Altered Destiny

Ch. 29

The Supporium Song was part of Ingressus's mental picture of Galleous. Its bubbles of light as he worked at the forge, its soft, simmering hum sounding in Ingressus's mind in quieter moments. It wasn't the first time Galleous had let him borrow the Supporium Song for his studies. And Songs weren't exactly delicate. But Ingressus had always handled the Supporoform with a little more care than the others.

Ingressus looked up at Galleous. "Do you want to come with me?" he offered. "You've helped me so much with this, it's only right that you should get to be there now."

Galleous nodded in acceptance. "Of course. I'd be honored."

Unlike all those years ago, no one needed to wait until the dead of night to sneak off to the mines. Matt was twenty-five by now, had completed his apprenticeship and was now considered responsible enough to keep an eye on others around the mining yards. Galleous and Ingressus met him at the ravine as the rest of the miners were leaving for the day, and Matt led them to the minecarts.

"Forgive the mess," Matt told them. "We hit a big vein of coal the other day. Just... pick a cart that isn't too dirty, I guess."

Ingressus obeyed, brushing some black dust from a minecart. He hesitated before climbing in, gazing at the deep ravine gouging into the mountainside.

Galleous knew that expression. The combination of anticipation and apprehension, hope and guardedness, uncertainty lingering behind it all– it was the look Ingressus had when he was trying not to get his hopes up. He had seemed so certain despite himself in the forge earlier, so convinced that he finally had what he needed to save the Voltaris from exile. Galleous knew how much the years of uncertainty had weighed on him, knew how much he yearned to see his clan again. Success here would mean everything to him, while failure would snatch it away again.

Galleous rested a hand on Ingressus's shoulder. The Voltaris's gaze snapped away from the mines, looking at Galleous instead. Galleous didn't say anything, just gave a small smile and squeezed his shoulder.

"You two ready?" Matt called to them.

Ingressus looked back at their guide. "Ready."

Matt pulled another minecart over to the two of them. "I'm almost sure we've explored past your resonance already, so we shouldn't see many monsters besides a few spiders. Still, keep your eyes and ears open. Standard rule of caving."

The tunnels were well-lit with lanterns and redstone lamps as the trio walked through the caves at the bottom of the ravine. True to Matt's word, they saw nothing except the occasional bat, and a spider chittering quietly to itself in an alcove. The spider ignored them and they did the same, leaving the arachnid to its business as they walked on.

"You all went a lot further back then than I thought you did," Galleous observed as the trek went on.

"We were young and stupid," Matt admitted. "We've all had better ideas."

"Exactly how long did you spend wandering around unexplored caves?"

"They began at that sinkhole back there," Ingressus said, gesturing behind them.

Galleous looked between the two boys. "In that case, I'm glad I didn't know about that adventure until it was over."

Matt led them up a set of stairs bolted to the rock, leading into a smaller offshoot tunnel. Galleous began to feel the emptiness as they walked, the silence-beyond-silence, the nothing-that-should-be-something hanging in the air. It was as though some primal part of him remembered what had once been, and now could only see its loss.

His voice was low as he spoke. "Is this it?"

Ingressus shook his head, red eyes gazing down the tunnel. "Not yet."