The air was burning his lungs as Pierce drew each shuddering breath—the victory of hitting the other slave was not long-lived. He honestly didn’t know what came over him, which scared him. The raw anger and frustration that boiled up frightened him. The pick crunched into the wall again as the gem finally came free and crashed to the ground. The remote thought of even picking that stone up made his muscles tighten. But the thorny vines were fresh on his mind as a miner close by had deep gouges across his back. Pierce shuddered as he lifted the stone, and as he fully stood, he almost blacked out.
Regardless of any strength-enhancing or vitality stat, this was shit. This was the worst part of Pierce’s life thus far, and honestly, it might just be the rest of it. He hadn’t the foggiest idea of how the fuck he was going to get out of here. He took a step forward, and one of his muscles tensed awkwardly. The stone slipped out of his grasp, and Borag swiftly caught it.
“You alright there, little man?”
Pierce just gloomily nodded, and the tree man hoisted it and moved toward the pile. Pierce stumbled after him, trying to reclaim his burden, but Borag was hearing none of it. Pierce sighed and thanked Borag for the respite. The three days down here had been torture. The only bright spots were Skeamish and Borag. Despite the extended time that Pierce had hung out in Eldrin’s presence, he had spoken to Pierce since the first day. Pierce wanted to discover this integrated space thing, but he couldn’t face the lizard man yet. Lizards had always freaked him out since he was little. One had lept out of his childhood friend’s cage and bit and scratched him, with its cold, dead eyes staring down at him.
He shivered, not relishing those thoughts, and blundered into Borag’s back. Pierce toppled over and skinned his knee. Cursing, he stood back up and saw why the tree man stopped. Two men were standing in front of Borag with arms crossed. Not feeling nearly as confident as his anger made him feel three days ago, Pierce took a step back. Coward. He thought, always making others pick up his shit. A new depth of self-loathing bloomed in his chest. Borag stood off with the two other slaves. One was a big, dark-skinned man who was shirtless and had gold rings in almost every part of his body.
The other was a shorter, stouter bald man with a braided beard that met the center of his chest. Pierce recognized this man as the one yowling one from before. It looked like he had calmed down after their previous encounter. Pierce saw a look he didn’t like in the man’s eye. It was hard as a rock, no assessment, just pure will. He wondered what people saw in his eyes. Maybe sadness or brokenness, perhaps even his self-loathing. He slumped a little further into his depression.
Pierce heard footsteps behind him and saw Eldrin and Skeamish sidle up to the group.
“The fuck do you want, ey?” said Eldrin
“Oh, nothing but that little human rat you’ve got with you fucked over our boss, so we’d like this stone.” Said the short one in a wheedling tone.
Pierce sucked in a breath; if he didn’t get this stone turned in, it wouldn’t count towards his quota. There wasn’t much time left before the shift ended, and he knew he couldn’t mine another stone before then. He would have to, though; he didn’t want this feud to continue. The only thing that awaited a missed quota was a lashing.
“Hah, you must be out of yer fuckin minds, the pair of you.” Snorted Eldrin.
“We can always call our boys if you don’t hand it over. “ The short one said with a sneer,
“It’s fine. Borag give it to them,” Pierce said, with some confidence, he didn’t know he had.
Borag started to shake his head, but Pierce put a hand on the stone. “Just give it to them. I’ll be alright.”
Borag looked worried but handed it over to the two men.
“Pleasure to do business with you,” the short one spat.
The man covered in rings lifted the stone, and they walked off, the short one cackling.
“I hope you know what you just did, boy” Eldrin shook his head. “They never go easy on the newcomers.”
Eldrin turned away and returned to his spot, and Skeamish followed suit. Pierce felt mounting anxiety in his chest but held it down. They wouldn’t have left him alone; otherwise, he needed to appease them. But they wouldn’t find any here if they returned looking for more handouts. The next time they came asking, they would receive violence.
----------------------------------------
A grim certainty took Pierce through the next couple of hours. The anticipation and worry built, followed by a healthy dose of doubt, but he worked relentlessly for the next couple of hours and managed to get one more stone before the end of the shift. His muscles screamed and wailed as he wobbled toward the collected gems pile. He brought it to the pile for it to be weighed and inspected. The mushroom looked at the gem and then nodded. He had done it. Finally, he could rest. As he turned to return to his group, a telepathic thought reached his mind.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“This one is underweight by .03 Nerkal’s stand to the side, please.”
A mushroom guard had come over and inspected the weighing machine while the crystal had remained on it. Pierce recognized him as the guard that had first brought him to the mine and cursed his luck. This spore sucker hated him. Pierce obediently stood to the side as the older miner behind him stepped forward. Overwhelming dread took hold as the mushroom approached. It grabbed hold of Pierce and dragged him to the center of the mining area. It then stripped Pierce of his cloak and ripped off the back of his ragged tee shirt.
The first lash tore deep into his back, the trailing barbs of the vine leaving deep furrows in his skin. The second was the same, going in the opposite direction and making an X on his back. Pierce screamed until there was nothing left in him. The pain drove him to the edge, but he dragged himself back. He felt deep inside himself and drew on the will found there. He would survive. He would survive. He would survive.
The third stroke came down. Pierce fought against the wail that rose. He would survive. He would survive. He would survive. That was all that got him through the next twenty minutes before he passed out. It was 15 lashes total, and his back would never be the same. But his will remained strong through it all. He knew now why the short bearded man looked as he did. We all had to achieve that in one way or another—the will to survive.
----------------------------------------
Pierce awoke in his cell. The pain flared immediately as he shifted even a little from the position on the ground he was lying in. His throat was hoarse from screaming. He didn’t even know when he would talk again because of how raw it felt. He stretched to regain feeling in his limbs and slowly worked himself into a sitting position. He picked up the slop and pushed a handful into his mouth. The pain flared with every movement of his arm until he was finished. He tossed the bowl to the ground. He couldn’t remember the last time he was in this much pain. The worst he had been through was breaking his arm back in second grade. He seemed so alien from where he was and what was happening to him now that he chuckled at the irony.
He missed music the most, he thought. He hadn’t played guitar nor listened to anything since the bus ride to that hotel. He hummed tunelessly as he shuffled his butt across the floor toward the back wall. The second his back made contact, it burned like he’d dipped it in lava. He gasped and gurgled, but no sound came. The silent screaming ended after about thirty seconds, and he was back wrestling with the aftermath. He lay back on the floor and decided to sleep as best he could. It was difficult as he’d been a back sleeper his entire life, and sleeping on his side did not come naturally.
He stared at the wall as he had done for the past 30 minutes. Sleep had not come, even with the exhaustion he felt in his bones. The rattle drew him from his stupor, and he looked to see the black mushroom opening the door.
“Work,” It said simply.
Pierce was aghast at the prospect of working but got up anyway, wincing with each step. He had half his quota to reach today as he was injured. They at least spared him that much of a breakthrough, which was the least of it. It meant more breaks for him and more plotting. He needed to escape. He would not survive here, and he knew it. Fuck dying in this godforsaken pit. He would talk to the group the next break and see if they were with him. Pierce sat on the floor with Eldrin, Skeamish, and Borag. They looked at him as he spoke.
“We need to get the fuck out of here,” he said with teeth gritted, his back spasming with pain.”If I don’t leave, I’m going to die here.”
Eldrin laughed. “It’s Fukin impossible, lad; there’s no way out of here.” He started counting on his fingers. “Firstly, there is how guarded we are. Do you even know why they have this fucking place?”
Pierce shrugged. “Rare gems?”
Eldrin laughed again. “All this for a few gems? I don’t think you know what’s going on here. These are racial evolution stones. It’s the rarest commodity you’ll ever find in the multiverse.”
Pierce’s thoughts reeled. Multiverse? Racial evolution stones?
“So you can best believe I’m not chancing it with the guards and layers of security they’ve got here. Secondly, we cannot find a way out of here, so that’s a lost cause. Finally, there’s nothing left for me anyway, so why would I return? Not even if Frienden came down here and licked my shoes begging me to,”
“Frienden?”
Borag answered for him, “It’s his god.”
PIences made an o with his mouth and nodded. “ I get all that and agree it’s improbable, but I think I might know how to navigate out of here. That still leaves the guards and the security systems. I need to check out that clerk’s desk at the front of the prison, the moss-covered one’s desk. But I think He’s got something to guide him out of here. But to be fair, that is about all I’ve got.”
No one spoke. Pierce sighed inwardly; these guys wouldn’t come with him. What reason would they have to do so? Well, if that were how it would be, he would have to do it himself or die in the attempt. Borag spoke up.
“I’ll come with ya. I’m tired of this place, and I’ve seen too many live and die here.”
“I’m tired of it here, too, and I feel this will be a good laugh after it’s all said and done,” Squeamish said.
Eldrin shook his head. “Yer damn fools the lot of ya, but might as well go with given I won’t have anyone left after you lot go.”
Pierce grinned at them; they had been gracious to him since he came here. Now they were risking it all and putting their faith in him, whom they had met 3 days ago and honestly hadn’t said much to. But they’d looked out for him and were doing it again. True friends, every one of them. He looked each one in the eye and thanked them each in turn. Even Skeamish, though his gaze made Pierce freeze up a little. This was going to be a big fucking task, and he hoped it would turn out alright.