The Fourth Company, in essence, was just a fancy name for camp custodians.
And although the Third Company was responsible for camp maintenance, the Fourth were the ones who actually did the dirty work. Up until now, it had only been Soleil's job, but with the addition of Hill, the custodians were growing in number.
Currently, they were focusing on turning compost piles before the midday bell. Soleil hadn't explained what the midday bell was. In fact, she didn't explain much at all.
She simply handed him another shovel, which seemed to be made from the purplish bark from the surrounding trees, and told him to just copy what she was doing.
Her pace was incredibly difficult to match, though, and despite her slender figure, she seemed to never tire. Hill, on the other hand, was wheezing after just ten minutes. His incapable lungs were once again making their presence known.
Soleil seemed to notice this, but instead of telling Hill to do anything like 'take a break,' she just upped her pace even more. So much so that she had finished turning the rest of the compost before Hill could even catch his breath.
With Soleil having finished the compost piles by herself, she leaned on her shovel as she took a breather. Her amethyst eyes landed on Hill, who was lying on his back, gasping for air.
"Done already?" Hill managed to wheeze out between ragged breaths.
"For now," she replied, her voice smooth. She gestured with her head toward a different area. "The latrine buckets need to be emptied before the bell. That's a two-person job, so do keep up."
Hill's heart sank. He straightened up, slapping his head in an attempt to snap out of his exhaustion before following her toward the row of foul-smelling pits.
This task was even worse than the compost turning. The buckets were slimy and the odor was so pungent that he felt himself gagging involuntarily. The weight of the buckets strained his feeble arms to their breaking point, and he felt as if he was going to pass out at any moment.
But Soleil seemed unbothered by all of this. In fact, she was much stronger than she looked. She moved two buckets at a time, holding them far from her body. Her steps were sure and steady, and her face was a blank mask.
It was clear that she had done this many times before. Hill, as clumsy and weak as he was, tried his best to keep up. But his trembling arms did little to stabilize the vile contents within his buckets, and occasionally they would nearly slosh out.
"Watch it," Soleil snapped, her voice losing its harmonious quality for the first time, replaced by a sharp edge. "If you spill that, you clean it up. I won't do it for you."
Hill gritted his teeth and pushed forward. He focused all his energy on just not falling, on getting the bucket to the larger disposal pit without further incident.
Just as they emptied their last buckets, a loud clang echoed through the forest. It was the midday bell.
"What's that for?" Hill asked, his voice ragged and raw.
"Lunch," Soleil said, wiping her soiled hands on the bark of a tree. A bitter smile touched her lips. "The real companies get to eat now. We wait."
"We... wait?"
"We're the Fourth Company," she explained, as if speaking to a particularly slow child. "We eat last. We get what's left over. If anything is left over." However, she started walking away from the camp, deeper into the forest.
"Where are you going?" Hill called out.
"To the river," Soleil responded. "We need to wash our hands before we eat, right?"
Hill hesitated for a moment, then trudged after her. She led him along a barely-there path that wound between the purple-barked trees, moving further away from the sounds and smells of the camp.
As they walked, Hill noticed a strange change in the environment. The ground became barren and the moss growths had disappeared completely, leaving sterile-looking dirt that was pale in color.
The air grew colder as well, biting in nature.
After a few minutes, he found the source. It looked like a river, but he could tell from one glance that there was something wrong with it.
The substance flowing in the wide channel was perfectly transparent, almost like a sheet of moving glass. It was so clear that he could see the obsidian-like rock of the riverbed without any distortion.
No plants grew on its banks, no life stirred within its depths. A faint mist hovered just above the surface of the 'water.'
Soleil approached the edge cautiously, her every footfall placed carefully. She knelt, but instead of plunging her hands in, she quickly cupped the clear liquid and splashed it onto her arms, pulling them back instantly as if she'd touched something hot. She then began scrubbing them furiously on the sterile dirt of the bank.
"What—what is that?" Hill asked, staring into the strange water.
"Lava Ant Blood," Soleil said, her back to him. "Don't touch it for more than a few seconds. And whatever you do, don't fall in."
Hill stared at the flowing, glass-like substance. "Blood? It looks like water."
"Unfortunately, it isn't," she retorted, splashing another quick scoop onto her arms before scrubbing them clean. "It's freezing. Leave your hand in for a minute and it'll freeze solid."
Hesitantly, Hill knelt and copied her, dipping his hands into the "blood." The cold was instantaneous and shocking, a deep pain that shot up his arms.
It was far colder than any ice water he had ever imagined. He snatched his hands back, his fingers already feeling numb and stiff, and began scrubbing them on the dirt as he'd seen her do. The pain slowly subsided, replaced by a tingling numbness.
He let out a deep, shaky breath as he felt chills run through his body.
"What is a lava ant anyway?" he asked, turning to look at Soleil. "I've never heard of such a thing. I mean, I understand that we're in a different world, but still..."
"A lava ant is a monster that lives in the cave system above this forest."
The answer stumped him. A cave system that was above the forest?
He looked upward, observing the fog that hugged the... sky.
"Wait, is this forest—"
"Underground? Yeah, it definitely is." Soleil interrupted. "The light that's coming from above actually comes from a poisonous fruit that grows from the stalactite growths on the ceiling."
The realization hit him hard, stealing the air from his already struggling lungs. The stillness of the air, the unchanging twilight, the pale faces of everyone in the camp... it all made sense, forming an almost claustrophobic truth.
They were deep underground.
His eyes focused on the glowing orbs.
"Poisonous fruit?" he echoed, his voice hollow. "So the light... is poison?"
"Only if you're stupid enough to eat it," Soleil said flatly, her tone devoid of any of the wonder or horror he felt. "The First Company learned that the hard way. Lost three people before they figured it out." She glanced up at the distant ceiling. "The fruit gives off light as it ripens, then it drops. If it hits the ground, it releases spores that are even worse. That's one of the Third Company's main jobs—clearing the drop zones before they burst."
"Has... has anyone ever tried to get out?" Hill asked, the question feeling foolish as soon as he said it. "To get to the surface?"
"Well, Krugen has certainly tried, but the Igashians have stopped every attempt."
"Igashians?"
Soleil pointed in the direction of the camp. "In the other direction, past our camp, there's another blood river that cuts through the forest. Beyond that river, is the Igashian camp. They've lived in this forest long before we earthlings arrived and are at odds with us."
Hill's eyes widened. "Are they human?"
"As human as you and I." She then let out a sigh, glancing down at Hill's arms. "You're all clean, right? Let's step away from the river. It's much too cold."
"Ah, yes," Hill stammered as he quickly pushed himself to his feet. The two of them walked briskly away from the riverbank.
The past couple of minutes had revealed many facts about this mysterious world, giving Hill a clearer picture as to what was happening.
As they walked toward the camp, Soleil spoke again. "Say, Hill... I have a question."
Hill raised an eyebrow, surprised that she would even bother asking him a question. "What is it?"
She stopped and looked him in the eye. "Where are you from? In the real world, I mean."
"Gargath."
A frown crossed her face. "So the horde reached that far..."
It was for a brief moment, but Hill caught a glimpse of a deeply sorrowful expression on her face. But before he could ask about it, she turned away, motioning for him to follow her back to camp.