Cut the Darkness

Cut the Darkness

                The darkness in the cavern surged and roiled. Though not alive, it was not ordinary shadow. It was the unfortunate side effect of well-intentioned magic and was normally stored in bins designed specifically for it. But the bins were long since full; and the machine that accidentally made darkness still forged on.

                Once the machine had served its purpose, forging a wide variety of construction materials for those who had entered this world. They had come through a portal that exited deep in the ground, hiding themselves while they studied the world they had come to. Yet they had not hidden deep enough.

                Their underground complex was destroyed by a terrible creature of great power. It followed them as they fled; breaching their long safe world. Long would they rue the day curiosity led them to explore the possibility of a portal to another world.

                The cavern was deep in the ruins of the facility, but it didn't contain the machine. The machine was further in still trying to complete its very last order, jammed halfway. Without someone to unjam or turn it off it had remained on for millennia. When the darkness bins had burst the pollution had flooded out, sweeping through cracks of this ruinous path the terrible creature had taken.

                All the land above and around the facility was overwhelmed with the darkness. Despite the terror of its emergence the darkness was mostly harmless. It clung together, and to anything that touched it, but came off easily enough. But without sunlight the farms and trees in the valleys of the hidden region withered and died. The people moved, just in case the darkness had some effect on them.

                Soon a large area was abandoned except for a few large hilltops, and very little lived except a handful of hilltop copses. Over time the darkness would rise and flood into new valleys, causing more and more trouble.

                A handful of methods to deal with the darkness were developed, though no matter what was tried it seemed to be indestructible. The most effective seemed to be storing it - deep wells were dug, lowering the level of darkness enough that the land could be reclaimed. Eventually one of these wells pierced the upper levels of the facility; yet the darkness within was too thick to pierce (and also flooded the well).

                It was through this well - and into the cavern the well had pierced - that light suddenly appeared. This wasn't ordinary light, just as the darkness was not ordinary darkness. This light pushed the darkness back, thrusting into the corners of the room and somehow making them blacker than black.

                Through the small hole in the ceiling wriggled an armoured form. With exceptional grace she dropped to the ground, landing on both feet lightly after the six foot drop. In one hand she held a blade that glowed. It was the source of the light that pushed back the darkness, cutting a path through it. Another sword was sheathed on her back.

                Her eyes scanned the room. Quite the mess, she thought. Forcing back the darkness had revealed the ruined room. Rubble from the gap above littered the room, alongside cracks in the walls from either the slow shifting of the earth or the cataclysm that had ruined the complex. A few shelves and long abandoned boxes were about - it looked like this was once a store room.

                The woman who had entered the room was Dytja. She had studied the stories of the locals and learnt of the darkness's slow expansion. To them, it was a thing barely noticed over the generations. For Dytja, immortal and adventurous, it was a problem she should solve as soon as possible.

                Acquiring the blade she held in her hand had taken a while. It had been discovered a long time ago then lost; a fabled blade that pushed back the darkness. Of course, despite that one useful quality it wasn't truly useful - it did not harm the dark. Dytja suspected it had once been a special tool used to push the darkness back, and then some idiot had hacked it into the shape of a sword. It wouldn't be the first time someone had done such a thing.

                Despite being well prepared, she hadn't known what to expect at the bottom of the well. Rumour had said darkness 'burst forth', so there was a good chance the well led to the source or at least near it. Finding a facility through the hole was a good sign; far more likely that it wasn't something she'd have to stab.

                She waved the blade around in search of the exit. In the middle of the south wall she found it; a still closed door. Despite looking quite ordinary it had no handle - likely magical. Dytja advanced upon it carefully. When she drew close it swung open, revealing more darkness behind.

                As she pushed forwards the darkness pealed back to reveal a corridor that extended in both directions. Time to take a guess, she thought, and forged onwards.

                Several hours later Dytja was deep in the facility, poking around amongst a bunch of machines. She was sure, now, that one of the machines was responsible. Examining some earlier she'd discovered the bins and through some careful poking what the bins contained. It seemed likely that a machine was actively producing darkness somewhere in the facility, its bin fallen or broken through overuse. The only alternative she could think of was a massive, leaking bin, which would at least have an end.

                The machines in the current room were small and used for refining or joining construction materials. Stacks of unused raw materials were lined up neatly beside completed materials even though thousands of years had passed. The workers who had once managed the machines - possibly even machines themselves - had left much behind. The machines and resources abandoned in the facility were probably invaluable, but Dytja didn't care. She wasn't here to get rich.

                When the huge double doors at the far end of the room slid open at her approach she found what she was looking for. Five large machines dominated the room, haphazard piles of metal bars in front of each. Large entry containers and a few bits of raw ore here and there led Dytja to assume that the machines were smelters.

                That didn't matter much, though. What mattered was the blinking lights set into the control panel of one machine; and the damaged, leaking bin attached to it. Bingo, thought Dytja. Although the machine was on, whatever function it was performing was quite silent - perhaps it was in some form of standby only?

                Blade before her, she made her way over to the control panel. The shorthand on it was a mystery, even to her, but she was fairly certain that the blinking purple light meant that something had gone wrong. With little to go on, she flicked the single green switch in the top right in hope that it was the on off switch.

                The machine rumbled and groaned, and the lights on the control panel quickly flickered off. As the last few lights went out, the machine made a rather loud 'chnk' noise. It worried Dytja a bit. Next was a creaking sound from the back of the machine - Dytja almost leapt away from the controls to check what was happening.

                She was just in time to see the large darkness-storage bin once attached to the back of the machine as it finished toppling over. She heard the thud of its fall at the same time as the flood of escaping darkness hit her. It was so thick that it pressed in around her, reducing the light of her sword to less than arm's length.

                After a little while the sword of light gradually pushed the darkness back, further and further, until Dytja could see the room once more. Fuck, she thought. That's probably going to have consequences up above.

                With the machine off her mission was done; but there was more she wanted to do. Rather than leave she forged deeper into the facility - searching for information, and something in particular...

                When Dytja emerged almost two days after entering the well, it was with many useful tools. She was also quite a bit larger than when she had gone in - more than double her size, in fact, having grown to almost four metres in height. It had been necessary to bring the tools with her.

                What had she brought? Vacuums designed to clean up spilt darkness, large and intended for industrial work. Spare bins, and large bins, for the vacuums so that the spreading darkness could be cleaned up. Most interesting to those above, however, was that she brought with her more of the swords of light.

                Or, rather, more of the tools the sword had once been. Simple cylindrical devices made of a stone that could be induced into producing magical light. Despite Dytja's advice, she was fairly certain someone would carve one up again...

                It wasn't her worry anymore, though. The darkness had been stopped, the future of the people who chose to live near it secured. A huge world lay ahead for her to explore. She said some goodbyes, returned the sword to its owner, and hit the road again.

                Hopefully she'd never have to be back - she had spent some time thoroughly breaking the untouched machines, after all. The problem would just repeat itself if some idiot made it down there and left one on again.