As the light axe he held glowed with a red intensity, Lex wiped the sweat from his brow. He'd been down here for what felt like an eternity, mining this shaft could provide him, and the heat was starting to take its toll. He glanced around at the others around him, all low levels like himself, and couldn't help but frown at the false promise they were fed in the previous life. It didn't matter who you were or what you accomplished in your other life, most ended up here, and most wouldn't escape.

Lex had played by the rules, got a decent paying job, married the woman of his dreams, and settled down in a modest house in the suburbs, but he'd never thought his life would end up here. As he swung his light axe into the mine's walls he began to swing harder, and harder, tears swelling up in his eyes. He was about to let out an agonizing scream when he felt a hand stop his swing dead in its tracks.

"I think it's time for a break," a familiar voice said as the calloused hand slowly released him.

Lex gathered himself quickly with a cough, "Y-yeah, it's about that time isn't it?"

Lex turned to face the voice, and was met with a grizzled worn face covered in dirt and glowing pieces of rocks. It was the person he was closest to ever since he woke up in this God forsaken place, Mike.

Just then, in the top right of his periphery, Lex could see a timer of 15 minutes had started, with a title of "Break remaining."

Lex scoffed, "Guess we're lucky we even get that, huh?" He asked Mike sarcastically.

"Yeah I see it too, c'mon." Mike snapped back. The two walked out of the shaft into a common area with a few metal chairs and a small wobbly round table and sat down. Lex took a moment to observe the break room, he'd never been in this one before. It was dimly lit and cramped, with barely enough room for the small table and chairs.

"So, you finally got to level 3 huh? Only 97 more levels to go until you can live the high life!" Mike, who was level 4, jokingly said to Lex.

"All I've wanted since I woke up here all I've wanted was to leave, by any means. I tried taking that light axe and driving it through my skull, not a scratch on me." Lex mumbled depressingly, as he pointed to his forehead.

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"Remember what they told us before they put us here? That this was heaven, a paradise made by humans in the cloud..." Mike kicks a rock next to the table, "yeah right."

In this world, or probably more accurately this digital hell, people who signed up to have their consciousness uploaded into the cloud when they died woke up in a perpetual hell. Everyone spawned in the same kind of zones, an underground slum with artificial light, dirty drinking water, and food shortages. The only currency available to them was a sliver of the crypto currency they mined during their work shift, not even 1% of what they produced.

"Where does all this stuff go anyways?" Lex asked inquisitively while holding up one of the glowing rocks he mined.

Mike shook his head, "Beats me, all I know is at level 100, we get to go to where we were promised." He points up towards the ceiling with a smile that slowly faded, "that's where I'll find her, that's where I'll find my wife."

Lex looked away, he wasn't able to find his wife either, he thought she must be in a different zone.

Just then, a beeping sound was heard, and Lex noticed his break timer was now at 0.

Both of the men groaned, "boss makes a dollar, I make a dime," Mike said.

"Who even is our boss?" Lex said while standing up, "All we do is mine all day and we don't interact with anyone like that."

"Figure of speech dumbass, just follow the marker on your mini-map. That's our boss." Mike said as the two headed back into the mine shaft.

Just then they saw a level 1 miner walk into the common area behind them, and gave him a wave. They noticed that the mans break time was -5:00 and falling.

"Be careful of that break timer, you don't wanna know what happens if you go too far in the negative" Mike said almost sarcastically. He shot a smirk at Lex.

Just then the mine started shaking, and as the two men struggled to stay upright they noticed 2 shadowy figures approach the level 1 miner in the break room. Without saying a word, the two figures began to rip the miner apart limb from limb. Blood curdling scream began echoing throughout the mines as blood and bone began to mix as the figures began to crush him and his torn limbs.

"What the fuck, what the hell is happening!?" Screamed Lex. "What do we do, should we try and help!?"

Mike held up his hand. "Just wait."

The two stood there silently as the screaming continued. Not too long after the figures vanished, leaving only the man in pieces, still screaming, and then that too eventually ceased. After a few seconds, his body disappeared along with any trace of what just happened.

Mike looked for another moment, and then turned around and started walking.

Confused, Lex yelled, "That just happened and you're not going to say anything???"

"Just don't go over your break time and that won't happen. He's fine, he spawned back in town. Physically fine, mentally probably not, he's probably really fucked up right now mentally." Mike said, not missing a step in his stride back towards the mine shafts.

Lex hurried and caught up with him, shuddering at what he just saw.