Tuesday, April 30th, 2069

“Down! On the ground!” Someone with a commanding voice shouted. I may not have been the first to lie flat, but I certainly followed that instruction as quickly as I could. A glance up told me that everyone else had as well.

“What Guild are they from?” Someone asked, the voice somewhat overridden by weapons being lowered or holstered again.

“No clue,” someone answered, sounding shocked. “I can’t believe another Guild was threatened enough to send a strike-force in to try and close our Permanent Portal!”

“What kind of strike-force gets caught and lays down obediently? Also, if they closed it, doesn’t that mean it wasn’t permanent?” Another voice asked even as boots approached in measured steps. I also heard velcro tear multiple times.

“The smart ones.” A grizzled voice chuckled. “Mission’s accomplished, ain't it? Whoever sent ‘em will buy ‘em back and give ‘em a nice bonus to boot.” I heard the grizzled voice pause to spit, then continue, “Still could-of been a Permanent Portal, if it was some sorta hidden Boss, right?”

“That’s total bullsh—”

“Stay down, and don’t resist!” The commanding voice ordered, from nearly atop me, drowning out the rest of the voices. I tried scanning my eyes toward the voice, but found ten identically dressed individuals with masks pulled up over faces.

“Hands behind your back,” a female voice said firmly from beside me and I blinked for just a moment, trying to make sense of why someone would give that order. I got a poke from a gun muzzle in response. “I said hands behind your back you husking greed!”

The second time she said it, I didn’t need to think twice and followed her orders. Instead of the expected cuffs, I felt something being slid over both of my hands, and then heard the repetitive clicks of zip-ties locking down. The woman wasn’t friendly with her pressure, and I could instantly feel the plastic digging into my wrists.

“Get them up and to the command tent!” The first voice spoke again. From the startled groans from my group I could tell that my jailor took a moment longer to register the order, but when she did she yanked on the zip-ties, which were painfully digging into my wrists. The pull caused my shoulders to reach the edges of their range of motion, which was quite painful.

In no way did her pressure help me get to my feet, and I cursed under my breath as the pain of the plastic digging into my wrist intensified and was joined by the two wrenched shoulders. Despite her best attempts to unbalance me, I fought to my feet. In fact, I was surprised by how well I’d managed the feat while my balance was completely off. I was kinda proud of myself. I hadn’t even been working out.

[It’s the Dexterity, idiot. I’d move your butt. That girl looks like she’s not messing around. Good thing I’m not really here. Those restraints look terribly uncomfortable.]

I tried and failed to raise my middle finger through whatever had been slid over my hands, but I knew Smegma would read the intent in my mind. It was the thought that counted, after all.

Then I was shoved from behind in a direction and almost returned to the ground. Thankfully, my new Dexterity, high Strength or maybe even Stamina stopped me from tripping. Of course, the vindictive woman wasn’t done there, and as I started moving in the direction I’d just been shoved—she used her weapon to cross-check me in a new one.

I growled, starting to get fed up with the treatment, but knew better than to antagonize her. Not with what I had heard from my father and Uncle Jarred about low-ranked Guilds. Not with what I had just been through, where they’d wanted to leave us to die. Surely this would all get settled once they realized we were just the Mining team they’d brought inside…

Thankfully, once I was on my new trajectory, I could see the backs of Dave, Willa, Jarred and my father in front of me. Everyone was being taken to the same place, which hopefully was a good thing. Several additional shoves came from the angry woman at my back, but now that I was expecting them, I used my Strength Stat to endure it.

We exited through the temporary concrete blockades and fencing before the people in front of me turned and moved toward a large red tent. I started to turn and the woman who was progressively shoving me harder, tried to give me another shove, using a bit of a running start.

I planted my next step hard and braced, fed up with the bullshit. When the woman hit me with her shoulder, I didn’t budge. Unfortunately for her, however, she had even jumped into the shoulder check. I heard the air in her lungs expel violently, followed by a loud crack and a noise I would usually have referred to as a gut punch.

It’s kind of a grunt, but more than that. The sound where someone’s lungs freeze and they instantly feel sick to their stomachs?

The following shriek of pain made me jump, and I looked down to see that her shoulder was quite clearly no longer in its socket. My eyes widened for a moment, then I blinked rapidly down at her, not believing what I was seeing. Very suddenly, I became a target in the shooting range again.

“Hands up, now you piece of shit!” Someone yelled.

“Get down on the husking ground!” Another shouted.

Two more said something I couldn’t hear over the others, and the woman’s continued wailing. I winced as I started to lower myself to my knees, while simultaneously trying to make it clear I couldn’t put my zip-tied hands above my head.

Any moment now, I was going to get shot, all because I got annoyed at a little bit of pushing. Thankfully, the man with the commanding voice shouted, “What is going on here? Lower your damn weapons. He’s cuffed, and compliant.”

“Echo, sir, he just dislocated Greta’s shoulder!” One of the men answered even as he lowered his semi-automatic rifle. He then used a freed hand from the muzzle to motion at the still shrieking woman on the ground.

The leader looked at me, Greta, and then shook his head. “No soldier,” Echo-five, because that was likely the only person he could be, said. “Greta decided to shoulder check him and he stood his ground. Someone get her to the medics.”

He then pointed at me with a finger, and said, “You, anymore stunts like that and I’ll shoot you myself. Got it?”

I nodded, already chastising myself for the situation. Smegma, who had been oddly silent, chose that moment to guffaw, which startled me slightly. Thankfully my jump-scare happened from my knees, and didn’t look like I was about to attack anyone.

“This is husking hilarious. How has no one realized you’re the Mining team?” Smegma asked, even as we started moving toward the tent again. I could see the rest of the group’s eyes on me. Most of them were concerned, except for my father who just looked upset.

[Mining teams don’t close Portals.] I shrugged.

[What? Of course they do. Mining teams close Portals all the time.]

I locked eyes with the Demon for a brief moment. [Human ones don’t.]

We entered the tent, behind Echo-Five and a few of the guards who’d escorted us. Another five filed in behind us, and two untied the flaps and let them close. Echo pointed to the floor in front of a desk with neat piles of papers upon it, and said, “Kneel!”

When no one moved to obey the Mirage Guild leader, we were physically manhandled to the spot indicated and then made to kneel. I couldn’t speak for the others, but I hadn’t been sure what Echo’s words meant.

Each guard that made us kneel took a single step back but stayed threateningly at our backs. Echo’s commanding voice changed, then. Becoming low and matter of fact, he said, “The one who tells me how you got into our Permanent Portal, closed it and what Guild sent you, lives. The others will have had a tragic accident before getting out.”

“You’re making a huge mistake,” my father said. “We’re—“

“I don’t care how powerful the Guild behind you is. I don’t care what Skills you have. Here, in this tent, I am judge, jury and executioner if I want to be. Now, answer the husking question or I will give you an example of just how serious I am!”

“Please, just listen to him,” Willa cried. “We’re not from a Guild—we’re Miners!”

The Guard behind Willa had stepped forward with his gun raised, and Echo-Five looked furious at not being obeyed, but even as the man looked to his Guild Leader for approval to hit Willa with his gun Echo-Five raised a hand.

“You’re what?”

My father swallowed visibly in my peripherals but took back the lead from Willa. “We’re the Miner’s you hired. We got stuck in the caverns when they collapsed.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“You’re the Miner’s?” Echo-Five asked, and then motioned for the Guard behind Willa to step back, even as he moved to his desk. “I do recall negotiating with you. What was it—ahh here—Gary correct?”

My father nodded eagerly, probably happy to see the Guard behind Willa no longer training the butt of a weapon on the back of her head. “So, you survived for four days, and nights inside a Portal Mine? How did you do it?”

“There was a small lake down in the caves. Plus the moss on the walls turned out to be edible.”

“Your dad’s not a bad liar—“ Smegma interjected.

“Let’s come back to that,” Echo-Five said skeptically.

“Well shit, I think this guy might have some sort of Truth detection,” Smegma corrected his earlier assertion.

Echo-Five reverted to the same quietly threatening voice and asked, “So, you have nothing to do with the Portal closing?”

My father blinked at Echo-Five and then looked around himself, seeming confused. “I thought you killed the Boss?”

Everyone else in the group managed to look confused—likely because they were also hearing this lie for the first time. I blinked first at my dad, and then at Echo-Five behind the desk.

In some ways, the tactic of the Mirage Guild was now being used against them, and from the man’s grinding teeth I could tell he wasn’t happy about it. I also assumed that even if he had a truth detection Skill, the second thing my father said was nothing but the truth.

Still, Mirage had clearly brought us in here to have us turn against each other—which admittedly would have been a good plan, I figured, but only if we were a strike-team from another Guild. Now though, the Guild leader himself recalled we were Miners and my father had laid out the general lie for everyone to stick to if he wanted to ask anyone else.

“You know, he could still just kill all of you,” Smegma said. “Search your bodies for clues afterward.”

I coughed politely before it got to that. “We recovered the storage devices of your Guild members who died down in the Caverns. Here…”

I indicated a knapsack that Dave had been carrying, but was now in a pile with the rest of our remaining gear. I’d found the thing in the Leader’s Hut. It was a low-ranked Bag of Holding, creating a larger space inside the bag that it would normally have. That space was currently filled with a few of the Mural’s Metallic-Yellow-Crystals and as many F-Rank Crystals it could hold.

Echo-Five narrowed his eyes at me, but motioned for a Guard to bring him the bag. In short order he’d ‘upended’ its contents onto the floor. He didn’t seem impressed with the F-rank Mana Crystals, but did lean down to pick up something I couldn’t see.

Since I was expecting to see him get back to his feet with a Shining Yellow Crystal, I was in fact surprised when he was holding a shard of brightest purple. Even as a shard the clarity of the Crystal was leagues beyond anything I’d seen personally. If I was going off of movies and TV it was S-Grade—

“A B-rank Crystal Shard?” Echo-Five asked, and began digging through the pile. He soon found the rest of the shards and two of the full sized Mural Crystals I’d placed there. Only they weren’t the Mural Crystals. “These were inside this Portal?”

“Where did those come from?” Smegma asked, his voice as confused as I felt.

Everyone was looking at me since I prepared the bag. I coughed and told the truth, since there were likely a few Mirage members who knew about the Mural anyway. “Umm—those weren’t like that when I put them in there—they were yellow and metallic looking.”

“Those are from the Mural we mined?” My dad asked, genuinely surprised.

“Too bad I didn’t get to put more in the Bag!” I complained openly, trying to use his own trick from earlier to tell the group the lie. I also was careful not to say anything that wasn’t true. I could indeed have put more in the bag…

Echo-Five handed the bag back to the guard and motioned at the pile of F-rank Crystals. He then said, “Clean this up,” before placing the shards and two full B-rank Mana Crystals on his desk.

“This all checks out, but how come you're so strong, if you’re just a Miner?” Echo-Five asked.

Knowing that the man might have a Truth detection, I took a split second to assess if the truth would give away anything. I decided it was safe and answered, “I have a Mining Skill that unlocked Strength.”

“Hmm,” Echo-Five made a noise of dismissal. He then scanned around the room before pointing at a different guard. One that wasn’t currently putting F-Rank Crystals back into a bag. “Go get Geoff, he was the one leading the Mining team.”

The silence that descended upon the room after the order, was stifling. I began to sweat thinking of all the ways this could go wrong.

[What do you think is going to happen?] I asked Smegma, and discovered the Demon was missing. Surreptitiously I scanned the room, and didn’t find him anywhere. Where the hell did he go at a time like this?

The wait and silence became even more concerning, especially without Smegma to bounce ideas off. Not to mention, just how pale and worried each member of the group looked. It would seem that Echo-Five’s earlier threats were very effective.

Finally, a familiar man came into the room, his hair standing up like he’d just been pulled out of bed. Still, he saluted smartly and said, “Geoffrey Fir, reporting as ordered, Guild Leader.”

“At ease, soldier,” Echo-Five said, clearly attempting to run his Guild like a military. Still, something felt off about the comment. Maybe it was because I was used to it in movies, or maybe Echo-Five wasn’t entirely comfortable with the structure. I couldn’t tell, but it definitely felt forced on both sides of the coin.

Simply put, it felt like neither man had actually served in the military.

“Are these the Miner’s you escorted into the caves?” Echo-Five asked with an indicating hand pointed in our direction.

Geoff, the man who was likely the leader from earlier scanned us and then nodded, slowly. Echo-Five also noticed the man’s reluctance to nod and asked, “Speak freely, soldier.”

“I was just wondering where my men were, if these Miners made it out, sir,” Geoff stated. Asking a question without inflection.

Echo-Five looked at us, and everyone’s head hung a bit lower. The answer was obvious just from that but clearly Echo-Five wanted more because he commanded, “ Explain!”

I took the opportunity since I may be the only one in the group aware of his truth-telling Skill, which meant I could work around it. “They were all likely eaten by the White Goblins.”

Geoff showed a reaction after that, his face going red, even as his body shook. “Jack, Etien and Viccar wouldn’t risk their lives for Miners!”

“You’re right,” I shrugged awkwardly, with my hands still bound. “They didn’t”

“Then how in the hell did—”

The Guild Leader raised a hand, interrupting the Mining Leader.

“How were they eaten by White Goblins?” Echo-Five asked, his voice going hard again. Clearly upset not only on Geoff’s behalf, but also on the fact some of his Guild members had been eaten.

“They were sent to scout ahead. We don’t know how they were caught, but the Goblin’s had their weapons…” I answered, being very careful to only tell the truth again.

“But you said they were eaten!” Echo-Five hissed. “How did you know they were eaten?”

“Well, I didn’t actually check the cook pot, you understand. But with the way the creatures were acting, having their weapons, and based on the smell and the lack of bodies… I think it was pretty clear what had happened.”

[Husk! Husk! Husk!] I repeated internally, not having realized my mistake. Internally, I was panicking, trying to stick to only facts that were true, but not incriminating. I was talking too fast and I knew it, but I also knew that the man’s patience was coming to an end. I didn’t have much time to think of something more to say—

“Boss!” Someone shouted as he rushed into the room. Echo-Five glared at me but made a motion in the direction of the entrance giving the runner permission to speak. “Police, Fire and Ambulance are here! They were told that a Portal closed and there were injured!”

Echo-Five’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to his guards. He loudly asked, “You took their phones as soon as they exited the closed Portal?”

The Guards nodded, and looked at each other to ensure that their fellows hadn’t husked up. The runner coughed politely, and added, “They’re right outside…”

Echo-Five punched his table.

* * *

Wednesday, May 1st, 2069

“Thank the lord you’re okay!” My mother screeched as she entered the hospital room. Our entire group was in beds, despite the fact that no one was hurt. I’d healed them all daily down in the caverns. Still, I felt like there was a dark cloud over the group. What would Echo have done if the Ambulances, Police and Fire Trucks hadn’t arrived?

My mom ran to my bed first, but since I had no bandages and managed to squeeze her back during her hug, she immediately looked around and then hurried to my father. He, thankfully also was awake and able to hug her back, because she sank into his embrace, crying softly.

Everyone looked around at her entrance. I looked to Smegma, who was, in fact, the reason we were safe. He was clearly very happy ever since I told him that the Mural had become B-ranked Crystals, “With the B-ranked Crystals you might be able to buy a decent Skill for yourself, finally.”

[Not the time. Plus I have to give a Skill to the guy you bribed!]

“Just let him use the Altar with Cores! I never promised him to supply the Cores, only one of the limited uses that the Altar had remaining. Then use the mC for yourself. Enough Crafting Skills!”

[Those Crafting Skills have saved all of our lives. and unlocked Stats.]

“Whatever—“ Smegma said and flew into a corner of the room to pout.

“—low-ranked Guilds. Never again! Do you hear me Gary? Brodie?!” My mom shouted. My brain only caught the tail-end of whatever she had been lecturing to my father. Still, I didn’t need more than that to understand her.

“Yes, mom.” I intoned. Already, thinking about what might come of the current situation. Surely, Mirage wouldn’t just let this go—

“Brodie!” Someone said from the doorway, and the tone startled me out of my thoughts. My head snapped up to find Mrs. Stovall breathing hard a step inside the room. “The Courts are about to dismiss your case and rule in favor of Varnish!”

Her words made me perform an involuntary sit up, and ask, “Right now?”

“Unless I can get you to the judges offices before she signs the discretionary bench warrant!” Mrs. Stovall said breathlessly.

I looked at the clock on the wall.

Eight twenty-five. “What time does that happen?”

“Nine!”

I jumped out of the bed, scanning around the room in worry. “I’ll get you checked out!” Mrs. Stovall said even as she was walking back out of the room. Over her shoulder she said, “I’ll drop you at home after!”