Chapter 15

ACADEMIA

PART 1

Flapping the small envelope against an open palm as he walked, mind absorbed in thought, the black robed archeologist-turned-mage strode through the familiar hallways of his prior haunt- The Mages Monastery.

More specifically, his path had taken him from the guarded gates of the inner campus to the Tower of Dust- An ancient castle repurposed for archeologists, geologists, and any others that spent a good bit of their time outdoors, neck deep in the dirt.

Unlike other fields, especially those beneficial to prospective adventures, his calling seldom had more than a handful of freshmen scattered throughout at any one time, so their facilities were relegated to what was of no use to the others.

He’d come back to the campus to deliver a letter to a particular professor in the Halls of Mana, but had detoured to drop by his office, if just for nostalgia alone.

Glancing down at the wax-sealed letter their impromptu guest had written for Professor Joules, Jackle hadn’t seen any harm in a minor change in plans, and if anything, it would make his presence on campus less suspicious rather than walking straight into a building he had no business being in.

“Professor Blutriten! What a surprise! My, what’s it been, half a year now? I must introduce you to one of our newest students, Phillipa- She’s proposed some interesting theories in regards to the great gears.”

Quietly sighing to himself, Jackle recognized the voice and came to a halt, quickly chastised himself for running straight into the karma of his own actions, and pulled himself together to greet the thorn in his side he’s had since he joined the faculty.

“Ahh, Professor Kemble, it’s been too long. I trust your research into the land-bound cephalopods has been keeping you busy?”

The pudgy gray-haired professor chuckled with his characteristic high-notes before replying in kind.

“You jest, but I’ve heard rumors the church has been mounting evidence against your proposals on deep dwellers.”

Rolling his eyes, Jackle knew Graegor was just trying to get under his skin, but he’d already been expecting the pompous cloths to intervene regardless, half their literature was founded on the fear of that which hid from the light, and the other half championed superiority and victory to such fear. Proposing such a people could exist, let alone express intelligence, wasn’t just heresy, it was a threat to their control.

“But! That is why I was hoping to introduce you to Ms. Charr, I think there might be some overlap in your research that could aid her theories, and in turn, assist in yours.”

He hadn’t particularly intended to get side-tracked, but perhaps some part of Jackle had been looking for it regardless, given the ambiguous urge to revisit his office.

Turning to take a proper look at this ‘Phillipa Charr’, Jackle saw she stood a good head above her professor with a head of muddy blonde pulled up into a bun. Her features were fair, with a dash of forehead freckles above her thin-rimmed glasses.

As with most of the students that attended here, she appeared predominately human, but her ears were a tinge on the pointy side- Likely a gift from a distance relative, and potentially coupled with other blessings that would grant her an edge above her colleagues.

“Phillipa Charr? Pleasure, I’m Jackle Von Blutriten. I suppose I can spare a few minutes- If you can as well, would you like to join me in my office?”

Sparing a quick glance to Graegor, Jackle ensured his intentions were clear- The invitation was for her, not him.

“Yes, of course! Mr. Kemble has shared many examples of your work with me, and I do think we might make some progress together, and potentially curtail the church’s gaze from your work.”

“I’m certainly intrigued, your work is on the Great Gears? What do you have so far?”

Gesturing to escort the young archeologist along to his office, Jackle gave his colleague a courteous nod, and received one in return as he began to walk Phillipa to his office while she briefed him on her thesis.

“Okay, so, obviously we’ve collectively referred to abundant presence of subterranean gears in the under-rock as ‘The Great Gears’, along with lumping in the occasional gear-themed dungeon in with them, but I think they’re more than disconnected relics of a bygone civilization.”

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Pausing to point their way down a side hall on the third floor, Jackle looked at this girl with a bit more interest. It was one thing to propose an idea, but a good theory needed supporting evidence.

“An interesting train of thought, though if Graegor referred you, I presume you’ve got more to go on that simple conjecture.”

Raising her eyebrows, Jackle could see a gleam in her eyes like he’d struck upon a gold mine of passion buried within.

“Oh, very much so. I’ve been adventuring for about twenty years now and I’ve managed to make a few of my own unofficial expeditions towards an itch of an idea I’ve had for the better part of a decade.”

Coming to a stop in front of a large wooden door at the end of a curved hallway with a half-flight of stairs in the middle of it, Jackle unhooked his keys from their belt-loop and slotted a large wrought-iron key into the equally large padlock mounted into the door.

With a hefty turn counter-clockwise, followed by a half-circle turn clockwise, Jackle returned the key to its initial rotation, and extracted it, causing a shimmering illusion to disperse from the surface of the door- An alarming barrier, set to blare if its broken, and standard on all the offices, even in their ‘derelict’ postings.

“I thought you had a bit of the Elden Blood in those ears, but still clearly a combination- Come in, have a seat- If you don’t mind me asking, do you know your potency?”

Following Jackle into his office as he closed the door behind her, Phillipa took a seat in the left-hand lounge chair facing the intricately carved mahogany desk

“I’ve not been tested if that’s what you’re asking, haven’t particularly wanted to know myself, an exact figure on one’s age is a little unnerving, but I know from my grandmothers side, I’ve a few hundred years before I’ll need to concern myself with the ailments of aging.”

“A blessing and a curse, I’m sure. I apologize for prying, my curiosity gets the better of my tongue sometimes. Let’s get back to your thesis- What have you discovered so far?”

Taking a seat behind his desk, Jackle made himself comfortable as he settled in to hear Phillipa out, an opportunity she took full advantage of as she leaned forward in her own chair and dived head-first into retelling one of the first ventures to bear fruit.

“Eight years ago, we followed a string of tsunamis that hit a few island settlements in the middle sea. It was the fourth quake we’d gotten a chance to investigate, so we triangulating it from the reports, at its epicenter, we found a Wild island with an entrance to the under-rock in a sea-side cave- Proverbial gold if my idea had any merit. See, I’ve tried to break through the stone encasing the gears, I’m sure you know the reports of prior attempts, and honestly, I could do no better, but I tried regardless. However, in my futile attempts, a thought struck me, if the best earth mages I could hire couldn’t make a dent, perhaps an act of Somni might. So whenever we heard about a quake, we went looking for entrances to the subterranean, hoping we’d find that which hadn’t been seen before.”

Leaning forward himself, Jackle could see where she was going with this, and his interest was most certainly piqued.

“I see the your intent- Is the island still around?”

Nodding eagerly, Phillipa could see she’d managed to get a hook into the stone-faced persona Professor Kemble had warned her of.

“Yeah, two-fifty Elva by eighty Aubroastrem. It’s a rocky outcrop with only a few stubborn trees sprouting from the cracks like unkempt hair- The cave is on the side opposite Limeren, to small for more than a skip, but opens up inside.”

Fishing his grimoire from within his robes, Jackle flipped it open to a blank page and jotted down the details before snapping the tome closed and gestured for the former-adventurer to continue telling her story, a request she was more than happy to oblige.

“Well, for what little hope I had for my idea, I was rewarded ten fold. The fault-line extended deep into the under-rock, dodging a few minor gears, but could not avoid one protruding from the floor and had cracked open a large chunk in the formerly-impenetrable casing stone, revealing a very dark abyss beneath it- An impressive vastness, but one far from empty. Gears upon gears stretched as far my light could reach, one upon one, connecting in web of mechanical streams of motion, sometimes spinning quickly, sometimes barely moving… I’m sorry, do you have water? I’m a bit parched after talking all morning with Mr. Kemble, he’s an inescapable chatterbox.”

Nodding, Jackle stood up and made his way over to his liquor cabinet where he kept a capped crystal pitcher of ever-chilled water.

“I take it a bottomless pit held no chance of stopping your unwavering pursuit of apparent curiosity. What did you find inside?”

Taking the proffered cup of chilled water and sipping it gently with both hands, Phillipa closed her eyes and let the refreshing feel wash over her for a moment before taking another sip and setting the cup down on the edge of the desk.

“Zero chance what-so-ever. We camped for the night while we brought down supplies from the ship, then rappelled in around mid-morning. However, we could not find a bottom before we encountered too many gears in our way, as the deeper we went, the larger they became, until the path of our descent was completely blocked and we had to step off onto one of them in the hopes of finding an edge to the light-less space.”

Grabbing the glass and taking a much larger sip, draining nearly a third of the water at once, Phillipa set it down once more and wiped away a bit of excess water on her face with the back of her sleeve as she set the cup back on Jackle’s desk.

“Traversing the house-sized gears like an obstacle course, the five of us made our way deep into the darkness, wander far, far away from the cheeky ingress we’d discovered. However, only a few hours in, my ranger spotted a faint source of light above us, and with a bit of climbing, we found ourselves outside another portion of the under-rock, a hallway filled with barely-luminescent mushrooms, though the contents of the other side were trivial in comparison to the confirmation we’d just stumbled upon. Following the train of gears back, we were able to verify that both protruding gears are connected.”

Having sat back down in his chair already, Jackle almost slipped out of it as he realized what she’d managed to find.

“That large of a space… And connected between?…”

Seeing Mr. Blutriten was coming to understand what she’d stumbled upon, Phillipa eagerly jumped in to complete his sentences.

“Yeah, and it’s not just those- I think this ‘gear-void’ runs through the entirety of the under-rock, but it’s not just randomly placed gears, but an intentional structure, like a very-slow, but very-large clockwork mech.”