The passages are not static. How can that be? --34.7 Seconds Post-Integration.
"Well, this is sure-as-feck undesirable," Clark cussed. "Now what are we going to do?"
Theo was silent. He looked over to see if his co-worker (maybe pal?) was hurt. Theo looked unhurt but he was crying.
"I'm sorry..." was all they managed.
A momentary inclination swelled in him to verbally (and perhaps, even, physically) berate Theo. It was ultimately his fault they both were in this mess. But Clark couldn't yell at Theo. He had been just as complicit in their situation as they... he was angry and frustrated, though. "SIMP? Can you give us a hand. Help out in any way you can... otherwise your dungeon-champion is about to become just another set of bones."
"I am scanning the area as we speak. In a situation like this, the dungeon is unlikely to re-open in the same location. I would advise to return along the path where you discovered the sigil stone," SIMP replied.
"Thanks, SIMP. I appreciate it!"
He turned to Theo. "Let's go. You can grab that end," Clark pointed to the stone.
Theo wiped away his tears and grabbed hold of the stone. "You're still willing to help me? Thank you. A lot..."
"Let's move. No use to focus on how we screw up."
Lugging the sigil stone along the solitary path was arduous work made worse by the fact they had already covered so much ground before they tried to return to the entrance, so each step they took was merely one more in their journey of uncertainty. While carrying around a block way too heavy to comfortably carry. They each had to take breaks to regain some of their energy. This slowed their progress down considerably even after they passed the point where they initially found the stone sigil.
On one such break, Clark mentioned how he hoped he wouldn't miss his upcoming shift.
Theo looked curiously at him. "I think Lifers are given a small sum of PTO to use, so I wouldn't worry about it."
"Huh? PTO?" Clark asked. He couldn't think very well at the moment as his head was filled with doomsday thoughts about getting fired.
"PTO stands for 'Paid Time Off.' You earn one hour of paid time off for every forty hours you work. By now, I am sure you've already earned so many hours. I remember reading how, in one of our sign-on benefits packages, we earned like, a week, from signing on as Lifers." Theo chuckled. "A week of paid time off as a sign on bonus. How generous of them. We give them our whole lives, and they give us a week back, then want us to be grateful for it."
"It's shetty of them, yeah, but I don't care that much," Clark said, massaging his hands from the wear of the sigil.
"Oh, why? I think most people would be up-in-arms about it. I guess you have your reasons, though. Probably isn't my place to pry, especially after getting us in this mess."
Clark shrugged. "The benefits are secondary. I'm here to earn my village's keep."
Theo took a drink of water and offered some. Clark reluctantly took a deep gulp, despite his sanitary concerns.
"Oh? I don't understand. Do you mean you're sending money back to your hometown?"
"Nope. It's like this: there were some bandits, thugs, that sort of bad guys prowling around my village causing a bunch of trouble. Kidnappings, poaching, and the sort. Pretty common stuff for the Wastes. One day, a representative from the store came and said he was scouting for territory and labor on behalf of the company. After a lot of talking and back-and-forth, the chief got the idea to hire Augustford's security division to drive out the raiders. Well, anti-raider measures don't come cheap. It turned out that the chieftain essentially auctioned off the land to pay for the security. In a brash move, I offered myself as a kind of collateral which allowed the village to keep living on the land without the land being transformed into crop fields. So, now I am here, working for Augustford so I can pay off the land debt."
At a loss for words, Theo remained quiet for a time, rubbing his sore hands. When he did speak, he talked in barely a whisper. "That's awful, Clark. I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to sell your life to help those in your community. I know why you did it. It's terrible, though, how there wasn't any other choice."
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Being nonplussed, his words didn't come easy. "It is what it is, right? Same as you with rescuing your relics. No one asked you to do it, I imagine. You're here by your own will."
"It was a controversial move on my part, is all I will say. I burned a few bridges coming here. If I went back, I am sure they would shun me."
Not knowing what else he should say, or even could say, Clark announced they should resume their walk. Neither knew how deep the passage went or even if they would find a way out. All things considered, they only had the one thing they could do. And that was walk.
"What are those crystals?" Theo asked after another hour of fruitless effort.
Clark looked. He saw a group of jagged crystals jutting up alongside the pathway. Each crystal was an ocean blue color and looked pretty. A sparkly sheen glinted off each tip. "I have no idea... SIMP?"
"Those are mana crystals. Concentrated deposits of magic, in other words, lad. Don't conjure any ideas about mining them. Augustford would only appropriate what you mined and then penalize you for taking company property. Then again, with the crystals being in the dungeon interior, you might have a shot of arguing their use is qualified under your role as dungeon-champion... that is a question for another day..." SIMP told him to great effect.
Clark informed Theo what the crystals were. Then he asked SIMP for their uses. SIMP explained how mana crystals are at the heart of the magical item production.
Theo seemed perturbed by the notion. "Then Augustford will fight you tooth and nail for them... assuming you have a reason to mine them."
"Let's just focus on getting out of here, first. We can worry about mining later," he said.
Continuing past the mana crystals, lugging the block at every step, they soon pushed beyond where they had discovered the sigil stone. Yet, no matter how far they fled, they found nothing which hinted at an exit.
"Gods!" Clark cursed. "We're getting nowhere, and I can't keep dragging this fecking block around!"
Theo helped him place the block down. His face looked of that of a downtrodden puppy left out in the rain. "But... it's mine..."
It was tempting to snap at Theo and demand he become sensible. Clark understood his desire to reclaim part of his heritage and identity. Right now, though, wasn't the best time. "Theo... I'm done. I am physically exhausted, I'm tired, and I want to go to bed. It looks like you're the same. We can't keep carrying this--"
A deep rumble cut through his words. "What's happening now?!"
SIMP chimed: "The dungeon is breaking. Another passage is opening up close to you!"
"Come on, Clark! Please, one more time!" Theo said, raising his voice to be heard. He meant the sigil stone. His arms felt like lead weights. He didn't think he had it in him to heave that block again. Looking at Theo, it was hard to say no. If what he said was true, and he enrolled as a Lifer for the sole reason to take back his clan's relics, then how could he not help?
Clark didn't bother to respond in words. He crouched before the sigil stone and answered by way of digging his hand into it. Theo noticed and couched on his side of the block, smiling. "Thanks," they told him. Clark nodded.
'Now, let's just hope this shaking ends in our favor,' Clark thought as he braced himself for the worst.
Minutes passed. The shaking intensified. Nothing happened. He expected a passage to open up somewhere to their side.
"SIMP? Any help would be appreciated..."
"Hold!" they replied. "Hold like Sire Augustford's small bladder!"
Small bladder? Where had that come from?
"Where is the next crevice going to open from? Our left, right, behind, ahead?"
"Searching... searching. Wait! Underneath you!"
"Underneath? What--"
Before he could react, a pit opened underneath he and Theo's feet, and they fell headlong into darkness.
Shadows swirled before their eyes. They fell along a passage but could do nothing but accept they had become gravity's playthings. They screamed, shouted, but it was all hopeless.
Until, that is, the fall dropped them into light.
...and onto the floor.
Everything happened so fast. One minute, they were falling, the next, darkness... then, light and where even were they? Clark looked. It appeared to be the sales floor of an Augustford store block. Looking above, he saw a crevice -- the crevice -- they had fallen out of, in the ceiling.
Moments later a crash slammed next to them. It was the sigil stone.
Theo was close by and looked unhurt. "Where are we?"
"I think we're back in the Augustford store. It looks different, though..."
Both he and Theo took a closer look. They were in the part of the store called Center Store, where the shelves were packed with shelf stable items, prepackaged meals, canned goods, and the sort.
"It looks... old," Theo muttered as he took a closer look at the shelving. "Nothing here is new. Look at the layer of dust coating everything."
Clark took a closer look where Theo mentioned. He was right. All of the canned goods were in a state of disrepair. In fact, as he wiped away the debris, then spotted something even stranger. "Theo. Look at the brands. I don't recognize any of them. 'Captain Emery's Canned Stew'? Then, this one: 'Fingerling Tater's Creamed Corn'? We don't carry these brands, do we?"
Theo shrugged.
"SIMP? You reading me? Where are we?" he asked.
"I'm reading you. Clark, it appears you and Theo were caught in a sinkhole. It let out somewhere on the tenth floor. It is going to take me a while to pinpoint your exact location, though... for some reason my sensors are having trouble finding you."
"Why would that be?" Clark asked, worried. "I thought you were an omnipotent entity within the dungeon?"
"At best, Clark, I am only semi-omnipotent. My abilities depend on the health of the many technological infrastructure sets as well as the spiritual leylines. Both of these factors have many sub-factors leading into their health and therefore my ability to draw out their latent talents. Wherever you and Theo are, it is a place with poor technological and spiritual maintenance," SIMP explained.
He sighed. "So, do we just... walk?"
"Please do explore on your own. I will notify you of any changes I am able to render once my system inlays succeed in penetrating the local area."
Clark sighed again. "Okay. Thank you, SIMP."
To Theo, he said, "We're on our own," and repeated what SIMP had told him.
"I think this might be a lost sector..."
How Big is Your Workplace?
