Phoenix

Tunnels

She followed Oroton downstairs and into Tavern. It was surprisingly empty, with the exception of a few stragglers lying in their hammocks, fanning themselves against the heat of mid-day.

Oroton pointed to the bar and instructed her to pull on a tap marked Paradise Beer. Ash didn't think they served beer at the Tavern, so when she wrenched the lever down, she wasn't expecting beer to come out. She looked at Oroton when nothing happened.

"Follow me," he said, stepping past her, through the bar area towards the storage room out the back, past boxes and crates marked 'Antique's Trading Incorporated', the name of Eli's company. "Eli provides the necessities we can't grow or produce on the island. Medical supplies mostly. Some years back, we lost a crop to a tsunami and had to re-build. We would've starved if it wasn't for Eli."

They stopped at the far wall and Oroton tapped his foot on the cardboard covered floor they stood on, eliciting a hollow knocking sound. "The lever you pulled is the key to our cellar." He pulled the cardboard cover aside to reveal a square trapdoor, which had come ajar at one edge. "Would you like to do the honours?"

She should've been surprised, but the island had already been so full of the unthinkable, she barely had any room left to be shocked. She bend down and grasped the corner of the trapdoor, pulling it up. It was heavier than she expected, and Oroton moved forward to help her.

A blast of cold air rushed at her face and, blinking against it, she peered inside. A set of stairs led to a large, cavernous room, which was too dark to decipher details until Oroton withdrew a torch from a pocket of his robe and flicked it on. Ash descended the stairs into the darkness, unable to wait for the added light. Her breath caught deeper in her throat the further she descended, and when Oroton's torch finally filled the space, she felt her heartbeat quicken. This was no ordinary cellar. This is a magnificent limestone cave.

All around them, limestone glistened with mineralised residue and echoed with each drop of moisture that managed to leak through the rock. Wooden wine racks moulded to fit nooks in the walls, which were stacked with old wine-bottles, their labels too damaged to decipher their vintage. Milky stalactites clung from the ceilings in clusters and chandeliers fashioned from quartz crystals attached to spider thin thread rippled the torchlight.

Oroton took Ash's arm and led her deeper into the cave. As they passed row upon row of glass bottles, Oroton murmured under his breath. '2020... 2025... 2030... 2035... ' She shivered from a combination of the stagnant cold, and the realisation that he was counting through the years.

He stopped at 2050 and his hand brushed a collection of dark blue bottles with swan-shaped necks and faded gold labels. They make a gentle ting as they brushed together. "Did you know 2050 was the last year of Ace vintages? The city shut down its vineyards to make room for housing. It took them almost fifty years to realise it takes too much water to grow grapes in the desert."

Ash remained silent. She didn't know this.

"... and now they've developed a synthetic replacement for alcohol. The Injectashot—pure alcohol in a disposable syringe that can be injected straight into the bloodstream. It's cheaper, and only requires a small laboratory to produce it." He shakes his head. "Madness."

Ash barely heard this last part. She was busy inspecting the bottles, noting how clean several of the 2050 vintages were, not covered in dust and cobwebs like the others around them. "Seven," she said, tracing the clean bottles with her hand. They formed the number seven.

Oroton's eyes widened. "You're the first person to notice before being shown." He grasped the first, clean swan-necked bottle and turned it in its rack, following the same process with the six remaining bottles. The rack popped forward with a click. "Three to the right and four down. Seven the key to heaven." He heaved the rack towards him. It swung open, revealing a long, narrow tunnel behind it. "After you."

Ash had never been claustrophobic, but down there in the cold dark tunnel, with the sound of trickling water echoing off the walls, she began to imagine the tunnel closing in around her, or filling up with water, trapping her inside. The end couldn't come quick enough and when she saw the twinkle of daylight shining between the cracks in the rock, she breathed a sigh of relief and walked faster.

Only it wasn't daylight shining through the cracks. The closer she got, the more she realised the lights were a cool shade of blue and too low on the rock to belong to the sun. Oroton dimmed his torch and pressed his finger over his lips. "Glow-worms. We must be quiet or they'll turn off their lights.'

Ash stared about, both revolted and allured at the concept of worms that glowed. The island, it seemed, would never stop astounding her.

The worms led them to a double fork in the tunnel. Oroton stopped and spoke to her in a hushed voice. "As you know, each Wanderer belongs to one of the four forces of nature, earth, fire, wind and water. What you might not know is that they're also housed according to their forces." He gestured. "Down the first tunnel, you'll find the Aqua Mizuri house, or water house. Miki is its leader and her dormitories are located behind the limestone cliffs you were told to swim to during your induction."

He gestured at the second prong. "Down there you'll find Shorty's domain, the Spiritus House, or House of Air. His dormitories are located in the hollow of the big tree where you had your climbing induction."

His hand swept to the third prong. "Gunner's House, the House of Earth known as Terra Flora. His students take refuge in the cave behind the waterfall where you had your very first induction. The large boulders around the entrance form a perfect disguise."

He stepped towards the fourth bring. "And finally, the Phoenix House, the smallest of the four houses, but growing. I believe that you will make a fine new addition." He pushed her gently in the back. "Go on then."

She began down narrow tunnel, Oroton falling into step behind. There were no more glow-worms to light their path, so she used her hands as a guide, trailing them along the rough walls on either side of her body as she walked.

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