I am surrounded by complete darkness.

For a while I lie still, my heart drumming so loud I can feel the reverberation throughout my whole body.

I was never really scared of the dark, even as a kid I was never unsettled by it, but now? Now it terrifies me. My heartbeat increases as the seconds goes by; my breathing is erratic. I don’t seem to get enough air in my lungs.

No, not nearly enough.

Is this what a panic attack feels like?

I reach out in front of me, trying to touch something, anything. Then I am met with an obstruction, all around me. Am I in a box?

Then I remember.

The attack on the empire, the evacuation, the underground facilities, the coffins we were put into, the earthquake.

Teacher!

How long did I sleep? Is the attack over?

I need to get out!

Right now!

I reach for my spiritual essence; I’ll blast this wretched thing open if I have to.

But my coffin starts to glow, or more precisely, the glyphs engraved in it. And then the lid opens on its own. I step out, and I am met with more darkness.

The cave which was once brightly lit up now have only a few fluorescent stones, barely illuminating the walls of the chamber.

I retrieve my staff from my Subspace and make it glow. Then carefully look around me. Everything seems to be as it was before I entered the coffin, the room is filled with sarcophagi neatly arranged into rows, and like mine, they each inhabit a living, sleeping person.

I spot the one directly in front of mine, Zaylany’s sarcophagus, I walk toward it and try to open it. But it is sealed shut. I try imbuing it with my essence.

Nothing happens.

I turn toward Sabar’s sarcophagus but achieve the same result when I try to open it too.

Perhaps each sarcophagus responds only to the essence of the person it hosts. Which means that I cannot open the sibling’s—or any other’s—until they wake up.

“Zaylany, wake up! Sabar!”

Nothing

“Hello? Nap time’s over … Rise and shine sleepy heads”

After several attempts to rouse them, I am forced to give up. The only explanation I can come up with is that no one sleeping in these things can be awoken by an external stimulus.

After further inspecting the whole chamber, I realised that I am unbelievably the first one to have woken up. It is a bit unnerving.

Why am I the only one awake?

Where are the adults?

Slowly, very slowly, I feel my panic rising once more. I am restless and my breathing is becoming tedious.

No, no, this isn’t the time to lose my cool.

In a situation such as this, Teacher will say that the best strategy would be to calmly assess the situation and review my options, then plan from there.

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I count to five then slowly breath in and out.

My predicament is a strange one. I don’t know where I am exactly, what is going on outside, how long I have been sleeping, and if the danger has been cleared out.

The ‘Capsule’ as Magister Namna called it, worked splendidly. It kept my body in a pristine condition. But it will not last. Now that I am out, I will slowly go hungry and thirsty as time goes by. And I refuse to go back in that thing. Who knows if will put me to sleep for a long time or if it’ll work at all, it might have been designed to operate for a single use only.

There is nothing else in this chamber except the capsules of the other sleepers. It’s funny that the elders devised such an invention as the capsule but did not think of stowing away supplies for when we would eventually awake. So as… you know… not to… die. Maybe they thought we will not have any problems to fend for ourselves.

This means that whether I like it or not, I will have to leave this place.

Letting out a nervous sigh, I walk toward the exit of the chamber—or what I remember to be the exit. The wall is unblemished, except from the many warding Arrays adorning the surfaces of the chamber. There does not seem to be a door at all.

As I examine the engravings, I spot a particular glyph, pour in my essence, and the wall opens.

I step out of the chamber and immediately after I’m out, the wall closes itself again. I suspect there is concealment sigil, making the very existence of the secret chamber undetectable from any form of scrying or other divination spells.

The bunker is empty, not a soul to be heard or seen. The facility must have been evacuated sometime after we were put to sleep. I check the walls of the bunker, hoping to find any other hidden cave. If there are any, I did not find them. I take a mental note to examine every warding Array in here. I’m certain that there were numerous other batches of youth, they must have been kept here too, it’s just that I can’t find them yet.

After further investigation of the whole area, I concluded that it was very well empty —having found absolutely nothing.

This left me with no other way but explore outside… in the tunnels. My hold on my staff tightens, I counted to five and breathed in and out slowly.

I read once that one of the great fears of humankind was the fear of the unknown, that it took a lot of courage to challenge it.

Now I understand.

To not have any idea of what I could face, it, it’s petrifying.

But I have and can do this. I might not be the strongest sorceress of my time, but I am strong enough to protect myself from danger—or run away if I cannot surpass it.

After all, I have been taught by the very best the Nchāre Empire had to offer.

One thing at a time, first I find drinkable water, after, I find food. I hope by then the others will be awake, if not—I shake my head. Don’t overthink.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The air is humid. It smells damp and mossy.

The tunnel is flooded, not by much but the water is high enough to completely immerse my sandals and reach up to my ankles.

I frown I bit at this but decide against casting a levitation spell, it will be a waste of essence. I dejectedly move up the small stream, aiming to reach its source.

The walls of the tunnel have aged, though they are in excellent condition and will be standing for more years still, this indicates that many decades have passed—no… centuries.

Patches of moss cover the walls here and there; the space is quiet except for the even trickles of the stream and the splashes I make as I walk further.

I don’t like that this place is in complete darkness, the soft light emanating from my staff makes me a very visible target but it’s not like I can walk blindly in the dark. For good measure I superpose wards around myself—to prevent being taken out by surprise.

After some time, I finally get to the source of the stream, it comes from a small crevice up the roof. The moss growing around proves that the water is at least not poisoned. I cast a spell to make sure it is drinkable, which it is, then use another to mould a chunk of the wall into a gourd store the water.

I decide to have a small break and drink a bit. With a source of clean water secured I could cast a spell to sprout some edible herbs and fungi. Those type of spell do not cost much in spiritual essence but demand a certain level of control and concentration.

I tear a piece of cloth from the inferior part of my robe and collect the herbs. Now I have food and water.

As I sit and rest, I can’t help but contemplate on the situation.

The way things seem to be the attack on the empire by that unknown force caused its demise. Everyone talked of a Propagation, but what kind of propagation? A disease or an infestation maybe? Still, it couldn’t have done that kind of damage. It had to be individuals.

But who could those attackers be? As far as I know the Nchāre Empire was the sole power of the world. Another country could not have sprouted out of nowhere without the Empire taking notice, unless… it was a coup? But even then, there would have been whispers of it running around. Afterall, such things simply don’t just pop out of thin air, there will always—always be signs.

It still doesn’t change the fact that the Empire fell, and the attackers must have been so overwhelming that the elders had no other solution but to find a way to save the younger generation. If not, the elders would have come and fetched us a long time ago… they probably… are all already dead.

The taught of teacher… lying dead somewhere, it has a way of making my heart clench.

No, the mere taught is too painful to bear.

I will not acknowledge it until I have undeniable proof.