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Another question occurred to Hector. ‘By the way, uh... why do you--I mean, er, why do you guys all have such weird names?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘It’s just, uh. Y’know. Garovel isn’t exactly a normal name...’

‘When I was alive, it was.’

‘Yeah, but you just said that most reapers aren’t as old as you,’ said Hector. ‘But every reaper I’ve met so far has a weird name like yours.’

‘Ah. You’re wondering why you haven’t encountered a reaper with the name “Jeff” or “Bill” yet?’

‘More or less, yeah.’

‘A few of those exist. The main issue, though, is that it’s just very rare to meet a reaper who was born less than five hundred years ago.’

‘What about Bohwanox? Wasn’t he pretty young? Compared to you, at least?’

‘Yeah. He was a curious one. Having a name like that but not the age to go with it is definitely odd. But I suspect it means that, rather than being old himself, Bohwanox was born in an “old place,” so to speak.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘He was probably born in one of the very few reaper enclaves in the world.’

Hector wanted to ask more about that, but he couldn’t formulate a coherent question before Garovel kept talking.

‘Places like that are EXTREMELY traditional. And very wary of outsiders. So much so, in fact, that I can’t even tell you where one of them is right now. I used to know, but they moved, as they often do. They tend to believe that a nomadic lifestyle is the easiest way to keep themselves hidden in the long-term. And they might be right.’

‘...Why do they want to hide themselves?’

‘Because there are a lot of dangerous people who would probably like to get their hands on a “reaper breeding ground,” as it were.’

‘Hmm.’

‘And you think Bohwanox was one of those reapers?’

‘Probably. No idea why he would have left his community, though. Boredom, maybe. He didn’t seem like he had anything in particular that he was trying to accomplish, outside of just reaping souls. Ah, maybe it was a sense of duty that drove him out into the world.’

It sounded like Garovel had more to say, but abruptly, Hector could sense a new air flow through the rock ahead of them.

“We’re almost to the other side,” said Hector.

Zeff stopped, but only briefly. His pace seemed to increase even more, though Hector wouldn’t have thought that even possible a few moments ago.

Sure enough, the last chunk of rock slid free, and rather than pushing it all the way back through the tunnel, Zeff shoved it forward and outward.

Finally, their digging had reached its end, and Hector completed the last bit of the tunnel while Zeff stepped out to shine his lamplight around.

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((Triple Monday -- Page 1 of 3))
‘Oh, there are loads of theories regarding their origins,’ said Garovel. ‘Personally, I’m a believer of the Ancient Drillers Theory.’

‘Is that what it sounds like?’

‘That people drilled the holes in ancient times? Yeah, pretty much. It’s not much of a theory, admittedly, but it does seem the most plausible explanation to me--certainly more so than the Megavolcanoes Theory.’

‘Megavolcanoes?’

‘Basically, it’s the theory that the holes are perfectly natural and simply the result of volcanic activity from long before humankind evolved on the planet.’

‘Hmm.’

‘The reason that makes no sense, by the way, is because of the way the holes are shaped. They’re very even and go straight down. If they were truly natural formations, then they would have a much more irregular path.’

Hector had to agree. ‘Yeah. They’ve gotta be manmade. And couldn’t they have just been made by destruction users?’

‘Yeah. Who those destruction users were, however, remains a mystery. I’ve heard it said that the holes predate reapers, which would also mean that they predate destruction users, but I don’t know if I believe that.’

A beat passed as Hector thought about that. ‘You only “don’t know” if you believe it? I’d have thought you would tell me it was total horseshit or something.’

‘Well, according to the data, it’s a bit foggy. The holes are supposedly as old as five thousand years, give or take a few centuries. But the very first reapers supposedly began to appear around that same time, too. So it’s hard to tell either way.’

‘Seems like a hell of a coincidence.’

‘No kidding.’

‘I can’t even imagine what that must have been like. Being the first reaper, I mean.’

‘Confounding beyond belief, I’m sure. When I became a reaper, I’d at least had a conception that it could happen and what it might be like. But being one of the first ones? Waking up after your death and then having to figure all this shit out with no guidance to speak of? I don’t think I would have handled that very well.’

‘Do you know who the oldest reaper was?’

‘No. The oldest one I’ve ever known was a guy by the name of Heloxos. I met him right after I became a reaper, and he was already over a thousand years old at that point.’

‘Wow. Is he still around?’

‘No. He was killed by his own servant about a hundred years later.’

‘Why?’

‘Never found out. I knew they hadn’t been getting along, but learning the exact reason was impossible once the deed was done.’

That made sense, Hector supposed.

‘The oldest still-living reaper I’ve ever met is actually Axiolis here.’

Hector blinked and glanced over at Axiolis, who was hovering over Zeff’s shoulder. ‘Seriously?’

‘He said he’s over four thousand years old, and I’m inclined to believe him.’

‘Holy shit...’

‘Yeah. I don’t encounter many reapers older than myself anymore.’

Page 1643

He materialized an iron lining for it, and then added extra layers to it, as well as support beams. Maybe he overdid it a little bit, as the tunnel become much more narrow, with hardly even enough space for two people to walk side by side, but it was better to overdo it than to underdo it, Hector figured. The most important thing was to make sure all the weight over their heads stayed exactly where it was.

Zeff kept digging with his water drills just as he had been, though the narrowed tunnel proved a bit challenging in extricating each new chunk of rock from the blockage. He ultimately decided to just dice up the removed stone so that it could be shoved back through passageway without much concern.

It was taking quite a bit longer than either of them had expected, and even after a solid thirty minutes of working, they were still not through to the other side.

“...How far does this blockage go?” said Hector, beginning to wonder if they were even close to the end yet, because he still couldn’t sense any air flowing all the way through it yet.

“No telling,” said Zeff, though he sounded about as exasperated as Hector felt. “This is the Undercrust. This cave-in could be a mile long, for all we know.”

“Agh...”

“I’m going to try going even faster. Match my pace.”

“...Okay.”

Soon enough, they found a good rhythm. Hector paid close attention to all of Zeff’s movements, making sure to leave space for the man to work for as long as he needed it before filling that space in with iron and pushing onward. He also took over extracting the diced rock from the tunnel so that Zeff could focus entirely on the cutting. Working in unison, they were able to nearly double their tunneling speed.

Yet, even after another half-hour, Hector still could not sense the other side.

At length, Axiolis and Garovel came to check on them. Before the reapers got too close, they asked if it was safe, and Zeff told them it was.

Hector and Zeff didn’t slacken their pace at all.

‘I suppose this is one more reason why Warrenhold isn’t more well-known,’ said Garovel privately.

‘What do you mean?’ said Hector.

‘I’ve mentioned this before, but holes to the Undercrust are preciously rare and have historically been highly sought after. Even with Warrenhold’s bad reputation, I thought it was strange that it would have been abandoned. But this blockage here must have been helping to keep it a secret all these years.’

Hector was reminded of something he’d been wondering about for a while now. ‘Ah... do you know where these holes came from?’

‘No, I do not,’ the reaper said flatly.

Hector expected some sort of quip or annoyed sass about not knowing something. But it didn’t arrive. So Hector decided to push a little. ‘...Really? You don’t even have any theories?’