye. But he's supposedly buying the freedom of anyone who takes up on the offer. Thought you might want to change careers."

"Nah, we'd still be slaves but with a different master," Cray said, waving his hand in dismissal.

"True. But maybe he'll make a better master than your current one."

"And lose our lives in the process?" Cray scoffed.

"Just saying, in case you're interested."

"We'll consider it," Cray said, then shook his head in amusement before moving along.

Yvaine knew Cray wasn't considering it. Thurim was a legend – an underground kingdom located somewhere deeper beyond the mines. Venturing into the mines every day is already gambling with death. Venturing even deeper is just plain insanity.

But for some reason, her heart longed for the change.