After getting the dishes clean, we took turns in the bath, which we found hidden behind a sliding door in the living area. Afterwards, we headed to bed, but we did institute a watch. Faust took the first watch, as he wanted to inspect the building more before he went to sleep, everyone obliged. Next was supposed to be Ruth, followed by Terra, Diva, and finally me.

  What I wasn’t expecting, was to be shaken up in the morning by a bloodshot Faust.

  “Faust?” I mumbled, slowly working my way up. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep? Did something happen?”

  “No, no, nothing happened.” He sounded a bit jazzed. “I was inspecting the structure and time just got away from me and well… It’s your shift now.”

  I stared at him with a disapproving gaze. He looked sheepish, and he was shaking with excitement. In the end, I sighed. “Fine, whatever, what did you find?”

  “That… its really exciting, but I’d rather talk about it with everyone.”

  “That is probably for the best…” I let out a yawn. “Okay, fine, just make sure to get to sleep.” Next time, I was going to have to make sure we did double shifts.

  “I am now. Thanks.”

  “Sure, whatever.” I waved him off and finally stood up. I stretched and grabbed a snack before heading downstairs. The second floor had separate rooms. They weren’t too large, but each room had a bed and a door that we could lock. I was wearing basic sweats, nothing fancy as I walked out with some jerky in hand. I went to work right away, pulling out chunks of stone and working them into what would be my soldiers’ weapons. It didn’t take long to carve out work-able spears and set them aside for when the soldiers finished cooking, so to speak.

  As I finished, the sun finally breached the horizon, bathing the world in morning light. The air was fresh and crisp. The smell of freshly hewn bamboo and turned earth still hung in the air. That along with the sound of chirping birds and the slow gurgling of the stream made for quite the morning ambience.

  Almost made me wish I was here on vacation.

  I made my way back into the building, where I found Ruth prepping breakfast. Wordlessly, I washed up and joined her. She gave clipped instructions, and soon enough Diva came in.

  “C-can I help?”

  “Can you break eggs?” Ruth asked. Diva nodded, and Ruth gave her that task. With three pairs of hands, the food was prepped in record time. We just needed to wait for everything to cook.

  The kitchen was well furnished and strangely modern. There were no outlets, or gas lines for the stove or appliances. Cool, clean water flowed from the faucet, despite there being no proper piping in this household. Even the bath and modern bathroom took me a bit by surprise.

  Perhaps it involved the ley line Faust had mentioned? Well, regardless, I was going to get my answer soon enough.

  As the food finished, we pulled it out and brought it to the adjoined dining area just beside the main hall. There, Terra was already sprawled out like a bear, with her belly up and sleepy eyes. The smell of food jolted her right up, and by the time the last item was placed and ready, Faust came down, looking tired, but not like someone high on adrenaline.

  A quiet round of thanks went around the table, and we ate. The food, was delicious. An assortment of items from the pantry, which had a cold storage for other items. We ate and demolished the food before us, picking and licking the plates clean until we all felt bloated and were lying about like a family of satisfied bears.

  The moment lasted for a moment, but not much longer. With a grunt, we started tidying up. Once all the dishes were cleaned and set to dry, we finally began our morning meeting.

  “So…” I started, initiating it. “First question I have, is how much food do we have?” I hadn’t really taken stock, but Ruth, with some coffee in hand answered easily enough.

  “A month at least. Assuming we don’t go crazy.”

  Her words had us all taking in a sharp breath. A month of food? Probably a month of toiletries too, barring what we brought.

  “It’s the long haul then…” I said with a sigh. I glanced out the window, and the sun had risen quite a bit, marking it as late morning. I face Terra and Diva. “Do either of you sense anything?”

  They both shake their head. Not exactly comforting.

  “Well, just keep an eye out, the invaders should be arriving today. I’ll need help making the corpse pit.”

  “I can do that, but… Mm, what are the requirements exactly? Does it just need to be a pit of sorts?” Terra asks, juice in hand.

  “Just about. I need to link it to the ley line or whatever and throw corpses inside. The deeper the better.”

  “So, the moat? Like we talked about yesterday?”

  “Yeah, but how deep were you planning?” She told me, and… “Yeah, that’ll work. As for everything else, I should have enough stone to work with, and I can work on the pit later.”

  “When do you think those soldiers of yours will be ready?” Terra asks.

  “Mm, evening probably? I briefly looked at them, and they seemed to be coming along just fine. I should have another unit by then…” I paused a moment.

  “To slightly divert this conversation, as you know Faust didn’t wake any of you up for the shift change.” I asked each of them.

  They all nodded. Making this conversation a simple one.

  “Apparently he found something, and he looks like he really wants to say what it is.” I motioned over to the obviously excited man.

  “Yes, I do. I looked over the structure last night, and I learned quite a bit. This tower is pierced right into the heart of the ley line, this entire building is a huge power spot, siphoning power from it, to enhance it. Just looking over it, the tower is far stronger than the fortifications I placed along the wall.”

  “Think you can ape them?” I asked.

  “No, definitely not. I mean, maybe if it does take a full month, I might have middling success, but that’s not what really got me excited. The whole tower is etched with defensive formations.”

  “Defensive, like what you did, or?”

  “I mean, like… like a tower, or a catapult. If I can figure out the formation; I can give us a powerful weapon for when we fight something nasty.”

  Altogether, we agreed that was a good idea. Only… “Alright, you can work on that, but only after you work with Terra to make channels to the moat. I’ll carve out another unit of soldiers, then work in the moat to get it prepped. Well, when she finishes with it.”

  There were nods around.

  “As for the rest, we should keep an eye out for threats, both Terra and Diva can do that. Ruth, you can keep doing what you’ve been doing, in terms of food, but if a fight breaks out you might need to move out.”

  “I can do that.” Ruth replied back calmly, both Terra and Diva agreed with the plan as well.

  With a final confirmation, we split up and started working. I went right to the stone slabs and went cracking away. A few hours later, Ruth dropped off lunch and a drink, both of which I took gratefully. After my meal, I continued.

  I finished, just as the sun was beginning to set. Coincidentally, at the same time, the soldiers were done cooking. With a pop, a rush of air, something settled on the parade ground. In unison, each of the stone soldiers seemed to take a deep breath, and exhale. In unison they shuddered, stone cracking and falling away. In unison, in tune with one another, they stepped forward and marched.

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  I stood and awaited their arrival. As one, they saluted, bringing their fist to their chest, just over where their heart would be and kneeled.

  I looked over them, felt over my connection, the power I held over them. I judged them and found them satisfactory.

  “Stand and arm yourselves.” I stated and gestured to the pile of spears. With a beat of their fists on their chest, they stood and grabbed the stone spears, each carved with basic strengthening and sharpening enchantments.

  The spears hummed in their grasp, with the sole exception being the captain. The moment their hands grasped the spear, it almost cried out. The stone shivered and the lines along the shaft of the spear grew and multiplied. In a few breaths, the spear had changed from common stone to something akin to bronze at a first glance.

  Fully armed, they stood at the ready. They hit the butt of their spears against the earth. Their intent bled over our connection, clear as day. A singular desire, a pure desire. All they sought was purpose.

  “Defend this compound from invaders.” I commanded and they answered back with another crash of spears against the earth. Afterwards, they moved. Breaking into teams of five, they moved to patrol the walls, the wooden stairs leading up to the battlements creaked, but held. Near the front gate, the captain stood with five soldiers at their back.

  I was proud of my new creations and preened under the awed gazes of everyone present. For a few moments, I let the moment hang in the air, luxuriating in it and that was it. Once those moments were over, I asked for help, and we shuffled the newly carved statues into the parade ground and by then, sunset was approaching rapidly.

  Once done, I stood on the battlements beside Terra and Diva. I looked down to the pit below, and further out towards the bamboo groves standing in the distance.

  “Anything?” I asked.

  “I’m picking up something…” Terra said. “Just, not sure what exactly.”

  “Me too.” Diva said. “It’s kind of hard to hear though…”

  “Is it just one something, or multiple somethings?” I asked.

  They both paused and listened.

  ““Multiple.”” They replied in unison.

  “How wonderful…” I said, using all the sarcasm I could muster. I didn’t like the idea of them just hanging around. “Well, keep an eye out. I’m going into the pit, and I’d rather not be ambushed.”

  “Sure thing. It’s not quite done, but… I mean, it should be fine.” Terra said nonchalantly.

  “I’ll let you know if anyone approaches!” Diva in contrast was determined not to fail me.

  Confident, at least somewhat that I had eyes watching me, I leapt off the ramparts, down towards the ground and worked my way into the pit. Instead of soft dirt at the bottom, my feet hit rather solid ground, making it all too easy to get to work.

  I looked up before I began, at the towering wall before me. Getting out was going to be a bother, but I’m sure they wouldn’t just leave me down here.

  I began to etch the sigils into the wall with my ice. It was slow going as I felt out the channels Faust had dug, carrying the ley line’s potent energy with it. I went around the moat and under the small aqueducts Terra had built to keep the natural river still flowing into and out of the compound. It was well built, and clearly, she had put a lot of effort into not just making it but fortifying it against invaders.

  As I marked the final channel, dinner was announced.

  Terra made small stone steps for me to walk up, and when I reached the wall, she reached down to grasp my hand, pulling me up. Though, I did have to jump a bit. Scrambling over the edge, I fell on the rampart, flat on my back for a moment. My body was coated in sweat, not just that, but I was covered in dirt and ice.

  The main gate was shut and barred. Only then did we enter the tower. We ate dinner in silence, and after we finished and cleaned up, it was time for another report.

  “I was able to get the formation mostly finished. It might take me another day or two.” Faust informed.

  “Food situations about the same.” Ruth replied.

  “We wouldn’t happen to have beer or anything in there, right?” I asked, wishing I could have a drink.

  She gave me a rueful glance and shook her head.

  “Damn…” I muttered, Diva chuckled a bit, and even Terra seemed annoyed that we didn’t have any beer.

  “Any sign of the invaders?” Faust asked shortly after.

  “Yeah, I can sense them.” Terra said with a grimace. “They’re kind of hanging around the periphery. Or rather, I don’t think they’ve left the tree line, or bamboo line?”

  We all just shrugged. We looked towards Diva and… Under our combined attention, she raised her hands almost out of instinct but paused and forced herself to speak.

  “I can hear them as well. They… their talking to each other, but I don’t know if it’s a language or if they’re just making noises.”

  Disconcerting to say the least… We let that sink in for a moment. “In light of that… I was thinking we should have double shifts. With one of our sensory people with someone else.”

  “That means one of us will get less sleep.” Ruth offered up her own opinion. “But I’m not opposed.”

  “I can take the extra shift no problem, I can use it to work on the rest of the soldiers, and it would give me more time during the day to work on the corpse pit.”

  “I had a question actually.” Faust raises his hand. “How effective are your soldiers at detecting threats?”

  “Poor. If they fight something, I’ll know, but they don’t make much noise as it is. Also, their vision is bad, they can only see so far, and they see primarily through a kind of spiritual, magic based vision. Which is good for spotting near anything, but anything that can hide even a little can avoid their senses.”

  “So, they rely on you, primarily to sense targets and such.”

  “For the most part. The captain, being a bronze rank, has better senses and a bit more intelligent, but only just.”

  “How many soldiers do you think you can make?”

  “Honestly? Probably three units, and maybe an extra special solider at the silver rank with what we have. It will be pushing it, however.”

  “Oh? A silver rank could be useful.”

  “They would be, once they get done, we won’t have to pull double shifts anymore, as a silver rank is about as smart as us. Give or take.” I answered back.

  “Then I’m not opposed to double shifts then.” Faust answers and each person answers back, thus concluding the planning phase… next…

  “Say, Diva, I had a question.” Diva was taken off-guard that Faust had taken the chance to talk with her. She stuttered for a moment; her hands moved to sign but froze.

  “Y-yes?”

  “I was just wondering, what is it you’re trying to do with your hands? I’ve noticed you keep moving them when you speak.”

  She opened and closed her mouth. Her anxiety getting the better of her, instead, she sent me a pleading gaze.

  “She’s trying to use sign language. Before she fell down the rabbit hole, she was mute, apparently.”

  “Oh? Is that so, well, that’s rather fascinating actually… Would you mind teaching me sometime?” It was rather forward of him, and Diva was blushing up a storm. So much so, that she actually signed. “What’s it mean?” Faust asked.

  “She said she would be happy to.” I answered for the poor girl.

  Happy, Faust began to engage her on the topic, and she showed him the signs and worked him through them. It was a somewhat wholesome moment. Each of us just watched on, drinking our drinks and letting our stomachs digest what we had just ate.

  As we wound down and prepared to take our baths, I proposed something somewhat scandalous.

  “Say… If I may, would anyone mind sharing what brought them here?” My words were like a gunshot in the quiet night. I could feel the tension ratchet up. “Nothing specific, but I figured with us being here as long as we have, we’d all have a concise way of explaining our life without giving too many details.”

  “Why don’t you start then?” Ruth asks. The others were too frozen to respond.

  I nod and clear my throat, they listen in. “My goal, is to reach the very top. I started with and gave them the basic rundown of my background, each nodded, easing as I went.”

  “And how exactly did you get here?” Ruth presses. Her eyes on me. The direct question, it put me on the spot and yet…

  “I was put in a bad position, it was sink or swim, and well, here I am.” I let those words hang in the air. Subtly each of them nodded. Ruth mulled over my words with a dark gaze. Each of them knew I was underplaying what had happened, but nobody said anything.

  Next, was Faust. “There was something I always wanted to know, and well, despite what people told me, I looked for the answer. It didn’t end well.”

  Open ended, but… fitting.

  Next, was surprisingly Diva. “I… I wanted to sing and dance, be an idol…” She went oddly quiet for a moment. Leaving us in the lurch, but nobody spoke or broke the slowly ratcheting tension. “I made a decision to try, regardless…” She finally answered. We all nodded. She seemed a bit more open, but… in doing so, it made it more obvious how dark of a shadow hung over her.

  I expected Ruth to go next, it wasn’t Terra went next.

  “In my hometown, everyone worked in the mines. We would mine precious gems, get shit pay, and we’d be told to be happy about it. Even as they turned around and sold those same gems for top dollar across the world.”

  Mesmerized we listened as she continued.

  “Mining is dangerous work and all, and with poor tools you had to have a talent for it. I always did, worked in the mines since I was a kid, and up until I was an adult. The mines were my life. Now, even then, the mines often collapsed, either because the overseers didn’t care if we mined in a bad part, or if we couldn’t properly brace the tunnel.”

  We shifted in our seats, but nobody spoke out.

  “It was fairly normal for people to get caught in cave-ins. Normally, they’d die rather quickly due to loss of oxygen or get crushed and die instantly. Well, one day we had a cave in, a big one. A good number of people were caught in, but the issue was, they were alive. They were all huddled in a cavern, we could talk with them and everything.”

  She took a moment to gulp down the last of her drink.

  “The mine owners didn’t want us to save them. Said, it was too much risk. Truth was, they didn’t want to pay them. Well, I knew we could get them out, so despite orders, I broke them out… Next thing I know, bam, I’m here.”

  She mimes an explosion. Nobody spoke up. We all looked at her. Each of us could tell, her story was detailed, but there had to be pieces missing. Yet, she had a smile on her face. She seemed almost unburdened by what she had done. Even if she didn’t mention specifics, the intent was clear.

  I highly doubt it went as well as she said.

  “Well, fuck’em.” I said raising my drink high. Everyone followed, giving her a salute. Each of them saying what I did. Each of them meaning it just as much. Afterwards, she seemed a little bit happier. Just a little.

  With her having shared. We all looked at Ruth. Her face was dark. She seemed unwilling, still… she spoke.

  “I wanted to play baseball, all my life. Never really took the chance. One day, I decided to take that chance.” She paused, it seemed like too little, but she added one word. “It didn’t go very well.”

  A chill ran down each of our spines. I couldn’t help but think how uninformative that was, and yet… why was it that I imagined her wielding a blood-soaked bat, surrounded by bodies?

  We settled into a quiet silence. Nobody pressed, nobody pushed. Each of us understood how raw our own scars were. Even Terra who had shared her own scars, still had plenty to share. If she ever did.

  If anything, this conversation confirmed something. I really shouldn’t be asking after people’s past. It was a real mood killer…

  Then again, maybe Amanda was on to something?