The dark, oppressive underground world made them long to escape.
"Is it hard to get back to the surface?" The students had thought leaving the Lower Hive would be easy.
In truth, the Lower Hive was easy to enter and hard to leave. Many who chose to descend could no longer survive on the upper levels and were forced deeper. It was as though an invisible mire dragged them down into an abyss, while layer upon layer of unwritten Rules kept them from turning back.
This was the Second Floor from the bottom, which meant it was the "second-worst."
"What's below our feet?"
"Darklamp Town!"
"I mean the level below this one."
"That's the Exile Grounds..." Only then did the local notice the young Ratfolk in a Mage Robe behind Annan. He cried in alarm, "Why did you bring a Ratfolk up here?"
Apparently, the people of the Lower Hive drew a line between themselves and the Ratfolk.
"What happened to them?" Annan asked.
The local said it was because of a curse and contamination.
The profane dust appeared at intervals, growing worse the deeper one went. They took it in uncontrollably whenever they breathed, touched anything, or ate. Dust filled the air even now, and the local wore a mask over his face.
There were only two ways to escape it: leave the Lower Hive or move to an upper level.
"I know. The Imperial Capital dumps all its household waste into the Lower Hive, and dark mages and Liches conduct evil experiments here. That must be where the toxic mist comes from..." Ai said quietly.
Annan felt duty-bound to defend Sorcerers. "Sorcerers never do research. Mages do."
After generations of living and reproducing amid the contamination, the people of the Lower Hive mutated under the dust's influence. The