As the elevator creaked downward, the sterile, perfume-filled air of Lunaris gave way to a metallic taste and the burning smell of sulfur.
While gripping the bars of the cage and looking down, Eray felt the Red Seal around his neck begin to pulse like a living parasite. Seraphina had been right. Below was boiling with raw, unrefined magical energy. This energy destabilized the collar, filling his neck with constant heat and a crawling sensation.
"Welcome, fresh meat," said the gnome controlling the elevator, half his face covered in burn scars."This place is called the Deep Pit. There are only two ways out. In a box, or as ash."
When the cage stopped, Eray staggered. Gravity was heavier here than above.
The sight before him could have made Dante jealous.
This was not a natural cave. It felt like the inside of a living creature, with massive purple and blue crystals bursting from the walls. Hundreds of slaves—humans, Fallen Elves, goblins, and many others—were hacking at the crystals with pickaxes.
But the most terrifying sight was the slaves themselves.
Crystallization had already begun on many of their bodies. Crystal Sickness.Bodies exposed to excessive magic slowly turned to stone and crystal. In one corner, Eray saw a man whose arm had fully turned into blue crystal, screaming as he tried to break it off.
"Move!"
A whip cracked across Eray's back, throwing him forward.
Behind him stood a massive ogre, nearly three meters tall, his skin stapled with metal plates.
The head warden of the mines: Crusher Gorak.
"Talking is forbidden here!" Gorak roared."Stopping is forbidden! You only dig! If you don't meet your quota, there's no dinner!"
Gorak shoved a rusty, heavy pickaxe into Eray's hands and forced him toward the most dangerous section, known as Vein Four.
Eray slung the pickaxe over his shoulder and limped forward, scanning his surroundings.
Ash Heirs… where are you?
Vein Four was the narrowest and lowest part of the cavern. The crystals here were so bright they made his eyes water. The dust in the air cut into the lungs like shards of glass.
Eray took position beside an elderly Elf and began to swing the pickaxe.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The sound echoed inside his skull.
"New here?" the Elf whispered. The tips of his ears were cut off—a mark of exile.
Eray checked their surroundings before answering. The guards were far away.
"I was sent from the palace," Eray said while swinging."I angered the Princess."
The Elf let out a bitter laugh."Velira… the wrath of that witch is what we all share."
Eray lowered his voice."I've heard there are others here who don't like her either. People like the… Heirs."
The Elf froze. Pure fear filled his eyes.
"Shut up, human!" he hissed."Say that name again and you won't survive the night. Even the walls have ears."
The Elf moved away quickly, unwilling to even stand beside Eray.
Eray smiled faintly.
Where there was fear, there was organization.And where there was organization, there was hierarchy.
Hours passed. Eray's hands split open, blood smearing the handle of the pickaxe. The collar around his neck had heated to the point of pain. The energy here stirred the shadow inside him. Despite the collar, it clawed violently, trying to break free.
Then it happened.
A deep rumble came from the depths of the cavern.
BOOOOM!
The ground shook. Dust poured from the ceiling.
"Cave-in!" someone shouted.
The tunnel at the end of Vein Four collapsed, burying five or six slaves beneath the rocks. A thick cloud of dust filled the area.
Gorak and his men rushed over.
Not to help.
"Get the crystals out!" Gorak shouted."Save the equipment! I don't care about the slaves!"
One of those trapped was a young girl.
A human.
Her leg was pinned under a massive crystal block. She was screaming. The ceiling above her was cracked and could collapse completely at any moment.
Eray hesitated.
Logic told him, Don't interfere. Focus on your objective. This isn't your war.Raiders training left no room for emotion.
But her eyes…
In them, he saw the same helplessness he had felt on his first mission. And Gorak's indifference ignited the destruction buried inside him.
He dropped the pickaxe and ran.
"Hey! Get back here, filth!" a guard shouted.
Eray ignored him and slid to the girl's side. The crystal block was far too heavy to lift by hand.
She was crying."Please… don't leave me."
Eray looked up. The ceiling groaned.
He had seconds.
He couldn't use his shadow. The collar would explode. He had no exo-suit.
But he still had his mind.
He spotted a massive iron pry bar on the ground. And the balance point beneath the block.
"Trust me," Eray said.
He wedged the bar under the block—not to lift it, but to break the loose stone supporting it.
He grabbed his pickaxe and struck the lever point with all his strength.
CRACK!
The stone shattered. The block lost balance and tipped sideways into the empty space Eray had calculated.
The girl's leg was free.
Eray grabbed her and threw himself backward, out of the tunnel.
A heartbeat later, tons of rock collapsed where they had been.
Amid the dust, Eray and the girl lay on the ground. Eray coughed and pushed himself up. She was alive. Her leg was crushed, but intact.
The surrounding slaves stared at Eray in disbelief.
This was a place where survival came before everything else. No one risked their life for another.
Gorak emerged from the dust and loomed over Eray, pressing his whip against Eray's chest.
"Disobedience," Gorak snarled, flashing yellow teeth."And slowing work. The punishment is ten lashes."
Eray stood up and met Gorak's gaze.
He did not step back.
"I saved a worker," Eray said loudly so everyone could hear."A dead worker can't mine crystals, Gorak. I returned your property."
Gorak hesitated.
Was this human… challenging him?
Just as Gorak raised his whip to strike Eray's face, a tall, muscular man stepped forward from the crowd. His face was black with coal dust, and a strange symbol was carved into the skin above his left eye.
A flame.
"The boy is right, Gorak," the man said. His voice echoed through the mine."The girl is from the Fine Extraction unit. If she dies, are those thick fingers of yours going to sort the delicate crystals?"
Gorak stared at him. Doubt flickered in his eyes.
This man was no ordinary slave.
He was the mine's unofficial leader.
With a growl, Gorak lowered his whip.
"You're lucky, human," he spat at Eray."Back to work! Show's over!"
As the crowd dispersed, the man who had defended Eray stepped closer. He checked on the girl, then turned to Eray.
"Stupid bravery," he said. But there was respect in his voice."My name is Kaelen. Former Guard Captain. Now just another resident of this pit."
Eray extended his hand. The chains on his wrists rattled.
"Eray."
Kaelen did not take his hand. Instead, he looked at the red collar around Eray's neck. Then he leaned close.
"So you're the fallen 'toy' from the palace. The way you used that lever… that wasn't a peasant's move. That was a soldier's."
Kaelen stepped back and gave Eray a meaningful look.
"Tonight. In the Old Gallery. Don't sleep. We need to talk."
As Kaelen disappeared into the crowd, Eray took a deep breath. The toxic air filling his lungs no longer felt quite so suffocating.
He had slipped inside.
But above, in the Silver Tower, things were about to grow complicated.Because Seraphina's "small accident" had reached Velira's ears—and the Princess would not be pleased to have her toy taken from her.