They sat opposite the man in the office, one Mr. Dilsemm, as he gave them the brief explanation of what he wanted them to do for the company.

Oakley understood very little of what Mr. Dilsemm was saying, but it sounded like the company owned Tripton Mine and something had happened within it to halt the mining process. The mine apparently contained both iron and something else that Oakley noticed Rigdraz stifle the tiniest gasp at when he heard its name. Something called burroxite.

Whatever pest problem was causing the mining process to be delayed, it was Oakley and Rigdraz’s job to fix.

“…And by fix,” Mr. Dilsemm emphasized.

“You mean you would like us to kill these ‘pests’,” Rigdraz said, nodding matter-of-factly.

“You catch on quickly,” the short man said with a wide smile, “we shall, of course, require proof of the beings you kill. We shall provide ten herrions per kill- so long as the job is completed and the mine is allowed to be operational once more. Does that all sound satisfactory, to the two of you?”

Oakley waited for Rigdraz to nod before he, too, nodded in agreement.

“We won’t let you down, sir,” Rigdraz said with a slight, respectful incline of his head.

“Let us hope that’s true,” Mr. Dilsemm said, turning back to his work and allowing his receptionist to escort the others out of his office.

They left the company’s premises and took a moment to gather themselves a little walk away down the street.

“Why did we agree to that?” Oakley asked. “We don’t know how to deal with any of that.”

“We’re being asked to simply go into a mine and kill a pest or two,” Rigdraz shrugged.

“If it were that easy, it wouldn’t have been a problem for over a week, don’t you think?”

“I’m sure it won’t be that difficult,” Rigdraz said, “besides, we can handle ourselves.”

“Can we? Can we handle ourselves?” Oakley asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“It’ll be okay,” Rigdraz said, trying to reassure Oakley- and potentially himself, too. “They aren’t paying us until we return with results. If it is too dangerous, we’ll just leave and find another, safer task.”

“I’m not dying in a mine,” Oakley groaned, and Rigdraz just patted him on his shoulder.

“There’s always a first for everything.”

Oakley stood there for a moment as Rigdraz began walking away, down the street.

“Hey! I don’t want it to be a first!” He shouted as he ran to catch up.

“Then let’s do our best not to die.”

The walk to Tripton Mine took the best part of the day, bleeding into the early afternoon. The mine sprawled out over a handful of hills, poking holes in the greenery. A few buildings scattered across the landscape, too, providing shelter to miners that weren’t actively working in the mines. Oakley could see piles of rocks and some pillars of smoke rising up from buildings nearby them.

“I guess they still have their supplies from before the delay, though they likely want it fixed before those supplies run out,” Rigdraz muttered to himself as they approached the mine, trying to assess the situation as best as he could.

The two of them walked up to a smaller hut, which looked like the entrance to the whole mining area. There was a bored looking old man sitting within the hut, looking out in case of visitors- such as the two that were walking up at that moment.

“Good day, sir!” Rigdraz grinned. “We have been brought in specially to-”

“Another one for the pest control problem?” The old man grunted.

“Another?” Oakley asked.

“Yup. Another. Right through there, head on down the main one and follow the trail down as far as it goes. You’ll figure it out soon enough.”

“Thank you, good sir,” Rigdraz said, though there was an ever so slight shake to his voice. “See you when we return.”

“Bless your souls,” the man muttered.

“Sorry, what was that?” Oakley asked, but the old man went back to ignoring them.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Come on,” Rigdraz chuckled nervously, pulling Oakley along. “I’m sure they’re just trying to spook us.”

“It really doesn’t feel like that,” Oakley said, as he looked around at some of the miners, still working on projects other than the actual mining of the ores. They were all standing and staring at the two of them as they slowly walked across the work site, towards the mineshaft they had been directed towards.

“I’m beginning to think this may have been a mistake,” Rigdraz whispered, the intense eyes unnerving him, too.

“Let’s just get into the mine and out of sight,” Oakley mumbled, hurrying up his pace. He didn’t want to be anywhere near this worksite, but he’d rather out of sight than whatever was up with all of those workers. There was something more to this task that Oakley hadn’t yet figured out. The way everything had been going for him since he’d arrived in Charrunir, he doubted he would ever figure it out- until it was too late.

The darkness took over the mineshaft quickly. There was a wooden bar nailed into the side of the mine as it slowly increased the decline, down deeper into the earth. Oakley made sure to hold onto the wooden bar as long as he could, though he eventually was forced to pipe up to Rigdraz.

“How are you seeing in the dark?” Oakley asked. “Do you have any torches we can use?”

“Fire might set something off,” Rigdraz muttered, his voice carrying in the dark. “I forgot you might not be able to see. Give me a moment to remember the… ah, yes.”

Oakley felt Rigdraz smear something wet over his eyebrows and he was forced to close his eyes as the wet substance dripped down over his eyelids.

“Go on, open them,” Rigdraz urged and Oakley, hesitantly, opened his eyes.

As if everything was painted red, Oakley could see in the dark. It was as clear as if he were standing out in the sun, but looking through red lenses. He looked up and saw Rigdraz, smiling down at him, not bothering to hide his natural form.

“All good?” Rigdraz asked. Oakley held up a thumbs up, nodding and still processing what he was seeing.

“Is this how you’re seeing around?” Oakley asked.

“No, I can just see in the dark,” Rigdraz said, shaking his head slightly. “I sometimes forget that other people can’t just naturally do it, too. Shall we?”

Rigdraz indicated further into the mine. By now, there was no sign of the light from the tunnel entrance. They followed what appeared to be the main route down, ignoring the tunnels that peeled off to either side every now and then. They had been told it would be easy to follow, so they stuck it out and looked for clues of what they might find down in the depths of the mine.

It was cooler down under. The lack of sunlight made the tunnels feel frigid and cold, though they could both see the moisture glistening against the walls.

The first signs of something being wrong were scratches in the ground and a portion of the wooden bar having been ripped out of the wall. The scratches were not deep, but they led further down the mine- not for too long, however, as Oakley had to take a moment to compose himself.

Still clutching onto the wooden bar was the dismembered forearm and hand of someone that Oakley could only assume used to be a miner.

To avoid being left alone, Oakley hurried after Rigdraz as the curious demon pushed further into the mine, seeing a slow but noticeable increase in the broken dead. At first, it was just a limb or two, then there was the ever-staring corpse of someone not dressed for working in a mine, at all. His chest had been torn open, leaving him sitting upright against the wall- hollow.

More bodies slowly came into view as they walked gingerly through the darkness. Oakley felt the terrible feeling of something watching him, but he couldn’t see it, whatever it was. It must have just been his mind playing tricks on him.

“I think we’ve found why they kept implying we weren’t the only ones to undertake this job,” Rigdraz muttered, breaking the silence. Before Oakley could word his response, something else rattled through the darkness, instead. They were not alone. “I suggest drawing your sword, now.” Rigdraz attempted to keep his voice as quiet as possible, as he noticeably started to tense up, looking down the tunnel.

“What did they say we were trying to fight?” Oakley asked.

“They didn’t.”

“Is that it?”

“I think so,” Rigdraz said, as they both stared down, deep into the darkness. Before either of them could react, they were slammed into from behind. Something had circled around them and ambushed them, using the distraction to attack first. Oakley swung out with his sword, unsure what it was that was attacking. From the impact, it wasn’t that big, but it had surprised them and that was enough to startle them enough to allow the others to rush in and attack, too.

Oakley knew, inherently, that pest problems usually meant more than one. Still, he hadn’t expected them to be this numerous, or this big. He had no idea what he was fighting, only that they were just over two feet tall and brandished rocks or sharp weapons- likely pulled from the victims that littered the mine.

Rigdraz appeared to be struggling just as much as he was, but Oakley was trying to do whatever he could to avoid accidentally hitting his ally with the sword. He was swinging wildly at the little creatures, but there were too many. He didn’t know how to fight, not properly, and he couldn’t rely on his odd magical gift because he didn’t know how to use it. One of the creatures darted in close and bit Oakley in the back of his calf. As he stumbled from the pain, trying to kick the creature off, another one struck his sword from his hand, disarming him.

Oakley tried to punch at the creatures, fighting with everything he had. He didn’t want to end up with his chest ripped open. That was all that was on his mind. Why had he gone down into the darkness? He knew it was a bad idea. He looked over at Rigdraz, who was having just as much trouble dealing with the creatures too, though he had not yet been bitten. Something was shimmering around him, ever so slightly translucent, protecting him from their teeth and rocks.

Oakley began to feel the itching pressure beneath his skin as he started to be dragged down, off his feet and onto his knees. He tried to resist the urge, but it was that or die. He couldn’t die in some random mineshaft. He refused to. Oakley reached out in his mind, trying to prompt the pressure to burst and grant him his power to defeat the creatures.

Then they all scattered away, leaving both he and Rigdraz alone in the tunnel, panting alongside the corpses.

“I did it,” Oakley muttered in disbelief. “I actually did it.”

“No, you didn’t,” Rigdraz whispered. “Something else is coming.”

Oakey looked down the tunnel and, sure enough, Rigdraz was right. Something was coming up to meet them, illuminating the mineshaft as it approached.

“We need to hide,” Rigdraz said, “now.”