Chapter 7: Nature and nature
Zan felt his feet— no, his one good foot, touch the cold stone floor.
He looked upwards to see a dim light bulb, revealing with its sickly light, a small room not even ten feet wide.
It wasn’t Zan’s first time seeing a light source that wasn’t fire, but it was the first time he saw one so close.
‘Cool…’
The gloomy light reflected off of a wide, smooth surface.
Right in front of the red haired boy stood a large, black metal door, with two large bars of the same black metal spreading horizontally over it.
The heavy gleaming bars were held in place by metal brackets, bolted on to the door using humongous screws.
Behind the bars was a hefty stainless steel handle, inviting the onlooker into the brutal world within.
The black luster of the heavy metal bars however, kept that unknown world contained, as if also protecting those outside of it from what was inside.
Zan could obviously tell that this metal door was different from the one that storaged those delicious delicacies.
The last metal door he opened had welcomed him to food, but this one…it made him feel uneasy.
Uneasy…but also morbidly curious to see what was inside.
Unfortunately, Zan was both brave and foolish. The young boy’s curiosity— his drive to see the world and experience what it had to offer, was stronger than his sense of danger. Added to his confidence in combat, the boy recklessly charged forward.
‘Oh shit…’
The boy went up towards the center of the door, and with his one good arm he tried to lift one of the heavy metal bars off its resting place.
‘Of course it’s goddamn heavy…’
He went towards the left side of the door, placing one side of the bar on his left hand. He intended to use leverage to his advantage.
With his right forearm supporting that hand, he swung the heavy thing upwards. It rose up at a steady, weighty pace, before falling off the brackets that held it.
BOOM! THUD!
“...”
‘That shouldn’t have been too loud…it took me five minutes to climb all the way down here anyway.’
He did the same for the other bar, though he had to squat on one knee as it was lower in position.
‘Heave-ho!’
THUD! BANG!
‘Okay…’
Zan stood facing the door. His small broken figure was juxtaposed by the large, towering, metallic doors.
For a brief moment the scene drew comparisons to a hero entering the gates of hell.
He took a deep breath…and exhaled. Grabbing the large, cold metal handle, he swung it open.
And what awaited him was pure darkness.
‘Another tunnel…’
Zan’s figure disappeared from the dim room and into the darkness.
…
“Flood! It’s flooding!”
“Find higher ground!”
“Alert the guards!”
Slaves scrambled one after another in the enormous caverns, the water had already reached to their ankles as the mass hysteria intensified.
A good amount of slaves tried to exit the caverns, usually the slave masters would send a person or two to make sure that not all of the sorry bastards died. They needed them for free labor after all. Though as they exited the cave, they found no one. The guards seem to have abandoned their post and no slave masters were present to lead them to higher land.
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What else could they do? They went after higher land themselves.
A bearded man could be seen in the mass hysteria, shouting at his nearby brothers and sisters.
“Friends! Come with me instead! I know a place!”
Most ignored the man. Why would I put my life in your hands? At least I know for sure that the slave masters know where higher ground is.
A few lost, helpless and confused slaves took his offer however and they sprinted further into the caves.
…
Mass armies of men, women, children ran out into the storming seas. The skies shook with wrath, turning blue for a moment before god shouted from the heavens.
BOOM!
The skies rumbled and crashed with thunder.
The slave masters and guards watched from their towers on the higher peaks. From their elevated view, the slaves scrambling about aimlessly looked like tiny little ants. No, not like ants, they were ants.
“Section three is in chaos. Their slaves are all going to die.”
“Who’s in charge of that section?”
“The half-borns. Delon and Nel.”
“Don’t let them hear you say that. You’re still common born, they might not have much standing but their clans will kill you to keep their reputation.”
“Hmph. Noble half breeds or not, they won’t be meeting their ore quota if their slaves all die.”
…
A lone man with black hair and white slavemaster attire was rushing through the flooding storm.
He tried to attract the attention of all the slaves that he could, However it was hard to see a single man within the mass panic, the storming winds, and of course the flooding rainwater.
“COME! I KNOW A PLACE OF SAFETY, COME WITH ME!!!”
His shouts were drowned out by the screams but luckily a few noticed him, and he was able to gather a larger and larger crowd until he was like a shepherd leading a herd of sheep.
Trudging through the rising tides, braving the winds and rain, a small group of strugglers marched forward. As they moved with steady purpose, more and more of the lost noticed them, and they joined to become united with purpose too.
Nel pushed through at the forefront as he led a hundred, then a thousand, then ten thousand, until almost all but a few gathered at his command.
The slave masters looked from above. Delon looked from above. He had taken away all his lower officers and guards, not even bothering about the livestock.
Pondering for a moment, Delon motioned his followers to come with him as he made his way out of his own tower. The group of slave masters and guards gathered, descending the iron peak towards Nel and his slave faction…
…
“My baby! Where are you my baby?!”
“Kara! Where are you Kara?”
A young girl and her mother ran and shouted.
The water started to reach the young girl’s knees.
“Kara,” the other little girl they were looking for, was not that tall. If they could not find her any time soon, she would be swept up by the waves somewhere.
Tears were already in Vivian's eyes, she tried to ask every person that passed by her but they were all moving in anxiety and panic. They either ignored her, or lashed out at her before trying even more fervently to reach somewhere safe.
Anxiety was in Yela’s heart too. At the most dangerous time, her sister had wandered off under her care. If anything really were to happen to her baby sister, she would take the fault upon herself. It was not something an eleven year old could deal with.
Suddenly—
“Mommy! Sis-sis!”
They turned their heads at breakneck speeds towards the voice.
The little girl called out to them, sitting comfortably on top of Cole’s shoulders as he trudged through the increasing water level.
The mother and sister combo started to cry from tears of joy. Their happiness was swiftly cut short however, because of the surrounding circumstances.
They were relieved to see her but now they had no place to go. Vivian's “connections” were too far for them to go towards now. They could only hope and pray that the flooding did not last for too long so that they could float in the water for a while.
Hopefully it would not fill the whole cave, drowning them…
“Umm, can you follow me?”
Cole said nervously.
“You know a place we'll be safe!?”
“Yeah…Zan, umm…the red haired boy…would take me there...”
There was a pang in their hearts at the mention of him but the chance at safety from this disastrous event was too good to pass over.
“Please! Please take us there.”
“Oh, uhh yeah! I will…uhhhh, I got this…”
Cole took a deep breath.
“It’s going to be really dark…so could I ask everyone to hold each other's hands?...”
Slogging through the dirty water and miniature waves, they headed further into the caverns. Right towards the forbidden area where light was void and gone.
…
Nel and his flock of desperate wretches rushed towards higher and higher ground. The caves below were already deeply submerged, and so too were many of the normal buildings in town.
There was not a flood like this ever in their history.
Monotheists, polytheists, they all thought some higher force was cleansing the world of sin. Those who believed in nothing however, simply cursed at their fate.
A large opening into the mountains came forward, it was a cave pass needed to access the higher iron peaks. The twenty thousand strong army rushed into the cave pass, but the torrential rain had transformed into oceans below their feet, and it was still steadily rising.
The enormous cave pass gave temporary shelter and solace from the thrashing wind and rain. Yet, the water level at their feet kept rising, so they continued without rest towards the large gate, on the hill up above. Going through this gate would lead them once and for all into higher levels of the iron peaks, the last level where gigantic, tall, stone towers stood at the very top.
Surprisingly, they still could not tower above the nature made, Red-iron peaks themselves. But it was the best human civilization could do.
And one’s best was what each miserable wretch scrambling to the large iron gate was doing. Their numbers were cut down since entering the cave pass.
Many old and weak, or young and undeveloped, were washed away by the rain grasping at their feet.
And then there were the winds. The hundred mile per hour winds that threatened to throw them off the mountains entirely.
If their numbers were twenty thousand strong in the beginning they now only had fifteen thousand. A testament to the strength of the human will to survive.
They had some breathing room at least with the stone mountains around them, shielding them from mother nature. Though, they still rushed at full pace towards the gate, perhaps paranoid, or still in a state of hysteria.
ZZZZZRRRCH!
The iron gates grinded, before slamming down into the ground. It seems the poor fools were right. They should have ran faster.
Through the iron fence of the gate, they saw Delon along with his handful of lower officers, and a thousand guards.
They had closed the mighty metal gate down on them.
The iron bars that spread vertically and horizontally imprisoned them. Damning them into a prison of a steadily rising liquid death.
Those near the tail of the group already had their waists submerged in water, and it was not long before the water reached towards their mouths.
Delon’s group left the scene, and the slaves looked on in hopelessness and despair.
Nel bashed onto the iron gate.
“CLIMB! HELP US CLIMB!!!”
The man ascending on the iron gates inspired many more to rush forward and do the same. Employing human wave tactics, they made ladders out of human bodies, stretching a hundred feet tall as they climbed over each other in a mad struggle to escape the waters.
Nel employed the slaves following him, and together, they reopened the shut gate.
Thousands burst through the iron gate and the human ladders came falling down. Those at the very top held on to the gate and stone that they were clutching on to.
Though many below them simply fell, trampled by the mad crowd.
The remaining able bodied strugglers rushed onwards, onwards to the stone towers, onwards to the iron peaks, onwards…to the slave masters.