Rynth: Four Beats

| 5th of Teryusin — Year 362 of the Cycle of Synthesis, Grand Cycle ??? |

“What about you, Idri? How’d the hunting go?”

The girl swayed side to side on the chair, twiddling her thumbs as she cradled a small clay cup filled with piping hot green tea. She brought the mouth to her lips and took a deep sip, somehow completely unaffected by the temperature. “It went very well, Grandpa. After Raoul found me, I told him about my desire to help cull the monster population to prevent the area from being swarmed. The area should be safe for now.”

She had intentionally kept out the little accident the both of them had at the crevasse and the ensuing dungeon delving that followed. Raoul flashed her a knowing look. When it came down to it, she never hesitated to play along. Something he wasn’t planning on taking advantage of, even if it was subconscious for the girl.

Urfrey nodded, stroking his beard. “And a good thing you did, hm! I hate to say it, but those Gold-Sharks were damn good at keeping the peace half the time. We’ll rest easy and quiet for a while. Thank ye.”

“It’s a temporary reprieve, isn’t it?” interjected Raoul. “With Idri gone, how will you handle the local monster population?”

“Bah, you think we’re that weak? I’ll tell you what, boy. I’ve been living in Under Buril for three decades, and I ain’t even in the upper half of folks who decided to get with the dark. There’s entire families here that haven’t even seen the sun once, only the fake stars in our ceiling-sky.”

“Fake?”

They were everywhere in Under Buril. Bright, twinkling stars of white that served as most of the light in the otherwise pitch black underground. To say there were thousands was an understatement; tens of thousands was too. Each dot evenly spaced from the other, and yet soaring far enough to mark the illusion that there was an actual sky beneath the earth. They were ever-present, always glimmering. Imagining everything without it only brought darkness.

“Fake, that’s right! You’ve seen them, aye? We call them North Stars. They’re said to be a creation of an unnamed dwarven craftsman from the Cycle of Expansion. Weird metal shapes, stuck to the very ceiling of this place, and they rarely stop shining. Every once in a while, a cluster shuts off, so we send some of the ones with wings to repair ‘em. Doesn’t take too much, usually it’s just the cores malfunctioning. Little bit of Jati gets ‘em up and running again.”

“I see… Pardon me for asking, but why do you and everyone else stay down here? Wouldn’t it be easier to return to the surface, where there’s sunlight and no monsters to worry about?”

A scoff left Urfrey’s bearded lips. The dwarf kicked off the chair and carried himself over to the edge of the room where the blazing furnace was. Without so much as a reaction, he stuck his gloved hand into the center of the flame. His fingers found a smooth stone buried underneath the small pile of ash and dust and turned, holding it up.

Pinched between his middle and thumb was a small, teardrop-shaped gemstone of blue, almost entirely translucent save for the few dark spots in some areas. Raoul’s gaze was immediately drawn to the inside, which pulsed with a steady glow strangely similar to a heartbeat. The hair on his arms stood on end, imaginary static coursing through his veins. It was an unmistakable feeling—it was Jati, and a lot of it, contained inside a small gemstone barely the size of a segment of his own finger.

“See this, boy? We Under-Burilans call it Fyrjan. Never mind the name for now, but surely you can sense the Jati inside?”

“It’s… almost overwhelming.”

“A single one of these can power an entire city for weeks. Now, I ain’t sure what the suits up top say about us down here, but the truth’s that Cias Buril is even more reliant on us than we are of it. A shite ton of government infrastructure runs on Fyrjan, it’s not even funny. Now if we folks were to stop mining?” He made a gesture of exploding out of his hands. “Whole city’s out.”

He continued. “Ah, but we’re not all charitable. City government’s perfectly fine with only taking the good stuff as long as they’re not down here getting their own hands dirty. We get paid commission for unearthing as much Fyrjan as possible. We have people like little Idri here who help clear out the monster population so the rest can have a go at toiling away at the mines daily. It’s good money. Every so often folk find a vein of rare minerals and pocket some of the goods for themselves, and usually that’s more than enough to help them get outta here and live on the surface.”

“Under Buril’s usually dangerous, Raoul.” Idri added. “I just finished clearing out the town outskirts today, so you came at a good time and didn’t run into any monsters. Usually they come out of the roads to ambush miners because the Jati in the Fyrjan attracts them. Boo! Sometimes they get brave enough to even get close to houses.”

A little bit of revelation, and a world changed. Raoul could just about barely keep track of the new information he was being fed. For much of his life he assumed—and was taught—that Cias Buril was primarily powered by clean wind, solar, and Jati energy. The dozens of field trips made to the production districts as part of his curriculum only served to supplement that assumption.

“Boo indeed… I suppose it isn’t that far-fetched given Synthesis. It’s about making use of everything from past to present, after all.”

Silence, and the crackling of the fire. Idri shifted in her seat impatiently, playing with a small piece of scrap metal that was on the floor, twisting it up and over itself multiple times.

“So… I’m leaving soon, Grandpa Urfrey.”

“Heard you the first time, Idri,” replied the dwarf, plopping back down into his seat. He shot an approving look in Raoul’s direction, just about satisfied with the boy’s existence enough to the point he could welcome him again should they return. “You never really did belong down here, ‘ven if you damn well lived like us all these years. Guess kids like you need to go out and explore the world, get your bearings. You got a destination in mind, boy?”

“Destination…” Raoul murmured, shaking his head. “No, not really. I was far too focused on reuniting with my friends to consider. Is wandering until we find something interesting not the way?”

“Brat, now I ain’t no adventurer myself, but even I know the first thing on your mind when going on a journey should be what you want to achieve from it. You shouldn’t just be scaling some mountain peak or sailing the Great Mostariian Sea on the first galleon you find just ‘cause you want to. It ain’t even gotta be a material thing. Could just be a goal you got. Hells, I’m sure little Idri’s got one already, else she wouldn’t be following you around like equine to a carrot.”

Said Idri hummed, tilting her head without a care in the world. “Hmm…? Raoul said he’d brush my hair every day and sing with me. I don’t have a goal. Ah, actually, maybe I do! I want to find out my past. I still haven’t even remembered a single detail, but I have a feeling that if I stick with him, I’ll find it out someday. Until then, I’m just going to keep singing.”

Urfrey groaned at the prospect, but there was undoubtedly a hint of warm resignation at her words.

“Sometimes I think you’re the kindest angel in the world, Idri, but then I remember how ruthless you are with that sword.”

“Aw, you think I’m an angel, Grandpa?”

Just like her to be as carefree as ever.

Raoul’s gaze fell to his hands, both clenched tightly on his lap. He already knew, in fact; knew what he was seeking in the journey to come.

“I’m in this journey… to find myself. To soar with my friends. To explore the world. To consult my past and family. And above all, to see where my ‘Path’ leads me to."