Part One
The descenders whirrs as it passes over the rope and echos off the sheer stone walls. Tommy leans back in his harness, keeping the rack steady in front of him. The light begins to fade and Tommy pulls the rack to a stop. He removes a small metal cylinder from his belt and clips it onto his helmet, holding his thumb over the rear flat face. He says a few words now, and a brilliant, focused beam of light flares to life from the front. Fine, shallow markings that encircle the object begin to glow softly. Tommy's eyes squint against the blinding glow, and he moves his thumb to a bigger indentation. He says a few more words, and the beam widens out and then softens.
Tommy opens his eyes fully again, glancing downwards. His eyes re-adjust to the gentle light, and the cave floor far below him shines softly. He sets his hand back on the descender, gently letting out the tension and allowing it to slip past the rope again. He sits back in the harness quietly, and listens to the sound of the rope sliding through the descender. After a short while, he glances down again, the floor now clearly seen below him. He slows down the descender slightly, and readies himself for contact.
The ground comes up to meet the soles of his boots as he steps onto the solid ground. He stands still for a moment, and unclips the descender from the rope. He turns around slowly, taking in the walls of the cave around him. He unclips a small gauge from his belt and holds it out in front of him. Tommy clips the gauge back to his belt, and unclips a small voice recorder.
Pressing a button on the side, he holds the device up to his face and says, "Bottom of the first pitch, mana readings are normal, current time is..." He fumbles around with his sleeve a little, trying to get at his watch, "...1:17 PM"
He presses the side button again, and clips the recorder back onto his belt next to the mana gauge. He turns around again and scans the wall for a moment, his light settling on a low passageway. He sits facing it, and pulls himself through the gap.
While moving through the tunnel, his light seems to brighten. He continues through for a few meters and then it opens into another open space. He pulls himself through and tumbles out of the narrow gap, his equipment rattles and the noise echos off the walls as he lands. Tommy rights himself, and spins slowly in place, moving the light up and down the walls. He brings up the recorder and hits the side button again.
"Most of the way to the second pitch, and the cave structure here is... unfamiliar. It seems like a new space has opened up or expanded." He looks over to the opposite wall, noticing it narrow down to another tight pathway, "The route to the second pitch seems to be intact." He looks to the side, seeing another passageway, "and a new section of cave seems to have become accessible. mana readings are..." Another glance at his gauge before continuing, "...elevated, about 25 glask."
Tommy switches off the recorder again and stands still for a while, glancing back and forth between the two caves. He walks towards the newer entrance and shines his light inside. The branch is a comfortable width for several yards, before turning gently to the right, out of sight.
In an instant, the light on Tommy's helmet flares to an unbearable brightness, his eyes shut reflexively and he reaches his hand up to the light. He quicky says a few words and the light, which is now quite hot, shuts off immediately. He blindly fumbles around with his belt, until he finds a small electric penlight, which he uses to check his mana gauge. He stares, unbelieving, at the device. The pointer is held against the pin at the highest reading.
The cave shudders, and the earth seems to drop out from beneath him. Tommy falls backwards while the cave rends itself apart. He brings his hands to his neck instinctively, shutting his eyes and curling up on the cold stone floor. After a few moments, the cave rests. He unsteadily stands back up, still clutching the pen light and the gauge. He checks himself over for damage, and brushes dust off his chest. He turns back to the pathway he came in from—
"Fuck," he mutters. The roof of the narrow tunnel has partially collapsed from the tremor. He stumbles to the opening of the tunnel and shines his penlight inside, at a solid wall of debris. He uses his free hand to paw at the rubble, removing a few smaller rocks. Most of the blockage is from a few larger unyielding stones. He steps back and checks his gauge again. The needle is slightly bent, but he guesses its measuring somewhere around 30-40 glask. He reaches back towards his helmet light and turns it back on. It cuts a little further into the darkness than it did at the first pitch. The penlight is turned off and clipped back into his belt. He pulls out the recorder again, and starts a new log.
"Still near the bottom of the first pitch... There's been some sort of quake, and I think I'm trapped. I'm unharmed, though. Mana is reading at about 35 glask.. I think it spiked when the quake happened. The time is..." He checks his watch again, the display is blank. Its faintly warm on his wrist. He sucks his teeth, "I don't know. Watch is broken, sorry." He turns off the recorder and sighs, clipping it back onto his belt. He turns around slowly again, his light playing off the walls. He walks to each of the open passageways and listens for moving air. Both are dead silent. He peers again into the newer, unfamiliar passage. His light gently flickers.
Tommy moves back into the larger space, and sits against a wall. He takes out a small water bottle and drinks from it. He figures that it'll probably be at least an hour before somebody notices that he's supposed to be back. He sits still for a minute or so, thinking. He stands up again and looks back towards the unfamiliar passageway, something about it seeming to draw his eyes. He walks over to it, and then stops. His light seems imperceptibly brighter. He walks back to where he was standing before, and pulls out his gauge. He watches the needle closely as he walks again towards the open tunnel. The gauge moves slightly as he approaches the opening. He repeats this a few times to verify, and the results are consistent.
«Strange,» he thinks, and the word echos off the walls. He slowly walks into the passage, far enough to see around the bend. It seems to go in a straight line for as far as he can see. He places his hand on his light, and immediately the beam narrows. His hand jolts back from the light, and he stares at it. He slowly puts his hand back on the light, and the beam widens and then narrows again. He stares again at his hand, before looking back down the passage. He can see further now, but after a while it seems to end. There's no opposite wall for the light to bounce off.
Tommy widens the light beam again and sets off down the passage slowly, his hand trailing on the cave wall. It feels rougher than it should, and the rock feels warmer than the air. As he nears the end of the passage, the light still doesn't reveal anything. The space beyond it must be massive. He wonders if he's stumbled into a new branch of the system, and if it opens back to the surface. His thoughts hang in the air. He comes to the end of the passage, and it opens into the wall of a cliff. There's a small, level surface that seems to come off the wall, but there's nothing else that his light can see. The wall seems to stretch forever in both directions. He takes a few steps backwards into the passage, and then turns around.
"Fuck that," he mutters. As he steps back into the passage, his light dims. He tilts the display of the gauge on his belt up towards him. The needle has fallen back to where it was on the bottom of the first pitch. Everything seems still for a moment, as if the cave itself was holding its breath...