The adjustment to Mine 4 was harder than Morrigan initially considered. Since she has lived in Mine 16 for so long, she assumed it would be an easy acclamation seeing as she made her strength known to the general population of the warren. All things considered, it did help. No one really bothered her outside of the task masters Tyrus had.
The constant sounds of whips cracking became an irritating droning noise to her during the work hours. That irritation along with the slow burning anger of being trapped in another mine was a constant feeling for her. Which, according to Apollyon, had been keeping her lucid more often than not. Whether that was a good thing or not she had yet to decide.
Morrigan drove the steel spike of her pick ax into the wall she had been working on. The daily routine became therapeutic to her, almost like seeing an old friend every day; not that she could figure how many days it had been. She has already lost track ever since being sent down into her new home.
It was almost a blessing that the other inmates left her alone, except during her first few cycles she had been able to keep track of, she tried to make friends with the Eskarii and Saurian she had found.
The Eskarii did not react kindly to her trying to speak to them, one in the group she had found tried to attack her as they all spit every level of anti-Terran rhetoric they could muster. She did her best to try and reason with them while evading the moderate effort in the assault only to find out from what she could understand was that they blamed all Terrans for the war as well as their imprisonment, even those who belonged to the CoU.
The Saurian were another challenge she lost. Granted, they were not hostile to her, but she could not decide which was worse; to be hated by the Eskarii or to be purposefully ignored by the Saurian. That did not keep her from studying them from afar though.
She always saw five of them. There were three the Federation dubbed “Skinks” for their lanky bodies and slender heads, much similar to the Terran reptile. She noticed they between five and six feet tall excluding their long slender tails and mainly communicated through clicks and warbles that she couldn’t make heads or tails of.
The other two were the breed of Saurian she read about. The so called “Lizard” breed. One seven feet tall with a beautiful orange and yellow fin on its head. Their skin was a gorgeous nearly pearlescent blue and their head had more in common with a snake than a lizard, including two large fangs that hung from underneath its top jaw.
The other, was a dull white Lizard who had a large solid crest on top of his Komodo-like head. His name was Xol as far as she knew considering that is what Tyrus barked at him to garner the eight foot Saurian’s attention. Xol was built like a tank, which given what she knew about the Saurian, he was probably the leader of their little clan within the mines.
She found it strange whenever Tyrus gave Xol orders, he followed them through. Albeit, with blatant disdain as each time he received orders, he bared his mouth full of deadly sharp teeth and gave a low hiss.
It was a strange experience especially since he was large enough both in height as well as muscle mass, to look as if he could tear anyone within Mine 4 in half with his bare hands.
When she had tried to speak to the Saurian, the most she got was a passive look, blank stares from two of the Skinks, and a half lip sneer before ignoring her and continuing their conversation in their hard chopped native language and the non-verbal language the Skinks spoke in.
Aweee, does no one want to play with little Mori? Apollyon poked fun at her.
She paused mid swing and lowered the head of the pick ax to the ground, “apparently not. It really sucks because this is the first time ever seeing them in person. All I want to do is learn about them!” She said aggressively in her head.
Meh, what's there to learn? They're part of this lovely trifecta of species warring for dominion of this corner of the galaxy.
Morrigan scowled at Apollyon’s short sightedness. “There’s plenty to learn. They're the most reclusive and territorial of the three species. We barely know anything about them and all attempts of diplomacy has either been ignored or met with extreme violence…” she said aloud in aggravation before taking another swing and skipping the pick ax off the wall which only drew more anger out of her.
Sounds like they want to be left alone, Apollyon said in passive boredom.
“No shit, but the entire race can't be…not curious,” she growled, “but I want to learn, I want to make friends with them. Just like I did with Torvil and Mo’Emori…” she said her anger taking a steep dip into melancholy as she remembered her Eskarii crush and her emotionless, deadpan brother.
She dropped the pick ax and let out a low pitched whine as she buried her face into her eyes to try and stem the tidal wave of tears that threatened to spill.
Hey, hey come on, no need to be like that. I'm sure you'll see them again… Apollyon said quickly trying to stem a psychotic episode from her sadness.
“But what if I don’t!” she whined as she wiped her nose with the back her hand.
You will. Eventually we’ll break out of here and we’ll go find them. I’m sure they would be every shade of happy to see you too, even that monotone dick that stabbed you, Apollyon chuckled as he referred to Torvil.
Apollyon’s appraisal of Torvil helped, causing her to let out the smallest giggle.
Without warning, Morrigan’s right calf burned intensely followed by the sharp crack of a whip, shifting her anger into a higher gear as she looked down to see her leg had been slashed open by the leather cord.
“Get back to work!” the task master yelled at her.
She gave him a steely death glare as she felt Apollyon begin repairing her leg.
I recommend…taking that fuck’s skull. You can turn it into a serving bowl for dinner, Apollyon mused darkly.
“I said get back to work bitch!” the task master barked as he hauled his arm back to whip her again. This time however, Morrigan was ready for him.
As the whip sailed towards her, she stuck her arm out wincing as her arm took the brunt of the force before wrapping the leather around her wrist and grabbed ahold of it with her hand, pulling it taut.
With a flash of crimson energy, she used her thumb and middle fingers to literally snap the whip in half with crimson claws.
The profound look of disbelief on the task master’s face as he looked at his newly broken whip made Morrigan giggle as she dropped her half at her feet, a wide playful grin on her face.
The man tossed the whip aside and drew wooden stick that was half wrapped in a metal sheet, a crude cudgel, and prowled towards her, “you little bitch, you’ll pay for that!” he roared as he hauled back his melee weapon to swing at the girl who stood there and giggled unflinching.
“Hey!” came the voice that was worse than nails on a chalkboard for Morrigan. The task master stopped in his tracks, both he and Morrigan turning to see Tyrus staring them down from a vantage point farther towards the central warren.
Except, he was not looking at Morrigan, he had been staring at his task master. “Leave the girl alone!” his voice boomed down the length of the tunnel.
This surprised both of them, though Morrigan hid her surprise underneath a scowl. “Boss, she broke my…” the man started only to receive a hard glare from Tyrus.
“Ulla, you are to leave the new girl alone. Is that clear?” he said crisply.
Ulla, which had been the task master’s name, scoffed as he shot a glare at Morrigan. “yeah boss, I understand,” he forced out bitterly.
Morrigan frowned when she saw Tyrus’s face shift from aggravated to delighted. “Good! Go get another whip and get back to work…” he stalled and leered at Morrigan, “the both of you,” he finished with a hint of joyous amusement.
Morrigan’s frown twisted in disgust as she reached for her pick ax. Her blood boiled at the interruption as she drove the pick ax deep into the stone wall with enhanced force. She could hear Tyrus’s fading chuckle over all of the sound of pick axes beating into stone.
So, when do we get to kill that one? Apollyon asked defensively.
“I’d rather never be within 100 feet of the creep…” Morrigan growled.
One of the hardest parts of adjusting to her new home was Tyrus. She had lost count how many times she found him watching her. She was thankful that it was always at a distance, however, it did not take away the creep factor.
“Trying to face him and put him down is a rough call. We don't know how many are loyal to him, or the backlash it would bring. We could end up needing to try and fight everyone in the mine! Hell I haven't even explored most of it yet…” she thought to Apollyon as she wrestled the pick ax out of the wall.
Would that be a bad thing? I’m pretty certain you could kill everyone here!
“Yeah, until the guards got involved. I guarantee the warden warned them about me. Chances of them taking a kill shot is a lot higher.”
Apollyon snickered then sighed, yeah you may have a point. Especially that fucker with that big ass gun… not sure I could fix that!
Morrigan snorted as she recalled the guard lugging around a portable mini-gun. If anything were to ever happen, he would be the first one she needed to take out otherwise it would be game over for her and many others.
She shook her head at the ridiculous thought, she would need far more time to plan an escape. At present, her life could be significantly worse. People left her alone, though the loneliness was a struggle to cope with.
Mining was also a lot simpler with the amount of inmates in the mine. Given that Mine 4 had a larger elevator, there were six smaller rolling dumpsters that followed down the two tunnels that were currently being dug. It also meant aside from those who had to push the dumpsters onto the elevator, there was no ridiculous line to wait in.
Morrigan caught a movement of white out of the corner of her eye, looking to see Xol standing behind his small clan as they began excavating in the tunnel she was in. He carried a massive club that was made out of a thick metal bar and a stone head.
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She assumed he was the task master of the Saurian though she had never seemed to see him treat anyone poorly. His group seemed to hold a great deal of respect for him.
On the contrary, one of the Skinks started their digging too closely to a human who took offense to their proximity. In a mad fit, the human shoved the Skink, shouting obscenities.
In a burst of speed she had not expected, Xol bound near his Skink and the offending human and swung the giant stone club. The result was a human with a caved in ribcage flying a good 25 feet through the air before rolling across the ground in a crumpled heap.
Morrigan gawked as she realized Xol was more guardian than task master. She was more surprised that no other inmate, task master or otherwise said a word about it. If she had to hazard a guess, there was an unspoken rule that no one was to mess with the Saurian.
Xol caught her staring and gave her a challenging glare as his orange, reptilian eyes narrowed.
Realizing she got caught staring, she panicked and waved, giving him a kind yet nervous smile.
What, in the name of me, are you doing? Apollyon asked incredulously.
“I don’t have a fucking clue,” she murmured under her breath as she fought back a hysterics giggle.
Xol eyed her for a moment before giving her a fanged sneer and returned to warding over his species.
Morrigan let out the breath she had been holding and shook her head. “Well that went better than the other guy…” she noted.
What? You mean having all your bones intact and not splattered all over the ground? Yeah I guess we can call that a win ha.
She chuffed at that and continued working on her wall after that, pulling out small fragments of Viridian for hours on end until the call for days end came.
ΩΩΩ
Do you feel that?! Apollyon exclaimed in dark excitement.
Morrigan lifted her head from the bundled-up cloth she used as a pillow that she had left over from her arrival.
It had been some time since meal time had passed and Morrigan spent the remainder of her day relaxing in her hovel that she had used her powers to dig into one of the abandoned tunnels on the second tier. It wasn’t much, a six by five hole in the wall that gave her the space and seclusion from the rest of the warren, she was even able to use the excess stone and dirt to create a semi-soft spot to lay.
Focus! You must feel that, that honey laden taste in the air hehehe, Apollyon explained in sadistic delight.
She raised off her resting spot with intense concentration. Morrigan had no idea what had her celestial companion so worked up but it piqued her curiosity, especially if it was something to cure the perpetual boredom she felt.
There was something in air. Morrigan could feel something, something tantalizing like the soft vibration of static energy that sent the hair on the back of her neck on end.
“What is that?” she asked aloud languidly, as if entranced in the level of ambient energy she could feel. It wasn’t the same energy that gave her strength from the cosmos.
That my dear girl, is the delicious smell of unbridled rage! Apollyon hissed.
She remembered the thick feeling she felt when she first got to Mine 4, the latent ambient anger that emanated from the residents, this however, was an entirely new feeling.
“Should we check it out?” she inquired, not really feeling cautious about it as she got up and walked towards the entrance of her hole in the wall.
You kidding? This is the kinda thing that gets me hard!
“Okay…gross,” Morrigan chuckled as she stalked her way towards the central warren.
It was confusing to see so many inmates around casually biding their time till they decided to fall asleep. Many lounging around their spots they called their rooms or in the central warren socializing or gambling in relative peace. Yet the emotions she picked up on were even stronger as she stood in the center of the massive chamber.
Some of the inmates were giving her questioning looks but she ignored them as she scanned the chamber.
There! Down there! Apollyon exclaimed as her vision settled on a tunnel on the first tier of the warren.
As she scampered down one of the ladders from the second tier, she realized it was a tunnel she had yet to explore, it’s depth reaching into darkness.
Taking a look around at the other inmates that seemed to care little that she had been approaching, meaning that it was safe, theoretically.
Morrigan made her way down the lightless tunnel, working down its gentle curves and pitch leading down. She took a modicum of caution knowing full well the dangers that could lurk in the dark of Castile V.
The farther she went, the stronger the feeling of rage radiated against her, followed by a cacophony of faint shouting that was not discernable, which piqued her curiosity even more.
That’s it, we’re getting closer. Get a move on girl, Apollyon ushered her forward in excitement.
Eventually, dropping the attempted caution, Morrigan stumbled into a wall of shouting, angry inmates all facing away from her. The wave of emotion slammed into her with a dizzying oppression that caused her to let slip a laugh.
Woah,oh,oh,oh, this is the good stuff baby! Ah! Apollyon rejoiced in the encompassing emotions coming from the crowd.
Morrigan shook her head trying to clear the nauseating euphoria swimming through her head from being that close to the crowd all the while Apollyon reveled in the back of her mind.
This is great little goddess… such anger, such hate and the cries for blood! It’s like going through the Middle Ages all over again! Hahahahaha!
Her curiosity over the commotion overtook her as soon as she got her senses in working order, allowing her to start wedging herself through the crowd towards the front.
Delivering a few empowered elbows to inmates refusing to let her through gave her the berth needed to find the fighting pit the crowd encircled.
The amount of blood that was shed hit her like a truck once she reached the proximity of the ring of fine, loose dirt as it snaked its way under the dirt and snaked its way toward her.
This…this was a good ideaaa, Apollyon let out in a predatory hiss.
It took every ounce of focus for her not to make sound as her eyes fluttered in bliss.
When she refocused, her vision was greeted by one of the most beautiful sights she could hope to witness in a dreary hell scape like Castile V.
A woman raised her arms in triumph, enticing a discordant of cheers and angry boos. She stood around five foot eight, her blonde hair shaven on one side of her head, the middle loose and long enough to flop half way over the side that was shaven while the rest was braided rightly to her skull. Her prison uniform was torn, cut, mended and miraculously dyed black in a sportier fashion that left every movement unhindered and showed the underground world every inch of her lean, tone muscles that were battered, bruised and riddled with scars.
Morrigan watched as the woman reveled in the chaos she brought on as she sent kisses to the crowd and hopped around the fighting pit with wildly active energy.
The woman’s silvery eyes highlighting her bright, although bloody smile as she laughed animatedly as Morrigan studied her battered and bloody body.
“Nora!” came the all too familiar voice of Tyrus, who Morrigan spotted sitting in a more literal makeshift throne of stone, bone and scrap fabric above the left side of the fighting pit.
The woman in the ring gave him a confused look, “what?!” she barked.
Everyone quickly silenced themselves. “You were not supposed to kill your opponent, this was not a grudge match,” Tyrus stated calmly with a hint of punishment.
Morrigan grit her teeth as the desire to stand between Tyrus and Nora, the woman in the ring, urged her muscles to react.
Nora looked down at her opponent that lay upon the dirt, a man who normally would've looked as if he could beat upon the woman without much effort. She cocked her head to the side comically with an amused smile before striding over to him and crouched low.
With a hard flick in the center of the closed eye, the man's body jerked followed by a grunt of pain in his unconscious state.
Nora dusted her hands off with a giggle and shrugged at Tyrus, “see, not dead,” she chirped with a cocky smile.
Tyrus grinned at her before dipping his head in concession before waving her off.
Nora turned back to the crowd and spread her arms, “come on! Whose next! I know I've pissed off more folk than this!” she roared in glee, her grin wide with anticipation.
There were whispers and murmurs through the crowd before Xol spoke over everyone. “Huruk Arak’tarul diwaze mirina!”
Morrigan had not noticed the white Lizard standing off to the right of the throne. Xol nodded to a Skink standing next to him. The Skink let out a bellow of incoherent syllables before stepping into the ring, a blue and black forked tongue flicking rapidly as the previous opponent was dragged out.
Tyrus laughed heartily, “it seems Huruk wants your head Nora, do you accept a battle to the death against the Skink?”
Xol sneered at the name Skink, but looked firmly ahead at Nora, who clapped and squealed in delight. Morrigan’s eyes bugged out of her head in shock at the call of the fight being a death match.
Oh, I am really beginning to like this place, Apollyon quipped.
“Hell yeah I do!” she laughed as she readied herself. “Bring it lizard man!” she laughed.
Huruk let out a dangerous open mouthed hiss, as it pulled a long jagged makeshift knife out of nowhere.
“You have it everybody! A fight to the death between Huruk the Skink and Nora, the ice bitch herself! Place your bets!” Tyrus announced as he looked between the two contestants, all the while inmates roared and cheered, placing bets between the two fighters.
Morrigan’s stomach wanted to revolt at such barbarism, her heart hammering in her chest as she was about to witness such a beautiful woman fight one of her cosmic curiosities.
It’s not so bad, humans have used arenas for blood sports for millennia. Just think of it as watching a show on those stupid televisions you humans always prattle on about.
“Yeah but…” Morrigan started only for her voice to be drown out by the spectators. She could not argue Apollyon’s point really. Humanity has always found some violent way to entertain themselves, some of which at the expense of the poor or incarcerated.
She also couldn’t deny the tiny part of her that wanted it. To watch the violence and bloodshed, and even see the damage the beautiful blonde could dish out.
Now you're getting it, let's watch your new wet dream spill lizard guts for all to see, Apollyon joked in a sinister tone.
Morrigan huffed indignantly and crossed her arms, thinking all sorts of nasty things she wanted to say to that.
Apollyon only chuckled at her, I know what you're thinking and it's not nice hahahaha.
Her attention was pulled from Apollyon as Huruk lashed out without warning, taking a wide swipe with the shank. Nora deftly leaned back, squealing with joy before she stood up straight and rushed the Skink.
The crowd roared as Nora juked and dodge the furious onslaught Huruk pressed. It appeared that Skinks were profoundly dexterous and agile with how fast Huruk moved, letting its three clawed toes dig into the dirt as Huruk bounced left and right trying to throw Nora off.
Nora however, was just as chaotic in her movement and surprisingly light on her feet for someone who had just taken a beating herself just moments ago.
Nora ducked underneath another wide swipe and twisted to her body to avoid the left handed punch and shifted to deliver a nasty uppercut.
Huruk slashed blindly, catching Nora across her forearms which blocked her face before twisting and slamming her across the side with its tail, sending her into the opposite crowd.
She regained her bearings while the crowd pushed her back into the ring. “I always forget about the fucking tail!” she complained to no one in particular, her face growing more serious.
Morrigan’s eyes widened as she watched light blue energy coalesce down Nora’s forearms, pulling moisture from the blood, sweat and air around her.
“Holy shit, she’s a mage!” Morrigan screamed in her head.
You don’t have to yell, I can see it clearly with your own eyes woman!
Morrigan watched as a frosty dagger made of solid ice formed in each of Nora’s hands, which she twirled expertly as she rolled her shoulders, settling her weapons underhanded in a defensive stance.
Morrigan also noticed that the shallow cuts on her forearms frosted over, sealing the wounds.
Nora charged her opponent, launching herself into the air and drop kicking Huruk into the crowd. She landed on her back and adeptly rolled backwards into a defensive crouch.
“Li ser heq’ê şwe! Şwe, rümet bïzur hakkon!” Xol roared deeply as he reached forward and picked Huruk up by the back of the neck and shoved the Skink back into the ring, bearing his lizard fangs in a disgusted snarl.
Huruk squawked and assaulted Nora in a mad rush, throwing fist, blade and tail in heated fervor.
As Nora ducked and weaved between strikes as she waited for a particular tail strike. When it finally came, she wrapped her left arm around the Skink’s whip like tail and used her long frosty daggers to scissor a third of Huruk’s tail clean off.
Huruk bellowed incoherently in pain as its tail thrashed about, spraying blood all over the crowd, hitting Morrigan in a brief, yet strong pleasurable high.
The amount of blood loss caused Huruk to stagger and drop the prison shank, which gave Nora the perfect opportunity to move in.
As Huruk made a grab for its bleeding tail, Nora closed the gap between them and drove one of the icy daggers into its stomach, causing Huruk’s bellows to cut off in a long-drawn-out clicking noise before she drove the other long dagger down into its chest cavity through its clavicle.
Xol shook his head in disgust as the crowd roared.
Morrigan stood there motionless, completely dumbfounded as the blood high wore off. She did not realize she was staring so intently until Nora’s silver eyes met hers, the scar that trailed down her left temple down to her cheek highlighting the slow creeping grin spreading across her face.
Hey kiddo, you dropped something hehehe, Apollyon said through the noise.
Morrigan’s mouth snapped shut once she realized it had been hanging open, causing her to turn every shade red.
Nora bat her eyelashes and let out a soft chuckle, raising her hand only to be interrupted.
“Well done Nora!” Tyrus shouted as he stood clapping. Nora looked at him and scoffed, shaking her head however, when she looked back to where Morrigan had been standing, she was gone.