post 2 of "Underspire"

Rask hopped about frantically pumping his fists in the air. “Dad!” he panted. “Never went out early, told him we should!” he continued, all in one breath. “Too early, we’ll bake in the sun!’ he would say, ha! if he could see us now!” Rask chanted out victoriously. Rask's Cheeriness halted abruptly as a sullen expression crossed his face, and grim thoughts occurred to him, he shook his head ignoring them.


The monk gave his enthusiastic friend a quizzical expression. “Not to dim your mood, but it appears we’ve only succeeded in making a lamp and a hole in the ground.” he paused for a moment, Peering into the cool darkness beneath the grating. “Where do we go from here? Did your father have any method for descent? “Gavan asked. “Shall I find a rope?” he added with a light chuckle.

Rask knelt down, staring into the darkness with a thoughtful expression. "Well" he said. "We know there is a way out-" he paused for a moment, caught in memory. "So there must be a way in." He lowered his head, trying to discern anything from the blackness. The stone in his hand still emanating brilliant golden light, he lowered it into the opening, golden light splashed over what appeared to be perfectly smooth cut stone. He adjusted his arm moving the light over the stone like a lamp. The light from the stone struck a large runic symbol a short distance from the opening. The symbol reacted to the stones light by erupting into the same brilliant golden light. The ground beneath them began to shake as the symbol, and the stone around it, pulled away from the perfectly cut wall forming a stair.

"Do we trust it?" Gavan asked, never one to run blindly into any situation.

"What else could it be for, and we've gone to far, spent to much time to turn back now, my father.." Rask stopped himself there, turned back to the opening and lowered himself down onto the stair. He could see the wall around him much clearer now. The years of sand build up did little to diminish the polished appearance of the stone. He shined the light from the stone in front of him looking for another stair, and just as before another symbol, and soon another stair forced its way from the wall this time lower than the first. "Come on in, the water's great!" Rask yelled up to Gavan excitedly.

"If only it were water" Gavan replied. The monk shook his head and sighed, he prodded the stair with his staff distrusting its stability, once satisfied he lowered himself down onto the first step.
One after another the stones tore away from the wall; Rask directed the guiding light of the stone ahead of them activating the stairs, which began to spiral downwards into what seemed eternity. A few hours past and the suns light, and the surface seemed a distant memory. A single bright light far over their heads, yet there was still no sign of a bottom.

“Does this still seem so wise, friend?” The monk asked with slight irritation apparent in his otherwise good humored tone.

“Of course, are you kidding me? Do you have any idea what’s supposed to be down here?” Rask chanted back, it seemed as though he might burst in his excitement.

Gavan gave a puzzled look to the back of Rask’s head. “No I have no idea, you tell me so little” he paused for a moment. “And what do you mean, supposed to be down here?”

“Well of course we can’t be certain until we see for ourselves.” Rask practically sang back in the same cheery tone. “Besides worst case scenario, we walk back right?”

“Just in time to drop dead in the sun’s heat, I like how you think.” Gavan replied sarcastically.

“I didn’t know they taught extreme pessimism in monk school Gavan” Rask replied, annoyed by his companions lack of enthusiasm.

“Monk School?” Gavan asked.

“Whatever you call it!” Rask called back waving his hand behind him. “Besides-” he stopped dead. Beneath him the tunnel swelled into a massive cavern, the walls of which were indiscernible in the far distance. Some distance beneath them, centered under the tunnel’s moth was a massive pyramid made of mirrors suspended in the air. The light from above struck it, sending reflected light in all directions, reflecting on thousands of intricately placed mirrors throughout the dome shaped cavern. The very tops of large structures became visible to them below.

The two companions gaped, eyes wide and jaws dropped at the beautiful system of light that illuminated the cavern. “We had an idea about this, my father described to me what this should look like, but I had no idea…” Rask trailed off.

After a moment Gavan regained his trained calm composure. “Rask. The tunnel ends here, do the stairs as well?