Of Dust and Bones Chapter 5

Chapter 5
   
   The smooth stone walls of the tunnel pressed in on Noctair, normally he was perfectly at home under the ground, but here... He shivered at the thought of what may have happened that caused such pain.
   As he neared the end of the tunnel he heard the sound of picks and shovels. His shields helped against the emotions, and now that he thought about it; the less he feared the voices, the less they bothered him. In fact as he approached the cave in he was starting to lower his outermost shields.
   "Professor, I'm ready to help you with this obstacle." Noctair bowed a little, "I'm sorry that I left you, my fear got the better of me. But I realised that they are just spirits, and they can do nothing to an Earth Mage such as myself."
   Rigel slammed him on the back, "Good, we can really use your skills."
   Noctair nodded and approached the wall of rock, he was still nervous because in order to read the rock he was going to have to touch it. The others stepped back as he began his work. He reached out and touched the rock.
    Darkness fell over his vision as his mind descended into the rock, but this was the normal darkness of the earth, not a strange feeling or anything sinister. Slowly the rocks around him began to glow according to his vision and he saw how they all worked together to create the wall. There was a massive boulder blocking the passage, very strong and almost impenetrable. Noctair followed the rock to it's edge and found that the walls of the tunnel were thinner than they thought here, and severely damaged. However that was something that they could work with, they could just dig around the boulder!
   Noctair opened his eyes, breaking the connection with the earth before falling to the ground.
   "Noctair, what did you see? Where is the weak point?" Challinka asked. Noctair looked around and saw all the people in the tunnel looking at him.
    "The rocks are too well fallen, we can't break through them without destroying the rest of the tunnel." The looks on the others faces fell, and it seemed that everyone was about to give up, "But, there is a way in, the walls to the sides no longer support the rest of the tunnel, the boulder does that, so we can just dig around it."
   "Is there no way for you to help us along?" Fleetfoot asked.
   Noctair thought about this for a few seconds, "Perhaps, the rock there is very old, and looks to be a type of concrete, so it has some serious flaws. I think that I may be able to soften it so we may dig."
   "Well, then, hurry up and do it. I want to start digging again!" Challinka said impatiently. Noctair nodded and closed his eye again, this time his hands on the wall to the right of the boulder.
   He descended into the wall and felt the strong emotions here. It seemed that the emotion imprint was on everything that the people touched during the evacuation.
   Help us, please help us! The voices called out to him, he ignored them and began drawing power from the wall, causing it to become brittle, his hands sank a little into the aged concrete. The others stood back from the wall, most of them had never seen an earth mage work like this. It was something common in the mines, but the most magic that the gently born and the city folk saw was the flashier magics, like Fire or Wind. Noctair ignored the others and continued his work, creating a soft part of the wall large enough for them to dig around the boulder and have plenty of room for anyone to enter, even Swiftfoot.
   After an hour of work his hair was plastered to his skull, his ears and tail drooping in exhaustion until finally he let go of the magics and fell backwards, Swiftfoot caught him in her arms and gently laid him on the ground.
   "I-I did it, I softened the rock enough that you can use a shovel to remove it like dirt." Noctair panted, sweat pouring down his face. Swiftfoot poured a canteen into a cup and Noctair started lapping up the water, so exhausted that he didn't care that it was doglike.
   Challinka knelt down and said, "Thank you Noctair, you can go topside and recover, I promise that I won't open the void without you."
   Noctair nodded as Swiftfoot gently placed him on her lower back. "I'll take him topside Professor, and make sure he gets a good sleep."
   Challinka nodded and the two left the tunnel, Noctair holding on as tight as he could to the taur's body. She smiled and said to Rigel, "I don't think that Noctair is going to get much rest right away."
   "What do you mean?" Rigel said, as he took a shovel and jammed it into the wall, the rock crumbling under it and falling to the ground like dirt.
   "Have you ever had a close working relationship with a Tau?" Challinka asked, standing next to him and clearing the dirt behind him.
   "I'm afraid I've never had the pleasure, is there something I should know?"
   Challinka moved ahead of Rigel and continued digging until she reached rock, "Well, the Tau are a very forward people, especially when it comes to people that they like. So what I'm trying to say is that I hope Swiftfoot doesn't end up pregnant because of this."
   "Ah, I see..." He coughed and brushed the dirt from his waistcoat to try and stop the conversation from going any further.
   They carefully worked around the boulder, shoring up the ceiling to make sure it didn't fall on them. After several hours of digging they, finally broke through.
   Challinka placed a lantern on the other side of the boulder, shining light into the passage where there had been none for nearly two millenia. Broken concrete lay scattered all over the passage, and from the light of the lamp other lights started to absorb the energy, lighting up for the first time in centuries down the rest of the hallway.
   "What kind of magic is that!?" Rigel called out.
   "I'm not sure, We'll have to have a mage take a look at these, perhaps Noctair when he recovers. Come on, there is more to the passage." She said, the lights slowly growing brighter. The two walked carefully down the passage, more items were strewn all over the place, old papers, toys and tools of the people that used this tunnel last. It wasn't long until they reached a massive metal door. Over the door was a large "X" sealing it shut.
   Challinka put her hands on the metal door and pushed. It didn't move at all, so instead she started looking at the door frame. She found a box next to the door made out of some type of flexible plastic. Her eyes flickered over the door, totally absorbed with the wonder of it.
   Reaching into her pack Challinka grabbed a sketchbook and started drawing the door as she found it. Her graphite was the only sound for minutes as she sketched the door.
   After her lines were done she looked back up at the door, amazed by the flawless construction of it, seemingly impervious to the test of time.
   "Have you ever seen anything like this Rigel?" She asked as she took out a small ruler and began measuring. She continued to measure without an answer for a few more minutes before she turned around and saw him standing there, his mouth open in awe. She reached over and hit him on the shoulder, "Wake up, I need your help here!"
   "This is...is...unreal...it's like looking into the future, but, in the past..."
   "So this is what you see in your visions of the future? A sealed door?" Challinka asked as she measured the distance between the sides of the door to the seal.
   "No it's just...look at the materials, no machine or cast can produce something like this!"
   "We've always known that the first people were extremely advanced, however we have only ever found one city and a few outposts of them. So what do you think is behind this door? Why did they seal it? What were they trying to protect?"
   "What if they weren't protecting it?" He replied.
   Challinka looked up from her measurements, "Why would you ask that? It's obvious that they were fleeing from something, I think that they came here to hide. And they sealed the door to keep whatever they were fleeing from from getting to them."
   "A bunker?"
   "Perhaps, but what were they running from? This is the first real secret that the First People have ever left for us.
   "I'm sure there'll be some answers behind this door, we have to figure out how to open it!"
   She looked at the edges, "True, it doesn't seem to open inwards, or outwards. And have you ever heard of a door the opens sideways?"
   "The Tau recently developed a slidable door, it means they no longer have to step backwards when the door opens toward them and risk knocking something over, - but nevermind that, what is this panel here that you were looking at?"
   She looked at the panel next to the door again, "Not sure, but I think it's decorative."
   "Why do you think that?"
   "Well, there are no buttons or knobs, and nothing indicating that it could be used to open the door. And there was another box like this one at the entrance to the tunnel, though that one was empty and filled with dirt, so I think they are decorative."
   Curious, Rigel reached out a lay his index finger upon the center of the panel, the door remained lifeless and the panel did nothing. "Come on! There must be something missing. Is it possible the door requires a power source of some kind to open?"
   She looked closely at the panel and said, "Well it's possible that it's the way to open the door, but what did they use? Electricity, Magic or something else entirely?"
   "Let's just hope it's something we've discovered."
   Challinka shrugged, "I just find the artifacts and classify them. I'll let others try and figure out how the First People got things to work. What I'm excited about is what is behind that door. But first we need to get some photographs taken of the site before doing anything permanent."
   "Do we still have a photographer on site? I can call one in if necessary but it'll take some time."
   "We have an older camera, but it'll do the job. Don't worry about calling your people just yet, though we may need extra cameras when we open this vault."
   "Ok, I take it you've used one before?"
   "The camera that we have still uses the flash pan. It's simple to operate. I'll have my students take several pictures, then we can worry about opening this thing." Challinka looked down a little, "Thank you for all that you've done. I don't know how to repay you for your help."
   "It's no trouble at all, I've always loved getting my hand in on my ventures! It's been nothing but a pleasure working with you Professor."
   Challinka hugged Rigel and kissed him on the cheek, "I'm serious. This discovery would not have happened without you. I am forever in your debt."
   Rigel blushed, rubbing his cheek slowly, "If only all my funding programs would repay me with a kiss!"
   She smiled at this, "Well, we should head back before the students start spreading rumors about what we may be doing in this dark passageway."
   "Very well, lead the way Professor!"