Morning came with a haze of gray light pressing through the broken shutters. The air in the other side of outer sector was always thick with soot and iron, that was the particular effect of the mines of Vorath.
The Industrial Forge City had earned its name honestly. Beneath its foundations, in the jagged black rock that plunged endlessly into the earth, lay the veins of lumenis. When the first incursion tore open the skies and spilled lumen into the world, most of it scattered and saturated the world. But here… here it had sunk deep into the earth and solidified, concentrated into luminous veins that ran like fire through stone.
It was said the veins could swallow men whole if they strayed too far into the caverns. And maybe that was true. What was certain was this: lumenis was power. It was the core of weapons they now used, the backbone of trade, the heart of war. Every blade that was forged that mattered, every conduit and engine that could channel lumen, drew its strength from ore cut in Vorath. The other continents—Arcanum and Sigils—had their own mines, but nothing that compared. Their ore was thinner, their veins shallow.
Archetype's veins were thick, pulsing with raw, concentrated power. That made Vorath's mine one of the most valuable property in the known world, and every man who descended into its caverns knew he was crawling into the beating heart of the continent.
When Riven reported in that morning, he was still feeling sore and tired. The overseer barely spared him a glance, a heavyset man with a voice like gravel.
"Got word from Veylin," the man barked. "Some student's to serve a week's punishment down here."
"That's me," Riven said flatly.
The overseer grunted, unimpressed. "Whatever. Just don't get in our the way." Then, louder, he snapped: "Tools! Give him a pickaxe!"
The weight of the thing dropped into Riven's hands with a dull thud, and before he could so much as blink, someone shoved him toward the yawning mouth of the cavern. The air grew heavier with every step he took, dust and iron thick on his tongue. Coming out of the cavern were carts that squealed past them, filled to the brim with jagged crystals of lumenis that shimmered faintly even in the dim light.
Riven stopped a moment, staring. His voice came out low, almost a whisper. "Never seen so much at once… ridiculous."
"Move it," someone barked behind him, and he did, pushing deeper into the cave system. The walls glittered faintly, veins of light webbing through the dark stone like frozen lightning.
At the base of a junction, a man stood with a clipboard, eyes narrowed as he scanned each worker. He glanced up at Riven.
"Name?"
"Riven."
The man's eyes flicked down to his notes, then back up. Without a word, he pointed toward a stretch of wall where others were already chipping away.
Riven gripped the pickaxe tighter, swallowed back the ache in his ribs, and moved to his labor.
__________
Days bled together into dust and sweat. The rhythm of the mines was like a cruel drumbeat of pickaxe to stone, strike to strike, flesh to exhaustion. The men around him muttered often, their words like gnats in the stale air. Some cast sidelong glances at him, eyes brimming with contempt, or worse, pity.
"Defective," one hissed under his breath.
'Now, that doesn't even make any sense. I would never understand what their problem is with defects like me, it's not like there aren't normal people here who aren't awakened.'
Another sneered came openly as Riven passed, and Riven's gaze caught the man's face, square-jawed like the cart carry the crystals and brutish. 'Damn. His son really does look like him… Guess now I know where Ceyric got the lower brain cells from. A matching set of bulk and no brain power.'
'No vision at all.'
They didn't need to speak more; their stares carried the weight of their scorn.
Riven hunched his shoulders, ignored them, and swung his pickaxe again. Every strike sent shockwaves rattling up his arms, but he didn't falter. 'I've gone through worse in the hands of that man. This is nothing. If I didn't break then, I sure as hell won't break now.' He wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing him collapse.
The days blurred, each bleeding into the next until the fifth came. He found himself working near the far end of the shaft, farther than most bothered to go. Normally, warning signs would hang on the walls there, but if they had ever been posted, Riven hadn't seen them. He just kept swinging, his punishment driving him deeper into the rock.
The pickaxe bit into stone, and this time the echo was… off and deeper.
Riven froze, frowning at the wall. "Is it just me, or did that feel hollow?" He straightened, sweat rolling down his temple, and turned to call out only to realize he was alone. No sound of picks, no voices, no footsteps.
His brow furrowed. "Huh? Where did—"
The floor split with a thunderous crack.
Riven didn't even finish the thought before the ground buckled beneath him. The earth collapsed, stone giving way in a roar, and his body plummeted.
"Shiiiiiiiiiitttttttttt!"
He tumbled down the dark, jagged shaft, dust exploding around him. Rocks scraped his arms raw, smashing against his ribs as his body slammed from one jut of stone to the next. Each impact tore a grunt from his throat until, at last, he crashed to the bottom with a sickening thud. Pain shot white-hot through his back. His head smacked stone, dizziness flooding his skull again.
'Owwwwwe… fuck not again. Something is definitely broken for sure.'
Groaning, he forced his eyes open and froze.
Before him was a stretched slit in the rock, no larger than the span of his shoulders, yet it was unmistakable. It glowed faintly, an otherworldly pulse emanating from its depths. The stone shimmered as though alive, vibrating softly, like…
A corridor
Riven's heart hammered. Fear and panic tangled in his chest.
Then the glow pulsed again. Once. Twice. Faster.
'Oh no, no, no,no, no.'
Before he could move through the pain, before he could even think, the corridor yanked at him, invisible hands closing around his body.
He screamed once as the force dragged him forward then the world dissolved into light.
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