-Sub-Terrain Treaty-
[An agreement created by the Guardians that they require any individual or company that intends to dig or mine underground more than a few feet to sign. It explicitly forbids creating mining within a mile of the Realm Rift and creating tunnels to said Rift. It also restricts digging past certain depths, requiring a Guardian to sign their approval every hundred feet or so. This treaty was drafted by the Guardians of Technology and Night, and approved by the Guardian of Life.]
After another couple days of chasing dead ends, Ari and Xeron were starting to get frustrated. The new information Danfis supplied them was interesting, but it hadn’t made their investigation any easier. A few of their interviewees had concerned responses about this ‘New Spire Empire’ or whatever they were calling themselves, but it was clear they hadn’t ever heard of them or the mienr. They were going over a list of people to visit and interview while lounging in Yenva’s sitting room, when their employer entered.
She was carrying a sealed envelope, with a hand-drawn emblem of balance on the front. “This was stuck in the front door,” she explained, her voice flat and dull as ever, “I imagine it’s for you.” She handed it to Ari, who was the closest. Ari accepted it, a quizzical expression on her face, while barely moving from her spot. “I’ll be out late again tonight. Best of luck with your investigation.”
Ari turned the envelope over in her hand a few times. There was no addressee indicated, nor any sender. The only clue to who it was for was the crudely drawn symbol on the front and back. Ari used a precise slice of wind magic to cut the adhesive, and pulled out the letter within.
“To the Hunters in Yenva’s employ. I know you’ve been trying to dig up suspicious events and activities in the various companies in our city. Since you’re also working for Yenva, I think this information will be even more interesting to you. I have news from a reliable source that the J’alyr ke Ensaru has a tunnel that extends out to the Realm Rift. In case you somehow don’t know, this is a direct violation of the Guardian-enforced Sub-Terrain Treaty. You can investigate it on your own time, but I’d recommend doing so sooner than later. This violation is probably not relevant to your boss’s feud with Ensaru, but it does seem relevant to the questions you’ve been asking lately.”
There was no signature. Ari turned the letter over as well, making sure there was no more writing on the back. The handwriting was clear and very nondescript, which seemed deliberate. Not that Ari and Xeron would take the note to handwriting experts to find out who wrote the note, they didn’t have that kind of time. Not to mention any connection to any such expert. She handed the note to Xeron, and asked what he thought after he read it.
“I have heard of the Sub-Terrain Treaty, Orun told me about it.” He stood up, “If this is true, it’s the most solid lead we’ve gotten all week. And it would be condemning for our future target at that. Maybe we could even get a bonus from the Guardians. I say we should go check it out right now.”
“I agree,” Ari stood up and stretched, “Not like we have any appointments or anything anyway. Do you know the way to the J’alyr?”
“Not off the top of my head, but I’m pretty sure I saw signs pointing to it on the fourth layer. It shouldn’t be too hard to find.” Xeron was double checking he had everything he’d need while he spoke. Seeming satisfied, he walked to the front door. It was weird to see him so eager to get to work. Ari figured the fatigue of constant dead ends was getting to him.
It took them a lot longer to find the J’alyr ke Ensaru than they thought it would. As Xeron said, there were signs pointing toward it on the main roads of layer four, and even some of the more minor roads. But they stopped showing up before long, and they had to figure out its precise location the hard way.
Once there, they realized they’d actually only come to the office building. It was a much smaller, more quaint building than Grand Stone’s office. It had a bit of a run-down feeling to it. It was nothing like what Ari had expected from the Guild’s largest competitor.
Xeron groaned next to her, “I’m going to go ask for directions,” he pointed toward a security guard standing next to the main entrance, - a single door with a reinforced glass window, a paper sign taped to the glass. Ari nodded as he walked over.
“He said we can just follow this road directly toward the wall,” Xeron said, pointing down the road they’d come down. “Once we get to the end of the road, we turn left. It’ll be a big building, lots of wire fences and big machines outside. He said there should also be a small sign at the main gate, though it’s been vandalized and stolen in the past, so he’s not sure it’ll actually be there.”
“Great, let’s get going.”
Another several minutes of walking, and they eventually arrived at their actual destination. If the office building had a run-down feel, this building was straight up decrepit. There were broken windows on the lower floors, and the building seemed about ready to fall apart. Is this really the company Yenva is worried about? Ari asked herself. The security guard from earlier was also right, there was a small sign that had been painted over with a vulgar phrase.
They were stopped by security almost immediately after crossing the fenceline. “What can I do for you, Hunters?” The female guard asked. Ari thought she was cute, the large scar down one side of her face and all. She seemed pretty young, but still very experienced.
Ari stepped forward to speak, “We received an anonymous tip about a violation of the Sub-Terrain Treaty in these mines, and we came to confirm it for ourselves.”
The cute guard seemed taken aback, “That would be a very major issue. I haven’t heard anything, but I suppose I could escort you through the mines until you’re satisfied. It could be a difficult search, though. These mines are huge.”
“That would be great. If possible, we’d also like to ask around, and talk to the staff, maybe see if we can get some more information.”
“Of course, right this way then. I’ll need to stop at the security office to let my brother know it’s his turn to keep watch over the entrance.” She heel-turned and walked toward the front doors of the large facility. The doors opened automatically when she got close enough, sliding with a quiet creak. Ari and Xeron followed, keeping their eyes open and their strides confident.
This may be an enemy base after our investigation of the Mienr is over, Ari told herself, But right now it’s simply a place to investigate.
Their guide, who introduced herself as Vel, stopped at a windowless office which was the third door on their left from the entrance. She had the Hunters wait outside. They weren’t waiting long, she was only in there for a minute or so.
Vel guided them to the back of the building, which opened up to a large, fenced-off yard where employees were gearing up to head into the mines. There were also people coming out of the mine, who all seemed exhausted. “Here’s our prep yard,” she declared, turning to face the hunters, “I’ll just follow you around, keeping an eye on you, so feel free to talk to anyone or everyone. Once you’re ready we can head into the mine and find the tunnel. If you can, see if anyone knows where it’s at.”
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Xeron and Ari nodded in unison, and began walking around the yard. They’d decided to talk to the workers coming out of the mine first, figuring they’d be leaving before long. Only a few were willing to talk, and answered most of their questions pretty openly. Unfortunately, none knew anything about the tunnel.
Afterward, they spent the next hour and a half interviewing the miners, and apparently engineers, that were preparing to start their work. Here there were a surprising amount of people who had heard rumors, but didn’t know where exactly it was. One stated it would be down on the lowest level of the mine if it did exist, since they don’t really dig on the upper floors anymore.
Satisfied with the number interviewed - albeit, dissatisfied with the lack of actually useful information obtained - Ari had Vel take them into the tunnels. Ari wasn’t sure what she expected, but she was surprised to see the tunnels had a complex trolley system, powered by Grand Stone Guild branded Aeth’mobile engines. “These tunnels are quite extensive, and ever growing,” Vel began her explanation, “We partnered with the Guild to help with their experiments on extra-efficient engine designs, and light-weight rails. I was hired only a little before the switch was made, but I’ve heard stories about how unreliable our old systems were.” The tracks merged from the shipping yard in front of the tunnel entrance, which allowed for them to easily split the workers and the stone coming out of the mine.
They ended up having to wait for a few trips to be made as they prioritized getting the workers in first, before finally boarding on a half-full trolley. The carts had a surprising amount of power, getting up to a pretty high speed quicker than any Aeth’mobile Ari had been in. She very quickly lost her sense of direction, as the cart bounded past corner after corner, jerking her all over the cart. Xeron had his eyes shut and kept a death-grip on the sides of the cart, and she could tell her brother was doing his best not to throw up his breakfast.
After several minutes of this, the cart straightened out for a bit and went down a shallow slope quite a long distance. It still moved fast, but it was much more peaceful without the constant turning and whipping around. Shortly after it straightened out, one of the male workers, who Ari identified as an engineer by his blue full-body uniform - the miners wore similar, but black - scooted over next to her.
“I heard you were asking about that rumored tunnel to the Rift?” He asked in a hushed voice, without turning to her.
“And if I am?” She asked, her voice purposefully louder. She didn’t like people trying to keep things like this under wraps.
“Then that’s a good thing, none of us want to be in trouble for this tunnel, you see. I don’t know who was involved in it, but I’ve seen it myself. I could guide you there if you’d like.”
She stared at him, but he kept his gaze firmly away from her’s. “Well that would be great, we’d appreciate that a lot.” She waved to Vel, getting her attention, who then cautiously moved over next to Ari. “This gentleman says he knows where the tunnel is, he states he’s seen it but has no idea who was involved with digging it.”
“Excellent.” Vel said, turning to the man and commanding his gaze, “You can guide us there? I won’t bother asking why you never reported it or anything.”
He nodded, shying away. “You may have guessed, but we’ll have to travel to the Eastern Complex. It won't take long to get there, but we will need to switch transports. The tunnel system it’s a part of is still pretty new, and as such tracks haven’t been laid there yet, so we’ll have to walk a few miles.”
Walking sounded great to Ari at this point. These hard metal carts weren’t very comfortable, even when stationary, and she yearned to give her legs a proper stretch.
A few moments later, the cart pulled into a hub area of sorts. Ari hadn’t seen anything like it, there were over a dozen different tracks coming into this area, and multiple spots to turn carts whatever way they needed to be facing positioned around the outer edge. While the machinery and equipment were impressive, there was no architecture to speak of whatsoever. The hub was essentially a large cavern with tracks, carts, other machines Ari couldn’t identify, and two distinct districts of tents. One seemed to be where people slept, with small closed off tents. The other seemed to be their equipment depot, with several open-sided tents all clumped together making what seemed like a make-shift market. Ari recognized some of the carts and workers over there as some of the people she’d spoken with earlier, who seemed to be hauling in food stuffs and other supplies.
Vel and their mystery guide didn’t give her much time to observe her environment, and no time at all to ask questions. She tried to push those questions out of her mind, and focus on the task at hand, following close behind Xeron. The cart their guide had them board seemed a bit more worn out, and the engine was much louder. It was clearly the same design though, so Ari inferred this one must see a lot more use. The engine’s noise made it practically impossible to hold a conversation, so she sat in silence, positioned in a way she hoped would minimize her getting jostled around.
She guessed by their guide’s words earlier they were heading in an Eastward direction, but she couldn’t be sure. Compasses weren’t standard issue for the Hunters, as most of their work happens in places with clear landmarks to help determine direction. Had she known she’d be going deep underground- well, she’d known that, but known they’d be going into some of the tunnels, she’d have thought about bringing one with her.
After what felt like close to a half hour, they arrived at another hub-type area. This one had the same stuff as the first hub they passed, just on a much smaller scale. Where the other hub had a dozen tunnels leading in and out, this one had four including the one they entered through. Of them, only one other had tracks, which connected directly to the tunnel they just came through.
Their guide wordlessly - still deliberately avoiding Vel’s eyes - guided them toward the tunnel to their left after they disembarked from the trolley. The tunnel was only lit by a flashlight Vel brought, and a sustained orb of rel that Ari created. It felt like it went on forever, the same gray-brown stone walls stretching into infinity. They occasionally passed by intersecting tunnels, marked by white, or sometimes red or blue, chalk. The marks were all different, if slightly. Still, the guide seemed to understand what they meant, as he’d glance up at them and mutter something to himself when walking by.
Eventually, he stopped at one, which was marked by chalk of all three colors, in different shapes. “This is it,” He said, voice echoing in the endless stone halls, without so much as a glance at the people he was guiding.
The trip from the tunnel entrance to the tunnel “exit” was much shorter than Ari expected. It really was there, a large opening straight into the Realm Rift. Ari cautiously peeked over the edge, looking down into the depths, before turning her head up to the sky. The surface was so far away. The Rift that looked like a massive scar in the land, miles wide, looked like a tiny cut in the darkness from down here.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Xeron breathed. “I honestly didn’t expect it to be real. Thank you… what’s your name?” He asked the guide.
“Oh that’s not-” He started before Xeron cut him off.
“You deserve credit for helping with this investigation. I can’t give you credit if I don’t know your name.”
“I’d still rather not say. I didn’t do this for ‘credit’ or ‘recognition.’”
Xeron grunted, “Suit yourself. Vel, Ari, let’s get this reported to Ensaru.”
A long journey back to the fourth layer, and a shorter journey to Ensaru’s offices later, Ari, Vel, and Xeron prepared to confront Ensaru. Vel proved a very useful contact to have around, as she was able to easily get clear answers for where to go. Apparently he was in an important meeting. “I do ask that you simply pull him away from the meeting, rather than take any drastic measures or make dramatic statements immediately.” Vel requested honestly as she put her hand on the doorknob to the meeting room.
Xeron gave a non-committal agreement, and Vel knocked on the door before opening it.
Ari stepped in ahead of Xeron, who let her. She was really liking him giving her the front position for these encounters lately. He probably likes it too, she thought to herself, He and Orun are a lot more alike than either would let on. “Director Ensaru of the J’alyr ke Ensaru, we have a pressing matter we need to discuss with you immediately.” She said confidently, projecting her voice to the crowd while locking eyes with her target. After speaking she saw a couple of familiar faces, who seemed as shocked to see her as she did them. Oroske, and his amnesiac prodigy boy, Kuro. Oh. Great.