Willen's World

TLC 03/12

Willen's world, underground Earth

Correk and Leira go to Lavender Rock, but not all the way. Correk stops, creates a fireball, forms it into a flat screen, with a red dot indicating their coordinates. Correk moved his fingers into different shapes again and another blue dot appeared with a connecting gold thread that glittered between the two points. Coordinates appeared on the virtual blue screen, pointing away from Lavender Rock. "This is like an iPhone 25.0. , We need to walk just a few yards in that direction. I have the address of someone who should be able to help us find the right Willen. You brought the cash, right?"Yes, yes, I brought the cash," she said. They walked till they got to a cluster of nondescript boulders at the edge of the park.

"How did you even know this was here?" Leira squinted, looking around at the vast terrain of different-sized rocks, cacti and short, twisted trees in similar shades of brown or pale purples. "It all looks the same to me, and I'm from these parts.""There is a detailed map available to anyone in our community. Shows the underground cities beneath all the kemanas in your world."It's really part of Earth, just underground.""Everywhere." "Not exactly everywhere." He pointed to Lavender Rock in the distance. "They're all centered around the giant crystals that are pushed deep into the Earth. The last time the gates were fully open a lot of people from Oriceran wanted to stay. But some are not as suited to be out in public all the time. Like the Willens. They also wanted to make sure they had access to some level of magic better than what the Earth gave off naturally."

"So they fired up these beauties.""Exactly. They poured magic into them, turning these spaces into something more than a relic. They're very powerful. It would be a lot easier to just show you." "It says we're right on top of the entrance. There it is!"

In front of him were three symbols carved into the rock. A circle, a square and the infinity symbol. "What are those?" Leira bent over to get a better look."An alarm system as well as an entrance." Correk waved his hands and the screen in front of him changed into dust, blowing away in the strong breeze. He crouched down and gently pushed against the infinity symbol as the ground beneath their feet rumbled. "What happens if you push the other two?" Leira put out her hands for balance, feeling the vibration in her legs."Knocked out in various ways. Electric shock. Magical sleeping gas. They're the alarm system.""Like one method wasn't enough."The air around them grew colder as rays of gold light spread out from between the pile of rocks in front of them, circling around them.The rocks pulled apart as the ground beneath them ripped open, revealing a set of wide stone stairs that wound deep into the ground. She headed down the stairs, her hand running along the wall. Everywhere she looked there were glowing lavender crystals embedded in the wall, lighting the way. She looked back at Correk who was only a step behind her, as the ground above magically closed over them without caving in. A fine shower of gold dust fell on their heads. "Is every underground place like this? What do you call them? Towns? Cities?" "They're just like places above ground. Some are hives of magical creatures living in caves, one on top of the other. Others are more like villages with a little more space. Depends on the place. The largest is in Santa Barbara. It's called Fairhaven. You'll find a little bit of everything there."

Leira kept walking down as the stairs curved round and round. The lower she got the more light came spilling up the stairs to greet them. The noise picked up as Leira descended the stairs until they finally turned the corner and were greeted by a hearty, "Hello!" from a passing female Light Elf holding on to the hand of a youngster. Leira stopped in her tracks, her mouth open, staring at the scene in front of her. "It's an entire fucking village!" she said in awe. "It's actually a city. Welcome to the city of Hilldale." She was looking at a town square deep under the ground just outside of Austin. In the center of the square was the large lavender crystal. "Lavender Rock is huge," whispered Leira. It was giving off a glow bright enough to light everything around her. Grass surrounded the crystal, swaying back and forth. "I recognize that from Oriceran." A paved road ran around the square and there were shops set back on every side, even flanking the large steps up to the surface. "This is the center of the town down here. There will be fewer people the further out we get. Come on, we need to go exchange your money. There's supposed to be a place on the opposite side of the square."