The Volk did not even blink as I entered the cave and grabbed another cart.

Not that surprising. After all, what is a—what did Dorian call me? A tier 1 Human?—going to do?

I pulled the cart down the narrow pathway to our mining site. The Ættir had returned to work, though the cavern contained far fewer than earlier this morning. Probably exploring the large opening that they created. The remainder paid me no heed. Maybe I had proven something by coming hauling away a load of dead monsters.

I moved next to a patch of dead terrorvoles. It was boring, but quick work.I kept tossing a glance over to the cavern's entrance expecting to see Dorian, but he never appeared.

“And here I was worried about being the slacker, " I whispered to myself with a small laugh.

I had managed to finish before he returned. It helped that we had grossly overestimated how much work we had left. I barely filled half my cart with the last of the remains.

I pulled the cart to the tunnel to the main cavern when shout stopped me. “Human.” I gritted my teeth. Being called by my race—or was it species?—was getting old. Recognizing the voice, I stopped and turned in the direction of the speaker. As expected, the Verndari waited exuding causal arrogance mixed with an air of command.

“Yes,” then almost forgetting to add the honorific, “Verndari.”

His eyes narrowed, but he left the slip go. “You have extra space, and we have a load to be taken.”

I scanned the room quickly. “Did I miss some?"

He sneered. "This is nothing as worthless as terrorvoles. We have a sample of the ore. It needs to be assessed for its value. Bring your cart."

“I don’t—“

“Just do as you are told.”

He turned and walked toward the cavern's newest expansion without waiting for me.I spun the half-filled cart and followed him. The cart barely fit through the opening that they created. From the rubble on the floor, they had worked to enlarge the gap. However, they had not placed any light stones. It would have been too dark to see if not for the purple and green light pouring in from the end of the small tunnel.

I stopped short, the cart not even clearing the tunnel’s exit, as soon as I got my first look at the cavern. Words of astonishment slipped from my lips.

“Impressive isn’t? And the claim is all ours.“

I couldn't disagree with the Ættar. I had somehow walked into a massive geode.Huge crystals covered every wall, and somehow, they glowed, a luminescence casting out a rainbow of vivid neon colors. I scanned the wall looking for a light stone, but I found nothing. I examined a few fist-sized crystals jutting out from the wall next to me.Vibrant greens and violets emanated from them. This was not refracted or reflected light.Somehow these stone naturally emitted the light and with enough intensity to allow the Ættir to work without another source.

“Take a look while you can. We will clear this vein in days. We won't get a tenth of its ’worth,’ but we will get our week's rations and some supplies while they grow soft with false strength. It was always just enough to find another vein without restarting to beg others for help. Ættir don’t beg.”

I got the implication. I added another person that would eat into their meager cut, but the fact that he was telling me this said something. I must be owed something, and he wanted to make sure I knew that wouldn’t be his choice. He wouldn’t give me anything if he had his say. I would need to talk to Dorian to confirm, but the lack of autonomy seemed the norm for those toiling in the mine.

“I am here to help. What do you want me to haul, Verndari?”

He studied me for a bit. Apparently satisfied with he saw, he pointed to a stack of rocks that did not glow as the rest. "Take those. They aren't crystal, but one of my men thinks they may contain some ore. Find out if they are worth what he says. I will not waste my men’s time on worthless metals.”

“I also take it to the same place as the terrorvoles?”

“Yes,” he replied, not hiding his exasperation.

Done with me, he then walked off leaving me to my new job. I pulled the cart out of the tunnel and knelt in front of a pile of rocks. Apparently, they needed a large sample because each rock was about the size of forty-five-pound barbell plate, but thicker and, unfortunately, probably heavier. They lacked any hint of the crystalline structure found on the rest of the wall. The only color came some faint red and silver striations.

I bent down and grabbed the top rocks. I groaned as I lifted it. Definitely heavier than forty-five pounds.Maybe a hundred? Terrorvoles suddenly didn't seem so bad. Rock between my legs, I waddled towards the cart like a sumo wrestler. My spine cracked and popped as I strained to lift it high enough to clear the lip of the cart. With a sickening squish, it landed in the cart on top of the dead terrorvoles.

I moved another, again straining against the weight.This one landed with a loud thud as it struck the first rock.

The sound must have carried because an Ættar working near me turned from his work. He took in what I was doing and then snapped, “be careful with that, Human. They could still have crystallized Aether that we don’t want to shatter.“

These were rocks, not crystals. No way would the Verndari trust me with anything of value. However, I held my tongue and nodded, while plastering on my face my best impression of meek compliance. I returned to my pile, though not before turning the cart to allow give easier to the other side.I squatted in front of it. Most of the stones were smaller than the first two. I just had to lift two or three more large pieces.

I started to lift when someone behind me let out a cough, and not just any cough.It kept going as if he had a lung to spit out.Should I help?Nobody said anything as it continued.The chorus of dull thuds of picks on stones never slowed.

I gritted my teeth waiting for it to end.When it finally did, the Ættar continued to wheeze with each inhalation. I still didn't turn around.I just ignored it and the increasing pangs of guilt until it finally died down to something inaudible. I couldn't do anything. If I was home, maybe. I would have access to an inhaler and CT. Then I could diagnose and treat him. Except here I didn't even have a stethoscope, and perhaps more importantly, they had magic to fix this. They didn’t need me at all.

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I kept telling myself that as I wrapped my hands around one of the rocks. My back screamed with each inch I lifted it off the ground. I made it two steps backward before the rock crashed to the ground with a heavy thud. I waited for another chastisement, but nothing. No one offered to help either. I squatted down again. It was heavy, but I could do it. I had squatted far heavier...when I was fifteen years younger and had the time to work out.

I grabbed the stone again. I would contribute. This was just like lifting weights. I took some deep breath, and then with an exhale, as I stood up. The rock moved, my back ached, but I kept moving, sucking in air as I waddled quickly to the cart. I cycled a few more deep breaths before lifting it about the rim of the cart’s sidewall. This was just a clean. This was just a--

The rock shot up with my exhale. I barely controlled it unexpected ascent and descent, but I managed to set it down on next to the other rock without even the hint of a sound. In my vision’s periphery, I caught the Verndari watching. Probably waiting for me to break something.

Just two more, then the rest will be easy. I grabbed the next rock.Just like before, I cycled my breathing before lifting.I pushed down wave of lightheadedness. I needed to be done with this. My legs and back burned as carried the rock to the cart, but I got the rock there in record time. Just like before, I laid it down with minimal sound.

I leaned against the cart sweating and fighting a strong wave of nausea.One more.Head down, I took a few more deep breaths. Energy filled my burning muscles.I could do this.

“Human, what are you doing?”

I turned my head finding a huge Ættar had approached during my recovery. He wasn't the Verndari, but Dorian’s words of warning came back to me. In the time I hesitated to respond, the Verndari answered his question for me. "Earning his keep."

Even in my fatigued state, I didn’t miss the Verndari staring down the Ættar, daring him to object.He cast a look to me, then to his boss before scowling and returning to work.I did the same. This confirmed what I already knew. The Verndari had it out for me. The fact that perhaps one Ættar cared did little to buoy my mood. At least the latest rock moved as easily as the previous.

In a few short minutes, I had it and the rest of the pile transferred to the cart. I grabbed both bars and pulled. The cart didn't move.

Of course, it didn’t.

The load barely rose above the top of the cart’s sidewalls. If the load consisted of only terrorvoles, I could have moved it, but the rocks were far denser. I tried again, putting more force into it. The cart at least rocked forward before the wheels settled back into a small groove in the stone.

I strained once more before forcibly exhaling after all my effort went to waste.I hung my head in defeat.I was cracking under the pressure, not unlike the carcasses of the terrorvoles I kept burying under an increasing layer of stone. It was too much. I had dealt with pressure before.I had made decision that saved and cost lives.However, it was never my own life on the line, never my body pushed to the brink.

What if I just gave up?

Before I could entertain that idea, I caught a familiar shape standing in the periphery. I looked up to find the Verndari smirking.

Screw him. Screw this place. I wouldn't let him or anyone else here have the satisfaction.

I clamped down on the handles and sucked in deep breath. It kindled a familiar warmth in my chest. I waited for the burst of energy that would follow. I focused on it as it filled my body, the task made easier by its strength. For whatever reason, it exceeded what I had previously generated. Aches and pains faded after I took one deep breath after another. I stoked the heat in my chest until it became a raging inferno. Then I pulled.

The cart rolled forward, hitting the edge of the rut and threatening to slip back into is groove.I sucked in another breath and tapped that reserve of strength that I had uncovered. I pulled again with everything I had.My tendons screamed as my muscle strained again their limits, but it was enough.The fully loaded cart creaked and then rolled out of its rut.

With each step, I picked up more steam. I aimed for the mouth of the tunnel, praying I wouldn't clip the side.I didn’t dare stop. I didn't dare slow down. I would never get this cart moving again otherwise. I gave the Verndari one last glance. Was his smirk wider?

I didn’t have the capacity to think on that. I barely managed to mentally curse him. It took all my focus to keep breathing, and this current stretch was the easy part. However, I would eke out a win just so that he could choke on it.

I pulled the cart through the first tunnel, internally groaning at the sounds of wood scraping stone and momentum lost. Purple and green gave way to a dim white as I moved into the next cavern. Ættir stopped to look at me. One of the greenskins yelled, but nothing made it past the roaring in my ears, not that I wanted to hear it.

Take a good look at the monkey--human--work. Enjoy it while you can.

I pulled my damned load into main cavern, sucking wind the whole time, but somehow, I kept moving.

Halfway there.

In the distance, black silhouettes stood near the other tunnels arising from the entrance cavern. Guards. Even if blurred, what else could they be? And just like before, they paid me no heed.

Harmless. Worthless.

Rage propelled me and the cart through the last tunnel. The sun had long crested the mountain, but just like everything else here, it greeted me with disdain, the rays of light daggers to my eyes. I slipped, a knee scraping the ground. The slight downhill I had just given thanks for a second ago now threatened to maim as the cart didn't slow with my stumble. It slammed into my lower back driving my other knee across the rough ground. I pushed against the handles. My arms quivered with exhaustion, but I found the strength to push myself up before the cart dragged me under.

As soon as my feet hit the ground, I started running.I still had some downhill left, and I couldn't waste any of it.I would need every bit to finish the last stretch up the hill.

Sweat dripped down my face and neck.My tunic stuck to my sweaty skin.It was as if I was running a marathon inside a sauna. Some part of my brain screamed to take it off. Except, I couldn't. I couldn't stop.Not on a hill.

I lifted my head to find the right direction only to flinch again at the sun's light.I squinted, but it did little. My world had turned into an impressionist painting. So, I closed my eyes and just guessed in a direction.

The throbbing in my head lessened a notch, confirming everything in this land was trying to kill me, even the sun.

I screamed at the injustice before returning to heaving breath. I would not stop. I would finish just to spite that the damn the Verndari and everyone other greenskin.

Suddenly, my cart jerked to a stop as if I hit a wall; however, nothing stopped my body.My hands slipped from the handle at the sudden cessation of momentum, and I flew forward somersaulting onto ground.I came to a stop on my back—probably.

I opened my eyes and regretted it. With the brief burst of light, the throbbing in my head grew to a pounding that threatened to shatter my skull. The ringing in my ears had grown to howl. My head rolled to the side as I started to spin in place. Or was that the world?

A set of hands gripped both sides of my head.

“I need to finish,” I croaked, somehow managing not to vomit.

Something pressed down on one of my eyelids.

No. They were going too—

The pressure increased, and despite my resistance, my eyelid opened. Even the small crack allowed needles to stab into my eyes. They streamed down my optic nerve into the back of my brain. Despite being awash in white and pain, I managed to make out that familiar, bronze face.

Dorian.

His mouth moved as he pulled me off the ground and onto my feet, not that it mattered.I could not make out anything above the howling in my ears, not that it mattered.He may have pretended to be a friend, but it turned out that he was no different than the other. He did this.He stopped stop me dead in my tracks. He made it impossible to finish. He wanted me to fail.

My eyes flashed open, the thousands of needles stabbing my eyes forgotten. They were nothing against rage that filled me. I could take Dorian. He was a foot short than I. I would slam him to the ground and then smash his smiling face. I would kill him for messing this up.

I screamed as I surged forward to tackle him. I relished his surprise. I grinned at how he froze him in place. Then I slammed into the same wall my cart had.

I bounced backward as if I was a toddler running into an adult. Shaking his head, he grabbed me, and with no signs of effort, he threw me over his shoulder. With a small hip check, he turned the cart sideways so it wouldn’t roll.

The world bounced as he started running. I twisted, kicked, and pounded on his back with every bit of strength I had left, but the iron vise never let up. He moved so fast. The incline didn't even phase him. It wasn't fair. I kept my eyes closed, cursing him the entire time.

A bang. A shout. Then the world spun again, though this time it was probably my body moving.When the dizziness died down, I opened my eye to a comfortable dim light. A familiar light.

Again? I was here again?

I tried to sit up, but my body hurt too much. Instead, I rotated my head nearly retching at the sudden vertigo. Two figures, one short and one tall, stood at the door yelling at each other.

I had seen enough. I was back here.

I tried to curl up and hide, but my body screamed at the tiniest movement. Instead, I just started to laugh…gurgle? The dizziness deepened as I struggled to suck in enough air.

Something pried open my eyes.A serious, green face stared down at me before it slid off to the right. I tried to steady my gaze, but even the slight effort generated more pain.

She put a hand on my head probably cursing me the entire time. Her hand started to cool.At first it was refreshing, but it didn’t stop. The temperature dropped until the cold burned.

I shivered. It was too cold. “Stop.”

She didn’t.

My arms and legs cramped.I flailed.Someone grabbed my arms, pinning them to my stomach. My legs followed shortly after. My torturer had an accomplice. My muscles spasmed in tetany. I tried to scream. I tried to beg. My diaphragm wouldn’t budge. She never stopped her work. She was killing me.

Just end it.

Then she did.