Of Caverns and Casters ✓ [TLRQ #1]

Chapter 1 - Leavi

When I was three, I wanted to be a princess. But there are no princesses in the High Valleys. Everyone knows that's only in fairy tales.

Just a few months ago, I wanted to work as a scientist in Erreliah, my home and the shining capital of the world of research. Instead, my mother sent me to the city of Karsix.

Now, all I want is to stay alive.

It's curfew in Karsix, and the underground city wears a darkness so thick, I can feel it. It renders my pale skin invisible, and my long black hair blends into the solid shadows. As I finish shoving my shirts and leather pants into my satchel, my hands shake. Taking a deep breath, I wipe them up and down the side of my leg, as if that will somehow steady them. Focus, Leavi. Panicking is pointless.

I have a plan.

I will make it out.

I will not get caught.

Snapping back to my task, I grope for the cloth-wrapped instruments I stole from the laboratory earlier that day. One falls, and I startle at the glass piece's muted tink! In the silence of my empty dormitory, it feels like a million alarms announcing my escape.

Every possible way this could go wrong flashes through my mind.

Crossbows click in unison as I race for the exit. 'Ready... On my mark... Fire!' Agony runs through my back as the bolt pierces my skin. I fall to the ground, screaming out. They call, 'Stay back! She could be infected!' Blood drains onto the ground, slipping from my dying body like hope from my foolish plan—

Or, instead, I'm alone in a tunnel, darkness swallowing my plague-ridden body. Blisters cover me inside and out, pressing on my lungs as I rasp in my last breaths—

Or maybe snow frosts over me, the numbing cold of a topside winter lulling me to a final sleep—

I shove the thoughts away. That won't happen.

I have a plan.

I will make it out.

I will not get caught.

I stoop to recover the fallen test tube. My fingers flutter over its sides, searching for cracks. I only stole what I needed, and if I break it now—please, please, please don't be broken...

My pent-up breath escapes in a relieved sigh. The piece is whole.

I gingerly wrap it back up, placing it on top of everything else. With my hands empty of a task, I stare at the bag through the dark. Despite the blackness, I feel like I can see it. I've memorized every inch of the crisp leather, down to the tiny scratch from the journey here. I don't mind the flaw; my mother is the one who fretted over what my new luggage would look like when I arrived in Karsix. No, I memorized that bag for a different reason.

Before the move here, it mocked me across my old room, representing everything I didn't want to travel toward and everything I didn't want to leave. Now that I need it, though, I've fixed on it, a single light of hope in the obsidian tunnels surrounding the city. As I sling it over my shoulder, the panic bleeds away for a moment, leaving a cold stone of truth settling in my gut.