Indeterminate Expectations

Voices emerged from the silence, and the void split apart to yield a world of edges underneath. Closing and opening his eyelids a few times, Erebos slowly took in the world around him. He was lined up along the floor with others on a makeshift bed, and not too far off stood a crowd surrounded in the low murmur. The memories of him passing out returned, and although he expected to be sore from the intense pain he had experienced, he sat up without a problem.

The others around him seemed to be sleeping, so he got to his feet and made his way towards the crowd. Taking in his surroundings, he seemed to be in an unknown corridor of the academy, with no windows and sparse doors. The crowd itself was a mix of ages, with both staff and students intermingling. Whatever the reason was for them being here, they all wore expressions of shock and anxiety.

Making his way over to them, Erebos noticed three individuals pushing their way through the others towards him. The faces of Jiron, Rumina, and Vanov became clear, all sharing the same expressions of worry.

Jiron: “Erebos, you’re awake!”

Rumina: “Thank goodness, I can’t believe you’d do something so stupid at a time like this…”

Split between relief and concern, Rumina made it clear that she knew Erebos had done something to faint, but he wasn’t sure what she meant by the latter part of her phrase.

Erebos: “Yeah, I guess I’m fine… but what do you mean, ‘a time like this’?”

Instead of giving an immediate answer, she glanced between Jiron and Vanov, all three of them wincing. Vanov took a step forward instead, raising his head while shutting his eyes.

Vanov: “The rumors about Editha were true. And when we were fooling around in the courtyard, they made their first move.”

Deeming this to be sufficient, Vanov stopped and assessed Erebos’ reaction. It took a few seconds for Erebos to register what he said, however, and he could only sputter out more questions.

Erebos: “W-what do you m-mean, made their move?? You m-mean, they actually attacked us??"

Vanov: "I guess you did pass out right before the declaration. But honestly, if it wasn't the headmaster himself, I don't know if I would have believed it."

Almost taking a dramatic pause, Vanov steeled his expression and opened his eyes. If it was a matter of Editha attacking the Capital, Erebos thought that Vanov wouldn't have a hard time believing it.

Vanov: "The Capital declared war on Editha."

After Vanov had told him Editha made their move, Erebos stuttered and crumbled, but in the back of his mind he knew that this occurrence wasn’t impossible. He had really hoped that it would resolve, but he acknowledged the possibility. What he didn’t understand was why Vanov switched the aggressor and the victim.

Erebos: “You meant… Editha declared war, right…?”

He tried to correct Vanov, but was met with silent, apprehensive expressions from the others. Darting his eyes between them, he waited for them to answer.

Rumina: “We didn’t expect it either, but apparently the Capital staged a breakout of their artificers and were caught. The headmaster just doubled down and declared war when he was found out.”

She tried to explain the situation so Erebos could understand, but too many things in her explanation didn’t make sense. Why would the Capital initiate hostilities? The ancient treaty between nations called for neutral powers to come to the aid of those attacked, so why would the Capital squander this and become the aggressor? Rafdina and Torgempra were closely aligned to the Capitol, but would they still come to its defense in this situation?

Rumina: “I’m sure you have a ton of legitimate questions, but those are the facts. What the headmaster obviously didn’t know was that Editha was poised to strike in the Capital. Before we even knew a war had started, Edithino agents blew the bridges. The headmaster to everyone on campus to retreat into the service tunnels. I found Jiron and Vanov dragging you along.”

Rumina had no reason to lie to him, but the situation was still hard to believe. Looking around him, Erebos surveyed the smooth stone tunnel, wide with a low ceiling and ladders with hatches leading above. His group was standing near the edge of the crowd, with the other side extending an unknown distance away around a bend. Although they were in a straight section, a smaller branch broke off and ended with a faint outline of a door.

The others had resumed a heavy silence, and Erebos turned away from them and put his face in his hands. Looking off into the other end of the main tunnel, a turn broke his line of sight. It was hard to imagine that he had been outside with his friends seemingly moments ago, but now he found himself dragged off into a tunnel cowering from an actual attack.

Sighing deeply and rubbing his cheeks, Erebos tried desperately to come to terms with reality. Although putting it this way was a little discomforting, Erebos expected an actual battle to be a little more climactic. It would be wrong to say he was disappointed, but the current situation was so void of everything he expected. There was no fire and brimstone, terror and fright. He didn’t want these of course, but how can anyone expect him to believe a war was happening without hearing even a cry or scream?

He crouched in disillusionment and stared off into the distant end of the tunnel, away from the crowd. Besides the sleeping forms on the ground, there was little in that direction, just a distinct edge as the tunnel turned left.

Focusing on that edge as the only constant in his vision, he tried to steady his breathing. If he worked hard enough to convince himself, he would probably come to terms with the reality of the battle. He wouldn’t mind a little bit of solid evidence, however…

And at that thought, something broke his shred of concentration. Around the corner, around the wall once once sharp and straight, a line slowly pierced the edge. Growing longer and longer, the line became thicker, sprouted a hand, and eventually an entire person. The object that was once a line turned towards Erebos and the others, showing its true form as a tube clutched in someone’s hands. That someone, a person of unknown identity, wore a grim expression as he steadied the object and signalled someone else around the corner with a nod. A formation of other men with similar objects joined him, all dressed in a uniform of similar design to the academy’s.

They all assumed a similar stance to the first man, with him shouting out on their behalf.

“Everyone on your stomachs, we don’t want any civilian casualties!”

For the first time, Erebos’ ears were met with the cries he thought were eerily absent. The crowd seemed to already recognize the nature of these men, with those in earshot complying with the command. Distant screams could be heard from around the other end of the hallway, indicating that a similar group of men had probably surrounded the hallway. Occurring almost in slow motion, Erebos realized the probable identity of these men all too late.

The man in lead waved for the others to stand back, stepping forward and pointing histube towards the ceiling. A suddening bang issued forth, with a cloud of smoke scattering out in front of him. A different crack echoed above Erebos' head, and a small shower of stone particles rained onto his head.

A sudden sense of danger and urgency came over Erebos, and he leapt from his crouch into a sprint. Adrenaline coursing through him, he pivoted to the offshoot on his right while grabbing the arms of the two closest to him. Yanking Rumina and Vanov along, he ignored their shouts and pulled them into his sprint down the offshoot. The soldiers' boots echoed as they started towards the fleeing group, with more bangs ringing out and sprays from above their heads.

It didn't look like they were trying to kill them, with most impacts happening far above their heads on the ceiling, but Erebos took no chances. He wasn't quite sure why he was running, but he surely didn't want to be followed. Noticing tubes embedded into the ceiling above him, he let go of Vanov's hand on his right and smacked the presumptive lights as he ran along. Yelling for Rumina to grab Vanov's hand, he glanced behind him and saw the others in tow with Jiron catching up and grabbing Vanov's hand. They probably couldn't see immediately around them, but the door at the end of the hallway was probably still lit, indicating their destination.

Rumina: “Why are you running, it's a dead end!”

Finding the terror he was searching for earlier, he ignored the scream and kept running. If he was the only one who saw the door, it was his responsibility to lead them there. The soldiers could be heard shouting and fumbling behind, slowly but surely making their way through the darkened tunnel towards them.

But far too late, Erebos realized that Rumina had been correct. What he saw as the edge of a doorway turned out to be an inscription mimicking the shape. Even though she might have just realized the same earlier, he felt otherwise. Laying his hand on the writing, the other’s panting turned into a muffled gasp.

Jiron: “It d-disappeared…? M-move through, quickly!”

Getting over his initial astonishment, Vanov gave a push from behind and coaxed Erebos forward. He was lucky the others were there, for the stone wall appeared the same as before but let him pass through without resistance. The same as when he wrote his name on the paper.

After emerging from the other side, Erebos caught himself before a spiraling staircase. The others nearly tripped as they hit Erebos’ back, most likely seeing the staircase already and not expecting him to stop. He resumed and started scrambling down, continuing for countless revolutions until coming to the corner of an empty hall.

Empty, besides a massive, tightly packed inscription circling around a pit in the center. Sloshing along its edges, water lapped up the walls of the hole only a few feet below the floor. The others seemed to be shocked by it, with intent stairs laid upon the water.

Rumina: “T-that’s… what is that…?”

Vanov: “It’s… the Lacuna, isn’t it…?”

Under their hushed questions, Erebos caught the name of the Lacuna. The endless abyss at the edge of the world. All he knew about its appearance was that it looked like a continuation of the sky itself, but what was in the pit appeared to be normal water.

Vanov: “Miners found that it spreads out though the earth itself, and we're low down enough that I think we'd reach it… But why would there be a clean hole like this for it…?

Vanov seemed more curious about their new surroundings than he was anxious about the previous chase. No one else seemed to notice the massive inscription underfoot either. Whatever the mystery behind these things were, they didn’t have the luxury to stand around and contemplate them. Even with these sentiments, however, they had reached a dead end.

Footsteps echoing from above, the soldiers drew nearer and nearer. Only a few sets could be heard, with the others staying behind to guard the crowd of Capital personnel. Even with fewer men, they could still probably overpower Erebos and the others, especially with their strange weapons.

Panic returning, he spun around and tried to find somewhere else to escape to. He didn’t dare to break the lights in the staircase lest one of his friends tripped, so the soldiers were closing in quickly, and the ceiling above was too high to reach even with someone trying to lift him. The others seemed to have accepted their fate and shut their eyes in resignation, but Erebos only grew more frantic. By the time the steps came to their level, he had backed up to the edge of the pit and stared in terror at the arriving soldiers.

Assuming formation and pointing their tubes at them, the one in lead issued a command once again.

“You won’t be hurt if you don’t keep running!”

Vanov was the first to raise his hands, and the other two followed the example. Only Erebos remained, perching himself on the edge of the pit. Rumina saw him out of the corner of her eyes, making a pleading expression for him to concede. He apologized to Rumina in his head and took another step backwards. He didn’t know why he was so determined to escape, but he couldn’t accept being captured. Ever since the first glimpse of the soldiers, he felt as if they had all been looking at him alone.

Going feet first into the water, the coldness he expected never came. A tickling sensation ran up his body instead, as if falling into a pile of fur. Catching a glimpse of Rumina turning and reaching out to stop him, his final moments of the world above were filled with screams and shocked expressions.