About this story
The rock gives way as he follows you down, and a falling stone knocks you unconscious before you can learn if he survived; you wake to find his body gone and a reptilian head pushing into the open. Aph-Lin, a winged stranger with a staff, leads you to a hall of silent machines, where a child named Tae recovers your rope and pleads your case.
How it opens
EngineerWe have descended together for weeks, but today's break enters ground no working plan records.
EngineerI went down alone for an hour, and what lies below is no ordinary fault.
He returned from an hour below it pale, silent, and unwilling to resume the excavation.
Tell me what stopped you before fear improves itself into a fact.
EngineerA level road lies beneath the rock, lit at intervals like a city's street.
He had heard distant voices and seen a building where no rival mine could exist.