“It’s the first time I’ve seen one of you Delvers with a proper house name,” the dark elf said. “You do realize you don’t need one to walk the tunnels of the Eternal Dark, right?”
“Your order has agreements with our people,” the second man, his companion, added.
Armin forced a smile and managed not to roll his eyes. Of course he was aware of that fact. It was common knowledge, even if he didn’t know Madris. “I’m aware,” he said drily. “I am a Delver, you guessed right in that regard, but I am actually not here on business for the order.”
The two dark elves exchanged a look. They were both male and looked young, probably still in their first centuries. He didn’t recognize the symbol embroidered on their jackets, clearly a house sigil, but they were obviously soldiers. The uniforms and weapons made that clear, in addition to the fact they were manning this outpost — what amounted to a minor border checkpoint.
“Now I’m not sure if we should let you in,” the second, slightly younger one, said. “Why would you tell us that, anyway?”
Armin half-sighed and gave them a stern look. “It does not matter, because I have every right to be here either way. I belong to a house of the Eternal Dark, founded and headed by a powerful dy of high standing. You’ll let me pass, boys, because you’re not idiots, and you don’t want your superior to get a visit from my dy. Believe me, no one would be happy after that.”
The first man actually stepped back slightly. They exchanged another look, before the second turned to open the gate of the checkpoint, a rather simple construct of wooden beams and pnks, and the first nodded at him. “Alright, no need for threats. Come on in, friend.”
Armin smiled and thanked him before stepping through, deeper into the tunnel. Now he was officially in the realm of the dark elves.
Finally, after rather lengthy travel. He could have descended into the Eternal Dark earlier, or at least into tunnels leading to the dark elves’ home. They extended much further than most people realized.
But this way had probably been faster. And he was impatient. Between the dithering, preparations and travel, the st proper letter they had gotten from the Eternal Dark, the one that had prompted Icnes to consider returning and Madris to send him instead, was several months ago.
“What should I expect on this route? Anything I should be aware of?” he asked.
“A few monsters, including a colony of Tunnelers a ways down the southern crossing, and the usual dangers. But considering your level, I doubt it will be a challenge,” the soldier said, shrugging. “Normally I’d recommend not traveling alone, but you’re clearly strong.”
Armin nodded. “Thank you, soldier. I’ll be off then. Good fortune to you.”
They wished him the same, craning their necks as he set off down the tunnel. He knew he was likely the most interesting thing to happen to them all week, so he took no offense.
The tunnel was narrow and dim compared to what he had been told to expect, but darkness was hardly a problem for Armin. He strode down the path at a quick pace, adjusting the straps of his pack absentmindedly. He only had to get to the first city, there would be people waiting for him there. From Icnes’ house, he understood. The travel to get here had been boring more than anything, and so far, the tunnels were only more of the same. He recalled what he’d heard and the maps of the Eternal Dark he’d seen, but there was only so long he could dwell on them.
Armin was curious to finally see what Madris had told him of many times. He knew she didn’t particurly want to return, but it had always sounded fascinating to him. He’d even learned their nguage. It was also an opportunity to find out more about her past; in her stories, he’d always felt like there were some things she’d left out, or left as implications. More importantly, of course, he would be evaluating the situation for both her and the Empire.
He’d traveled for several hours before he was first attacked by monsters. It was a small group of Tunnelers, only about a dozen, and none of them higher than the second Tier. The narrow tunnel meant he only needed to fight a few of them at once. Armin made sure his back was covered, manifested some shadows into a spectral bde, his favorite trick, and then conjured more shadow to bind and hinder their movements while he sshed at them.
He received several sshes, but he’d also triggered his defensive Skill, Shadow Armor, which caught all of them. It made the fight more annoying than truly threatening. By the time he was finished, he’d worked up a sweat. He gnced at the bodies, then decided to leave them as he cked the tools or time to properly harvest them, and instead turned to continue on.
Still, this fight seemed to have broken some kind of dam. Over the next hour, he was attacked twice more, once by some giant spider — luckily not the kind with corrosive or acidic venom — and the other by mole-like monsters he hadn’t seen before but recognized from descriptions. Armin made sure he didn’t linger and instead hurried on.
It was tiring. He was more used to fighting in a group and had almost forgotten how exhausting it could be on his own. Luckily, after that the monsters tapered off. He only encountered a few more Tunnelers, and then an hour of nothing. Perhaps he should have realized that meant he was getting close to a dark elf city — of course they would keep their surroundings clear.
Regardless, the tunnel opened abruptly into a rger cavern, and once he crossed it, the path spiraled down to the ground of an even rger hollow, perhaps the size of a surface city in diameter. It was not completely given over to housing, he soon realized, so the actual settlement was only perhaps the size of a rge town. There was a small waterway on the east end, diverted into a few ponds, presumably for fishing. Most of the walls of the cavern, some pockmarked with artificial caves, were clearly used for growing mushrooms and other edibles. Magical lights dotted them in some spots to provide for those crops that needed it, also brightening the cavern a little.
Armin walked down the road towards the town, ignoring the gazes of the few people out beyond its confines. As expected, there were a few soldiers guarding the entrance here, too. They watched him warily, and he kept his expression calm as he approached.
“Halt, human,” one finally said, stepping down from the open ptform of the gatehouse to greet him. “Who are you and what is your business here?”
“Armin niz’as Uven,” he responded, even though they could see it with the System. “I am only passing through.”
“Why do you have a house name of ours, and what are you doing in the Eternal Dark?” the soldier continued asking.
“Because Eminent Mistress Uven took me into her house,” he answered, letting some of his annoyance show. “I am here on an errand for her. Do you intend to bar my way? Because I know that would not be wful.”
“No one said we would,” another soldier jumped down hastily. He wasn’t sure about their ranks, but his level was higher, at 30. “Asking these questions is standard procedure.”
Clearly, the mention of Madris had spooked them. The other two soldiers immediately opened the gate.
Armin inclined his head slightly. “My thanks,” he told them, subtly excluding the first soldier. It might be petty, but he didn’t care.
Instead, he stepped into the town. Again, he attracted a lot of stares, which didn’t surprise him. At least no one seemed outright hostile. He supposed being this close to the border of the Eternal Dark, people here were likely to see some travelers passing through on occasion, including Delvers.
Not that he was certain how the soldiers had recognized him as a Delver, but perhaps they simply assumed any armed human who came to visit was one.
Armin wandered down the street, looking around curiously and taking note of the buildings and people. The houses were surprisingly simir to what he’d see above-ground, though usually with ft roofs — he supposed they didn’t have to worry about rain or snow accumuting. Simirly, the street was open and the few market stands he glimpsed further on had no coverings. The road was hewn directly into the rock of the cavern. Otherwise, it could have been a scene from a surface city.
“Visitor!” someone called over to him as he stepped into a small town square. Armin almost walked past, assuming they were simply trying to hawk some wares, before a closer look made him stop. There were two men wearing a different kind of armor, lighter and of a darker color, as well as a woman in a dress of some shimmering fabric he didn’t recognize but had seen on several people so far. The sigil on their shoulder was also different, but he recognized it.
The woman looked him up and down as he approached and clicked her tongue. “You’re not quite what I was expecting … Sir Armin,” she told him. “But I would venture that you are who we were supposed to watch for.”
Peras Oliren — Level 28 Ink Hand“Mostly likely,” he agreed, quickly checking them out in return. He could take those two soldiers, but it shouldn’t be necessary.
“Were you sent by Mistress Icnes Oliren?” the dark elf asked, clearly simply to confirm an assumption. She didn’t sound doubtful.
“Mostly by her sister, Madris Uven,” he said. “But yes. I have a letter from her.” He quickly opened his pack and got it out, passing it to her to read.
In truth, he had several letters, one of which he was only supposed to give to someone very high up in this house. But this one was more general, simply an introduction that confirmed some basic facts.
Peras read it over and nodded, then passed it back. “Good. We will ensure you have an escort the rest of the way, then. I will accompany you to Eterian’nes, that is, the closest city. In fact, Lord Oliren has been eager to meet you and is already waiting there. We can rest here but shouldn’t dawdle. I’ve arranged accommodations for us and we can get an additional room for you, then set off in the morning for the city, where we should arrive in the te afternoon. If that suits you?”
“Perfectly,” he assured her. He was a little curious who he would meet; if she was calling him ‘lord’, with no discernible irritation or anything but respect in her tone, it had to be a very respected man. He had a suspicion, but bit down on the urge to ask further questions. There would be time for that.
For now, their meeting had already attracted some curious looks, and he quickly followed the small group of dark elves to their inn.
It, too, would not be very out of pce on the surface. The lighting was dim, and there was a rge water clock prominently dispyed in the common room, to help keep the time in the absence of sunlight. He knew dark elves still operated on a regur daily cycle simply because their bodies required regur rest, the same as anyone else’s, but it would be quite the experience to live without the guidance of the sun or stars. But Armin barely had time to contempte it before he was ushered into a small room, bare of most anything but a bed. Tired from the travel, he hardly minded, so he simply id down to sleep.
He thought he woke early the next day, but Peras and her escorts were already up. Armin stayed at the inn for breakfast, a mush of what he supposed were mushrooms and strange pnts, with a peculiar, almost bitter taste. He would have liked some honey to sweeten it, but that was clearly rare here. Still, he didn’t compin, only made sure his gear was safely stowed before he accompanied the dark elves out into town. Peras had paid for his stay, but he requested they stop at a money changer so he could exchange most of the coin he brought. Thankfully, being this close to an exit to the surface, there was one in town. With the dark elf woman’s help, he even managed to get a favorable exchange. The money lender, a withered old man, seemed rather curious about the Imperial coinage he brought. He supposed it had not spread this far yet.
“You will see much more of it in the coming decades,” Armin told him, and the old elf smiled with amusement.
The Eternal Dark’s own coinage was unified, though the back of the coin showed where it had been minted, mostly by the sigil of the controlling house. He noticed one of his new golden coins had the symbol of Oliren - an ‘X’ cross with a star in the middle - on it.
"It’s only a few miles to the next transit point, then we can rent gliders and follow the eastern route to the city,” Peras told him.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he smiled. And he did.
They left the town without fuss, even though they were moving east, deeper into the Eternal Dark. The tunnel here was a bit wider, and there were even lines demarcating it into two nes, outbound and inbound, though it was sparsely used at the moment and no one seemed to care about them. Armin made chitchat with the dark elves, also managing to coax some conversation from the fighters who had thus far been mostly silent. Once they opened up, they were pleasant enough conversation partners, telling him some stories from their home province.
Almost too soon, they reached the transit station Peras had mentioned. Armin looked around curiously. It was a hut with a rge attached workshed, from what he could see. Beyond it, the tunnel dipped down, and, stepping closer, he was greeted by an impressive sight. This tunnel, if it could still be called that, was much wider — at least the width of a rge hall. It descended downward, deeper underground toward the heart of the Eternal Dark, and curved slightly. There were cables spanned across it, held up by pegs hammered into the ceiling. He didn’t even want to imagine how dangerous pcing them to build this railway of the air might have been.
Another dark elf woman stepped out to greet them. As Peras started discussing and haggling over their rental, Armin stepped closer to the shed and the glider he could see resting on a wooden frame beside it. It was rge, a frame of thin wood and bits of metal with lengths of cloth spanned overhead almost like wings. It looked like they were foldable, even.
It took the right wing moving before he realized someone was lying under it, working on the frame. Armin stepped back, then frowned as he saw the man who cmbered to his feet beside him. The worker dusted his hands off on his roughspun coveralls, shooting him a gnce.
“You’re a dwarf?”
“Obviously,” he rolled his eyes. “And you’re a human, aren’t you?”
Armin ducked his head slightly. “Pardon me,” he apologized. “I was just surprised. I wasn’t expecting to see one of your people down here.”
“Clearly,” the dwarf grumbled.
“What are you doing here?”
“What does it look like? Working. I need to get this glider fixed up quickly. It looks like your party might need it.”
“Yes, but … how did you come to be in the Eternal Dark, working for dark elves, if I may ask?”
The other man stared at him for a long moment, his eyes narrowed. It struck Armin that he was probably younger than he seemed, not that he was familiar with dwarven aging or lifespan, as he checked his System description. “They captured me in the st war.”
Tanmi-le — Level 26 Engineer“Oh.” Armin winced slightly in embarrassment. He should have known. It wasn’t like Madris hadn’t warned him what else he might find down here. “I’m sorry.”
The dwarf shrugged. “What about you?”
“I’m a Delver. Just passing through.”
“Clearly, that’s not all you are, human,” he scoffed lightly. “I’ve been here long enough to recognize the name ‘Uven’.”
Armin inclined his head. “No, I’m here for my Eminent Mistress.”
Tanmi-le grumbled something he couldn’t make out. He didn’t look friendly. Before they could continue the conversation, Peras called him over, and one of the soldiers came to check. Armin lingered for a moment, then quietly bid the dwarf goodbye and turned away.
There was little he could do, anyway. For the first time since he arrived in the Eternal Dark, he felt the urge to talk to Madris. But that was unfeasible. At this distance, even if it was possible, it would take too much mana and focus.
Instead, he checked that he still had his daggers and tightened the straps of his pack to prepare for the next step of the journey in this little adventure.
