Liberi Reader

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Timid Miner

Th-The guns have stopped.

Timid Miner

C-Can we go now? Not upwards, but down, before the bombs reach us—

Worried Miner

Get up, Yuri, and the rest of you. We need to find Rankin and the place he was talking about.

Worried Miner

You know the bravest ones of us have all left with Rankin, to take the outpost.

Worried Miner

The bombing's stopped, and we don't know what's going on up there. The only way to find them is up.

Worried Miner

Either we save them, or, as Rankin said, remember them. Crawl, pull yourselves on with your pickaxes, if you can't walk.

Timid Miner

But Rankin gave us his mining lamp—

Worried Miner

Do you remember what he said?

Timid Miner

He... he didn't say anything...

Worried Miner

That's right. He didn't say anything. This is no different from the supplies that they left behind.

Worried Miner

Or we can choose to leave it here... as a reminder.

Worried Miner

Yes, reminder. Leave the lamp in the mining cart, the one that we pushed all the way here.

Worried Miner

If anyone ever comes through...

Worried Miner

I remember that you can write, Yuri.

Worried Miner

We've got some blank pages at the back of the logbook. We might as well not waste it.

Worried Miner

Come here. I'll tell you what to write.

Worried Miner

If anyone comes, at least they'll know what happened here.

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<p=1>A mine, Northern Tundra, Ursus</>A mine, Northern Tundra, Ursus

<p=2>Winter, 1101</>Winter, 1101

Sick Miner

Sir, where... where are we going?

Sick Miner

I don't think the factory's this way—

Soldier

Shut up and keep walking.

Soldier

I said walk!

Skeptical Miner

(Whisper) The mines have stopped again.

Skeptical Miner

(Whisper) So, nothing for the processing plants to work with.

Skeptical Miner

(Whisper) Where would they take us, if they don't need hands upstairs?

Fearful Miner

They dragged even the sickest ones out of their beds. Half the mine is here...

Fearful Miner

I don't want to keep walking. I don't want to die!

Skeptical Miner

(Whisper) Shh!

Army Officer

......

Army Officer

Go through the forest, to the lake. That's where you'll meet your end.

Army Officer

Don't even think...

Army Officer

About running away.

Heavy military boots step on the snowy forest floor, moving forward, urging forward.

The miners are being escorted by far more than just a few men.

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Army Officer

Here. Stop.

Army Officer

Let's begin.

Soldier

Everyone, on the ice.

Fearful Miner

No, sir, please—

The saber cuts her throat, spilling hot blood on the soldier's armor.

Army Officer

For the glory of Ursus.

Sick Miner

Bozhe moy...

Army Officer

Proceed.

Soldier

N-Next! Fill the gap! Hurry!

Skeptical Miner

Why do we have to be treated like this?

Soldier

Shut up, you uyobok—

Skeptical Miner

Were the Tsar's promises all a lie? Are our lives worth less than that of a burdenbeast?

Skeptical Miner

Tell me—

Army Officer

......

As the soldier is about to raise his hand again, the rumbling of the ground becomes perceptible.

It starts with a tiny crack, from the surface, from deep below, before snowballing quickly.

The ground trembles, and the center of the lake collapses. The result of geological changes accumulated over time swallows the Infected on the ice, and their would-be executioners.

Skeptical Miner

Run!

The miner shakes off the stunned soldier and runs in the direction they came from.

Terrified Miner

Catastrophe...

Terrified Miner

It's a Catastrophe!!!

Soldier, miner. Killer, victim. The vast Lake Angara accepts all and delivers all.

Beneath the ice, an ancient nomadic city rises as the terrain changes, emerging through the sheet into the light of day.

The old-style buildings and the writhing faces of the dead look the same as they did when the city sank.

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<p=1>Reconstruction District, Far North, Ursus</>Reconstruction District, Far North, Ursus

Diligent Miner

'Northern Tundra'... 'Catastrophe'... 'Lake'...

Diligent Miner

All those words crammed into this tiny space, and I only recognize three.

Young Craftsman

You'll learn them in time.

Young Craftsman

The lessons here are too basic for me. I'm planning to take over the work at the mines, which has been left untended for a while, and maybe learn a craft other than shoe repair.

Young Craftsman

Once the curfew is lifted, I want to go to Deity Grypherburg.

Diligent Miner

I don't want to go to Grypherburg. I just want to learn to read. Three words a day makes twenty-one a week. In one month...

Koshelna

I'm glad to see your eagerness.

Koshelna

Do you need help?

Diligent Miner

These words still confuse me, gospozha.

Koshelna

You're talking about these 'nouns', right? That's the lesson for this week—we're learning about nouns.

Diligent Miner

Nouns, yes! Nouns. I think I'm starting to be able to tell them apart, but I can't quite get their meanings.

Diligent Miner

What's this... uh... 'Shimok'?

Koshelna

Ah...

Koshelna

It's 'Simonch'. It's a name, like the name 'Angara', the lake, or your name, 'Vova'.

Koshelna

It's the name of a nomadic city.

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The youth bids his classmate farewell and goes into the mines, ready to get to work.

Mine tunnels left untended gradually wear down and eventually collapse. He will not allow it to happen, as long as he is still here.

The young man raises his mining lamp and begins his rounds, examining all the rail, until he finds a mining cart at one of the forks that does not belong to this place.

Young Craftsman

This is...

Young Craftsman

A mining lamp?

Young Craftsman

And a letter—

Young Craftsman

......

Young Craftsman

This was once the place of a struggle?

Young Craftsman

Damn it. The people who proposed connecting the mining districts were here! They wanted to occupy that garrisoned outpost!