Laurence shoved a metal pole with a multicoloured gemstone into the side of the cavern. Drawing a curving line that went back on itself, he ignited the entire pole with energy before slowing down and thrumming quietly against the ambient noise of the cave. Laurence smiled, number six-hundred and eighty he thought to himself.
For the last week he had been traversing the surrounding area of Mount Perversity, the mountain that the men and women working under Manas had lived in since the fall of the western strait and the Deliverance Plateau. The work was repetitive, but necessary. Pole in, ignite, connect and move on. Rinse and repeat, over and over. Soon enough he would be done, but even then his work would not be over.
There was so much to do, but at least there was no time limit. He had to make sure everything was perfect for Yun, to make sure there would be no problems with his rise to Heaven. He sealed the pole into rock and tried to wobble it to make sure it was secure. Time to do six eight one he mused and moved further down the tunnel.
With every step the echoes bounced about making it seem like the path was far more populated than it actually was. It reminded Laurence of the caves of the third level, with his mistakes and rectification of the situation. He wondered if the Tuinians still worshipped the tiny tree he had made them, or whether they had moved onto greener pastures. He hoped the latter. They were not an evil people by any stretch of the imagination, but they were extremely primitive.
The only thing about the surroundings that did not remind him of the third floor was the light. Because of the salamandrite in the walls of the third floor, the entire area was given and ruddy, warm glow. In comparison, the moss that was used to light the underground pathways throughout the base was a much starker blue. Laurence wondered what the moss actually was, as he did not recognise it, but still the medicinal properties always shone through.
He wondered what his father was doing, and whether his mother was still cooking meals, waiting for him. Thinking about medicine always did that to him. He would never admit it, but he missed his parents. He wondered if theys till thought about him, even now almost a decade after leaving them behind with no warning. His father probably knew he would be fine, but his mother would have worried. She always had when he was in trouble, but given the added time he had been away she would no doubt think he might be dead. He had heard in Spirit that there were ways of getting word to the outer parts of the tower, but it was generally considered more effort than it was worth.
The sound of the echoes redoubled as Laurence walked, slightly asynchronously. Someone else was down with him, but there was no way of knowing how far away he was from the person. He stopped for a moment, listening to the footsteps for a moment more before continuing on. He still had ten more pylons he had to place before dinner.
After fifteen minutes of walking he reached a wide cavern with a trickling waterfall. There was a pool with a series of rocks around it that had formed with the glowing moss growing over it. It made the entire pool look like it was full of sapphire water. The place was truly picturesque.
Laurence sat down and just admired the natural beauty of the area for a few minutes before turning round and walking to the wall opposite the waterfall. This was his next planting spot. He pulled out another metal pole and held his hand against the wall, looking deep into the rock with his truesight he could see all the faults within the rock face. After a moment he chose a spot and slammed the pole deep into the wall. There was a small amount of resistance, but it slid in straight. He followed up by quickly igniting the mana pathways of the array that lined the gemstone.
Laurence was moving quicker than usual, but only because the person walking was getting closer. Finally he sent a small amount of mana into the pole and watched as a thin bar of mana connected the pole to the previous one he had set up. He watched to see if there were any discrepancies in the stream, but noticing none he nodded to himself and began walking towards the exit to the cavern. While the place was nice, he did not have enough time to really waste there.
“Law? What are you doing down here?” said a young woman’s voice behind him. He turned and saw Cleo standing in the entrance he had come from. She was radiant as usual, but that only made things more awkward for Laurence. Almost five months since arriving at Perversity and he still had not remedied his feelings about her. He simply did not know how to approach the fact that she made him feel things that he did not really understand, so he did the only thing he knew how to do well and suppressed it. Unfortunately it did not work as well as he had hoped it would. Rather than stopping thinking about her, instead he began focussing on her little differences to everyone else he had seen. He desperately wanted to understand, but attempting to understand only made the situation worse rather than better.
“Hey,” he replied, trying to sound less panicked than he felt. “I'm helping Yun with his Manifestation. Has no one told you?”
“No. Everyone has been rather evasive with what is going on. I know you gave out a load of Books, and I know Yun is preparing for attempting to break into Heaven, but... Other than that no one will tell me anything”. She sighed, sitting down on the ring of rocks that surrounded the pool. “I still kind of can't believe it. How are you actually a practitioner of Creation? I just don't get it. By all rights you should be a practitioner of Life, but you're not”.
“I don't get it either,” he replied, sighing and sitting down next to her. “I asked a man called Luke about it once and all he could tell me was some theories, but the most likely one was I was some sort of experimental penance for the crime my father committed. I just don't have any idea”.
“It... Law, I'm sorry. For most of the time you and I have known each other, you have been nothing but nice to me and I was horrible to you. I regret how I acted”.
Laurence looked at Cleo sharply, slightly surprised by her action. “I just thought you were keeping me honest, really. I didn’t even really realise you might not like me until Winoa explicitly stated it. I was actually pretty surprised”.
Cleo laughed, and turned to face Laurence. “That sounds like you. You really are a bit arrogant naturally. I still remember when we were breaking into the Darganna estate. You just walked out with their family rings on your fingers. How could you think you would get away with it?”
“Well I did didn’t I?” Laurence pulled a small ring out of his bag and handed it to Cleo. “I still have it”.
Cleo looked at the ring with her mouth open. “You... you sold this! I saw you sell it and I saw the fence verify that it was real. How?” She turned the signet ring around within her fingers. She stopped smiling before Laurence could respond and said, “Err, Law... I know you said you would support me way back when you contained Peter, but I didn’t believe you. I... Can you promise me that again?”
Laurence stopped. He was prepared to tell her how he had copied the ring and sold a cheap fake, not to respond to her moment of vulnerability. After a moment of thought he looked at the wall in front of them, the wall opposite the waterfall, and raised his hands. He moved his right hand down and as he did, a vein of bright red salamandrite rippled and formed out of the rock. Following his left hand, a curve of pinkish-pale rock appeared next to the salamandrite, making the colours in the rock face look something like a mannequin with red hair. With each movement of his hands, new rock formed or shifted in shape until it became obvious he was making a face in the rock.
A high brow, flowing crimson hair, a soft and pointed nose, deep blue eyes, and light full lips. It was the face that had plagued Laurence’s dreams for months. Cleo. She was all that filled his mind, and so he showed her how he saw her. He continued with the image, the long neck meeting her slight shoulders wrapped in blue, with the long dress extending all the way to her soft leather boots.
He turned back around and wistfully looked Cleo straight in the eyes. “I have had this image stuck in my head for the last five months. It is the only thing I can think of when I wake, and persists until I sleep. I have tried to remedy it, but all I can really do is push it to the back of my mind and continue about the day. I have to... because the only other thing I have to suppress so heavily is my rage, and I don't know how to deal with it otherwise.” He stopped, took a deep breath and stepped forwards, looking down at the subject of his artwork. “Cleo, I don't know if this will ease you more or less, but I believe I am in love with you and I don't know what to do”.
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