#1: Escape into Danger

Gwin lounged at her wooden desk with a book in her hands. A sphere of orange fire crackled softly in a small glass vase, illuminating her work. Just her, her book, and silence. Silence was a beautiful thing. 

    "We're going to die down here, aren't we?" A meek voice came from the darkness behind her.

    Gwin sighed inwardly, the beautiful silence broken. Not bothering to turn back, she yelled "What makes you say that?" 

    "It's been two days - the storm should have cleared by now. It's never taken this long to clear. We have no food and we're losing air by the second. By my calculations, with the amount of fire blossoms, and without proper ventilation, we'll suffocate in less than a day. What will the Jaina think? What will my mum think?! Died reading a bunch of useless manuscripts, alone in the dark."

    "Really? That's what you've been spending your time on - calculations? For Hynah's love, Pel'lar, we're not going to die. I have a plan."

    "You do?"

    "Yes." Gwin slowly turned another page under the fire blossom's light, her feet propped up on the desk. 

    She heard Pel'lar padding up behind her. "Well, what is it?! We're going to die if we don't do anything!" His hands rocked her chair as he shouted. 

    "Pel'lar, stop being dramatic. We've been through worse. Truth is though, I'm just waiting until you have a nervous breakdown and pass out, leaving me with more air."

    "Gwin, this is serious!" He threw up his arms and started pacing down the aisle.

    Gwin just sat there, a smug expression filling her face. Underneath it, she was worried.

They were alone in the library, with no way back to the main complex. The storm had consumed the entire fifty foot tall library under its massive sand waves. Even the flue access had surely been covered. The work they did at the library was important, but was is important enough for a rescue mission? 

    She needed time to think without distractions. She called to Pel'lar, "Just let me just finish this entry. It's really quite fascinating."

    Pel'lar broke into a string of curses, kicking bookshelves and cursing his stinging feet as he flounced away, taking his nervous energy with him. That'll work.

    Gwin put down her book and took a large breath, trying to focus. She had hoped the storm would lift the sand by now, but it hadn't, and there was no indication it would change. At least not soon enough. 

    Her brain started running through ideas. Most of them ended up with them dead within five minutes of breaking the surface. If they managed to break the surface. She started to wish she had other skills besides research. She shook her head, trying to clear out the what if's, and looked around for options.

    Her eyes fell on a large triangular sheet of metal lying against a bookshelf. It was about six feet at its widest, shining a brilliant blue in the light.

    You're not ready. Galrin's voice echoed in her mind. You'll be lucky to make it ten feet. 

    Well, ten feet was better than no feet. She shoved off the table and walked over to it. The sheet started to hum with static energy as she approached. She didn't have a face shield, and the sand storm was sure to rip her to shreds...but....

    She yelled out into the darkness, "I'm going to go check something!" 

    Curses rang out in response. 

    Gwin shrugged and hauled up the sheet, its razor edges lined with a thin glass border. She juggled the unwieldy mass into one arm, turning to grab the fire blossom vase in her free hand. Ready as she'd ever be, she set her shoulder and jogged over to a corner of the library where a set of spiraling stairs swirling up into darkness. With a steadying breath, she raced up them before her common sense kicked in.

--

    Gwin reached the top of the stairs out of breath. She rested her head against the domed ceiling. She heard shouting below her, probably Pel'lar looking for someone to yell at. She was done with whining. It was time for action -- or so she told herself.

    The firelight light shone upon a lever set into a metal circle in the ceiling. She placed her equipment on the landing and reached up to the lever, heaving down with her body weight and the beginnings of muscles. It didn't budge. 

    She tried again, straining with the effort. Still nothing. She cursed her lack of physical training and stared hard at the lever, waiting for inspiration.

She didn't have enough leverage. 

    Her eyes widened. At least she could always trust her mind! She quickly pulled off her white outer robe, the symbol denoting her station. Station and responsibility meant nothing if she couldn't get out of here alive. She tore the fabric in half then twirled it down its length, securing one end to the curved lever, the other around the metal railing. A slapdash pulley system. Better than nothing. 

    Here goes. She yanked again and a satisfying screech sounded from the lever. It yawned away from the ceiling, clanging into place. Gwin shot her arms up in triumph, reveling in victory. She looked around for Pel'lar to gloat to, then remembered why she was up here. And that wasn't even the hard part. Gwin sighed and untied her robe from the railing, then pulled the lever to the right. A pop and a hiss sounded as the hatch above her slowly opened up. A small ladder slid down to the landing, the metal rungs taunting her already. 

    Murmuring to herself that she was not afraid of heights, or darkness, or tight spaces, she used her robe to tie the triangular metal sheet to her back and started up the ladder.

Her affirmations got louder and louder as she went higher, the sound filling her ears in the confined space. But she didn't hear it.

    It was no use.

    Sweat beaded on her palms and forehead, her traitorous breath hitched raggedly, morphing her affirmations into a jumbled mess. It wasn't working! Fear suddenly shot up into her throat, sealing it shut. She couldn't breathe at all! Her sweating hands froze on the rungs as her mind stood still, alone on the ladder, in the darkness, up high. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to think of something. Anything!

    The blood drained from her face as she tried to force breath down her throat. But she couldn't breathe! Her wet hands started to slip down. By Hy'nah, I cannot die today!

    A surge of adrenaline ripped open her windpipe and she gulped in gorgeous air. Her now strong arms yanked her up to the top, until finally her hand slid onto a smooth wall. She hoisted herself onto the tiny landing, feeling out the curve of the emergency hatch.

    Okay, remember the training. 

    In the darkness, she felt for the tiny knob and pushed the button inside. Another pop, and the metal flap released, pushing outwards. Gwin immediately reigned it back in, expecting sand to start flooding into the flue. But it hadn't. In fact, she didn't feel any sand. She didn't hear any wind.

    Gwin cautiously pushed the flap open and looked outside. 

    The dark light of a half moon shone over great sand dunes as far as the eye could see. Not many would guess the dunes had been deposited there two days ago.

Gwin let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she'd been holding in, and slipped out the hatch, falling a couple feet onto the sand. 

    She felt energy seep into the sand, her body spent. Her body started to shake as the adrenaline died out, and with sudden nausea she turned over to heave up her precious water.

    Gwin wiped at her mouth and fell back onto her metal sheet, still tied to her back. 

    It crackled and sparked, spitting dark purple specks over the open sands. It slowly lifted Gwin a couple feet above the dune.

    She smiled. Step one -- done. 

    Now she had much bigger problems.