Eight Intertwined

94 - Morlock

When morning arrived the following day, the entire atmosphere seemed to change. It was a brand new day, and Tressa was more than happy to embrace it as such. She knew it would be a long time before she was truly able to abandon her thoughts of the events that she had seen beneath the grounds of Quarrycrest, assuming she was able to at all, but she didn't care. She was going to make the day her own. Tressa was tired of being caught up in her own fears about the world around her, and putting one foot in front of the other was the best way to fix it. She owed herself this much. 

The travelers were all on high alert, readying themselves for whatever difficulties were going to face them as they planned their impromptu revolution. Tressa still couldn't believe they were doing something so massive, but she knew that this was what they were meant to do. She couldn't just leave town after everything she had seen happen because of Morlock's lack of care. She was going to try and help those who had suffered under his rule, and even though she was determined to not think of the day before if she could help it, she refused to abandon those who had suffered under his heel. 

The first step of making a difference was finding the funds to start all of this in the first place. Money was what pushed the world ever forward, and Tressa was all too aware of that as a merchant. She was the one in charge of gathering the leaves necessary for the next step of this journey, and it was a duty she did not intend on taking lightly. Quarrycrest was filled with opportunity, and she would make her aspirations into a reality as soon as she possibly could. 

Midmorning had arrived, and Tressa was walking through the streets of Quarrycrest with her journal in her hand. She knew quite a bit about Quarrycrest from the last day, but she wanted to pursue as much knowledge as she could before starting her operations. The nameless traveler who dropped the journal previously had been through Quarrycrest, and Tressa could only hope that he would be able to provide her with a little bit of information about what she should have been trying to do while in town. 

Every journey is a vast sea of opportunities, but none are quite so precious as our encounters with others. Sharing a connection with someone new, for however brief a time, is unforgettable. For it is a chance to learn more about others and yourself. I'll rest here tonight in Quarrycrest. Rumor is there's gold in these hills, and many a prospector has set their eye on it. I wonder what encounters might await me here?

Tressa clapped the journal shut and tucked it away in her bag. She certainly hoped there was gold here as the rumors had claimed, though she supposed only time would be able to tell. Tressa assumed the whispers were credible though, because if they were false, Morlock wouldn't have claimed such an iron grip over the city to begin with. He wanted the gold to be found in the bluffs of the area, and he would do anything to get his hands on it. That was the root of the problem. 

He wasn't the only one searching for beauty here though, and as Tressa wandered deeper into the streets of Quarrycrest, she realized just how many miners there really were. She could only assume that most people had come to Quarrycrest with hopes of getting their hands on gold and riches beyond their wildest dreams, but instead, they had been drafted to work under Morlock. The entire city seemed a little bit more sinister with that in mind. 

The mining platforms that lined the edge of the city were as terrifying as they were impressive, and for a few moments, all Tressa could do was stare as she craned her neck back to try and take in the full scale of the structures. Countless men were digging away at the bluffs, desperately searching for even the slightest traces of something that glimmered. Their determination was admirable, but Tressa's stomach twisted at the idea that it would probably all go into another man's pockets. The more she thought about it, the more she hated Morlock, a man she had never met but would no doubt cross paths with soon. As long as he was destroying so many lives with his desire for capital, it was just a matter of time.