Tristan looked at his friend who was staring down at the ground like it owed him money. Luke narrowed his eyes, he had felt something he was sure of it. It was like a foreign object had stirred up all the air essence around them.
“Did you feel that?” Luke asked.
Tristan nodded, “Yeah, my muscles are aching, did you have to do stuff like that when you were my age?”
After a brief quizzical expression, Luke shook his head, “You didn’t feel it then. No, I started as soon as I could understand speech, possibly before, but I don’t remember that far back.”
Siren stabbed his shovel into the ground, “Kid, what tier is your kern at? Normally I’m the only one who feels the essence pulses.”
“What’s an essence pulse?” Tristan asked.
Siren shrugged, “We don’t know for sure, but I assume it is caused by the death of an elemental in a confined area.”
Siren narrowed his eyes at Luke. He had ignored the question, but Siren guessed it really did not matter. If Luke had some mysterious level of talent then that was a good thing for the caldera as a whole. He thought back to the death of Carl and decided to keep an eye on him.
Tristan thought that would make sense. The essence released on an elementals death had to go somewhere. On the surface it could disperse anywhere it wanted, while underground it could only go up or down the tunnel. Eventually it would seep through the ground, but earth essence was quite a bit more dense than air essence, so it would take a while.
Tristan had caught his breath enough to sit up. He was still tired, but the current topic was just to interesting to ignore, “Do you guys have to fight elementals often?”
“No,” Siren said, “Maybe three or four times a year, though that will likely change in the future with you acting as a compass.”
Tristan froze. Would he be responsible for putting Siren and everyone else’s lives in danger. If he found these places faster than they could recover, then they would slowly be worn down until they finally succumbed.
“Will you be able to handle that?” Tristan asked.
“Sure,” Siren said, “It just means we can’t get complacent in the two or three months of down time.”
Luke caught Tristan’s eye, “If your good enough to jabber, your good enough to dig.”
Tristan groaned as he picked up a shovel and got back to work. They shoveled dirt for the rest of the day. The artifact that Chase had used to dig the tunnel had given Tristan the impression that digging was faster than it actually was. Siren and his men could only move about sixty square feet of dirt per hour compared to the artifacts four hundred square feet per hour.
Despite that, it was not long before they heard a clank. Siren placed a hand on Tristan’s shoulder, he was so tired that the weight of the hand almost brought him to his knees, “Step back kid, this is where it gets dangerous.”
Tristan gratefully took a step back and stood beside Luke. His knees were wobbly, but he forced himself to stay standing. Seeing the interest in Luke’s eyes, Tristan focused on the same spot. It turned out that the clank they heard was the elemental’s arm bone. The dirt started shifting as the dark blue arm tried to free itself of the dirt.
Siren never gave it the chance. He placed the blade of his shovel on the shoulder joint and called one of his men to hold it. Once everything was in place, Siren used the hammer side of his maul to smash the butt of the shovel. It took several blows, but less than a minute to cut the arm off. They methodically unearthed just enough of the elemental to slice off more pieces until they got to the heart.
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This elemental could not survive without its heart, so they cut it apart as soon as they found it. They made it look easy, simply dissecting the enemy as soon as they uncovered it. It was not hard to forget this creature had killed one of Siren’s men just a few hours ago. Maybe that was simply the short attention span of a teenager, but it worked in Tristan’s favor.
Siren released a deep breath, glad that it was over, he looked at the two kids, “your done here, if the sun is still up, send Chase down to clear the tunnel.”
Luke nodded and led Tristan down the tunnel back to the surface. The shafts that were active on the way in were now silent, if Conni had not had the foresight to give everyone a tier one light artifact. An artifact that Tristan could not use, as some one needed to be a tier higher to use an artifact of a different element. He raised an eyebrow that would mean that Luke was at least tier two.
Glow stones were the most common and least valuable light artifacts. As close to a tier zero artifact as one could get without actually being one, which was impossible. The silence was eery, and it made it reassuring to have rows and rows of arrows pointing the way out. They entered the main cave which was only lit by a light coming from the office cave.
Conni poked his head out when he heard their footsteps coming, “Ah, good, I’m glad the two of you are OK.”
He beckoned them inside where a pot was sitting on the wood burning stove. Despite the fact that it was summer outside, the surrounding dirt kept the mine cool, so the fire wasn’t unbearable. That was until he noticed the heat haze radiating towards Conni and no where else. Tristan realized that his assumption about Conni was wrong, he had a flame kern, not an earth kern. He was not sure about the ramifications of that, but right now he was to hungry to care.
Conni ladled two bowls of stew and set them on the table, “Alright, eat up, you can tell me more after your bellies are full.”
When they were done eating they started telling their stories in the way that only young exited boys could. Meaning, Conni struggled to get anything more than “Siren hit it with an ax!” And “WHAM,” out of the description. That and the amount of digging that Luke made Tristan do. Conni could only raise an eyebrow at the idea of a tier zero learning how to fight. However, metal element artifacts had been found in the mines before, none lower than tier three, but it was the most likely place to make that possible. If Tristan found enough tier zero and one artifact he could build his kern.
When Conni got what he wanted, he interrupted them and repeated the part that interested him, “Ren and his men are still doing alright?”
Luke nodded, “Yes and he wanted us to send Chase down to plow the tunnel if it is still working hours.”
Most of the miners went home at night if they had a family. It was an hour long walk both ways, making it a dawn till dusk kind of job, but it was worth it to some to see their wives and kids every day. In fact, despite the availability of multiple bunk houses, only one was actually necessary. Many overnighters slept on the bottom and used the top for storage.
“Chase should be coming in about four hours, I’ll let him know then,” Conni said.
Tristans eyes widened, it was already past midnight. He could see why the people in the tunnels needed to be told when mealtime was. It was impossible to see the days progression using the sun. After doing some quick math, Tristan realized that it was almost two o’clock in the morning.
Conni continued, “The excavation of the tunnel will consume most of tomorrow. So the two of you can take the day off if you want, go see your parents and friends.”
“I would rather stay here,” Tristan said timidly.
“So, what you actually want to say is you would rather spend tomorrow with me,” Luke said with an evil grin, “I promised I would teach you how to fight, and I intend to deliver.”
Tristan shuddered as they made their way up to their beds. Tomorrow was going to suck, but the image of Siren taking down the elemental flashed though his mind. Maybe the suck would be worth it, “Yes, thats what I meant.”
Luke nodded, “Well thats good then.”
Coni sighed as he watched the boys leave. They were to young to live at work, Luke’s childhood had messed him up, and Tristan was trailing along behind them. He noticed that neither boy was to affected by the fact that they had just watched a man die by decapitation. Part of it was probably because no one around them freaked out, but it did not take much for a child to go from copying an action to holding a mindset. The mindset of soldiers was a survival mindset, not a healthy mindset.
Turning back he started writing condolence letters that he and Siren would be delivering over the next few days. He had done this a few times, but it never got any easier.