p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Man, it's been awhile since we actually went mining. I've missed it, it's very relaxing." said Honeydew as he swung his pickaxe happily./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Xephos chuckled. "Well of course, you're a dwarf. The mine is like your second home!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yea- emlook out!"/em The dreaded hiss that every Minecraftian dreaded was followed by the more dreaded explosion. The two friends free-fell and landed with a loud splash some twenty meters down. Gasping for breath they resurfaced./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Well that's just fantastic." came Honeydew's scorn voice./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was pitch black. Feeling their way around they managed to crawl out of the cove. Xephos checked the part of his bag where he kept his torches. He cursed under his breath./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What is it mate? Y'know other than the fact that we just fell into like, ice cold water." he added jokingly. Xephos however was dead serious. "The torches won't work anymore." he whispered./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Oh. Buggar, well I'm sure we'll find some coal soon-"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Bright light of blue lit up the cave. The dwarf gasped. He turned to where Xephos was last and nearly screamed like a little girl./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""X-xeph! Your eyes-" he cut off as the light started to fade, and his friend's eyes became only slits of blue. "Xeph what's going on? Why are your eyes...glowing?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Honeydew found himself admiring his friend's gemstone-like eyes as he spoke. Xephos looked downcast./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""My homeplanet, the people there... all of our eyes glow." he said slowly./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Why didn't you tell me?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Xephos sighed and sat down on the stone and gestured for his friend to do the same./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""My old home...was not in the best condition you could say. They burned so much coal and oil. There were nuclear power plants everywhere...the sky was always gray. The air filled with smoke, so eventually our eyes started to glow when it was dark. Which was all the time there."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""So that's why you put torches everywhere..."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Xephos gave the slightest of nods./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You could've told me." Honeydew said./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Xephos shook his head. "No. No I couldn't have." he all but whispered./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Because I didn't want to break your heart."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He paused./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Because I don't know when the radiation will catch up with me. I don't know how long I have left." he looked to his friend./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""It just keeps getting worse. No one lasts long there."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The only sound was the dripping water from the roof of the cave./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Honeydew hugged him./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Hopefully the radiation will catch up to me at the same time. That way we'll never be apart." he whispered./p