Around 20 days after entering the tunnel

  Eri saw it first. The tunnel, endless as it seemed, finally came to an end. It tapered down and up, like a horizontal funnel. While the tunnel itself was multicolored, the wall was made of pure grey steel. A few hundred feet ahead of her and Kane was an open doorway, just big enough to comfortably walk through.

  “What is that?” Kane asked astonishedly. “What’s beyond that door?”

  “Hopefully food,” Eri said, wistfully rubbing her stomach. It had been days since the fish and seaweed, and the pangs of hunger grew more and more intense with each passing day. “I’m starving.”

  “Me too,” Kane replied. “So let’s check it out.”

  “Yeah,” Eri replied. She walked towards the doorway, Kane following close behind. A feeling of apprehension began to arise in her stomach as she crossed the threshold. She had a sinking feeling that another tribulation was about to begin.

  Beyond the door was a long hallway that snaked off into the distance, twisting and turning. While it was lit by Lux lamps, the dark grey metal that it was made up of cast the area into dimness. The tunnel twisted and turned, and so did Eri’s stomach as she advanced farther and farther into the unfamiliar environment.

  The tunnel continued to twist and turn. Abruptly, it ended at a locked door.

  “What’s beyond there?” asked Kane.

  His question was prematurely answered by the faint sounds of tense conversation coming from somewhere to the right.

  “People,” Eri gasped, shuddering as a wave of fear pulsed through her body. “Keep your voice down.”

  “Do you think they’re with the Rain Caste?” whispered Kane.

  “Maybe,” Eri replied tensely. “Let’s listen.”

  After a few minutes of listening, Eri could only make out two voices. One was an older man, the other was a younger one, around Eri and Kane’s own age judging by the deep bass tone of his voice that nonetheless sometimes faintly cracked.

  “I think we’re fine,” Eri said. “One of them sounds pretty dang old, and the other’s around our age. Also, if they were Rain Caste, they’d probably be actively searching for us.”

  “Let’s go greet them,” Kane said. “Maybe they’re friendly.”

  “I dunno,” Eri answered. “Let’s be cautious.”

  “To the sun with caution!” Kane exclaimed, kicking down the door. It crumpled and fell to the ground with a loud crashbangbumpboop. The sound was hollow and light due to the low quality of the door. Maybe it hadn’t been designed with people breaking it down in mind.

  “Sun dammit, Kane,” Eri sighed, then stepped through the now-open doorway. In front of her, a hallway similar to the one she had just came through branched off to the left and right. The speaking stopped, but Eri remembered it coming from the right. And she had a hunch as to where - around 20 feet to the right was another door.

  There was nothing but the sounds of her and Kane’s boots as they clomped across the metal floor. Apprehension rose in her stomach, and she had to clear her throat to keep the feeling of bile from rising.

  When he got to the door, Kane immediately kicked it open. “Hello!” he called as it fell to the ground.

  The response was brutal. A multicolored blur sped out of the room and knocked Kane to the ground. He fell with a grunt of surprise. Alarm bells rung in Eri’s mind as she stepped fluidly into a combat stance, prepared to punch her friend’s assailant.

  The man holding Kane down had salt-and-pepper hair with more pepper than salt, but his face looked weathered and harrowed like that of an elderly man. He had the square tattoo of an Earth Casteman on his forehead. His mouth was twisted into a grimace of rage.

  “Who are you?” he shouted. He was speaking in an Urbs Sacer accent, more monotonous than the dialect of the Yalen District.

  “Sun, chill, chill!” Kane shouted. “Who are you?”

  “Are you with the Rain Caste?” the man yelled. He punched the air just an inch away from Kane’s face, obviously to intimidate him.

  “Get off him!” Eri cried, jogging over to the chaos. That was when she noticed a second man. He was around her age and had black hair, just like her. He had a face marred by tiredness and had a medium, intricately tended moustache. He had the stubble of a few weeks of travel. He was also Earth Caste, judging by his tattoo. He looked afraid and wasn’t in a defensive stance.

  “Who are you?” the young man asked, also in an Urbs Sacer accent.

  Before Eri could reply, Kane responded to the older man. “No! I’m a sundamn Fire Casteman! Leave off! The sundamn Rain Caste tried to kill us!”

  Immediately, the old man released his grip on Kane and stood up. “What happened to you?” he tensely asked. “How did you wind up here?”

  “So are you not gonna kill us?” Eri asked.

  “No,” the older man said tentatively. “I’m Thyrian, and this is Lutheril.” He gestured to the younger man with the moustache.

  “Just Lou,” Lutheril replied. “What’s your names?”

  “I’m Eri,” Eri replied.

  “I’m Kane,” her friend continued. “We hail from Mossflower Hold in the Yalen District.”

  Taking turns, Eri and Kane told their story. The Rain Caste had attempted to kill the entire village, and the duo had escaped into a tunnel. Dale had attempted to follow, and his poor aiming caused the rock of the tunnel to fall on him, crushing him to death. The duo had then spent many days in the strange tunnel, once feasting on fish from a hole in the tunnel.

  “We lost so many family,” Kane finished. He rubbed his forehead, his fingers passing over his Rain Caste tattoo, Sun Caste brand and newer, clearer Fire Caste tattoo. “You look like you folks did too.”

  Lou looked down into his hands, burying his head in them. Thyrian turned his eyes down. “Yeah, we did,” the man said.

  He began to tell his story as Lou silently sobbed. It was quite interesting, and started from the very beginning. He had lived among the heathens, then returned to the Holy Kingdom to figure out how to overthrow it. The Rain Caste had herded the people into the squares of the great city of Urbs Sacer, then massacred them. Fortunately, Thyrian had been prepared, and he and his apprentice Lou had escaped into the tunnel. They had eventually stumbled on this cache.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “And now here we are,” Thyrian sighed, rubbing his temples. “Going to the heathen lands without a sundamn map or path.”

  “At least we have food and shit,” Lou suggested. “Enough for all of us.”

  “I’m not sure if I fully trust you two,” Thyrian said, gesturing to Eri and Kane. “The Rain Caste isn’t know for subterfuge, but an old turtle can learn new tricks.”

  “If we were gonna kill you, you’d be crispy by now,” Eri rebutted. “A bucket of fried clams.”

  “True,” Lou said. “Why would they trick us when they could squish us by worms?”

  “Good point,” Thyrian said. He visibly relaxed, the logic of the situation catching up with him. “Do you want to loot this chamber together?”

  “Loot?” Kane asked. “What loot?” Thyrian and Lou stepped out of the way, and he and Eri saw. “Oh. That loot.”

  The low-roofed yet huge chamber beyond was packed with wide metal crates. Rations, bottles of water, clothes and countless other sundries were spilling out of the overpacked shiny containers. The food caused Eri’s belly to growl like a hungry lion, and she rushed towards the food. As she did so, she saw three skeletons lying on the ground with a knife next to them. She didn’t feel nauseous, as they were obviously very old, but she felt a pang of sorrow for them. They had died without eating all this food.

  The crate that she arrived at was packed with clear tubes containing some sort of red-orange paste. It was labeled in a strange, unintelligible script. A picture on it showed a stick figure upending the tube into its mouth, so it clearly was edible. The tube was topped with a removable red lid, which Eri promptly unscrewed. She then took a tentative lick of the paste.

  It tasted incredibly savory, and Eri’s mouth was in heaven. As she held the paste in her mouth, the flavor shifted into sweet, then salty, then mildly bittersweet, then plain and pleasant. It wasn’t a food so much as a beautiful, delicious experience. Grinning, she sucked the remaining paste out of the tube. Immediately, her stomach began to fill up and cause her to feel content.

  “Kane, you have to try this!” Eri called, proffering another food-tube. The paste in this one was sky-blue, but still had the same stick-figure symbol of an eating person. Kane immediately rushed over.

  “Food?” he asked, eyeing the container. “Is it food?”

  “Yeah!” Eri replied. “It’s so delicious!”

  “Okay?” Kane tentatively asked. “You seem to be greatly enjoying it. Probably good.” He took the tube from Eri’s hand and sucked the contents from it. Immediately, his eyes lit up. “This is so sundamn good!” he exclaimed. “It tastes so good!”

  “Agreed!” Eri replied. “Hey, Lou! Thyrian! Come try the food paste!”

  “Okay,” Lou said, walking up to them. “I just ate, so I’m not sure I should waste food.”

  “What’s there to waste?” Kane asked. “There’s years of food here if the crates are anything to go by.”

  “Good point,” Lou replied. “We’ll be living with the heathens long before this food runs out. Can’t hurt to try this tube.” He picked up a tube with striking green paste and removed the cap. He tentatively sniffed it, nodded his head, and drank it.

  “You’re right!” he called. “It tastes of breaded clams! And it’s even better! This must be what a god tastes like!”

  Eri laughed. “God probably tastes like the pain and suffering of countless individuals.”

  “What she said,” Kane replied. “Although it’s certainly an apt description, we shouldn’t joke about our mortal enemy.”

  “Good point,” Lou replied, sobering. “It was just so good, it made me forget all my problems.”

  “Much like mossbeer,” Eri replied. “Say, is there any alcohol down here?”

  “Now’s not the time,” Kane replied. “What if someone attacks us? The Rain Caste?”

  “It’s been so long since I’ve had a drink,” Eri countered.

  “You had water,” Kane rebutted. “That technically counts as a ‘drink’.”

  “She’s right,” Lou replied as he inserted himself into the conversation. “Maybe we can bond if we drink or even sit down together.”

  “Hmm,” Kane mused. “I’m probably too paranoid. What harm is there in a little drink?”

  The three of them scoured the chamber for something to drink. After a quarter hour of searching, their efforts yielded nothing of their goal. However, in addition to more crates of ration bars and paste, they found some pouches of a sweet, fruity drink that wasn’t alcoholic whatsoever.

  “Maybe we can drink this?” Eri asked.

  “I thought we wanted alcohol?” Lou said.

  “There’s probably none here,” Eri answered. “This drink tastes good, though.”

  “Agreed,” said Kane, taking a deep swig from his pouch, which had a solid drinking hole at the top. “We should go back to Thyrian.”

  The trio loaded their arms with as many drink pouches as they could carry. Abruptly, Lou tensed. He stared at Kane’s face.

  “You… You’re…” he gasped. “I recognize you!”

  “What?” asked Kane. Now Eri was curious. “Where do you recognize me from?” A visible disturbance entered his face, one of curiosity, confusion and apprehension.

  “I saw you be branded Sun Caste!” Lou said. He immediately cast his eyes downward. “Sorry. I probably shouldn’t bring that up. But I was there, all those months ago. The square in Urbs Sacer. I’m so sorry.”

  Kane’s face tensed up in sadness. “It was a horrible experience. I don’t want to discuss it.”

  “Okay,” Lou said. “I’m sorry.” He stopped speaking, and Eri felt relieved. Kane hadn’t fully opened up about the suffering he had gone through, and thinking about it was visibly causing him pain.

  The trio moseyed on back to where the older man was pacing. Two discarded paste tubes laid at his feet along side a crumpled, sad-looking bottle that once housed water. His arms were crossed, and he bore a sour, bored expression.

  “You young’uns done playing around?” he asked in a gruff, uninterested tone.

  “Hey, Thyrian!” Lou amiably called, raising his drink-pouch. “Want some of this drink? It tastes of fruit.”

  “I’m good, thanks,” Thyrian said. “While you three were goofing off and searching for alcohol, I filled our packs up with food.” He picked up his own pack, revealing that it was stuffed with ration bars and tubes. He went to Lou’s pack and showed that it was full of the same. “I also found some more packs for you Mossflower folks to carry,” he said, picking up two packs of a shiny, greyish material. Other than the strange fabric, they looked identical to standard packs. They were open, revealing more food inside.

  “Thanks, Thyrian,” Lou said, taking his pack. He turned to Eri and Kane. “Should we leave now?”

  “I dunno,” Eri said. Suddenly, an idea flashed into her head, one so obvious, that she was ashamed she hadn’t though of it before. “Are there any weapons here?” she asked. “We might want to arm ourselves. No telling what lurks in these tunnels, and even if they’re safe, we might have to fight wild beasts on the surface or even other people if our relation with the heathens goes down the drain.”

  “Good idea,” Kane replied. “But I haven’t seen any here, aside from that knife those three used to maybe kill each other.” He gestured to the skeletons.

  “Take a closer look,” Thyrian said. “See those helmets?” He gestured to the strange helmets lying next to the corpses. “Armor is even more valuable than weapons. There’s three helms, enough for all you kids.”

  “What about you?” Kane asked. “Won’t you need protection?”

  “I’ve been in a fight or two,” the older man said. “I can dodge and protect myself easier. If you can run away from a threat, this helmet will prevent head injuries.”

  “Good point,” Eri replied. “All right then, folks. Let’s try them on.”

  Lou and Kane scooped up two helmets and put them on at the same time. They were too big for the young men’s heads, and they jiggled slightly on their heads.

  “They feel clumsy,” Lou said. “But I guess they’ll protect us. C’mon, Eri.”

  “Right then,” Eri said. She picked up the final helmet, turning it over and over in her hands. It had strange wires and mesh lining the insides, which were made from soft fabric. The exterior of the helmet was metallic and hard. She put it on her head. Instantaneously, she began to feel faint. The last thing she saw as she fell unconscious to the floor were Kane and Lou falling as well.