Victor von Doom kept urging the Emperor to head to the underground caverns of Peru, because current intelligence reports and archaeological records both indicated that the danger posed by the Silver Stone Gate was steadily increasing. The Regent trusted no Kamar-Taj Arcanist other than the Sorcerer Supreme and the Emperor. Unless those old fossils whose joints needed magic to move could awaken from the thick dust, he did not believe Kamar-Taj was capable of resolving this problem.
But that was impossible. They were Kamar-Taj's last resort; unless an extinction-level event occurred, no one would awaken those beings who had long since ceased breathing. Arcanists between forty and roughly one hundred years old were Kamar-Taj's true main force, and even part of that force had been deployed to other planets to guard certain strategic locations.
For ordinary people, there were no dark corners in caverns illuminated around the clock by industrial lighting, nor were there any dim, hard-to-see scenes from horror films or strange creatures living underground. Even if there were, they would be torn apart by powerful firepower emplacements. Yet the excessive brightness required for military use made it impossible even for those who wanted to rest to sleep, forcing the technicians Mars Foundry had dispatched to Peru to shut off the optical receptors of their artificial eyes before their frail flesh could get even a brief rest.
Aside from the inexplicably tense atmosphere in the air, the sleepy, rhythmic dripping of scalding water seeping from the underground rock layers, and electronic equipment requiring repairs due to volcanic ash and other causes, there seemed to be almost nothing unusual here. Compared with the harsh conditions on the surface, created by volcanic eruptions, forest fires, blanket bombardments, and massacres, the underground caverns were now more suitable for human survival. At least