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     Eric stood in front of a young man who carried a pickaxe and wasn't dressed any better than Eric himself. The young man was talking to Eric about the mine problem, how some creatures had taken it over. "It just so happens I run a pest control business," said Eric with a cheeky smile. "Who can I talk to about payment?" 

     "The mine owner is just over yonder," said the young man, pointing to a small hut near a well worn path of rocks. Eric and Lucia set off in that direction, and just so happened to meet a man barging out of the hut. He was clearly in a bad mood, and seeing the huge body of Eric made it worse. 

     "I've told you yokels a hundred times," the angry bald guy shouted, "the mine is closed because it's too dangerous! Why do you keep expecting me to pay you when I'm not getting any ore!?" 

     "Actually, I'm not here to mine," said Eric humorlessly. "I'm here to take care of your pest problem. First, I'm gonna need to know how much you're willing to pay." 

     "I've got fifty coppers ready for you if you kill the beasts in my mine," said the owner enthusiastically. 

     There was a brief silence before Eric said, "I'm waiting for the punchline." 

     "What?" 

     "Fifty coppers?" said Eric offended, "I brush my teeth with fifty coppers. It's a silver at least, or I'm gonna leave." 

     "I don't have the money for that," said the owner desperately. "It took everything I had just to buy this mine!" Eric turned around, already walking away when he was called back by the mine owner. 

     "Fine," he said angrily, "I've got fifty copper here, I'll put up a collection from the men, see if I can't get the other fifty." 

     "I'll hold you to that," said Eric, then he looked down at Lucia. She had some meat on her bones now, no longer malnourished from her captivity, but she didn't have any muscle on her. "Do you have any weapons?" 

     "You don't have your own," the owner said credulously. 

     "I'm more than enough for this problem," said Eric, crossing his arms and glaring down at the owner. "I wanted to know if you had anything for the kid." 

     "You don't expect her to fight, do you? She's a demi-human. She's probably related to the monsters you're going to kill." Eric paused for a moment, then he looked at the owner in such a way that the mine owner began to fear for his life.

     "You can say whatever you want about me," Eric growled angrily, "but don't you ever say anything bad about Lucia." With that, Eric took the money and left, marching out with a tense look on his face. As he started for the mine, Eric asked Lucia, "What was that about?"

     "Humans hate demi-humans," said Lucia sadly. 

     "Why?" Eric asked. 

     "We're part demon." 

     "You're part animal, there's nothing demonic about it." 

     "I heard that long ago, demons took over human blood and turned them into monsters like me." 

     Eric put his hand on Lucia's small head, "You're not a monster, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise." They walked into the mine, hearing their footsteps echo around the low ceiling of the mine. Eric had to duck, his size was too much for the small mine to accommodate, but he was used to his height causing problems. With his head low and Lucia around his feet, Eric delved into the mind where torches burnt with a complete lack of responsibility towards possible gas leaks. As the duo travelled further into the caves, they came to a larger open area with several different ways to go. 

     "What do we do?" asked Lucia, looking at the seven different paths. Eric kicked the ground a few times, etching out an arrow pointing the way they had come. 

     "This is so we know where where the exit is," explained Eric. "Can you tell where the monster is?" 

     "I can smell blood from that way," said Lucia, pointing down the very middle path. 

     "Then we go that way," said Eric, summoning his chains with the bright flash. Eric delved deeper with Lucia on his heels, her tiny hands gripping her dirty shirt. Eric noticed this, so he bent down and put his hands around her waist. "Chainmail," he said, and small chains started to crawl across her body like snakes. Lucia shivered as the chains squirmed across her, but then the movement stopped and she had a full body covering of chainmail. "I already told you I'd protect you," said Eric sternly, "so stop being afraid." Lucia grinned, but the grin died quickly when Eric stood up. 

     They kept walking, getting deeper and deeper until Eric saw the first body. It was clearly a miner, his ripped shirt a little ways to the side next to a broken pickaxe. The mangled and twisted body was ripped open from gullet to groin, and some of the insides seemed chewed or dissolved. Eric's eyes avoided the face, continuing on down the cave to the monster. He wondered what sort of beast he would be facing, maybe something that was too much for Lucia to handle. He didn't want to traumatize her, but he needed her to overcome her fears at least. 

     As they went farther down, Eric passed a group of three people who had swords lying near their bodies. There were armor plating pieces ripped apart, Eric bent down to examine the metal to find that it was rent all the way through. He bent it himself, feeling the general weakness of the armor under his hands. "It looks like we have a troublesome creature," said Eric with a crooked smile. "This armor is weak, but it's still armor. My chains are tougher than that, so you're protection's intact." 

     They kept going until they reached a strange place where the cave suddenly became rectangular. There were two pillars on either side that started the rectangular caves. The cieling went a little higher as well, giving Eric enough room to stretch his neck out. Without truly noticing it, Eric found himself in a stone hallway with a torch in hand and Lucia behind him. He walked fearlessly, his heavy feet making clapping sounds on the stone floor. "This... is not a cave," said Eric, channeling powers from the legendary superhero, Captain Obvious. 

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     Before going any farther, Eric said, "Wait, I've got an idea." He jogged back to the cave where the three armored bodies lay, then he picked up the smallest sword there was. It was perhaps the size of his forearm, and just heavy enough to be a good pick for Lucia. He handed it to her with the handle towards her, saying, "Trying swinging this around." Lucia took the sword, feeling the weight in her hands, then she swung it at Eric. Eric had to dodge the sword as it swiped right across his eyes, then he saw Lucia's body twist to go with the momentum of the swing. 

     She did a half-turn, and once her back was turned, Eric thumped her on the head with his fist. "Don't kill me," he chastised lightly, then watched as Lucia immediately dropped the sword and fell to her knees. She put her head to the ground and covered it with her arms, tucking her legs in like a turtle until her feet were all that could be seen under the chainmail armor. Eric heard the clicking of the chains as Lucia violently vibrated from her immense fear of being severely punished. 

     "Please," she hissed desperately, "I didn't mean to!" Eric looked down at this pitiful girl, seeing her cower on the ground for a punishment she hadn't received. 

     "Stand up," said Eric soundly, his seriousness reverberating off of the stone walls. Lucia slowly stood up, following orders like a good little slave, tears streaking down her face as she turned towards Eric's imposing form. She felt the salty tears sting her eyes, until a soft pressure on her head made her flinch. Lucia felt it again, so she slowly looked up to see a very sad pair of eyes looking down on her. Eric's strong hand was patting Lucia's head, and a smile crossed his lips. 

     "That was a good swing," he said with a deep voice, "keep practicing so we can kill monsters." Lucia had this odd feeling, a sensation she had almost forgotten existed until this moment. She remembered her life before the slavery, she used to feel like this so often she took it for granted. 

     "Okay," she said, a weak smile forming as she continued to cry. 

     "C'mon, we've got a mine to clear out," said Eric, holding his hand out to Lucia. She took it on instinct, despite the 'lessons' that had taught her not to touch her master, and they continued further into the strange cave. They got to a point where the wall was blocked off, but there were creases and edges that suggested the section of wall might be a door of some kind. There were strange markings that Eric couldn't make out, and Lucia was still sniffling from the episode earlier. Eric reached out and pressed on the door, then a loud cracking sound broke through the room, and a section of the ceiling behind Eric and Lucia fell down. 

     Standing ready on four legs was a mechanical panther covered completely in stone armor. It moved like a cat, with the joints clicking and cracking as it got into a crouching stance. Eric knew when the rear was stuck in the air that the panther was going to pounce, and with Lucia behind him he couldn't dodge the blow. Raising one of his arms, Eric shouted "Bind!" right as the stone animal leaped into the air with powerful hind legs. 

     The stone jungle cat was hit by the chains in mid-air, but the high mass and large momentum kept it travelling at Eric unabated. Eric pushed Lucia roughly to the side, then he swung his chains at the cat before it hit him. The stone broke at the impact from the chains, breaking the strange stone animal in half. However, the momentum carried the top half into Eric, pushing his head into the stone wall behind him with violent force. The lining suddenly broke down, pushing Eric through the solid stone door and out of sight. 

     Lucia cowered in the corner of the hallway, looking out at the loose section of door. She heard the sound of hard pounding, then a ruckus as a loud shout echoed through the caves. The sounds of fighting were echoing across the cave, then something appeared from the doorway. It was the bottom half of the jungle cat, still standing somehow as the insides whirred and clicked with  incomprehensible complexity. Lucia stared at this strange occurrence like it was a nightmare come true. She gripped her sword with shaking hands, then Lucia closed her eyes and swung the sword at the bottom half. 

     The mechanical bottom half leaned back enough that the sword missed, so Lucia was pulled around in a circle with her back to the mechanical monster. The stone cat leaped a little, getting enough air that it could reach it's hind paw out to attack Lucia with the impossibly sharp claws. Lucia was turned around, the only protection was the chainmail that covered her body. 

     "Look out!" shouted Eric, and Lucia brought the sword around again. The edge hit the leg of the beast, cutting part of the way through before it stopped. The sword suddenly jerked out of Lucia's hand, skidding across the stone floor as the bottom half of the stone panther took another swing. 

     A sudden mass came out of the doorway, pulverizing the lower half into a bunch of shards as it flew past. There was a long chain connected to the mass that had destroyed the dangerous rear, that suddenly went slack once the mass connected with the far wall. Lucia saw the chain links along the ground, then they slowly became tight again to drag the huge mass back towards the door. As it got closer, Lucia saw that it was a huge group of interconnected chains that made up a circular sphere. 

     Eric stepped out of the doorway, blood covering his shirt from wounds around his chest, his huge arms pulling the mass of chains back towards him. He looked at Lucia, then smiled and said, "Nice swing." A little message popped up in front of him and Lucia, telling them they both got a mass of experience points and some money for killing the strange mechanical beast. Lucia fell to her knees, a feeling of being alive filling her as she almost started crying again. "Oh yee of little faith," said Eric playfully, rubbing his finger against Lucia's cheek, "I told you I'd protect you."  

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