The Stargazer's War - Chapter 2.17

Chapter 2.17: Underground

I think the enchantments are changing. It’s insane. I know it’s insane. Enchantments don’t change. The complexity of maintaining stability through transitional states is beyond modern AI, let alone whatever math the Sil would’ve been able to crank out by hand, and that’s assuming they had access to some kind of material rigid enough to hold an enchantment yet fluid enough to move.

But I think the enchantments are changing. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Every paradigm my AI can come up with falls apart whenever I take a new image, and when I ran a comparative analysis the scan I took three months ago with one of the same wall yesterday, two dozen minor differences popped up.

Alice thinks its degradation, as if enchantments that’ve stuck around for thousands of years could noticeably degrade in a few months. Jack says my holopad’s faulty, but he thinks that of anything that didn’t come out of a Right Eye manufacturer.

I think the enchantments are changing, and that can only mean two things. Either the Sil knew more about qi than we give them credit for, potentially more than we do, or somebody else built these. That scares me more than anything. The more we explore down here, the bigger this place seems to get, the deeper the tunnels descend, the more monsters lurk in the shadows. Whoever built these enchantments did so for a reason, but if it wasn’t to keep the lights on or the monsters out… what was it?

I told Elder Berkowitz my theory. She thinks I’ve gone stir crazy. Like Edwin. She thinks the hunger and the darkness and the attacks have addled my brain.

Maybe she’s right.

—Excerpt from Micaiah Ferendin’s personal notes.

——

My bronze core didn’t thrum with power. It didn’t send pulses of energy through me or radiate a sense of godlike unstoppability. It just sat there, bigger, denser, darker than it’d been before. It’d grown to roughly the size of my first, as far as something that only metaphysically existed could have a relative size. It resembled, if nothing else, a lump of coal, albeit a perfectly spherical one that emanated thin wisps of frost in lieu of smoke.

Only as I pulled from it could I really notice the difference. Where before only a thin trickle had run through my meridians, a cool stream of dark nothing flowed. I sent it through my sense meridian first, the channel aching with discomfort as additional qi stretched it more than ever before.

I opened my eyes.

The tunnels stretched out to each side, the pale glow of my headlamp bouncing back and forth across the walls all the way to where the left passage turned and the right curved downward. I’d never really thrived in bright places.

I wanted to test my other meridian’s catalogue any changes brought about by the increased quantity and density of my qi, but Charlotte noticed the shift in my gaze.

“Is it done?”

I exhaled all at once, dropping the rhythm that’d kept me in my meditative state. “I did it.” Relief and triumph crept into my voice, finding their way through my frigid pallor as I released my qi.

“Congratulations,” she told me, already moving to wake Xavier. “Karaoke will have to wait. We’ve already been here too long. Lucy can only buy us so much time.”

“Caliban!” Xavier’s voice boomed through the cramped tunnel. “Not even our current predicament could halt your inexorable advance to greatness!”

I winced at the sudden volume. I swear that man’s ability to go from dead asleep to practically shouting frightened me sometimes.

“Thanks, Xave,” I muttered. “Let’s keep it down, huh? We don’t know what all is hiding down here.”

“Whatever it is, I’m certain you’ll crush it with your newfound might.” Despite the assurance, Xavier did, thankfully, lower his voice a bit.

Unprompted, Charlotte handed me a roll of bandages from the first-aid kit she’d packed, flashing a pointed glance to the void beast in my arms. I nodded in understanding, unwinding it and tying it around my neck in a makeshift sling. I deposited the still-slumbering hatchling there, keeping it close while freeing up both hands. Last but not least, I packed away the tools I’d used and any remnants of my advancement, pieces of discarded twig and the void beast’s eggshell. I doubted either would prove useful in the future, but they seemed like evidence I oughtn’t leave behind.

Xavier took the lead down the southeast passage, the one that curved deeper into the earth. I kept just behind him, my eyes black and full of stars as I peered through the darkness. Our footsteps echoed through the quiet ruin, or at least Charlotte’s and Xavier’s did. I’d had enough practice by now to walk without making much noise.

I channeled my Vac Suit as we moved, letting the light of Charlotte’s headlamp slip past me as the shadows held fast. The near total darkness of this place might’ve been the perfect environment for me if the tunnel’s linear nature didn’t so severely constrain potential angles of approach.

I wouldn’t recommend sneaking up on something from the front.

I saw the argentivore long before it saw us. It was walking in the same direction we were, its back to the light of our headlamps. I placed a hand on Xavier’s shoulder to signal him to stop.

“Argentivore, up ahead,” I whispered. “Three, four hundred feet out.”

Charlotte scowled. “You can sense that far ahead?”

“I can’t sense anything but the infinite sea. I can see it.”

“So you don’t know how strong it is.”

I shrugged. “Can’t imagine there’s much silver down here. Stay put. I’m going to try and get the drop on it.”

Xavier patted my back twice reassuringly as I stepped past him. I handed him my headlamp. I drew Shiver. I mentally set myself the discrete goal that so helped my stay on task before running qi through my various meridians up to and including my brain.

I’m going to kill the argentivore without anyone else getting hurt.

I kept that target central in my thoughts as every tiny detail of the world around me burst to the forefront of my mind in equivalent meaninglessness. The argentivore came into focus, the apparent sluggishness of its steps, the various scars in its rough hide betraying its age, the soft spot I knew sat at the back of its neck.

I crept forward.

By the light of Charlotte’s and Xavier’s headlamps, weaker than should’ve been able to pierce the darkness this far, I approached, eyeing the argentivore’s every twitch as I neared. Frost gathered along Shiver’s edge as I pushed qi—more qi than I ever had—through the blade. It wouldn’t protect the weapon from the beast’s acid, but it didn’t need to. It just needed to pierce.

To this day I can’t say what made the creature turn. Charlotte thinks I misstepped and made a noise. Xavier claims his own silver-focused qi drew attention. Personally, I think it just finally noticed the light coming from behind it. All I know is that as I leapt to deliver the deadly blow, the argentivore spun around, putting its armored head between me and the weak spot for which I’d aimed.

It didn’t dodge. It didn’t charge me. It’s eyes didn’t even glance my way.

But I was already in motion. Instead of exposed neck, Shiver, still brimming with dark qi, slammed right into the argentivore’s forehead, the reinforced part of its body.

It pierced clean through.

The force of the strike slammed the beast’s chin into the floor as the blade passed through its armored skull, its brain, its lower jaw, and into the stone below. The argentivore twitched as one final jolt of energy passed through it, then it stilled. I stood upright.

I’m going to kill the argentivore without anyone else getting hurt.

My task complete, I cut off the flow of qi to my brain meridian, and my surprise finally took hold.

That shouldn’t have worked. Threads, I’d known since our fight with Lopez that Shiver pierced qi defenses surprisingly well, but it shouldn’t have been able to cleave through solid silver. A chill ran down my spine. Had I used some technique without realizing? I didn’t think so.

I was still staring down at the dead monster when I heard Charlotte curse under her breath.

“Threads, Cal. I can’t even do that.” The comparison to her rapier—famously an armor-piercing weapon—went unspoken.

Xavier clapped me on the back. “Excellently fought! It appears not even the thickest of armor can halt your indomitable blade!”

I swallowed. “Yeah, apparently.”

Charlotte nodded. “Bold of you to go for that. How’d you know that would work? Did you develop a new technique while I wasn’t looking?”

Right. They couldn’t see in the dark as well as I could. “I didn’t. It turned after I leapt at it. I think it sensed you somehow.”

“Us?” Charlotte raised an eyebrow. “We were way back there. You were the one right behind it.”

“It’s because I hit bronze,” I reasoned aloud, “has to be. Shiver’s always been good at punching through things. The extra qi must’ve improved it.”

“That seems like a stretch,” Charlotte said, “but where your qi’s concerned I’d believe just about anything.”

I yanked Shiver from argentivore’s skull. The shing of metal on metal rang out. I went to work wiping the blood off on the dead beast’s hide. “Dug a bit into the floor too.”

Charlotte gaped. “You got through the enchantments? Cal, it took sustained fire from Lucy to make that hole we climbed through, and that only worked cause it overwhelmed the enchantments in the entire area around it.” She fell to her knees, weaving her hands beneath the argentivore’s chin.

Xavier looked down at her askance. “What are you doing?”

“Getting a closer look.” Charlotte lifted the few hundred pounds of silver and flesh without difficulty to shift the carcass over. An inch-long gash sat beneath it. Crimson pooled within.

Charlotte reached into her pack for a small rag. She pushed it into the hole with a finger, mopping up the argentivore’s blood to better glimpse the damage I’d—

“Ow!” She recoiled, hissing through her teeth as she raised her finger up to her face, letting the bloody rag fall to the floor. “It pricked me!”

“The enchantments bite?” Xavier asked.

I leaned in and squinted at Charlotte’s fingertip. “I don’t see anything.”

She rubbed it with her thumb. “Something definitely pricked me.” She pulled her finger closer to her eye, keeping it directly under the light of her headlamp. “Didn’t leave a mark though.” She let out a breath. “Must’ve been a shock of some sort. Maybe qi leakage caused by the damage.”

Charlotte shook her head and stood. “Let’s keep moving. There’re still too many unknowns about this place, and I don’t think we’ll find any answers here.”

Concern colored Xavier’s face as he looked at her. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine. Let’s go. The sooner we find what we’re looking for, the sooner we can get out of here.”

I shrugged, glancing down at the argentivore one last time before following Charlotte’s lead. “How do you think that thing got in here?”

“Probably the same way we did,” Charlotte answered.

“Sustained bombardment from a soulship’s pulse cannons?” Xavier asked.

“This place is ancient,” Charlotte said, “and apparently huge. There have to be other places the enchantments have failed. Maybe with enough time the argentivore’s acid could get through. Either that or… well, this tunnel has to open up somewhere, right?”

“Well, it certainly doesn’t open up this way,” I said. “We’ve gotta be what, two hundred feet below the surface by now?”

“Something like that.” Charlotte scowled. “I’m having a hard time imagining what this all is for. Why would a race of primitives need a tunnel network?”

“Maybe the jungle was too dangerous to traverse above ground?” I tried. “Could be there used to be a lot scarier spiritual beasts up there before whatever wiped out the Sil happened.”

“Could be,” Charlotte echoed. “If this is some kind of hidden road, it’s either very long or whatever it’s connected to isn’t there anymore. The nearest recorded ruin is hundreds of miles that way.” She pointed almost directly at the wall to our left, perpendicular to the tunnel.

“Or,” Xavier chimed in, “we’re the first explorers to chart previously undiscovered depths!”

Charlotte sighed, but a faint grin twitched across her face at Xavier’s antics. “It’s possible. Two thousand years is a long time. Volcanic or tectonic activity could’ve buried whatever our destination is. Threads, for all we know, this tunnel used to be at surface level.”

I wasn’t sure if a completely enclosed road made more or less sense than an underground one, but Xavier was right about one thing. Wherever we were headed wasn’t on any map, at least not any we’d been able to find on the localnet.

The tunnel itself seemed to blend together. While the stones that made up the wagon-width floor and the walls and the arched ceiling weren’t uniform—each only carved from its natural shape enough to wedge neatly in with its neighbors—in the grander scale of an hour’s walk there was an almost inhuman consistency to the place. I never saw cracks or wear in the rock. Nowhere other than where we’d broken through had the roof caved in. Threads, the stones barely varied in size over miles of passage.

However well it resembled ancient construction, the longer we walked, the more confident I grew that something other than mortal hands had built these walls. I just couldn’t fathom what.

We’d been walking for just over ninety minutes when I felt the first sign of the tunnel’s end. A faint draft whispered across my skin, the first hint of moving air since we’d come here. Not long after, our destination came into view.

“Welp, I guess we found how the argentivore got in,” I muttered as we approached the massive portcullis. A roughly argentivore-sized hole sat at its base, the metal corroded to nothing by what I could only assume to be the creature’s acid.

“Nice of it to leave us a way in,” Charlotte commented. “Getting past this gate might’ve been tricky if it—”

She stopped short as the screech of metal on metal echoed through the passage, its source apparent before us as the portcullis slowly raised into the ceiling.

I blinked. “Well that isn’t ominous at all.”

Charlotte squinted at it. “Interesting. It opened for us but the argentivore clearly had to eat its way through.”

“Hello?” Xavier took a more direct approach, shouting into the darkness ahead. “Anyone there? Thank you for letting us in!”

No response came.

I made no move to pass through. “So it let us in but not the argentivore out. It’s protecting the tunnel, not whatever’s up ahead?”

Charlotte shrugged. “Either that or it recognizes us as cultivators and the argentivore as a monster. Or Xavier’s right and someone’s operating it manually. Or it’s a trap.”

“Not a very good trap,” I said. “What’s it gonna do, slam shut behind us? There’s a giant hole in it.”

“A broken trap, then,” Charlotte corrected herself.

Without so much as a moment’s hesitation, Xavier walked right through. When nothing happened, Charlotte followed. Only once she’d fully passed the threshold did the screech ring out once more as the hidden mechanism dropped the portcullis behind her.

“Guess I’m not welcome.” I ducked through the argentivore’s hole.

“That useful info, though,” Charlotte said. “The gate closing in front of you implies it either didn’t notice you were there or didn’t consider you eligible by whatever criteria it judges. Almost certainly it’s checking for a humanoid core, and can’t see yours.”

“That seems a bit… advanced for the Sil, doesn’t it?” I asked.

Charlotte shook her head. “Nothing about this place makes sense for the Sil.”

The room in which we found ourselves reached nearly twice as wide as the tunnel had. Murder holes lined each wall, very clearly declaring the chamber’s purpose even before I laid eyes on the second portcullis twenty feet ahead of us. It too had a large hole in it, but my starry eyes looked right past that as what lay beyond claimed the entirety of my attention. I walked right up to get a better look.

A city stretched out before us.

Calling it a ruin wouldn't do the place justice. It was immaculate. Not a stone nor a stick nor a speck was out of place on the broad avenue, lined on each side by three and four story wooden buildings. Signs hung above open doors, their paint long faded but any carving beneath still sharp and clear as the day they’d been hung.

The symbols were gibberish, of course. None of us spoke the long dead language, but I recognized images well enough. The fifth building on our left was the first to display a familiar design—a needle and thread for what I could only assume was a tailor. We didn’t actually make it that far, though, before stopping in our tracks.

“By the threads,” Charlotte muttered, eyes wide in understandable shock. “It’s… the wood is still… do you have any idea how much power it would take to maintain this level of integrity for millennia?”

“A lot?” I hazarded.

Charlotte gulped. “I’m starting to think this isn’t such a good idea. Unless the rest of this city is in a lot worse shape, whatever’s down here is in the gem stages at least.”

“It’s a good thing we have this then.” Xavier held up the Arcadian Gardener’s bell.

I nodded. “We don’t have to fight it. For all we know it isn’t even malicious.”

“It’s obviously enough of a threat the Gardener herself is going out of her way to destroy it,” Charlotte countered. “She implied that bell would lead her here, but she never said anything about arriving in time to save us. There’s a chance she never intended to give us those boons.”

“Why ask for the question, then?” I challenged. “Seems to me she cared about that the most, and she’ll never get to ask it if we don’t survive.”

“As a red herring?” From the sound of her voice, Charlotte didn’t really believe her own argument. “I don’t know. The question bothers me for a number of reasons. I just can’t in my right mind look at this place and come to any conclusion other than that we’re in far, far over our heads.”

“Nonsense!” Xavier clapped her on the back. “We stand on the precipice of an immense archaeological discovery! Already our legend grows!”

He ducked through the hole in the portcullis, hunching his broad shoulders to fit as he stepped in the city.

Charlotte and I shared a worried look and moved to follow.

The first thing I noticed as I emerged onto the street was the ceiling above us. It arced from the wall—and what we’d just emerged from could only be described as a city wall—in a vast dome as far as our lights could reach. I couldn’t fathom how or why the Sil might’ve built such a thing, let alone how it stayed up. Obviously enchantment was involved. The dome was made of the same weirdly irregular-but-regular stone as the tunnel, only on a far greater scale.

No visible pillars or supports staved off collapse. None of the buildings came anywhere close to reaching the ceiling. Only the outer wall seemed to touch the thing, though a rampart interrupted my view of the connection.

Xavier seemed to take it all in stride, making straight for the nearest building. The sign above it lacked any sort of carving, but its very presence implied that it—or at least its ground floor—had once been a shop of some kind.

All that remained inside was a counter, a similar dark wood to the rest of the structure, attached to the floor one of the walls. No furniture or merchandise or other clues to the building’s purpose remained.

“So it’s not perfect,” Charlotte reasoned as we stepped around the counter to peek into the back room, finding only a staircase leading up. “The enchantments only preserved the structures themselves, not any of the furniture.”

“Shouldn’t there be dust?” I ran a finger over the countertop. It came up clean. “Things don’t just disappear. If it decayed over the millennia, shouldn’t it have left something?”

“Maybe the Sil packed up and left,” Xavier said.

“That or something picked this place clean,” Charlotte added.

A quick search of the upper levels continued the trend. Anything attached to the building—doors, counters, windows, et cetera—was perfectly preserved. Everything else was absent entirely.

We made our way through four such structures before deciding we’d confirmed enough. Whatever had cleared out the city had been more thorough than we had time to be. I was just confirming that the distress signal we’d followed here led deeper into the city when, as we departed the remains of a bakery of some sort—if the oven was any indication—Charlotte stumbled.

I blinked, surprised to see the normally elegant duelist trip over seemingly nothing, but didn’t bother to comment.

Xavier must’ve noticed something I didn’t. His face darkened. He stepped up to her, placing a stabilizing hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?” Uncharacteristic worry colored his tone.

“I’m fine. Just… tired, I guess.”

Xavier nodded. “Let us stop and rest for the night before continuing our epic delve into the uncharted deep.”

Only as he mentioned it did I notice the exhaustion that’d been creeping up on me, hidden as it’d been behind the exhilaration of reaching bronze and excitement of the day’s discoveries. “Good idea. Back inside? Wood’s gotta be more comfortable to sleep on than stone.”

“Alright,” Charlotte agreed, allowing him to guide her back into the bakery. “It’s probably for the best we’re rested before we push any further.”

Xavier led us all the way to the third floor, holding the door open as he gestured me in after Charlotte. “I’ll take first watch,” he announced. “If anything comes, we can hold here or escape out the window.”

For a moment I balked at the idea of jumping out a third-story window before remembering that I was a cultivator now and such a stunt didn’t exactly pose much of a threat any more.

Charlotte and I both nodded our assent, and Xavier shut the door behind us, keeping vigil from the other side.

We didn’t go straight to sleep. First we devoured a pair of prepackaged sandwiches from Charlotte’s pack, then I pushed some qi towards the still-sleeping void beast hatchling, then we lay back and finally turned off our headlamps. The room plunged into darkness, with no light natural or otherwise shining in through he uncovered windows. Only what little of the pale glow of Xavier’s headlamp that reached under the door made it inside. With any luck, it wouldn’t be visible from the street.

The floor was hard, my backpack was lumpy, and the room was a bit too cold, but I still fell asleep in moments.

It was quiet. It was dark. And however strange and unfamiliar our surroundings were, it’d been a hell of a long day.

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