Tearha: Titan War

Chapter Thirteen: Umbra

In complete darkness, Adelle vigorously shook the device in her hand. Click clack click clack click clack. A marvellous little gadget, it was the first time she truly felt excited at having left her forest to explore the world. It was a fine distraction given that she had not seen anything but dirt walls for hours and smelled nothing but mud.

Talia's voice said through the dark, "That should be enough." She stopped shaking. "Flip the switch."

Adelle with her elven vision slightly boosting her sight in the dark, quickly found the synthetic material piece. Flipping the plastic, a bright beam of white light shot out the handheld baton-shaped torch into the ceiling of the cave.

"Alright," Talia noted. "We have light again. Let's move out."

Everyone stood to their feet, but Adelle continued to marvel at the tiny contraption lighting their path in the dark cavern. It had no magic crystals or steam engines to run it. No gears or other overtly complicated mechanics to turn it. It just had something called a battery. When she asked if she should hit the battery, since it was in the name, Luce said to do so only when it was no longer charging properly.

"What did you call this thing again?" she asked.

Josh answered, "A flashlight."

"Wait... it's made from... flesh?"

Luce exclaimed, "No! Flash. As in 'flash of lightning'."

"Oh... yes. That does make more sense." She held the flashlight forward, casting the shadow of Talia in front of her in dancing elongation. "Bottled lightning without crystals. Incredible."

Luce said. "I never knew you could make a face like that."

"Like what?"

"Amazed." Luce smiled.

Adelle clicked her tongue and turned away. It was getting hotter. She wondered if they were nearing the exit. It was supposed to be hotter the further north they got. But she did not see the exit. Could she be embarrassed? No. Impossible. She and Luce traded jabs all the time.

Josh - leading the way alongside Talia - voiced to the main Guide, "I'm surprised you're taking it so well with finding out Adelaide being a sentinel."

Talia scoffed, sweeping aside her blue dipped white hair to rid it of some sweat. "Don't forget. I'm a hume. I was alive before the sentinels disappeared."

"Right. Sorry that my lowly human lifespan couldn't keep up," he replied sarcastically.

Adelle asked, "What happened to the sentinels? Do you remember?"

Talia turned her head back questioningly. "You don't know? How old are you?"

Adelle shrugged. "About two hundred."

"Huh. A baby back then. You must be one of the last baby born of the sentinels. If that's the case, you really deserve the title of Last Sentinel more than Lachesis."

Adelle rolled her eyes. "Just tell me what happened, will you?"

"Fine. No need to be snippy." She let out a whimsical laugh. "I don't know all the details, but before, the sentinels were one of the few people capable of crossing the Helm. They made good money, you know? Bringing supplies and bodies across. That was how we did things for a long time. Smuggling goods and technologies over the border back then was good money. Of course, only a few managed to do so. There were tighter controls then. Less Titan and more foot soldiers. And most of the money was in smuggling weapons, not people."

"What happened then?"

Their footsteps echoed down the cave as the sound of running water reached their ears.