Bargu had lost all sense of time. The tunnel that was supposed to lead them to the other side of that drauo passage had turned out to be just another piece of a labyrinthine network of foul-smelling, dark tunnels that led nowhere.

“By Ibelir! Are we ever going to find the way out?” the soldier cried in despair as they emerged into yet another arruk tunnel. “I can’t take this anymore!”

“Tell me about it… This is endless,” Bargu said, with none of his usual cheerfulness. Those tunnels were unnerving him. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the stories his father used to tell him about the Death Miners, or something deeper, tied to his genetic heritage. But they brought out a resentment he hadn’t even known he carried. “Of all the places I could die, I never imagined it would be in one of these filthy tunnels,” Bargu spat on the ground. “I just hope my father never finds out.”

“Come on, it’s not that bad, Bargu.”

“The soldier’s right,” Isen said, his voice devoid of emotion. “We’ve run out of food and water. If it hadn’t been for that small natural pool we found, we’d already be on the verge of dying from dehydration. Well, except Bargu, since he needs far less water than we do. He’d last much longer.”

Bargu noticed the soldier giving him one of her accusatory looks, silently blaming him for his lack of empathy.

“Great… And on top of it all, I’m going to die alone,” he said sadly.

“Don’t listen to him,” Neisa said with a forced smile. Then she turned to Eliad. “I’m sure the hunter will find the way out soon. Right?”

“I hope so,” the hunter replied. His greenish-gray eyes shifted to meet Bargu’s earthy ones. “Actually…” he began, “this might be the perfect time to use that extraordinary sense of direction your kind supposedly has.”

Bargu felt a pang in his heart. He knew what Eliad meant, and that was the most painful part of all.

“I…” Bargu began, his voice a mix of shame and sorrow. “I can’t use the sense of the rock.”

If only I could… he thought. He wished with all his heart that he had inherited something from his father’s side of the family. But he had only taken after his mother’s lineage. Not that he disliked it—thanks to that, he’d discovered his passion for music. But deep down, he’d always longed to carry something from his father’s traditional lineage.

“You can’t?” Eliad asked, studying the drauo’s face closely. Isen was doing the same. “I thought all of you could use it.”

Bargu shook his head.

“No… Only sedentary drauos can attune to the rocks to detect veins of ore and find their way in the tunnels of the underground world,” Bargu bit his lip. The only thing sedentary about him were the gypsum minerals streaking his body. “And I… I’m a chromatic. Sorry.”

“Get out of here, sky-licker,” a voice from his past whispered in his mind.

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“You’ll never be a sedentary,” said another.

“Couldn’t you at least try, just to see if—”

“I told you I can’t!” Bargu snapped. He was frustrated with himself and hurting. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“Bargu…” Neisa said softly.

Eliad sighed.

“Fine… Then we’ll have to rely on my sense of direction.”

As Eliad and the others resumed their march, Bargu approached the wall and placed his palm against it. He closed his eyes. He knew he wouldn’t hear the voice of the rock, but he wished, just for once, that he had been wrong all these years.

…

Nothing, except the whisper of the breeze.

***

The tunnel turned right and continued straight. Despite the flashlight beams, everything remained uncertain. That infinite and impenetrable darkness made her feel small, weak, powerless.

She hated it.

The soldier looked around, trying to find something to occupy her mind. A series of irregular holes running along the tunnel walls caught her attention.

“What are those holes?” she asked.

“Which ones?” Bargu replied.

“They’re tunnels made by the erukidos,” Eliad answered.

Neisa studied the hunter’s face for the first time. Like her, he was human, probably around thirty years old. His short brown hair, streaked with black, was slicked back, and his beard was neatly trimmed. Unlike her own eyes, his tired ones had a grayish-green hue.

“Those are... the creatures we saw earlier, right?” Neisa asked. “The ones we found near the remains of the treasure hunter convoy?”

“Exactly. The erukidos belong to the working class of the arruks. One of their tasks is to search for ‘food,’” Isen chimed in, as if eager to flaunt his knowledge on the subject.

“Took you long enough to speak, Mr. Know-It-All,” she thought with a smirk.

“In other words, us,” Bargu added. “Can you believe it? We must taste awful with this rough, hard skin.”

Neisa felt relieved to see the young drauo had regained some of his usual humor. For a moment, she considered asking him about the “rock sense” they had mentioned earlier and how he was feeling, but the thought that it might depress him again made her hold back. She could always ask later, if they got out of there alive.

“Well, we humans probably don’t taste great either,” Neisa said with a smile. “Do we know where these tunnels lead?”

The hunter, noticing her gaze, realized the question was directed at him and replied.

“They could connect to many places… for instance, other arruk or drauo tunnels. They might even intersect with Ibelir’s new network. But they could also lead straight to one of their hives or connect to a city in Ibelir, or even another country. No one knows how far their tunnels extend, but according to some drauo writings, it was once believed they stretched across the entire world.”

Bargu nodded twice, seemingly to affirm the hunter’s words. Though Neisa wasn’t sure if he actually knew or was just trying to look informed.

She smiled to herself.

The tunnel began to slope downward slightly. A faint, unpleasant smell reached her nose.

“And if those tunnels were made by the erukids, who made the ones we’re walking through?”

“The stone-eaters,” Eliad replied.

Bargu spat.

“Damn them.”

“The stone-eaters?” Neisa asked.

“Silence,” Isen suddenly said.

“Sir?” Neisa asked, puzzled. No matter how unpleasant she found him, this abrupt shift was unusual.

“I hear something…”

The group stopped.

“What is it?” Eliad asked, his expression suggesting he already knew the bitter answer.

“It sounds like… quick clicks and snapping noises?”

“So they’ve found us after all…” Eliad said as he drew his other pistol, switching on the small flashlight mounted on it. “Prepare yourselves! Arruks!”

“Damn, I’m so sick of this mission,” the soldier muttered, raising her rifle.

A buzzing sound, created by dozens of rapid clicks and snaps, grew louder and louder.

“Come on, you bastards!” Bargu shouted, aiming into the darkness.

The yellow glow of their eyes in the shadows was the first thing to appear.

“Fire!” Isen commanded.