A Stone Odyssey

Descending - Act 2 | Chapter 22 - A Stone Odyssey
Five Hours and Fifty-Eight Minutes Since Juna Was Found Dead

“We’re moving,” Edgar announced to the Group of Gritborns…and Theo.

“I don't want to be around any more Gritborns for long,” Edgar continued. “We only have nine hours until The Chasm Shifts.”

Theo had heard that term before. Shifting. Juna had explained it during her frequent visits to The Mound. Apparently it meant The Chasm had a tendency to change. Juna had informed him about Ilinca giving a demonstration of this Shifting by using Juna’s and Radu's tankards. Though to Theo, the Shifting sounded more like how the tectonic plates worked back on Earth. In this case however, The Chasm’s Shifting seemed to move much faster.

He leaned in towards Aurelia and Flavia as Edgar marched away. “How is he certain The Chasm will Shift?” Theo asked. “It’s a random movement, right?”

“Shifting is random,” Aurelia responded. “Our old geezer here has been in The Chasm so long that he ended up learning when it's about to Shift. ” she smirked. “By feeling alone.”

“There isn't much use in picking Mr. Edgar's mind about it either," Flavia said, placing a gloved finger to her lips.

Theo adjusted the heavy sack on his back and nodded before following Edgar's path. Advised by Aurelia, Theo kept his head down and hidden under a hood they gave him. For an hour all Theo could see was the stone ground beneath him and the occasional heel from Flavia. All the wonderful vendors, farms, Gritborns, and Fossils that Juna talked about lingering inside The Entrance Sections were hidden to Theo’s sight. Though even if he did catch a glimpse of such things, he was certain his feelings would differ from Juna’s.

Eventually they reached the only part of The Entrance Section so far that was guarded. Two men with the same DepthStone as Edgar stood in front of a squat metal disc laying on the floor.

“A manhole?” Theo mumbled.

“The First Layer's entrance,” Flavia said. “In fact it's the only connection between The Entrance Section and The First Layer.”

She looked back at Theo. “Sorry, was that insulting to say? Radu informed us that you’ve never descended before. I thought maybe explaining things that might sound unfamiliar would help. Was I wrong?”

Theo shook his head. “It helps actually.”

As Edgar approached the two men guarding The First Layer’s entrance, Flavia wore a gleeful expression while informing Theo more on the manhole-like entrance.

“Where we currently are now, The Entrance Section, has already been fully explored.” Flavia explained. “In fact it is the only section of The Chasm—that is not a Grounds—that we have constructed a complete map of. Exciting, is it not?”

Theo nodded.

Sure.

“Most Gritborn push off The Entrance Section as some beginners play ground. Most of them who say so are simply glory hunters or only wish to bare themselves with the strongest Fossil they can find.” Flavia spread her arms wide, accepting the dense air. “Though the most valuable place in all of The Chasm is here. The Entrance Section just below Ground Zero. Why is this the only non-Grounds that isn’t affected by the Chasm’s Shifting? Why have no viscous beasts found their way up here and ravaged those living in Ground One like they have all the other Grounds? Why does The Entrance Section host almost an infinite source of water and food to allow us to survive without the dangers of Descending into The First Layer?

“So much value can be found up here that goes overlooked. The Entrance Section gives us all the time and freedom we could crave in order to research The Chasm. Even an esteemed Gritborn such as Edgar realized the value lying right in our grasp. He’s descended through The Second Layer, survived, and reached Ground Two. Though he is the only Gritborn to do so that remains all the way up here at The Entrance Section. Weird, right?”

Theo peered past the side of Flavia, watching as Edgar finished with the negotiation and showed his DepthStone to the guards. Weird was one way to describe it, but everything Theo’s encountered down here has been weird. Actually, knowing that someone ventured into The Chasm and returned back to the top to stay, felt extremely normal. Human almost.

Flavia formed a triangle with her hands and displayed it at her waist. “The other distinction of The Entrance Section compared to the other Layers, is its connection to The First Layer. All Layers end up having multiple entrances each Shift, sometimes two, sometimes too many to board up. Never once has a singular Entrance from a Ground to Layer been found.” Flavia giggled and raised the hand made triangle up to her face. She looked through the opening her hands made at Theo and smiled. “As you can probably guess where this is going. The Entrance Section funnels like a triangle all the way down to this specific spot which happens to be The First Layer’s one and only entrance. Almost as if The Chasm is guiding us down. Weird, right?”

Weird. That one was definitely weird.

Suddenly a metal screech of hinges bounced around the The Chasm walls and the eerie single entrance Flavia talked about was heaved open. Both guards took a step back, and with a single wave of his hand Edgar commanded Theo and the rest to approach.

Looking down The First Layer’s Entrance Theo noticed two things. First, the tunnel was too dark to see the bottom. You could drop something and it would vanish the second the manhole engulfed it. Second, the tunnel was too dark. Pitch black to where you couldn’t see a sheet of paper a foot from the top.

Would asking if this world had flashlights be a bad idea? Theo thought.

“Man, she’s as dark as ever,” Aurelia said, teetering on her toes to look down the tunnel. “Lift, you good with all of this?”

They all turned towards Theo.

“Me?” Theo asked.

Aurelia scrunched her eyes. “Duh.”

Theo looked around. They were all waiting on an answer.

“The village in Ground Zero has those Stone’s that gave off light, even parts of where we walked up until this point had some as well. So why isn’t there any Stones like that down there?”

“Because Gritborn’s don’t need them,” Aurelia said. She stepped down into the manhole and eased her body down until all that could be seen was her cat-like eyes and fluffy red bangs.

“Gritborns all have night vision so we can see just fine. Though uh…” The pair of eyes shifted to her side. “Sorry Lift, you’ll need to hold onto Flavia’s tunic or something.” Her eyes came back to meet Theo’s just above the hole. “Don’t worry ‘bout anything though. You might hear squelching sounds, a beast wailing, or feel something hairy graze your shoulders, but so long as we’re around you’ll be safe.”

Aurelia extended a thumbs up above the entrance. “Just don’t lose us or else it’ll be every Lift for themselves,” she laughed, slowly sinking into the entrance until she completely disappeared.

Before Theo could even ponder on the absurdity of what Aurelia told him, Edgar strained a painful sigh.

“As brash as always I see,” he said. “Three years since our last Lift and still the bad habit of going in first sticks with her.” Edgar gave a nod to Theo. “Apologies, Lift.”

Then Edgar too was gone. Sunk into the manhole and never once did Theo hear him hit bottom. Luckily, that meant there was a ladder of some sort that guided them down. Though without night vision Theo was uncertain this was the safest way to go about Descending.

“I hope it’s obvious, but you do know Aurelia is joking right?” Flavia said.

Theo looked to her, glanced back to the dark hole, then to Flavia again.

“I knew,” he said.

With a giggle Flavia dug into a leather pouch strapped to her back and produced a rectangular Stone that was as blue as what Theo remembered the sky to be. From her free hand, she brought out a stick of charcoal-black chalk. She pressed the chalk onto the blue Stone and etched three lines onto its surface. Moments later the cave they stood in turned bright with white light. The orange filter vanishing in its wake.

Theo could see more details in the cave walls and floor that he couldn’t originally make out with the other glowing orange Stones around. It was the first time in so long that Theo saw color in its natural state without an orange filter. A sight that should feel normal to Theo, but instead this normal white light made everything seem out of place. Flavia’s hair was a lighter black and her lips were a bright pink that Theo never noticed.

It wasn’t a huge difference, maybe not to Gritborn, but to Theo this is what everything truly looked like. A slight change in the environment to everyone else. A painful realization for Theo.

Before the light-emitting Stone could be studied more, Flavia followed Edgar into The First Layer’s Entrance.

“Hurry,” she called from inside. “There’s a rope ladder we use to go down, just be careful of your step.”

Hesitantly, Theo moved as instructed. He took a step down into the entrance, making sure not to bump Juna’s body onto the hatch, and grabbed hold of the rope ladder. The rope was smooth against Theo’s palms. Most likely the same material Juna’s work clothes were made out of. Snatcher’s silk, she said. A material commonly used to regular people’s clothing and other fabric needed objects.

As Theo descended down one step at a time each rung was as visible as the rest in the white light. Oddly enough, Flavia had stored the Stone back into her pouch, and somehow the tunnel was still bright and not a single shadow was cast.

Weird enough, the white light never reached the bottom of the tunnel. Yet the entrance above remained fully lit, as if the Stone had left a trail of light. This observation continued for a couple more minutes until eventually Flavia and Theo were close enough to the bottom for the light to reach.

The First Layer only a step away.