The path leading to the manakyte mine was long and difficult to follow at times. But towards the end, it opened up more, until I finally reached the mine.

It looked to be a large cave that burrowed into a cliffside. Around the opening of the cave, there were boxes, and some abandoned carts. I guess I wasn't the only one using this place.

I began to make my way into the cave, I still wasn't sure what exactly manakyte stones looked before being mined, but there wasn't anything that stuck out so I continued down.

The walls were slowly becoming more restrictive, and there was still no sign of any ores, manakyte or otherwise. I checked the map again to ensure I had taken all the right turns and confirmed I was at the correct place.

I pushed onwards, ducking down when the ceiling of the cave got too low. After a few more minutes of progressing through the cramped cave, It began to expand. A little further, and the cave opened way to a large room. There was mining equipment and scaffolding lining the walls, with many tunnels jetting off from the main area.

I walked around for a moment before the air became thicker, and rich in manakyte. I was sure that I was going the right way, so I walked near the openings of the tunnels and determined which one was most promising.

The area was poorly lit, mainly with candles and smoldering torches imbedded into the cave walls. But I could see something shimmering further into the tunnel. With no other viable options, I began to walk into narrow opening.

The shimmering became stronger as the tunnel began to take a steep drop. I carefully made my way down the small chasm, and when I reached the bottom, I saw what the shining lights were coming from.

Lining the walls of the tunnel, glowing crystalline formations jutted outwards. If I had to take a wild guess, these were probably what I was after. I walked up to one of the crystals, it was seemingly hollow, and bits of multicolored light were dancing around inside the outer shell of the piece of rock.

After admiring the sight, I took the pickaxe off my back and began to chip away at it. My form was sloppy at first, but with time I began to land clean hits on the chunk of manakyte. When I finally knocked a piece off the wall, I grabbed it from the ground and, as I suspected, it was hollow. But, before my very eyes, the opening exposing the hollowed out portion of both the large crystal and small chunk began to seal off.

Afterwards, the two pieces were completely self acting, with the small piece I had broken off now producing small lights in its hollow interior.

I continued this process until most of the pouch I had been given was full. Thankfully, the gloves kept me from absorbing most of the mana in the stones.

As I was about to turn back to head back up into the large area of the cave, I noticed something. For a brief moment, I had caught a whiff of something. Something pungent. I began to make my way further into the tunnel, passing the majority of manakyte offshoots.

Something about it was familiar, while I was walking I tried to figure out what it was. Then it crossed my mind. When I went back to the elf village to get Kulvit's head, the streets smelled like this. It was the smell of blood and bodies.

I increased my pace to a run, weaving throughout the tunnel until I saw it. There was a pile of bodies, most completely torn apart.

I could see exposed ribs with organs seeping through tears in the bodies. Around the pile were severed arms and legs. At this time, I noticed the floor of the tunnel was covered in a thin layer of a blood cocktail, multiple colors fusing together into a murky mess.

The worst part however, was the cause of the wounds. It wasn't caused by any weapons or magic I could identify. But rather, by numerous small bites, ripping into the flesh, and pulling it apart. I didn't want to stay here any longer...

I began heading back I saw something on the ground, about twenty feet in front of me. It was difficult to make out details from this distance, but it looked like a black oval, and I could hear a chittering noise coming from it.

I held my pickaxe tight as I cautiously took a few steps towards it. It must've noticed me as it began to quickly crawl around on the ground and onto the walls and ceiling with extreme speed. Then It stopped.

To my horror, the creature rose from the ground, and stood on two legs. Now that it was further up, I could catch glimpses of what it looked like. It was about two feet tall but, It was a bug...

It looked like a massive cockroach, but it also had a human shape to it. It began to take slow steps towards me, It's head jolting from side to side, scanning the area. Two of its pairs of arms were free to move about by its sides.

The chittering noise I heard came from the rapid movement of its pincered jaws. It looked to be about the same size as the marks on the bodies.

Then, without warning, it bolted towards me. I managed to block the bug's bite with the handle of the pickaxe. It had claws on the end of its hands that cut into me slightly, even through the leather of the apron.

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I pushed it back, the bites left noticeable slashes in the handle. It wasn't going to give up easily though, and it proceeded to get back on six legs and dash around the tunnel, surrounding me from all sides.

The tunnel began to shake as it did this, causing me to lose my footing slightly. The bug noticed this, as it leaped onto my back and began to crawl all over me. The cuts weren't worrying but it could decide to bite at any moment.

When it came around to my chest, I grabbed it by the shell on its back and one of the arms. The manakyte-dense air was making me stronger, but the bug was still putting up a good fight.

After wrestling around with it for a few moments, I managed to pin it on the ground, belly up. I stepped on its legs, holding it in place, and stood above it.

I grabbed the pickaxe with both hands and held it upside down. With a swift thrust downwards, the blunt top of the pickaxe crushed the head of the insect, killing it.

I sighed and took a step back to lean against the wall. The bug's body began to convulse and it legs flung around. This startled me, but after a few seconds of this, it stopped moving.

I took a deep sigh of relief, but this was short lived as the tunnel began to shake again. With no visible cause, I was confused. That is, until I heard a chittering, the same as from the bug moments earlier. I could also hear the scurrying of thousands of legs, ripping up and down the tunnel walls, towards me. With no way to fight back, I just stood my ground, preparing for the horde to rip me to shreds.

The tunnel then shook even more violently. This wasn't just from the horde of approaching insects. The floor underneath me began to break apart. As the insects came into my view, the floor gave way, and I began to fall.

I fell for about 50 feet, I could only see the opening above me get covered by insects as they followed me down. When I hit the ground, all the air in my lungs got forced out and I was left gasping for a breath. The ground was mostly dirt, which probably kept me from getting knocked out on impact. When my eyes finally focused, I saw the pickaxe I'd left on the ground falling down towards me.

I quickly roll to the side as the pickaxe stabs into the ground where my head had been half a second prior. It wasn't over yet though, the insects still saw me, but I had somewhere to run.

The area I was in now was a massive ravine. The only choice other than waiting for death was to run. So, I did. I pushed myself to my feet and grabbed the pickaxe just in case.

I pushed my legs as hard as I could, all the while the sound of chittering and scraping insect legs got closer behind me. I heard one get closer than the rest, It must've jumped at me. With no alternatives, I spun around, striking the bug with the pickaxe before falling back into a run.

I had to leave it behind, but it wouldn't do me any good with a bug stuck on the end of it. There were small rays of sunlight coming down from the top of the ravine. It must've gone further up than that tunnel I fell from, but I wouldn't be able to outpace the insects in a climb, so I kept running forward.

My legs were getting tired, they couldn't keep up this extra strain from the mana I was exposed to. I was running out of hope, but my prayers were answered, although rather strangely. I saw something about 200 feet in front of me, It looked like some sort of vault door, but it was made of a smooth stone, and looked to be slightly out of place.

When I got to it I slipped in between the rock wall and the door. Then, trying my hardest, pressed my fingers into the door to create a place to hold it. Aside from losing a few fingernails, it worked and I managed to roll the door into place, sealing it.

A few insects got crushed as I closed the door, but none made it through thankfully. I could still hear the horde on the other side though, so I wouldn't be leaving the same way I came in. I began to look around the room I found myself in.

It looked much different than any other portion of the cave up until now. It was almost pitch black, but my eyes began to adjust to the low light and I could make out more things. The walls weren't naturally formed. They were carved out, rather intricately. But a corner of the ceiling had collapsed in, so that gave me a way to get out.

"Don't stay here. Leave now."

The voice, that hadn't heard since the elf village, had returned. It was different this time though. Instead of speaking in a snide indifference, there was a hint of urgency behind its words.

Why don't you want me to stay here? What's so different about this place than anywhere else I've been?

"I'd like to tell you, but that'd have consequences beyond just you and me. Just get out before you regret it."

I can't tell what this voice's motives are. One minute they're ruining my life and trapping me in some fairytale world, then the next they're trying to warn me about something.

If they're so against this place, it probably means there's something that can help me.

"I can tell you can't be reasoned with, do what you will. Just don't come crying for help when it blows up in your face."

The voice faded away once more. By this time I've looked around the room enough to find something interesting. It's a box. It's even stranger than the room it's in.

The outside is made of some kind cube made of metal, with handles on the side, It was probably only about a foot long in each direction. The lid was strange, It looked to slide in segments from the top to the side of the box, providing a secure seal on whatever was inside.

There was also a strange lack of mana coming off of the box. In fact, there was none at all. It wasn't even absorbing any, It just completely pushed it away. This probably made it extremely hard for anyone with mana to transport it.

Intrigued, I began to slide open the lid to the box. Inside was something incredible.

It was a manakyte stone, but it was a pure emerald green and perfectly spherical. In the hollow center, there was a swirling vortex of leaf shaped mana. The instant I noticed this, I was hit with a wave of pain. The mana from the stone had reached me and completely overwhelmed my body. In a split second decision, I closed the lid of the box, which most likely saved my life.

I fell back from the pain. It was worse than anything I've felt before. In just a few seconds, the green manakyte stone overloaded my body and my blood reached a critical point. I had to burn off mana fast, otherwise, this place would be ground zero for something I'd rather not experience.

I grabbed a rock with a sharp edge, and cut my hand with it. Only a single drop of blood fell from the cut before it was completely healed. The blood drop in question hit the floor, and burned a divot in the stone.

Realizing I had no other choice, I effortlessly flung the circular stone door open, allowing the horde of bugs to reach me.

I began to fight against them, but even my sloppy techniques were enough thanks to my supercharged state.

After a harrowing hour had passed, the last of the bugs dropped dead. The repeated injuries did what I had hoped, and my body had returned to almost normal.

Unfortunately, I needed a new apron, and new clothes in general. They'd have to do for now, as I had more pressing matters to attend to. Grav would be the best person to take this to. So I grabbed onto one of the handles on the box and began to climb my way out of the cave.