Nao’s POV

I could no longer stand seeing people I grew close with die left and right for no apparent reason. At first, I had grieved and mourned, but the more it continued to happen, I found it harder to grieve. Instead, darker emotions began to grow within me - hatred. I couldn’t see the guards as anything other than people to despise and spit upon. They had trapped us down here - old and young alike - thinking only about their own prosperity. I couldn’t stand it, not anymore.

* * *

Then, my reign on rationality was let loose when Sho had died. He had died giving his life for a child which I couldn’t be mad about, but the thought that this would have never happened kept nagging at me as I continued to dwell on thoughts by myself. The world around me became darker and darker until it was unrecognizable when compared to reality, but that darkness was the reality that had taken control of me. At this point, the world seemed like nothing more than an abyss of evil that had me surrounded on all sides. I was surrounded and the last thing I could do was lash out - like a beast trapped in a cage. As I felt myself getting weaker over time from the treatment, I decided that I would make one final attempt to end it all here - so that no one else would have to go through what we had experienced.

After Sho had died, I went mad with planning the rebellion to the smallest details. I had told Nor about this plan ahead of time because he had also been a close friend of Sho as well as someone I could trust, but he looked at me in disapproval even after I had explained everything as much as I could. I could not believe this man… he had a family to take care of and believed that my plan would cause too many unnecessary casualties - that was where he was wrong. It didn’t matter what happened along the way, the final result was what counted.

The plan was put into action regardless of what Nor thought, and it went smoothly like I had planned. A lot of the younger ones were ready to rebel at any given moment and I used that sentiment to drive them towards a large-scale rebellion. I had gotten Nor to convince the other leaders into organizing their groups by the set day. Naturally, I had given Nor a script to go by that would grasp at their hearts and persuade them into aiding my cause - it didn’t matter if Nor tried to stray from the script, as long as the people were riled up in some way, the rebellion would occur. The days leading up to that special day felt long and monotonous; I couldn’t wait for the day where I would see hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dismembered bodies of the guards - I went ecstatic at the thought. There was no better joy for me than imagining getting my revenge on those who had stolen everything from me - no one could stop me now, not even Nor.

And then, that day finally arrived. Today started like any other day, almost identical to all others. After gathering everyone who was in on the plan, we headed out as quickly as possible to the rendezvous point that had been established beforehand. My heart was pumping and for the first time in a while, I was excited - excited for freedom, revenge, and most of all, death. I promised myself that I would die trying to destroy this entire place once and for all. It didn’t matter what happened to me, all I wanted was to get revenge and secure a better future for those who were going to be brought here.

Before arriving at the cavern system, I had told the leaders to fire off their magic to cause the guards to move. The guards quickly responded like I had predicted and gathered into one clumped space - this was going to be easy. Just as I was giving the signal to fire once again, I felt an overwhelming presence heading over at an incredible pace - I didn’t have any time to hesitate in giving directions. I gave the order fire once again and it landed squarely onto the clutter of guards causing mayhem and destruction all around, but while this was going on, the man appeared in front of me. He wore a suit usually adorned on high-ranking warriors that had gone through the darkest pits of hell - perhaps a Paladin?. I had failed to take this into account and my mind ran into panic mode and I was no longer able to think straight, but I had to keep up an appearance for the group's morale.

Oh, how the tides could change so quickly. The Paladin in front of me acted more charismatically and confidently than I could have ever done - even with decades of practice. The overwhelming force of this man forced my own fantasies back onto the ground, to reality. As soon as I realized the predicament I had made and was currently in, I regretted what I had done and laughed condescendingly at myself. I saw that Nor was looking at me from the corner of my eyes and recovered as quickly as possible - I couldn’t show Nor of all people how foolish I felt. After giving him a quick glance, I signaled for the next group to rush in, regardless of the changing situation.

It seemed that regardless of the new face, the tide was still somewhat on our side, but this did not last long. Nor was beaten down quickly and that Paladin looked like he was going in for the killing swing. I instinctively almost dove into the middle of their battle, but then I saw Nor do something that I never thought he would have done - he drank his blood and unleashed the power of beasts. Many beastmen considered it a forbidden technique while others used it during times of need; this technique would provide a burst of strength, but at the same time degrade the mental ability of beastmen, slowly turning them into simple beasts if it was used for a prolonged time. Nor had gone against his tribe’s belief by using this power, the power he himself had promised to never use.

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However, it was clear that Nor did not have much control over this power at all. He swung in large motions, not caring if there were collateral casualties in the process. I swear I had wanted to go in and help, but there was nothing that could have been done. When Nor’s blood didn’t provide him enough power, he went as far as to eat his own limbs. More continued to die, whether friend or foe, but I was stuck in space, observing as people continued to die all around me. All I was able to do was look away in horror at the fact that I had caused this mess. Casualties continued to grow and I stirred up the strength that I hadn’t made use of in a long time. I bit into my own skin and dark, fluid blood leaked out. I drank it and felt an immense power within me, but at the same time, I felt myself being unable to think straight as my vision was slowly dying red. I picked myself up for the first time since the skirmish had started. Spotting a large stone, I grabbed it and chucked it at Nor once he had beaten that Paladin bastard.

I knocked Nor out in one shot to the jaw and walked away from the scene of carnage. I would have to fix this problem on my own; I drank some more blood and the world dyed red.

Sol’s POV

Nor had told us that we were escaping - was that the reason for the current chaos ensuing outside? It was the most likely answer in my mind and until Nor or someone else told me what was going on, I would be in the dark about it. Everyone around me had grim eyes from the fact that Nor’s leg had been removed completely - it meant that he was no longer fit to enter combat. Regardless of that, Nor had confidently said that this was the time.

“We will have no other chance than now. Either we make this escape or we WILL all die in this mine, pitifully”

Nor laid out reality in front of us and it was obvious what choice we would choose, however, to my surprise, more than a few chose to rather die in this mine. Were the fucking idiots? Why would they want to stay here instead of taking the chance of leaving? What good reason could they possibly have? - I did not know or care to understand. Nor looked up to the people who wanted, of their own volition, to stay instead of taking the chance to escape from here.

“I understand you guys don’t want to after what you witnessed, but this is our only chance!”

“We know, but we rather take the harsh work in the mines than only have a chance of getting out of here. If we fail, who knows what kind of torture they will put us and our loved ones through!”

They went back and forth with Nor, arguing about the current situation, but Nor quickly ended it as a “Fine” and the people remaining stayed behind. I couldn’t understand them one bit; they had the chance to finally be free, but they chose, THEY CHOSE, to be trapped and chained to slavery. As we left Cave B into the main cavern where we had first come through, I could hear the echo of swords clashing and people screaming from all different sides. We were a small group of 10 people at the start, but more and more people began to stick to our group as we walked past various cave systems where people were. The girl who had been beside me before now clung to my side while shaking - I had no idea how she had survived down here. I pitied her so I let her stick onto me.

“Where are your parents?”

“W-what’s that?”

“Like your mom and dad? The people who take care of you”

“N-No one ever t-took care of me...”

There was a silence that overcame me after that talk. As I processed what she had told me, I was shocked and in denial. How could she survive here alone, regardless of how long she had been here!? What was her life like before coming here that she didn't even know what parents were!? She had really survived in this hell all alone while I was supported by two very loving people. However, she did not seem very strong; as we walked forward I wondered how she had managed to live here on her own… did she not even have people who supported her as a leader in her own group?

I pondered this for a while but was distracted by a giant flaming hole we came across. We were very close to the end of the cave system and were about to reenter the world we had been cut off from for far too long. As I peered into the flaming hole, I saw what seemed like burnt animals of sorts. I looked up to see if anyone else had figured out what this was and what I saw were adults throwing up into the hole or crying. This was an emotional response I did not expect, but I was curious as to what exactly was burning that had made them cry.

“They’re people… people’s bodies… burning bodies… young… old… ”

The girl who clung beside me quietly whispered into my ears without stuttering. She had said it so casually that I had not even registered what was being said until I connected the image of the burnt body to what she had said about burnt bodies. All I could do was regret asking and throw up. A wretched sound came out of my mouth in intervals as I couldn’t hold back the disgust and horror that welled up inside me. My breathing quickened and I started to overthink. Those dead bodies could have just as easily been me, Nor, Rosa or any other member of group B and it horrified me. The girl who had moments before been clinging on to me was now patting me and comforting me. I wondered how she could see the bodies and be all right; regardless, I was thankful, for perhaps the first time outside of Nor and Rosa, that she stayed by my side.