Because 'the pit' was made of immutable stone, it should normally be rather difficult just to approach the empty space. Even at this distance, Abu and Kain were forced to work together and were expending significant effort. At this rate, I simply didn't see how they'd be able to cut through the far more mana dense stuff deeper in. However, as we approached, I noticed we were moving toward a particular outcropping that seemed to be carved straight through the immutable portion of stone. The outermost edges were completely outside of the highly mana-dense and difficult to work with stones, allowing us easy enough access.

We stepped out into the cavern, positioned at nearly the very top of the large crevice. I could tell from here that the earth mana seemed to become more dense the lower down in the canyon one went. As such, it made perfect sense the entrance would be set up at the top. It was just a matter of it being easier to get through this area than anywhere else.

We walked through the hallway carved through the especially dense stone to where an overlook was prepared. As a result of my dark vision, I was able to just barely make out the other side of the great crevice we were viewing. It was like looking out over the ocean at night, except that it was a vertical wall instead of a horizontal ocean. The impression was the same though. It was a black plain filled with small contours and ripples so numerous that one stopped seeing them as individual contours and started just seeing it as one large uneven pattern of a scale that your brain simply refused to even try to process.

In terms of scale, that grand canyon comparison I'd made to myself during our approach may have not been very far off. I was born and raised in Pheonix, the largest city in the same state where the grand canyon was actually located. As such, my family had taken more than one vacation up to see the canyon, so I was rather familiar with just how mind-bogglingly big it was. This was definitely the same.

[Ho, visitors?]

"Eeep!" Sam made a squeak and nearly jumped out of her skin when we heard an old man's voice from somewhere around our left, and I certainly couldn't blame her. I might have made a very similarly undignified sound if she hadn't distracted me by being first.

I looked over and noticed the stone doorway carved into the side of the tunnel. I had been so distracted by the sheer scale of the pit that I didn't even notice that door there, and this allowed the old man to just sneak up on us!

[Hmm... these little ones seem rather young to be fresh initiates for the pit. What brings you here?] the man asked. He was a small old man, his hair and short beard completely white. Well, I do say small, but if I remind myself he's probably a gnome then he is around the same height as Abu and Kain, but I certainly do not think anyone would be mistaking this man for a 10 year old any time soon.

There was one confusing point about the whole thing though. If he was a gnome, why did he not have a single stitch of red clothing on him?

[Keeper,] Abu and Kain both gave the man a slight bow that was completely at odds with everything I'd thought I knew about gnome culture. Why were they bowing to a man who was not wearing any red?

[We come on order of lord Iisular. These two are the chosen of Iuutel. It was by the orders relayed by the high priest himself that these two were to be included in the program even at such a young age, and it was decided in a council of the Byrel elders that they would begin the program the same as anyone else. We also have orders to relay the message that you are to remember these two and inform the elders the very moment they climb out of the pit.]

[They are initiates, then?] The man did not move a muscle, but his eyes turned down to look over me and Sam in a strange and unsettling way. [Chosen of Iuutel, is it? Well, I'm not one to question it. Get down in the pit then. I'll be taking ya back up whenever you find the strength to climb back up!]

He gestured with his head over toward the canyon, and Sam and I simply looked over toward the edge, back to the man, and then at each other, unsure what to do.

[Well?] the old man said. [It's customary I tell ya that ye either climb down or I throw you down. I suppose that threat may be a little harder to carry out if you're some kinda chosen though. Or, maybe they've fed the two of ya enough earth nest stones by now as you were growing that you'd actually survive a fall from this height?]

Abu and Kain looked uncomfortably at each other when they heard what the old man said.

[Uhh... well, I did hear the guards at the nursery camps were feeding them earth nest stones, but...] Abu said uncomfortably.

[Ahh... good!] The man said. [Well then, get climbing!] The man said, suddenly looking at me and Sam with a very stern and almost murderous expression.

I glanced over to Sam one more time and gave a resolute nod. One way or another, we had to get through this and figure out how we were going to escape from this hell. Until then, we had to simply go along with the program and not make any waves.

I bent down to the side of the overlook. It was dark, but it did not look like the slopes along the edges of the canyon were quite that bad. It didn't look like they'd be very easy to climb, but if we were to simply slide down the side it would make for a rather bumpy but still fairly survivable ride.

No, just sliding straight down was probably a bad idea. It could get very hard to halt my momentum if I did that, and if I wound up really hitting something hard then things would be quite bad. I had to figure out something to make my descent slow and controllable.

I considered the stone under my hand and decided to see just how difficult it would really be to infuse my mana into it. I had an idea of how to slow down my descent and smooth out the roughness of the experience, and it would not require me to push my claim all that deep into the stone I was manipulating. All I would need is a few inches of the surface.

It was hard, like trying to walk through mud, but it was far from impossible and not quite as exhausting as I'd feared.

[Oh? Chosen indeed. That is quite a bit of mana for a child that young. He can actually influence earth-nest stone,] the old man said.

So, they call this earth-nest stone, huh? That seems like a rather odd name. They'd also said something about the guards up at the prison camp feeding me and Sam earth nest stone. I do remember them giving me some really tasty rocks from time to time, they said they were special somehow, but this was my first time actually hearing that term.

I pushed that out of my mind and continued enforcing my claim all the way down to the bottom of the first over-hang looking area down the cliff face, and I worked my claim a little deeper in this area. I enforced my will on the stone and, with a real effort of will, managed to cause it to lift up about an inch.

That wouldn't be enough. I kept forcing more mana in, pushing it up a second inch, and then a third. Each additional inch cost around three times as much effort as the previous one, but three inches was about all I needed.

With that little miniature guard-rail created, I was ready. While the raised lip was important, what would be doing the real work would be the stone between here and there that I had to claim along the way. With the ground-work in place, I took a look back at Sam who was watching me nervously, gave her a nod, and then stuck one foot over the edge of the slope.

I laid my body down on the steeply sloped ground, making sure to maximize the contact between my body and the surface, and then I began burying my foot into the surface of the rock that I'd claimed.

Under the direction of my earth magic, my foot easily sunk in about half-way, but it wasn't sinking down like mud. The stone was actually displaced, and it flaked off as a result of my foot-contact as though it was sand. That loose sand allowed me to slide, but it also resisted and slowed me down as I pushed myself off and allowed gravity to start pulling me along down toward the safety barrier I'd created earlier.

[Oh! Very clever boy!] I just barely heard the old man saying as I slid down the cliff face.

"Terlu!" Sam called down after me, far more audible than the old man.

All I could pay attention to was my descent at the moment though. I had used several methods to make it safer for me, but one slip-up could still send me tumbling the rest of the way down.

I managed to get to the bottom. Just as I'd planned, my foot managed to brace me against the small safety-rail I'd created. It was only three inches high, but that was exactly enough to give it the structure to support my weight and high enough to catch my  foot quite firmly when I ran into it.

"I'm fine! It worked!" I called back up.

After this, I heard some muttered words from up top. I was too far down to make out what was being said clearly, but I could easily imagine it was that damn old man pressuring Sam to follow my lead. I was going to have to make room for her, she would probably want to follow my example exactly after that had worked so well.

I started to climb horizontally across the wall, but I noticed my arms really did not feel as strong as they normally would. This is when I noticed I was shaking. My entire body was rattled by the heavy shot of adrenaline that was flooding my veins.

In terms of what I did, it was really just a slow and uncomfortable slide, like in a children's playground or something. There was a big difference between this and a playground slide though. There was a very real risk of severe injury and maybe death if I had made even the slightest mistake, and even my body knew it.

I was rattled, and my whole body was a bundle of nerves from that experience, and we were going to need to repeat this process several more times on our way down.

I think I can manage to push out enough mana to repeat that performance the rest of the way down to the bottom, but the physical and mental exhaustion is another thing entirely. This is going to be a very long trip down.