Rise Of The Godking - Chapter 138 Into the Pits

A few minutes later, all five of them were standing in the pits, having just teleported over from the surface while being witnessed by all the slaves who had showed fear, for the first time, since he had seen them when the crimson crystal had flashed and taken them away.

Daneel felt his own memories of his life as a slave return when he saw the grim, narrow passageway that they had teleported to. He was led forward by the old man, hobbling along on a stick that was as gnarled as him.

No one was required to be in charge of the town, upstairs. Just a single word from him had calmed down everyone, and after telling them that they should stay put until they returned, they had departed.

As Daneel watched the winding passageways that stretched to murky depths beyond a few openings that they came upon, he once again reflected on the fact that this island was much smaller than Graiton. There, the total population was in the thousands, whereas here, all together, there were only a thousand people, including the slaves, the residents of the town, and all those in service above. The only reason that the vaults were as full as they were was that the leaders had had much, much longer than Harrold to store as many crystals as they could, and because of the additional reason that they had been much harsher slavers, they had more leeway to steal from the pile and still have enough to give over to the family every month.

The passageway was cramped, its grim dimness dimmed only by a couple of crystals that were held in the hand of the old man. There were no sconces on the walls, and at many places, the ceiling even pushed downwards, causing them to crouch and move forward at a crawl. Seline explained that it had been made so to be delicately claustrophobic so that the slaves would always have closed minds that would not even contemplate the idea of going up against their masters, and indeed, in this and many more things, the old man had succeeded.

He was the mastermind behind many of the things that took place in the pits. He took no pleasure from inflicting pain, but he did it anyway as he did not see the slaves as equal beings. He only considered them as bugs, beneath his gaze and undeserving of his attention, so every step he had taken had been for himself, alone.

On the way, they saw many shafts that were empty, already completely devoid of the crystals that had been mined away over the years. All signs pointed to this place running out of the few crystals that it had left in a few days, and the more they traveled, the more they began to see just how long mining had been going on in this sordid place.

Daneel followed, next, and the rest were all on his heels. They traversed multiple layers in this manner, passing through completely dark caverns that even seemed to suck away any light that fell on them. Their only companions were a couple of skeletons here and there, forgotten, left behind by those who had once known them, and the only sound they heard was that of their own footsteps, echoing deep into the depths of the layer, then being reflected back towards them, making it sound as of hundreds of people were walking around, haunting this ghostly place.

Daneel was sure that if anyone wanted to shoot a horror film in the islands, this would be the perfect place for it. He was even convinced, a few times, that he saw spectral figures floating around at the corner of his eye, appearing, then disappearing at the openings of passageways and caverns, but every time he turned around to look in their direction, they were always gone. Soon, he was sure that he was imagining them, but he also doubted this once he noticed that Alex was reacting the same way, and so was Seline.

Only the elf was undisturbed, but this was probably because he kept his eyes closed throughout their journey. He frowned, sometimes, at things that Daneel could not see or understand, but apart from that, he mostly kept his face still, focused on something inwards or perhaps, outward that he was sensing. Daneel wished that he could ask what it was, but knowing that it was best to wait until the elf chose to explain by himself, he talked to the system so that he wouldn’t feel so alone.

The first question he asked it was whether there were things like ghosts even though he had found no indication of them in all the time he had spent on Angaria and the Mainland. His cheeks burned and he felt foolish when it gave the answer that it was most probable that he really had been imagining those things due to some psychological effect whose name he did not choose to remember.

He knew that he could have talked to the others if he wanted, but for whatever reason, this seemed like a sacrilegious idea. It was almost as if the act of bringing words into this place that was supposed to be dead would wake what lay all around them, hidden, invisible, but there without a doubt, so in silence punctured only by many, many sounds of footsteps, they went on.

After reaching the fifth level below, the old man spoke for the first time.

“This is the oldest part of the pits. Be very careful. Step only where I step, walk only when I walk. The structural integrity of these passages is questionable. Over time, I’ve found out those parts that should hold, but if you disturb what is already crumbling, there might just be a cave in. Come.”

Except for the elf, all of their eyes had widened when the old man mentioned such a dreadful thing happening as if he was commenting about the fact that the meat he was eating needed more salt. The elf only opened his eyes and closed them again, but as for the rest of them, they were left fighting their own fears and nervousness while they kept their eyes locked on where the old man was stepping.

In this way, they went on, and after a few minutes, they saw a few signs of what he had warned them of. All of the passageways they had traveled so far had been large enough only to fit one person. This one was bigger, but in many parts of it, piles of rocks could be seen. Some piles even did not have any dust deposited on them, as if they had fallen recently, and sometimes, Daneel was convinced that low rumbles emanated from the rough walls, as if telling them to go back to where they had come from unless they wanted to experience how rain felt if the water in the clouds was replaced by sharp stones.

The old man’s stride was confident, though, and quickly, they saw that he had been absolutely right. As long as they followed in his footsteps, nothing untoward happened, and 20 minutes later, he finally paused in front of a wall that made it seem as if they had reached a dead-end.

Turning around and making sure that they were all there, the old man raised his hand…and moved through the rocky surface.

He stepped forward, then, and disappeared. Agape, Alex stared, but understanding what it was, Daneel took the same steps and entered a place that was eerily familiar.

It was very similar to the cavern in the dwarf city they had gone to before going to war. It was only a quarter its size, but the way a tree made of crystals rose out of the ground in the center as if they had taken root and grown there was the same.

There was no orb light within the crystals, though. It was empty, completely, or so Daneel thought, at first… before seeing a tiny spot in the very center of it, so small that it was the size of just a tenth of his fingernail.

He turned to the old man who had stopped after entering, and was hence behind him. But before a word left his mouth…with surprising speed, the stick was thrown away, his hands rose, and he pushed Daneel with the strength of someone a quarter his age.

Caught completely offguard, Daneel stumbled back, onto the large crystal formation. The moment he touched it, the system sent a warning, but he couldn’t hear it. His mind was whisked away…and the last thing he heard was the old man say, “Grand Seer, I pray you are right. If he is the Frelsar, we are saved. But we must be certain, or we are all doomed…”