“You’re kidding me.”

The filters on Yushia’s gas mask he had purchased from Arnie fell on the floor. He quickly picked them back up and tried setting them back, but they refused to stay in. In a fit of anger, he threw the worthless trash deep into the forests, never to be seen again, and swore he’d get back his meat sticks back from Arnie.

Routine was usual. Yushia went inside the shed, grabbed his favorite pickaxe, and this time, went into another shed where he wore a sturdy hard hat enchanted with glowing ether.

Yushia tied his long and bushy black hair into a ponytail. Today, he had arrived early. Most slaves were arriving at the mines by now, changing into their proper wear and Kran was among them, but unlike the others, he was equipped with a large backpack and layers that covered every inch of his skin. He walked toward Yushia with a limp received from yesterday’s brawl.

“Good morning...” Kran’s voice seemed quieter than usual, the voice he’d use on Master Cliff when he’d be beaten into submission. “I’d like to apologize for my actions yesterday, Yushia. Please forgive me.”

Seriously...? Yushia thought.

“That fight started because I let my emotions get the better of me. I won’t let what happened affect how I’ll lead you in the mines today.”

Yushia raised an eyebrow. “Won’t Xander be coming along?”

Kran finally lifted his head. “Well, Xander’s facing a punishment right now. He begged Master Cliff to not let him go to the fifth layer, and I guess Master Cliff finally had enough...”

As the slaves headed inside the large doors into the mines, Yushia walked alongside Kran. Just imagining what Master Cliff was doing to Xander made him puke. Would it be lashings or humiliation today, or perhaps a mixture of both? Any of those options was terrifying.

“You already know the dangers down in the fifth layer, so I won’t have to tell you, right?” Kran asked.

“Cave-ins and dust,” Yushia said.

“You forgot one more thing. Tribulars inhabit the fifth layer.”

“Tribulars?”

“Nasty little critters. They resemble bats but they have triangular wings and diamond-shaped bodies. They’ll fly quietly at you and stick on your body while you’re in the dark and suck the blood straight out of you.”

Yushia looked down at his single layer of clothing before looking back at Kran’s multiple. “That explains why you’re wearing so much then, even when it’s this hot.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Arriving at the open mine doors, Kran went down first. “You’ll be fine if you make sure to keep checking your body. You can shake them off, and remember to keep your hard hat’s light well dusted.”

Yushia followed behind Kran down the mines, following the rail tracks. Sweat from other slaves had become one with the stone walls, giving the entrance a sour odor.

“The fifth layer isn’t too far,” Kran said. The light from the entrance had become nonexistent. He bent down and slid his backpack off before digging inside to grab a lantern. “It’s an easy path down, but we’ll be facing obstacles between the fourth and fifth layers.”

As Kran and Yushia traveled down the tunnel, they made quick work of the second and third layers. The temperature rose significantly, causing them to steadily lose their speed. Arriving in the fourth layer, Yushia couldn’t help but draw his curiosity on something strange about Kran’s equipment.

“Where’s your pickaxe?” he asked. “Did you forget it before coming down?”

“It’s in my backpack,” Kran said.

The lantern he held cast an intimidating shadow on his shiny wet face. Kran was sweating a lot even for someone wearing multiple layers, and if Yushia hadn’t known any better, he would’ve assumed he dipped his face in a bowl of water.

But Kran fixed a smile and his tone became more light-hearted as he faced forward again, continuing the trek. “We’re entering a cavern soon, so you should be prepared to fight off some Tribulars.”

The way to the cave was through a skinny crevice in the walls, forcing the two to inch through a one-person-wide space. Yushia’s hot breath deflected off the walls and back to his face. When he finally left the crack in the wall and fell inside the cavern, he peeked back into the crevice.

Kran struggled to push forward. “Yushia! My backpack won’t fit through.”

“Can’t you unload some things?” Yushia shouted with urgency. He looked over his shoulder and at the abyss he had just entered. He frantically checked his body for Tribulars and found none yet.

“Uh, yeah, I’ll do that, maybe get rid of some excess ropes or something. There should be a small room to your right you can hide in. Can you stay in there for now while you wait for me?"

Yushia spotted the hidden room and sat inside. The water dripping off the stalactites were nice, and calming even. He counted them splashing on the floor a hundred times, but during that, he hadn’t heard anything back from Kran.

On the two hundredth drip, he heard sizzling across the room and spotted an orange spark traveling along the floor.

Fuck.

Yushia focused the light on his hard hat and spotted a hill of dynamite piled in a cramp corner. Did slaves even have access to such an absurd amount? If anyone could, it was Kran. He sprinted out of the room and peeked through the crevice he’d come from. Kran had already left.

A second later, Yushia felt his skin charring off his body. The smell of gunpowder rushed through his nose as a windblast hotter than any fire entered his lungs, scorching them to hell. Had his legs been blown off, too? Yushia couldn’t even check. His retinas burned the same moment his skin did.

Not yet.

The pain in in his head had vanished, and he suddenly regained his vision. It blurred, but he could see himself shrouded in a blue smoke freefalling. Did the floor collapse with the roof?

A small girl watched him from a distance, seemingly unphased by the falling rocks threatening to crush her.

Not until you’ve found me, Yushia.