The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 344 – Twinkling Ceilings

“Ana…..” Fer moaned. “Ooohhhh…. Ana….”

“What?”

“How do mortals drink this?”

Kassandora stopped and looked into the darkness. An innate ability she normally tuned out was the ability to perceive being watched. Maybe it was some Divine magic, maybe it was simply a sixth sense. Or maybe it was just paranoia, but she rarely gave paranoia much credit. Well, there was only one thing to do, she had to take her mind off the issue because even if the darkness was watching her, there was little to do about it. She gazed down at her map as she looked around. Even back then, these tunnels had been a nightmare to navigate for those who lived on the surface. But even back then, Kassandora had quickly adapted to the dwarven style of map-making and realised what she was looking for.

Long ago, when the underground still had the day, then the ceiling markers would tell everything that needed to be told. Then, the World-Core had been sealed, the suns under the surface burned out, and men had to walk around here with open flames that did little to push back the flood of smothering darkness. Kassandora pulled out her torch from her belt. It fit in her hand in the same way a standard torch would fit in a mortal’s hand, but that meant it may as well be a spotlight. She clicked the switch on the side and just like that, the darkness retreated as fans within the torch started to whir and cool it.

“What are we looking for?” Kavaa asked. The Goddess of Health stood in her marching coat, gloves on her hands, a rifle slung across her back. A marching pack next to it.

“I don’t know.” Neneria replied from nearby. Kassandora, Kavaa and Neneria travelled with the vanguard as Iniri took the rear. Kassandora because she mapped out the route for the Expeditionary Legion behind her, Neneria because she cleared a path and Kavaa because she wanted to stay close. A small vanguard of six armoured cars stayed close to the Goddesses. Those were only here to carry all of Kassandora’s papers and maps and equipment. There were only eighteen men split across the vehicles.

“You don’t?” Kavaa asked, somewhat surprised.

“I think I’m the only person from the surface who knows how to navigate here.” Kassandora said as the torch in her hand began to get warm. It needed a minute or so for the lamp to get to full power. She tested it at the ceiling. The highways weren’t even in height, although generally they were all hundreds of metres tall. If these places had farms, then they could easily house the world. When people said a skyscraper could be built in here, they weren’t lying. Kassandora watched the small spot of light from her torch slowly expand in the ceiling. There were glints of stone and metal, and the light danced about the decorational inlay, but that was it.

“Father knows how to.” Neneria said. “And I think Fer does too.”

“Between the four of us, then it’s me.” Kassandora said. It was still a small club. “Fer does, I’ve seen it. Malam and Irinika most likely do too.”

“I once thought Iniri did.” Kavaa said.

“Mmh.” Kassandora made a non-committal sound to tell them she was listening even if she wasn’t paying attention.

“Can you teach me?” Kavaa asked.

“It’s complicated even for me.” Kassandora said. The dwarves had a system of marking locations that was frankly alien. They could read it at a glance and Kassandora was only starting to get back into the rhythm of the situation. “Look up there, do you see the line markings? Going sideways to the way we are marching?” Kassandora tried to explain what she was looking at. “That’s distance marks, the square next to them means the next approach is a hold. The triangle means there’s a junction after the hold.”

“How do you know which hold it is?” Kavaa asked and Kassandora shrugged.

“You have a map and a target when you go.” Kassandora showed Neneria and Kavaa the map in her hands. “That’s the trouble, because you’re just expected to keep track of where you are yourself.” The Goddess of War pointed up to the ceiling once again as rumbling came from behind. The two Torchbearer tanks were starting to get close enough for their treads cracking the stone underneath to be heard. Then the general march of the army. Every now and then, a loud crash came from the end of the convoy as the railway laying teams had to get through certain tougher pieces of ground.

“There’s no signs.” Kavaa said and Kassandora tilted her head from side to side, red hair cascading from one direction and to the other.

“There are…” She said. How did you even explain this? “There’s no street-signs or anything like that, but you’re just expected to know.” Kavaa looked at the ceiling, into the darkness, behind the three Goddesses and the vanguard and towards the Legion that was following them. And then she made a terrible, depressed sigh.

“I told you.” Neneria said. “It’s not for us to understand.”

Kassandora had to give the Goddess of Health some credit. She did try again. “So where are we now? On the map?” The woman leaned in and the two Goddesses of Health and of War brushed arms.

“Here.” Kassandora answered definitely. They were approaching the Karainan section of the Under Empire. Lost long ago, Kassandora had been expecting heavier resistance here. That was what worried her the most. There were tracks everywhere here. Hounds and steeds of Tartarus had left their paw and hoof prints burned into the stone everywhere, the steel that dwarves had used for their minecarts and early-trains had been pulled up. Every mile, there was a resting room for travellers. All of those had been looted and emptied.

It was the small things that set Kassandora off. When they had left the first Hold in Arika, one that was very close to Central Requisitions on the surface, the storerooms had old weapons left in them. They had even found a suit of demonic armour. They had found papers and books, it was nothing important or useful for Kassandora. The items found were mere trivialities, battle orders and so on had been cleaned up, but the small things that soldiers could forget or leave…

Well, where they here? “Here?” Kavaa asked and poked Kassandora’s fingertip with her own. “How do you know that?”

“I was keeping track of the turns and junctions as we advanced.” Kassandora answered honestly. Ultimately, she could talk about the official way that dwarves used to journey in their tunnel, but that was just mere lies. The system was unintuitive and primitive because it had never needed to be made better, because for every hundred dwarves, there would be at least a few who could naturally keep track of travel in the highways? That was why? 

“Really?” Kavaa asked.

“Really.” Kassandora answered. She knew her answer would be terrible but she supposed this is why she liked her sisters and also what she liked in Kavaa. She could just say what she thought honestly and she knew they liked her enough not to be offended. Hopefully. “Kavaa, I can’t teach you this because you either get it or you don’t. I do just actually keep track of every turn and I know where we are.”

“Oh.” Kavaa said, somewhat disappointed. “Really? And what if you miss one?”

“I won’t.” Kassandora replied definitely. Neneria couldn’t navigate here because Neneria questioned herself too much. Anassa couldn’t because Anassa didn’t pay attention to the environment, but this is why Fer could travel the tunnels too. And Arascus. Honestly, Kassandora would say that Fortia and Maisara, if they were sent here, wouldn’t get lost. “I know we are here.” Kassandora tapped the spot again. “I’m just definite on it, there’s no but’s, if’s and why’s.”

Neneria spoke from the side, she wasn’t even looking at the map. “And if a wrong turn is taken, no one will call it out.”

“A wrong turn won’t be taken.” Kassandora said.

“I know it won’t.” Neneria answered. Kavaa still looked doubtful although there was nothing the grey-haired Goddess of Health could say. Kassandora supposed she should say something to calm these girls down. If they started to doubt her direction-taking, then that could result in a drop in morale at best.

“It’s not as difficult as it seems.” Kassandora explained. “Ultimately, we are just travelling along a straight line. There’s no landmarks or anything we have to follow, we just need to know where and when to turn.” Neneria shrugged.

“Are you explaining it to me or to yourself?” The Goddess of Death asked. “I have no clue where we are and I’m not here to navigate us.”

Kassandora had no clue why she didn’t find Neneria annoying. Maybe it was just the fact that her sister always spoke in a low and flat tone that carried no emotion? Or maybe it was because Neneria was one of the most direct people Kassandora knew. There were times when the Goddess of War questioned Anassa’s feelings, Fer’s, Kavaa’s, her own of course too. But then there was Neneria. And Arascus Kassandora supposed. Although Neneria would voice what she was feeling, Arascus simply didn’t need to. He carried his emotions on his chest. “I thought you wanted comforting.” Kassandora replied honestly and Neneria replied with a huge smile.

“Aren’t you just the sweetest? I’m honoured you think so.”

“Well I did.” Kavaa interrupted and Neneria giggled. “Thank you for explaining.” Kassandora knew Kavaa well enough at this point to know that even if the woman did try to follow along with that explanation of how to navigate these tunnels, she didn’t quite understand it. Kavaa wasn’t stupid, not at all, but she reminded Kassandora of herself somewhat. It was the quaint way she answered, Kassandora sometimes used the same tone when it was a minor thing that was more effort than it was worth.

“Aren’t both of you just the sweetest?” Neneria said from side and Kassandora felt Kavaa freeze for a moment as the Goddess of Death chuckled to herself. “Downright adorable.”

“Get back to work Neneria.” Kassandora shut her up. “Keep on walking.”

The Goddess of Death smiled. She stuffed her gloved hands into the pockets of her long back coat that fell down to her boots and turned, heel clicking against the stone. Kassandora let Kavaa look at the map for a few moments more before putting it away and inspecting the ceilings once again with her torch. It was for the signs that said how far away the next landmark was, but it was also simply because Kassandora was nervous. Something glinted above her, like golden decorations. Too high up to have been scavenged most likely, unlike down here. The ground was not clean whatsoever. It was cut and charred and molten in places, but it had been cleaned. There was nothing here. Kassandora didn’t let it show though. Neneria may be able to walk confidently anywhere, but Neneria was the Goddess of Death. With Kavaa and Iniri and the soldiers, but with Kavaa especially, Kassandora wanted to show a brave face to keep them calm.

The three Divines managed a grand total of a hundred steps before they heard a high-pitched voice scream from behind. “WAIT!” Iniri’s shout echoed through along the dark walls. “WAIT! WAIT FOR ME!” Neneria, Kavaa and Kassandora all stopped. Neneria turned for a moment, her expression flat and eyes shining as they glinted with the huge light-house beams of the two Torchbearer Tanks. Then she squinted, once again but her rear towards the convoy behind them and walked backwards until she met up with Kassandora and Kavaa.

This was one thing that Kassandora appreciated in Kavaa and in Neneria. The three of them stood there and no one said a word. There was nothing to say and there was no need to ask. Iniri had shouted for them to wait. So they waited. Over the trundling sound of treads came the ripping of roots and vines and Kassandora knew the Goddess of Nature was coming close.

A blur of green leaves and brown bark shot past them as a series of roots shot into the stone of the ground and exploded with a hail of stone. “Kassandora!” Iniri shouted. “I! I…! The men have found something!” Kassandora sighed, men finding something was not uncommon. But men finding something that had sent Iniri into panic? The Goddess of Nature was a Great War veteran, true, she was no Fer and no Neneria, but who was? Iniri was taking it worse right now than when she had been saved in the Jungle’s stomach. Her hair had been tussled and messed up and those brown eyes of hers were wide. “Kassandora!”

“Calm down Iniri, what’s wrong?”

“This!” Iniri shook a bag in front of Kassandora, it jingled with coins. “It’s Mammon!” The Goddess of War felt her breath catch as Iniri continued. “I tried to get all the coins, but he’s seen me, I’m sure he has. The coin smiled at me!” Kassandora blinked at Iniri as she processed the information. Kassandora felt her eyes bulge and widen as she stared at the jingling bag of coins in Iniri’s hand.

These tunnels weren’t cursed, nor was it some accidental retreat. They were being watched. She flicked the torch up. The light of the flashlight danced in the various corners and inlays. And it glinted off stone. It glinted off exposed metals in the walls.

That sense of being watched came back once again. Even worse now than ever before.

Her flashlight glinted off gold in the ceiling.