The sound of chiming draws me out of my meditation and I swiftly pull myself back into the real world. Several piles of stone grouped together by size lie to the side of me. The chitin from the glow mantis arranged in the same way by the stones. I look around to find that neither Oberon nor my defenders are inside the heart room as they normally are. He must have got them to help with the digging.
“Everything ok Oberon?”
“Ah! Yes, Elysia, we finished the pit. I… I took the liberty to hollow out a small room for it. We are now using some of the larger bits of stone to build a more Defendable entrance.”
Oh? I think that's the first time he has done something that I haven't asked of him. “I’ll come and have a look.”
I make my way out of the heart room and into the initial caverns. Right from the start, I notice a few changes. First of all, the cavern directly connected to my heart room has been widened slightly and its floor flattened I'm… Unsure why it has been done. On one hand, it looks nicer but looks are the least of our worries and I don’t see how this is more defendable. Further down the hall, I see the entrance Oberon and my defenders are working on. Two large chunks of stone are used to wall off the caverns beyond. In the centre lies a hole barely enough to walk through single file and a stone slab rests to the side that looks like it would fit inside near enough perfectly.
I walk closer in order to have a better look. Oberon sees this and slowly gravitates to me. On the way, I stop due to noticing a new tunnel has been carved halfway along the left wall. Inside, the tunnel opens up to form a small room. A pit has been dug in the centre with the remnants of the glowing mantis deposited inside. When I turn back Oberon is waiting for me. Even without the bond, I can almost see the nervous energy radiating off him.
I want to question him on his choice to widen the tunnel and flatten the floor. the way he's acting though reminds me of some of the kids in the community that would bring me their crafts looking for praise. I just… “Good Work”
I see the tension fall off of him as I say those words
“Thank you, Elysia. We are almost done with the entranceway to the cave system. I will continue to oversee its progress.” with a bow he leaves just as quickly as he arrived. A little more liveliness in his step than before.
I move back to the heart room and to create 3 more of the mantis defenders. Piece by piece I position the rocks and chitin plates. Once I’d run out of the plates removed from the creature, I used the ones I had carved as a substitute. Finally, I split the last carved plate diagonally and used the 2 legs left to make 2 more sickle-knives. They are not as good at the ones using the blade arms but they will do for now. With that done I only have 8 short cylindrical segments and 4 insect feet left… I could make more tools and defenders from just stone or somehow adapt what I have left but I don't think it's the best use of the material or my mana. I can tell I'm sitting at half my mana pool and there is always a chance I might need the mana to expand my influence. Due to being unsure of my scale, I don't know by how much my influence has even been increased. I think now is as good of a time as any to continue where I left off in my exploration.
“Oberon I'm going to go back through the caves and explore further. I'm going to take 3 of the new defenders with me.”
“Maker safeguard your journey, call if you need anything.”
I leave through the new entrance to the dungeon, the 3 new defenders in tow as my backup. I decided to keep the last defender unarmed. Oberon may need the tools here and just because it's unarmed doesn’t mean it's not useful. On top of having the hands free to carry any materials we find, it can grapple with the enemy to try and pin it down.
The journey through the already explored caverns was uneventful, thankfully, nothing else had taken up residence in the glowing mantises place. we continue on from where I left off last time, trudging through more winding tunnel systems. At first, nothing changed but then as we moved further the walls began visibly glisten under the light of our cores. Water. The smell of dampness was next, followed by the faint sound of dripping and a familiar clinking against stone. I got the defenders to halt and get into position. I crept forward at a slow pace, making sure to minimalise any sound produced. I turned the corner. Light. A blue glow I recognise shine upon the cavern walls but it's not a mantis this time. It's the glowing mushrooms. The tapping sound came from a small insect that is feed upon something at the edge of the cave mouth.
I call my defenders over and we walk forward, prepared for potential aggression. As I get closer I can see the insect better and can't say I have seen it before. The creature is roughly half my size with powerful back legs and large antennae. Two claw-like appendages reach out from its back and rip tufts of what I can now see is moss and bring it to its jaws. I try to sneak up on it but to no avail. The creature instantly turns toward me when I step into the light. It didn’t charge though, instead, it stood stock still. When I took another step the change was instant, it bolted. In moments it left the cave mouth and disappeared somewhere off to the side. Carefully, I move forward to reach the cave mouth and look at what lies beyond.
An expanse. Walls of stone tower both above and below my position. From up high, a gigantic Stalactite looms from the ceiling, piercing through the darkness. Down below lies a subterranean valley bright with the light of glowing mushrooms and insects. Moss varieties I've never seen before carpet the floor like rolling hills. Mushroom caps of many colours dot the landscape and climb the walls. In the centre, a pool of water has formed from the droplets that trickle off the Stalactite above. the insect that I had just seen congregate around its verge in small groups.
I have never. Ever seen a place so filled with life. The more I look the more small details I find. The more I take in what I'm seeing. The more my heart drops. my wonder dampened by how small I am both literally and figuratively. Moss doesn't get that big, rift monsters —as far as I know— do not congregate round water and the glowing mushrooms never grow beyond a palms width. I am staring at the proof that I have a long way to go before I reach my goal. With my defenders combat ready around me, I sit upon the stone lip that gives way to the valley below. I stare out, basking in the beauty before me. Sights like this almost… make me happy that all this happened. I just wish Kalos and the others could see it with me.
“Elysia? We finished the entrance! you have been gone a long time, have you found anything on travels?”
“I’ve got the answer to whether we are small or not.”
“Ahh… Not good news then I take it. Are you… Alright?”
“The tunnel leads to an expanse filled to the brim with life. There are many new things here, many things we could potentially use… strangely, I feel… fine. In fact more than fine. I don't know much of the world but if it's filled with sights like this, I look forward to what the future brings.”
With those words said I get up from my perch and look to see how it is that we can get down. There's nothing. We would have to climb and considering how little I know of this place that is not something I want to do. This place looks like it's going to be vital to increasing our strength. So a way to easily access it must be made. It's just a hunch but I do something I have never done before. I close my eyes and try to feel the direction my heart is in. Soon enough I hear its chime. I follow the sound and turn my head to the direction it's coming from and open my eyes. My heart seems to be roughly in line with this location.
“Oberon now that we have a defensible position to the heart we should look at digging a more direct path to this area. Are you able to feel my direction? ”
“Yes, We will get to work immediately!”
I direct one of the mantis-defenders to mine toward my heart. the other, I direct to create a slope in the wall of the expanse to the valley beneath. The last one I first to keep a lookout and engage if necessary. while Oberon digs the tunnel here I will help dig the ramp down. I brandish my pick and start digging into the wall.
