Icarus nervously cast glances behind his back as he quietly traversed the rich earth of the city. A sense of excitement had just begun to shadow his paranoia during the onset of his escape. The pure thrill and fear of his finally-realised escape and from his pursuers had erased any interest in the city itself. The city was vast, and he had time to explore it. Much of the city was built with extravagant ores. Materials much richer than anything he had witnessed in his dreams.

The city, a large and magnificent realm of shimmering ores and homes shone brightly despite its dim glow. The cavernous ceiling sparkled with star-like crystals. In the centre of the rocky ceiling lay a large scintillating golden light, as if it were an eternal twilight. The entirety of the cavern was big enough to house half a country itself. Despite being underground, it did not feel claustrophobic in the least.

Much of the buildings were created as intricate jagged structures. They seemed like they would be unruly and crude elsewhere, but in the mesh of Dastonia, it was beautiful. The buildings lay sprawled out on the canvas of Dastonian ground like masterpieces of a distinguished artist. Man, structures were joined at the neck by brilliant bridges. Each building spoke volumes of the homes, markets, or services they once served. However, that was the scope of it all.

The air hung heavy with a poignant void of emptiness. It was as if time had frozen. Not a single person wandered the streets. Not a child to laugh and play across the roads. Furthermore, the city was littered with posters and random watchtowers. Icarus could not make out the words on the posters but every person on the posters boasted sharp pointy ears and had marked eyelids. He... was the prince of these people? Him? Icarus? How could the prince of such a majestic city be subjected to years of imprisonment.

Ijseen. The palace of dust. The poor security system. The strange man. Ijseen's choice of words. Something was happening in this city.

"He told me that I was their only hope. Anyhow, I must be careful," he said to himself as he wistfully gazed at a poster plastered on to the wall of a little bungalow. "A prince. Am I truly their prince? No... Let's not think like that. I just escaped."

His steps were slow and exaggerated, suddenly afraid of his footsteps echoing around the city. Despite, noticing it earlier, the deeper he walked into the city, the more he realised just how empty the city was. The watchtowers in this area were all seemingly empty. Perhaps they didn't expect anyone to escape at all. However, the eerie silence was beginning to gnaw at Icarus's mind. Where were the families that Ijseen spoke of, being kept? Questions floated around his head like confused little ducklings do around their mother.

Suddenly, he felt a tug on his arm. Surprised, he yelped out, and tried leaping backwards. But the owner of the set of hands quickly and confidently, wrapped their hands around his mouth and pulled him in towards the inn behind him. Panicking, Icarus struggled against the hands, trying to pry their hands off of him. But the person let go of him without any resistance.

"Hey!" the voice scolded. A soft feminine voice emanated from the person. "Don't you know? That we can't be out after the motherglow blinks?"

Icarus turned around, clutching at his face, indignant. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know." What was he supposed to do? Act like he knew nothing about the world and get handed back to the Palace of Dust? Or act like he knew everything and get caught out with a lie? He slightly nudged his hood down to cover his ears and eyes.

"Really? You don't know what the motherglow is? But all dwarmans know what the motherglow is." She grabbed his hand and dragged him to the door. As Icarus's hood slightly lifted from the sudden change in position, he caught a glimpse of the girl. Dark brunette hair accompanied with a set of golden eyes. "Look at the sky! It's the beautiful golden star in the middle of the sky."

The sky? He thought to himself. Was she referring to the city roof?

Icarus confirmed his suspicions as he noticed the large golden glow from before. Was that the motherglow? He assumed it was. He noted to himself how her eyes shone similar to the motherglow.

"Now whyever would you be out at that time? Don't you know that dwarmans get punished for being out of our homes after curfew starts?"

"W-why would you be punished for that?"

"I wish I knew. I think the humans just like to have control over us. And even if they didn't, the motherglow is going to blink soon! Either way, you really don't know anything about Dastonia huh?"

"I-I'm sorry..." Icarus was trying his best to be careful, but he simply knew nothing.

"And you keep saying sorry. Anywho, you owe me a favour, since I saved you before the watchtower's dogs come out."

"A favour? W-what would you like me to do?" Icarus asked with careful and slow pronunciation.

"Show me what's under your hood! Ma told us that we're not allowed to ask men to show us what they look like under their hoods, but I'm curious."

Icarus froze in his place as he realised his predicament. "I-I can't. There's a reason why your mother-"

The girl giggled as she suddenly pulled his hood down. However, her childlike behaviour disappeared along with her facial colour. Her eyes widened as she understood what she had done. "H-human," she stammered, taking a furtive step back. "I didn't know. P-please forgive me. I have committed a g-great mistake."

Icarus placed a finger on her lips desperately and began to speak through grit teeth. "It's complicated but, I'm not one of them," he whispered. Upon seeing her fearful visage, Icarus softened his face. "Please. You got to help me. Please," he pleaded.

"Caesta? Is there someone downstairs?" A deeper voiced woman called from upstairs.

Caesta glanced at Icarus as her mother descended down the spiral steps towards kitchen. Quickly, she opened the kitchen cabinet and shoved Icarus inside. Caesta's mother landed on the kitchen floor with a boom. "Who are you talking to, my dear?"

"No one, ma. I was just talking to myself," she replied with a faint smile, her ears twitching slightly as she spoke. "Ma, the motherglow is about to blink. We should draw the curtains before it does."

Caesta's mother nodded wearily. "It never ends, Caesta. It never ends. I've already drawn the curtains upstairs. Could you close them in the sitting room, please, my dear?"

"S-sure, Ma," she whispered, her voice barely audible as she slipped through the door on her right. Her mother sank into one of the chairs surrounding the central table, her exhaustion palpable. Suddenly she looked directly at the cabinet where Icarus had been cramped up, hiding. Beads of cold sweat formed all over his face, threatening to fall. Why was she looking at the cupboard? Did she notice something? But Icarus sighed in relief as her eyes lazily flitted across the room.

"Ma," Caesta called. "We're all safe now. But we should hurry to the basement before the motherglow blinks."

"Yes, yes. Now sit with your mother, won't you?"

"Y-yes ma. But where are Kalban, Nurban and Herban?"

"Ah your little brothers are already in the basement. Quite a handful, aren't they? Now tell me dear, how was work? They changed the groups again, so tell me, how are your new pods?"

"Ah ma, they're alright. Better than before. At least they do their work. No one complains either."

Caesta's mother smiled kindly while hearing about her daughter's work. "Show me your kundears, dear." Caesta spread her hands in front of her mother, avoiding her eyes. Her mother slowly closed Caesta's hands into the form of fists, until the whites of her knuckles formed. She gently rubbed the knuckles until little sharp protrusions peeked out from below her skin. They were chipped and scarred.

"Caesta!" she gasped. "Your kundears are all damaged. You cannot go to work any longer."

She grimaced as her mother touched the painful scars on her knuckle protrusions. "But ma! You know I can't do that," she protested. "It's not even work ma. You go there too. And soon, Kalban, Nurban and Herban will too."

"They're going to ruin my sweet daughter," she wept. "My poor, poor daughter. If only we were humans and not dwarmans. We would not be forced to work in those mines."

"Ma! Don't say that. It's as if you're saying it is our fault for being born as dwarmans. Ma, it is not a sin to be born in any sort of way, and definitely not as a dwarman."

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Caesta's mother smiled warmly as she stood up and hugged her. "Certainly not, lovely. But our law makes it impossible to think otherwise."

"Ma, I think we should sleep. The motherglow is going to blink soon."

Without warning, the entire house was swallowed by an abyssal darkness, an all-consuming void that erased the very essence of reality. Icarus could not escape the suffocating dread that gripped him. It was as though the world had ceased to exist, leaving him suspended in a liminal space where time and matter held no meaning. He shivered, instinctively wrapping his arms around himself, only to be struck by a horrifying realization—he could not feel his own body. He knew he was moving, yet the sensation of touch had vanished, as though his limbs were nothing more than phantom impressions. Desperation seized him as he opened his mouth to scream, but the darkness devoured his voice, leaving only a hollow silence in its wake.

Panic surged as he tried to stand, but it was as if he were weightless, drifting in a void where gravity held no sway. He blinked furiously, but his eyes yielded nothing; his retinas seemed paralyzed, their function obliterated by the oppressive blackness. His throat ached from the futile, silent screams that tore at his vocal cords, yet not a single sound had breached the eclipse. He felt himself dissolving into the emptiness, a mere shadow in a world that no longer acknowledged his existence. There was nothing. No one. Only the infinite, all-encompassing void.

An eerie wail pierced through the abyss, resonating with a bone-chilling intensity that seemed to vibrate within Icarus's very soul. The voice was unearthly, bypassing all physical barriers as it stabbed straight through his being. The lugubrious lullaby was soaked in despair, each syllable dripping with sorrow as if the air itself wept. The voice crescendoed into a blood-curdling scream, a shriek that shattered the oppressive silence.

The sound was unbearable, a relentless assault on his psyche that left him paralyzed with terror. Icarus collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest as if to hold his heart together against the crushing weight of fear. Desperation consumed him as he curled into a foetal position, his trembling hands pressed tightly against his ears, but the voice penetrated every defence. Make it stop. Please, someone make it stop. His mind screamed for relief, any flicker of his senses to anchor him back to reality. How long had it been? Time had lost all meaning in this relentless torment, a hell far worse than any dungeon he had ever known.

And then, it was gone. The darkness evaporated as suddenly as it had descended, and colour bled back into the world as if it had never abandoned it. Icarus found himself sprawled on the kitchen floor, disoriented and trembling. Panic seized him as he scrambled to his feet, heart pounding. Had Caesta and her mother seen him? To his surprise, they remained seated, both of them trapped in a trance-like state, trembling, their eyes wide with shock. As her mother began to stir from her temporary stupor, Icarus instinctively darted back into the cupboard, concealing himself once more.

"Caesta, Caesta. It's over, dear," her mother murmured, gently nudging her daughter to wake her from the daze. In response, Caesta's eyes fluttered open and she gasped for air. After a few moments of soothing herself back into normality, she grabbed her mother's shoulder.

"M-Ma... I think we should sleep. We should've been asleep already. We could have avoided it today. But Ma... why weren't you asleep like usual?" Caesta's voice was fragile, laden with the remnants of fear.

"Didn't you hear, Caesta?" her mother whispered, her voice dropping to a dangerously low tone. "He escaped today. Just an hour before I came home. He's been out for the last three hours."

A heavy silence settled over the room, each word hanging in the air like a loaded promise. "Ma, you don't mean... the prince?"

"Yes, my dear. The prince." Her mother's voice was a mix of hope and dread. "I only pray that he truly is our prince, the one who can bring solace back to our world. We need him to free him. I don't know if he alone can save us... but if it's that person..."

"Ma, you should rest," Caesta whispered, guiding her mother gently toward the stairs. "The motherglow has disoriented us all. Let's just get some sleep, okay?"

Her mother sighed; her weariness palpable as she trudged up the stairs. Caesta watched her go, the sound of her footsteps fading into the distance, leaving the room in a tense, uneasy silence.

Icarus burst out of the cupboard, his heart pounding as he seized Caesta by the arms and spun her around. "Don't make a sound," he whispered urgently, his voice low and commanding.

"I-I won't," Caesta replied curtly, gritting her teeth in frustration. How could she have been so careless? She had blindly led a stranger into her home, a human no less—someone who could bring death upon them all.

"Now, I need you to answer a few questions," Icarus said, his grip firm but not painful. "I promise I won't hurt you."

"S-sure. What do you want to know?" she stammered, her voice betraying her nerves.

"First, the Motherglow—what is it?" Icarus shivered slightly, the memory of the abyssal darkness still haunting him.

Caesta raised her eyes in disbelief. How could he not know? But then again, he was human – possibly one of those who ruled the west tower. Perhaps they had some protection from the Motherglow's blink in their ivory fortress. "It's the source of light for this city. Every city in Dastonia has a Motherglow."

"Wait, wait," Icarus interrupted, his confusion deepening. "Every city? This city alone isn't Dastonia?"

Caesta scoffed, shaking her head. "This city? Dastonia? Please, this is just one of the five main cities of Dastonia. We're in Kastella."

"Then that brings me to my next question—what is Dastonia?" Icarus asked, tightening his grip slightly as he sensed her hesitance.

"Dastonia is... do you really know nothing?" Caesta's eyes narrowed as she tried to gauge his ignorance.

"No, I don't. And I don't remember telling you, that you could ask anything you wanted either. I'm the one asking questions."

Caesta glared at him for a moment before realizing the gravity of her situation. "It's hard to explain... but I guess you humans would call it a country. Except, to get from one city to another, you have to travel through tunnels."

Icarus shut his eyes tightly, realizing that such comparisons were useless—he didn't even know how the real world functioned. "O-okay. Then, the person who escaped—who is he?"

"Oh, the prince? Ja Senyah brought him to this dungeon around eleven years ago. I believe he's nineteen now?"

"Why did your mother say that he can bring peace to your world? Why is he so important to you dwarmans?"

"I-I can't tell you that," Caesta hesitated. "I can't tell a human."

Icarus cursed himself for the current predicament. He was not sure of the dangers that lay ahead if he revealed his supposed identity. He could be returned to the Palace of Dust or be forced with duties. However, something was amiss with the title of prince. Although Ravniel's treatment of him, vastly differed from Ijseen's, there was some type of negative emotions wrapped around his title. And he was afraid of unwrapping that emotion while revealing himself. But did that little risk outweigh his opportunity to find out more information? Icarus wasn't sure.

"Then tell me something else. How do you leave Dastonia?"

"You can't," Caesta replied flatly.

"But you must-"

"No buts," she cut him off sharply. "You really can't leave this place. If there was an exit once, we lost it - because of you humans."

"Surely someone knows something about it," Icarus insisted.

"Maybe the humans do," Caesta retorted, her voice edged with sarcasm. "So why don't you ask them yourself since you're one of them? I'm still baffled as to why a human would need to ask me these questions."

"Enough of calling me human. I have a name," Icarus snapped.

"Everyone has a name. Nothing special about that," she said dismissively, her gaze drifting away, clearly uninterested in forming any connection with him.

"My name is Icarus."

"Nice to know, Icarus. Now, when will you let me go?"

"Not until I find someone who can help me find a way out of here."

"You couldn't do that to me," Caesta said, a note of desperation creeping into her voice.

"I could, and I'm desperate. So now I'll ask again, how do I leave this place?"

"I told you that you would have to ask a human. But I know someone who knows a human."

Icarus smiled, releasing his grip from her wrist. "What's his name?"

"The human's name is Bartonie. He's the manager of the west ore mine. And the only Dwarman who will and can talk to him is called Sardonin."

"Sardonin, huh? Take me to him," Icarus demanded, tugging her toward the door, his hand still firmly around her wrist.

"Tomorrow," Caesta pleaded. "Let me sleep. Please."

"How do I know you won't run?"

"You don't," she replied, her voice resigned. "But you should let me sleep anyway. I mean, you're a human, aren't you? Why don't you just talk to him yourself?"

Icarus racked his brain for answers, for excuses, but his mind was a blank slate, the exhaustion finally catching up with him. "I-it's complicated. All you need to know is that I need to stay far away from the other humans. Now let's go."

"W-what? Right now?" Caesta stammered, her eyes widening in disbelief. "I'm not even ready to go out! My clothes, my hair—"

Icarus glanced at her, taking in the state of her tattered attire and dishevelled hair. He sighed, realizing she had a point. "Fine. You've got a few minutes to change. But hurry."

Caesta hesitated, the absurdity of the situation washing over her. She began to head upstairs but suddenly stopped when she felt Icarus's grip still firm on her hand. She looked back at him, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "What? You planning to come with me while I change?"

Icarus blushed furiously, realizing his mistake. He quickly released her hand, stammering, "N-no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—uh..." His embarrassment turned into a flash of self-directed anger as he buried his face in his hands. "J-just go. Hurry up and change."

Caesta darted upstairs, taking care to keep her steps light so as not to wake anyone. As she reached her bedroom at the top of the spiral stone stairs, she tugged at her tangled hair in frustration. Her mother had always warned her about inviting strangers into their home, and now, she had broken that rule—for a human no less. The very thought made her chest tighten with dread.

She silently changed into a fresh knee-length tunic and trousers, securing her belt tightly around her waist. Should she run? The thought flickered through her mind, but the uncertainty of what would happen to her family if she fled made her pause. Who was this human really? How was he so... unaware of everything?

Eventually, she escaped her thoughts and went downstairs. Icarus watched her for a moment, lost in thought. "Icarus?" she called while waving at him, trying to catch his attention.

"Hm?" His head jerked up, eyes locking onto hers. For a moment, he seemed to forget where he was, lost in the intensity of her gaze. He took an involuntary step back, yelping in surprise as the realization hit him. As he heaved from the sudden shock, he couldn't help but notice just how alluring her eyes were under the dim glow.

"L-let's go," he muttered gruffly, shoving his hands into his pockets to avoid further embarrassment.

Caesta couldn't help but smirk at Icarus's flustered state, finding it strangely endearing. "Sure, let's go," she replied with a teasing lilt in her voice. Despite the tension, she sensed a softer side to him beneath the rough exterior. He had tried, in his awkward way, to be gentle with her. He had also begged her for help in the beginning. And he was handsome too. Maybe this was the break he needed from her endless forced labour.

"I don't know why you're all cheery," Icarus muttered, casting a wary glance her way. "Don't forget I'm basically kidnapping you."

Caesta smiled slightly in response and followed behind her captor, in small steps.