"Welcome to Hengiest."
I just stared in amazement.
It has a name too?
This has to be much more than a refuge camp.
How many people live here?
"Well what are you waiting for?"
I wrenched my head from the clouds, and stepped inside of the painting before me.
The entrance led to a winding cave, we had to crouch down just to move through.
Edwards pulled the torchlight from the wall and squeezed his way to the front.
I followed closely behind.
All through the twists and turns.
As we descended deeper and deeper into the caves.
There were several branching paths within them.
I wondered just where they lead.
Edward chose the paths instinctively as if he had been living here his whole life.
Perhaps he had.
We traversed those tunnels for perhaps more than five minutes straight.
By now we were deeper underground than I ever believed possible.
I was starting to see why they called it 'impossible' that even the humans could find this place.
And just as that thought dawned on me, we had arrived.
A sight unlike anything I could've dreamed of lay in front of me.
And my breath caught.
An entire city. All underground. All unknown.
A massive ravine stretched out before us, the ceiling high above, jagged with black stone spikes.
From those spikes hung hundreds of lanterns casting golden light across the enormous chamber like fireflies.
Far below, built into the ravine walls and hanging over bridges, were wooden huts, rope ladders, lookout towers, market stalls.
Some structures jutted out on stilts, others clung to the cliffside like stubborn roots.
All of them glowed with life.
Voices echoed faintly from the depths.
And it's a Gimen-only city…
It truly began to dawn on me.
This is the capitol of the Gimen.
The central hub of my people.
The cities, the infrastructure that humans had on the surface.
All we could do was replicate it underground.
But just as I believed of my old village.
These people did a ridiculously good job with what they had.
My mouth agape, I walked ahead of Edwards. Desperately curious as we descended from the ceiling we had entered from.
"Let's take the lift." Caruthers remarked.
The what?
Edwards turned and led us to a large wooden platform, illuminated by lanterns on the sides, with what looked like a dozen ropes holding together on a larger wooden frame which seemed to go all the way down to the bottom.
A truly bizarre sight.
The biggest feat of ingenuity I had ever seen prior was Uncle Bulso's goalposts.
This was completely foreign to me.
"Five-hundred foot drop, ya know." Caruthers was talking to me. Evidently calmed down from before.
"We figured we needed an easier way to get down, right?"
"You'll see, anyway." he said, grinning and turning away.
Everyone else stepped onto this mysterious platform.
And so I followed.
Tongstil walked over to one of the ropes and gave it three sharp downward tugs.
And with that, and a slight rattle, we were moving down.
I recoiled and looked down.
What the hell is this place?
As we got closer and closer, I could hear more of the hustle and bustle of the townsfolk
I got a small sense of just how many Gimen lived here.
I could hear casual conversations.
Even an argument.
I could hear children playing on the wooden pathways outside the houses.
For a moment, I imagined what it would be like if my family were here.
And then it dawned on me.
Why the hell weren't we?
This place is untouched… while we were getting brutalized?
Why are they sticking their hand out to help the only survivor of a tragedy they could've easily prevented…
I listened closer as we descended.
I could hear people laughing.
This place, these Gimen.
They're living in peace.
I didn't know what to feel.
But I wanted to find out more.
"You alright Sune? The younger Gimen usually more talkative right here!"
I stayed silent, didn't look up at him.
Then I asked, not knowing how he would react.
"Why didn't you accept people from the neighbouring villages before they were destroyed?"
His smile faded, his head tilted slightly in the air, pondering on my question.
He knew what I was getting at.
That they had left my mother to die.
Tongstil folded his arms and stared at me with melancholy, while Edwards kept peering into the distance.
"Well it's a complicated matter Sune. But there are a few main reasons."
I lifted my head up. Hungry for an answer.
"The main one is our population. We're extremely limited in our resources, in space, food, all the rest."
"I'm sure they would have rather gone hungry in peace than been butchered with full bellies." I retorted.
No. I have to keep my cool…somewhat.
If they want to kick me out, or worse, there's nothing I can do about it.
Powerless. Always.
I regretted saying that.
Caruthers turned and looked in my eyes directly. Clearly slightly offended or annoyed, but wearing a mask of empathy.
I was unsure how real it was.
He turned away.
"That may be the case, Sune. But that's not the only factor."
"The higher our population, the more attention we attract." he said. As I considered what I hadn't before.
He continued.
"They have all the remaining villages mapped out Sune. All they need are the resources, the planning, the organisation, permission, and then they strike the villages they already have charted on their compass of blood."
"But never uncharted territory. Even with all that power. They refuse to take any kind of risk. Play on any kind of level playing field. We're like flies to them, and yet they need a plan of action before they swat us. It's pure cowardice."
I could hear the frustration building in his voice. Then silence as he swallowed it down.
"So… if they know villagers are living somewhere, and when they arrive, there are none.. they will start to question why. Where they're going. Where they're hiding. You understand?"
So my family died to protect all these other people.
It made sense. But I was not after sense.
Caruthers' question wasn't rhetorical, either, he was looking for me to acknowledge that what he was saying was true for whatever reason.
I nodded faintly and turned away.
He noticed my dissatisfaction.
He could've ignored it as I let it go, but he still felt the need to convince me for some reason.
"Look— Sune. There's much more to it, I swear to you. It's hard to explain. Perhaps through living here you'll understand one day."
I scratched my head and stared down at the floor.
"Mhm."
Only then did he give up.
"We're here."
I looked up once again.
We were on the ground.
A bulky looking Gimen approached us.