Hensia Doesn't Say Goodbye
Morning.
Her small room contained a bookshelf, her bed, a small desk, and a few stuffed animals. Sitting on the desk was her backpack and a few other objects, a stone with a whirl in it she felt certain was some sort of fossil, a chunk of some ancient metal she guessed belonged to some pre-cataclysm device, and a weathered figure that appeared to be some kind of stone owl.
None of them had been taken by the auction house, so she was permitted to keep them. They neither had any kind of mystical ability nor particular value as curios.
The young girl had been awake for a little while now. She was on duty today.
And it was going to be her first opportunity to go somewhere new. The tunnel had barely been touched yet, the Hensia League had only just cleared it for full exploration... and she was going to be one of the first Artifact Hunters in town cleared for full exploration!
Needless to say, the white-haired girl was filled with excitement, but that didn't mean she forgot about how important preparations were. Food, water, tools, a flashlight... and of course...
She placed one hand against her chest, clutching her necklace in one hand. For actually finding an artifact, it was the most important part.
Imarui adjusted her hat, and pulled her goggles down over her eyes. She pulled on her backpack, smiling to herself.
She wasn't going to be exploring old tunnels anymore today! This was all new territory!
The silvery-haired young girl opened the door to her room and made her departure.
"Good luck, Ima!" she heard one of her friends, a blue haired girl named Sana, call to her as she sprinted down the hall excitedly. Grinning, she waved towards her.
Turning the corner, Imarui made her way to the front door.
"We will be awaiting your return, Imarui."
The source of the voice was a tall woman in a black dress with her dark brown hair in a tight bun. Valery was one of her caretakers, one of the two younger ladies who helped run the orphanage.
Imarui always felt she was a little too strict, though.
Still, she gave a bright and cheery nod. She'd heard that phrase plenty.
It was customary in Hensia never to say goodbye, after all. Artifact hunting was dangerous, and many of Hensia's residents engaged in it. It was a part of their culture. So if you told someone goodbye, it implied you knew you might never see them again.
So it was simple.
You never said goodbye.
"I'll be back!" Ima declared brightly.
It was a sunny, bright day in Hensia. The orphanage was on the north side of the town, near a heavily overgrown old ruin that was impossible to see under all the plants growing over it. It was a large, rectangular building with a rounded roof, standing on stilts that angled outwards like many other buildings in Hensia. Surrounding town was the remains of ancient buildings, trees growing in and around them... to the west it was more open, but to the east the foliage and the ruins simply grew denser and denser.
The east of Hensia was more dangerous.
Imarui sprinted down the steps and into the street. The tunnel had opened up on the opposite side of town, so...
She had a little ways to go!
"Good luck, little hunter!" a familiar voice to her right called. It was the baker, a bearded older man hauling some flower home on the back of his Carrier Bird. The green and purple plumage of the large, long-necked, flightless bird was surprisingly brilliant in the morning sun.
"Thank you, you too!" she called to him, before hurrying off down the street. Around her were people busying about their business... Carrier birds, a few small floating wagons... the local inn was bustling with all the hunters who had showed up from out of town, too.
But there was no time to hang around and take it in!
It looked like jaws had opened up in the earth. A yawning chasm down into the darkness, rimmed with jagged fragments of stone and ancient roadways.
No matter how bright it was, there was no way you were doing to see to the bottom down there.
There used to be a building where the chasm now was, one that thankfully no-one had been inside of at the time. The tunnels beneath Hensia were well known, but this was much closer to town then any of the others... and it had been the first collapse in... Imarui didn't even know when the last collapse had been.
But it had been pretty long ago.
Around the edge of the chasm, on the side closest to town, the Hensia Artifact Hunter's League had done what it could to ensure the hunters at least made it down safely by setting up small, chain-powered elevators. Each was big enough for one or two people, depending on their size, and could hold a great deal of weight. Given the size of some artifacts, that was important.
She approached the nearest elevator.
In front of it was a middle-aged man in a tall hat and grey clothing.
"Your badge?" he asked.
Proudly, Imarui fished her badge from a pocket on her backpack and raised it in her hand. Emblazoned with the abbreviation 'HAHL', it was a sure sign of one's membership of the league. Hunters from out of town would have had to obtain a temporary license, but that was definitely not going to be an obstacle when a potential bounty like this was on the line.
"You may pass," he began, before turning to look at her as she walked by, "We'll see you again, won't we?"
"Of course!"
With that, she stopped just ahead of the elevator, looking around. While she was eager to explore, she was just as curious about the out of town hunters who were around as well. She hadn't seen this many people from outside Hensia for as long as she could remember...
... And maybe, just maybe, she was more nervous about descending into the darkness then she'd ever admit.
@Raineh Daze@Rune_Alchemist@KoL@Pyromania99@Searat@AzureKnight@ERode
