“Soooooo?”

“So what?”

Sage holds her hands behind her and leans forwards. “Soooo, dwarven! What is it? I asked but you went all—” She pitches down her voice. “—serious and intense.” She puts on an over exaggerated scowl that looks entirely out of place on her face.

Jin scowls too, which looks right at home on her face. “I don’t look like that.”

“You’re doing it again!”

Jin opens her mouth to retort, has a moment of self awareness, then decides to change the subject. “Dwarves, like elves, are another hominid species that died out long ago, and only exist as quirks in human DNA from interbreeding.”

Sage tactfully holds back a laugh, and tries to play the role of a good student. “What’s DNA?”

Jin’s steps pause briefly either from Sage’s comment or because she wanted to double check her footing before descending down an unfamiliar staircase. “Genetic material. Why you and your family look more like each other than other people.” She frowns. “Why wouldn’t the church teach you this? It’s not problematic information, I don’t think…”

Her eyebrows furrow trying to get a grasp of Sage’s situation. “If I understand correctly, the church is your village’s education structure, right?”

“Um, I guess so? Not always, but most the time. Rosie never went to lessons, but she’s got that apprenticeship.”

“Not very formal, then. How many years did you take lessons for?”

“…Six? I think?”

Jin stops her descent, and looks offended. “That’s it?! How is anyone expected to learn anything with only six years of study?!”

Sage just shrugs. “I dunno. Do we really need to know all that stuff though? It’s fun to listen to you talk about all these weird topics, but it doesn’t seem relevant to… um, anything, really. Except this place! But most the villagers don’t care much about some old ruins,” she says with a slight hue of disappointment.

“Please tell me there’s at least further education in Travelers Rest, or… anywhere?”

Sage tilts her head in thought. “Priest Herrick recommended Farmer Joel’s eldest to go to the city to learn more about books and stuff. I think he got a job out of it! He started sending money back home to his folks last year and everything. Haha, sometimes they get sent some neat writing called a limerick. They read all of those they get during feasts! I know how to read and write, and I know math, which is just about all the education any of us really need usually.”

Jin is still frowning. “That’s… something, at least.” She shakes her head, almost not wanting to know why Sage thinks she can claim knowledge over the entire concept of math. She doesn’t think it ends at algebra, does she? Or… certainly not arithmetic, right? …A question for later, maybe. “Anyway, I was talking about dwarves, wasn’t I?”

Curly hair bounces enthusiastically in response, and Jin continues. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about dwarves themselves or their culture, other than they lived underground for some reason, and were notably shorter than humans, on average.”

“What I do know, is what every mage first learns when studying spell structures. Dwarves were the first people to discover how to create enchantments, and what materials are receptive to holding magical information. Many enchantment based discoveries made by them are still widely used today…” Her face contorts briefly. “…despite the fact that the individual creators of the techniques are long forgotten. It is theorized that dwarven cities were mostly underground for proximity to metals, and to prevent outsiders from discovering their secrets.”

Sage’s face scrunches up in confusion. “Huh? I thought you didn’t know why they were underground, but then you said you knew why..?”

Jin rolls her eyes. “Theories are not fact. I don’t know why dwarves did what they did, I only know what other people suspect on the matter. That does not necessarily mean they are correct.”

Sage huffs and crosses her arms, but without any real ire. “If you don’t know if it’s true or not, why learn about it?”

A golden glare get’s shot at Sage. “Very few things in life are certain. Sometimes all we can do is give an educated guess. Curiosity spurns discovery. If we didn’t try to learn and guess at what we can, humanity wouldn’t have made half the advancements it did.”

Sage looks thoughtful at this, and the two walk on in silence for a minute longer.

Then Sage pipes up again. “Well, I theorize that dwarves weren’t actually short!”

“…Why?”

“Look at how high up those runes on the wall are! A short person could never reach that high up!”

“Neither could a tall human. It is more likely they built a temporary structure to reach that height. Most construction projects have them. Not to mention, you’re forgetting about magic. Decoration height is nearly an insignificant factor.”

“…Oh.”

Sage taps the stair she’s on with a toe twice, then tries another tactic. “Then… I theorize that there are still dwarves living deep underground!”

Jin raises an eyebrow and smiles. “Oh? Why’s that?”

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“Because there’s a collapsed tunnel towards the back of the ruins that totally looks like it could be an escape route for a bunch of people.”

“What makes you think it isn’t a closed off mine shaft, or something?”

She pouts. “I thought you didn’t have to be sure about theories.”

“They still have to be likely.”

“Fine! I think it’s not mine shaft because the collapse looks intentional! And… Well you can intentionally close a mine, but more importantly nothing else is ruined! Just abandoned! In the ruins I mean. Like villages and towns sometimes do if everyone has to get up and leave suddenly. Not that I’ve seen abandoned towns, but I’ve read books and it’s just like that!”

Jin’s smile slips and slows to a stop again. The end of the stairs can be seen at the edge of her light now. The ceiling frames their path down with more runes carved into stone cross beams. She looks contemplatively at Sage, and starts walking again. “Do you know what an intentional tunnel collapse looks like?”

“…I think so? We have a small mine at Rock Orchard. Nobody likes working in it though, everyone would rather work in the orchards or farms, obviously. Sometimes the men will get together and go at it for a while though, but only if the village needs to buy something big. Like when we needed more pipes for more houses! We don’t have a blacksmith, just a smelter. I think they’re usually able to get copper out of it? Of the mine. We had to collapse one tunnel we opened up because half the men working there swore they saw eyes watching them. Nobody wanted to take the risk, so bam bam boom collapse!” She chops her arms for emphasis.

“Oh and uh, I mostly say it looked intentional because the big support pillars holding it up look like they were removed somehow. It’s a really big decorated tunnel entrance by the way, totally not mine shaft material. There’s broken pillar bits all around the front of the cave-in. It otherwise looks pretty normal..? I don’t know what an abnormal cave-in looks like, actually.”

They reach the end of the stairs to a large plaza open to the surrounding cavern, and Jin starts slotting amplifiers into a relatively complicated light spell.

Jin can see more, broader stairs leading downwards into its dark depths. In the center of the stairs beyond is a broad rail that spans as far downwards as she can see, and thinner ones framing the sides, oddly.

Two roads shoot out sideways from the plaza and vanish into darkness; each with one side against the rockface, and another open to the cavern beyond. In the center of the plaza is a twenty foot tall statue of a bearded sentinel resting his hands atop a massive maul. Runic script is etched into almost every available surface at its base. Jin eyes the art appreciatively, then steps past it for a better view of the cavern as a whole.

“I’m about to illuminate the cavern. You might want to shield your eyes.”

Sage holds her hands in front of her eyes with enough room to peek sideways at Jin. The mage does similarly, then floods her spell structure with mana.

Light erupts in front of the girls, and orbs of light flood out and downwards, probing for empty space to illuminate and banish the darkness.

After a moment Jin drops her hands and Sage copies.

There’s a moment of awestruck silence from both of them.

Orbs of light spread out over the ruined city like a wave, slowly illuminating more and more of the scene before them. It’s the sides of the cavern that are lit first by the light—the light heading downwards has yet to stop. Roads, windows, and doors are carved into the rock face in layers. Bridges and stairs crisscross in intricate patterns connecting built-in pillars of stone and jagged cavern walls. Carvings, intricate pillars, and statues dot all of the largest connections. In a few locations water spews out of the rock face and downwards in waterfalls.

Their eyes follow the light heading down as Jin’s magic begins to light a huge central pillar in the center of the cavern that seems to span the entire height of the area. A bridge network far below the level they stand at all weave together and arc to connect to this central connection point in organic, yet strangely geometric patterns. She’s reminded almost of a spiderweb, if spiders were concerned with geometry.

Deeper and deeper the light goes, and a familiar city grid pattern is revealed in stone. Most roofs look to be flat, and occasionally stone furniture clusters on top. Buildings grow shorter… or, no, the ground dips towards a massive central building that proves to be the base of the pillar. Even at a distance, the walls of this beast of a structure are clearly finely polished, and reflect every orb that passes near as tiny pinpricks. She can only imagine what it would look like if every scone and brazier that litter the roads and rooftops were lit. Around its base water pools beneath bridges in a mote before being whisked away deeper into the earth. Massive carved statues guard a pair of what Jin suspects to be stone doors, in contrast to empty holes leading into most buildings.

Jin doesn’t know how to react. When her eyes can no longer spot newly illuminated sections of the city, she lets out a slow, shaky breath she didn’t know she was holding. Then she looks up.

The bridge patterns have nothing on the pure artistry that is the roof of the cavern. Jin wants to use the word ‘fractal’, but can’t quite pinpoint why. Radiating out from the central pillar are repetitively concave geometric patterns in a vaguely honeycomb layout. Despite its geometric nature, gentle arcs and curves seamlessly blend and stretch down to interconnect with the surrounding cavern walls.

Sage’s eyes follow the direction of Jin’s and has a sharp intake of breath. Her mouth falls open wordlessly for several moments. Surprisingly, Jin is the one to break the silence. “How…”

This put’s Sage’s mouth into working order. “I had no idea… I would have never known what the ceiling looks like. Jin! It’s beautiful!” She grabs onto the dark haired girl’s arm without looking down. “This… This is a real miracle! I can’t look away.”

Jin glances at the other girl but doesn’t comment on the terminology or claim over her personal space. Her eyes are pulled back upwards almost against her will.

This… isn’t a replica of a city, is it? All this time, just a day’s journey… No, a day’s walk away, there was an entrance to an old dwarven city. And she had no idea. Someone… Someone must have devoted a lot of work into maintaining this secret. She just can’t imagine why.

At a thought, Jin channels mana into her mind’s eye and… nothing. She can’t spot the telltale glint of magic beyond her own lights. She supposes that would have been too much. She’s not disappointed. These are the ruins of the forerunners of all enchantments to ever exist, but she’s not disappointed to not see any evidence of magic in here. She’s not.

…She keeps channeling magic towards her sight. Just in case.

Sage starts bouncing on the balls of her feet, not able to keep the excitement from getting to her. She releases Jin and spins with her arms out and eyes glued upwards, letting a laugh bubble up.

She comes to a stop before reaching the edge of the plaza, and she looks back at the awestruck cleric. The gold eyed girl has a look of utter disbelief that shifts between denial and awe. Now that’s a good reaction! She can’t stop grinning. “Come on! Let’s see what all we can explore when miracles are on our side!” Her eyes slide down towards the massive stone doors on the central building.

This is so exciting~!