The heat and humidity of the summer beat down upon the emerald vegetation enveloping the Appalachian plateau. Dense mists descended lazily from its heights; the undulating terrain felt older than time. A golden-winged warbler rested among the trees. Its song, high and spirited, blended smoothly with the music of the surrounding mountain ecology. As the warbler took flight, it heard a faint melody that stood apart from the noises it encountered in nature. It sought the source of this new and strange sound which seemed to emanate from the depths of the Earth. As the warbler flew towards a tree halfway up the mountain to the right of its original resting place, the melody grew louder until the curious avian beast located its point of origin. A hole was carved into the side of the mountain, with a stone wall 20-feet high encircling it. The song flowed out of this cavity. The warbler did not— and could not— know that it had discovered a way into one of the great hidden cities of Appalachia. What it heard at this moment was the sacred choral music that had been sung in this region for centuries. Interested in its discovery, the warbler rapidly descended through the hole and the tunnel that connected it to the vast chambers beneath the surface of the mountain. After emerging from the tunnel, it perched upon a rocky overhang situated above a room where three hundred people sat in wooden chairs. They were arranged in a circle around a man and a woman. Each person held a book with his or her left hand. All moved their right arms in unison, bending them and pointing towards the heavens before slowly lowering and unbending them. This action was repeated until a steady rhythm entranced the participants. Finally, they cried out as one, singing Idumea in the Sacred Harp style practiced by their ancestors.
The tunnels carried their voices past enormous fish tanks hewn from the layers of rock that surrounded the passages and chambers of the subterranean city. Glass walls revealed the lush, vibrant aquatic ecosystems flourishing under the residents’ careful, tending hands. In time, these isolated pockets of life would be integrated into a self-regulating macro-ecosystem capable of supplementing the Kyovans’ diets. The largest of the tanks was already integrated into the main hydroponic installation in the city. Ammonia from the creatures’ waste was nitrified by specially engineered bacteria and used to fertilize the crops. A geothermal plant built deep beneath the mountain powered the entire operation— and beyond that— the city itself. The men and women of the Appalachian Plateau had long dug deeply into the Earth for the coal that powered the American industrial behemoth. Now they dug for themselves, molding the city into a new wonder of the world and drilling for the energy to sustain this new society.
The sound waves carrying the worshippers’ song continued their journey through the tunnels until they emptied out into a space unlike the others. Great columns of stone shaped like the trunks of petrified redwoods sprung to the ceiling one hundred feet above the people leisurely strolling below. Natural light and air flowed in from windows revealing the outside world; enormous mirrors were used to reflect that light throughout the cavernous room. The Grand Hall of Kyova was the pride of the city and, towards its entrance, a young boy ran excitedly to meet his friends.
Formation of the first Kyovan subterranean settlements began in the year 2024. Appalachian families from Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia expanded the passages of abandoned mines to create hidden commercial zones. As economic activity grew within these concealed centers, new areas were excavated and residential dwellings constructed. Soon enough, tales of the hidden communities of Kyova spread throughout the United States. Immigrants, both domestic and foreign, swarmed to the region, imitating and then innovating upon the techniques used by the pioneers of these Appalachian micro-habitats. The growing number of settlements prompted the residents to connect them via a series of massive tunnels and communal locales. By 2042, the Kyovan Subterranean Settlement Network had emerged. Not every abandoned mine or newly dug installation in the region was added to the burgeoning city. Many, though initially promising, were deserted for financial, structural, or environmental reasons. Others were connected in secret by groups who wished to move contraband without alerting the city government. These were typically abandoned after their creators’ run-ins with the law, thus leaving a complex system of unused passageways that were largely unmapped. It was safe to say that no Kyovan by 2063 knew the extent of the city or the number of entry points it possessed. Men, women, and children often stumbled upon secret passages and the children, in particular, treasured them for the mystery and adventure they brought to their lives. James, a scrawny, freckled boy of twelve years, had discovered such a tunnel. His friends were eating lunch when he arrived, out of breath, with news of the previously unrevealed route into the unknown. They shared his enthusiasm and discussed amongst themselves how they should approach their first venture into the corridor.
“Guys, we’ve been waiting forever for a chance like this! This could be where we set up our hideout!” exclaimed Paulie, a short, round boy with crimson cheeks and hair to match. His eyes reflected the turquoise light that illuminated the city’s corridors.
“We don’t know if people are using it though… What if they steal all our stuff while we’re gone?” asked Theo. He was the oldest in the group, with long, black hair that fell an inch below his shoulders and a sharp, aquiline nose that gave his face a distinctly aristocratic feel. “We should explore it before we decide.”
“Oh come on Theo, you’re so paranoid. When was the last time you heard about any of these tunnels being used? I bet nobody has been in there for years. Plus, we probably don’t have that much time before someone else finds it.” Jenny was clearly taking Paulie’s side in the conversation. She was James’s fraternal twin, sharing his freckles, short-cropped hair, and thin frame. The similarities, however, ended there. Jenny was much bolder than her brother, with a mischievous streak that regularly landed her in trouble.
“We’ll have more fun exploring if we have a comfortable place to come back to when we’re done.” added Carlos. He was the newest member of the group, his parents having moved the family to Kyova from Colorado a few months earlier. He was taller than Paulie, but shorter than James, with small eyes and large ears. Despite his meek appearance, he was an excellent athlete, possessing surprising strength and agility for his age. The group then turned to James. “What do you think? You found it, so you should decide.”
James, like most of the group, did not want to waste too much time mapping out the area. That being said, he felt an inkling of fear at the thought of some unexpected person or group catching them unawares if they did not take the time to survey their surroundings. “We should explore it first. But why don’t we play the Moria game Theo loaded onto his AR goggles last month while we check it out? That should make it less boring and we won’t have to worry about anyone catching us off guard or stealing our things after.” The group agreed and each member ran home to grab a pair.
It was early evening when James led his friends to the hidden passage. Before entering, they activated their AR goggles and synchronized them so that the footage captured by the cameras built into the frames could be used by the game’s software to construct a virtual simulation of the inhabited space. Items, enemy characters, and in-game events would be added randomly depending on real-world triggers captured by the goggles and shared with all the players. James and his friends each carried a wooden stick or iron rod that would be morphed by the game into a staff or sword. Their clothes were likewise transformed into various types of chain mail and leather armor. Theo activated a small drone that emitted light in 360 degrees. Through his goggles, the machine appeared as a floating crystal. The rough and rather barren walls of the corridor were now overlaid with intricate architectural patterns attributed to the dwarves of Middle Earth. An artificial intelligence taking the shape of a dwarf materialized before them and explained the nature of the game. Satisfied with the explanation, the children marched excitedly into the passage. It wasn’t long before the group began to hear whispers through their earpieces. The children’s imaginations filled their minds with visions of ghastly, deformed creatures whose cruelty and barbarism knew no bounds.
“Shhhh, I think we’re coming up on some enemies.” whispered Paulie.
“No, those whispers are definitely coming from behind us. We should wait here a few minutes and surprise whatever appears.” replied Carlos. The voices grew louder. They were speaking an unknown tongue, one that was filled with hatred, ugliness, and violence.
“Are you kidding me? This is the worst place to set up an ambush! We barely have any space to move around and we don’t know how many of them there are.” hissed Jenny. “Let’s see if we can find any rooms up ahead.” The friends hurried through the passage while attempting to muffle the sounds of their footsteps. Their illuminating crystal blazed forward, occasionally leaving them in an engulfing darkness that filled their hearts with terror. After several minutes of navigating the twists and turns of the passage, they happened upon a rectangular room thirty feet wide with two staircases. The one on the left was broad and descended towards an unknown place. Its companion, meanwhile, ascended towards what appeared to be an enormous, poorly lit chamber and was so narrow only one person could use it at a time. By this point, the ghoulish voices were loud and frenzied. Enemy characters were now aware of the players’ presence in their world and pursued them through the underground. James dashed up the stairs to the chamber before any of his friends could object to the decision. As they climbed the stairs behind him, Theo caught sight of a party of hideous adversaries on their tail.
“Orcs! They’ve almost caught up to us!” he yelled while pushing on Carlos’s back. “Get out of the way already!” The two boys tripped over the final steps and scampered over to their friends. When they reached the midway point in the hexagonal chamber, they fell into a circular defensive formation. A cool breeze swept in from an exit on the far side where a gate lay twisted on the gravel-covered floor. Jenny and Paulie could see the faint silhouettes of trees in the distance. From the narrow staircase emerged the party of orcs that had pursued them through the tunnel. There were twenty-two of them and they quickly surrounded the friends, gnashing their rotting teeth, beating their crooked swords against their wooden, blood-stained shields, and taunting them with vulgar insults. One of the orcs, more foolish than the others, jumped towards Theo, bending his body towards the eldest friend as he jeered. Theo wasted no time in cutting the fiend’s jaw horizontally with his sword. The orc fell to the ground, twitching in agony until a second blow across the abdomen silenced it for good. And so, the battle began. The children whooped and laughed as they whirled among the virtual enemies, slicing and slamming the orcs with grace and force. Combat in this augmented reality world filled them with joy and vigor, allowing them to nurture the dreams of heroism held intensely within their hearts.
Two floors below, a hulking mass in the darkness stirred. As the commotion grew louder, it decided to investigate the origin of the noise.
By that point, the children had finished off most of the orcs. In his carelessness, James had allowed a few of the virtual enemies to tag him. He was ejected from the game until his companions could revive his character.
“What are you waiting for? Come on guys!” he pleaded.
“Don’t blame us! You’re going to have to wait until we’re done!” responded Jenny. As she spoke, the light emanating from the drone began to falter. “James! I thought you charged the battery before we left!”
“It had three quarters charge… I thought it was enough…” His goggles reactivated as Carlos killed the final orc and Paulie kneeled to administer the virtual medicine. Theo inspected the exit to the outdoor world. The gate had been removed by force. He shuddered as he ran his hands along the fuligin, twisted metal. The others joined him and gazed in amazement at the forest beyond the exit. Now they had a secret path into and out of the city. Several opportunities for adventure and mischief were open to them.
Crunch, crunch, crunch. The friends turned their heads slowly. James’s drone flashed twice before its battery died. The flashes of light, brief though they were, were enough for the goggles to trigger a rare in-game event. Though the shadow before them was largely amorphous, there were two characteristics that remained fixed regardless of the way the children turned their heads. From those wretched eyes, the game began to trace the shape of a creature more terrifying because of its analog in the physical world. Orange flames licked the virtual form materializing before the children. A guttural growl was hurled at them from another entry point on the left side of the chamber.
“Balrog?” The words barely escaped Paulie’s trembling lips.
“I don’t know what it is.” James had never felt such fear in his life.
To be continued…