4
Seven days later.
The deepest excavation point in the capital, the Planet’s Navel, was suddenly all over the news.
“This is a big deal! Super big!”
They were four thousand eight hundred meters below the surface. The youngest girl, Musha, was running around, her expression entirely different from usual.
“Everyone, listen! Apparently we weren’t mining for iron this whole time! Look at this article!”
A new resource mankind would obtain.
One that is neither gas, nor coal, nor petroleum. The Empire had reported this to the rest of the world: a magma-like new energy that flows beneath the planet’s crust had been observed.
“…Seriously?”
Eve was aflutter, of course.
The excavation that had continued for an entire year was likely to go down in mankind’s history as a great feat. And she probably felt proud knowing that.
“Say, Alice,” she said. “Discovering a new energy source is a big deal, right? It is, right?”
“…Oh, y-yes. The TV did say that. You watched it too, Eve.” Alicerose still seemed unsure of the news. “Maybe we’ll all suddenly become famous?”
“And then what?”
“TV programs and news writers would call us. We’d go on TV and talk about how much we struggled up to now and how it was like to get the job done. Maybe we’ll be able to have autobiographies that will be turned into movies.”
“And then what?”
“We’d never have money troubles ever again, Eve!”
“That sounds amazing, Alicerose!”
““Yay!”” the two sisters squealed as they hugged.
The other workers were also trying to imagine their futures and were so restless they were hardly getting any work done.
“Is everyone here?” Their leader, Drake, had come down in the lift. “I have great news. It seems that His Excellency is giving every miner working here a bonus as soon as we reach the five-thousand-meter mark.”
“No way!”
“I couldn’t be happier!”
The entire excavation site was excited.
Giving his coworkers a sidelong glance, Crossweil snuck behind the lift. His comm in his breast pocket had been blinking since just earlier.
“How is it on-site?”
“I’m sure you can hear the excitement,” he answered. “Everybody’s enthusiastic. Especially with a bonus to look forward to.”
“Ah-ha-ha. It’s so easy to find a way into the hearts of the citizens.”
He could hear Yunmelngen laugh on the other end. According to the prince, he had finally recovered in the last few days. His physicians had forbidden him from excursions, however.
“You should be grateful to us. We proposed the bonus to the Lord. We told him it was only proper to give the miners extra with the incoming astral power and Festival of Spiritualism.”
“…Astral power?”
“That is the temporary name of the energy you are digging up. The Eight Great Elders took it from pictographs on some very old ruins. The name is quite poetic, wouldn’t you say?”
“Well, that’s neither here nor there, as far as I’m concerned.”
“So, also, Crow…” He caught a sudden burst of playfulness in Yunmelngen’s tone. “Are you sad you haven’t seen us?”
“What?”
“We’re sorry. Our physician still forbids us from any excursions, and we have our position as Crown Prince to think of, as well as preparations that must be made for the Astral Power Festival of Spiritualism. We understand how you feel, crying night after night as you are unable to reunite with us. Shall we send a personal picture for you to keep?”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Ahhh! Wait a moment! …You’re no fun, Crow.” The Crown Prince sighed. “…The Lord and security will be present at the festival. We likely won’t be able to speak at the event.”
“Then we can meet after.”
“Yes! Now you’ve got it. That is what we wanted to say as well!”
Crossweil wished the prince had just come out and said it then, but before Crossweil could tell the prince that, Yunmelngen was already moving on.
“Then we shall convene the day after the festival. Three in the afternoon at the clearing!”
“What about my plans—”
“We will be waiting! We have another meeting with the Eight Great Elders! See you later!”
“…Geez, I can never get a word in edgewise.”
The prince had already hung up. Crossweil was used to this, of course, seeing as how it happened all the time.
“…The day after the festival. Basically he’s saying to keep my schedule clear.”
From four thousand meters below the surface, Crossweil looked up toward the direction of the Crown Prince.
However…
Neither of them knew that their meeting would never come to be.
And of course, Crossweil nor the Crown Prince had any way of knowing that had been their final conversation as humans. The Imperial capital’s collapse was approaching…
“In seven more days.”
The small room was dim—very dim.
A secret underground audience chamber below the Imperial assembly.
Upon closing the door, the secret room was fully isolated from the outside world. Not a single sound could escape. Even the Lord could not intercept the clandestine meetings that occurred in this room.
And there, in that very space…
The eight men and women known as the sages of the Empire sat facing one another.
“The inexplicable energy, the energy that the Astrals called astral power, has made an appearance.”
“The enormous power that flows within the core of the planet. In the last century, no one has seen it rising to the surface.”
“A vortex.”
“It is overpowering. It will burst forth with a force even greater than a volcanic eruption. If the eruption were more powerful than we project it to be, it would easily cross the predicted explosion threshold.”
Yes.
All of it would be a misfortunate accident—fully unintentional. The new energy five thousand meters below the surface would be too powerful and would blow away the entire excavation site along with the people surrounding it. And it would be no one’s fault. In fact, no one would be able to prove that anyone had planned it at all.
“The Lord, Crown Prince, and other important persons watching the Festival of Spiritualism.”
“Not a single one of them will survive.”
Both the Lord and his successor would disappear. Once the supreme authority figures of the Empire were gone, the nation would likely be greatly shaken.
“Only the Eight Great Elders shall remain.”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login