09-11-2026, 08:49 PM
Karim watched the last red tower dissolve into the storm and turned his attention to the city ahead, but there was almost nothing left to orient by. Snow had consumed streets, walls, cars, signs, and the ordinary landmarks by which a person understood where he stood. It was unsettling to his bones, but as he glanced at the other Dominions around him, he grit his teeth and hardened his resolve to face anything out there.
Ascendancy stood ahead of the group, one hand raised slightly toward his comms as the Kremlin spoke in his ear. The six Dominions had spread naturally around him, close enough to see one another through the shifting white. Theron remained with them, bundled against the cold, his face mostly obscured but his unmistakably alert attention.
The Dominions had trained and worked together enough that very little required saying. Two came forward while the others widened behind them, each finding a place in the work almost by instinct. Theron stepped clear as the changing formation around him suddenly swelled with the Power.
Plunging head into the snow, like a spear thrust into the belly of a beast, a tunnel compressed outward as the Dominions worked, leaving darkness where solid snow had been moments before. Karim issued instructions about the direction of the tunneling based on the map in his visor, trying to follow the invisible street beneath their feet and avoid inadvertently crushing into the side of a permanent structure.
But the streets were filled with abandoned cars, left behind like the skeletal remains of an abandoned meal in the back of a cave. The first time they encountered a pack of vehicles, he ordered the halting of all channeling, and approached to determine the best way to proceed. They couldn’t shove the vehicles out of the path. Nor could they crush and walk over their surface: that completely undermined the purpose of clearing a path in the first place for first responders.
It was the Ascendancy’s orders that redirected their path.
“We tunnel above vehicle height. How much must we compact the snow beneath us to carry the weight of tracked vehicles?” He asked, turning to Karim.
Snowcrete wasn’t Karim’s area of expertise, but he understood density and support. A couple moments of researching on his visor’s HUD and he gave his best guess.
“To drive safely across compacted snow, the snow layer generally needs a density of about 500 kilograms per cubic meter, for tracked vehicle, let’s say 600 to be safe.”
“And how do we know if we’ve achieved that threshold?” The Ascendancy asked.
“Compress as much as you think you need and I’ll try to guess.”
The Ascendancy nodded, and threads of fire and air swarmed around him plunging beneath their feet like an unfurled carpet. Suddenly, the snowpack beneath them sank, but when he turned back to Karim, his voice was firm.
“No guesses.” He said.
Karim nodded, eyes focusing as he drew earth into him. No pressure..Pun intended, he thought grimly.
He’d never been pinned down by an adult bear or a small car, but as threads of Earth was thrust into the tunnel floor, he estimated that the amount of pressure beneath their feet was equivalent to being pinned down by a grizzly.
“I think it’s safe.”
“You think?”
He nodded, “it’s safe.”
“Good. Dominions, copy this and let’s proceed.” He waved a hand and the worked continued. The corridor took shape within the snow itself, broad enough for the vehicles waiting behind them, its floor packed hard by the One Power.
But the farther they plunged into the tunnel, daylight disappeared. The change was gradual but complete. Karim's visor compensated, but to the naked eye the tunnel ahead was black. Behind them, the entrance remained a distant rectangle of storm-gray light, already diminished by the curve of the route.
The various men activated lights on their gear, but the Ascendancy once again stepped out in front of them, peering deep into the darkness. More of the Power gathered around him, and suddenly, points of white appeared ahead. Dozens. Then dozens more.
They ignited through the tunnel in rapid succession, stretching away from them until perspective compressed them into a single luminous line. More appeared behind. Karim watched the count climb across the edge of his display.
Fifty. Seventy. Nearly a hundred. The tunnel changed around them in both directions. Soft white spheres hung beneath the compacted ceiling at regular intervals, each bright enough to illuminate the corridor without dazzling anyone beneath it. Light sank into the dense snow and returned faintly blue from the walls.
Karim felt the weaves settle into knots, and his mouth parted. He didn’t know that was possible, but he was going to remember it.
Nearby, the Luminar was not staring at the lights themselves, reaching out a tentative hand to caress the orb. Any trained channeler could make light, but Theron's attention moved instead along the tunnel, gaze following one suspended sphere after another until they vanished into the distance.
Then he spoke quietly, almost reverently, to Karim: “How did he do that?”
Karim simply smiled to himself as Theron fell speechless.
They opened a ventilation shaft several hundred meters into the route. One of the Dominions drove it upward while another controlled the surrounding snow from collapsing inward on itself. Gray daylight appeared high overhead, small at first, then widened until snow began spiraling through the opening. Depending on how much more snow fell, it might get blocked, and Karim noted in their gps coordinates its location so they could return and clear it if needed.
Once they reached their target coordinates, the work became controlled chaos. The men split into two teams of four in order to continue tunneling in different directions.
Karim and Samuel pulled the snow into a tunnel shape while behind them, Im Jeung and Theron attempted to compress the walls and floor of the tunnel into a hard enough mass to withstand the work to come. But Theron was struggling next to the blazing torch of power that was Im Jeung. It was exactly why Karim paired the two of them together in the first place. He had a feeling Im Jeung could compensate for Theron’s lack of experience if needed, but they went slower than they anticipated.
It was Karim who attempted to direct their path toward the highest need buildings, and every time they reached one, the four of them worked together to stabilize it and move on. Sometimes the stabilization was obvious, but other times he had to halt the work before any channeling began because his engineer’s eye saw something on the visors that the others couldn’t sense with the one power. A wall that was held up by snow bank. A roof that if it was cleared of snow would only collapse a wall beneath it instead.
Then there was the other team, and god only knew what they were encountering.
Ascendancy stood ahead of the group, one hand raised slightly toward his comms as the Kremlin spoke in his ear. The six Dominions had spread naturally around him, close enough to see one another through the shifting white. Theron remained with them, bundled against the cold, his face mostly obscured but his unmistakably alert attention.
The Dominions had trained and worked together enough that very little required saying. Two came forward while the others widened behind them, each finding a place in the work almost by instinct. Theron stepped clear as the changing formation around him suddenly swelled with the Power.
Plunging head into the snow, like a spear thrust into the belly of a beast, a tunnel compressed outward as the Dominions worked, leaving darkness where solid snow had been moments before. Karim issued instructions about the direction of the tunneling based on the map in his visor, trying to follow the invisible street beneath their feet and avoid inadvertently crushing into the side of a permanent structure.
But the streets were filled with abandoned cars, left behind like the skeletal remains of an abandoned meal in the back of a cave. The first time they encountered a pack of vehicles, he ordered the halting of all channeling, and approached to determine the best way to proceed. They couldn’t shove the vehicles out of the path. Nor could they crush and walk over their surface: that completely undermined the purpose of clearing a path in the first place for first responders.
It was the Ascendancy’s orders that redirected their path.
“We tunnel above vehicle height. How much must we compact the snow beneath us to carry the weight of tracked vehicles?” He asked, turning to Karim.
Snowcrete wasn’t Karim’s area of expertise, but he understood density and support. A couple moments of researching on his visor’s HUD and he gave his best guess.
“To drive safely across compacted snow, the snow layer generally needs a density of about 500 kilograms per cubic meter, for tracked vehicle, let’s say 600 to be safe.”
“And how do we know if we’ve achieved that threshold?” The Ascendancy asked.
“Compress as much as you think you need and I’ll try to guess.”
The Ascendancy nodded, and threads of fire and air swarmed around him plunging beneath their feet like an unfurled carpet. Suddenly, the snowpack beneath them sank, but when he turned back to Karim, his voice was firm.
“No guesses.” He said.
Karim nodded, eyes focusing as he drew earth into him. No pressure..Pun intended, he thought grimly.
He’d never been pinned down by an adult bear or a small car, but as threads of Earth was thrust into the tunnel floor, he estimated that the amount of pressure beneath their feet was equivalent to being pinned down by a grizzly.
“I think it’s safe.”
“You think?”
He nodded, “it’s safe.”
“Good. Dominions, copy this and let’s proceed.” He waved a hand and the worked continued. The corridor took shape within the snow itself, broad enough for the vehicles waiting behind them, its floor packed hard by the One Power.
But the farther they plunged into the tunnel, daylight disappeared. The change was gradual but complete. Karim's visor compensated, but to the naked eye the tunnel ahead was black. Behind them, the entrance remained a distant rectangle of storm-gray light, already diminished by the curve of the route.
The various men activated lights on their gear, but the Ascendancy once again stepped out in front of them, peering deep into the darkness. More of the Power gathered around him, and suddenly, points of white appeared ahead. Dozens. Then dozens more.
They ignited through the tunnel in rapid succession, stretching away from them until perspective compressed them into a single luminous line. More appeared behind. Karim watched the count climb across the edge of his display.
Fifty. Seventy. Nearly a hundred. The tunnel changed around them in both directions. Soft white spheres hung beneath the compacted ceiling at regular intervals, each bright enough to illuminate the corridor without dazzling anyone beneath it. Light sank into the dense snow and returned faintly blue from the walls.
Karim felt the weaves settle into knots, and his mouth parted. He didn’t know that was possible, but he was going to remember it.
Nearby, the Luminar was not staring at the lights themselves, reaching out a tentative hand to caress the orb. Any trained channeler could make light, but Theron's attention moved instead along the tunnel, gaze following one suspended sphere after another until they vanished into the distance.
Then he spoke quietly, almost reverently, to Karim: “How did he do that?”
Karim simply smiled to himself as Theron fell speechless.
They opened a ventilation shaft several hundred meters into the route. One of the Dominions drove it upward while another controlled the surrounding snow from collapsing inward on itself. Gray daylight appeared high overhead, small at first, then widened until snow began spiraling through the opening. Depending on how much more snow fell, it might get blocked, and Karim noted in their gps coordinates its location so they could return and clear it if needed.
Once they reached their target coordinates, the work became controlled chaos. The men split into two teams of four in order to continue tunneling in different directions.
Karim and Samuel pulled the snow into a tunnel shape while behind them, Im Jeung and Theron attempted to compress the walls and floor of the tunnel into a hard enough mass to withstand the work to come. But Theron was struggling next to the blazing torch of power that was Im Jeung. It was exactly why Karim paired the two of them together in the first place. He had a feeling Im Jeung could compensate for Theron’s lack of experience if needed, but they went slower than they anticipated.
It was Karim who attempted to direct their path toward the highest need buildings, and every time they reached one, the four of them worked together to stabilize it and move on. Sometimes the stabilization was obvious, but other times he had to halt the work before any channeling began because his engineer’s eye saw something on the visors that the others couldn’t sense with the one power. A wall that was held up by snow bank. A roof that if it was cleared of snow would only collapse a wall beneath it instead.
Then there was the other team, and god only knew what they were encountering.