Lillene

Enjoy!

“If we stay somewhat close together, I can protect us all if it falls,” Blaze offered. “I don’t think it will. Don’t judge things by whether or not dragon claws can cut through them.” He pulled out the knife he carried on his belt and scraped it along the wall. It screeched, but the wall seemed untouched. Blaze turned the blade and scraped it again, like he was trying to resharpen an area dulled by contact with the wall.

Serenity wasn’t sure what to say to that. It hadn’t occurred to him that his claws were tougher than metal, but it probably should have. They were dragon claws, after all. Even at only Tier Eight, they ought to be a good material.

“Being hard to cut isn’t the only thing important about building materials. Without quite a bit more testing, we won’t know how well this will hold up. I can say that I don’t like that arch,” Legion pointed ahead of them at the point where the pit became a tunnel. The ceiling did technically have an arch to it, higher at the middle than the sides and smoothly sloping across the top with a steeper slope as it came near the tunnel walls, but it wasn’t much of an arch. It was more like the sides hadn’t been squared than that there was a deliberate arch for support. The ground was flat, except for the corners which resembled those at the ceiling. “It might hold or it might not. It also depends on how it’s all connected together.”

Serenity shook his head. “We don’t really have a choice about entering the tunnel, but if there’s any way to quickly shore it up, I want to hear it.”

Legion snorted. “Not quickly. The easiest way to reinforce it would be to take some of those trees and build supports, at least if we’re convinced this will hold together like rock. Thing is, that will take days. It’d be less if we had the right equipment, but even then it’s not fast, not if you want it done right. If this goes deep, it could be longer than that. I wouldn’t want to say exactly what we need without testing the rock, but that’s a good guess.”

Serenity had the distinct feeling that whichever part of Legion was speaking, it was a part that had once done something similar and was now simplifying things for everyone else present. Whatever the reason Legion knew how long it would take, the information was useful. “I suspect it goes pretty deep, which means we don’t have time. Let’s follow Blaze’s plan, but give me a moment; I have a few things I want to set up first. If anyone else has preparations, now’s the time.”

Serenity moved away from the others to an open part of the pit. He didn’t specifically need to be separate, but he did need to prepare some spellforms to be stored. If he had more time, he’d set up some runescripts, but they took even longer than spellforms to prepare; a proper runescript could take hours, while preparing a spellform was only minutes, even with using a Skill to store it.

His usual spells were all stored, but he wanted to add some more protective ones in case the ceiling did fall; while it was unlikely too much would collapse, Serenity couldn’t guarantee anything. What he could do was create a spell that would redirect stuff into a dome; that way, once enough fell, there was a good chance it would support itself. He’d have to make certain that any required support from inside the dome was provided until it was self-supporting outside, like the temporary structure used when making a real dome, but that should be far easier than simply holding everything up on his own. 

Serenity wanted to make a dome for each of them, plus one that could cover everyone. That way, even if they were separated they could be safe. He hadn’t used the capability of his Evoker Path’s Designate Evocation Conditions Skill to allow others to trigger the stored spells very often, but it was perfect for the small domes. He’d trigger the large one if it was necessary, just like Blaze would handle his own spell.

The dome spell was tricky, especially since it was fairly mana-intensive. Someone with a decent Solid Affinity might be able to make it cheaper; Serenity used Liminality with a hint of SpaceTime. The dome was the border; there was no way for an outside solid to reach in. It would emerge on the other side of the dome instead.

Serenity rather wished they were in the ley line. As it was, he had to severely limit how much mana he pumped into each of the individual spells. They would create very confined spaces if they were used.

With that done, Serenity had one other stored spell he wanted: a way out. That was cheaper as long as he did it properly and tied it to the outside. The original spell was a portal, but it wouldn’t work if people had to use the individual tokens, in addition to him having to find another way out. 

Instead, he settled on a Liminality-based mass teleportation of all of the tokens and their liminal zones. It would only work once and it would ruin the tokens, but they weren’t intended to last long anyway. The infused Skills would degrade in less than a day to a level he wouldn’t want to trust. The large amount of stored mana in the protective tokens didn’t help. 

Fortunately, he didn’t have to infuse most of the mana into the large shield or the teleport; he only needed enough to set up the spellform and trigger it. He normally preferred to precharge them, but he simply didn’t have the mana without going below the half-mana point that Blaze was adamant Serenity stay above unless it was an emergency. He’d just have to hope that he got enough mana back before anything went wrong.

Well, that or use a mana potion or borrow from someone else. He did have some potions in his Rift, despite the side effects; there were times when it was worth accepting the downsides. That would be his last resort, however.

“Are you done?” World Shaman Senkovar asked quietly. The question probably wouldn’t have distracted Serenity if he was still working, but since he was simply thinking over his options it got his attention.

“Yes. This is for you; if you trigger it, it will direct falling stuff into a dome and protect you. I’ll also be able to teleport you out with it.” Serenity handed over one of the tokens.

Senkovar chuckled. “Fair enough. I don’t have an item for you, but I have prepared some precautions. I can’t reinforce the entire tunnel, but if we see a questionable section I should be able to support it long enough for us to get past.”

Serenity nodded. “Sounds like most of us have something we can do.” That made sense in a lot of ways; both Serenity and Senkovar were moderate-Tier mages, which meant they had options. Blaze was a little more of a surprise, since he was only Tier Four and a healer as well, but he was unusually well-rounded for someone who described himself as “just a healer” when he introduced himself to new people. 

Serenity turned to the nearest of Legion’s bodies to hand over a token, only to find the woman shaking her head. “I’ll be staying up here, all of me. I can guard the entrance and make certain it stays open and nothing comes at you from the rear. That will also reduce the number of people you’ll have to protect in the case of a cave-in.”

That was fair and in other circumstances he might have simply accepted it. Tunnels tended to be cramped places to fight, which meant that one more person was only so helpful. This was a wide tunnel, however, and there was another reason to want Legion along. “One of you should still come, for communication.”

The woman hesitated for a moment, then accepted the token Serenity was still holding out. She didn’t even have to say anything for Serenity to know that Legion agreed with Serenity's suggestion.

Serenity turned towards Blaze and found him already holding out a hand for his token. “Are we ready?”

After a round of nods and murmurs of agreement, the four of them set off into the tunnel.

It quickly became dark, but they were all experienced enough to have a way to deal with it. Senkovar’s ability to make the nearby walls glow was more mana-intensive than Legion’s light spell or Blaze’s floating ball of fire, so in the end it was Legion who ended up providing the light. Her spell was clearer and steadier than Blaze’s and her mana was unlikely to be a major contributor in either a fight or an escape.

The tunnel stayed roughly the same width and height, easy for the four of them to travel down, but it was clearly not machined; the narrow points were a good five feet narrower than the wide points. It sloped nearly continuously downwards, but somehow it stayed completely dry even after they were well below what should have been the water table. 

There were hints of mana in the walls, but they were weak and elusive. Serenity had to assume that they were both reinforcing the walls and probably keeping the water out. He could probably have confirmed it if he took the time, but that was likely to be hours or days. All he was able to do for now was confirm that the mana wasn’t harmful and keep an eye on it. 

If it became an attack or even shifted to start cutting off their retreat, Serenity was ready to teleport them out. A liminality-based teleport would be expensive but it should be unexpected enough to get through even a barrier against space manipulation that would block most teleports.

They were a good half hours’ walk into the tunnel, approaching the third time the tunnel had gotten as narrow as they’d seen it get, when Aide interrupted the silence in Serenity’s mind. :The tunnel isn’t continuous.:

:What?: Serenity stopped and looked both forward and back. He didn’t see anything odd. 

:You can’t see it when you’re still; in fact, it’s not visible near you. Watch the tunnel ahead of you as you move, as far ahead as you can see, outside the area clearly illuminated by the light.:

Serenity frowned but started walking forward again as he tried to follow Aide’s directions. It took a little time, but eventually he realized what Aide was seeing and expressing poorly: what he could see of the tunnel ahead of him didn’t match what he walked through exactly. It wasn’t like the tunnel was shifting or changing, but it took a while to realize what it was doing. 

When he was fairly certain he knew what was going on, he stopped again, then took two steps forward and watched carefully. “I thought so. The tunnel has a really subtle space-manipulating enchantment. I think we’re a lot deeper than we’ve actually walked. It’s the same sort of thing that happens when you walk into an area of expanded space on a planet’s surface.” Serenity paused and tried to reconcile that with the mana he saw. “I think it’s natural, too. I don’t see any signs of that sort of magic in the tunnel itself; it feels like the planet.”

Senkovar sank into a meditative pose Serenity recognized; it was the way he preferred to sit when he tried to contact a World. Less than a minute later, he staggered to his feet with a hand on his forehead. “How do you stand that? It sounds like the planet is yelling at me.”

Serenity could only shrug. He still had a notable headache and generally ached all over, but he was ignoring it. It was all he could do.

Lillene

Legion isn’t claustrophobic … mostly.