Talent’s POV
Talent thought it was odd that his father had yet to call upon him, but he was glad for the reprieve. He wasn't sure what to make of the strange incident at the mine, but thought this could be an opportunity.
If he and Sandra went with a small force of magistrates they could easily complete the restoration. Talent could also inspect the door and search for clues about the creature he encountered. He thought his father would be pleased with those results. He decided this was the right course.
Talent sent a message to his father with his plans, and his intention to leave within the hour. He expected a swift response, but it never came. He waited for over an hour. When he received no response, he decided to set out anyway.
He sent a message to Sandra, then he sent similar messages to several other magistrates he trusted. He thought about including Silas, but he pushed the thought aside almost immediately.
His chosen magistrates were quick to answer the call. They were all gathered in the crystal cruiser before he arrived, and Sandra was in the pilot's seat with the machine running and waiting. Talent wondered if she had anticipated his instructions and acted before he’d even sent them. He was grateful for her initiative and he made a mental note to tell her.
As the crystal cruiser took off, Talent wondered if he would have preferred a stronger response from his father. He couldn’t say why, but he felt uneasy.
The Lord was prone to sudden and unexplained disappearances, and it wasn’t unusual for him to be unreachable during them. Talent reassured himself, believing that this was just one of those times. His father would return soon enough, and when he did, Talent would have a success to report.
The trip to the mine was uneventful. The sun was shining bright, the wind was blowing gently, and there were no signs of rain. All good signs. Sandra had already briefed the team on the situation at the mine and everyone seemed to know their role.
Talent watched out the window as they approached the mine. He couldn't help but feel anxious. He didn’t know what they’d find, or if they would find anything at all.
He still had no answers, only questions. He wasn't even sure how many magistrates he should take into the mine. He'd decided on three, he’d need the other two to guard the surface. He also wondered what became of the magistrates they left behind. Would they become enemies or could they be relied on for support? Talent didn’t know and he instructed Mary and Marta accordingly.
The cruiser landed a short walk from the mine and the magistrates disembarked. As they started down the trail toward the mine entrance, Talent turned to Sandra and asked, “Are you ready for this?”
She nodded, then turned the question to Mikala, Anne and Daren. They each nodded, but Talent thought they looked uncertain. He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake by including them in this.
When they reached the mine, they found only one guard near the entrance, but not Liana, or any of the other magistrates he’d left behind.
The young man near the opening saw them coming and threw his gamepad into the earth as he snapped to attention. “Hello lord Kastin, welcome to the mine.”
Talent nodded, saying, “At ease.”
The magistrate relaxed, but Talent thought he seemed on edge.
He asked, “What happened here?”
The magistrate looked confused as he answered, “Nothing sir, we’ve had no events, strange occurrences or any out of the ordinary encounters in the last six months. Even that hardly qualifies as noteworthy.”
Talent knew what the magistrate was talking about. It was six months ago when a magistrate had gone crazy from so much time underground. The woman killed all the numbers under her and had to be put down by Nyvlano, but clearly the young magistrate was unaware of the collapse… How could that be? How could he not know?
Talent said, his voice cold with anger, as he asked, “Did you not notice the cave-in? Were you not buried under it like the rest of them?
The magistrate turned, looking back to the mine entrance as he asked, “Do you mean the pit that was closed down a few days ago?”
Talent was speechless.
The magistrate looked confused, and perhaps a little afraid. Talent stared at him for a moment and then said, “Perhaps you were on break or something when it happened. In either case I’m here to complete restoration and to investigate something odd that we found. Please step aside and tell me who’s running things in there.”
The young man stepped aside, saying, “It’s magistrate Luck McCool, sir. He’s got the numbers working like machines as always.”
Talent hadn’t heard of Luck before, but he thought the whole situation was strange. If the magistrate had been away when the mine collapsed, then what about the others? Someone should have told him. If he’d been inside at all the damage should have been obvious.
Talent said, “I see. Thank you, magistrate.”
The magistrate saluted and stood by as Talent and his team entered the mine.
The tunnels were well lit, and the air felt fresher than he recalled. There were no piles of dirt or debris to be seen anywhere, and the walls looked completely repaired. It was as if the mine had never been damaged at all.
Talent didn't know what to make of it. He tried to recall the layout of the tunnels, but everything looked different. There was no way he was in the right place.
A few feet ahead, Sandra tapped a crystal lantern on the wall and it lit up, illuminating the tunnel in a soft white glow. The activation triggered a row of lights to come on ahead, guiding them towards a crossing tunnel. That tunnel also had crystals on the walls, and the light from those crystals activated more rows of lights down the tunnel.
From this tunnel there were several arches, each leading to a different pit. Talent had only found one pit before, but there were five pits open, only none of them was the pit he remembered.
He walked to one of the open arches and looked down into the pit. There were numbers working diligently, mining crystals and moving them along a conveyor system. Talent had never known the mine to operate with conveyors. He thought they used the mine carts, programmable cars, or the numbers moved the material themselves.
Stolen novel; please report.
Talent stared down at the workers, trying to determine how long they'd been working. None of them seemed to notice him and they never once looked up at the arch.
“This isn’t right,” Sandra said, stepping up beside him. “We need to speak to Luck and get more information.”
Talent nodded. He knew she was right. They had to find Luck. He said, “Yes, let's do that. The sooner the better.”
As they set off toward the managers quarters Talent noticed another oddity; the numbers weren’t just working hard, they were lifting heavy loads with ease and moving with vigor. He’d always been told how weak and frail the numbers were. Yet they seemed as capable as anyone he’d ever met. Was his impression wrong? Perhaps Mila’s insistence of equality wasn’t so wrong.
He thought about it, but that was completely preposterous. The numbers were numbers and Mila was not. Talent had seen numbers before, they were just as he knew them to be. The numbers here were strange, but that didn’t mean anything about the wider population. It was more likely that someone was giving crystals to these miners. He’d need to find out who and ensure they were appropriately punished.
They strode into the manager's office, Luck McCool was sitting at his desk reading from a data pad behind his name plate. He was young, though older than Talent. His eyes were deep and full of mystery, his hair unkept and his expression tired. He looked like the numbers should have.
Talent cleared his throat, and the magistrate looked up from his desk.
His eyes narrowed and his brow wrinkled as he stood, asking, “Who are you, and what are you doing in my mine?”
“You don’t recognize your lord?” Daren snapped back before Talent could.
Luck glanced at Daren, then back to Talent, asking, “Lord Kastin?”
Talent nodded.
The man sighed as he lowered himself back into his chair and said, “My apologies lord, I’ve been buried in these pits for far too long and your presence doesn’t…” he let his voice drop off, shaking his head.
Talent knew what he meant. He didn’t have the dominating aura of a judge like his father did. It was an embarrassing fact, but one he would have to overcome. He asked, “What’s happened here since the collapse?”
Luck shook his head again and replied, “Nothing, my lord, only the usual. Production continues to rise and your shipments go out on schedule. We haven’t had a death in weeks and there’s no major accidents to report either. I’m not even sure what collapse you’re referring to. Did something happen at a different mine?”
Talent felt his brain pound with the sound of blood. His hands clenched into fists as he said, “No, it was this mine.”
Sandra leaned forward, resting her hands on the desk, and said, with a tone of concern, “Are you telling me that you didn’t notice a total mine collapse two days ago? How the hell is that possible?”
The magistrate was dumbstruck.
Daren stepped forward, his voice low as he whispered to Talent, “Are you sure about this? Is it possible that we came to—”
Sandra turned her sharp glare on Daren. “Are you suggesting that I don’t know how to navigate? Because if you are…”
Daren raised his hands, stepping back. He opened his mouth, his voice soft and deferential as he glanced around the room, “I just don't understand how this can be possible. Do you think this magistrate is a traitor? Is everyone in this mine betraying our Lord?”
Talent thought that was an unlikely possibility. It was possible that the magistrate was a traitor, but he didn't think so. If Luck was working with Nyvlano, then he wouldn’t be so shocked to learn of the collapse. That wasn’t all that was bothering Talent though. For that to be true, then every magistrate, every number, all of them were acting against his father’s rules.
Daren’s suggestion was an utter impossibility, not a serious idea.
It led Talent to a far scarier conclusion. “There’s another judge involved in this…and whoever they are, I’m fairly certain…” he didn’t finish the thought. He didn’t need to, and none of them would dare to speak that reality out loud.
A judge that could restore the mine and rewrite the memory of everyone here was extremely powerful, definitely more powerful than Talent’s father. They would have to be in order to alter the memory and behavior of his magistrates. It was more power than any judge Talent knew of.
He finally understood how Nyvlano could betray him. He understood how the mine collapsed and he figured that explained the secret door as well, but he still needed some sort of confirmation.
He turned to Anne and Mikala. “Search the mine and talk to the other magistrates here. See if you can find anyone that knows what happened here.”
They nodded and left without delay.
Talent knew the two of them would find answers, if there were any to be found. He looked back to Luck McCool, and asked, “Is there anything else strange or out of the ordinary happening in this mine?”
He shook his head. “Only your unannounced visit.”
Talent sighed. Luck didn’t have anything for him.
Talent turned to the others, saying, “We should split up. Daren and Sandra, you two search the mine and look for anything else suspicious. I’m going back to the surface to see if I find anything up there.”
Sandra was quick to say, “I don’t think you should be going alone.”
Daren was quick to agree, but Talent didn’t want their company. He needed answers as quickly as possible and the surface would be relatively safe. He waved his hand in dismissal, as he answered, “I will be fine. We know what we are dealing with now. Please, with all haste.” He gestured towards the exit. “We have little time to waste here. I will meet you back at the mine entrance when I'm done.”
The two hesitated but ultimately, they followed his order.
Talent left the office, heading for the surface. He tried to recall where the mine entrance Nyvlano made was located. He had a vague recollection of the location from his last visit, and he thought it shouldn't be too difficult to find.
It was easy to find the surface, but finding the place where he had entered the mine with Nyvlano was difficult.
The cave-in was gone and there was no sign that it had ever existed. Even flying into the air to get an aerial view of the area didn’t reveal the location. As far as Talent could tell, there was just the one way in, aside from the landing area where a crystal cruiser was currently parked while it waited on a load to carry out.
The search was a bust. He couldn't find anything useful, and he was beginning to believe that he never would.
He was almost ready to give up hope when he spotted a boy lying under a tree in the distance.
He looked like a miner, a simple number, but why would he be on the surface? Talent flew over to investigate.
He landed near the tree, but a good distance from the boy. He didn’t know what to expect and he didn’t want to get close in case the boy was deranged or something.
The boy was lying on his back, his eyes closed. It didn’t appear that he was moving at all.
Talent called out, “Hey, what are you doing out here?”
The boy jolted up, fear swirling in his eyes. He stared at Talent for a long moment then jumped up and ran into the woods.
Talent hesitated, but he figured this was a good sign. It meant the boy was just an ordinary number. His instinct was to zap the boy dead with lightning, but he needed to know what happened here and he thought the kid might be able to tell him.
Talent chased after the boy, calling out as he ran, “Wait! I just need to ask you a question.”
The boy ran faster.
Talent increased his speed, trying to keep up, but the boy was fast. Too fast.
He zigged and zagged through the trees and was gone from sight in mere moments. Talent thought about using magic to clear the trees, but he took too long to decide and would’ve risked killing the boy in the process. Talent decided knowing he was out there was good enough. He needed to regroup with his team and see what they found. Afterwards, they could organize a search for the boy to find out what, if anything, he knew.
As he flew back to the mine, he wondered where a new judge could have come from. Where were they hiding? How had they not been noticed until now? These thoughts weighed heavily on Talent as he made his way to the mine entrance.
He felt frustrated by the rising frequency of situations that left him feeling completely overwhelmed. He felt the weight of his responsibilities and his inadequacy. Until now he’d felt firm and safe in that no one could challenge his father, but that might no longer be the case and Talent was terrified.
Sandra and Daren were waiting at the mine entrance when he arrived. They stood at attention when they saw him approach, their expressions grim and solemn.
Sandra said, her voice barely a whisper, her eyes downcast, as she answered the unspoken question, “There was nothing. I’ve already spoken with Anne and they didn’t find anything either. They should be back here shortly with magistrate Luck.”
Talent was displeased but he knew it wasn’t their fault. Rather than dwell on the lack of new information, he said, “As expected, fortunately I might have found a lead, but I’ll need your help to confirm.”
Luck arrived then with Anne and Mikala and talent told everyone about the number he’d caught resting in the shade.