The city that the two boys were still running through was interestingly constructed. Careful planning had been put into its design, as it was the spiritual center and the capital of the Underground Free Union. It spanned many floors, with adjacent levels connected by stairs, elevators or even simple platforms on ropes. These platforms were mainly used by public trading companies to transport goods and materials.
The best floors to live on were the ones near the surface. The third floor from the top hosted the city council, so money flowed down from there, bringing prosperity with itself. The higher you went, the better maintained everything was and the richer the people were. It was rare to move to other floors, moving could be seen as a change of status.
The lowest levels were always teeming with activity. Huge machines, their wheels the size of two humans put on top of each other, dug new tunnels and hard-working miners spent hours in the damp earth, searching for useful minerals. The entire Free Union economy was centered around these minerals located deep in the Earth’s crust.
Each floor was a system of different types of spaces, or ‘circles’ as they were called, connected by a complicated network of tunnels. The design seemed to be chaotic, but inhabitants had no big problems getting around, being guided by precise maps.
Immense pressure from the many layers of heavy earth as well as some marginal superstitions inherent to the dominant religion, led to the necessity of making the walls out of a specific, state-mandated mix of waterproof reinforced concrete. Many thick cables ran along the surface; carrying power and water in-between the ‘circles’. Beggars gathered around the warm water cables to warm themselves and ask the passersby for food.
People living on the surface would have found all these closed tunnels constricting and uncomfortable, but the Tunnel dwellers were used to cramped dark spaces and in fact partially welcomed them. Their god, Ru, made all his inventions deep underground where it was quiet and no one could disturb him, and they loved being closer to their revered god.
Returning to the present, Karl and Max were still running, scared of getting caught by the grandfather. They were very familiar with the tunnel system of the region, and did not need maps to travel around. They used their knowledge to take twisting and looping paths, in case the old man was still following them. After a long time and completely out of breath, tired and still slightly shaken, they finally slowed into a walk, hoping that all of their efforts were not in vain.
If only they had known how hard Karl’s dog was working near the rotting garbage bin to protect his master! Indeed, they had no reason to worry. Even before they had started running, Spawn had successfully distracted the old grandfather, and was presently eating its fill of young krysa. Like this, the cute pet was taking care of its master and at the same time profiting from it! Truly, the underling was well-trained and wise in the ways of life, making an honorable living with it was given!! We mere mortals can only wonder at how great and successful the owner himself must be.
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The boys had stopped in front of the small tunnel that led to Karl’s orphanage. Max lived a way off, with his family. Maybe was the reason why Max wasn’t as religious as Karl? His father was an atheist, something heavily frowned upon.
The lights above them were dim, signifying that the time to go to bed was approaching. During the night, all electrical power was turned off by authorities. Why use power when everyone is supposed to be asleep?
Still not entering, Max leaned on the wall, and Karl sat down nearby on the cold stone floor, calming his quick breathing.
‘It seems the old man won’t come, we’ve probably run far enough. Does Spawn usually follow you this far?’ Max asked, panting.
‘No, the dog is useless, it forgets everything quickly, so I think that it won’t come here until it gets hungry for leftovers’ Karl replied, visibly exhausted by the frantic run. ‘That means we’ve escaped!’
There is a certain irony to be found here, as there was never any danger of being caught.
Max stared at the other boy for some seconds, remembering the whole episode. ‘That was fun. Do not involve me in your brilliant schemes again.’
It is truly sad when you fail at boasting about your pet!
_____________
After a lot of jokes and ridicule from Max’s part for failing the plan, they decided that it was time to part ways, and Karl quickly pressed his palm to the door. The light on the ceiling went slightly darker for a second, and a tiny bit of black fog floated down. The door opened almost instantly, and the black-haired boy entered his home.
His first orphanage, the one he had lived in for the first ten years of his short life, was not one he wanted to remember. There, he was forced to eat tasteless clumpy semolina porridge every morning, screamed at by the always angry caretakers if he didn’t finish his portion, booted outside for ‘playtime’ when he didn’t have the slightest interest in his peers, screamed at by the same caretakers if he didn’t play with his peers, and there were just too many people living in the same room as him!
There was only one place in his previous orphanage which he liked -- the library. He was a big fan of the great Institute of Technology, which controlled the contents of libraries everywhere!
It had many books, more precisely textbooks and science books, which, although not at university or even upper high school level, were very interesting. There were also a few religious ones, adapted for children, which he had read and reread many times. He loved reading stories about how Ru had granted humanity the thirst for knowledge and about His constant battles against his brother, Okawaru. He couldn’t wait to grow up and serve his God and country, they had given him so much! A roof above his head, good living conditions, and an equal society!
By law, any public center had to have at least one place where one could access quality educational materials and religious literature. Vodrim, his teacher and primary caretaker, had explained this to Karl during break time, when he was wondering at how such a poor place as his previous orphanage could afford all those novels.
He had passed countless hours in that library, mostly studying textbooks and going through many mock exams.
One of the most important exams he had studied for there were the X, a series of competitive exams that allowed children to test into higher-ranked learning centers.
Having aced these, he finally started to live better, transferring to his current home, a better orphanage for gifted students. Here he had found friends that seemed interesting, like Max, who attended the orphanage’s extracurricular open math course with him.
Tomorrow would be another important test, Y, this one determining his middle and high school, which made it even more important to Karl than X. It was good for the future of the Union to find talent early on.
Remembering that this exam was tomorrow, Karl’s previous air of cheer from having escaped the angry grandfather suddenly disappeared. Then, looking at the clock, he realized that he was very late for the nighttime snack!