The morning, Slaves shuffled toward the tunnels, their chains clinking in a grim rhythm, their faces dull with exhaustion.
Two guards stood over shattered remains of a mana lamp lay scattered across the stone floor, irritated.
One guard crouched to pick up a piece of the lamp, turning it over. "Where the hell did he go?"
"Didn't even report back last night."
The other shrugged, kicking at a shard of the broken lamp. "Probably got drunk and passed out somewhere in the mines. Wouldn't be the first time."
The first guard stood, tossing the piece of lamp aside with a clatter. "Yeah, well, Sir Dekel gonna smash his ass to pulp if he drags himself back today," he said, a grim smirk tugging at his lips.
"Idiot's done for."
The guards moved on, their voices fading as they disappeared down a side tunnel. The slaves trudged past, heads down, none daring to linger or question.
Further down the tunnel, Alan swung his pickaxe with mechanical precision, each strike sending a dull thud echoing through the cramped shaft.
Blood seeped through the torn fabric of his shirt, but he didn't stop. He couldn't. Another beating would break him,or worse, draw Dekel's full wrath.
The overseer was already itching for an excuse to make an example of him. Alan gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain, his grey hair matted with sweat and blood as he drove the pickaxe into the rock.
Beside him, Moriko worked sluggishly, her pickaxe barely grazing the stone. Her ears drooped, and her eyes were fixed on the ground.
Alan noticed as he paused mid-swing.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked, his voice rough from the dust and his battered throat.
"You trying to get beaten half to death?"
Moriko's head stayed low, her hands trembling around the pickaxe's handle.
"It's my fault," she said.
"You got punished because of me. All because I was careless."
Alan snorted, his grip tightening on the pickaxe as he swung it again. "Yeah, that's our deal," he said flatly.
"I get food, I keep you safe. So shut up and get back to work, girl."
Moriko's ears twitched, but she didn't move, her eyes shifted to him. "Aren't you angry?" she asked, her voice small, almost pleading.
"At me? At… all of this?"
He paused, the pickaxe hovering mid-air. She didn't know his past,didn't know the weight of the betrayal of his family, the gods who'd ignored him and cast him into this hell. She didn't know how long he'd been sharpening that anger , into something he could kill with.
He drove the pickaxe into the rock with all his strength, the impact sending a jolt through his battered body. A low, bitter chuckle escaped him, barely audible over the clatter of falling gravel.
"Angry?" he said, his blue eyes glinting with something dark. "Maybe. But anger just makes Keeps me going."
glanced at her, his expression unreadable. "Now swing, or we're both in for it."
Moriko's pickaxe hit the stone with a dull thud.
Rrrrrrrhhhhkk.
She froze when a horrible scream tore through the tunnel, a raw, terrified cry that echoed.
Alan's head snapped toward the sound, staring into the dark tunnel. The other slaves stopped, all looking into the darkness where the torchlight faded.
"Rubble collapse again?" Alan muttered.
A slave stumbled into the dim light, his face pale, eyes wild. "Help!" he screamed, falling to his knees, clawing the stone floor.
"It's coming, run!" Before anyone could move, a grey, twisted hand with long, bony fingers shot out from the shadows. Its sharp black claws grabbed the slave's leg, dragging him into the dark.
CRUNCH
His scream stopped with a loud crunch, then a wet thud.
Gasps and whimpers broke out as the slaves backed away, their chains rattling. The slave's body flew back into the light, slamming onto the stone. His head was half gone, skull split, blood and brain spilling out.
"Gods, no!" a woman cried, her voice breaking as she stumbled back.
From the darkness, the huge creature stepped. A slave dropped his pickaxe, the metal clanging as he backed away.
"No,stay back!" he screamed, but the creature's hand grabbed him, crushing his chest. With a loud crunch, it tore into his body, eating half of him in second, his screams turning to a wet choke.
Moriko stood frozen, staring at the monster. Her breath hitched.
"Run!" Alan yelled, grabbing her arm and she snapped out of it, stumbling as Alan pulled her into the running crowd. Screams filled the tunnel, chains clanking as slaves ran in a panic.
SKREEEEEAAAAHH!
The creature chased, a spider-limbed blur, slicing through bodies with ease. His body snapped in half with a sickening crack, blood splashing the stone walls.
Alan and Moriko ran with the scared mob, the narrow tunnel a blur of shadows and bodies. The creature's claws scraped behind, gouging the stone.
Ahead, two guards at a narrow spot pushed through the crowd, their faces pale seeing that thing.
"What in the hells is that?" one muttered with shaky voice as he pulled out a short sword, his hand trembling.
"Kill it!" the other shouted, raising his hand. Pebbles and dust floated up, then shot toward the creature in a sharp blast. The monster twisted, dodging with creepy ease, its eyeless face following the attack.
The first guard clenched his fist, a jagged ice shard forming in the air before flying forward. It hit the creature's head with a loud crack, stabbing its skull.
The guards grinned for a moment. "Got that fuking thing," the sword-wielding one said, lowering his weapon.
But the creature didn't fall. It pulled the ice shard out with a wet sound, its wound closing fast, the slits on its face twitching like a taunt. The guards' faces went white.
"That's… impossible," the second guard whispered, sweat on his brow. Before they could run, the creature jumped, its claws grabbing both men. Their screams stopped as its jaws tore through them, bones breaking and flesh ripping in a spray of blood.
Glancing back, Alan saw that the creature was a death storm that was snatching up slaves one after another and leaving behind mangled bodies. Moriko was just ahead of him, her tail flapping as she stumbled, and he would be it's next meal.
In an attempt to advance, a scrawny slave tried to push Moriko away. Alan then saw a loose stone on the ground and kicked it, causing it to smash into the man's head. The slave fell, blood trickling, and Alan ran past as the creature's claws dragged the man into its mouth with a wet crunch.
A few guards proceeded to the emergency room, a sturdy room at the end of the tunnel. The lock clanged as they slammed the heavy iron door shut. When Moriko and a few slaves arrived, they pounded on the metal with frantic voices.
"Open the door!" Moriko cried, her fists bruising on the cold metal.
thud.
thud .
thud.
"Please, let us in!" The other slaves screamed, but the guards inside ignored them, saving themselves.
Alan grabbed Moriko's arm, pulling her back. "Move, now!" he growled, dragging her into a run as the creature tore through the last slaves behind, their screams fading. The paths to the surface were blocked,rubble and locked gates trapping them. The mines were a lethal labyrinth, with death at every corner. The noise of the creature's scraping increased, and its hunger never stopped.
They stumbled into yesterday's ragged cave, a dead end.
Alan skidded to a stop and leaned against the chilly stone wall, his chest heaving with each ragged gasp. Faint torchlight was swallowed by the black maw of the ragged cave from yesterday that loomed before them.
He nodded toward the cave and said, "We jump inside," his voice steady in spite of the chaos and screams coming from behind them.
Moriko froze, her eyes wide with terror.With tears streaming down her dirt-streaked face,
"No... I can't."
"We'll die in there! We will all die!" She trembled as she backed away from the edge of the cave, her tail limp, and her voice broke into a sob.
Crunch
The air split with a sickening crunch before Alan could react. Moriko didn't scream. In a single horrifying snap, the creature's wide maw bit through her upper body.
Her legs stood straight for a heartbeat before falling to the stone, dead, a dark, shimmering pool forming beneath them, while her torso disappeared into its jaws, blood splattering.
The creature turned towards him. Alan stumbled backward, his heel catching on a jagged rock. The edge of the tunnel yawned behind him, and before he could catch himself, he slipped.
The floor vanished under him.
He tumbled into the dark.
Sharp stone slashed across his side. The fall spun him like a rag doll. Then–
Crack
His skull collided with a jutting outcrop.
Pain exploded through his head, white-hot, and then, it's nothing.
The last sound he heard was the creature's screech echoing from above.