Awakening the Lightforged

Steal, fight, forage, maintain. Without infrastructure, that’s all we have, now. Just keep going. But it’s not enough.

C. 5 days, 21 hours since the assassination of rebel leadership

Estingai hopped out of the speeder, eager to get this over with. It was later than she would have liked. They'd had to wait to make sure the auroras were far enough away that they wouldn't be directly overhead on the way here or the way back. Just in case.

The initial burst of energy the auroras had given Estingai was waning—though the Auroralight would last for a full week with mild use—and everyone kept looking at her with pity. Except Kozasana. Estingai's friend kept looking at her like she would snap at any moment, which made Estingai want to do exactly that.

She was grateful for her mask as she waited for the others to get out of the speeder and off their bikes, then hide the vehicles under some carefully crafted rock formations made specifically for that purpose. Nightstone's base, Ghostmine, was closer to the coast, and Imaia territory, necessitating more extreme precautions than any of the other factions.

Estingai checked over the georaural settings while the others arranged some leaves and fallen branches to cover the vehicles. There was more coverage from trees and plants here than at Wolfden, Estingai's own base, but they still needed their lightcovers until they went inside. The mask made it a bit harder for Estingai to get a good look at some of the more complex wire frames encasing the biogems that powered the vehicles, but she was used to it. The speeder had seemed a bit off-balance to her on the ride over, and sure enough, one of the wires that pressed against the biogems to control their output was a little loose. A few careful twists with the pliers she carried at her waist corrected that.

Once the speeders—stolen Imaia prototypes that used emerald georaurals to hover over the volcanic rock littering the continent, leaving no tracks in their wake—were safely out of sight, Estingai turned from the others and hopped down into the large hole that concealed an entrance to the old mine.

Kozasana followed first. Aari, their envoy, who would take care of things once Estingai made sure everything was safe, came last.

Looking around, Estingai frowned. With all the color here, and the humid and salty air, she felt like there should be some oruu around. There was no sign of the little spirits, however. Not for a few years, now.

Estingai glanced up at the sky, trying to find Atjakuu, but the stone walls restricted her view, and they were too far from the Twilight Band to see Efruumani's moon, anyway.

The spirits' disappearance, at least, had solved an ages-old debate of whether it was the oruus' appearances that gave everyone such a precise sense of time, or if that was something they possessed independent of the spirits. It was three hours, ten minutes, and forty-eight seconds past midday, and Estingai needed no oruu to tell her that.

Looking at the dark, foreboding entrance to the mine, Estingai's stomach grew tight. She had to force back a sudden assault of claustrophobia. She drew in a deep breath of the salty, humid air, but that just conjured images of this hole filling up with water, the mine completely flooded, those inside drowned.

Her heart pounded, and Estingai realized she was drawing in deep, shuddering breaths. She had to flex her fingers and roll her shoulders to reassure herself as she remembered being trapped underground, clawing her way out of the rubble, then wandering for hours in pitch black winding tunnels. Her forehead grew hot, hands clammy.

Gritting her teeth, Estingai shook her head and brightened her yellow and blacknodes, giving herself a bit of good luck and the ability to sense nearby uses of Auroramancy. There was some deeper in the mine, too faint for her to make out any individual signatures.

With a deep breath, Estingai looked to the others, bracing herself for the expectation or pity she was sure would be there.

She found everyone focused on the mine entrance instead of her.

"This doesn't seem right," Aari said.

"It's too empty," Siluumwe, their scout, agreed. He was a tall Natari Auroramancer with a grey gemcrest. One of their fastest. "I know we're close to Imaia territory, but…"

Farykas, another Natari Auroramancer with an amethyst gemcrest, nodded in agreement.

A part of Estingai wanted to agree with them. This place was supposed to look abandoned, untouched, but it should have had some signs of occupancy. Even when

Estingai brightened her clearnodes, staring into the shadows of the mine’s cavernous entrance, she saw no weapons on the wall, no litter, no footprints or old, decomposing wood.

"They take their security even more seriously than we do," she said, as much to herself as to her companions. Swallowing, she glanced back at them. "You all went out where you weren't supposed to when you were kids and explored old, creepy-looking places, didn't you? The Imaia still have children with them out here."

Her Natari team members frowned, but nodded. Aari and Silas, a Samjati medic with no antlers who kept his blacknodes bright to conceal their presence, wobbled their heads sullenly.

Looking to the entrance again, Estingai hesitated, thinking back to a week ago when she, Svemakuu and Raima had descended underground through a cave not unlike this one. At the end of that tunnel, her husband had died at the Deathknight's hand. The Deathknight…

How did it have her face? How?

Estingai’s heart pounded, throat tight.

Kojatere was dead. The Deathknight’s face had been a pale grey-white with strange golden markings, no make-up, hair cut short…

But that was her. Her same confident, almost arrogant way of carrying herself, those eyes, the way she fought. Tsara!

Estingai put a hand to her chest. She could barely breathe.

“Estingai?”

Estingai swallowed hard at Kozasana’s voice and set her jaw as she looked to her friend.

Worry furrowed the woman’s red brow.

Estingai gritted her teeth, nearly growling as she forced herself to relax.

Stop. You can't lead the Remnant or Frozen Phantom, but you can lead this team into a cave. This is what you're good at.

"You still want to turn back?" she asked her team. Her heart pounded, still, but she was no longer seconds from a full blown panic attack.

Kozasana shook her head. The others didn't respond.

I need to do something. I can’t keep standing here.

Frowning, Estingai walked toward the cave mouth and knelt down. She was about to brighten her orangenodes, but paused, tense. For a moment, all she could see was the Deathknight killing the faction heads and their guards with casual indifference. Would she see the same thing if she looked into the past?

Estingai took a deep shuddering breath, gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut as she forced the image from her mind.

She brightened her orangenodes. It took a few minutes, as she didn't have a direct point in time to consider, but eventually, Estingai saw the shimmering shades of two Nightstone guards—visible to her alone—standing just inside the mine entrance.

Keeping her orangenodes bright, Estingai watched as another joined them from her direction, and all three started sweeping the area just inside and outside the entrance. They packed up a few stools and water bottles, then covered their tracks before disappearing deeper into the mine and out of Estingai's sight.

Estingai watched for a while longer to see if anyone followed. No one did.

When she'd used about a sixth of the Auroralight in that pair of biogems, Estingai dimmed them and turned toward the others. She wavered for a moment—coming out of an orangevision was always disorienting—then nodded toward the entrance.

"They're here. I saw the guards clean up and disappear deeper inside. They had orders to retreat to the main hall and put the base on lockdown."

"What if they attack us?" Aari said. "This is their territory, and if they've locked this place down, they're likely on edge like we were. And they don't know what happened at the meeting with the faction heads."

Estingai frowned.

Those were valid concerns, and she didn't have a good answer, but she needed to keep moving.

She looked to Kozasana, who raised an eyebrow.

Does she agree with Aari, or did I give something away?

Estingai thought for a moment, pushing back a wave of paranoia as her stomach clenched. She took a deep breath.

"Perke."

Estingai forced herself toward the base, ignoring Kozasana’s soft chuckle at her swearing. "Let's just get this over with. If the rest of you want to leave, make sure to leave a bike behind for me."

It took seven seconds before their footsteps melded with Estingai’s, the soft padding echoed off the stone walls like an old drum group. Estingai thought of acknowledging them. Instead, she continued on, toward the Auroramantic signatures on the edge of her senses and let the mine's darkness wash over her.