Elysium: Book Six of The Liminality

Chapter 14: Surface

There once was a time Karla she had known the layout of this tunnel network as well as she knew the contours of her face, but things had changed drastically after the Pennies had unleashed their root quakes. Many chambers had collapsed. Roots exposed to the outside air had then transformed spontaneously into bedrock. And new tunnels had grown, the way a body grows new veins after a traumatic injury. This was not the Root she had known.

The underworld was also far more sparsely populated than in the old days, when Luthersburg was the apex of her existence. She doubted that the Reapers had become more efficient or that people in the living realm had become less prone to suicidal ideations. More likely, fewer souls were willing to put up with a smelly and claustrophobic underworld when a land of green hills and wide open skies beckoned up above.

Fresh air, redolent with the scent of a recent rainfall over dust billowed through the upper passages. Rivulets cascaded down through the slanting tunnels, seeping into the masses of roots below.

She reached what once had been a domed chamber, possible a Reaper lair, and was now a sinkhole with a ramp of stone and dirt rising up to the rim. Clouds swirled in the grey skies above and yet her eyes still needed to adjust to the sudden profusion of light.

She was started to find another person watching her. A young girl, dressed in the homespun burlap of an inexperienced weaver, had taken shelter in a dry spot beneath an overhang. She clutched what seemed to be a dented and corroded trumpet, its brassy surface veined with verdigris.

Karla smiled and approached her cautiously. The girl seemed a little bit leery but did not shrink from her approach.

"Hi," said the girl, smiling sheepishly, her eyes creased with worry lines.

"What awful weather up there!" said Karla. "Mind if I join you?"

"Please do."

Karla sat down beside her on a slab of bedrock as wide as a park bench.

"Does it ever get sunny?"

"You're new," said Karla, smiling. "I think it must be rainy season. It's actually sunny and dry most of the time. Though, it's a strange looking sun. A bit too small and tinged with blue."

"What awesome clothes you have! You must be really experienced at this Weaving thing. How long have you been coming here?"

"Years. Off and on. I began visiting when I was eleven years old."

"Wow. That is amazing!"

"You?"

"This is only my fifth visit. I've started keeping a diary."

"So, how's your life? Not so great, I assume."

"Well yeah, it's pretty sucky. But this place makes up for it."

"Yes. That tends to be the experience for most of us who manage to get past the Reapers. The Makers of this place screwed up if they intended it as a punishment. Though, perhaps they wanted to create a better world."

"If only it wasn't so dang hard to get to!"

"There's a trick to it. I'm sure you'll learn how soon enough."

"What is your name?" said the girl.

"Karla."

"I'm Belinda. Belinda Boyle. I'm from Montana."

"That's nice. You have big mountains there, yes?"

"Well. Not in Miles City, where I'm from. It's high plains. Kind of flat around there. But the mountains ain't far. So where are you from?"