The Great Core's Paradox

Chapter 269: The Missing Question

A sound.

...happened here? Everyones justdeadwhat could have done this?

A voice.

...xenlite destroyed...delegates already here. If she hears about this

A shout.

...to do? Theres no way we can meet the quota like this! We barely even managed to move enough rocks to get in the damn door!

Eli groaned, trying to lift an arm to bat at the air and quiet the noises down. Death wasnt supposed to be so loud. Or so painful, either, he thought. His arm didnt move, obviously. Because he was dead.

His stomach growled, though.

Loudly.

What was that? one of the voices said again, closer that time.

Eli wanted to call out, to tell the voices to be quiet, that they were disturbing his peaceful death. But even that was too difficult, even the thought of voicing the words like rubbing a wound far too raw. His throat ached with an unimaginable thirst.

Is this what death feels like, he thought deliriously. No wonder everything tries so hard to keep living.

Death sucked.

His stomach rumbled again.

There it is again! That noise, something growling!

...yeah, I heard it. I swear, if whatever did this is still around here

Elis stomach rumbled again, and suddenly his entire world flipped around. Something slapped him in the face lightly, and then a little harder. Elis eyes fluttered open in shock, blinking against the dim light of the tunnel. The voices were clearer now, no longer distant murmurs but urgent whispers.

Hes alive! someone exclaimed, their tone a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

Get some water, another voice ordered. Quickly!

Hands reached for Eli, trying to pull him into a sitting position as a canteen was pressed into his hands - and then spilled down onto the ground, Elis skeletal fingers unable to form a proper grip. He watched the water run, feeling the cool liquid spread and seep into his boots.

...more like a skeleton than a man, I dont even understand how he could another of the voices was saying, the sound trailing in and out of Elis awareness.

Imnot dead.

The realization did much to break him out of his delirious fugue, and Eli - with much effort - craned his neck toward the nearest of the voices. He didnt recognize the voices owner, but his vision was so blurry that hardly meant anything. It felt like someone had dropped a pound of dust into his eyes.

Damn it! the voice called out, the man it belonged to lunging towards the spilling canteen and lifting it back towards Elis lips. I got you. Here, drink.

He drank, regaining some small semblance of clarity. Enough to speak, to give voice to the thing that he knew his body desperately required.

...food Eli struggled to say. ...needfood

Something unidentifiable was pressed into his mouth, and Eli didnt even bother to chew it before swallowing. ...more

Thats all I got, do you think I walk around with snacks in my pocket?

At that depressing admission, Elis head lolled back downwards, chin resting on his armored chest. Something slapped his face again, and a voice called him back to consciousness.

Hey - hey! Need you awake, here. Everyone elsetheyre gone or dead. What happened?

Eli thought. He remembered. The snake. The dead-that-werent-dead. Something being pushed deep below his skin. Fleeing for his life.

Dying - or so hed thought, in that final moment. Now, he wasnt so sure. Unless

Oh, Skies. Am I one of them now? Those things?

Eli panicked. His vision closed in at the edges. His heart pounded in his chest - and it was that very pounding that finally brought him relief. His heart pounded. Thrummed. Beat.

He was alive. Alive enough to be terrified, to panic at the thought of being dead. Alive enough to send his heart racing. He was alive.

Idont know what happened, Eli admitted, his voice hoarse and barely audible. The words tumbled out in a rush, disjointed and fragmented as Eli struggled to make sense of his own memories through the haze of delirium. Therewas a snakeand those thingsthe other guardsthey werent dead, but they were andit bit me and nowIm here.

The man whod been holding the canteen frowned, his expression troubled. We need to get him back to the tower, he said to the others.

The journey back was a blur of pain and confusion. Eli drifted in and out of consciousness, the small morsel of food hed received nowhere near enough to keep the excruciating sensation of starvation at bay. And, of course, his mana enhancement did its best to fix the issues that same starvation caused - sapping him dry of what little nutrients he had and exacerbating the issue further.

Stolen story; please report.

Underneath the armor, Elis body was little more than bone topped by a layer of skin.

Finally, they reached the familiar walls of the tower, the ever-present glow of enchanted metal worming its way through Elis closed lids. He opened his eyes, blinked, and then found himself somewhere else again. There was a cot underneath him, and his armor had been removed. Someone placed a spoonful of stew into his mouth, urging him to swallow, and Eli closed his eyes again.

Somewhere to the side, a pair of voices were locked in a conversation.

...know what happened?

...delirious, sir. Couldnt get an intelligible answer out of him. Something about asnake? But, sir, the guardsthe prisonerstheyre all gone. He was the only one left.

...I seeand the last shipment of xenlite we were waiting on?

Seemingly destroyed during the disaster, sir.

There was a banging sound before the voices started up again.

...need new blood to fix this before things spiral even further. Gather the men. Well have to make a visit to some of our neighbors. Get some volunteers. Skies know that its all some of them are good for.

Eli lay on his cot, barely registering the nearby conversation. His mind was still reeling from the events in the mines, and every so often hed imagine that a tiny snake was somewhere right behind him, forcing him to flinch away. He couldnt shake the fear that the monster wasnt gone. That Eli would see it again.

And that, next time, he wouldnt be so lucky.

As the voices continued, discussing plans and strategies that Eli couldnt fully grasp in his weakened state, he wondered vaguely what they meant by new blood and volunteers. But only for a moment; his thoughts were quickly consumed again by the rumbling in his guts, and a spoonful of stew that found its way to his mouth.

He swallowed it down, drifting off to sleep.

A snake-ridden nightmare quickly woke him back up.

Elara danced across the dueling ring floor, dodging spear thrust after spear thrust in a display of unnatural grace. Ewan followed her along, growing increasingly frustrated at his inability to land a blow. And, just when that frustration peaked, she twisted around a thrust, snapping a kick to land a boot upon his hand. With a yelp, Ewan lost his grip. The spear went flying forward and out of the arena, and Elara placed her weapon against the enemys throat.

Yield?

He sighed, nodding in agreement.

They quickly beat a retreat, leaving their borrowed sparring weapons at their racks and heading off to grab some food. As weird as it was, Elara found that she quite enjoyed eating in such a lively atmosphere. And, even better, the sounds reverberating from the dueling rings provided ample noise to cloak any conversations. Ever since their first bout, she had taken to having discussions with Ewan in the area. The bouts provided a good excuse for the two of them to meet and talk afterwards; they could have done it in her rooms like before, but Elara liked being out and about. It meant that she could listen in on any other conversations that might be happening in the area.

The constant noise didnt really stop her from hearing anybody; once she started to tune out the harsh thwacks of wood against wood, Elara got along just fine. The perks of unnaturally enhanced hearing continued to astound. Earlier, shed even heard hints of a Guardian Grove growing at the other end of the cavern, though nobody had called it that. Elara was too far away to see it herself, but she trusted the information. Nothing else she knew of could really be described as a giant skies-damned forest popping up out of nowhere, no Im serious I haven't been drinking.

It was a relief to hear that the Little Guardian had found his way back to the others safely; it meant that Elara was able to put her full focus on the things that were happening in front of her, rather than worrying about where the little snake slithered off to.

With her food in hand and a hunger in her stomach, Elara took a seat at their customary table. Ewan sat down immediately afterwards, but he looked less interested in his food than she was; while Elara was already busy tucking in, enjoying the feeling of filling her stomach after a satisfying bout, Ewan was simply pushing his food around, a morose expression on his face.

Before she could broach the subject, hed already started talking. Ive been thinking about what you said, that first time we talked. You know, about He made a meaningless gesture, as if that would describe the thing left unsaid. It didnt. Theyd talked about a lot of things.

About she continued, motioning for him to continue. Youre going to have to give me more than that.

You asked me what I thought would happen if we failed to gather up our tithe in time. I told you that wed be in breach of contract. That wed lose our Core, and maybe more.

Elara nodded, remembering that part of the conversation.

I heard something earlier - and I thinkI think that you should have asked me a different question, he said, a haunted look on his face. His voice was whisper quiet, and Elara wasnt actually sure that his words would have been audible to anyone but her, even without the constant shouts and thwack of wood against wood coming from the nearby dueling rings. I, uh, Ive been paying more attention lately. To things. You know, just in case. And, well, I heard my father say something that I wasnt supposed to hear.

Elara leaned in. Ewans father was the Chief Treasurer of the White Towers, ostensibly the very man in charge of ensuring that, among other things, the yearly tithe was all accounted for.

Were short. By a lot. Something went wrong in the mines, something about asnake? I dont knowall of the people disappeared - the miners, the guards, all of them. There was only one guy left, and hes barely talking. Still recovering, I guess.

She kept a straight face, but immediately knew that the previously missing Little Guardian had played a role in whatever happened. Elara debated prodding for more information about that, but she figured that she could find out later. With a Guardian Grove in the process of growing elsewhere, it was clear the Little Guardian had already finished with whatever he was doing in the mines and returned to the others. Instead, she waited for Ewan to continue; there was something more that he wanted to get off of his chest. Something that, from the way that his eyes stayed trained on the plate in front of him, he was finding hard to talk about.

...either way, theyre going to do everything they can to make sure we dont come up short. Which means they need to put a lot more people in the mines, fast, and they need to work them to the bone.

How are they planning on getting these people, Ewan? Elara asked, but she already had a feeling about the answer. Shed already heard more than once about the methods used to fill the mine when it wasnt empty. Now that it was

The boy looked very sad when he answered, disappointment heavy in his eyes. With everything at stake, especially since they already think a member of Virtun is here and the others will be quick to arrivetheyre not going to worry about how it looks, he admitted. Theyre going to take them by force, and gather the rest of the xenlite needed, one way or another.

Elara stood up in a hurry, reaching over to grab her helmet.

The question you should have asked. I guessit was whether we would let ourselves fail to gather the tithe in the first place. Or, maybe, what we would be willing to do if it looked like we might.

Ewan sighed again.

Im finding I dont like the answer to that question.