Chapter Two: Digs (Part Two)

Darkness overtakes the light.

The Velash family traversed deeper into Yerrig's mine, accompanied by an assortment of fellow indentured laborers of various species. Mother and father walked shoulder to shoulder, their son directly in front of them. An armed escort led the line and closed off their tail. Black clad, faces like shadows, eyes like demons.

The lights lining the sides of the caves led the workforce deeper into the unnatural caverns. The lower they descended, the less 'clean' the shaping of the tunnel. They eventually turned down toward an expeditionary dig sit, where the only goal was to dig deeper, regardless of access or stability. The walls crept in on the inhabitants, threatening to crush, to suffocate. But deeper they went.

The group eventually made it to their designated dig site. They unpacked their tools under the watchful eyes of Yerrig's enforcers. Compact, handheld mining lasers. Useful for cutting along natural faults, not as useful for armed revolutions. Yerrig was utterly invested in a long term operation, with as few bumps as possible.

The line dispersed as the workers took their places amongst the wall. The Velash family worked side by side, ready to cut into the softly glistening rock. The cutting laser was heavy in Lorrik's hand, but the comforting hand of his father placed upon his shoulder offered him the strength to continue.

"Start low. Work your way up. You can rest the base on your knee," the father whispered, calm and methodical. "Make as few trips to the cart as possible. Gauge what you can carry. Don't overstrain your arms or your legs. Keep your balance. Understand?" The boy offered an affirming nod.

Work progressed without incident. Chunks of minerals were excised from the cavern walls and carted back to the surface. Everyone did their work, and they would retreat at the end of the day. But the work proved too much for one. Lorrik wasn't used to working in the sparsely oxygenated environment, he was only ever forced to run between the top levels and the exterior of the dig site. His lungs were failing. His eyes stung from the mining laser's harsh beam. His body grew weaker. Eventually, the boy went numb, his tool leaving his hand and impacting against the rocky floor, shattering the item's casing.

Everyone around him took notice. The father attempted to rile the boy back to his feet, to no avail. One of the enforcers was approaching. The mother took over caring for the boy, as the father left his station to impede the guard.

"Get back to work," the guard commanded of the father.

"In a moment, we just have to help our son."

"We'll deal with him. Return to your station!"

The father placed a gentle hand on the guard. "Please. He's just a boy. If you hurt him, he won't be able to work at all."

The guard shoved the father back against the wall. "Don't interfere!"

"Leave my son alone!" the father shouted, delivering a furious punch to the enforcer's jaw. The guard reeled and stumbled a few steps back. The father found two rifles trained on him, and soon a third when the guard he struck recovered. He raised his hands in the air, surrendering himself. With all of Yerrig's men focused on him, they had forgotten all about the collapsed child in the arms of his mother. Just what the father wanted.

With all the attention placed on the father, no one noticed one of the other slaves holding a large chunk of rock in his hands. Not what the father wanted.

One of the two guards at the site's entrance found the back of his skull caved in by a stone wielding Evocii. The standing enforcer fired a shot from his blaster rifle, dropping the rebellious slave. More of the workers stepped from their stations, the two remaining guards ordering them to halt. The father returned to his family, crouching, shielding his child.

Lorrik slowly came out of his stupor, blinking erratically, seeing and hearing the signs of struggle unfolding at the dig site. One of the workers was wrestling with the entrance guard. The two both had their hands on the weapon between them. A bolt rang out, impacting against the cavern walls. Another rang out. Then another. Then a howl of pain rang in Lorrik's ear. His mother was clutching at her arm, blood pouring down it.

"No! Nononono!" the father rambled, looking at his wife's wound. Lorrik was lightheaded. Everything around him was moving too fast. Then, too slow. Sight was replaced with a blur. Sound was replaced with a muddled hum. Until it was interrupted by a loud bang. Another bolt rang out from the guard's weapon, hitting a piece of larger mining equipment against the wall. The fuel source ignited. The machine exploded, knocking the inhabitants of the dig site to the ground. The ones who survived the blast, at least.

Lorrik emerged from his father's embrace to see the dig site had stilled. Bodies populated the ground, unmoving. The silence, and the stillness, was cut short when the foundations beneath him began to shake. The explosion had upset the dig site's stability. Lorrik found himself being dragged to his feet by his father, a stream of blood pouring over his right eye. The father then turned his attention to the mother, carefully lifting her by her good arm.

The three were alone in a collapsing corridor deep below ground. The father had lost an eye. The mother had lost an arm. The son was losing everything. The three moved out of their dig area with a careful haste as the walls and ceilings began to lose their structural integrity. The father knew that they would eventually reach the main tunnel connecting the entire operation, where there would be plenty of guards and plenty of questions. The family edged their way forward, uplifting one another along the way.

Stones began to fall from the ceiling behind them. Their pace was insufficient, more and more of the path behind them succumbing to the falling debris. The child stumbled, sending the entire family to the ground. Unable to rise, the parents instead spent their last moments embracing their child as the world crumbled around them. As the rocks above them loosened, the family bowed their heads and said their last goodbyes to one another before the final stone fell.

Lorrik was tucked beneath his parents. He knew they intended to shield him, his body and his eyes, so that he didn't have to witness what was to come. But there was a crack in the shadows. A glimpse upward. A view of a boulder, hovering just above his family. Lorrik's parents were confused, rather than relieved, when they found that death had not come. Breaking their embrace to look up, they were astounded to see the rock that had threatened to crush them was hovering of its own accord above their heads. Snatching their child by the arm, they moved out from under the stone just as it continued its resounding fall to where they once huddled.

The caves had ceased their tremors. An eerie silence permeated the corridor as the Velash family looked upon the stone riddled path they had just escaped. They had survived, but only just, and by seemingly miraculous means. Before they could ponder their position any further, Lorrik passed out in his parents' arms.