I missed a sched last friday. No worries, the chapter is here.


"We cannot survive these attacks much longer!" Conrad proclaimed loudly before the gathered assembly of Autumnvale village folks.

Hundreds of citizens gathered in the wooden downtown courtyard, seated on random barrels, supply crates, wagons, and whatever else could serve as seats. The sparse debris from the previous night's battle still littered the platforms in places. To the far side, several folks in bandages sat in lethargic slumps next to their families and loved ones.

"Even with all of the enchanted crystals that our ever-faithful Tobias brings from the Natlan Warriors to the north..." Conrad gestured towards the man in question. "Autumnvale simply isn't strong enough to endure the relentless assaults of these vile creatures! I care for the stability of this town! I care for its citizens whose lives have been entrusted to me by my rightful heir to the head seat of the council! Day in and day out, I struggle to dredge up more resources from the mines! But my labors and the hard work of my fellow folks just isn't enough to stop the inevitable! This mist is overrunning our town! Sooner than later, we will be forced to relocate—or else we will all become the victims of these winged monstrosities!"

Several folks murmured in mixed consternation and agreement. Leather-garbed bodies shifted about as the citizens gave each other worried glances.

Tobias stood up straight, his aged voice forcing the crowd into silence. "I still think that an evacuation of Autumnvale is the last resort! We may still yet be able to contact the Mages who provide the Natlan Warriors with these crystals! If I can just bridge communication and win ourselves an uninterrupted supply of the enchanted objects, we may be able to rid ourselves of these creatures for good!"

"And just what assurance can you give us of this, Tobias?" Conrad exclaimed with a frown. "Just last night, five of our finest citizens were bruised and injured from the latest attack. We were lucky that none died this time, but it's happened in the past! And what's to say that it won't happen again... and again... and yet again while we wait for a goal that—however noble—is hypothetical at best?!"

Tobias had to struggle to speak above the ensuing outburst of angry voices. "Your father and your father's father and your countless ancestors before him have all lived and died for the sake of maintaining the integrity of this village!" He frowned and pointed at the young man. "Protecting this town means more than surviving a swarm of horrific beasts! It means serving as the backbone of Ashengate's industrial supply!"

"My most esteemed Tobias," Conrad uttered firmly. "There will be no Autumnvale worthy of maintaining if all of the folks who live therein fall victim to malevolent circumstance! We citizens are strong and courageous by our own hands alone. Even if Autumnvale was to fall, I am more concerned with the souls that have worked so hard to make it what it is today!"

"And if your concern was legitimate, my wise and goodly son..." Raymond's voice rose from the sidelines. Everybody murmured anxiously and gazed over to see him arriving with the help of two old women. He stared firmly at Conrad, his nostrils flaring. "...then you would have adhered to the hierarchy that has sustained order in Autumnvale for so long. You should have asked for my permission before establishing this rather unorthodox council."

"Just for what?" Conrad boldly walked towards his father while his many peers gazed in stunned silence. "For you to delay with your inane rituals and unnecessary attention to pretense? Father, folks are dying! Every day you delay making a bold decision in a new direction is another day this village suffers for it. Your faithful citizens can no longer afford such senility."

There were several gasping voices.

Raymond glared at his son. "Do you forget who you are talking to, boy?"

"Not in the least!" Conrad rested back on his haunches and waved his arms before the crowd. "Do you see these hands?! These hands have washed themselves in the blood of your brothers and sisters! It's been I—and not your village elder—who has been forced to deal with the carnage of our misfortune up close! I know what it is that we are dealing with! I know the loss that strikes grief into the heart of each and every one of you, day in and day out, as you fight to keep your feelings in under the necessity of inane traditions and self-denial!"

Several families shuddered and hugged each other close as Conrad's speech went on. Old women wept and elder men gazed into the spaces of empty seats beside them.

"So forgive me for my rudeness, father!" Conrad glared at the old, gray man. "Forgive me if I have held my tongue for so long in the wake of so much death and absurdity! But the time has come for me to grow up, to no longer let the shadow of your rule blind all of us to the danger that we now face!" He pointed up towards the summit above the fog-laden village. "But so long as our new enemy nests atop the mountain, we must reevaluate why we are here, and consider finding a new home!"

"They're not nesting atop the mountain!"

All the folks gasped and spun to look towards the edge of the courtyard.

Amber stood next to Mika. Upon the receiving glance of the entire village, she winced and chuckled. "Eh heh... that is to say... uhm..." She ran a hand over her bandaged neck, gulped, and said. "I didn't see any nests when I was up there. Cuz... like... I totally had a look just minutes before those crazy bat-things did their damage."

Conrad's eyes narrowed. Raymond blinked confusedly. And Tobias...

"Perhaps..." Tobias was suddenly smiling. He glanced wisely at Conrad and Raymond before walking a few steps in Amber's direction. "...the outsider should have her say."

"Huh?" Amber did a double-take.

Tobias stood proudly beside her. "An objective opinion may be just what this village needs in regards to this most troublesome matter. Already, our leader and his heir appear to have come to an impasse. I say we hear what the Outrider has to say!"

At that, the first of several smiles began to form across the crowd of earth man faces. Arms waved and voices cried out enthusiastically.

Mika bit her lip and hid beneath the shadow of her hood.

As for Amber, she was glaring at Tobias. "Just what are you trying to do here?" She whispered aside at him. "I was only observing things. I didn't ask to become Susan B Anybody."

"Are you a believer in fate, Outrider?" Tobias murmured back.

"Fate's boring. You're boring."

He smiled. "Then I know just the person who's in the right place and the right time to spark hope in this crowd." He gestured towards the sea of faces pointed her way. "Go on. Speak what's on your mind."

Amber rolled her eyes and stepped towards the crowd. "Yeah, this will be super," she grumbled.

"So, like, uhm... have you ever really needed to grind your toes? Like really bad? Because they get such bad shape from walking around so much that when you try to cure an itch that won't go away, you accidentally start scratching yourself real bad? And you think 'Ow, jeez, if only I had put a file to these nails of mine, I may not be making scars on myself.' It's also really bad to clean off the waste... off the... bedroom floor...?" Amber's words trailed off. She gulped.

The entire crowd of Autumnvale folks was staring at her blankly.

"Ahem." She cleared her throat and shifted nervously where she sat next to Tobias. "What I'm trying to get at, I think, is an anthology."

"Analogy," Tobias corrected in a whispery voice.

"Right! One of those!" Amber smiled sheepishly. "You see, this village could really go with a chance to... uh... to grind its feet! Cuz everybody is so on edge and so freaked out about these monsters and crud that just about any little thing is capable of throwing you guys off your rocker! I mean, sure, yeah, it helps to be virulent."

"Vigilant."

"Why aren't you talking?" Amber hissed.

Tobias smiled. "You're doing fine."

"Nnngh..." Amber turned towards the crowd once again. "It helps to be vir—... vigilant. But at the same time you shouldn't forget that you're a bunch of big, strong folks with a lot of weight to throw around and these winged chumps don't know what's coming to them!"

"Unnngh..." Conrad faced palmed. "This is a waste of time..."

"Exactly!" Amber smiled. She turned to see Tobias's frown. "No. NO!" She spun and barked at Conrad from afar. "It's not a waste of time! Hear me out—"

"Folks have died trying to ward off those creatures from the top of the mountain," Conrad said, glaring across the crowd at her. "I can't see what an outsider from Teyvat could possibly know about what we've been through."

"And I'm telling you!" Amber's voice cracked as she spoke louder. "They're NOT on the top of the mountain! There's nothing on the top of the mountain but the mountain!" Several citizens glanced at one another and murmured as she went along, "I was there, alright? I was there and... like... all I saw were a bunch of fissures venting steam up into the air!"

"Fissures...?" Raymond spoke up.

"Yeah! They were cracks. Too tiny for even those horrible bat things to fly through. If I didn't know better, I'd say that the super-evil mists were coming from inside the mountain itself!"

"From inside the mountain?!" Conrad made a face. "Preposterous! That's impossible!"

"Well..." Amber shrugged. "You tell me! You're mining inside that giant chunk of rock all the time, aren't ya?"

Conrad merely frowned at her. His nostrils flared and he motioned towards his closest cohorts. "Come on, brothers. I should have known better than to have called this meeting. Nothing's ever going to change, so might as well spend our time doing something constructive. Quickly now! If we don't gather enough minerals, the trade parties will abandon us for another year!"

Amber blinked confusedly as Conrad and a large group of folks marched away. Slowly, the crowd began to dissipate.

"Well, that's certainly rude," Mika muttered in a low voice.

Amber gazed aside at her. "What are you still doing here? Come to tell me that it was a good speech?"

"No. It sucked big time," she replied. "Still, I can't help but think that Conrad got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"Yeah, what's up with that?"

"He's a headstrong man," Tobias remarked, gazing at the work folks trudging their way towards the mineshafts in the side of the mountain. "He knows as well as any villager in Autumnvale that Raymond's days are numbered. It's not that the young man is starved for power. He just takes his responsibilities a little to closely to heart."

"And that is a heart that has hardened over the years," Raymond added as he marched over towards Amber. "I am most sorry, Outrider, for the awkwardness of that scene. It goes without saying that my son and I haven't seen eye to eye in a long time."

"Well, he's concerned for a lot of good reasons," Amber said. "Sounds like things in this village has been pretty grim. How many other folks have wanted to relocate, I wonder?"

Instead of answering that, Raymond leaned forward and asked, "Is it true? There were no nests atop the mountain summit?"

"None that I could see, sir," Amber replied. "Though, I didn't really get the best look-see. Maybe I can glide up there again."

"No matter what you may or may not find, I doubt that'll be the crux of the issue," Tobias said. "Even assuming that the creatures have dwindled in numbers overnight, if our village doesn't have solidarity in the defense effort, we can start mourning the fate of Autumnvale already."

"I don't think I get you..."

"My son has done nothing but stir up doubt and fear," Raymond gravely said. "I applaud his attention to seriousness, but I fear that his anxiety has gotten the best of him. He may not have a proper assessment of his own charisma, but his words are putting a damper on the spirit of this village."

"Well, sorry that my... uh... 'outsider enthusiasm' wasn't enough to tip the boat," Amber said, casting a glare at Tobias.

"I just wish that I could reach out to him somehow," Raymond muttered. "Alas, I am getting along in my years, and I don't know how many chances I have left."

Amber glanced over at Mika, and she squinted curiously from beneath her hood. With determined breath, Amber smirked at the two elders. "Perhaps, then, this is a chance that I should be taking up." And she walked at a brisk pace towards the mineshaft.


The first thing Amber observed was how low the ceilings of the tunnels were. On several occasions, she had to crouch low in her walk, even going so far as to fold her wings in or else she'd brush the rocky walls of the place with her feathers. With her body retracted to size of a young woman, she still found it a difficult process to navigate the shafts. Every corridor she walked down was filled to the brim with sweaty, leather-clad workers busily drilling or hammering away at the stony interior of the mountain.

The tunnels were undeniably labyrinthine, but Amber never got lost. The Ashengaters had established a legible series of detailed signs. And whenever she got a little confused as to the next passageway to choose, a man was swift to volunteer information.

Amber couldn't help but feel pleased with the degree to which the citizens of Autumnvale practiced good manners. Considering all of the hardships that they faced on a regular basis, she was amazed that they remained in such positive spirits. Conrad, of course, was a different matter altogether, and he was presently the goal of her descent.

"Who? Master Conrad?" A man responded to Amber's latest inquiry and pointed down a steep, dimly lit corridor with his pickaxe. "You can find him thattaways, by the secondary ore reserves."

"Thanks a bunch!" Amber shouted above the whur of steam-powered machinery. She crouch-walked her way down the passage. The air was getting warmer the further she pierced the heart of the mountain. The way before her was lit by a lantern, grew dim, and then was illuminated by yet another strung lantern before all light could vanish. This sort of monotonous pattern continued for a remarkably extended length, until Amber reached a large cavern geometrically carved out of the belly of the earth.

She glanced around, her sensitive sensibilities put off by the looming presence of a rocky ceiling everywhere all at once. She swallowed hard for courage and adjusted the Vision around her neck just as she took a step forward.

Suddenly, something dark darted across the ground before her.

Gazing down, she blinked, then smiled. "Huh... Will you look at that...?"

It was a mole, a very large one at that. Amber had never seen a species quite like it. It waddled harmlessly across the dirt-speckled floor, sniffing around blindly for morsels of food.

"Well, aren't you a curious little guy?" she murmured aloud.

The mole stopped in place. It tilted its eyeless skull up and wriggled several pale feelers at her. Just then, a bright metal pole skewered it bloodily down the center.

"Daaah!" Amber jumped back, flinching.

At the far end of the pole was a goggled young man. Lifting the twitching body of the mammal up for a closer look, Conrad lowered his headpiece and gazed at the dying thing closely. He blinked and glanced over at Amber.

"Hmmm. Sorry for startling you, Outrider."

"Oh... Uhm. No pr-problem!" Amber smiled nervously and gulped. "I'm perfectly fine!"

"Uh huh." Conrad passed the skewered mole to another work man who dropped the corpse into a burlap bag along with several more like it. "It's more than minerals that we get from these tunnels. They're oftentimes a source of food as well. I'm sure you can understand..."

"Uh. Sure. Mole Alfredo. Sounds tasty."

"You don't need to be pretentious for my behalf."

"Good," Amber sighed heavily. "Cuz I think it's frickin' icky."

"Don't know how you easterners manage it," Conrad spoke while shuffling over towards a wooden table full of mining plans and rough subterranean maps. "Here in the land of Ashengate, folks know to take advantage of everything nature gives to us. We have our own belief in divine principle, and it's all about survival."

Amber found herself absentmindedly stroking the golden case of her Vision. "I... uhm... know a thing or two about surviving."

"I bet." He murmured without looking at her. His hands stretched out another map as he said, "And what about diplomacy?"

Amber randomly belched. "Excuse me, what?"

"Right, then." Conrad cast her a sideways glance. "Just what are you doing here? Because if my father sent you, then you might as well turn your colorful dress and go back up to the surface."

"It's a uniform! Actually, I came here on my lonesome."

"Did you now?"

"Uh huh."

"What's on your mind?"

"Smoke is on my mind," Amber said, walking by several piles of equipment while working folks shuffled from station to station behind her. "Or, more to the point, where the smoke comes from."

"We incorporate several steam-powered devices in our mining, but if you took notice along your way down here, we do a fine job of funneling the exhaust to locations around the entrance."

"Yeah. I saw those pipes and stuff. But I'm not trying to say that you guys are the ones responsible for this otherworldly smog." Amber stood beside him. "You're down in these tunnels a lot. Could you have seen something—anything—that might suggest where the crap comes from?"

"I don't see what it matters. We've found no evidence of where the creatures place their nests. If we did—I assure you—we'd have dealt with them swiftly a long time ago."

Amber glanced over to where the bag full of dead moles was lying. "Yeah. I kind of guessed that was the case. Uhm... Still, though." She looked at him. "With all the time you have on your hands to drill into these rocks like crazed dentists, have you ever taken the time and opportunity to explore the rest of the underground and see if maybe the creatures are hiding away in this place?"

"I could write a book on how many times I've tried exploring the inside of this mountain."

"Yeesh. Well, as much as I hate reading, think you can run some of that by me?"

"I can do you something better," Conrad said as he swept up a bag of equipment, fitted it over himself, and motioned towards a dark corridor on the far end of the cavern. "Here. Walk with me."

"What for?"

"Do you want to see or don't you?"

"See what?"

"That's what you should walk with me for."

Amber sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Just promise me you'll take it easy on the moles for a while."

"First thing's first," he said.

She blinked. "Huh?" She winced as a yellow hard hat was slapped over her head. Her golden eyes thinned boredly. "Sure. Okay."


"As long as Autumnvale has been around, folks have been digging into this mountain," Conrad spoke as he led Amber deeper into the dimly lit tunnels. "In my life, I made it my goal to explore every hidden pocket of minerals this part of the earth holds for us. As a result, I've increased the volume of our excavations by nearly twenty percent. That's a huge extension from the combined work of all of my ancestors."

"Bet you feel proud," Amber said. She briefly tripped on a pile of loose rocks, stumbled, and regained her balance in enough time to look cool. "Ahem. So why all of the extra effort, if I may ask?"

"Autumnvale exists on the shoulders of folks who have come before me. I know very well that once I am gone, further generations will depend upon what I've done to keep this community strong and prosperous. To that extent, I've had these tunnels dug as deeply and to as many parts of the mountain as possible."

"Why do you not sound so excited to admit that?" Amber said.

"Because working this deep in the earth has given me several opportunities to think, far more intensely than those who were in my place decades and centuries sooner," Conrad said as he led the way into a large, expansive cavern. "And I know that no matter how much effort I've made to secure this village's interests, all I'm doing is sealing it to a fate colder than what my forebearers left for me."

"Yeah?"

"It hasn't taken monsters flying in at night to threaten this village," Conrad explained. "Autumnvale has been losing its population gradually over the last thirty years. There are more folks dying than being born. Furthermore, all opportunities we have to change things—to increase the profit and integrity of this community—has been dashed to oblivion for the sake of silly tradition."

"I'm guessing you blame your father for this."

"You've been in his company long enough, Outrider," Conrad spoke. "You don't need me to explain to you how old-fashioned he is."

"Yeah, but—"

"He means well for the village, in theory. But in his attempts to keep Autumnvale pure and unblemished in his eyes, he's inadvertently signed its death warrant. On top of that, he puts so much on my shoulders and expects me to come up with a miracle. I'd like for this city to prosper, but I can't turn a blind eye to what his very own citizens want."

"And what's that?"

"They want more than what Autumnvale has committed to for the past three decades. They want change. They want to incorporate culture from the rest of Ashengate. They want—"

"To grow up?"

"Precisely."

"I'm sure your father has his reasons. I mean, it's not like old folks are completely blind to the interests of the younger population."

"You're a rather young and exuberant lady, outsider. I can't blame you for overlooking an obvious truth. Sometimes, when we get a certain age, all we ever do is die."

Amber made a face. "Now that doesn't sound at all—"

"We're here," Conrad said.

"Huh?" Amber said, but suddenly found herself blinking to take in a huge open space. "Whoah..."

Conrad led Amber through a hole the size of two village folks. On the other side, a gigantic vertical chamber stretched beyond the lengths of the nearby lanterns. Gazing straight up, Amber saw a gigantic expanse of black space and exposed limestone. Stalactites hung in the far corners of the interior just beyond sight. Every hoofstep and breath echoed immensely, as if resonating with the hollow heart of the mountain.

"My ambitious digging revealed this chamber to us," Conrad said. "It goes on for much greater lengths than you think. One year, I spent the better part of three months exploring how far the expanse went. So consider that before you go flying to have a look for yourself. Also consider how dangerous and unstable the ceiling is. I know you're trying to gather answers on my father's behalf, outsider. But I don't want you hurting yourself in your fervor to uncover truths to the mists and these monsters."

"Yeah, but I only want—"

"I imagined that the monsters could somehow be coming from inside this place, which is why I had Tobias gather a large supply of poison from the Natlan Warriors three years ago. Then, after evacuating everybody from the mines, I placed a full batch of the deadly gases here and let them loose throughout this chamber. After two weeks, I returned with a team of explorers and found several dead mammals, insects, and amphibians collapsed all over the place. But there were no dead monsters. Wherever the invaders from, it's either not in the heart of the mountain or not in the mountain at all. The fact of the matter is that nobody in Autumnvale knows where they come from, and I doubt they ever will."

"Alright. I'll buy that." Amber nodded, adjusting her hard hat. "Still, though. That doesn't mean we can't stop—"

"Searching?" Conrad gazed steadily at her. "Outrider, all my father and other folks do is search, guess, and speculate. And all the while, more folks die. It's not our place to understand the monsters. If anything, it would only help to destroy them. Unfortunately, after several years of trial and error, we haven't come close to accomplishing either. That leads me to one recourse and one recourse alone. We most relocate. Autumnvale must pack up and take its business elsewhere. We can only spend one decade—two at best—before we dwindle into nothingness in these mines, whittled away to mere fossils of all our ancestors have attempted to accomplish. If you have any doubt of this whatsoever, then don't speak with my father. Don't even speak with me. Speak with the citizens of Autumnvale themselves, and get a view of the big picture. This village's days are numbered. The damnable fog has moved in to draw a funeral veil over this mountain, and it's high time that we paid heed to such."

Amber said nothing. She fidgeted awkwardly and gazed into the rockface of the cavern around them as Conrad marched slowly back the way he came. He paused and glanced back at her.

"If you don't believe me, then I won't stop you from looking around for yourself. I assure you, there are no creatures to be found down here. You know the way back from which we came. If I don't hear from you in an hour, I'll send somebody to fetch you or else come myself."

With that, he was gone.

Amber took a deep breath. She thought about his words, the cold tone in his voice, and could only roll her eyes. Just then, from the corner of her vision, she could have sworn she witnessed something pale. Glancing over at what had been in her peripheral, she squinted her eyes and marched towards a curious tunnel on the other side of the expanse.

The tunnel was dimmer than the rest of the cavern. As the walls closed in, the line of hanging lanterns stopped, and Amber found herself walking into pitch black. There was nothing to see beyond a few feet of distance, and yet Amber felt as if she was being drawn forward. Her hands tingled with each shuffling step. Her ears twitched, as if listening for a dim, otherworldly hum to start ringing in the distance.

And so, Amber bravely dove in.

Undaunted by the shadows, Amber raised a hand to her Vision and murmured a few words. A dim glow emanated from the ruby flame, casting a crimson aura across the claustrophobic rock walls before her. The surfaces were pale, like polished granite, and they rolled and spun like frozen sea waves or the inside of a nautilus' shell.

Amber found herself weaving left and then weaving right as she traveled the length of this bizarre corridor. There was something curiously enticing about the trek, no matter how ominous it should have felt. Amber couldn't shake the sensation that the trip was perfectly natural, almost like flying east.

At last, she came upon an opening. What she saw froze her in her tracks. The winding corridor came to an utterly flat stop. A perfect wall of ivory-white stone stood before her. It was a sharp contrast to the dark, grimy, soot-stained mines that she had taken to get there.

The air was terribly thin there. Amber felt a sudden chill as she heard her lonesome breath dancing off the polished rock. If somebody had told her that she was in the deepest, most secret heart of the world, she somehow wouldn't have doubted it.

Slowly, Amber marched past overturned bits of mining equipment and wooden carts in order to approach the flat wall. A crimson spotlight from her Vision tightened on a stretch of the immaculate barricade. Her eyes swam across the surface. At first, she didn't understand what was the point, for there was no blemish to be seen along the body of the stone. Then, upon a third examination, Amber saw something—an image etched into the white granite. She could have sworn she had scanned that part of the rock already, and yet there before her hung an emblem as plain as day. It was a very simplistic formation, illustrated seemingly in two parts.

The right side was an omega symbol. The left side was a sphere that was partially transposed over the left image. Howbeit, bordering the circle to the right of where it intersected the left symbol was a sporadic series of squiggly lines.

Amber was oblivious to the meaning of the dual characters, but a part of her shuddered at the implications of the right symbol's borders.

"Are those... solar bands?" she murmured aloud.

Never would Amber have predicted that she would be so enthralled by such seemingly random lines. Perhaps it wasn't so much that she was enthralled, but some essence of her soul was obligated to peer closely at the shapes.

As a matter of fact, the longer she looked at the character on the right, the less it started looking like an omega symbol, and the more it started resembling a half-moon. Without realizing it, her left hand was rising up to that particular spot of the polished stone.

The closer it got, a bright pulse of ruby light emanated from her Vision, and she could have sworn she saw a hint of lavender color to the edge of her peripheral vision.

Gasping, Amber stumbled back. She felt her heart beating, as if coming down from the crest of performing the biggest and boldest glider stunt. There were very few moments in her life when Amber could count having been legitimately frightened by something, and ever since her journey west she had counted fear as the most frivolous emotion of all.

And yet she couldn't contain her thunderous pulse just then. A shiver ran through her body, and she was gazing too hard at the pale wall to even register the aura of lamplight coming up from behind.

"It's quite fascinating, isn't it?" an elder voice said.

Amber spun around…

Tobias stood before Amber. Around his backside, there hung a bagpack fitted with dim lanterns that cast an amber shine on the dead-end tunnel. With a calm smile, he walked past her and approached the wall of bright, polished granite.

"There's nothing else in the mountain like it," he said, stroking a hand gently across the material. "It's made out an immaculate substance. If you strike a pick-axe strongly against it, your tool might break, but there wouldn't be a single scratch left on the material. It makes you wonder if the gods themselves are capable of making a mark."

All Amber could ask was, "Where the heck did you come from?"

"Oh please, Outrider," Tobias truckled pleasantly. "Raymond's son may be full of words of pretense and boasting, but he is hardly the only man patient enough... or old enough to have memorized these deep passageways." He turned to gaze at her. "I'm guessing he didn't bother to send you down this particular corridor."

Amber fidgeted. "Uhm, no. I... er... came here myself." She cleared her throat. "That... uh... that doesn't get me in deep trouble or nothing, does it?"

"Hardly. I've always admired the outrageous spirit of exploration and daring. I couldn't possibly admonish you for taking a personal sojourn here."

"Well, okay." Amber nodded. She turned to look at the white wall again. "Just what is this thing anyways?"

"If I had a solid answer to you, I would have told you about it as soon as we met," Tobias said. "It is a most remarkable find, don't you think?"

"I dunno..." Amber scratched her head through her hair. "It's really, really weird... but there isn't much to it." She blinked, then squinted at him. "Could it... could it be the source of all the smoke and crud that's covering the village?"

Tobias took a deep breath. "If it was, I do not see how. There is nothing along the surface of this structure that suggests a spot for gas or vapors to flow through. It's quite likely that this is a piece of something that occupies the heart of the mountain. No matter how far the corridors above have brought us, Outrider, we aren't actually that deep into the earth."

"somebody should get—I dunno—an egghead mage to come here and take a look at the thing."

"Alas, I have done the best I can to reach that mark halfway," Tobias said. "I have spoken to many outsiders that I find along the caravan's regular journey north to the camp of the Natlan Warriors, including the Natlan Warriors themselves. I've been given no proper explanation. I feel the only way to find a true answer is to come in contact with the historical archivists of Ashengate."

"Why haven't you, then?"

Tobias sighed. "Because if I do anything to distract myself from the task of constantly delivering those enchanted crystals, then the invading creatures would double in number and even more citizens of Autumnvale would perish. I am—for lack of a better term—at the end of my leash."

"Couldn't you—I dunno—make a plea to either Raymond or Conrad?"

"Perhaps by now you have gotten a proper picture of my predicament, Outrider," Tobias said as he paced along the length of the wall. "I have worked all my life to ensure the safety of this village. Now, in these latest and most grave years, I feel like I can do next to nothing. Any chance of progress whatsoever is stilted by this village's grandfather, as well as his constant conflict with the aspirations of his son. If either one of them was to stop arguing and be reasonable, I have no doubt that some progress would be made."

"Sounds like a real nasty situation you're all in," Amber grunted. "If you don't mind my saying."

"I don't mind what you have to say or do at all, outsider," Tobias said. "If nothing else, your presence bodes well for this town. There has been so much nonsense and confusion and hopelessness, I think what my fellow villagers need best is the spirited willpower from the outside. I can see it already, but you being here is making things happen. Raymond is more awake and lucid than ever. And as for Conrad... I think he might become aware of the notches in his stubbornness. All of this, of course, is saying nothing of your incredible resolve, bravery, and penchant for saving my fellow folks from peril."

"Look, Tobias... sir..." Amber sighed and gazed at the floor. "I didn't come here to do anything special. I was just passing through—"

Tobias chuckled. "And since when did 'just passing through' constitute for making a trip deep into the heart of a mountain that you could very easily have flown past?"

"I mean it!" Amber frowned. "I shouldn't even be stopping here! The business of Autumnvale is—like—none of mine!"

"You mean to say that you don't care at all about any single one of us?"

"Why should I?" Amber made to march completely out of the chamber. "I know where my loyalties lie—!"

"It was simply her, wasn't it?"

Amber stopped in her tracks with a scuffle of feet. She turned around and squinted at him. "What are you talking about?" She broke into a nervous chuckle. "I haven't met any women since I got here!"

The elder man merely stared at her.

Amber blinked. She winced and felt her eyes drooping. "How... How long have you known—?"

"For as long as she has worked for me. The young men in my employ are far too absorbed with themselves to ever bother taking notice, but I've always been able to see through her disguise. I don't entirely know what she seeks to gain with her charade, but I've made it my responsibility to watch out for her as long as it takes for her to achieve her goals, whatever they may be."

"Wow. That's... that's pretty swell of you."

"I don't see why I would do otherwise," Tobias said. "We've worked together for three years, now. She is like a daughter to me." He chuckled and smiled. "Or a son, if you were. I imagine an adventurous soul like you can find her spirit as indomitable and inspiring as your own."

"Yeah, well... she's done an amazing job convincing everybody that she's 'Mike' all this time," Amber said. "I just... wanna see her get what she wants in life too. And if that involves figuring out what's up with these monsters that are attacking the folks she cares for, then I guess I'm kind of sort of motivated." She gulped and gazed pensively at Tobias. "Does that explain to you why I'm here?"

Tobias gazed firmly at her. "It does," he said. "If that's the explanation you want me to accept."

Amber blinked.

"Still, I worry for her the most... as well as all the other young folks of this village," Tobias murmured in a somber tone as he paced across the far length of the room. "While nothing is ever answered, down here or on the surface, they only stand to have their lives dashed to bits by these horrid monstrosities. I'm rather reticent to say it, but it makes every proposal that Conrad has look incredibly appealing. I too would like to see these villagers live newer and better lives... even if that means having to experience those lives elsewhere."

Amber exhaled slowly, gazing at the floor. "Well, I don't know how I can lend anymore help than I already have. I'm just one Outrider, and that's a crapload of mist you're dealing with up top. Maybe I can fly out to some mage settlement and ask if they know anything about the creatures, or this wall here. Heck, maybe they know something about the two symbols on the surface."

"Symbols?" Tobias remarked. "What, perchance, are you referring to?"

"The characters!" Amber gestured towards the white rock. "The illustration that's right alongside the—" She froze, blinking.

Both emblems were gone. The ivory surface of the wall was blank.


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